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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#171

Post by duxup »

BeetleB wrote: post #2

> A Timex ad went viral this year: “Know the time without seeing you have 1,249 unanswered emails.” Having to micromanage notifications is why I have two phones - one without a SIM card. It's nice to be able to do stuff on the phone and know it won't bug you. I simply put the one with the SIM card elsewhere (other room, leave in car, etc). No - I'm not going to spend too much time learning how to "effectively" manage…

Ironically, or not. I bought an apple watch so that I could ignore my phone.

It works for me. I know whatever is on my phone will be there when I get back to it and in the meantime I know if I'm getting an urgent message or not.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#172

Post by thaumasiotes »

Onavo wrote: post #97
sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

Well, there's SV's favorite minimalist hardware (along with the overpriced woop band): https://bemighty.com/

Why is it $130? It's a small mp3 player. It should be more like $30.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#173

Post by thaumasiotes »

Fervicus wrote: post #136
fsflover wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * iPhone and Android being the only 2 choice when it comes to phones Not exactly true. Sent from my Librem 5.

Technically true, sure. Let me rephrase it to "iPhone and Android being the only 2 real choices when it comes to phones". My definition of real here would be that 1) non tech people should have heard about it and 2) when institutions like banks force users to use their app, they actually make an app for this platform.

> 2) when institutions like banks force users to use their app, they actually make an app for this platform.

What, does your Librem 5 not have a web browser?

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#174

Post by fumar »

idibiks wrote: post #102
californical wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked pretty hard - I specifically don’t want an android OS called an mp3 player. I want a dedicated media player that has physical button controls (not touch screen), is very snappy, has a good UI, and has a purpose-built OS specific to only playing songs and podcasts, and maybe movies, which I can sync with my computer (maybe with rsync or whatever else). No apps. The only option that I could find was an iPod cl…

This is a problem with "single-purpose" devices for kids, too. Drawing tablets, music players. They're all actually full Android phones (sans cell modem) and tablets. It sucks.

Why is android bad here? An android launcher can create the illusion of a single purpose device. What difference does it make? Battery life?

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#175

Post by hackable_sand »

torlok wrote: post #8

What a weird techno-optimist blog post, full of cherry-picked examples, with a twist of consumerism. Refreshing take in a sea of nihilism, but saying people are interested in Pokémon and N64 games again when it's mostly post-NFT "everything is an investment" mentality is cute in its naivety.

Get over yourself

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#176

Post by vbezhenar »

Aurornis wrote: post #135
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only speaking for myself, but the problem with Android is that it and the hardware needed to make it run acceptably are absurd overkill for the use case, which drives up cost, cuts down on battery life, and adds a layer of unnecessary complexity (suddenly you need to think about what player app to use, for example). Basically part of the charm of a single-purpose device is that it can be built to serve it purpose rid…

> Only speaking for myself, but the problem with Android is that it and the hardware needed to make it run acceptably are absurd overkill for the use case, which drives up cost, cuts down on battery life, and adds a layer of unnecessary complexity (suddenly you need to think about what player app to use, for example). The battery life is fine on modern DAPs. Excellent, even. I understand why an engineer would want a…

You don't need "OS" to play some music, drive display and talk via USB/BLE. It's trivial task and could be done with a few event loops. A lot of firmwares is being written without OS. May be FreeRTOS/Zephyr to somewhat simplify the programming, but that's definitely not "OS" in a commonly accepted sense. You don't need team of engineers, one hobbyist could easily do that. I wrote firmware for a device of similar complexity (work with ADC, implements USB, BLE, some UI with buttons and leds) and I'm not even a professional.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#177

Post by FloorEgg »

mwigdahl wrote: post #12
torlok wrote: post #8

What a weird techno-optimist blog post, full of cherry-picked examples, with a twist of consumerism. Refreshing take in a sea of nihilism, but saying people are interested in Pokémon and N64 games again when it's mostly post-NFT "everything is an investment" mentality is cute in its naivety.

It was the "growth of Linux on the desktop" that broke my suspension of disbelief. If there was going to be any year where Linux made strong gains it should have been 2025 with the forced retirement of the "forever OS" Windows 10. But the needle barely moved at all. The author paints a nice picture but there's a lot of wishful thinking and projection there.

I really want to switch from Windows to Linux but it's not an easy transition.

For one, I am in a season of heavy workload and little free time. So I need to wait for my next period of reduced workload.

Second, I am not desperate for a new PC yet and it's hard to justify spending the money at this time.

Roughly my plan is to get a new PC this summer and start with a dual boot approach. So at first it will be more like going from 100% Windows to 80% Linux 20% Windows or something. Over time as circumstances afford maybe I can do away with windows altogether.

Just one data point - I am someone who has been using windows for over 30 years but Microsoft pissed me off so much in 2025 that I have a committed to switching even if it takes me years.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#178

Post by lmz »

jasonfarnon wrote: post #159
sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

"Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services." That seems like a charitable interpretation to me. Maybe it's just a retro fashion trend that is even at its peak a tiny blip in the market, like back in the 90s when bell bottoms were "in". G…

The iPod and N64 are about 20 (or more, for the N64) years back from now, no? So about as far back as bell bottoms were from the 90s.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#179

Post by imiric »

input_sh wrote: post #104
imiric wrote: post #51

> Antitrust pressure has slowed consolidation, opened app distribution, killed the anti-competitive iMessage and AirDrop moats, and made big tech cautious about horizontal expansion. Huh? In what reality is this remotely true? It certainly isn't in the one I live in. The Big 6 control all media in the US, and mergers happen all the time (WBD->Netflix->Paramount?). Google owns web search and web browsing; Amazon owns…

In the reality called the European Union, where phones already have to ask you to pick the default browser during device setup, and Android specifically has to also ask you to pick a default search engine (Apple doesn't have to because they don't own one). AirDrop and iMessage (and WhatsApp) have already been legally ruled against and forced to open up, but that's not the reality as of yet. It will be in a few years…

The EU is clearly leading the way in consumer protection, but it still leaves a lot to be desired, and in some ways it's regressing.

The GDPR was well intentioned, but poorly specified, so companies resorted to all sorts of loop holes. It also wasn't enforced well or harshly enough, so fines just became the cost of doing business for companies. Now it's being rolled back to meet "growth" demands and appease "AI" companies.

The Chat Control regulation is on the horizon, and bound to be passed in some form soon. I suppose we must sacrifice privacy to protect the children.

So it's good that some effort is being made to protect consumers, but the pressure from tech companies and the desire to not be left behind in tech innovation by the US and China will likely continue to be higher priorities. Along with some puzzling self-sabotaging decisions and increasingly right-leaning influence, all of this is undermining most of that work.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#180

Post by matheusmoreira »

RGamma wrote: post #141
californical wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked pretty hard - I specifically don’t want an android OS called an mp3 player. I want a dedicated media player that has physical button controls (not touch screen), is very snappy, has a good UI, and has a purpose-built OS specific to only playing songs and podcasts, and maybe movies, which I can sync with my computer (maybe with rsync or whatever else). No apps. The only option that I could find was an iPod cl…

Have you looked at Rockbox?

That brought back memories... Used to daily drive Rockbox on my old 80 GB iPod decades ago. Got a lot of use out of the FLAC support.

Latest project updates are dated 2025. Blows my mind that this project is still alive. Feels oddly out of place in today's computer industry where chips are locked down to prevent projects like these from existing.

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