even programs that may likely just sit there until the next release comes along. … the only thing you can do is install flatpaks for your preferred programs so that they’d be up to date. … Wine (gamers, you’re gonna cry a lot unless you work it around with flatpaks
I already posted on this a while ago but that’s is a recurring misconception. No distribution, literally 0, provides all software to the latest version or to the version one expects. Consequently IMHO it is perfectly acceptable to go beyond what the official package manager of the distribution offers. It can be flatpaks, am, build from source, etc but the point precisely is that the distribution is about a shared practical common ground to build on top of. A distribution is how to efficiently get to a good place. I also run Debian stable on my desktop and for gaming, I use Steam. It allows me to get Wine, yes, but also Proton and even ProtonFix so that I basically point and click to run games. I do NOT tinker to play Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Clair Obscur, etc and my hardware is well supported.
So… sure if you consider a distribution as something you must accept as-is and NOT rely on any of the available tools to get the latest software you actually need, can be games but can be tools e.g. Blender, Cura, etc, then you WILL have a tough time but that’s the case for all distributions anyway.
TL;DR: a distribution is the base layer to build on. Its package manager, on Debian and elsewhere, is not the mandatory and sole way to get the software you need.
No idea what your analogy about non conventional medicine is about. Feel free to explain.
Indeed, which is already what I mentioned, namely another group. It’s about the threat model namely if you trust one ISP more than another. I believe your understood that but chose not to acknowledge it and I’m not sure why but maybe it related to your analogy that I didn’t get.
Edit: if you and others are interested in the topic I recommend https://splintercon.net/ plenty of resources on the topic.
PS: FWIW I didn’t suggest VPN is the solution to all problems but they do alleviate some. The point is one must understand both how they work and their OWN threat model rather than an idealized one.