Welcome to Sidetracked!

A blog for me to talk about, well, anything really. You can leave, but never escape.

Defending your right to exist as you are

A long look at why 'Linux is better than Windows' is a category error, why printers are a perfect case study in who software is built for, and why customization culture turns an operating system into a mirror that enthusiasts can't stand to look at honestly.

June 12, 2026 • 15 minute and 15 second read time

The Library of Alexandria has one key-holder (and they’re having a bad day)

The Library of Alexandria has one key-holder, and they think my IP is a data centre. On the danger of heroic one-man operations, how efficiency kills resilience, the technical arrogance of a Western admin, and the realisation that when you contribute to a wiki, you’re just building a castle you aren’t allowed to live in.

January 13, 2026 • 13 minute and 24 second read time

Desktop Linux isn't ready (and I'm tired of pretending it is)

After corrupting my root partition (again), I installed my 30-something-th distro and realised Desktop Linux isn't ready. Not for casual users, not even for enthusiasts. On sleep/wake Russian roulette, ideology over UX, why knowing too much makes you a terrible judge of usability, the prison of endless distro-hopping, and the fact I'm growing tired of something I've loved so dearly.

December 20, 2025 • 9 minute and 11 second read time

DeaDBeeF, discrimination, and why 'just fork it' doesn't work

After discovering a music player actively removed Russian translations and silenced discussion about it, I got angry enough to fork a 20-year-old C codebase. Here's what that taught me about FOSS, authority, and why 'just fork it' is terrible advice.

November 30, 2025 • 8 minute and 26 second read time

Shower thoughts on communism (even though capitalism sucks too)

The ideas are appealing, but can it actually work at the scale of a nation? On the information problem, tragic trade-offs during scarcity, human nature, and why every economic system sucks, just in different ways.

November 1, 2025 • 12 minute and 42 second read time