The line between helpful tech and quiet surveillance is blurring — and our devices no longer feel fully under our control.

  • scripthook@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    People just need to install lubuntu or some Linux distribution on their pc. Tech companies for years have forced consumer upgrades for average pc users when it wasn’t necessary.

    I have a photo company in my town that still ruins dos off of windows 95 and has internet for email on windows 2000s for their point of sale machines is all dos. Even dot matrix printers. I was born in 1984 and remember this. Shows you don’t need the latest tech

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      That’s great for the folks who have access to decades-old pre-enshittification technology and the means to maintain it, but what about everybody else?

      Continuing my smart TV OS analogy, your answer is like saying just to use a dumb TV instead. There aren’t any dumb TVs anymore! The TV manufacturer cartel colluded to quit making them!

      “Just go live in the fucking woods like the goddamn Unabomber, eschewing modern technology” is not a valid solution for normal people! The law must be changed to protect them from predatory abusive corporations.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          It really isn’t, though. It will still have a shitty UI that tries to shove the “smart” features in your face, it’ll probably shove some bullshit EULA in your face on first startup, and engage in other dark patterns.

      • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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        1 day ago

        i use my tv as secondary display on my desktop and run anything i want to watch from it.

      • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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        22 hours ago

        You aren’t wrong but you sound unhinged. That’s coming from someone who lives in the woods and runs Mint.

      • Rothe@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Continuing my smart TV OS analogy, your answer is like saying just to use a dumb TV instead. There aren’t any dumb TVs anymore! The TV manufacturer cartel colluded to quit making them!

        Yes there are, every smart tv becomes dumb as soon as you disconnect it from the internet. Just use it the same way you would use a monitor for your computer.

    • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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      22 hours ago

      The CNC machines I run at work run from windows xp. IT disconnected them from the network, so I have to get.dxf files from my engineer on a thumb drive to program machining paths from. Ain’t that progress? No it’s lazy.

    • unphazed@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Eh, the printers should be swapped for laserjet to save money and ears. I don’t even know where one could buy paper for dot matrix printers either.