> As an increasingly old computer nerd, I am holding on to what I have for dear life. Too much of my identity is wrapped around this idea that computers and tech are brain-amplification devices, and not appliances like everyone else seems to want them to be.
I feel this. I hate seeing everyone become more and more sucked into technology, but with less and less understanding.
I want to know my tech inside and out as much as possible, and be able to control it.
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As a preface to everything below this I'm not good at programming.
I've got a theory. I think that there are two main philosophies when it comes to creating $THING. One is to focus on pumping out features, and one is to focus on correctness.
Eventually, the project focusing on features will become unmaintainable, and a new project will form from the correctness project -- focused on features. This new fork/direction will continue, until it becomes to large to deal with.
And thus the cycle repeats.
I believe Linux is currently straddling the Features/Correctness line, and that BSD will be what follows up. This is obviously years/decades in the future though. I could also see something like RedoxOS catching on instead.
Edit: Spelling. Probably still missed some. Also, image -> image/video.
The fashionable way to break this cycle is to remove old things or unpopular things. But this creates all sorts of negative externalities with your users, and in my mind is the most selfish option for that choice.
There is another option: saying 'no'. Calling something "done". Doing what you set out to do and then moving on. How to do this in a way that is sustainably profitable and prevents someone else from coming along and eating your lunch for as long as possible, is something I would very much like to learn how to do.
Is there something wrong with just doing one thing well, making some money from that, and then moving on to do something else well and making some money from that too? I know it's an old-fashioned idea that something you do in tech might not continue to bring in rental income indefinitely...
It’s kind of possible already, but the massive profits in per user per month billing alongside feature tiers to maximize price discrimination means we’re stuck with the status quo for a while.
All of these things seem to be under direct attack, mostly by businesses, wantrepreneurs, and security considerations brought about by them:
Extensibility.
Manipulating files.
Open standards.
Options dialogs and deep customization.
Information density.
Consensual updates.
Privacy.
Multiple code paths.
Low-level/technical details.
Backwards compatibility.
Secrets and easter eggs.
Platform-native applications.
Ownership of the bits in your possession.
And I've been a linux geek for a while. It is still a bastion of "the old way" of doing things but there are so many people trying to rewrite the rules, pulling the platform in their own direction and writing new code when they should be contributing to existing code. Mastering Linux seems to entail mastering several sub-platforms all at once. If only they'd agree on conventions newer than 30 years old.
BSD looks interesting though.... if only it ran software I actually want to use
As an increasingly old computer nerd, I am yelling at clouds and holding on to what I have for dear life. Too much of my identity is wrapped around this idea that computers and tech are personal brain-amplification devices, and not appliances like everyone else seems to want them to be.