[object Object]Mar 15
what do you call the psychological phenomenon where you hallucinate a human face onto a corporation like Apple and decide it must have goals other than profit maximization and exploitation
Show thread[object Object]Mar 15

“the macbook neo will usher in a new age of software tinkering” cool! so they finally rereleased HyperCard?

…no? ok fine, at least they published some new developer guidelines such that developers will need to ensure their apps run great on the neo for 8 years since it’s such a performance gap from the high end macbook pro they’re using to develop, right?

…also no? oh dear, how strange. the neo is starting to look a lot like the utterly obvious: an overgrown iPad for SaaS apps

Show thread[object Object]Mar 15
the macbook neo is a device that’s designed to normalize low-end devices as consumption-only SaaS clients. it’s the soft opening blow for the death of general purpose computing for anyone who doesn’t have a corporation’s budget for a $10k+ a pop pro laptop. the future looks like a macbook neo but more expensive, less powerful, and more locked down.
Show thread[object Object]Mar 15

if you’re considering a macbook neo or defending the macbook neo in my replies like a fucking weirdo, please do our environment a solid and get a used device that’ll outperform the neo instead

if available, a surplus thinkpad running linux will knock your fucking socks off, I guarantee it. it is the repairable, tinkerable, cozy system you imagine the neo must be.

Show thread[object Object]Mar 15

believe it or not you don’t need to buy a brand new device that’s, by both its spec sheet and benchmarks, less performant than a 2020 MacBook Air, in the opening stages of a global economic depression

you don’t actually owe these capitalists your attention, your free advertising, or your money. they do not give a shit that you’ll be the goodest little consumer and use your neo to make cozy little indie games and ssh into servers and program mcus and post on fedi. you’re invisible to them.

Show thread[object Object]Mar 16

gimme some of that ✨apple magic✨ that makes a 6 year old device a miserable experience but a new device with worse specs and benchmarks than the 6 year old device somehow wonderful until 2034

what do you mean the magic is that it’s built for apple intelligence and other SaaS horseshit and as an entry-level market wedge for Apple’s take on adobe’s horrifically exploitative Creative Cloud suite

Show thread[object Object]Mar 16
it’s almost like 8GB RAM, non-expandable, split between the CPU and GPU, is the absolute minimum needed to make the trainwreck that is Liquid Glass macOS run at all and Apple isn’t planning on changing any of their development practices for an entry level device
Show thread[object Object]

like I know damn well this thing isn’t for me, a lot of things aren’t for me. but which of these things am I supposed to clap for?

- tinkerers get nothing. there’s much better, faster, cheaper, much much more open tinkering devices out there
- students get a bad device that’ll be exactly as locked down as an iPad due to school policy
- creatives get Adobe Creative Cloud but Apple aka exploitation
- your dad probably won’t buy one cause macOS is weird and $600 is still too expensive for compute

Mar 16 at 2:10amWeb
Show thread[object Object]Mar 16

you don’t in fact have to waste your advocacy on the macbook neo. you don’t have to clap for a situation where Apple makes money. it doesn’t matter to me that this device will be a success, and I don’t doubt it will. it doesn’t deserve my recognition or my attention and I’m kind of shocked that it’s become a bizarre little outlet for OLPC-style techno-optimism.

“but zzt aren’t you giving it your att-“ yeah thanks for that motherfuckers, shove more garbage into my face til I flinch