mr_machine (u/mr_machine)

mr_machine commented on Adobe's new image rotation tool is one of the most impressive AI tools seen creativebloq.com/design/a... · Posted by u/ralusek

porphyra · 10 months ago

I find that Adobe is really pulling away from open source software with all this AI stuff. A few years ago it could be argued that GIMP, Inkscape, and Darktable could do almost everything that Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom could, albeit with a jankier user interface.

But now none of the open source software can compete with AI generative fill, AI denoising, and now AI rotation.

mr_machine · 10 months ago

I was just thinking similarly. I don't need any of these AI features and I'm certainly not about to start giving Adobe money, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.

mr_machine commented on Hyprland 0.44 hyprland.org/news/update4... · Posted by u/bpierre

internet101010 · a year ago

I tried Arch+Hyprland a few months ago and it was rife with issues. Things like not being able to drag files between two windows and random crashes sending me back to login.

Pop OS's built-in tiling manager doesn't have these problems and it has a toggle for alternating between floating and tiled, which is helpful at times. It gets me to where I want MacOS to go without any of the exhaustive setup and just works.

As much as I would like to go with Hyprland for the fancy animations and stuff I don't have the patience for instability or configuration files breaking after updates. I am on team Cosmic for now.

mr_machine · a year ago

I've been running Arch+Hyprland on my laptop for very nearly 1.5 years. For whatever reason, I've not had the negative experience you describe; it's run buttery-smooth and reliably for me. I like it.

mr_machine commented on Kagi Assistant blog.kagi.com/announcing-... · Posted by u/darthShadow

mr_machine · a year ago

I've been using (and paying for) Kagi since the beginning.

For the first while, the search results were inarguably better than any alternative. I was thrilled and was recommending Kagi to anyone who'd listen. In the last six months or so, things have gone downhill. More often, my results ignore some of my search terms and I have to try to "trick" Kagi into matching them all. More often, I get only one or two pages of results when other engines give me notably more relevant hits. And more often, my search hangs or fails to return at all.

I don't care if they noodle with AI or make T-shirts as long as the search is great. What I've experienced is the search getting worse while they noodle with AI and make T-shirts, though. The two may be entirely unrelated but from an outside perspective, it feels like their core offering is suffering because of these other-than-search undertakings.

So far, I'm sticking with it, but my enthusiasm has definitely diminished. A couple of my friends have canceled their subscriptions in disappointment and I've started to consider cancelling mine, as well.

mr_machine commented on The Minimal Phone with E-Ink Display minimalcompany.com/... · Posted by u/achristmascarl

prmoustache · a year ago

Yes I don't understand why so few manufacturers wdo partnerships with projects such as lineageos or /e/os from the very start. It seems to me there is a large intersection of people who want an alternative device format AND degoogled phone.

I am very interested with this device but only if I can have a firmware without the usual google + manufacturer's crap.

mr_machine · a year ago

Right there with you. I sent them feedback to that effect and hope everyone else does, too. Manufacturers need to hear this from us routinely.

mr_machine commented on Show HN: I built an app that personalizes home workouts parianlabs.com/... · Posted by u/IvanG96

mr_machine · a year ago

I like the idea and wouldn't mind paying to use it. That doesn't seem possible without allowing scripts from Google, Facebook, and Youtube, though, and I'm not interested in doing that. I don't need fancy video or graphics even; just a personalized training plan would be worth money.

mr_machine commented on CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser mattferraro.dev/posts/cad... · Posted by u/samwillis

s1mon · a year ago

It's exciting to see a new entry into this space, especially one that is trying to create a new kernel. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely to be successful. The top kernels in the industry have been in development for decades by armies of CAGD PhDs and programmers, with funding from automotive and aerospace companies. Getting to table-stakes with the feature set will take a long time.

I also question what user problems this is trying to solve. CAD users don't necessarily need things to be open source. They may have limited budgets, but open source is not a user facing feature in this space the way it might be for some developers. Plasticity has shown that it is possible to license Parasolid and make money at a very low price point.

