I use Steam mainly because I haven’t found any major issues with how Valve does things overall. It’s been a fairly good experience for many years. Plus, with the steam deck it’s much more convenient to have on Steam.

Now, I’m thinking if the price goes low enough, I’d pick it off GoG to download the installer and store someone just in case. I like the idea of having a backup just in case.

I actually use steam to install the GoG game installers and completely bypass the heroic launcher.

In short, I hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

I’d wager there are daily goods that have far more exploitation than most people would be comfortable with.

But you are right in some cases things aren’t necessities and could probably be limited or cut out. That being said, there’s a morale / mental component too. For example, you don’t need that chocolate birthday cake for your sibling, parent, child, etc., but it is still is considered very important. If it wasn’t there, it could be considered a huge blow and/or insulting.

The shopping cart one is better because it’s literally just barely more time / effort. Fair trade stuff can be expensive compared to their counterpart. People in rougher financial situations really can’t make that choice every time.

I wouldn’t say it is “Year of the linux desktop!” But I do think eventually it will take up much more of the market of OS use. Maybe years and years away.

Linux has come a very long way. I found it is actually easier in many ways to Mac and Windows, more complicated in others.

For general use, and even gaming, it’s actually in a really good state for general users right now.