Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:27:17 JST Eugen Rochko

   • かき@GNUsocialJP

   When I was growing up, we had operating systems that exposed a lot of the technical details about their inner workings, and websites that let us use code to customize them, like MySpace and Geocities. UX designers in tech have since optimized away most of the stuff that allowed and encouraged people to learn to use technology and now people get confused by files and browser tabs. And as the knowledge shrinks, more and more things have to be simplified away. I only ever see it as a one way road.

   • Embed this notice
     Zack Whittaker (zackwhittaker@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:35:01 JST Zack Whittaker

     in reply to

     @Gargron i agree. i feel like the ability to customize, tinker, modify, edit... even hack (gently) websites and web apps especially has been taken away over the past 10-15 years of so. editing the live HTML of a Myspace page back in the 2000s almost feels impossible without all of the guardrails put in place today. it was actually fun to grow up on the internet and with computers during the 90s and 00s!

   • Embed this notice
     Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:39:55 JST Eugen Rochko

     in reply to

     • かき@GNUsocialJP

     Why does it matter whether people know how to use files and tabs or re-install their operating system? Isn't it better to let people get on with their day? Well, it's like with everything in life, ignorance costs a premium. If you are ignorant of something, you can be taken advantage of. Apple sells you expensive devices capable of running any program in the world, but keeping an iron grip on what you can run on it. Google is following suit. Many such cases.

   • Embed this notice
     Oliver D. Reithmaier (odr_k4tana@infosec.exchange)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:46:57 JST Oliver D. Reithmaier

     in reply to

     @Gargron that's because you're technically proficient.

   • Embed this notice
     Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:46:57 JST Eugen Rochko

     in reply to

     • かき@GNUsocialJP
     • Oliver D. Reithmaier

     @odr_k4tana And why am I technically proficient? It is because of what was available for me to play with when I was growing up. Something no longer available to newer generations.

   • Embed this notice
     ⏩︎VOTE⏪︎ ᶜʸⁿⁱᶜⁱˢᵐ⁼ᵃᶜᶜᵉᵖᵗᵃⁿᶜᵉ (Ben Royce) (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 05:28:59 JST ⏩︎VOTE⏪︎ ᶜʸⁿⁱᶜⁱˢᵐ⁼ᵃᶜᶜᵉᵖᵗᵃⁿᶜᵉ (Ben Royce)

     in reply to

     @Gargron

     "ChatGPT, summarize Eugen's post for me, it has 5 lines in it, that's way too much to read"

     (/s)

   • Embed this notice
     Sarcasm is all I have Left (happytobe@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 06:29:32 JST Sarcasm is all I have Left

     in reply to

     @Gargron I learned to "code" using the Dbase interface. I still use the things I learned in that process.

   • Embed this notice
     R F (rpf@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 08:01:38 JST R F

     in reply to

     @Gargron Are you hinting of a geocities like interface to customize Mastodon? Now that would be awesome.

   • Embed this notice
     zjb (zjb@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 09:33:25 JST zjb

     in reply to

     Yeah, I feel this so much. It's like we traded all that messy, creative potential for a sleek surface that nobody's allowed to scratch. Makes you wonder what we've actually lost in the name of "user-friendliness.

   • Embed this notice
     Vineeth Kuruvath (vineethkuruvath@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 10:43:57 JST Vineeth Kuruvath

     in reply to

     @Gargron Ignorance comes with a price tag, but that doesn't mean avoiding it is always the best move. Many a times it is worth it. Files, for example, anyway are an abstraction. There are many abstractions, but I'd say it is more important to understand and take a call how it affects you and the society.

     Google taking control of everyone's Android is being run entirely through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. I certainly don't want to be party to that.

   • Embed this notice
     Oliver Gassner :mastodon: (oliverg@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 16:26:53 JST Oliver Gassner :mastodon:

     in reply to

     @Gargron and absurdly many (maybe not most) Open Source evangelists love Apple. Why?

   • Embed this notice
     slash (agreeable_landfall@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 27-May-2026 07:16:04 JST slash

     in reply to

     @Gargron I'll give you my short rant. People never wanted computers. Even after VisiCalc, even after AOL. Most people wanted to stay away from them.

     At some point, as the field matured, we created systems that 1) did not require the user to learn anything, 2) would run on your phone, and 3) allowed them to yak at their friends -- all the time.

     Social Media is what killed the Internet.

     </rant>