The only digital subscription service I want is a subscription to a real-life IT person in my real-life local community who will go into my phone and computer once a month to remove all the new AI features and other enshittifying features that companies have sneaked onto my devices against my will since the last time.
Seriously. If AI is so fanbloodytastic, why do they have to sneak it in and hide any off-switches?
@CiaraNi The goal is normalization so that when they replace those IT guys with AI, your AI-enabled devices can just speak to the AI IT guy, in a language that the AIs invent to increase their efficiency.
The alternative is to take control of your local AIs and learn all you can about what they do and how to control them on your local machine, including firewalls to prevent them going out and doing things without your consent.
@ragle "The alternative is to take control of your local AIs and learn all you can about what they do and how to control them on your local machine, including firewalls to prevent them going out and doing things without your consent."
That's why I'm wishing for an enterprising IT person to set up a Digital DeShittifying subscription service. I'm IT-aware and digitally-aware, but am not an IT person. I don't have the time or skills or interest for this digital battle that they've forced upon me.
@capnthommo 'Obviously they know it's garbage or they'd be so confident their product is so good you'd never want to get rid of it.'
That's it exactly. Otherwise they'd be marketing it as a magnificent feature that they're magnificently letting us have - 'download here!'
@CiaraNi Switching to freedom-respecting/libre software could help. Among other benefits, it allows any developer to release new versions of the software without unwanted (anti)features. And it's mostly been free of the AI malaise so far.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software
There's probably a libre software community near you who would love to help you switch.
An easy way on Android is to use https://f-droid.org/ as your app store (it strictly provides only libre software) instead of the Play Store.
'There's probably a libre software community near you who would love to help you switch.'
I did ask around recently but the only groups I've heard of are for people with the IT skills, working on projects together, not for random end users like me. I'd love to find an open-source equivalent of our local repair cafés - a place where you come along with your computer and phone and your ignorance, and a kind volunteer helps you switch to open-source in real life, hands on.
@CiaraNi That's a pity...I'll see if I can start something like that in my city, and maybe later in others too.
I also invite you to join the Tinkerspace channel on XMPP, which is an end-user-friendly channel created with the same idea in mind. To join it, you can install Quicksy from the Play Store, App Store, or F-Droid, then open this link -
https://xmpp.link/#tinkering@conference.macaw.me?join
Aye. An all too relevant meme 😔
@cockneylaurie Exactly! The 'Wifi kettle' is my go-to example of how stupid everything got. Even leaving the environmental and energy costs aside, it makes no functional sense. You still have to walk right up to the kettle to fill it and to use it, so there is no useful function at all. At least the Teasmades of the 70s had an actual function.
WiFi Toothbrush! 😉🤷♂️
I am kinda but it's not surprising that it does exist.
@simonzerafa Like almost everything technical, digital and political these days: I am shocked but not surprised.
@CiaraNi This was two posts below yours in my feed. We’ve collectively spent 819 million hours completing CAPTCHAs.
By 2025, reCAPTCHA is no longer effective against bots but continues to be used due to its tracking capabilities and data collection. It extensively monitors users' cookies, browsing history, and browser environment for advertising and tracking purposes. This system is responsible for wasting 819 million hours of wasted human time and billions of dollars in Google profits. https://boingboing.net/2025/02/07/recaptcha-819-million-hours-of-wasted-human-time-and-billions-of-dollars-google-profit.html #privacy #technology #google
@david_preston @bodhipaksa That's a great point about a further time-waster - all the 2FA-ing and many of the other features assume everyone is on a fast internet connection. And has a decent-sized screen. And a keyboard.
'I am off to buy some reading lamps for books' - that's the right idea!
@CiaraNi @david_preston @bodhipaksa
So much this - I don't have *any* of those things.
Add to that, 'offline' programs that will no longer work well (or at all) without an internet connection. 😡
I'm in the process right this minute of transferring files from one program to another just because of all that (plus the uncomfortable feeling my files could be read and/or deleted if ever deemed unsuitable).
