I have a degree in CS... actually spent some time implementing email protocol as part of a class to send test messages through I think websockets in Java or something.
I ain't touching that shit. I'll more than happily let my domain name provider manage that for me so I can focus on ~~bigger and better things~~ going through yet another Civilization 5 Vox Populi campaign.
The fourth bill does seem like it has the potential to have a devastating effect on mass accessibility to formal college-level education in liberal arts. Such programs would seemingly find themselves merely enrolling either the very wealthy or the very talented, who were either wealthy enough to afford the cost of American university straight-up or talented enough to receive scholarships.
Anecdotally, most of the adults that I know who are struggling with student loans as adults have undergraduates in liberal arts. I guess you could make an argument that not funding students taking such programs is a more fiscally responsible move.
I for one, will most definitely not be doing this. Reddit was such a vital part of the internet during the mid-2010's to early 2020's... it would be a shame it all that history was permanently lost.
I will, however, likely not be going back. I've actually really wanted to take part in a decentralized social community like this for a long time, and I am very excited about what the federation brings to the table, and about the role that Lemmy fills in that network. In a world where the internet seems so much to focus on what is currently going on now, I reckon not contributing to Reddit anymore will have a much greater long-term impact than nuking my previous content, and will allow me to leave my piece of internet history intact on their archive.
"I don't want to go on the cart!" - Dead Person, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail
No seriously though... seems like every year or two I hear about another story of someone just coming back like this. The human body is totally wild.
From my experience with Linux - your hardware will almost certainly work just fine without a problem.
It'll be your Windows software that you're going to have potential problems with. This is likely way less hassle than it was 10-20 years ago - wine has been continuously improved, DirectX 12 was open sourced, and a lot of software is run in web browsers these days anwyay, but depending what you're trying to do, it can still be a challenge.