This is an uphill battle in the face of corporate lobbying, learned fixedness, and, let's face it, unintuitive UX that is found in some selection of FLOSS which is often absent in proprietary counterparts: something that people who are not tech savvy (tech-indifferent?) would prefer not to put up with.
However, I think the last problem can be mitigated with the right kind of focus and funding from such initiatives.
There have been many such initiatives[0][1] over the years in different countries where they eventually lose steam and fade away.
Also, is there an operating system backed or sponsored by EU that is actively maintained, analogous to BOSS[2] and Pardus[3]?
How do you view diffs and merges when you say you don't use git GUIs? External tool or terminal/command line?
Terminal.
I use Jetbrains IDEs and most of my life has been IDE based git interaction. And I honestly love it, easy access to see my diffs, the most common commit, push and stage(or shelve as Jetbrains does it, which is better than visual studio). Hassle free and available beats writing anything to me.
Perhaps, it is a mix of learned behaviour and cognitive fixation, as I started out my development journey predominantly using a terminal, that I cannot fathom Git GUI being hassle free.
Nice to read a different perspective on such a fundamental thing that I take for granted while working. Thank you for sharing it.
I always found Git GUIs, especially the ones built into IDEs, to be more confusing and clunkier than working with Git on a terminal. It often feels like unlearning what one knows about Git, and relearning it the way that specific GUI demands.
Heck, I am going through the aforementioned feeling as I force myself to use Magit on Emacs. It just does not feel intuitive. But I will not give up until I have made an honest and full attempt.
The only sensible Git GUI I ever used is Sublime Merge[0], after a coworker praised it immensely. Even that is reserved for the rarest of the rare times when the changes in the workspace gets unwieldy and unruly. For every other instance: Git CLI on a terminal.
My organising system has a dual nature: it is either highly structured or a mess.
Information, such as documents, notes, spreadsheets, and images, is carefully organised into well-defined directories, no more than four or five levels deep. The destination directory is chosen at the time of download.
Anything that I expect to use more than once, even if only a few times, is dumped into a directory called GMS (Games, Movies, Software), which resides on a separate disk partition.
Everything else ends up in the Downloads directory, which is truncated every three months.
GMS originally stood for Games, Music, Software. But I stopped managing my own music since switching to Spotify and now Apple Music. I rarely watched movies on my computer back in 00s; my cable TV fulfilled those needs then.
I used to manage the contents of GMS few times a year, but I have stopped doing that now since my usage of this folder has dropped by a lot since the early 2010s.
The decreased use might be explained by my increased use of package managers, Steam and GOG, and streaming services.
However, another factor could be that I now avoid situations where I would need to download anything via my browser, unless absolutely necessary. Perhaps due to lower tolerance towards such practices or reduced patience with age.
It is hard to ignore the similarities between the commotion around the use of AI in making art, to that of using CGI in the early 90s, 00s, and even now. Of course, the former is more vehement.
Also,
soulless and creepy dystopian
It is an ad. That too by a mega corporation known for their unethical practices, what did you expect?
Thank you again for your nuanced response. I get that tracking health data can be useful, but I think the real value comes from sharing that data with a doctor who can make sense of it – not from relying on an app, at least not yet.
I am aware of how stressful and confusing things can get when managing something like periods. Multiple members of my family have faced these struggles, and while the healthcare system in our country is disorganised and far from perfect, we have always found that a good doctor’s expertise – though hard to come by – is irreplaceable.
As I mentioned earlier, I do see the value in tracking symptoms and vitals, but that value is unlocked when that data is used to inform a professional’s advice – not handed over to companies that profit from it, or worse, enable a greater malice.
In the end, it seems we are at an impasse between our opinions, but I believe the stakes are too high to rely on apps when lower-risk options – like consulting with doctors – have helped people navigate these struggles for generations. Again, I understand why apps can be appealing, but I think it’s important to consider what might be lost in the long term, especially when it comes to something as personal and vital as our health.
Perhaps, the energy should be put toward making good healthcare more accessible – which, I believe, is what these apps promised.
Thank you for providing detailed answers to my questions; which is what they are, just questions. I want to clarify, as much as your response suggests, I had not accused anyone or the apps of anything, nor was I belittling anyone for not knowing "paper exists". But I do get your frustrations which such comments, mine included.
I just want to better understand the appeal of these apps – all health tracking apps for that matter, and not just period trackers.
I still feel using such apps was a bad idea even before the onset of the current cultural and political climate, despite the convenience offered.
We have been consulting actual doctors long before these apps appeared on the scene, who provide personalised advice without the risks of large-scale data tracking, whether it is for something as simple as a prolonged cold or as complicated as delayed periods.
P.S. Yes, these are easily searchable questions, but then there is never a need to have any discussion on a forum as everything is a search away. I figured a more direct conversation would give me a clearer sense of the actual user experience, especially given how nuanced such issues can be.
This is an uphill battle in the face of corporate lobbying, learned fixedness, and, let's face it, unintuitive UX that is found in some selection of FLOSS which is often absent in proprietary counterparts: something that people who are not tech savvy (tech-indifferent?) would prefer not to put up with.
However, I think the last problem can be mitigated with the right kind of focus and funding from such initiatives.
There have been many such initiatives[0][1] over the years in different countries where they eventually lose steam and fade away.
Also, is there an operating system backed or sponsored by EU that is actively maintained, analogous to BOSS[2] and Pardus[3]?
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:State-sponsored_Linux_distributions
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_adopters
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Operating_System_Solutions
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardus_(operating_system)
E: typo