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The line between helpful tech and quiet surveillance is blurring — and our devices no longer feel fully under our control.

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[-] FaeriesWearBoots@sopuli.xyz 200 points 5 months ago

people are experiencing innovation fatigue

What innovation? The user experience hasn't undergone significant innovation (improvement) in the last decade

[-] Broadfern@lemmy.world 97 points 5 months ago

It’s enshittification fatigue, not innovation.

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 16 points 5 months ago

Exactly. I almost feel like many are hungry for something new and different. So much so, that you give them something completely useless like an Ai widget, and they are willing to accept it to scratch an innovation itch.

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[-] ms_lane@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Forced 'innovation' see-

  • Windows 8/10/11

  • Gnome 3

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[-] scripthook@lemmy.world 85 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I installed Lubuntu on my Microsoft Surface 2 and my custom PC from 2014 that couldn’t get upgraded to windows 11 due to lack of a tpm chip. We don’t need better hardware, we need better operating systems. We need more Linux.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 44 points 5 months ago

We need more real Linux -- GNU/Linux, with compliant copyleft licensing -- not Tivoized crap like they put on TVs.

Roku OS, Amazon Fire OS, Tizen (Samsung TV OS), etc. -- all technically Linux, but you wouldn't know it because they've systematically butchered them to destroy everything that made Linux good (the users' freedom).

[-] Sightline@lemmy.world 44 points 5 months ago

What's the point of being so pedantic?, they were obviously not advocating for more Roku installs.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 17 points 5 months ago

Because the distinction matters. The corporate raping of Linux has to stop being tolerated or else nothing is solved. The technical details of the kernel don't actually matter; the licensing and openness is what matters. Hell, if the Windows NT kernel got magically relicensed to AGPLv3 tomorrow it would instantly become the superior option just because of that.

Linux doesn't fucking matter. Copyleft matters.

[-] Rothe@piefed.social 15 points 5 months ago

Sigh. This kind of nonsense is why so many people get scared away from even trying linux. Who cares which distro you use, as long as it is linux it is a step in the right direction, and a whole lot of people (including myself) have taken that step very recently, despite some arrogant linux bros doing their best to gatekeep us away from even trying.

[-] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago

do you seriously think roku, tizen, amazon fire are a step in the right direction?

[-] enumerator4829@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 months ago

Yes. Kinda.

How do you think Linux devs get paid? The devices are locked down, sure, but there are strong incentives to upstream code and fund further development upstream. Linux ”won” because of this. You can’t build and develop Linux for such a wide audience and hardware flora with a bunch of hobbyists.

As Linus himself said plenty of times - GPL2 was the correct choice. Roku, Tizen, Chromebooks and Amazon garbage are absolutely within what the developers intended, and the devs are doing the work after all.

From a consumer standpoint, I absolutely agree with you, open everything is wonderful. However - commercial interests currently fund most OSS development. Without those funds, development stops and developers must take other paying jobs (probably closed source). Would be nice to change this, but then we need to completely pivot our funding model. You need to pay devs, either directly or indirectly (taxes, foundations, etc).

So far, the open source community hasn’t been very good at figuring out funding models for consumer products. It usually ends with the development team needing to put food on the table, so they add a subscription and close down parts of the project. About two seconds later, the project has ten forks and the original author can’t buy groceries.

”Buy me a beer” simply isn’t s viable mechanism to fund open source. How should we do it?

Personal preference: Slowly move the public sector towards open source, and require them to provide financial aid to products they use. Not perfect, but something that could happen gradually, without shocking the system.

tl;dr: yes, but also no.

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[-] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 41 points 5 months ago

I have a computer capable of outputting video like 5 different ways: over the internet, near-field EM, HDMI, yadda

I just want a fucking standards compatible dumb screen

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[-] tyrant@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago

This is where the Linux and self hosting people chime in.

[-] SnotFlickerman 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I get tut-tutted by other Linux nerds for this a lot, but I think Linux is impersonal in a different way because it simply demands more of the user. Sure, it gives freedom, but that freedom comes with responsibility, and a lot of people just are like "ain't nobody got time for that!" Which I think is a valid way to feel.

[-] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 5 months ago

I've been a developer for decades. I've contributed to FOSS code and do a lot of my own development.

I just want a desktop that works. No fuss.

Yes I could compile my own x11 (and have) but I would rather spend my time doing my own shit than trying to stand up a new VM for some edge issue I'm having.

Just...just give me a UI I can use.

It's why I use Ubuntu.

[-] tyrant@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Linux has come a long way though and it's basically turn key for some distros. Even with flatpak or system catalogs built into the gui.

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[-] Reygle@lemmy.world 34 points 5 months ago

Laughs in every computer I own is Linux and my mobile is GrapheneOS

Cries a little for everyone else

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[-] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 32 points 5 months ago

The poor user experience is intentional. Compare FireTV to AppleTV. Everything about FireTV is carefully designed to coerce you into spending money. Easy access to the content you already have doesn’t make money, so the UX serves Amazon, not you. Apple does it, too, but with a more subtlety.

