XP still had the designed-by-engineers vibe. Since then, Microsoft got completely taken over by dipshits with marketing MBAs.
They now code Windows to impress executives and shareholders with how much they can harvest data and manipulate customers into using their stupid Store and so on. They stopped caring about the experiences of power users, or even casual users.
They don’t want the OS to work for us. They want us to work for them.
Thinking that tailgating the vehicle directly in front of them will make thousands of other vehicles in front of that vehicle magically go faster. And many other reckless car-brain stunts.
My hope would be that we can transition peacefully to a hybrid model with the rising power of unions, gradual emergence of worker cooperatives, and increased demand for socialized health care and affordable housing.
However, I think it’s more likely that things will have to collapse first. Especially with violent accelerationist types doing their thing. Unfortunately, it’s far easier to destroy systems than it is to repair them.
I watch stealth campers on YouTube, even though I have zero interest in camping myself. I’m impressed and entertained by their ingenuity and explorer approach to things. It’s also a tiny push back against a corpo-fashy culture that wants people to “spend money here or move along”. These stealth camper people are harming no one (and the good ones pick up a lot of litter). But of course the “people of Nextdoor” suburban types flip the fuck out over stranger danger, so the campers have to avoid getting caught. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want some rando squatting in my backyard, either. I’m talking about people camping in parks, parking lots, medians, interstitial woodlands, etc.
They want to wall some of their content off so it’s not easily harvestable on the web by competitors. But most of all, they want to have full control of your user “experience” so you can’t use browser extensions (like ad blockers). It’s all about money and control.
I still love Lemmy. It’s nice to be able to post or comment without getting an automated response telling you you’re doing 15 things wrongs for trying to participate like happens on schmeddit.
This has been my experience with my own family, neighbors, coworkers, etc. They think of themselves as the good guys “standing firm” against the hoards of those “scary other people” who want to take their guns, raise their taxes, and wage war on Christmas. Even though what those “other people” really want is affordable healthcare, education, and housing.
Warby Parker. Something about the name just completely frosts me. I know I should grow up and give them a chance (because Luxotica is fucking evil). But it really turns me off. “Warby Parker”…sounds like the name of some kid who’s dad owns racehorses.
I got a lot of complaints from family, too. Especially because I block Meta. I just let them bitch and I tell them things like “those ads are broken because of malware” which isn’t entirely untrue.