christphrdunder

"should be" according to your goals. "should not be" according to mine:

1. run untrusted code in a reasonably secure way. i don't care how many github stars it has, i'm not rawdogging it. nor is my threat model mossad, so it doesn't have to be perfect. but systemd's default security posture is weak, hardening it is highly manual (vs. "run a VM"), and must be done per service to do properly (allowlist syscalls, caps, directory accesses, etc.).

2. minimize cost. it's orders of magnitude less costly for most people with the skills to run a homelab to:

   a) spend 50% more for compute & storage than a single hour of handwriting & tuning reasonably secure systemd services, wiring up dependencies, etc.

   b) build a backup and migration strategy once and reuse it for everything. this is technically possible with systemd, too, of course, but way more costly to setup.

   c) one single universal solution. practically everything will run in a VM. this is not true for systemd, esp. isolated systemd services.

i am curious what if any precedent exists here.

obligatory IANAL

1. Poor hardware compatibility - due to clinging to Xen (dead/dying)

2. Poor performance (youtube @480p or xfce desktop @4k run at 5fps on a high-end system, don't even try 3D accleration) - due to not treating performance needs seriously[1]. GUI domain[2] and hiring a community manager are signs that they're starting to listen, but it looks like it will take years to land in full.

I pray that Qube's devs are taking this project (and others[3]) as a wake-up call: there is a huge unfulfilled need that people are willing to do a lot to satisfy. Leveraging more modern projects (like crosvm & Wayland) can hopefully help reduce the cost ("evolve or die").

[1]: dozens of mailing list threads reflecting a stance of "it's the users who are wrong"

[2]: https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2020/03/18/gui-domain/

[3]: https://spectrum-os.org/ "a step towards usable secure computing" (an obvious wink to qubes), https://github.com/nrgaway/qubes-kvm-dev, etc.

All bills in the House and Senate are posted by a bot, and editorializing is done in the comments. (The bot is also a github project.)

This is the echo chamber they speak of.

Input:

-Objective research: (left-brained) Keep your idea of the problem and the reality of the problem in sync, or else any solution you come up with is useless, no matter how creative.

-Creative inspiration: (right-brained) Reductionism is a great tool, except when it runs amok. If you could truly understand everything, you could never be surprised by anything. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science."

Output:

-Left-brained: This is what the author of this article seems to refer to. Spending time proceeding step by rational step through a large problem. This process requires high focus, so isolation often helps.

-Right-brained: aka "stop thinking about it and just do it [by feel]." Our left-brains revolt at the idea of doing something without having thought through every possible decision and outcome in terms of every scientific field and level of abstraction. But at some point we form habits, and, for the sake of time, we should be incredibly grateful for this. If you form good habits you can trust, your efficiency can skyrocket.

Sleep:

-Running other threads while you're awake: The classic example of this is "Eureka!" Some of us seem to do our best thinking while showering, driving, exercising, cleaning, or studying another science. Refine your meta-heuristics by working in a very different problem domain.

-In a bed: dreams: a very different problem domain. Go through a few thousand of them.

Lastly, it's important to consider the contiguous time I spend in each of these modes 3 modes. If I spend a week in relatively isolated, left-brained output, it's quite likely I'll feel creatively sapped by the end, and will need to spend the following week almost solely in input. By the end of that week, my brain will be so overflowing with ideas that I can't even listen to music without wanted to silence the input so I can get back to output. Oscillating at extremes is extreme. Whereas, while socializing an idea I effectively go from input to output (mostly right-brained, off the cuff) every few seconds. Both feedback loop lengths - and everything in between - have their advantages and disadvantages.

Ultimately, it's about finding a balance both between and within each mode. All things in moderation, including, of course, moderation.

But I highly doubt you could have any success grabbing market share, because none of these functional shortcomings are enough of a problem to the Average User that they'd be interested in using a service with no reputation. Not to mention the network effect.