What's a tech trend you disagree with?

[Radium_Angel]

Software as a Service. FU Adobe for kicking that off in the consumer-space.

[mr moose]

10 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

I just go into Settings > System & Updates > Backup and Restore > Data Backup > External Storage > USB storage. 

No additional software needed. And since it does it in Airplane mode, i'm pretty sure no cloud account is needed.

 

 

Either I'm an idiot or my android 11 doesn't have that option.

[whispous]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

Software as a Service. FU Adobe for kicking that off in the consumer-space.

See, SaaS is a completely valid mechanic in principle. But to make it work for the consumer, the consumer has to see value beyond "I have no other choice".

 

I very much hope that Adobe is not allowed to aquire any competitors by regulators, so that some competition can bring back choice and force Adobe to provide value.

[Beerzerker]

Alot of what's been said about phones are the reasons why I still have a flip instead of a smart phone.

I don't need all the extra crap, apps, camera lenses, web access on it and whatever else that's not phone-related.
All I need it to do is call/receive calls, voicemails and texts.... That's it.

Much easier to use and carry too.
For example I was able to answer my wife's call to me in Wally-World, have my conversation, hang up and then slip the phone back into it's holder - Doing it all with one hand while pushing the shopping buggy around with the other. 

I'll keep this one until it no longer works and thankfully that may be for awhile yet.

[HanZie82]

That completely stupid people are allowed to use a computer too.
Then they have to ask me the most stupid questions they where able to learn themselves with just a tiny bit of paying attention.

 

Also using a computer inept and NOT taking a computer course, you suffer the consequences you deserve it.
Learn what you use, or dont use it. You have a brain, new info is stored easy, THATS WHAT ITS FOR!!!!! FFS.

[solado]

54 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

Learn what you use, or dont use it. You have a brain, new info is stored easy, THATS WHAT ITS FOR!!!!! FFS.

My personal favourite: "I am scared of breaking it" when it's literally just responding to an email.

[powertoys]

Nothing "just works" anymore, I feel like tech in general is becoming increasingly frustrating and difficult to operate / troubleshoot

[aisle9]

Laptops. Everything about laptops since the word "Ultrabook" was invented has been a dumpster fire. RAM is soldered more often than not, very few (if any) new devices have a removable battery, and ports? All you really need is one USB-C to plug your hub into, right? And the predictable end result of that is laptops that are usually not user-serviceable and are impossible to upgrade. And because they're slim, shiny and quiet, the consumer "wow" factor has driven their prices upwards to the point that a basic Celeron or 3015e-driven system with a bog-standard 14" 1366x768p display, 64GB of eMMC, a cheap plastic shell and 4GB of RAM now costs $300 USD. Five years ago, $300 was an entry-level i3 build that came with a 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM (both user replaceable) to go with that 768p screen and cheap plastic shell. The battery would also have been user serviceable, but most systems would have had it glued into place and more difficult to do by then.

 

Upwards price pressure is another that bothers me. It was inevitable once other OEMs started seeing how much people were willing to pay for Apple stuff and "adjusted" their pricing to match without really changing quality. My issue is that the entire world of consumer products, everything from Mountain Dew to high-end supercars, has joined the chorus of, "Supply chain issues! Supply chain issues!". Do those play a part? Sure. Is that the whole story? Of course not. Manufacturers have seen how much people will pay for something, and they're moving their pricing up to match. And that's how you end up with plastic-shelled N4500-powered junk laptops with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $300.

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

4 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Laptops. Everything about laptops since the word "Ultrabook" was invented has been a dumpster fire. RAM is soldered more often than not, very few (if any) new devices have a removable battery, and ports? All you really need is one USB-C to plug your hub into, right? And the predictable end result of that is laptops that are usually not user-serviceable and are impossible to upgrade. And because they're slim, shiny and quiet, the consumer "wow" factor has driven their prices upwards to the point that a basic Celeron or 3015e-driven system with a bog-standard 14" 1366x768p display, 128GB of eMMC, a cheap plastic shell and 4GB of RAM now costs $300 USD. Five years ago, $300 was an entry-level i3 build that came with a 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM (both user replaceable) to go with that 768p screen and cheap plastic shell. The battery would also have been user serviceable, but most systems would have had it glued into place and more difficult to do by then.

 

Upwards price pressure is another that bothers me. It was inevitable once other OEMs started seeing how much people were willing to pay for Apple stuff and "adjusted" their pricing to match without really changing quality. My issue is that the entire world of consumer products, everything from Mountain Dew to high-end supercars, has joined the chorus of, "Supply chain issues! Supply chain issues!". Do those play a part? No. Is that the whole story? Of course not. Manufacturers have seen how much people will pay for something, and they're moving their pricing up to match. And that's how you end up with plastic-shelled N4500-powered junk laptops with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $300.

The urge to remove connectors and seal in batteries for the sake of thinness in all portable electronics products.  I want an externally replaceable battery, a displayport or hdmi connector, 3.5 mm jacks, RJ45 jacks, etc. Heck, I'd love to have the option to have a serial port again on a laptop again! But allas, pretty much only Panasonic and Lenovo still cater to us technical folks, and even the latter has started dumping external batteries and ports by now  

[Spindel]

23 hours ago, unnerfed cthun said:

Nothing "just works" anymore, I feel like tech in general is becoming increasingly frustrating and difficult to operate / troubleshoot

I feel like it's exactly the opposite!

