Letters by Burk #167: Tools and Trust

Hi friends,

It's been three weeks since the last letter. So this one is a bit longer.

Six posts, and almost all of them are about tools. Which system you need for Microsoft 365. Which AI tool to pick. Which apps you can still trust. And one operating system that looks great, but nobody can install yet.

Here are my last three weeks.

If This Works Out, It'll Be the Greatest Linux Distro Ever

Nava OS is a new Linux desktop with soft glass, pastel wallpapers and a Command Bar. It looks beautiful. For now, it's mostly a video, with a first developer build promised for December.

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

Google Created a Local AI Note-Taker for Mac

Google AI Edge Foresight transcribes your meetings on the Mac instead of in the cloud, Google says. What it does, what it isn't, and why "experiment" is a word to keep in mind with Google.

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

Choosing an AI Tool Is Still Way Harder Than It Should Be

The models are close. What differs is everything around them: images, design, websites, agents. And none of the big ones has it all.

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

The Dark Side of Vibe Coding

Now that almost anybody can build an app with AI, I look at new apps twice. Does it do what it's supposed to? And does it do it right?

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

Substack Takes Over VAT From December 1

Starting December 1, Substack calculates, collects and remits VAT for paid publishers. The fee stays at 10 percent.

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

You Don't Need Windows for Microsoft 365

Most of my agency day in Microsoft 365 runs on a Mac. And on an old iMac with Ubuntu, too. The one thing I still need Windows for is Access.

Read it on Medium or on Substack.

⚡ AI Bytes

Meta released Muse Spark Open, an open-weight model with about 816 billion parameters, and Apple's researchers ran it on two connected Mac Studios with M5 Ultra.

Epic's new Games Store launcher is out as a Linux preview, and Epic says it was vibe-coded with the help of AI agents.

And Google's Gemini 4 Argon is now in the Gemini app for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, in Antigravity only for Ultra, and its introductory API prices double on December 1, according to heise.

📎 From the Archive

From April, and it fits the tool theme: My Business Runs on 7 Tools, the short list I ended up with after trying Notion, Bear, Obsidian and a lot more.

Read it on Substack.

❓ FAQ

Do I have to do anything for Substack's VAT switch?

No. Substack's email says it plainly: "What do you need to do? Nothing!" You can check the content category in your VAT settings before December 1, so the right rate gets applied.

Can I use Microsoft 365 on Linux?

Mostly, through the web apps in Brave or Chromium. Teams and Outlook work as web apps with their own window. The one gap: Excel for the web can't run VBA macros.

Can I install Nava OS?

Not yet. A Developer Preview is announced for December, for developers, without Wi-Fi, sound or GPU acceleration.

That's #167. Back next Tuesday. ✌️

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