BuckRogers

The OP's point was about ignorance being bliss, but having adverse side effects. That's what I was responding to. I'm saying we long have lost the only part that matters, which was the self-sufficient farm. It helps, but doesn't make a big difference if someone doesn't know what valves in an engine do. And 90% of the population probably does not.

Your point about adapting to basic material conditions under industrialization is something else. I wouldn't agree with what you're saying. It may not be your analogy, horse drawn to motorized carriages- but this is the cotton gin all over again. The only difference is we're now out of new industries generated out of the new technology to employ people. No more network admins needed, no more programmers needed, no more cotton gin repairmen are needed.

I agree in that the conditions are different with this one. But the process is the same we've seen over and over. This time there's just no newly created jobs out of this new revolution, 100 million legal and illegal immigrants flooding developed nations and more coming, and 50 years ago women entering the workforce expanding it 50% overnight. You're correct in that it's not going to work, but I see different reasons for it than you do. Things are going to have to change or Europe, the US and Canada are going to become slums like the rest of the world. And that process is going to be even faster than it normally would, because the ~50% population expansion consists of people that are used to slums.

That process is nothing new. That’s happened many times in history over and over. And in far more dangerous ways than not understanding how some complex piece of code keeps their favorite or most critical application running. At this point, people have long lost the ability to have even basic survival. How long would people last if they needed food or water? They have no idea on step one to achieving the basics. It’s all abstract to them, which includes us. That’s the loss that actually matters. Not that they know how their Amazon Fire TV works.

This doesn’t affect me, but it certainly influences me. I’ve been holding off from leaving Gmail for years. They try to force you into their Gmail app on iOS, it’s the only way to get push emails from them. OK fine. So I switch from Apple Mail to Gmail. I write a relatively long email full of research to send to my great uncle who is a professor at a nearby university who I greatly respect. I type it up on the desktop, go to the app, add another sentence wishing him well and send it. Come to find out since my phone is in dark mode it changed the text from black to white. That’s Google‘s idea of dark mode. So I have to send it again removing that text formatting and apologizing. Dark mode is something that Apple and Microsoft and everyone else can get right. It’s a presentation layer problem, not text formatting. And they don’t let you change the app to light mode, it only tracks the phone. Their web dark mode is also terrible. Apple and Microsoft have no such issues. Even smaller players like Proton get these things right. Maybe focus on delivering quality and value instead of trying to extract more out of your existing customers.

Google is pathetic and has been for a long time for anyone paying attention to all their quirks, terrible UIs, and canceled products. I have a Gmail beta account from the earliest days. That 1GB was nice 23 years ago but it’s time for me to finally do the work and get off of Gmail. I have email accounts at most providers; Microsoft, Proton, Apple etc, and no one else has these sorts of issues.

That’s a strange comparison. What we’re looking at here when we look at Apple is the market leader. They have the plurality of sales. You may as well add up the sales of every car company that isn’t Toyota and declare Toyota being out sold. It might be a true statement, but it doesn’t mean anything.

Apple has low volume sales? You might have picked the wrong company for that example. Nvidia in the consumer market might fit, I would agree there.

People say using it is lazy but you're not going to outperform it yourself. The resistance to reality by people is what's crazy. Being a developer now means being a code reviewer. That's just the way it is now.

My career was using C# and JS, and LLMs have caused me to lose interest in learning more. I was always a hobbyist Python and Ruby user. I prefer to put my efforts towards skills that are still useful. Software as a craft is dying, no different than being an expert at riding a horse.

The important part now for a developer is a very strong command of the English language, for both the LLM as well as the rising importance of client interactions. As the space is very competitive, so you need to offer value or form a union so you can regain back some of your lost negotiating power.

Most of the developers I worked with were very poor in that area. I worked hard and was deemed a "top performer" in my last job, but it was equal parts perception management. This is what you should be thinking about and focusing on going forward. Improving your linguistic skills, and polishing your social skills.

Otherwise, for someone like me who grew up in a machine shop and mechanic's environment, anything new I learn is more brawn and brain going forward so I stay relevant as a human being. And no longer just brain like software was.

I used Firefox for 20 years, loved it, defended it. But they just kept removing features that I was used to, and I ran into some bugs with popular websites and decided to hang it up. Currently on Brave and fully convinced it's the new Firefox.

>Claiming it's about immigration law enforcement is just the same disingenuous smokescreen

That’s not a claim. It’s the truth. You guys are totally lost.

You probably don't have to tell me anything, because I'd be right and you'd be wrong. "Wanting" immigration laws to be "less strict" (mass illegal immigration in the tens of millions, sensible) != breaking the law. The mental gymnastics people do to fit in with their chosen ideology is insane to see, worse when your mouths open up and try to explain these broken thoughts.

I’m not sure how well Wing Commander would have run on that machine. It had to have been borderline, slow or choppy. I played Wing Commander on a 386.

That’s also a combination that I don’t remember too many people having. A Sound Blaster and a VGA card in a 286. Yes in some ways with that particular combination, you’d be rising above the Commodore. But it’s a bit unusual.

Looks good, I had a C128 but played The Secret of Monkey Island around its release but didn't know there was an EGA version. It looks like the two were released apart by just a few months.

Definitely in this era the C64 hardware held up better for longer than expected. I didn't feel the x86 side caught up and surpassed the C64 as an entire package in both graphics and sound until the 486 era. A platform that was truly cursed on the gaming side for a long time due to its primary market focus being business use. And here I am using a 9850X3D with 5070 GPU, distant descendents of our old 286 hardware that I would play Monkey Island on.

That's where I'm at, it's about time to replace my 12 mini and it's looking like it's time to go back to Android. It was form factor (iPhone 5) that moved me to the iPhone to begin with. That and back then, iOS had a lot more advantages like longterm support and higher quality apps. Most every advantage that isn't a bald faced attempt at lock-in is gone now.

That's interesting. I knew foldables have been selling well, and I assumed they were basically the promise that tablets were trying to sell but as you said- usable this time. I've never heard anyone's actual story laid out like this before though.

Now I'm having second thoughts on what I'll do myself because I would have never guessed a foldable would be ideal as you described.

I've been trying to avoid building an $8,000 tech stack of redundant devices that I don't need. Which is what Apple is all about, and then some. It's not the initial investment that bothers me, it's calculating replacement costs over time. It's pretty quickly that you have half a new vehicle in redundant electronics. It leaves you asking: why?

So while I appreciate the longevity and durability of my iPhone 12 mini, along with seamless Airdrop and the Airtag network being as handy as it gets, I'm thinking about going back to Android for docking support. This is a feature I don't think Apple will ever add until the end of time, so I may as well bite the bullet now and get another OS switch over with.

I'm not entirely convinced I would love a foldable like you do, but I am rethinking that now. I've been on the idea that Microsoft's partnership with Samsung for Phone Link features will make my life delightful at my desktop battlestation, and DeX with a lapdock will cover any mobile needs. A lapdock really does create an alternative to the battery life offered by the M-series Macbooks, while leaving me with only two devices to maintain and replace with my desktop and phone.

It's amazing with the flexibility and options offered in the Android space, whether it be my proposal or your foldable experience, how they don't have more marketshare. I think the issue is marketing, people need to be shown what they can do with a product and Apple makes Continuity and closed ecosystem features seem like a value add. When it's kind of a lure to an iCloud subscription and $8,000 personal tech stack.