tomth

Ports are sometimes hardened as well, such as Firefox, Chromium, Got (OBSD git alternative, not yet part of base) etc...

But I personally don't really use OpenBSD for security. Sure, good security is important, but for a simple person, I think any updated OS, with good passwords/pubkey auth, good config, being careful etc etc... Is good enough.

OpenBSD is a coherent OS. It's simple (for geeks), and you can use it, by just using the documentation. There's no need for looking up tutorials really, because you don't have to read a 500 page book to understand certain tools, just basic man pages and some computer science knowledge.

With OpenBSD, you go back to a simpler time. Without all the hectic bullshit and an ever-faster pace of constant changes that makes our lives worse, rather than better. The only useful thing it can't do is gaming - with some exceptions, for that I use Windows.

Talking about ports again: OpenBSD comes with batteries included. Not everything though, but you don't really need the ports that much for just a server, if you aren't doing anything complex.

I also use it on desktop/laptop systems, booting it up (yes, it's relatively slow...) always gets me to a state of tranquility. The good ol' days. Maybe that's just my type of brain, but life needs to become simpler again.

Really, what post-2010 information technology has really improved our well-being? Can't think of much.

OpenBSD may have to many rough edges for a desktop system though, even for most geeks. But for those, there is FreeBSD (have it on one laptop). Just get a well-supported machine for that.

Doesn't make much of a difference, the former is just slightly more privacy friendly than the latter. Which is preferable of course, but no big difference compared to reporting an age bracket to platforms.

I also don't see how it takes anything away, you could still set stricter policies with those tools, or more mild ones if you set the age to 18.

This could be an option with children under the age of 12. Maybe only let them use a computer or gaming console in the living room, or something like that.

Just 01-01-1970 :)

I would agree when it comes to the most basic real-world skills, but even then you cannot prohibit it. When it comes to digital skills, no, you cannot expect everyone to understand it. Even when it comes to GUI tools. It's just not realistic.

Age verification through the OS could make parental control much easier. Just set the age of your child on a given system with your own account, and apps and websites can signal what the minimum age is, and then the OS can decide to block it or not. Could be very privacy friendly compared to the current online methods, like what Discord did.

Of course, I'm not in favour of actual verification of the age attribute. And I've heard the slippery slope arguments. But if I were a parent this would be great.

Problem with setting up parental controls currently is that it takes some effort and knowledge of these tools, not every parent has that. I mean, even people who do, are usually chaotic in the digital domain, like for example, (re-)using very bad passwords. So why expect people to do better with parental controls?

Compatibility layers can also introduce security bugs. One of the reasons why it was removed from OpenBSD.

BSD is more for purists anyway. Virtualization seems to be a better option than compatibility layers for the odd program that doesn't work natively.

Maybe that it's different for Windows API's on Linux, because by virtualizing Windows, you're still dealing with an unfree OS.

I've had issues with Wayland, even in 2025, but never with X11. X11 may be old, but it's stable. Mint is for normal people, not us. I do have it on my travel laptop though, because well, it never has any issues.

Using it because you're practically forced to use it, is not the same as not rejecting it intellectually. While that's probably still a minority, it definitely seems larger than just a rounding error to me.

I've seen, though rare, other people with dumbphones, for example. And more people who would like to have one.