 

Maybe it depends on your frame of reference but to me things are more capable then ever without needing to know how to jump trough hoops while balancing a flaming fish bowl on your head at the same time. 

 

Sure it might be more difficult to troubleshoot, but that's mainly because a lot of things can do much more and thus are more complex per definition. 

 

Of course there is the issue of miniaturization that has a tendency to mean physically things that previously was made by hand now basically only can be made by robots, but again that's a net positive in most cases.  

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

43 minutes ago, Spindel said:

I feel like it's exactly the opposite!

 

Maybe it depends on your frame of reference but to me things are more capable then ever without needing to know how to jump trough hoops while balancing a flaming fish bowl on your head at the same time. 

 

Sure it might be more difficult to troubleshoot, but that's mainly because a lot of things can do much more and thus are more complex per definition. 

 

Of course there is the issue of miniaturization that has a tendency to mean physically things that previously was made by hand now basically only can be made by robots, but again that's a net positive in most cases.  

I hear this statement a lot from younger people (things don't work anymore), but as counter argument I'd like to throw them the keys to a late 80s/early 90s car in the dead of winter.

[NF-A12x25]

5 minutes ago, ImorallySourcedElectrons said:

as counter argument I'd like to throw them the keys to a late 80s/early 90s car in the dead of winter

depends what make, our saabs always started first try. Love Saabs

[Spindel]

27 minutes ago, ImorallySourcedElectrons said:

I hear this statement a lot from younger people (things don't work anymore), but as counter argument I'd like to throw them the keys to a late 80s/early 90s car in the dead of winter.

Don't need to throw them the keys, just tell them about the gas milage, specially compared to HP the engines produced. 

[Spindel]

22 minutes ago, NF-A12x25 said:

depends what make, our saabs always started first try. Love Saabs

That's because it's a care made by us (sweden) we know that winter is always coming. I love Saab but they have had a lot of stupid faults, but not starting because of it being cold isn't one of them (unless the battery was empty).

[LloydLynx]

SaaS, or Software as a Service. 

 

Professional apps moving to SaaS was bad enough. Now we have operating systems moving that direction. A lot of devices nowadays you can't even use unless you connect to the internet and make an online account with a big tech company while blindly agreeing to a very violating EULA. If MS Windows wasn't famous for backwards compatability, I believe it would be worse for your freedom and privacy than Apple products. 

 

On devices that techically are sorta free, but really aren't; You can use Android by ripping all the Google Play crap out of it. But it gimps so much expected functionality. If you have a smartphone, you're expected to be able to download mainstream apps, which requires the Google Play Store, which requires a Google account accociated with your phone, which allows you to be fingerprinted and tracked physically and software-usage-wise by Google and whoever they want to sell the data to. 

 

Even if the freedom and privacy violations were somehow acceptable, a solid internet connection is only a given for some people, the people that big tech caters to. A lot of devices and software straight up won't work without an internet connection. Either just to set up the device, or to only work while there's an active internet connection. A television should not require internet and an account to be able to watch broadcast content with an antenna. 

 

The main issue is consumers being ignorant to start with, then getting trapped into this crap from the lack of options for the free market to do it's magic. Most humans go for the cheapest and most convenient options. And if you go for the more freedom respecting options, ie the options that cost more and/or are more effort, you're ridiculed for it. Sometimes you're even locked out of doing what you love, like a hobby or job. Follow the advice of mommy corporation, even against common sense, or else you're a bad boy. 

[LloydLynx]

I hate that trackpoints have fallen out of fasion for business laptops. Thinkpads are your only decent trackpointed option for a laptop. Though there are some niche standalone keyboards that have a trackpoint. It's just the best OCD friendly pointing device. 

[Sarra]

A tech trend I dislike? The entire tech spheres. It's all anti-consumer, based on milking as much money from as many people as possible for the least effort they can get away with.

[LloydLynx]

X86 processors having built-in backdoors; Intel ME and AMD PSP. 

 

For gaming, or some other work load that needs hella power and isn't super personal, I'm fine with simply having the ME or PSP disablable in the BIOS. But for my personal laptop, I'm much more comfortable if it's simply not there. I'm still using the Intel 945GM chipset. Because as far as I can find, the 965 chipset is when the IME got introduced. For AMD, post-Piledriver is when the hardware backdooring started. If I could have a 100% FOSS BIOS that's capable of completely and utterly gimping the backdoor, like a Libreboot Thinkpad, then I'd take it as a personal laptop. 

[LloydLynx]

Fractional DPI displays. 

 

Say you have a 14" 16:10 laptop and you want a reasonable readability:realestate ratio. 1440x900 would be a good option. Or if you wanted to go HiDPI, 2880x1800 would be a good option. 1800p is 2X scale of 900p.

 

The issue is fractional scaling is tricky to do in software and everyone seems to have a different approach to it, each with pros and cons. It would be better to just have the hardware look and feel right with 2X scale. 

