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Yes... and to be honest, it appears to have failed miserably. And that was with Reddit. Try inciting a full scale revolution against Google and Amazon, for wha
by gjsman-1000 3y ago
Yes... and to be honest, it appears to have failed miserably.
And that was with Reddit. Try inciting a full scale revolution against Google and Amazon, for what they are right now. It's not happening.
I've honestly come to the conclusion that 98%+ of people... don't give a darn about "computational freedom." And, to be honest, why should they? They have so many other demands on their lives than an argument about what software they can run on their phone. As long as it runs what they are used to, they don't care. The market also shows this as well. If "computational freedom" was something that most people actually cared about, Linux would not be sitting with ~2% market share.
I also have found that most people like appliances. We argue against appliances - like, why would you want your phone to be a dumb appliance considering everything it could possibly do? I've even seen Right-to-Repair and other people (I believe Cory included) screeching about how Apple has turned smartphones into appliances. For most people though... that's a feature, not a bug. Appliances mostly just work. "Computers" in their mind, don't. They don't want their phone to be like their "computer". In which case, I think Microsoft bears the greater blame for permanently sullying what a "computer" feels like.
Edit: And while I keep adding my thoughts, I think it is interesting how the App Store, despite literally restricting what customers can install, actually gives customers a very strong sense of "freedom." How many people install apps on Windows? Almost none - in part, because the openness of the platform made most people terrified to install, or even just download, anything. Customers aren't afraid of installing, or trying, anything from the App Store - so to them, the iPhone probably feels more free than their PC. While I generally support sideloading, I do get the sense that most people will, ironically, feel less free overall once it rolls out.
- weikju 3y agoI appreciate these thoughts being written down and these points definitely need to be addressed. I think one of the big problems is not that phones etc are appliances but that everything company is trying to turn their offerings into an appliance (and alternatives becoming more and more niche), and at the same time alternatives are just not allowed to be on the same footing. In some places you need either an Android (Google Android that is) or an iPhone to partake in some services (commercial or otherwise). Very often it feels penalizing to refuse to use either of those, or you lose out in quality of life or available services as a result. This isn’t good.