4 ms·

Based on my 25 yoe in the industry the article is extremely cynical but unfortunately very much spot on. Today in the corporate world the MBAs are running the

by samiv 2y ago

Based on my 25 yoe in the industry the article is extremely cynical but unfortunately very much spot on. Today in the corporate world the MBAs are running the show and they need continuous, growth and engagement. All needs of the developer and they manifest themselves in the software as features that are only there to serve the needs of the developer, not the user often combined with (deliberate) dark patterns and confusing UX just drive up the KPIs. What a load of BS. And the user often has no choice but to eat their frustration due to lack of alternatives, corporate/workplace policies or the alternatives being equally bad. Unfortunately I expect the whole concept of "PC" as in Personal Computing is going to go away and will be replaced by "locked down, you don't own shit computing". All the major platforms today are more or less locked down, Android, iOS, MacOS and Windows is on its way. I expect in the next 5 years Microsoft will introduce mandatory app signing and will lock the platform down so that the Microsoft store is the only place for installing apps. They can shove all candycrush, azure etc garbage in the users face who have no choice but to eat it. Linux but is the only bastion of hope but unfortunately that's still (on the desktop) alpha quality and will likely never move past alpha. Hopefully I can retire soon.

WhyNotHugo 2y ago
> I expect in the next 5 years Microsoft will introduce mandatory app signing and will lock the platform down so that the Microsoft store is the only place for installing apps. This is already the case in lower end hardware. > Linux but is the only bastion of hope but unfortunately that's still (on the desktop) alpha quality and will likely never move past alpha. I fear that a lot of mayor software is suffering from a similar issue. Targeting a fantasy “user” who is both literate enough to install, maintain and use Linux, but illiterate enough that displaying keyboard shortcuts or showing a menu when right clicking would confuse them. There’s little effort to stabilise software. The priority is often “I want all apps to use my chosen theme”, and not “I want apps that work out of the box”. And there’s a huge trend of “X for gnome” or “Y for KDE”. Portable software has a become a niche thing.
- kbolino 2y ago
  I think a bifurcation is likely. You can't program these locked-down devices/systems on themselves. At the end of the day, some of us have to be able to write the code that makes these things work. So I think there will always be "unlocked" or "developer" operating systems and hardware. But those systems will be considered "too powerful" or "too dangerous" for mundane tasks, especially entertainment. Right now, the legacy operating systems like Windows and macOS are trying to straddle the line. I think in the not too distant future you'll have to choose between being able to run a debugger and hack the OS vs. being able to watch shows, play video games, and access your bank account. I'm not exactly sure how the split will happen, it could be through totally different ecosystems, or an irreversible flag in the firmware, or maybe something else entirely, but it seems almost inevitable at this point.
  - stuartjohnson12 2y ago
    Android has already gone this way - certain features like access to cardless payments are disabled if you're running a "not locked down" version of Android in anyway. I bought a new 2nd hand phone recently and learned that one the hard way when I went to pay for my journey to work. The previous owner had enrolled the phone in the Android beta program, which, this being Google, is remotely controlled and required me to spend half an hour Googling to understand how to unenrol myself and my phone.
    - keyringlight 2y ago
      What gets me about android is the "have your cake and eat it" way it approaches whether or not it's locked down/secure. Over time the usage of android has changed as more users and more services adopted mobile, for a lot of people it is an appliance, and I can appreciate that payments and linking to bank accounts is a convincing argument for something like play integrity/safetynet. Where I think there's conflict is that android hasn't entirely moved away from the early days where it was something a bit closer to a personal computer with a high amount of freedom, or at least they haven't been clear or drawn a line in the sand (this is while the issue around third party app stores and if they must be somewhat open is still being resolved). If you do some unlocking/rooting and what it enables, it either gets the bare minimum CYA notification or doesn't get flagged in the UI at all as presumably the users is meant to know what they're doing at that point, even if cases where apps refuse to run or just crash with no feedback to inform. I'd appreciate it more if they did put up a big red warning "this is happening because your phone is in insecure mode because you did X", but on the surface level it appears as the phone is fully operational but acting weird.

by samiv 2y ago

WhyNotHugo 2y ago

> I expect in the next 5 years Microsoft will introduce mandatory app signing and will lock the platform down so that the Microsoft store is the only place for installing apps. This is already the case in lower end hardware. > Linux but is the only bastion of hope but unfortunately that's still (on the desktop) alpha quality and will likely never move past alpha. I fear that a lot of mayor software is suffering from a similar issue. Targeting a fantasy “user” who is both literate enough to install, maintain and use Linux, but illiterate enough that displaying keyboard shortcuts or showing a menu when right clicking would confuse them. There’s little effort to stabilise software. The priority is often “I want all apps to use my chosen theme”, and not “I want apps that work out of the box”. And there’s a huge trend of “X for gnome” or “Y for KDE”. Portable software has a become a niche thing.

kbolino 2y ago
I think a bifurcation is likely. You can't program these locked-down devices/systems on themselves. At the end of the day, some of us have to be able to write the code that makes these things work. So I think there will always be "unlocked" or "developer" operating systems and hardware. But those systems will be considered "too powerful" or "too dangerous" for mundane tasks, especially entertainment. Right now, the legacy operating systems like Windows and macOS are trying to straddle the line. I think in the not too distant future you'll have to choose between being able to run a debugger and hack the OS vs. being able to watch shows, play video games, and access your bank account. I'm not exactly sure how the split will happen, it could be through totally different ecosystems, or an irreversible flag in the firmware, or maybe something else entirely, but it seems almost inevitable at this point.
- stuartjohnson12 2y ago
  Android has already gone this way - certain features like access to cardless payments are disabled if you're running a "not locked down" version of Android in anyway. I bought a new 2nd hand phone recently and learned that one the hard way when I went to pay for my journey to work. The previous owner had enrolled the phone in the Android beta program, which, this being Google, is remotely controlled and required me to spend half an hour Googling to understand how to unenrol myself and my phone.
  - keyringlight 2y ago
    What gets me about android is the "have your cake and eat it" way it approaches whether or not it's locked down/secure. Over time the usage of android has changed as more users and more services adopted mobile, for a lot of people it is an appliance, and I can appreciate that payments and linking to bank accounts is a convincing argument for something like play integrity/safetynet. Where I think there's conflict is that android hasn't entirely moved away from the early days where it was something a bit closer to a personal computer with a high amount of freedom, or at least they haven't been clear or drawn a line in the sand (this is while the issue around third party app stores and if they must be somewhat open is still being resolved). If you do some unlocking/rooting and what it enables, it either gets the bare minimum CYA notification or doesn't get flagged in the UI at all as presumably the users is meant to know what they're doing at that point, even if cases where apps refuse to run or just crash with no feedback to inform. I'd appreciate it more if they did put up a big red warning "this is happening because your phone is in insecure mode because you did X", but on the surface level it appears as the phone is fully operational but acting weird.