Don't underestimate the power of your choice at the frontier, even if it takes a while to reverberate through time.

I used to think it didn't matter what tools I chose as a lone developer making consumer tech products and DSP audio applications. But over time, I saw that consumers rely on frontier-makers for fast-moving tech choices more than you’d think, even if they lag a few years behind.

When enough people make a choice, a tipping point forms in the future. Paul Graham wrote about this in "The Return of the Mac", and I believe a tipping point is forming: http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html

If Apple wants to ride on privacy, then it will fall on privacy.

Yes, I can specifically say that 2 other people have chosen not to update past Mojave 10.14 because of my advice.

I'm experimenting with Linux these days. There are some minor annoyances with using an outdated version of macOS. Unfortunately those apply to not just one or two apps, but every part of the OS when using Linux. Basic things like WiFi drivers or sleep support. I'm encouraged by the trackpad driver project, but it's not there yet. So I'm still hanging on to my 2014 Retina MacBook Pro using 10.13, until some Linux distro catches up. I feel like that will happen soon though.

I should update to Mojave one of these days...

Not if you want Time Machine; stay on HFS+ if you're a dev and want easier cross-platform support.

One of my family members is using Time Machine and is on Catalina, which forces APFS -- is there something I should be worried about (outside of cross-platform support)?

Directory hard links are not available in APFS. Even though your internal drive is APFS, your Time Machine backup drive is probably still HFS+.

https://eclecticlight.co/2020/05/26/how-to-make-time-machine...

God the self importance of this community. The world can live without the 1000 people here.

It’s true, but at the same time Apple are currently trying to win over the developer community. That much was clear over the M1 announcement where they focused on compile times and tensor flow as benchmarks.

Corps like Google or Apple are so big that the amount of HN customers and their friends/relatives are a drop in the ocean. This is just a PR mess for them, that's all.

They mop it up and move on.

You and I - we are the market. How do you know how many drops there are if you don't speak up?

Relative to my community in South Africa, I have spent more money on Apple products than anyone I know. And here I am saying that if these privacy issues are not resolved, I am willing to vote with my wallet as soon as I can find an alternative.

I only mention that I've de-Googled my life so that those who doubt my intent will know it's not an idle threat. These things take time to change, but they can and do change if you make your voice as a customer heard.

When you want to enact change at a Big Co:

1.) Communicate why you are forced into a buying position and ideally how to resolve it.

2.) Be willing to walk away, or you can't negotiate.

3.) Actively seek alternatives.

Yep "Voting with your wallet" doesn't work, bad practices need regulation and/or penalties.

I don't believe that is true. Regulation prevents competitors from toppling badly-behaved incumbents.

Big Co.'s must be allowed to fail. Don't hinder new contenders from rising to replace them.

"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

The interesting thing about this community is that technically it could create its own OS. That is a threat to nation state level institutes that want to prevent that.

> is that technically it could create its own OS

The vast majority of people here couldn't program a linked list given an hour and full access to the Internet.

I have memorized copy-paste hotkeys thank you very much

Yes, nation states fear people working on OS projects. No one outside of the security state has ever tried to make one - and lived to tell the tale.

You know, that’s not a bad idea.

I agree with the sentiment, but I also think designers and builders of all kinds ignore the most advanced users at their peril regardless of if they're HN, some game's best players, someone who uses a library in production instead of as hobby, etcetc.

The impact is just different and sometimes causes big issues if ignored

There are more than 1,000 people and it's a sampling of a larger population. There are more developers and technical savvy people out there than just the ones who use HN.

Who is more important than the customer? You and I - we are the market.

You and them are the market if you happen to be the only two customers of a company or the only customers for specific goods. Hopefully you see now why your statement was ridiculous.