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Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

jacquesmattheij.com

521–530 of 588 posts

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sisyphus didn't get results, that was the point of his fate. I get results. OK, nitpick over, I have trouble disagreeing with you. Let's try to answer that. > what do you trade it for? Perhaps if companies had to deal with a load of complaints, losing cash at each one, they might start to care? I can tell you that companies hate being embarrassed in public so complain loudly. But otherwise, on another hn thread a whi…

> I get results. For a very low bar of "results", sure. But unless you are getting electronics with special features or without artificial restrictions imposed by the companies, I wouldn't count I managed to return a shitty TV that got shittier for another baseline shitty TV as "getting results". > Perhaps if companies had to deal with a load of complaints, losing cash at each one, they might start to care? They won'…

>> I get results.

> For a very low bar of "results", sure.

I'm curious, what are these results I'm getting that you judge as low-bar? I mean, specifically what?

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get results. For a very low bar of "results", sure. But unless you are getting electronics with special features or without artificial restrictions imposed by the companies, I wouldn't count I managed to return a shitty TV that got shittier for another baseline shitty TV as "getting results". > Perhaps if companies had to deal with a load of complaints, losing cash at each one, they might start to care? They won'…

>> I get results. > For a very low bar of "results", sure. I'm curious, what are these results I'm getting that you judge as low-bar? I mean, specifically what?

Like I said. "I returned a TV that was broken after a bad upgrade" does not count as an amazing feat if that is followed by "and then I got another TV that still updates itself at the mercy of the manufacturer"

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny you mention Microsoft, because I have a windows machine to play games on. It regularly updates itself and re-enables telemetry I had disabled, shows spammy news in the start menu and ads for Microsoft products in my toolbar, and reinstalls skype every time I try to get rid of it.

It sounds like many of you would appreciate the LTSC version of Windows: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/l...

Isn't that the version that requires a volume license to run?

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#524
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, you know your car that you brought in for an oil change? I switched the turn signal controls with the wipers. No charge, and no givebacks.

I really think I could adapt to that easily and wouldn’t mind.

I didn't choose my example at random. See, I drove a rental car in Japan once. Since they drive on the left, I knew the driver seat was on the right, but what I didn't expect was the controls also swapped sides.

I had, without a doubt, the cleanest windshield in all of Hokkaido.

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#525

Don't forget: "Never slow down the user interface". I have a 4K Sony television that was their flagship model when it was new, but a couple of years ago they "updated" it with a new version of its OS that looks identical but is incredibly sluggish. Not technically broken, but frustrating to use. Moving around between menu items is a good 2-3 seconds, up to 10 in some cases. There is literally nothing I can do about t…

Part of the issue is really economics. As things trend to widespread, the televisions don't compete on anything other than price. Ultimately, a panel is manufactured and they'll trend to more-or-less the same, within certain levels. What's left - ecosystem and software. The problem is that those things just don't have value for people who get it. Now, we select devices to push content, our AppleTV/Roku/Chromecast/whatever. Those have value. They have so much value that whilst moving countries during the pandemic, I literally experience zero differences content-wise, in spite of buying a new TV. My device uses my proxy, my VPNs, and thus I have my content, worldwide. It's a much better, and more flexible system, but unfortunately it involves more work that zero.

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I get results. > For a very low bar of "results", sure. I'm curious, what are these results I'm getting that you judge as low-bar? I mean, specifically what?

Like I said. "I returned a TV that was broken after a bad upgrade" does not count as an amazing feat if that is followed by "and then I got another TV that still updates itself at the mercy of the manufacturer"

You seem determined that any victory should be no victory, however you're wrong anyway as I never said I'd returned a TV.

What I did say was a response to this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24292859

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#527
post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on a question though. "Do you want a UI redesign?" will likely be a no. "Do you want to access the thing you're using 100 times a day in 1 click rather than 5 menus?" will always be a yes. Unless the company is completely failing at its strategy (and that's not the same thing as many vocal people saying that on the internet forum), the redesign has goals and some reason behind it. Your "worse" may be solut…

We tend to underestimate the value that a decent UI/UX professional can bring to a software product. Users typically hate changes (change aversion is in the human nature) and will hardly notice any improvements. But try to install an older piece of software, say, Microsoft Word 97 and compare usability to the current version. Don't pick one feature, look at it from a daily usage perspective. I bet you'll find a ton o…

[deleted]

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess what? The new TV uses that software too, so it’s about as slow.

Maybe it's got a faster CPU/GPU. Saw that happen with computers and then phones for some 40 years.

Maybe the quality of the software makes that point fairly moot.

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it does not because modern mobile OSes would alert the user to it, but even if it did, there's an easy fix: don't install the app. For when you do need Facebook, use the mobile website.

Currently you MUST install Messenger (or use Facebook's retro mobile site for old Windows Mobile phones) to send/receive messages. Eventually, their mobile site will be nerfed and a popup will appear saying "Facebook is best experienced with the app".

> Currently you MUST install Messenger (or use Facebook's retro mobile site for old Windows Mobile phones) to send/receive messages.

Are you sure? Their light website works just fine for me [1]

[1] https://mbasic.facebook.com/messages/

Re: Why Johnny Won't Upgrade

#530
post #492
post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The winners in the competitive struggle are going to be people who don't break things. People who routinely reset their ecosystem tend to lose then get forgotten. It isn't so much their influence as much as there is a community that is constantly searching for reliable platforms to build on.

"The winners in the competitive struggle are going to be people who don't break things." Search for developer comments about their experiences with Rosetta 2. Maybe Apple isn't so dumb after all, eh? What makes the comments on speed even more impressive to me - note that the developer test machines are using a two year old CPU. Originally designed for a battery operated mobile device.

A12Z has hardware support for accelerating Rosetta 2 that is unused on iOS, so its use as the core of a developer transition kit was clearly decided well in advance.
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