Mastodawn

Imagine being a welder. And every day you come to work you have to worry about whether your tools are where you left them. Or if your controls have been reversed. Or the tanks are mislabeled or rearranged. Or if your 110v equipment suddenly requires 220v. Or the trigger on your MIG welder only works after you tap on three fire hydrants. Or your visor has ads pop up in the way of your vision. Or cameras and microphones show up to record all your work and you don't know who has access to those recordings. Or that supply of rods you just purchased will no longer work with your torch because the manufacturer decided that you can only use rods purchased from them, even though that was not disclosed at the time of purchase.

Why the fuck does tech get away with it?

@cR0w because a lot of tech doesnt exist to functionally 'do anything' - its a strawman to pass compliance nonsense or get cheaper insurance.

@Viss I know, I know. It was mostly rhetorical venting. It's just so fucking stupid.

@cR0w this kills the brain

@Viss @cR0w Also most software isn't purchased by the user.

@AMS @Viss @cR0w it doesn't really matter. Windows technically still costs a noticeable amount of money to this day but very much acts like it's free

unixjunk1e 🌵5d ago

@cR0w If/when planned obsolescence is passed off as innovation and progress in other markets such as in the tech sector, the cracks in the consumer messaging get easier to see.

"You'll need to upgrade your waffle iron every three years."

"Fuck you."

"You'll need to upgrade your phone and TV and and and ..."

"Oh, okay. Such is tech."

sasutina13a 🇨🇦 🇪🇺 🇯🇵 🌐5d ago

@cR0w @unixjunk1e Every waffle iron upgrade is inferior to the previous one. That is already happening.

As for TV and radio, they have to monetise those patents, don't they.

Franchesca 5d ago

@sasutina13 @cR0w @unixjunk1e it’s certainly the case with subsequent versions of my electric toothbrush. My partner has been upgrading constantly (it’s time we got a new one), and my original one still works fine and is much nicer to use than subsequent versions. He also had a bunch of problems/ things failing while my old one still charges up fine.

MacCruiskeen 5d ago

@cR0w @unixjunk1e That is why my waffle iron is a Sunbeam CG-1.

@cR0w @unixjunk1e

have the last ‘s’ model iphone and its now so slow i generally can’t use it besides calls.

glad that the folks who built voyager didn’t think this way

@rye @unixjunk1e It makes me want to physically, uh, tickle, every tech nerd with "engineer" as a title.

@cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e I always chuckle because in some places Engineer is a regulated professional title, like Doctor. And then some tech industries just rolled up and started throwing it around like it came in a cracker jack box, and the people using it don’t follow any sort of engineering standards or practices. I love having a good laugh over it.

@hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e Exactly! Engineer should be a protected title.

@cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e I guess Technologist didn’t sound fancy enough

surfingreg 5d ago

@hotsoup @cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e #enshittifier

The Witch of Crow Briar 5d ago

@hotsoup @cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e Don’t get me started on “Prompt Engineer” 🤮

Bill VE7WYC 5d ago

@cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e
It's a protected title in Canada:

https://engineerscanada.ca/become-an-engineer/use-of-professional-title-and-designations

Except for "software engineer" in Alberta. Figures.

Use of professional title and designations | Engineers Canada

In Canada, not just anyone can use the title engineer. To practice engineering and use the title engineer, you must be licensed by the engineering regulator for the province/ territory where the title is being used. Regulation minimizes risks to public safety and ensures that these activities are conducted by licensed engineers who are held to high professional and ethical standards that require them to work in the public interest.

Engineers Canada

ghorwood↙↙↙5d ago

@VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e i live in alberta and absolutely refuse to use the ‘e word’.

Bill VE7WYC 5d ago

@ghorwood @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e
Thanks for sticking to the right thing to do. I never understood why software gets a pass. It's foundational in so many things that affect public safety.

ghorwood↙↙↙5d ago

@VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e you need professional accreditation to build a strip mall, but if you're just cooking up the wares that run a pacemaker or the banking system or someone's anti-lock brakes, meh.

