Cap Ybarra18h ago
nearly thirty years ago i saw a guy stand up in an all hands staff meeting, declare "this is stupid", walk out and never come back, and friends, there's not a single day of 2026 I haven't thought of him
Show threadCharlie Stross

@cap_ybarra

I haven't *precisely* done that, but there was one all-hands at a company I worked for until March 1995 that made me quit my job a week or so later.

What did it was the music when the board of directors ran on stage, punching the air, to announce the old CEO's retirement and replacement by the CFO.

They played "Things can only get better".

Reader: they did not.

(Luckily I read the writing on the wall and got out in time.)

7:20pmWeb
Show threadCap Ybarra16h ago
@cstross i heard of some ballmer pep rallys at msft that went similarly
Show threadCharlie Stross16h ago
@cap_ybarra This was at SCO, during its final years as an actual UNIX VAR doing software development rather than a set of trademarks sold to a litigation mill. Which is kind of the point.
Show threadCap Ybarra16h ago
@cstross if nothing else it's a reminder that the self immolation of the software industry is cyclical. could set your clocks to it
Show threadCharlie Stross16h ago
@cap_ybarra Yes, but I have a feeling it's running out of headroom: Moore's Law is more or less done, which means there are no more easy gains to be had. Meanwhile the VCs are trying to reap the same levels of profit as a growth industry from a mature industry, hence the LLM bubble now inflating. I can't see where they go from here after it bursts.
Show threadCap Ybarra15h ago
@cstross all the easy gains now are rent seeking and snake oil sales because of exactly what you said
Show threadBlake C. Stacey15h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra "Every new year brings new and fun and great capabilities" was such a ubiquitous aspect of being Into Computers, and now it's just... gone.
Show threadLisPi15h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra Might we finally see people actually pay attention to better design, if only because they literally can't afford not to anymore?
Show threadrhempel12h ago
@lispi314 @cap_ybarra @cstross Don't hold your breath ...
Show threadRupert V/10h ago
@lispi314 @cap_ybarra @cstross Problem is that being an employed programmer gives you lifestyle expectations you can't meet as an unemployed programmer. So increasing numbers of unemployed programmers are spending all their time chasing decreasing numbers of programming jobs instead of taking their laptops to a Mexican beach and writing a free* version of whatever they were doing before that will run on half the hardware.
* Free as in beer and speech, of course, but also free of spyware, ransomware, and plagiarized aislop.
Show threadLisPi10h ago
@rupert @cap_ybarra @cstross I think a considerable part of that has to do with local social safety nets.

Some countries are a lot more survivable than others on unemployment.

In some, such a lifestyle as "eating more than once a day and having a roof over one's head" is unattainable on such.

(This is fully by design, of course.)
Show threadDonald Ball15h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra Weapons and surveillance tech
Show threadWouter Verhelst3h ago
@cstross
They'll do what they did after the dot com bubble burst: GTFO, wait a decade or so, come back and do it all over again

🙄
@cap_ybarra
Show threadgeolaw14h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra Do you remember GrokLaw? For years I read every GrokLaw post I could. Then it just stopped...
Show threadCharlie Stross14h ago
@geolaw @cap_ybarra Nope, I didn't track it. (Remember, I left SCO more than 30 years ago. I just wince whenever anyone mentions their name now.)
Show threadgeolaw14h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra And in the aftermath of SCO vs Linux we got git
Show threadSimon B5h ago
@geolaw @cstross @cap_ybarra this is why it stopped. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/20/groklaw-shuts-nsa-surveillance
Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

Pamela Jones shuts award-winning site, saying concerns that messages could be read mean that 'there is now no shield from forced exposure'. By Charles Arthur

The Guardian
Show threadbakachu15h ago
@cstross @cap_ybarra there's an all hands at my org every monday morning at 0930 and it begins with inspirational music. it is the very epitome of 'splendid and worthwhile'.
Show threadCap Ybarra15h ago
@bakachu @cstross our hr teams must be buddies
Show threadbakachu15h ago
@cap_ybarra @cstross having one's camera on is mandatory (most everybody is remote).
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸11h ago
@bakachu Can't you just record yourself in one session, and play it back at the subsequent ones? @cap_ybarra @cstross