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[-] DylanMc6@lemmy.ml 29 points 5 months ago

All monopolies should be split into different smaller companies which would then be given to the workers who would collectivize them.

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[-] paultimate14@lemmy.world 27 points 5 months ago

Sure, I might own the hardware

Not for long. The goal seems to be to make RAM, flash memory, and GPU's so expensive that most consumers will need to purchase low-powered client devices and subscribe to cloud computing business models. It's a handful of companies who are cornering the markets, controlling the supply, and seeking rents.

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[-] Gsus4@mander.xyz 26 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It is not user experience, it is user manipulation. We are so so far beyond Stallman's warnings about enslavement through corporate software design.

[-] xep@discuss.online 24 points 5 months ago

I've been considering using my phone only for tethering, and doing anything on the go on a ultraportable Linux laptop. If anyone is doing this already, I'd love to hear about your experience.

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[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 23 points 5 months ago

The more Windows tries to manage my files for me the less I’m able to find where anything is.

I wish Windows 2000 still ran modern games.

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Linux does. Not all, but a lot, and more every day.

It's been years now, and it still hits me sometimes how insanely nice it is that my computers now work the way I want them to.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Yeah, that was an unexpected nice thing about switching to Linux, though also the whole point. Like I knew that I wanted to take control back over my computer and OS, but I was surprised at just how much nicer it is when defaults are set without any profit incentive. There just wasn't "spend time disabling MS attempts to get me to use their other software" or "dig deep for how to change a setting MS would really rather you don't change" periods and it made me realize that that was where I'd spend a majority of the "computer maintenance" time on windows.

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 12 points 5 months ago

Interestingly, Linux also runs old Windows games better than modern Windows.

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[-] thuhtoosan@programming.dev 20 points 5 months ago

I think that's the reason why I always change the operating systems of my devices – Fedora Linux for my PCs and custom ROMs for my phone. The stock ones don't feel "personal enough" to me anymore.

[-] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago

You don't even hold the hardware if it's not user repairable, customizable or upgradable

[-] ngdev@lemmy.zip 8 points 5 months ago

how big would a gpu need to be to be user repairable lmao

[-] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago

Repairability isn't about the physical realities of executing the repair - that's a user end problem to be solved and people are often eager to tackle those.

It's about the manufacturer not being allowed to explicitly make design decisions that make it intentionally harder to do so than is strictly necessary as a side effect of the basic design.

[-] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

I'm taking at a device level not at a component level, think mackbook vs framework laptop

[-] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

Our devices are no longer fully under our control, it's not a "feeling".

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

Big Tech keeps building smarter devices

Smarter or just louder?

[-] Puddinghelmet@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Repost: The power and influence of billionaire tech companies over the government is enormous. Ofcourse workers/users don't get any (privacy) rights in america, none is lobbying for them lol, nobody in Washington is fighting for us

  • A measure you would normally impose on convicted criminals or terrorist leaders is now being used by the U.S. against these three people:
    • former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for European legislation including on social media;
    • Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, who researches online hate, A US judge has temporarily blocked the detention of this British social media campaigner Imran Ahmed, who took legal action against the US government over having his visa removed. Mr Ahmed, a US permanent resident, had warned that being detained and possibly deported would tear him away from his American wife and child. 😳;
    • and Clare Melford, who maps disinformation with her organization.

All three are now banned from entering the United States because they criticize and restrict American social media platforms such as X and Facebook.

  • Trumps inauguration lmao
[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

their power and influence wont stop 100 million people breaking down their gates, grabbing them out of their beds, and throwing them into woodchippers.

[-] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 8 points 5 months ago

I’m holding my breath, do it quickly.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 15 points 5 months ago

I watched something on Netflix the other day.

It immediately then showed an ad for that same movie I'd just watched, telling me the last day to watch is in a few days.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The other day my spouse was trying to watch a movie on prime I think it was, it started by playing an advertisement for the movie she chose to watch. I told her a copy was on the jellyfin server. She said I pay for this so I want to use it. It hit a 2 min 40 second ad break a little later and I saw her glare at me out of the corner of my eye, I chose to pretend to watch the commercial and not look at her, didn't want that conversation.

[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 6 points 5 months ago

I saw her glare at me out of the corner of my eye

As if you were the one putting the Ads into Prime lol

[-] regedit@lemmy.zip 13 points 5 months ago

The more this shit goes on, the more I find myself aligning with the villains in James Bond films. Burn this whole system to the fucking ground!

[-] okmko@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

But before all that...

Moves hands up thighs, "Oh Mr. Bond"

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[-] Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 10 points 5 months ago

Have the day you paid for.

[-] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 10 points 5 months ago

The supreme irony of that message coming from Windows Central...

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 9 points 5 months ago

Because soulless ghouls can only pretend to be human.

[-] Quexotic@infosec.pub 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's no coincidence that when I let the screen of my windos box turn off, it sounds like it's mining Bitcoin!

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this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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