starsinspace

I'm also excited about a non-x86 architecture on the desktop again. Monoculture is bad, and I find x86 to be especially ugly...

As for switching... I'm increasingly unhappy with Microsoft's complete disregard of user privacy. Apple isn't perfect with that either, but IMO much better at least. For my use cases, Win and Mac are the only credible options due to software availability. So to get away from Windows.. there's not much choice these days.

To give a different perspective: I find Apple's move to ARM the most exciting thing to happen in desktop computers in many years. I'm typing this from a PC running Win10. Current plan is: as soon as ARM desktop Macs become available (and assuming they don't screw it up in some weird way), I'd like to switch.

Nitpick: for the Amigas they used Motorola 68000 series CPUs.

Maybe it was a mistake for the software industry to give up on the nice big colorful cardboard box with software inside it. Bought at a physical retail store, with CD-ROMs in it an a thick printed manual. Certainly gave more or a feeling of actually having bought something, different from just clicking a "buy" button in an appstore.

To me, "telemetry" is a violation of boundaries. And I don't think it's necessary to provide legitimation scenarios for not wanting that.

For decades I have used personal computers and it was my machine and nobody constantly observed what I was doing with it. With "telemetry" I'm not sure about the relation anymore - do I own the machine or does the machine own me? It's a loss of control, I'm not able to make the decisions anymore about what happens and what doesn't.

So Sonos devices need "activation" via some server on the internet? Why? If I just want to stream audio within my own home, why is internet even necessary? And what happens when Sonos goes out of business and the servers are shut down?

I just don't understand why people keep buying such things...

Another disadvantage of AirPods (and most other wireless headphones): they're terrible for the environment. Builtin batteries which will wear out, glued shut so no way to replace the batteries, tied to a stack of radio/protocol/codecs which will be obsolete sooner or later.

They are throw-away products. Just look at all the original 1st gen AirPods which now see their batteries failing - each one by itself is small, but given the sales numbers it's huge mountains of electronics trash.

For the price of AirPods you can get a good pair of wired headphones which can last 20+ years. Replace tips or ear cushions as needed, on good headphones they are easily replaceable. No batteries or protocols or codecs to ever worry about.

> You're right, let's burn the library down because one book has a liable chapter in it.

Jeez... You may want to re-read my comment. I have written no such thing, and it is not my opinion at all.

Although efforts like internet archive are noble (and I find it occasionally useful), I'm not sure it's always so great that everything anyone does online will be permanently archived.

I know many people feel that everything should be available forever. But for me... it's pushing me away from doing much on the web. I liked it in the 90s when things were more ephemeral. When you could make mistakes and not have them easily found by anyone with a few clicks, forever.

I agree that "straight C" is not the best choice anymore... but C++ isn't great either. It inherits most of C's weaknesses and for libraries, it makes it very difficult to use the code from languages other than C++. By making a library in C++ you are basically limiting it to being used only in C++ projects. (Yes, wrapper generators for C++-to-whatever exist, but my experience with using e.g. Qt from other languages has always been pretty terrible).

Even in 2019, the C ABI is the one universally agreed-upon cross-language ABI for languages compiled to native code.