‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything::The term describes the slow decay of online platforms such as Facebook. But what if we’ve entered the ‘enshittocene’?
I'm fine with whatever term we decide means "capitalism fucking sucks". If we need some new term to escape the current terms that bind folk's minds all up against their best interests then enshittisication is better than many
The tech world is going downhill fast. Anything that isn't currently obtainable through only foss means isn't going to be attainable by the average person for much longer.
The tech things most people currently enjoy will soon become entirely unaffordable to anyone not made of money. Anything that you aren't willing to switch to an open source alternative for, prepare to learn to live without it.
I even self host my own music streaming. I never had a streaming service, not even in 2012 when Netflix was all the rage. I don't even own a windows compatible pc. I don't even know what modern ms office looks like. I use my home network more than I use the actual internet just about.
Now, the enshittifiers aren’t taking this lying down. Take Lina Khan, the brilliant head of the US Federal Trade Commission, who has done more in three years on antitrust than the combined efforts of all her predecessors over the past 40 years. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has run more than 80 pieces trashing Khan, insisting that she’s an ineffectual ideologue who can’t get anything done. Sure, that’s why you ran 80 editorials about her. Because she can’t get anything done.
I love when other people realize the value of Lina Khan. I'll vote for Biden for the sole reason to let Lina Khan do good work!
If a service becomes shitty it is almost always due to corporate greed. It usually starts with data-mining your subscribers without their knowledge or consent. Then it moves on to making the service itself worse by introducing advertising and making changes to the interface that forces them to VIEW those ads instead of the content they came for.
I often wonder: can we start over? Like, can we just do MySpace again?...or have another YouTube that's like before Google bought it? If we hate how tech bros have destroyed the fun, is there a way to redux the pre-tech bro wonder years?
It was coming for absolutely everything since 2013 at least.
I will never forget the day when Creative Suite was no longer a thing. I will never forget the day when Apple flattened iOS. I will never forget the day when the Xbox One was announced.
Can you believe their modern products are basically a continuation of what they started back in 2013? This is why it's the worst year of all time.
I wish it wouldn't come to products.. I understand the need to make a profit, but it shouldn't come at the cost of landfilling perfectly good hardware. I'd love just an affordable tablet with 5+ years of updates and an unlocked boot loader maybe with NO battery, and just a USB
We just need to go back to paying for services. Free free free everything forever is not a sustainable business model. That’s why the big players just sell you to advertisers instead. And everyone is getting pretty grossed out about how much data that actually takes on you, so we’re passing privacy laws. Those laws mean these services can’t be free anymore.
I really think this is overblown. Almost all the services encompassed by the term are luxury. We don’t need Netflix. Just stop paying for it. Businesses all follow a similar trajectory: concept -> growth -> monetisation -> decline. If you’re over 30 you’ve seen many companies rise and fall. They all fail eventually, and from their ashes rise new companies. If you’re ambitious, you’ll capitalise on the opportunity and your company will fill that gap.
The phenomenon is due to pressures to be profitable instead of hemorrhaging money which is no longer free. For stuff like Uber, it just means it's more expensive because they are done paying for a portion of our rides from their VC money. That means it's pricing accurately instead of inaccurately, that's good. If you don't want to spend that much on a taxi, take the bus.
For stuff like reddit, it's harder. They don't charge, so they need to squeeze every little penny from advertising (hence forcing their app instead of 3rd parties), and try to find new funding streams like the AI API. On that you just have to hope that the new funding streams get big enough that they pay for the removal of some of the ads in the hope of encouraging more user growth. Or at least some app development.
And for TikTok, it's the same, they're hoping the e-commerce funding stream pays for the app so they can avoid going HAM on true ads.
Profitability is coming for everything, ZIRP is over. But there is the hope that enshittification can be reversed by new funding streams.