Koen Hufkens, PhDMay 11

The slow death of the power user.

"This isn’t an accident. This is the result of two decades of deliberate, calculated effort by the largest technology companies on earth to turn users into consumers, instruments into appliances, and technical literacy into a niche hobby for weirdos. They succeeded beyond their wildest expectations"

https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/the-slow-death-of-the-power-user/

#technology #tech #sustainability

The Slow Death of the Power User — fireborn

Show threadLarry (Mr.Optimization)May 11

@koen_hufkens The control and extraction techniques that Apple, Google and others use are certainly true.

I have a different take on the 'loss' of power users angle. The difference between today vs 40 years ago is not the percentage of the population that is interested in learning the fine details of technology. The difference is that 40 years ago, only the technically minded people touched computers at all. Today billions of people have computers in their pockets and on their desks.

Show threadLarry (Mr.Optimization)May 11
@koen_hufkens The same percentage of people explore this technology deeply enough to understand and control it. The rest treat it as a black box or appliance with 'magic' inside.
Show threadKoen Hufkens, PhDMay 11
@fast_code_r_us There is the market penetration angle, but the lack of repairability is a part of this as well. When things are made intentionally difficult to understand, not because they are, but because it protects business interests, you lose out.
Show threadLarry (Mr.Optimization)
@koen_hufkens I agree; companies have gotten very clever and the current laws protect them instead of consumers.
May 11 at 4:55pmWeb