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Joined 3 months ago
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Cake day: March 21st, 2024

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  • Can anyone explain why Apple is such a target when there are several other companies that truly are a Monopoly, not just popular? They might not have super great business practices, but under capitalism that it not only okay, but it seems to be the default.

    There isn’t a single product they sell that only Apple sells, there is a huge market for smart phones, smart watches, home computers, tablets, headphones, chargers, etc. Being a popular product does not make a company “a monopoly” and if we wanted to just go off market share, Microsoft needs to continue to be pursued, as does Amazon, Google, Disney, Comcast, the single other ISP in your region of the country, your power and water utility companies, every chain restaurant, most places that cut men’s hair.

    Why go after Apple specifically when there are many companies to go after? Because people don’t like them? Do you like your power company? Tough shit, they are the only game in town. Do you like your ISP? Tough shit, you have two options and one is the worst DSL connection you’ve ever seen. Did you like any of the 20 streaming options in 2018? Tough shit, 12 of them merged into 3. Want to buy a computer in a store? Better like Microsoft or have the ability to install and maintain a new OS (is Linux the only other option?)

    I’m not saying Apple is amazing or they have good business practices. But there are far more insidious companies where there simply isn’t many or any legal alternatives.


  • I agree that if Google is getting the content for free they should, at least try, to keep it ad free for the consumer. But I don’t know if Google has to pay licensing for stuff like PBS. PBS does technically have ads, but they are unobtrusive, shown at the beginning or end of a show and are presented as “Brought to you by….” Less of an ad and more recognition that a company has paid to support bringing PBS to you for free.

    I’ve never uses this service, so I’m not aware of how they might insert ads either. Between shows? Typical ad-breaks times every 8.5 minutes of broadcast time? More?


  • Isn’t that the agreed upon consolation for free content? Was nobody alive when TV was the primary means of content consumption?

    It always irked me that people are upset over YouTube running ads. Like, of course they had to start running ads, hosting/programming/daily operating millions of videos isn’t free for them. They need to make money some how, even at “break even” which prevents the idea of profit seeking would mean running ads.

    Hate to sound like a “kids these days” but seriously, absolutely nothing in life is free and if there isn’t a direct cost, advertising is going to be present.




  • Understanding it needed to do that is a bit of personification. The Venus fly trap that grew a slightly taller flower stem got pollinated more. That genetic mutation overtook the species as competition for pollination grew more difficult for the shorter flower stemmed. Evolution is cool an all, but let’s not confuse it for plants knowing or deciding to do anything.



  • Maybe we are looking at different cars, I only really am exposed to American cars. Any vehicle I have been in made after 2021 have integrated most things into the infotainment system. Which are now also integrated into the operations of the cars.

    And ICE vehicles rely, quite heavily, on the hundreds of moving parts that have been engineered for 120 years. Nothing mechanical can really regulate managing the charge rate of the battery, or are able to calculate the necessary changes in power to each motor, or managing any kind of safety system. As some of those things have been added to ICE vehicles, the lack of buttons has been notable.


  • I am not an engineer, but I imagine keeping multiple DC motors running efficiently/in sync together while outside influences change by the second isn’t easy. Communication with a variety of EV chargers at different levels of power must take a logic system. ICE vehicles have a lot of physical parts with 120 years of engineering behind keeping things in order. There just isn’t that level of engineering for EVs, which have only really been developed during the era of microchips.


  • I get it, I walked into the den and poked the bear. But I think a reality check for this kind of “Linux will take over Microsoft” is necessary. 95% of computer users don’t care about their OS and would never imagine re-installing it or installing a different one. Just the idea of thinking about an OS puts that person in the advanced user category. It took Google to mod Linux and sell it to every public school in America to get it to a 4% user base. It is clearly not something for everyone, it isn’t even for most people who use Reddit or Lemmy, and those communities are def more closely representative of people capable of using Linux.

    I understand that there have been many advances to make it a usable OS for the casual person. But it isn’t. Sure, your mom might be able to use it “out of the box” but it doesn’t come in a box. The two widely adopted versions of Linux had to be heavily modified by large dev teams of Valve and Google, for very limited numbers of devices. Would Valve make a version for a non-gaming focused device, or computer at large? Would Google make a version that wasn’t in direct support of Googles products? I doubt it.

    It isn’t just lack of knowledge of Linux that is holding it back. Its main demographic is nerdy computer people who are willing to, occasionally, run a shell command or hunt down the necessary things to get their webcam to work. That isn’t what Microsoft aims for, they aim for the average computer user who wants to watching videos, play games, browse the web and check their emails without thinking about any part of how or why it works.


  • I appreciate the enthusiasm Linux fanboys have about this. But ain’t nobody but the most tech savvy would even consider it.

    Linux is not consumer friendly, it typically involves putting in a shit load of effort to get working with your hardware, the ones that don’t still need a ton of work to make “Windows-like” and compatibility is always going to be an issue.

    Yes, there have been a ton of strides toward this dream situation. But without financial incentive, making things user-friendly isn’t going to happen. In fact, much of the Linux community prides themselves on having a “difficult” OS.

    Once Linux can, by default, have an easy to use interface, can natively run Android apps and windows applications, and can work with a huge range of hardware, it will never take off. Linux might get a few points of market share due to some business applications finding Linux a better option than updating HW and windows build, but those companies are going to struggle and will be even more dependent on their IT staff for the simplest of things.


  • The problem is that it takes a lot of computer power needed to run an EV. Battery management, power management, motor control, etc. Requiring that much computer power makes it a cheap and easy decision for car makers to just make everything part of that system.

    We will get there eventually but it’s going to take a lot of people to want it (many people aren’t even considering an EV as a future car purchase), a lot of the under-the-hood stuff will have to be shoved away, and charging/battery management need to be simplified while still being robust and reliable. I don’t see it happening any time soon, ICE vehicles have only been getting more and more complex in this way. “Stick a tablet in there” is so cheap and easy and resolves so many manufacturing hurdles.

    Bespoke windows controls? Nah, button on a screen. Custom entertainment system? App on a tablet. Backup camera screen? Just put in on the screen so it’s the only thing you can see while backing up.

    If car makers cant get around these hurdles without incurring, previously saved, costs, the trend will continue.