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“Gravity is worth asking about”

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Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#121

Post by VorpalWay »

floriankarsten wrote: post #90
VorpalWay wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, KDE Plasma is so more usable than Gnome these days, because they swung too far into removing settings. You needed to install a separate Gnome Tweak tool to even be able to change font antialiasing settings last I looked, which is preposterous. I get literal headaches from the defaults.

You can't change font antialiasing on macos either. It might be the case that majority people wouldn't even touch whats in gnome tweaks. I use gnome on two machines and don't touch it. The font antialiasing seems fine?

It might be fine for some, but it is an accessibility issue. Just like some people can't deal long term with either light mode or dark mode (and some are fine with both).

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#122

Post by m463 »

apothegm wrote: post #60
glimshe wrote: post #51

I really wanted to hear the opinion from Mac diehards about modern MacOS. I've used Windows for decades but bought a Mac M2 a while ago. I really like it so I'm not trying to say "Apple Bad". But I'm yet to see Apple's legendary simplicity, minimalism and attention to detail. I keep complaining about the fact Mac OS asks me whether I want to allow chrome to access the local network with every update. I tried to dig d…

Roughly 2002-2010 that attention to detail was on display and the OS struck an impressive balance between features, ease of use, and power user access. Since then it’s been straight downhill. First they stopped investing in desktop in favor of mobile. Then they underwent some rewrites to OS and bundled apps that dumbed things down and exploded the defect rate. Then they started setting the stage for a touch experienc…

> Roughly 2002-2010 that attention to detail was on display

I think steve jobs had common sense... from the user's perspective.

He could throw a little nonsense or a lot of nonsense (and the entire department that created it) out the window.

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#123

Post by po1nt »

dguest wrote: post #40
po1nt wrote: post #31

I daily drive linux (arch btw) with all the adblocking bells and whistles and I was dumbfounded when I saw my grandma's PC with all the clutter and ads. Really makes you miss the old era.

You don't even need add blocking for most open source software: the threat of forking backs a culture where the software is just there to to its job and not to sell something. I started using the f-droid app "store" recently and it's amazing: bare bones stuff that just does what you want.

I meant user experience as a whole including browser and proprietary apps. The amount of ads I perceive a day using my PC can be counted on my fingers.

And it's not just something we would consider calling ads, but just the clutter on the web.

- Limited offer modals - "Hey we have a useless AI chatbot" popups - Cookie banners - Newsletter popups - 3 tiered subscription offers for everything - Sign in to XYZ with google - This site wants to know your position

And don't even get me started on things you can't change as a user like really bad full text searches and stuff.

And I'm still yet to find that hot single in my area.

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#124

Post by grishka »

microtonal wrote: post #33
TeMPOraL wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like Apple is literally copying Samsung, and not only in hardware (upcoming foldable iPhone), but in the services and in advertising them inside the UI. Even the names are similar. This is not a good thing. Not for Apple, and not for Android, as in terms of exerting gravity on the market, Apple is a supermassive black hole. Anything they do instantly becomes normalized as a business practice.

Definitely. But at least on Samsung phones, you can uninstall the packages from the user partition and in that way rip most of that stuff out (like the McAfee scanner in security, Bixby, Gemini, OneDrive, etc.). So, yeah, they are copying, but by virtue of the ecosystem being less open, you are mostly stuck with it.

You can disable Samsung's system apps using adb as well. The command is `adb uninstall --user 0 com.package.name`

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#126

Post by picofarad »

BoxOfRain wrote: post #74
pixelesque wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The really annoying thing to me about the "Ads" in the system settings for various things like Apple Music, iCloud, Fitness, etc (other than the fact they're there in the first place) is that they appear after a bit of a delay (around 500 ms?), so other items I actually want have to slide down to make space as I'm about to click something. Old Apple would never have done that I don't think.

My massive Apple annoyance at the moment is how there's an unremovable nag screen for an Apple Music subscription on the iOS app, when all I ever want to do is sync local music to an iphone like it's an ipod in 2006. They just can't take 'no' for an answer, I'm happy with my current streaming service and I'll never want the hassle of migration. In my view there really needs to be some 'no means no, not maybe later' l…

I think a lot of people don't really understand consent. Tech companies don't because to understand is to lose money.

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#127

Post by picofarad »

AlienRobot wrote: post #84
hallway_monitor wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IS THERE a name for the phenomenon? You are about to tap / click when the UI changes underneath you. You can end up tapping the wrong thing! I call it bait and switch and I am not sure how to fix it.

Google calls it "layout shift" in its web tools.

It is the most infuriating thing when I'm in a hurry and know what to click. Windows itself doesn't do this much, but, do websites love it. I bet its called hydration or something, that causes the layout shift.

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#128

Post by picofarad »

ben_w wrote: post #52
steve1977 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the ad-free era on Windows (Home)? I don't remember it.

My memory of 24 years ago is a bit fuzzy, but I don't recall any ads on XP; the main complaint at the time was the UI was "fisher price".

Jellybean start menu

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#129

Post by picofarad »

vor_ wrote: post #29
ymolodtsov wrote: post #13

The same people who want minimalism here in the comments are angry at Microsoft for removing half the features in any control panel inside Windows with every release. Shows how difficult it is to design and build software at scale.

The same people? Who are they? And since when is Microsoft removing half the features in "any control panel" in every release?

This is a fallacy and needs a name.

I always read it so it is not a fallacy, just so I dont argue.

My change: "where are the people who are against X now that the proponents of X are posting"

However it only makes sense in places like HN that have a "tone".

I think arguments in general get downvoted, or at least not upvoted, so perhaps people (other than me) are less likely to give a different opinion than the current thread.

Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”

#130

Post by hadlock »

drcongo wrote: post #80
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get asked about access for Chrome at every update. I have bigger issues with the way a lot of MacOS apps are just poorly designed. Like screen capture - I want to be able to save to my choice of destination folder after clicking. But instead you get a selection of preset choices, and the option to select a destination before you capture the file, which is unnaturally distracting. Finder hasn't changed for dec…

I highly recommend ScreenFloat for screenshots, it's one of my favourite and most used apps - endless power user features that mostly sit elegantly out of the way until you need them. https://eternalstorms.at/ScreenFloat/

This is great, thank you!
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