I totally agree Linux is not free windows. In fact, I’m very happy that Linux variants do not require telemetry, prevent upgrades due to artificial requirements like CPU generation, can run on my 20-year-old desktop, and can provide a GUI using 100MB of RAM. For my workflow Linux is great. Probably 90% of my computing is spent in a browser – Firefox and Chromium work the same for my needs. For Word and Excel the Libre Office offering is more than sufficient.
I do appreciate the beauty of repositories and shared libraries but installing applications on Linux and Win often requires escalated root/admin privileges. Once you get root involved (sudo) who knows what is being done. That is the beauty of Linux AppImage and Win “portable” apps – root/admin privileges are not required.
Another issue with repositories is a lack of control. The longer video on appimage.org, main page, goes into this. You don’t know if the code in a repository is an unmodified version of what the developer released. In the end you have to trust something and I feel pretty safe using debian.org.
I use Firefox and Chrome but for “portable” instances I prefer Chrome/Chromium as it consumes less RAM and I often have several installations running concurrently.
Of the three Linux “portable” alternatives, I prefer AppImage as it does not require additional infrastructure. After watching the appimage.org videos I am concerned with how AppImage browsers would handle plugins, cookies, history, favorites, cache, and configuration settings. AppImage is a single read-only file so settings could not be stored in it. With the Win “portable” browsers all browser settings are stored in a folder hierarchy with the “portable” browser. This allows me to keep my browsing usage isolated to banking, generic, and google browsers. Beyond this, consider browser plugins. Given plugin security risks I only use them on specific browser installations. Outside of “portable” browsers I could use separate VMs for browser isolation but that is less convenient.
Thanks everyone for sharing some great info.
I do appreciate the beauty of repositories and shared libraries but installing applications on Linux and Win often requires escalated root/admin privileges. Once you get root involved (sudo) who knows what is being done. That is the beauty of Linux AppImage and Win “portable” apps – root/admin privileges are not required.
Another issue with repositories is a lack of control. The longer video on appimage.org, main page, goes into this. You don’t know if the code in a repository is an unmodified version of what the developer released. In the end you have to trust something and I feel pretty safe using debian.org.
I use Firefox and Chrome but for “portable” instances I prefer Chrome/Chromium as it consumes less RAM and I often have several installations running concurrently.
Of the three Linux “portable” alternatives, I prefer AppImage as it does not require additional infrastructure. After watching the appimage.org videos I am concerned with how AppImage browsers would handle plugins, cookies, history, favorites, cache, and configuration settings. AppImage is a single read-only file so settings could not be stored in it. With the Win “portable” browsers all browser settings are stored in a folder hierarchy with the “portable” browser. This allows me to keep my browsing usage isolated to banking, generic, and google browsers. Beyond this, consider browser plugins. Given plugin security risks I only use them on specific browser installations. Outside of “portable” browsers I could use separate VMs for browser isolation but that is less convenient.
Thanks everyone for sharing some great info.
Statistics: Posted by CloisteredNeuron — 2024-05-28 03:14