Bill VE7WYC 5d ago

@ghorwood @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e
Yup. Add 737 modifications, air traffic control, etc etc.

Bill VE7WYC 4d ago

@ghorwood @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e
Thread jack @ghorwood I just saw your profile description of your rotator cuff injury. My music-related stupid injury: In 1983 I tore my ACL jumping off the stage holding a bass guitar during a high school air band contest. The song was "Photograph" by Def Leppard.

ghorwood↙↙↙4d ago

@VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e people always go on and on about their sports injuries, but nobody every takes into account the very real dangers of rock-n-roll.

Bill VE7WYC 4d ago

@ghorwood @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e
Truth!

@ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e

There is absolutely no reason for software to get a pass. The term Engineer has been around for a while but it wasn't formalized until the 17th and 18th centuries.

Technology engineering (lowercase e) vs. Civil Engineering (capital E) were possible because of standardization of equipment and methods, I'd like to see that more in technology. I think it would really help accelerate Good Things(tm)

@mj @ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e

In Canada we generally have the worst of both worlds. The title "Engineer" is protected, and you can get in some mild legal trouble by calling yourself (or being called by a US employer that doesn't recognize that the term is protected in Canada) a Software Engineer.

But at the same time, none of the provincial Engineering societies that regulate the conduct of people who have engineering degrees and are capital "E" Engineers do anything to actually regulate any of the practices around making software.

When's the last time you saw them report a software defect that would harm users? Or take away someone's license because they released code with terrible security vulnerabilities?

Epic Null 4d ago

@mj @ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e I could understand a rollout, but software engineers have WAY too much power to be exempt from higher standards.

@mj @ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @unixjunk1e As someone who held credentials for engineering, there's a lot of things that feel like this industry is paved with caltrops and rakes scattered all over the yard.

@rye @ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @unixjunk1e

Of course there are, how else are we going to keep the baddies out except through self-sabotage.

But seriously, there need to be formal methods for software, proven algorithms, stuff teachable instead of "check github for sprocket library" or "install docker container" or gigs of dependencies.

RootWyrm 🇺🇦

@rye @mj @ghorwood @VE7WYC @cR0w @hotsoup @unixjunk1e

Caltrops.
Rakes.
Used hypodermic needles.
Ampoules of bubonic plague.
Land mines from 1954.
Claymore mines that read 'front toward user.'
Atomic demolition munitions that were buried sometime in the 1990's.
Large stockpiles of dynamite from 1893.
This guy named Bob who just stabs you in the eye with a letter opener repeatedly.
The contents of Pandora's box.
Machines Rube Goldberg deemed too improbable and offensive.

Poloniousmonk 2d ago

In NJ, you need a professional accreditation to buy hair stripper. (strong H2O2)

B'ad Samurai 🐐5d ago

@cR0w @hotsoup @rye @unixjunk1e my actual engineering friends I went to school with (mechanical) love to remind me of this.

Not to mention non-optional professional insurance. Public projects or the prime firm often require bonding.

Falsification in their documentation can be a felony.

@badsamurai @cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e I am equally entertained by how many actual engineers turn into amateur lawyers trying to foist off liability on everyone and anything that isn’t them (especially when it’s counter productive; signing off on things is literally their responsibility).

MisterMaker 5d ago

@hotsoup @cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e it's here, but nobody cares. Or more specifically most of the people in charge don't care, they use it to brag towards their customers.
This is our product "engineer". Give engineer names to anyone.

MisterMaker 5d ago

@hotsoup @cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e Fine is up too 4000 euro I think nobody ever got that fine.

darf 😈5d ago

@cR0w @rye @unixjunk1e

@darfplatypus @rye @unixjunk1e So when are you coming out to Seattle? :baseball_bat:

@cR0w
Security updates?
@unixjunk1e

@light@noc.social @cR0w@infosec.exchange @unixjunk1e@infosec.exchange
In the end nude selfies in your iCloud still somehow make it to the press, so why bother? 😈
They are somehow attempting to do both: convince you that you should have nothing to hide, and exploit the security scare for rent-seeking, to convince you that you should keep buying the same shit perpetually just to feel safe.
As customers we are certainly in abusive relationship with this industry.

