This. Mint is one of my favourite distros and what I started with. I had tried Ubuntu, but this was the distro that made using Linux as a daily driver possible. Now I've moved on to Debian Stable. But Mint allowed me to get into Linux and get a good understanding of the basics.
I wonder how many users Matrix has?
Looks like enshittification of the internet is really kicking in. Decentralized platforms, and piracy needs to be the new normal
Thanks for the additional info. I installed Arch, it was far less daunting then I anticipated. In fact, it was prettt straightforward. I'll look into your suggestion.
Sounds interesting, I'll give this project idea a go
I really like these suggestions, I've always wanted to contribute to FOSS software, but always felt underskilled. I will add this to my list of things to do to challenge my Linux and basic programming skills.
Thanks for this, I think I will give Arch Linux a go, and avoid GUI file management. My plan is to daily drive my X220 for more lightweight tasks as it's a nice laptop to use. So using Arch on it may just force me to have to use Arch as a daily driver if I want to use a nice laptop keyboard.
Only potential security issues, would be related to a lack of maintenance on a particular project. If an open source tool has not been updated for over a year or more, then it may have security vulnerabilities. I usually won't use something if it has not been updated for a year or more.
However, people who make that claim, seem to subscribe to security by obscurity. They may think that the source code being public makes it more likely to be exploited for vulnerabilities. But I would say that is a strength, since many people can verify the security of a project and can have patches applied. In standard proprietary software, a security vulnerability could exist for years, without being patched because no one knows it's there. It may or may not be exploited within this time.
It is our responsibility to choose the digital tools we use wisely, and to be mindful of a lack or drop of maintenance on a particularly project.
I'll give it another go with your suggestion
If what you proposed was put into practice, we wouldn't have hundreds of distributions. I think the amount of distributions that exist may actually be overwhelming to a new user. If there were only a few distributions to choose from, you wouldn't have so many people distro hopping, which is a waste of time (in most cases). You don't like the desktop environment? Install something else. You don't like floating windows? Use a tiling window manager.