+++
title = "software"
date = "2026-09-04"
+++

most software is not based. there are exceptions tho.

# based

## messengers

there are 3 good messengers.

### XMPP

[xmpp](https://xmpp.org) is the best messaging protocol. it's an open standard with many client (and server) implementations.

### Matrix

[matrix](https://matrix.org) is another open standard. less based than XMPP because of its stupid federation architecture.

DO NOT USE `matrix.org` AS YOUR HOMESERVER. Use [unredacted.org](https://unredacted.org) or [private.coffee](https://private.coffee).

### Signal

[signal](https://signal.org/) is an e2ee messenger. it requires a phone number to sign up, is not federated but is still a good messenger.

it has some of the coolest crypto tech in any messenger (fun fact: most e2ee messengers use the signal protocol).

## os

### linux

[linux](https://kernel.org) is the most popular libre kernel. i recommend [einfach](/projects/einfach), [gentoo](https://gentoo.org) and [alpine](https://alpinelinux.org).

### busybox

[busybox](https://busybox.net) is a tiny coreutils implementation in a single binary.

### freebsd

[freebsd](https://freebsd.org) is a full operating system, while linux is just a kernel which is combined with userspace tools.

### openbsd

[openbsd](https://openbsd.org) is also a full operating system. it's secure as fuck but lacks some software support.

### runit

[runit](https://smarden.org/runit/) is based. it's simple, small and just works.

# not based

**beware: garbage ahead**

## os

### windows

the most popular desktop operating system. it's slow, bloated, sends tons of data back to microsoft and is harder to use than some linux distributions.

### macos

**"garbage, but apple" ~ forever2k38, 2026**

the same bullshit. only slightly better since it's unix like.

### systemd

why does it need 750k lines of C? [runit](https://smarden.org/runit/), [sysklogd](https://github.com/troglobit/sysklogd) and a few more daemons provide all of its functionality.

### gnu

gnu extensions are cancer and only exist to lock people into using gnu software.

## messengers

### discord

**"bad irc"**

discord really is garbage. it's proprietary, the desktop client is electron based, it's not e2ee and it scans all of your messages.