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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#31

Post by xvector »

observationist wrote: post #24
MarkusWandel wrote: post #17

I'm not sure I agree with all of that - that single-purpose tech is making a real comeback. But I do have one example in my daily life that supports this: A Garmin watch. Unlike "full" smartwatches (arbitrarily defined as: You can browse the web on them in some fashion) Garmin devices are intentionally limited but in return, what they do works very well and seems fully debugged. I spent several years recording outdoo…

I've started to realize of late that a vast majority of tech is "making things and services that maximize the amount of money taken out of customer wallets" and not "making cool technology that works". They have just as much pride and put just as much care and craft into squeezing money out of consumers as developers and engineers put into their projects. This creates a market where quality and craftsmanship and cust…

Tech hiring has shifted dramatically. It used to be people genuinely interested in, and passionate about technology. Top companies used to filter for this as well.

Now it's just anyone that wants a big paycheck. And the culture shift is reflected in the products.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#32

Post by mikkupikku »

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.

Every time a new version of Windows drops there are legions of Windows users who say this is the final straw, they're keeping their old version until the updates stop then they'll use Linux. And every time that doesn't happen, they just keep going back to Microsoft like it's some sort of domestic violence situation. Their standards forever dropping, getting slow boiled like an apocryphal frog. I've seen this repeating over and over for the past 20 years at least.

At this point I don't even have sympathy for Windows users. They choose their lot.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#33

Post by jayw_lead »

Havoc wrote: post #13

What the author describes seems to be more specific examples in his/her circle rather than a wider movement I’d say. The walled gardens are imo getting worse. And opting out (dumb phone) isn’t the same thing as that dissolving. That said I’m also cautiously optimistic in some areas. Linux on desktop in particular is on a good streak. Riscv seems promising. More people are understanding lock in risk etc.

> The walled gardens are imo getting worse

But isn't Apple (the most egregious example IMO) losing a slew of cases in many jurisdictions (not just EU)? I think the consensus is very much that they've overplayed their hand and the bill is coming due

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#34

Post by echelon »

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…

> growth and momentum behind Linux and self-hosting as better evidence that change is afoot.

Linux is still not user friendly enough. Products from two decades ago are more user friendly than modern "mainstream" disros.

Look at Matrix and other OSS that wants to be mainstream. It's got awful UI/UX. And it's never taken off.

Gimp is an ugly beast with a bad name. Nobody's using that unless they're a Linux nerd.

I do see lots of people building retro game collections. Analogue 3D was a huge hit. Massive demand. It's sold out instantly five times. Palmer Luckey has a company building a similar product, and that's also sold out.

The clothing stores sell cassette tapes and vinyl. iPod and Zune are venerated.

My wife is Gen Z and into mainstream culture. She's all about retro. Polaroid, Instax, 2000's era digital cameras. The low end consumer digital camera I bought for $100 or so in 2004 is now selling for more than that. These things are wildly popular.

They're even hunting down old disposable one-use film cameras to pop off the lenses.

In any case, my wife knows this stuff. She doesn't know what Linux is.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#35

Post by taeric »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #17

I'm not sure I agree with all of that - that single-purpose tech is making a real comeback. But I do have one example in my daily life that supports this: A Garmin watch. Unlike "full" smartwatches (arbitrarily defined as: You can browse the web on them in some fashion) Garmin devices are intentionally limited but in return, what they do works very well and seems fully debugged. I spent several years recording outdoo…

In this, isn't it more that Garmin has been making sports watches for a long long time? And were given the grace by their customer base to just keep making that particular function better.

You could probably find the same with bike computers. Established brands that have a fairly predictable customer base tend to continue to focus on the thing that they do well. If you are having to chase a market that doesn't really exist, you find half baked features that speak to an idea, but often don't actually deliver on it.

For an amazing example of that last, look at how Amazon is destroying their echo market. If they just focused on "voice activated radio and timers," the device would be very different from the "we are trying desperately to make a new market for our smart assistant."

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#36

Post by mikkupikku »

kens wrote: post #25

In the article, he lists his 14 major electronics purchases for 2025 along with "more mechanical watches than I can count". Serious question: is this a normal level of acquisition? I'm not a minimalist, but that's more electronics than I buy in a decade.

Probably once you're buying stuff that often, you have so much stuff that you forget what you already have and end up buying even more.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#37

Post by bcherry »

This isn't really the author's point, but I think one effect of AI and the forthcoming robotics revolution will be the unrolling of a lot of consolidated supply chains for all sorts of products. It could usher in a renewed era of bespoke products.

For instance, when the cost of building a new (good) app goes to zero, it becomes economical to make a great app for a narrow niche, with a skeleton staff (maybe just one) and no VC money. And this can happen thousands of times over.

Robotics could open up bespoke local supply chains even beyond what's possible with a 3D printer today. For instance, if you had an actually dextrous humanoid robot "living" in your home, why wouldn't you have it just make all of your clothes? You could have any fabric, any style, exactly the right size. And only for the cost of materials (assuming you already own or lease the robot itself).

I do think the author is right in the big picture - the future will be more fun.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#38

Post by at1as »

ActorNightly wrote: post #5

In my experience, people who "invest" in fancy watches usually have nothing of value to say. Same goes for people that buy supercars to drive on the street.

If it's the latter point from the purchase list that raised your ire, I've only ever purchased watches for fun. And that list would be a Hamilton Murph (the watch from Intersteller). Gifted to me, but A Mondaine purchased from a Swiss railway station ($400)

Not strictly mechanical, but a Casio A168WA, purchased in Tokyo ($25)

Disagreements on the article are most welcome (and encouraged!), but should probably stick to content therein.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#39

Post by angrydev »

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.

Pure nostalgia and nothing more

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#40

Post by ghaff »

cj wrote: post #15
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…

My strategy here is to default notifications off for everything other than calls and texts. And then manually open Gmail to check mail, manually open Instagram when I feel like checking notifications, etc. It’s such a better experience when you’re opening an app because you want to, and not because a notification is baiting you.

I actually have an Apple Watch that I mostly use for hiking. I just use a $30 Timex most of the time that I don't need to charge.
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