The control of the computer is getting shifted from you, who bought the computer, to the seller of the computer.

@Em0nM4stodon

Not just control of the computer you bought, control of the printer, the phone, the car, the appliances, ad nauseum, is shifting to their vendors.

@chrispblair but in return they're given all the possibilities to customize and enhance their computers

@gruby I think most people would be surprised at how much better Linux runs. Aside from a few fixable driver issues, Linux is a smoother workstation. I tried Windows again for five minutes, and I was annoyed within thirty seconds.

@Em0nM4stodon Or - if the computer is yours to do with as you see fit - dump the operating system that works against you and install one you control. May I suggest Linux?

@Em0nM4stodon

For many years now, Apple products have been the "devil I know" and I could kind of hold my nose and accept the compromises (and prices). But, damn, the compromises are piling up faster every month! I've accepted that I'm going to have to learn Linux at some point, but it's not just Linux, it's photo and video editing software, and every other app I use that I will have to relearn.

Or, maybe, I will ditch every digital everything from my life and become a hermit hanging out on the porch in the desert with my lizard and bird friends. That is sounding better all the time.

In the meantime, yeah, seize the means of computation as Cory Doctorow says. With torches, pitchforks and guillotines if necessary.

@Em0nM4stodon I like my computer stupid, so it leaves the smarts to me, I hate "talking" to my computer, I don't talk to my tools, I need my computer to just compute, I like my fuck ups be my fault, not whatever background cloud service is running that time, I like to decide WHEN my computer becomes obsolete, I don't want my computer to pretend it knows things or it can do things I don't even need it to do, I don't need it to pretend to be my assistant, friend, etc., it's a tool that I own

@Em0nM4stodon I just bought a new computer.

I chose the components, just like I did in 1991.
I installed the OS, just like I did in 1991.
I dealt with the glitches, the app problems, the 'issues' mostly like I did in 1991.
My computer is tellinh the vendor *almost* nothing, kind of like it did in 1991.

But I'm a seasoned geek, and it's taken me three days to get a *mostly* functional system working *mostly* the way I want without selling my favourite underwear colour to someone.

In a just universe, the default would be "here's your tool, it works for you" without this much bullshit.

@huntingdon @Em0nM4stodon The god damn alarm clocks.

I better not need a new one of those soon.

@Em0nM4stodon

Em...you are confused.. you don't get to participate in the system you are the system. And joy you feel is manufactured and monetized. And work you do, the profit stolen. You want creative freedom..well the EULA says you don't own that. Your purchases are for sale..you don't own the meta data. They get to track your movements and even what you look at..that to can be sold...the profit to the company that owns the software.

And all we need to change this is a few dozen people who believe that our right to exist is as 'not for profit' and to make it illegal to harvest and monetize the populace. A few dozen people to take down the companies build on the millions.

@Epic_Null @huntingdon @Em0nM4stodon Alarm clock enshittification sounds hilarious.

Your alarm clock is a whole year old, we will play adverts at you every morning unless you buy a new one or pay for an advert free subscription...

Has anyone done this yet? I would have said most people use their phone but lately there has been a trend for light-triggered or sleep-sensitive for a while so it wouldn't surprise me...

@MatthewToadAgain @Epic_Null @huntingdon 🫣

@Lamb
Refurbished laptop running Linux and FOSS is the answer. Ditch Apple, Microsoft and Google altogether
Lenovo and Dell come shipped with Linux distros these days.

@Mikal @Em0nM4stodon Apple is overwhelmingly the one that did this to the tech industry. If the iPhone had never existed we would still have:

Replaceable batteries
Headphone jacks
Ability to install software from anywhere
Unified messaging
No app stores

The rest of the industry only went that route because Apple got away with it.

I got a Black Friday laptop and went fully to Linux.

Now what do I do when my car breaks? I went car shopping in 2025 and aborted because of hostile antifeatures.

@mike805

I'm going to find a good mechanic because the antifeatures are too much for me.
@Mikal @Em0nM4stodon

@vervain @Mikal @Em0nM4stodon Likewise. I liked the Honda Accord feature wise, but it has a cellular modem you cannot turn off.

I asked dealers, independent shops, search engines, and AI if there is a hack or workaround. So far nothing.

If my car got wrecked tomorrow, I might get a 10th generation (2022) because some of the lower tier ones do not have a built in modem. I would just not install any apps and hang a Garmin for navigation.

@Em0nM4stodon

I have no dog in the race, so to speak. As I have not used a proprietary OS in decades. I feel for those that thought I was naive for preferring the 'nix environment.

@Em0nM4stodon

Feels like a good time to link to the Permacomputing site:

https://permacomputing.net/

@mike805 @vervain @Em0nM4stodon

This is something that truly amazes me. Why isn't car hacking a thing? I mean FFS, if corn farmers can share cracked codes for John Deere tractors that allow them to work on them and program them themselves, you'd think all the privacy oriented tech nerds would have figured out how to crack car codes so that we could turn off all the surveillance or tweak the settings to our liking.

Till that happens, I'm sticking with my 2012 non-telematics truck.

I spent this morning replacing some of my house's original cracked and corroded cast-iron drain pipe with modern, standard ABS. This is a very useful skill when you need it! But I would readily swap it out for the "car hacker nerd" skill module if I could.

@Em0nM4stodon @swordgeek Maybe it is time to bring back the install parties

@Mikal @vervain @Em0nM4stodon People do all sorts of car hacks. Audio, performance, appearance, fancy lighting and gauges.

Why no privacy hacks? Some people claim to have pulled fuses or antennas, but where is the model specific howto?

The telematics in the Accord is basically Android. I spent some time playing with it (out of Turo) and I doubt it's as secure as the average smartphone.

I would happily pay quite a bit to anyone who could defang that thing, because then I could have a new car.