• quixotic120@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    28 days ago

    What are they going to do? Manufacture their own silicon? The ability to make a computing device of reasonable power is fairly prohibitive and as things move forward manufacturers seem intent on doing things that are more and more hostile to consumers. You say people won’t let themselves be pushed around and that sounds nice but people have consistently done exactly that to date.

    Our power as individuals is minimal here; we can vote politically and financially. These companies do amazing financially so voting with our wallets doesn’t work. Voting politically also hasn’t done in terms of enacting regulation aside from some small wins in a few states with right to repair (and big losses in many more states as well as federally). And given the fact that those wins are small and fragmented with only a very small handful of states having any policy (like less than 10) it’s likely that big tech will push back hard rather than simply comply. And we are heading into political times where regulations will likely continue to erode.

    So as things worsen the people who “know a bit more” can have the choice of using cutting edge hardware that is more locked down, or being a stallman type that uses relatively ancient hardware full of compromises because it is compatible with an ideology. That is just but it also means they will be constantly hampered and the problem will only be compounded as technology becomes more advanced, which is inherent and constantly occurring

    This is also not just a generational thing to be clear. People my age, younger, and older, who were into this stuff have become tech illiterate as time progressed because they’ve allowed themselves to move away from their computers and go to their phones which have become a reddit/youtube/tiktok/pintrest/amazon/twitter/instagram/etc box. The etc is whatever skinner box game they’re playing at the moment, because most of them who played actual games don’t even bother to play games anymore. They’re so caught up in the cycle of “engagement” that they don’t care about much else. they come home and doom scroll then complain about how they feel aimless and anxious all the time and never get stuff done

    You’re right that there exceptions, but they seem to be dwindling

    • timestatic@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      One assumption I made is that there will be a continuous demand for self build PCs which will be an entry point for a lot where you can run your own operating system and own choice of hardware. My next assumption is that custom ROMs are gonna stick around or at least Linux phones will become usable in the future since tech savvy privacy people are interested in this. Then I hope the EU will continue to step up and the administration after Trump will support certain right to repair legislation. It doesn’t need a giant group of people for a viable alternative to exist and I think there can be compromises between going stallman or giving up on ownership. Media servers and NAS for example are also really loved in a specific subset of people and I do not think people are willing to give up what they have. I get why you think the way you do and maybe I am too optimistic… I just think I’m not

      • quixotic120@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 days ago

        Dependent on hardware that allows for such things. I think/hope you are right and that demand for such things will continue to enable their presence for at least some time but I fear the eventual end of things is hardware that is completely unable to be customized, repaired, or modified in any meaningful way. iphones for everyone.

        The tech moguls are cozying to trump hard and that’s not for nothing. They’re going to get something in return.

        I hope you’re right though