Subject: The joyful message - Was: Apocalypse

From: Ralf Mardorf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:13:28 +0100

Actually, you shouldn't respond to spam, but in this case, instead of
predicting the apocalypse, I want to spread the joyful message.

After the International Criminal Court was punished by the tech giants
loyal to Trump, both the International Criminal Court and many cities in
the EU are now switching from Microsoft to open source. 

I myself switched from an Atari with 80286 hardware emulator to a Linux
PC 23 years ago. However, as I am an artist, I also use Apple. This
year, I actually wanted to buy a Mac Pro, but I changed my mind and am
now considering alternatives to Apple's €20,000+ solution. Pure open
source is not an alternative for art, animation, and a sound studio, but
I will probably stick with a combination of iPad Pro and Linux/FreeBSD.

If the US were to disable an iPad Pro overnight, it would be less
painful than if this were to happen to a €20,000+ system.

My hope is that more software developers will also offer Linux versions.
There is already a slight trend in this direction, for example, the
music software Pianoteq, which is the best product in its field, is also
available for Linux. In fact, I bought the software for my iPad Pro, but
at the same time I also purchased a version for my Linux PC.

There are still idiots in the EU. In the Ruhr region, where I live,
welfare organizations and similar social institutions are currently
switching to Microsoft. These are precisely the organizations that Trump
considers his enemies and which Musk believes turned his daughter
transgender. It is precisely these organizations that will very quickly
realize in a very bitter and harsh way that they have to get away from
Microsoft again. In the end, this will also contribute to open source.

In summary, it can be said that Trump is destabilizing the US tech
giants and promoting the international shift to open source, although he
is not doing this entirely on his own; a certain Xi is also ensuring
that more and more people are turning away from certain products and
services.

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From: Rolf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:54:47 +0100

Dear Ralf

Thank you for your contribution, which was very helpful to me. I was
considering switching from Windows to macOS (minus the iCloud services),
because DXO Photolab is available for these platforms only. But your
thoughts make me think twice about it - after all, macOS is a USA
product as well, and additionally, I would be forced to buy USA hardware.
The rest of our home office computer work, we do with Alpine Linux on a
PC assembled by a local company.

And thanks a lot for mentioning Pianoteq! I didn't know this software
before - Organteq could be very interesting for my hobby!

Best regards

Rolf

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From: Ralf Mardorf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:53:16 +0100

On Fri, 2026-01-30 at 18:54 +0100, Rolf wrote:
> Organteq could be very interesting for my hobby!

Rolf, in case you don't know it yet: 
https://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/aeolus/
I haven't used it myself yet, so I can't say anything about it, but
since it is both free in libre and free as in beer, I just wanted to
introduce it to you.

Regards,
Ralf