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Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

birchtree.me

201–210 of 241 posts

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#201
post #14

The web/webapps/mobile helped lead to this era of "desktop PCs" (to include laptops) where the browser mattered more than the OS. It allowed Apple to become resurgent in the desktop market because OS compatibility mattered less than ever. It's not weird that it led to Apple regaining _some_ market share because clearly there was demand for the Apple/MacOS/OS X experience that may have been tempered by incompatibility…

Apple keeps cycling between great hardware and not so great software and great software and not so great hardware.

In the PowerPC era the software was fantastic, especially when you factor in the much lower odds of viruses and malware. However, the hardware was well behind the curve except right at the release of a new generations, which were few and far in between.

Then when Apple switched to Intel, you had a few years of incredible hardware and incredible software. This is when the Mac absolutely blew up.

But then while Apple has constantly been improving the hardware (although they’ve made repairabiltu and extensibility worse), their software has seen a steady decline.

Where Apple has been really lucky is that while their software has seen a steady decline, their primary competitor MS’s software has seen several steep declines.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS daily driver for last 5 years because the hardware is better; I can stay unplugged for almost my entire workday. Lots of things irk me about macOS UX. Finder's lack of tree view sidebar really irks me. Having to disable the silly animations and sounds when I get a new machine irks me. The absolutely terrible window tiling system irks me. When I minimize a window, I can no longer tab into it. The settings dialog…

> Can't use 3 monitors without an expensive DisplayLink dock Or you could buy a MacBook Pro with an M4 Max and plug in four monitors without displaylink.

I haven't kept up, but do they support display port daisy chaining and multi display docks now?

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#203
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visual Studio is the one to compare to "any other heavy IDE", vs code is slow as a text editor due to chrome, not its ide features , and there are plenty of code editors with plugins that start much faster, though I won't make up 10000 times, it's only around 10

>vs code is slow as a text editor due to chrome VSCode is an IDE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code >Visual Studio is the one to compare to "any other heavy IDE" Why? VSCode is an example of a well-made product from MSFT, unlike Explorer. >and there are plenty of code editors with plugins that start much faster, What IDE with plugins starts faster? And I'm not talking about the startup time of VSCode.

> VSCode is an IDE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code

Now try to follow your own sources, both links for that sentence call it a code editor with MS doing the correct reverence " happy with using a regular code editor like Sublime Text instead of a full IDE like Visual Studio."! It's also called so on its official page "The open source AI code editor" So try to make an actual argument/use a proper source for one instead of treating wikis as the ultimate truth

> What IDE with plugins starts faster?

Sublime Text, which is as much an IDE as VSCode

> And I'm not talking about the startup time of VSCode.

You're, you are responding to a point about very slow startup time

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#204

IDK I started running Bazzite on my workstation after Win11 died on me a couple weeks ago, and if it is the premier experience for Linux desktop gaming then we aren’t there yet. It is great as far as distros go, don’t get me wrong. But WiFi dies after waking from sleep, and bluetooth worked once then died. I had to hack on it for a bit, then do it again with immutable OS patterns in mind. MS is certainly leaving an o…

the KEYBOARD! on my windows 11 laptop often fails to work after coming out of sleep...

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#205
post #56
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking like 2028-2030 but it's a moving target. Since we're basically getting flying cars next year at the World Cup, I guess it's going to be after flying cars.

I prefer fusion power as the go-to vapourware technology. It’s been “10-20 years out” for 70 years and counting. I don’t see any reason to believe that “AGI office workers” will be ready to go by 2030. All signs right now are pointing to a looming plateau in their capabilities.

> pointing to a looming plateau

Latest LLM's have already been declining in performance. It's not a plateau and it's not looming.

We don't know what the hell we are doing. Adding more training data and parameters only degrades LLMs after a certain threshold.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The keyboards are terrible now, even the ones that went back to the original type after the hell that was butterfly. There's still almost no key travel because Apple is so obsessed with thinness.

Absolutely no one to a first approximation is complaining about the keyboards since they left the butterfly keyboards even before the ARM transition. These were the same people who (rightfully) criticized the butterfly keyboards left and right.

Maybe people get used to it but I can't. I can't even use the "magic" keyboard.

I work with them a lot at work but when I use my MacBook I always use it docked. I just need more key travel. The feel is ok but the travel is not.

They were fine until 2015 and I still use the old aluminium keyboard at my desk.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#207
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

File transfer! What will they think of next?

File transfer that just works . My mum can use airdrop. She sends us things. She doesn't need to install anything or configure things. She just uses the first-party UI. It's the same with Airpods. Bluetooth headphones? Yeah, you can buy some for $20, who needs Apple ones? Apparently everyone. Turns out providing great noise cancellation and bluetooth that just works means the product is appealing to general consumers…

File transfer worked well on Nokia devices and was pretty stable. What was not, is bluetooth connections with audio devices. This is a solved problem now and my Xiaomi earpods connection is pretty stable. I remember having more issues with the Airpods.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#208
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean alienate their desktop users by making chips specifically targeting them that are fast, run cool, quiet and have ridiculously long battery lives? You’ve seen much more frequent updates in the Mac line post ARM than you did in the Intel era.

Yeah, the hardware's been fantastic, but the OS has mostly treaded water with the occasional step backwards.

Maybe people are happy with the OS treading water? I basically just want it to run programs, let me find files and connect to the wifi.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#209
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

File transfer! What will they think of next?

File transfer that just works . My mum can use airdrop. She sends us things. She doesn't need to install anything or configure things. She just uses the first-party UI. It's the same with Airpods. Bluetooth headphones? Yeah, you can buy some for $20, who needs Apple ones? Apparently everyone. Turns out providing great noise cancellation and bluetooth that just works means the product is appealing to general consumers…

File transfer over SSH also just works. You can even mount it, so you can work directly on the remote version without any program support. It was deliberately killed by computing-device-as-a-service vendors.

Re: Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?

#210
post #77
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 7 is the last good one. And that is only... Oh, almost 20 years ago. Never mind.

Windows 7 was supported until 10 years ago.

Yeah, the version history as perceived by the vendor and as perceived by the commoner are somewhat out of touch. To me Windows 10 is basically new and already considered to be out-of-date.
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