The technological innovations of the last fifteen years, from advertising enshittifcation to AI cheating, have largely been a disaster. We are sadly at the point where, as Ted Gioia says, “mo…
All power to the users. And I do mean ALL. Complete control over cellular modems for one. Control over every little bit of hardware in the consumers hands.
That includes warranty promises, that includes schematics, source code for firmware, everything. For all current, past and future devices.
Yes, even if you try to use the controls we have left, you will discover that they always clip out one little obscure but critical detail that means you can’t actually use your device your way.
Example, starting ADB at boot in tcpip 5555 mode when your bootloader is locked
You’re not wrong, but users should then be held accountable if they fuck up their device. For example, if you decide to force companies to allow unlocking of bootloaders, and the user decides to flash something that they shouldn’t, and the device bricks, whose fault is it?
And pay a shop to do it? Do you realistically think the average person is gonna be willing to do that? I think it’s more likely they’ll complain to the phone company about their bricked phone.
I also don’t know enough, but is a bricked phone “fixable”? If it is, the person could do it themselves. But that’s just one example. Other examples include installing unsafe OSes because social media said so. I don’t think the average person is tech savvy enough to give them this kind of freedom.
This may be symptomatic of the issue being addressed. Would we be more willing to get the phone repaired if we felt more ownership of it? My hands are tied if the device was designed without repeatability in mind and the manufacturer has no intention of volunteering assistance - so I must complain. In our current system, we don’t have many options to choose from. I look forward to your thoughts.
Also I believe ‘bricked’ is a result of it becoming inoperable. Our devices aren’t easily repaired so they will become ‘bricked’ SOONER than if designed to run unlocked boot systems and OS’s. Feeling more ownership of your device may lead you to be more careful with it and only entrust it with reputable technicians.
I respect the sentiment, but most users neither know nor care about that. They want to take their new device out of it’s box, power it on, log in to whatever accounts they have, and carry on with their day.
The number of people who actually care about that is very small.
It doesn’t matter if they care about this. They are too dumb to do anything about it anyway. They still can get to take advantage of this. Most notable would be that stuff like “bank apps only through play/apple store” would be much harder to pull of.
The users already have a lot of control; many just don’t use it.
Can any of you live without Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for one calendar month? 25 years ago, millions of Americans did, and their lives were hardly the poorer for it. 25 years before that it was over 150 million Americans, including the 12 who walked the Moon.
I’ve been living without the first two for years now. I could live without youtube if I really needed to, though I do watch a lot of stuff about farming that is really helpful. Most of my youtube watching is educational with a slight smattering of games and entertainment and a tiny bit of news.
All power to the users. And I do mean ALL. Complete control over cellular modems for one. Control over every little bit of hardware in the consumers hands.
That includes warranty promises, that includes schematics, source code for firmware, everything. For all current, past and future devices.
Fuck locked bootloaders.
You know something is wrong when Google is one of the most consumer friendly companies.
Yes, even if you try to use the controls we have left, you will discover that they always clip out one little obscure but critical detail that means you can’t actually use your device your way.
Example, starting ADB at boot in tcpip 5555 mode when your bootloader is locked
But that’s terrorism!
I am aware of this narrative. I don’t agree.
So you’re saying you side with the terrrists!
“I’m on my side.”
You’re not wrong, but users should then be held accountable if they fuck up their device. For example, if you decide to force companies to allow unlocking of bootloaders, and the user decides to flash something that they shouldn’t, and the device bricks, whose fault is it?
Then they can just get it repaired, at a shop that has the flasher to re-flash the device. Cuz it’s open source
And pay a shop to do it? Do you realistically think the average person is gonna be willing to do that? I think it’s more likely they’ll complain to the phone company about their bricked phone.
I also don’t know enough, but is a bricked phone “fixable”? If it is, the person could do it themselves. But that’s just one example. Other examples include installing unsafe OSes because social media said so. I don’t think the average person is tech savvy enough to give them this kind of freedom.
This may be symptomatic of the issue being addressed. Would we be more willing to get the phone repaired if we felt more ownership of it? My hands are tied if the device was designed without repeatability in mind and the manufacturer has no intention of volunteering assistance - so I must complain. In our current system, we don’t have many options to choose from. I look forward to your thoughts.
Also I believe ‘bricked’ is a result of it becoming inoperable. Our devices aren’t easily repaired so they will become ‘bricked’ SOONER than if designed to run unlocked boot systems and OS’s. Feeling more ownership of your device may lead you to be more careful with it and only entrust it with reputable technicians.
I respect the sentiment, but most users neither know nor care about that. They want to take their new device out of it’s box, power it on, log in to whatever accounts they have, and carry on with their day.
The number of people who actually care about that is very small.
It doesn’t matter if they care about this. They are too dumb to do anything about it anyway. They still can get to take advantage of this. Most notable would be that stuff like “bank apps only through play/apple store” would be much harder to pull of.
The users already have a lot of control; many just don’t use it.
Can any of you live without Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for one calendar month? 25 years ago, millions of Americans did, and their lives were hardly the poorer for it. 25 years before that it was over 150 million Americans, including the 12 who walked the Moon.
I’ve been living without the first two for years now. I could live without youtube if I really needed to, though I do watch a lot of stuff about farming that is really helpful. Most of my youtube watching is educational with a slight smattering of games and entertainment and a tiny bit of news.
FWIW,
wc:Category:Videos of agriculture