@cR0w john deer wants to chat about even newer better equipment. stop trying to weld on that one...

@thejikz OMG fuck John Deere with an X9.

@cR0w Yea, we trade peeps are affected by it, just (imo) more subtly and systemically.

@thejikz For sure. But it seems like it's been enhanced by forcing networked electronics into everything.

@cR0w yea cannot argue there, every screen or device is a potential infected. And we are more and more forced to utilize screens because "paperless".

Mark T. Tomczak 5d ago

@cR0w https://thecodelesscode.com/case/154

Truly superior engineers would have no reason for petty vindictiveness.

UltraSunshine 5d ago

@cR0w I was reflecting today about how I remember a time when software updates brought with them the promise of improvements. Seems the technology industry as a whole has moved far past that point

Related: my work laptop is toast because I installed some mandatory updates. Time to go see if I can get my external monitors to function

@UltraSunshine @cR0w
The worst part about it is that security updates are often bundled with function/UI updates. I may be completely satisfied with my functions and (especially!) UI, but I have to apply updates if I want to be secure.

Speaking of which, may people (occasionally myself included) delay updates, because they realize that their flow would be broken.

I mean, I still do Shift+Ctrl+Enter to append .org in Firefox (now LIbreWolf). It's been like 15 years or something since it was removed.

That reminds me, I actually stayed on Firefox 3 (I think) for an indordinate amount of time. They have changed things around significantly when FF 4 came out.

Fat_Farang 5d ago

@VileOx @UltraSunshine @cR0w Windows 10 to Windows 11 is a great example.

UltraSunshine 5d ago

@Fat_Farang @VileOx @cR0w would you like some free surveillance technology?

No?

Well, how bout *some more* surveillance technology?

- Win11 product managers, probably

@Fat_Farang @UltraSunshine @cR0w

Yes. All my computers are too old to run Windows 11, so I will have to continue with Windows 10. Now, personally, I plan to upgrade one or two to Linux this summer (I already freed the disc drive on the first one, now I just have to find some thermal paste so it does not overheat so), but at least one computer will continue to run Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. At the office, though.. We have good, solid office computers that will not upgrade (some software demands Windows, unfortunately). There is no money in the budget to buy new ones (and it would be wasteful). So.

P.S. I have a computer that still runs Windows 7. Nothing critical there and it is off most of the time.

Alexander The 1st 5d ago

@UltraSunshine @cR0w Clearly, the problem is Semantic Versioning.

We should abolish the "Major/Minor/Patch" versioning system and just have "Minor/Patch".

You want to do breaking changes in an update? You now have to convince us to switch from the dependency we currently use to a new dependency.

@cR0w on top of all this shit, what if your tools nagged you to update to the latest toolkit or required you to install invasive firmware and refused to take no for an answer and shut the fuck up. Lookin at you, every goddamn company trying to shove AI in my face. Fuck off forever.

@da_667 @cR0w oops your goggles and welder just became subscription. please insert a two dollar bill to unlock welding for the remainder of the day

@Viss @cR0w community edition googles are no longer supported. Modding your welder's toolkit is no longer supported. Welding googles v2024 are no longer supported. please acquire welding googles v2025 to continue using welding googles™

@da_667 @cR0w oh you need to use another welding rod? im sorry, your subscription only allows you one rod per calendar year. please upgrade to the pro plan to unlock 5 welding rods per year. interested in unlimited rods? please contact sales for more details

Krishean Draconis 5d ago

@da_667 @Viss @cR0w welding googles v2024 is deprecated, welding googles v2025 is in beta and the documentation is incomplete

CyberFrog 5d ago

@Viss @da_667 @cR0w the terms of use for your welding shed have changed and you're not allowed to use it anymore, please report to the centralized welding sheds from now on to continue work

@Viss @da_667 AI Welding from The Cloud is only available with an Enterprise license but is required for flux-core wire. Please upgrade.