I’ve been talking about how someone really needs to create a new “home operating system” for my use, and kvetching that they haven’t, only to find out recently that these things do exist.
While we’ve had Google and Apple Home apps a while, & we also have SIRI, Alexa, Hey Google!, Chat-GPT, and others, does a really workable Home OS that rises to the level of the home we saw in Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” short story exist?
Is there one that doesn’t expose you to the whims of billionaire narcissists who want to know everything about you from your past medical history to your current at this moment context so they can sell you more stuff at the highest price you are likely to pay?
Is there one that’s secure, that’s not going to expose you to marketeers, scammers, con men and zealots wanting to indoctrinate you while begging money?
Is there one that works local over your network, that doesn’t need subscriptions, the internet, and your information going everywhere for who knows what reason?
It turns out that there are a few, and bonus!, they are mostly open source. Good news right?
Wrong! This means that there are several confusing options out there with probable varying flaws and features to study, but then I really wasn’t doing anything important…
So over the next few months I plan to study a few of the existing open systems and the devices that they work with and how well that goes. You can tag along with me to see how well they are insulated against the techbro hegemony that’s coming.
Let us start at the beginning – every communication device or system that we humans have ever made gets enshittified over time because there are so many opportunistic humans out there who are so very willing to fool a bunch of other humans in order to enrich themselves or make their personal life easier.
Three examples:
Our postal service, which was truly a service and did a great job in the beginning, morphed into a ginormous chute for advertisers, con men, and zealots to dump tons of unwanted and unsolicited junk mail on us at our residence every day but Sunday.
Our Telephone system went from a method to stay in touch with friends and family as well as operate our businesses to a system for scammers to robo-call us three to five times a day from foreign nations.
The internet, while never perfect, was for a brief, shining moment, a research tool of massive value, an extension of our communal village square, where you could easily get to authoritative information on any subject in moments. Our communal & informative adjunct mind took the Techbro red pill, and became a massive heap of shit and insanity where you have to hip wade past sewers of AI garbage and disinformation to find true, authoritative knowledge, and where zealots and fools hold massive audiences in thrall.
The other thing that happens over time to products is creeping features: sometimes they are good, but do you really need a swiss army potato peeler?
So come along with me while I investigate the existing home operating systems, what people are saying about them, how well they meet a few basic standards:
- must ensure your privacy
- must be safe in operation
- trust – open source, protection from “Muskification”
- must work local
- no subscription required
- no account needed
- it must use open systems (software / Hardware)
- the home OS must be secure
