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.
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Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:27:17 JST
Eugen Rochko
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Zack Whittaker (zackwhittaker@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:35:01 JST
Zack Whittaker
@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!
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Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:39:55 JST
Eugen Rochko
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.
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I AM BANKSY (strght@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:40:55 JST
I AM BANKSY
A legitimate perspective. I understand it as a technique driven perspective.
Let me add a second perspective. Reduction is an art. If ‘form follows function’ hard work is required. If done right the outcome can be pure esthetics. Thin of Braun Hi-fi equipment, Apple iPhone, Jacob Jensen, Bauhaus Designers a.o.
There are many other perspectives.
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Oliver D. Reithmaier (odr_k4tana@infosec.exchange)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:46:57 JST
Oliver D. Reithmaier
@Gargron that's because you're technically proficient.
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Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 04:46:57 JST
Eugen Rochko
@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.
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ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES (benroyce@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 05:28:59 JST
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES
"ChatGPT, summarize Eugen's post for me, it has 5 lines in it, that's way too much to read"
(/s)
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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
@Gargron I learned to "code" using the Dbase interface. I still use the things I learned in that process.
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R F (rpf@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 08:01:38 JST
R F
@Gargron Are you hinting of a geocities like interface to customize Mastodon? Now that would be awesome.
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zjb (zjb@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 09:33:25 JST
zjb
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.
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Vineeth Kuruvath (vineethkuruvath@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 10:43:57 JST
Vineeth Kuruvath
@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.
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mark (iamnotu@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 13:14:27 JST
mark
@Gargron when i describe something as a directory rather than a folder, i get this blank expression.
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ĞÖKÜ👻👻™ (gokushrm@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 14:15:37 JST
ĞÖKÜ👻👻™
@Gargron 70%population of world doesn't need to be a tech savy too use any thing.... People want simple and easy to use stuffs in life... Company that making/creating stuffs needs tech nerds to create those stuffs because of simplicity & easy to use nature users ready to sacrifice their privacy too. I mean why people need technical knowledge about how a call or message works in background?
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Oliver Gassner :mastodon: (oliverg@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 22-May-2026 16:26:53 JST
Oliver Gassner :mastodon:
@Gargron and absurdly many (maybe not most) Open Source evangelists love Apple. Why?
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