If this isn't your first round on linux, Try Debian, set it to use non-free contrib packages and set the appstore to install apps as flatpaks before native.
Avoid using Ubuntu based distros as they run Snap packages which are just a general nightmare for users.
Snaps make sense for servers, but the only reason Ubuntu forces it on users is $$$$.
Remember, this isn't because they're at record losses, or that they're breaking even.
It's literally because they're not making enough profit.
This is the freemarket system functioning as intended.
A company can still be making money, still be above water, but decide their shareholders need to be even better off and they will decide they deserve money more than people struggling and making it by barely check-to-check.
I understand your instinct that this is a one-off situation.
But this is common behavior in the U.S.
As I explained in another comment, this is socially enforced as well as through laws.
Typically impoverished families will be coerced into this behavior, and wealthier families whole-heartedly believe in this behavior.
Childhood isn't Freedom here. It's the years of your life in which the law requires you to be under surveillance, indoctrinated, and strictly following dress code and acceptable haircuts.
Not less than 2 months ago, a kid was punished and moved into a reformatory school because he committed the ungodly crime of having an unapproved haircut.
For those who cannot afford private school, we have to obey laws to the letter. And even then risk being punished.
U.S. Laws make it so that your child MUST be treated like property, and to be given as little freedom as possible. Otherwise CPS can and will be called. And everyday this continues to worsen in the U.S.
If you have money, most won't even bother. But public school teachers and officials can clearly see who has money and who doesn't. Whether or not your parents are good or terrible is irrelevant.
I'd rather be living paycheck to paycheck, uncertain of my next meal, but able to think my own thoughts and live my own life, than to EVER go back to being a slave for someone simply because they were related to me.
If you say you'd rather go back to being told when to wake up, go to bed, when to eat, what to eat, what you can and can't say, what you can and can't believe, what clothes you can and can't wear, what haircut you have to have, what you can watch, when and where you could go, being required to be monitored, being under non-stop workload, and even what you're supposed to be when you're an adult...
You're a fascist and you want your kids to believe this is freedom.
This is textbook slavery. Sure, all your expenses and care are covered. But you also don't have to worry about thinking either, they do that for you too.
Except Lemmy isn't a single Lemmy.com that will one day run out of money and implode into nothingness.
Lemmy, Mastodon, and other ActivityPub based Fediverse Networks are muliti-node systems.
This is just pure nihilism without a hint of thought put into it. Nothing short of the world exploding and human annihilation will kill Lemmy, And even then, there are bots.
Oh yes, the 8 hours of those 180 days I wasn't the explicit property of my parents, and was instead the explicit property of the school system.
Truly those are the golden years /s
Nostalgia for not having to pay bills at the expense of personal freedom and an ability to choose is an easy way for me to sus out whether someone is a fascist or not.
It's a war of attrition. Slow and steady will win this race.
Lemmy, just like Mastodon has seen spikes followed by users leaving. But every spike leaves more users on Lemmy/Mastodon than previously.
Truthfully, in the event another Reddit Exodus, which will happen, we need to try and be more of a content-oriented system during that era. Making more posts and focusing on adding to niches.
Reddit is about Niche communities and Content Saturation. Lemmy isn't really about that, but it can be for moments at a time to pull users in. At some point we'll reach a critical mass of users that leads to easier justification for new users to join.
We just need a group of extremely disorganized and disagreeable people to organize and and agree on this.
Rumble is functionally on par with YouTube in terms of video player and not having ads.
But Rumble is a Fascist cesspool filled with people who ran from YouTube when they implemented such controversial rules as “don’t say racial slurs” and “don’t spread misinformation.”.
Rumble has been funded by mostly Right Wingers and an agreement with Trump.
If this isn't your first round on linux, Try Debian, set it to use non-free contrib packages and set the appstore to install apps as flatpaks before native.
Avoid using Ubuntu based distros as they run Snap packages which are just a general nightmare for users.
Snaps make sense for servers, but the only reason Ubuntu forces it on users is $$$$.