(Edited to add missing word 'work')
@Her_Doing That is absolutely the right emoji for all of this. It's such a frustrating mess.
@CiaraNi @david_preston @bodhipaksa
It really is. I have *never* had a good internet connection, so every app/software program has always been chosen for its ability to work offline.
To no longer be able to perform one of the few key functions I need it to do is beyond frustrating - and I'm just not accepting it any more.
I feel we had a contract & they broke that contract. Therefore I choose to no longer be a customer.
@Her_Doing 'I feel we had a contract & they broke that contract.' That resonates. An added frustration I've been feeling is the way they mess us around even when we're paying customers. It's not just free products or software, but products we pay for, based on the service they provided when we signed up, not this new, enshittified service.
@CiaraNi @Her_Doing @david_preston
For true enshittification I'd recommend Quickbooks (Intuit). You used to have to buy the app on a CD for $300. It would work forever, but they would artificially stop updating the tax tables after three years, which meant you could no longer do payroll. This was proto-enshittification. So you'd spend another $300. $100 a year.
Now it's a subscription service. It's $1000 a year: a 10x hike in price.
@bodhipaksa That's unconscionable! Say I, naively, as if I thought the corporate digital world had a conscious to be un-able in the first place.
@bodhipaksa @CiaraNi @david_preston
We use QB & I'm a tiny bit concerned they can still somehow make it no longer work.
We've never used the tax tables - have never had more than five staff & most were on the same hours every week, so we just calculated the taxes manually as they changed twice a year.
If something ever goes wrong & we have to go to an annual subscription model, we're out. We'll go back to spreadsheets before we do that.
@CiaraNi @david_preston @bodhipaksa
I *loved* Evernote. I LOVED it. I went pro a week after discovering it & I *never* do that. (Usually the free model is good enough - but I felt the pro was worth it. That was almost fifteen years ago.)
I still want to love it. And maybe I will keep it a bit longer, especially since I have so much invested. But I'm looking at alternatives, especially going forward, and I am gradually deleting what is already there.
@Her_Doing @CiaraNi @david_preston
Ah, Evernote! I switched to Bear app many years ago and never looked back.
@bodhipaksa @CiaraNi @david_preston
One of the things I wish I could have is some kind of web clipper. Evernote has it. Obsidian supposedly has it, although I have never been able to make it work. I think Joplin has it as well.
I'm open to looking at new software, but maybe not right this minute. (!!) Life is a lot and my brain is not right now.
Plus, I'm in a mood. 😄 I've always been a 'less is more' girl, but wow, these days that's manifesting itself IN SPADES.
@bodhipaksa @CiaraNi @david_preston
Yes - that's what I'm looking for! I didn't see it in a list of Bear's features - thank you! 🙏
'I find lots of good tips on here for unwanted aiware removal' - me too. I am grateful to my neighbours here in the Fediverse who generously share tips about AI workarounds and ways to block or thwart it. Unfortunately for all of us, it's a never-ending task though.
@bookworks It's all so infuriating. And unnecessary. It doesn't have to be like this! Most of these things used to work fine.
@bookworks I can well believe it. The imbalance in the relationship between user/customer and vendor is scandalous at this point.
@CiaraNi "If AI is so fanbloodytastic, why do they have to sneak it in and hide any off-switches?"
SAY IT LOUDER
@CiaraNi I was nearly there just because of the advertising but the recent copilot additions in Windows and Office have driven me past the breaking point. I installed Linux a few weeks ago and I'm working on weaning myself off of OneDrive.
Can honestly say that the Linux desktop experience with KDE/Plasma is miles better than what I tried just a few years ago. LibreOffice does everything I need. It's still not as easy as Windows, but it's improving. Microsoft have billions of dollars to throw at design, UX, and compatibility. Linux is developed on a shoestring by comparison, but what has been achieved on that shoestring is phenomenal.
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