First you have to define what is Linux (does ChromeOS count? How about Android? Alpine? What makes something “Linux”), and what is a desktop (do laptops count? How about portable handhelds/phones with a desktop mode?).
First you have to define what is Linux (does ChromeOS count? How about Android? Alpine? What makes something “Linux”), and what is a desktop (do laptops count? How about portable handhelds/phones with a desktop mode?).


I see you too were born on January 1st 1970.


They basically defined curl as an app store: “facilitates the download of applications”


You’re right that mostly the reasonable thing was related to previous law.


Not just Linux, but embedded OS’s too. Also, the age verification requirement is a “reasonable attempt”, so maybe a prosecutor decides full face scan checks are the minimum “reasonable effort”. Will it hold up? Who knows, but can you afford to litigate it?
Note, there are not exceptions for headless installs, or OS’s without an account.


But embedded computing devices these days are regularly general computing devices, and have been for a long time. If my insert appliance x with an ARM processor isn’t a general computing device, then why is my raspberry pi?


But also, every FreeDos install ,server, managed network switch, IoT device, gas pump, etc. now needs to verify user age.
Also, it has to make “reasonable” effort to verify the age. Maybe just asking your age isn’t considered reasonable by the state. Since the law doesn’t lay out what to do, anything you do might become unreasonable depending on the winds of the day.


It goes way beyond Linux. Think any device that could download something at some point. Gas station pump, calculator, FreeDos, VxWorks, etc.
There is a lot of language like “or can download an application”, so if you can download something, then that thing could be an application, and thus that device and it’s OS is covered.


Well… Unless those blocking bugs relate to getting new Wayland protocols approved.


When I was young (7-8ish), the car I was in was t-boned and flipped upsidedown. After crawling out over broken glass and walking to the nearby gas station, a stranger got me a Sprite while the adults dealt with the insurance, cops, etc. (no one was injured)
My work upgraded to Windows 11, now I have lag for a right click menu to appear, and once it does individual items (like Open with Notepad++) just show up as “Loading…” for several more seconds.
Self driving cars. Ten years ago I said, “we’ll have this worked out in 10 years”. What a fool I was.