I've been using parametric CAD tools for 30+ years. I find that Onshape is a pretty amazing solution to many of the issues that exist with Creo or Solidworks. I never loose data. Having the equivalent of Google Docs for collaborative CAD with unlimited undo based on a ground up database instead of a file system is life changing. That said, its modeling capabilities are still playing catch up with other tools.

A big downside to Onshape (and Creo and Solidworks) is that it started as 2D sketches to extrude/revovle/loft etc into 3D objects. 3D tools are an add on and afterthought to the fundamentals. Plasticity (and Rhino and Alias) are all much more 3D first.

Onshape's FeatureScript is really cool and powerful, but it is not as good for CAD users to build their own tools as say Grasshopper in Rhino.

I would focus on what user problems are being solved. How will CADmium be a better CAD tool for a certain market than any of the others paid or free? Even though this is very early days in the development process, it's not too early to try to understand user needs. Open source is not in and of itself a goal.

mr_machine · a year ago

> CAD users don't necessarily need things to be open source... Open source is not in and of itself a goal.

While there are certainly challenges to open source development, there are no downsides to using open source software. It works just as well for people who don't know what it is or means and just as well for people who are indifferent to it. There are great reasons to avoid proprietary software, though, and they're even stronger when you're talking about SaaS (as we increasingly are nowadays, and specifically are in this case). CAD software is an area where many users have /already/ been burned by proprietary systems changing their offerings /after/ they've invested hundreds of hours learning and using their platform.

I'm aware I'm in the minority, but open source is absolutely a goal in and of itself for me. I've been using open source software exclusively for a very long time.

mr_machine commented on Firefox search update blog.mozilla.org/en/produ... · Posted by u/murillians

mr_machine · a year ago

The browser is, at this point, like a public utility. You can't get by without one. How is it okay to bake in privacy compromises?

mr_machine commented on Ask HN: Is iCloud a viable alternative to Dropbox? Any other alternatives? · Posted by u/JSR_FDED

longitudinal93 · a year ago

It's not meant to be a replacement for Dropbox but rather for Google Drive + Google Docs + Google Photos, all of which is fine by me as it's been working well for me as a replacement for all of those since 2020.

mr_machine · a year ago

Yeah, I've been using it since the early days of OwnCloud, both personally and professionally. Love it and don't understand the haters at all. It's not perfect but it's really damn good -- and it's F/OSS.

mr_machine commented on I Lost Faith in Kagi d-shoot.net/kagi.html... · Posted by u/Tomte

beretguy · a year ago

Definition of “criminal” can change depending on perspective. A journalist is a criminal from a perspective of an authoritarian government.

mr_machine · a year ago

It can also change after an election, and the impact can be retroactive.

Vlad needs to walk that "criminal" comment WAY the hell back.

mr_machine commented on I Lost Faith in Kagi d-shoot.net/kagi.html... · Posted by u/Tomte

mr_machine · a year ago

I'm a subscriber simply because their search is far better than any available alternative. That's the primary thing I want from them and so far they're delivering it at a cost I consider fair.

Their other projects are not interesting or useful to me, but so far I can simply ignore them. Yes, on some level I wish they'd focus and quit wasting money and energy on things I don't care about, but that's really not my affair.

The one growing reservation I have is with regard to Vlad's/Kagi's actual, boots-on-the-ground approach to privacy. Kagi necessarily has the ability to know more about me than almost any other company. I want to see them demonstrate strong and unwavering commitment to respecting and protecting my privacy - through policy, technology, and careful and continuous vetting of partners. Expressed disinterest in collecting or capitalizing on my data is not enough, and seeing Vlad's communications in which he casually shrugs or responsibility-shifts to a third-party heightens my concern.

For now, I remain a customer - but a wary one. I've stopped actively recommending Kagi personally and professionally because as a privacy advocate, it increasingly feels irresponsible to do so.