who

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire

the first thing was install FreeBSD. I have always been intrigued by it, a UNIX like OS that was by design meant to replace UNIX

FreeBSD descends from the Berkeley Software Distribution, a descendant of Bell Labs Unix. As it is very much a pedigreed Unix, you don't have to say "UNIX like". :)

Fun fact: The network sockets API that is (or was originally) used by every major OS for internet protocol support came from BSD.

Edit: You might enjoy these Unix family trees...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Unix_history-simple.svg

https://eylenburg.github.io/os_familytree.htm

I used to like Klei games. Too bad they sold out to Tencent.

Is [XMPP's lack of popularity] really just a marketing/UX/UI problem?

No, there is more to it than that. Off the top of my head, these issues stand out as major hurdles:

• XMPP is a relatively basic protocol. By itself, it cannot compete because it lacks modern features like end-to-end encryption, persistent message history, group chat, etc. It does have extension specs (XEPs) to provide many such features, but it still lacks a single cohesive spec identifying and unifying the important ones. You could call it fragmentation. This makes it overly complex for implementors, and leads to the next problem:
• Someone wanting a messaging service with a competitive feature set must first identify at least one server that implements all the relevant XEPs, and a client for each of their devices that implements the same. That's not viable for most people, many of whom have only a vague notion of what a communications protocol is.
• Ever since public XMPP support was dropped by big services like Google and Facebook, the availability of reliable, free, public servers has all but vanished. Most people wouldn't know with confidence how to find one, let alone one with all the needed extensions. And even if they do find one, most will be unable to assess whether it will still be running in ten years or more. This makes it quite a gamble to tie your online identity and network of contacts to whatever server you find.

So, while XMPP (with appropriate extensions) is still a capable protocol, the expertise and support required to make it competitive is not readily available to most people. I might suggest it to small groups who have local expertise to get it all set up and keep things running well, but not to the general public.

Meanwhile, Matrix has a unified spec with a rich feature set, a variety of homeservers and client apps that support it, sufficient momentum for continued development, and the critical mass to make it viable for global public use.

Matrix is going Freemium

No, it is not. The matrix.org public homeserver is planning to add premium accounts and put some limits on free accounts. People who want free access can accept the limits, or find a different homeserver, or run their own.

The Matrix network will remain open and free for anyone to use.

I wonder if someone could upload a snapshot of it to the Internet Archive.

Pussy Riot: 5 Russian Words You'll Need to Know in Trump's America (2017)

(Thanks to archive.org for saving this video, which was recently removed from YouTube.)

1. Likely, yes. The mounting holes and rear connectors on any ATX motherboard should line up with the standoffs and slots on any ATX case. Just make sure the new board isn't too large for the case. Plan ahead for the size of your new CPU cooler, too.
2. For the most part, yes. Pay attention to the new motherboard's power connector and that of your old power supply. If they don't match, you might want to get a more modern power supply (even if it's a used one).
3. It depends on the prices you find. Bear in mind that if you go for a new motherboard, it doesn't have to be the latest generation. A socket AM4 motherboard might make sense, since new CPUs are still being made for them, and they're likely to be cheaper than latest-generation stuff.

The Ryzen 5 5500X3D's Latin American exclusivity sets it apart from its higher-end counterparts, being the only Ryzen chip exclusive to that geographic area.

The practice extends beyond those. Lemmy is not immune, for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

This community looks relevant in principle, although most of the posts right now are about political astroturfing (which is not the only kind):

[email protected]

You know that it's common for companies to pay influencers and publications for favorable publicity, right?

Syncplay for watching movies with remote groups of friends, by synchronizing everyone's playback time, speed, and pause buttons. Rather than depending on a streaming service, it expects everyone to have a copy of the movie. I use it with Mumble voice chat so we can all converse while watching.