Re:It Takes 16 Clicks for a Student to Open a PowerPoint on ...
by tavavex on Saturday November 14, 2026 @08:33PM
(#50503090)
> Making a proper app for it makes it not take those 10 steps.
There are no incentives for them to make a proper app. When faced with a choice of being nice to you or extracting maximum value out of you, those companies will pick the second option every time. Having an internet-connected app is an open invitation for companies to force you to register an account, make you grant their app all sorts of permissions, have you view ads and waste your money. Another incentive is for them to save as much money on developing that app as they can. Combining these two, we get a situation where any company that's not squeezing you for those few extra cents is making an economically inferior choice, and anything digital and connected to the internet has no bounds for how many types of abusive practices can be facilitated through it.
On the other hand, paying at a parking meter is physical and grounded in reality, you can't inject too much bullshit into the process. It's very constrained and you know it will always remain so. They don't have wiggle room to try any of the above. It's boring 20th century 'exchanging money for services' instead of new 21st century 'abusing the user for money and potentially providing a service on the side'.
There are no incentives for them to make a proper app. When faced with a choice of being nice to you or extracting maximum value out of you, those companies will pick the second option every time. Having an internet-connected app is an open invitation for companies to force you to register an account, make you grant their app all sorts of permissions, have you view ads and waste your money. Another incentive is for them to save as much money on developing that app as they can. Combining these two, we get a situation where any company that's not squeezing you for those few extra cents is making an economically inferior choice, and anything digital and connected to the internet has no bounds for how many types of abusive practices can be facilitated through it.
On the other hand, paying at a parking meter is physical and grounded in reality, you can't inject too much bullshit into the process. It's very constrained and you know it will always remain so. They don't have wiggle room to try any of the above. It's boring 20th century 'exchanging money for services' instead of new 21st century 'abusing the user for money and potentially providing a service on the side'.