Posted on 06/27/2021 7:54:19 AM PDT by LuciusDomitiusAutelian
“we have come to accept that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have some innate value that makes them indispensable.”
I have not come to accept that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have some innate value that makes them indispensable. Signed: Antidemoncrat
So did you follow the recommendation of this article and switch to Linux? (or are planning to switch)
Not dead yet. Suffering under a Communist Revolution? Unquestionably. Until a Convention of States has been convened I'm not giving up.
“The only control Big Tech has over the flow of information is on their own platforms.”
The big problem is that isn’t the case anymore.
*Want to serve ads on your site? FB and Google have a near monopoly, and if you don’t use them you will get far less ad revenue from alternatives
*Want to sell a mobile app? You have to be approved by Apple or Google, or else your cut-off from 99% of users.
*Want to scale rapidly? Big tech also has a near monopoly on cloud services and you will pay more for less if your are looking for an alternative
Make the Linux switch people. It isn’t like the old days when it required a PhD to figure out, it is now user friendly and plenty of compatible apps.
Libre Office, Blender, Netbeans, Mysql, Apache2, FreeCad, Flightgear, Gimp, VLC Media, Wine, Audacity
and plenty more.
The definition of a utility from an economic angle from Investorpedia:
The utilities sector refers to a category of companies that provide basic amenities, such as water, sewage services, electricity, dams, and natural gas. It is a large sector, and an important part of the U.S. economy, with a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion (as of March 2021).
Although utilities are private, for-profit companies, they are part of the public service landscape—providing as they do such staples for daily living—and are therefore heavily regulated. Investors typically treat utilities as long-term holdings and use them to generate a steady income for their portfolios.
As I have worked as a backend developer for over 20 years now, I can tell you in that time the handful of industrial level cloud providers like AWS and Azure are very much like those utilities to any software company that wants a presence on the internet. Providing your own servers (like Jim does with FreeRepublic) puts new would be companies at such a prohibitive disadvantage that they might as well give up.
It is possible perhaps that some new Cloud Provider convinces investors to risk the enormous resources it takes to be competitive with the big boys and make the kind of physical infrastructure and software development necessary to successfully compete and takes its place as a real alternative. And let us suppose that it is run by freedom loving patriots committed to free speech. That would be great...for a while. Until eventually those that are not freedom loving end up running the company some day and bowing to pressure from tyrants in the swamp like AWS did to turn off the lights of software companies allowing a voice of opposition.
There are not going to be a large number of these industrial cloud utilities anytime soon. They are already being pressured by the swamp to censor those that challenge the establishment.
I am not sure of the solution. Letting DC pass laws about them to limit the power of DC over them does not seem promising. But I am very concerned about the situation.
I use Linux more and day to day.
I read, as for the rest age has taken it’s toll. Friday Right hearing aid crashed and died, takes both to work. Quilting was my hobby till the surgeon ruined my fine motor skills, now after 5 yrs lucky to sew a button on. Garden, not with a degenerative spine. Got stuck with a cane for the Vertigo, which I filled with steel nuts, for a billyclub.
I’ve been using and administering Linux and Unix variants since 1995. The desktop environment is getting there. Linux Mint and MX Linux are the best desktop distros imho. But yes, i’ve been using Linux/Unix for over 25 years.
Jim W N. I’m not joining in on your circular firing squad. Toodles buddy!
Taking away enemies of the Republic’s loot is not thievery. It’s called strategy and breaking their logistic supply chain. Amateurs study tactics. Pros study logistics. If you ever imply I am a thief again be a man and do it to my face. I’ll get the address to you.
Sorry GailA. Getting old sucks. All of the knocks i have taken from sports, marching, hiking and fighting have taken their toll.
Google/Alphabet is approaching monopoly.
Facebook, not so much as they are but an application.
Still, people choose to use these platforms.
There are literally hundreds of alternatives.
A thief is somebody who steals.
Do you steal?
Hey LDA, this is a debate forum of ideas, and you’re sure having trouble formulating a rationale that refutes my rationale. If you cannot articulate rationally your belief, it’s time to make serious inquiry into your belief until you can articulate plainly. If you want the truth, it’s there to be grasped and the truth withstands all challenges.
Rots a Ruck there.
I totally get your point, and while I'm not in the business I'm aware of AWS's commanding market share and the attendant power.
But there are ways of avoiding AWS - Gab does it (and I hope JimRob does, too). Just like there are ways of avoiding Google, Chrome, etc.
IBM, GE, GM, and countless other firms have been subject to "monopoly" claims. And there they are today, relative husks.
Electric power generation and its inherent commodization and the basic necessity of that service is, IMHO, lightyears away from AWS's product. Elevating AWS to that level of necessity is actually dangerous from a psychological perspective.
Is it difficult to avoid AWS et al? Yep. Does it cost more to avoid AWS? Yup. Is my freedom worth it? You betcha, and if the choice is having the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT sort out the regulation of AWS (which will probably result in a MANDATE to use AWS), or me take charge of my life, I'll take the latter.
Read later
To not use one of these small handfull is a big disadvantage, and once you start using them you are in for a huge disruption if you have to change with many hours of work to get your stuff to work like it did before. But one can indeed eat the extra cost and hassle and soldier on with one's own servers, its just increasingly becoming a bigger economic and technological disadvantage. It makes it especially difficult to go viral quickly. With the cloud if your traffic doubles, you just rent more capacity while its high. Doing it yourself, you are screwed. You would have to order new hardware and wait months for it to be ready and throttle your users or the like. On the other hand suppose you order the servers early...but then don't have the growth in business you expected...then you are still out the money you spent on capacity you did not need, and are not getting the revenue you anticipated to pay for the capacity.
Amazon's brilliant solution to the latter problem was to go ahead and build out more capacity and figure out how to rent it to others. But it is very difficult to do it as well as Amazon and its competitors these days. Its a bit like making your own power generator to power your factory because the local power company doesn't like you. Its a horrible position to be in, but it is possible to make your own power station.
by your definition our own governments’ are thieves.
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