It’s definitely not the case that it’s useless. A MITM can embed malware into the page it returns if you aren’t being served over HTTPS. It’s not just about snooping on sensitive data going one or both ways, it’s about being sure that what you’re receiving is from who you actually think you’re receiving it from.

(Edit to add:) I actually went to look at some of the rest of the site and it confirms what I suspected: not using HTTPS here puts the reader at risk. Because this website provides code snippets and command line snippets that the user is to run, by not presenting it over HTTPS, it becomes susceptible to malicious MITM editing of the content.

For example, this line on the site:

2. Install Homebrew (ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)”)

Could be intercepted, since it’s not being served HTTPS, and be replaced with utf-8 lookalike characters that really downloads and runs a malicious ruby script! Even easier, perhaps, they could just insert an item into the bulleted list that has the user run a malicious command.

HTTPS is not just for security of personal or private information. It is also for verifiable authenticity and security in contexts like this.

It amazes me the sheer number of developers whose hands I need to hold for even the most basic tasks that my elderly mother even knows how to do. I’ve worked in tech for about 15 years, and the terms “developer” and “tech nerd/enthusiast” used to be synonymous, but over the years, that’s less and less true.

The tech nerds use to be the ones getting CS degrees. Now it seems like it’s just another degree for indecisive majors and most of the kids I see starting out today aren’t passionate about tech - it’s just a degree/paycheck. It’s just baffling to me lol. I work in support, and most folks on my end are big tech nerds still.

The problem is the laundry basket is not one laundry basket, but a series of subtly different ones that are all poorly implemented leaky abstractions layered on top of files.

Using a “laundry basket with a search robot” IS inherently a worse way to store data than a “file system with hierarchy”.

Nested folders are reliable and predictable.

Tagging is also a good option.

Relying on search that is likely to fail in predictable ways is an awful way to do anything serious. And therein lies the problem… These people have mostly never done serious work with a computer before, that other people rely on. As soon as someone else stands to lose money or fail a class because you can’t find a file, the distinction will come into sharp focus.

Well TBH I’m STILL waiting for a nice tag-based file system where I can just throw all my files in my bin and filter by tags, potentially more than one at a time.

Way before “tldr” became something on the internet, research papers had an abstract and news articles had a lead that tells you what the article is about.

I think this article is very good but replacing the abstract/lead by a snug paragraph is not a good idea.