 

It seems like most manufacturers slap either 1080p or 1440p panels in their laptops. This usually causes the most usable scale to be a non-whole number. 

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

3 hours ago, NF-A12x25 said:

depends what make, our saabs always started first try. Love Saabs

Should give them an old Fiat, where you got to pop the hood and turn around the air filter to make it work in sub-zero temperatures.  

[Kisai]

On 12/3/2022 at 1:53 AM, RONOTHAN## said:

Slightly controversial opinion: M.2 devices are one of the worst thing to happen to motherboard design in recent memory. 

 

To be clear, I'm not against the gum stick SSDs, they're fast and make a ton of sense in applications like laptops and SFF rigs and are great ways to get more expansion options for very little storage space. On full size desktops, however, board vendors are sacrificing connectivity options in order to get more M.2 slots. Instead of giving standard size PCIe slots that you can populate with any type of expansion card you could think of, a lot of boards have stopped giving those slots in favor of populating the PCB with more M.2 slots. 

 

Take a board like the GA-Z97X-SOC Force, a reasonably high end (~$200-250) motherboard from Gigabyte back in the Haswell era just before M.2 slots were a thing but still when boards were likely to get BIOS support for them so you could boot off them. It had 4 PCIe x16 slots setup to run x16-x0-x0-x4, x8-x0-x8-x4, or x8-x4-x4-x4,

What I want is for the M2 drives to be put on the BACK side of the motherboard and give me back my 7 PCIe slots.

 

Yes I know current stupid-tier GPU's can now take up to 4 slots (which they should never have been permitted to exceed 2 slots of width), but that could be rectified by chassis having a dedicated space for the GPU like they do presently with PSU's and put the GPU on riser card/cable. Hell, use the North side of the MB to do this connection and move the motherboard to the "Center" of the chassis. 

 

[NB912]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:40 PM, aisle9 said:

Laptops. Everything about laptops since the word "Ultrabook" was invented has been a dumpster fire. RAM is soldered more often than not, very few (if any) new devices have a removable battery, and ports? All you really need is one USB-C to plug your hub into, right? And the predictable end result of that is laptops that are usually not user-serviceable and are impossible to upgrade. And because they're slim, shiny and quiet, the consumer "wow" factor has driven their prices upwards to the point that a basic Celeron or 3015e-driven system with a bog-standard 14" 1366x768p display, 128GB of eMMC, a cheap plastic shell and 4GB of RAM now costs $300 USD. Five years ago, $300 was an entry-level i3 build that came with a 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM (both user replaceable) to go with that 768p screen and cheap plastic shell. The battery would also have been user serviceable, but most systems would have had it glued into place and more difficult to do by then.

 

Upwards price pressure is another that bothers me. It was inevitable once other OEMs started seeing how much people were willing to pay for Apple stuff and "adjusted" their pricing to match without really changing quality. My issue is that the entire world of consumer products, everything from Mountain Dew to high-end supercars, has joined the chorus of, "Supply chain issues! Supply chain issues!". Do those play a part? No. Is that the whole story? Of course not. Manufacturers have seen how much people will pay for something, and they're moving their pricing up to match. And that's how you end up with plastic-shelled N4500-powered junk laptops with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $300.

Couldn't agree more, seems there's always a reason for high prices nowadays, every crisis has become an opportunity for them to cash in and even in places where this wasn't a thing, they see other sectors doing it and getting away with it and do the same. Seems greediness has no scales these days, and the sky seems to be the minimum, not the limit.

[RONOTHAN##]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

What I want is for the M2 drives to be put on the BACK side of the motherboard and give me back my 7 PCIe slots.

The problem with that is that installing M.2 drives would be an absolute nightmare. It would be a decent solution, but just using expansion cards would be the better option IMO. 

[cmndr]

1. Rainbow puke RGB. It's tasteless and gaudy. 
2. Complaining about nVidia adding more product choices at the top of their stack. Other people having more options doesn't hurt you. You can still play meme-craft at 300FPS on your 60Hz 10 year old LCD.
3. Concerns about "bottlenecking" and using the term improperly. Properly used it means "this part is generally holding you back by a big amount" and not "if you spent 2x as much here you'd get a 2% performance uplift." Don't overspend on RAM or CPU when you're mainly held back by your video card. 
4. Too much m.2 not enough PCIe slots. If I need an m.2 device, I can buy a $10 add in card. heck I can use PCIe bifurcation if needed. I want an x4 or x8 slot ABOVE the GPU slot. I'd LOVE to toss in a 10Gbe + m.2 combo card there and to NOT block my video card's fan.

[Coaxialgamer]

The tech trend of GPUs costing so much. GPU price inflation is so bad that for a while I wasn't upgrading my GPU because products in my price range (300-ish USD) weren't actually all that faster than my venerable R9 290x (which I acquired in 2014 for 330$). I mean I guess we're finally there now with cards like the 3060 but that card is all of 8 years younger and is only about twice as fast on a good day.

 

I got into PC gaming when the then-new gtx980 sold for 500 USD. Now even a 70 class card sells for a grand. $h# t sucks man.