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If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

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Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#681

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

tecoholic wrote: post #293
ndriscoll wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the obvious answer to software getting worse is to switch to FOSS. Use Linux/KDE. It's been great for a long time and only ever gets better. It's as if Windows 7 just continued to slowly iterate and add useful polish. NixOS has a longstanding issue where library loading (and therefore program start, particularly GUI programs that load a lot) is n^2, but programs still all start in ~1 second or less on my n100 mi…

I so want to agree. I have been a Linux user for almost 2 decades now and I still can’t close apps by throwing my mouse on the right top corner and clicking. It works on “KDE apps” and but not on Firefox so I am guessing GTK apps. The idea that I need to have window decorations and the “GTK window decorations” configured separately is just … Anyway, the point is it’s never going to be consumer friendly. Office system…

> The idea that I need to have window decorations and the “GTK window decorations” configured separately is just …

Yah, well, I'm on Plasma/KDE and that idea enables me to close apps by throwing my mouse on the right top corner and clicking on that [X] there.

After having disabled the titlebar in FF itself once in "Customize Toolbar". It's the leftmost box on the underside, just uncheck it.

Not even in the settings Plasma/KDE has for that, too. There only "maximize" is activated.

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#682

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

shevy-java wrote: post #286
groby_b wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Use Linux/KDE. Yep. I, too, get more productive by spending a PhD worth of effort on choosing a window manager.

Ironically enough I find KDE to be useless these days. I kind of settled towards e. g. fluxbox or icewm. Mostly because I don't want to spend too much time configuring anything and these are faster than KDE at all times. Plus, KDE goes into the systemd-dependency and "no more xorg" anyway under Nate-lets-add-more-donation-daemons-Graham. Oldschool KDE was not as opinionated.

IceWM i can understand. Fluxbox not so much, because always unstable in whichever option, with the ability to take the whole X-Session down, or crash the whole system.

That aside, how are they 'faster'? On some obsolete system with outdated graphics system maybe? On current systems with somewhat mature, but not bitrotten drivers it feels like the opposite of that. Memory usage maybe? Not really when you're mostly using apps which are pulling in the equivalent dependencies anyways, multiple times. If you like Oldschool KDE just use https://trinitydesktop.org/ ? It feels like it flies at first, but then the thing about pulling in the equivalent dependencies anyways comes into play again.

So why, when you can lightly breeze the shit out of modern Plasma/KDE anyways?

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#683

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

spike021 wrote: post #637
wodenokoto wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple never allows the phone to fall back toward the cellular connection. Maybe you’ve turned off WiFi Assist? It’s an option to allow mobile data to supplement WiFi.

Nope. it's enabled.

That's the thing. I think parent question should have been the opposite.

If it's enabled, it tries as hard as can be to 'assist', even if the Wifi is bad, and it should have given up a long time ago.

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#684

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

bhaak wrote: post #361
behnamoh wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You know what software doesn't fill me with dread to update? FOSS. As someone who's been burnt several times with CachyOS (Arch) updates, I don't think this is true.

Arch is bleeding edge. Breakage is expected there. It breaks so others can be stable. Thank you for your service.

Using Cachy since about two years now. Never had any stress with it. Maybe it's about the random combination of components, hardware, driver/firmware quality? If you've got a bad combo, it will always crap out at some point in time. But so do others, too. Just on different combinations.

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#685

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

pjmlp wrote: post #539
SoftTalker wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need linux preinstalled on a new computer? Take a user friendly distro, boot up the installer, accept the defaults on the few questions it asks... done. It's no more difficult than the first-time configuration MacOS or Windows will walk you through on a new system.

I precisely excluded HN crowd exactly because of comments like this. First of all that hardly works flawlessly in 2026 laptops, still. Secondly, this is about regular consumers, not Linux nerds.

Do you make such a fuss when riding a rental or otherwise 'new to you' car, which diverges from the haptics of the one you were used to use?

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#686

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

pjmlp wrote: post #532
cherryteastain wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big PC OEMs offer models with various distros preinstalled. Examples: Lenovo [1], Dell [2] [1] https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/configurator/cto/?bundleId=21NS... [2] https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-13-9350-inte...

The point is getting folks that aren't on HN, mainstream adoption.

Simple. Legally mandate 'empty' devices at time of sale. With fully open specs, so whomever actually wants to, 'can' support that crap. OFC the same for file-formats and general interoperability (of services).

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#687

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

noisem4ker wrote: post #578
inigyou wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they really meant is it's like Windows if Windows didn't enshittify. I don't understand the plasma desktop though. Why can't I just drag a shortcut to the desktop.

> Why can't I just drag a shortcut to the desktop. You can...? I tried dragging from Dolphin, Kickoff and the Task Manager onto my desktop, and in all three cases it worked. Granted, there's a moment of confusion having to choose between copying or linking, as offered by the context menu that pops up, but...

That option existed in Windows, too. Only you needed to press CTRL, shift, or whatever to make it appear, instead of whatever was the default, which I've forgotten, meanwhile.

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#688

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

marcosdumay wrote: post #679
inigyou wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even my phone has a desktop. It calls it a home screen, though.

The idea Plasma has of a desktop is very similar to the classical Android one, if that's ok for you.

Had classical Android the option to arrange virtual desktops in (practical) 3 by 3 to 5 by 5 grids, and mostly tile the apps fullscreen across that grid?

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#689

Post by ragall »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #674
ragall wrote: post #636

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upstream developers declaring a release as "stable" isn't sufficient to make it so. Distros and users are the ones who decide what is stable and what isn't.

Trouble is, there's an enormous gap between when maintainers accept that a package as stable and when it actually makes it into the next release. I'd be plenty happy waiting an extra month or two for a stable release, but am not thrilled with waiting a year or more for one.

I used to think that way when I was young and with plenty of free time. Nowadays I want stability more than anything else and I'm fine with software that's 1 year old. The only problem still present is how to buy a new laptop and have everything work from the beginning.

Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?

#690

Post by Guvante »

The firing people because of AI thing is similar to the RTO thing, assuming everyone saying they are doing X because Y is falling for the simplest form of deception.

Firing people to bet against a downturn is self fulfilling. Firing people to bet for a thing everyone says is good isn't.

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