Can't you just use an AppImage (if available) for things you don't want to bother with instalation? I only use it for emulators, and I don't really explore the OS anymore, so I'm not sure if they have any downsides.

Looking at some of the links, many of the ones I looked at go to publishers, universities and what look like official websites for the books, so it may be worth taking a look at the list, and maybe checking where the link goes to.

PostgreSQL I guess isn't a replacement if you need to use something with no support for it, but where does MariaDB falls short of MySQL?

I probably never had any need for whatever it is before, and may not have in the future, but I'd like to be aware of any shortcomings, just in case.

Docstore, Group Replication, MySQL Shell would be some of examples. The larger difference through is just compatibility - things do not work quite the same and if you're looking at large enough application you would likely require some changes to move one way or another.

After searching for a bit and finding a post on reddit, I think they mean https://cara.app/

Goodbye from 145993830. How do I even remember this after so many years?

I do not know where op is from, but here in Brazil, where whatsapp is huge, there's a huge expectation you'll be reacheable on whatsapp, both in and out of work.

That is definitely not universal - I've never used it, and it seems to be just for teenagers in my area. (Rural Midwestern USA)

South America: Whatsapp

Northern Europe: Facebook messenger

United States: SMS/iMessage

which is quite fun. Does SMS/iMessage support groups, bots or any kind of automation? Americans stopped in the stone age.

> stopped in the stone age.

And pleasantly so. I actually barely even text - I tell friends to send me an email, or even better just show up at my door and we'll hang out. I get that I'm an outlier, but I enjoy having my digital communications be for work, and my "real" life being offline.

MMS is part of standard cellphone plans and supports group messaging. Most people can't tell when they are sending a SMS or MMS, it just works.

That your carrier had such abusive SMS & MMS rates that it pushed people to Over The Top apps is concerning, and raises notable digital sovereignty and Telecom regulation questions about where your local telecom regulator failed.

That's an interesting perspective. So Americans are stuck with a non-evolving protocol because telecom regulation worked well?

I'm glad ours didn't.

My country only didn't settle for SMS because you still have to pay per message, where WhatsApp is free.

That is why Discord is huge in US while the rest of the world telegram, fb, WhatsApp.

Southern Europe: WhatsApp

You can make it a lot better by taking some time to remove a lot of the default subreddits and adding content you like. I think that's pretty much why I created my account years ago: to get rid of politics on the front page.