The more I use Arch, the more I do things on the command line. That means a lot less software to maintain. I think if you run tons of different software, you are asking for things to break.
I happily run dwm, and a handful of CLI tools. This minimalistic setup is enough for me - and seems to cut down on things breaking.
I think using the 'cutting-edge' distros (Gentoo, Arch) in general pushes one to use more CLI tools rather than GUIs. At least that was the case with me.
> This minimalistic setup is enough for me
I think that's a poor choice of words ;). It implicates that a GUI, or 'less minimalistic' setup is something 'more', something better. I think it's just something different, for differenet needs.
Being very careful, maybe using less GUIs and handful of CLIs is an evolution (in certain areas). You can do more (stuff) with less (commands). But "great power, comes with great responsibility" = you can easily shoot yourself in a foot, and so it is not for everyone.
If I never broke anything...I would not know much about Linux! I think part of maintaining a distro like Arch is dealing with things breaking. The good news is that you learn about how something works and usually can figure out a solution. The Arch community is awesome and is very responsive when things don't work.
Arch is what I have been running (since around 2006). I love the simplicity. When things do break, there is an amazing community waiting to provide support. The Arch community rules! I think Arch is quickly becoming what Gentoo was...(hopefully I dont start a war!).
During a certain period the Gentoo wiki was one of the best resources for configuration and debugging, even if you used another distro. The downfall might be coincide with the Big Wiki Loss [0].
Indeed law enforcement does not have free hands to decide what laws to enforce. They are being puppeted by big business and government pressure. This issue is less about the law, and more about big business pressuring everyone and their momma to protect their business interests.
I have always thought about The Pirate Bay like a gun shop in the US. Gun shops sell guns and ammo...they help facilitate killing human beings...but we never hold the gun shop responsibile (so long as they comply with licensing laws etc). Why dont we look at The Pirate Bay in the same way? They supply a tool that can be used for wrong doing. It can also be used legitimately (as in the case of guns).
If countless millions of people were buying guns at one gun shop and killing people continuously, of course cops would ignore the actual killers and go after the gun shop.
The gun shop analogy is totally flawed. It's more like a newsletter about how to get away with murder. Except instead of a newsletter it's a website. And instead of murder it's copying things and giving them away for free.
While it is slightly different - it is not dramatically different than Pogo Plug.
All of these similar solution always beg the question, "why does dropbox need to be changed"? It is simple, and just works. This makes it attractive to the masses.
While I don't necessarily subscribe to "if it 'aint broke, don't fix it" I wonder how any company can dethrone dropbox by offering such a similiar service. It will likely appeal to the tech crowd...but the masses? They will have to convince the masses that they are missing something using dropbox. Is this not one of the reasons that sites like Identica will never be as popular as facebook (maybe Identica has never had such lofty goals).
The only difference is that instead of people thinking that it is a harmless prank they will send in homeland security/swat team/etc with loaded weapons.
It's mentioned on the first page, second paragraph from the bottom:
"Its computer scientists developed Unix and C, which form
the basis for today’s most essential operating systems
and computer languages."
I happily run dwm, and a handful of CLI tools. This minimalistic setup is enough for me - and seems to cut down on things breaking.