While consumer and computer tech today is more powerful than ever before—and in some ways far more convenient—some of the structural ways we used to interface with technology companies were arguably healthier in the past.
For example, which part of the Apple II was predatory? It promised productivity, education, and entertainment. You could program it yourself, repair or expand it without restriction. No subscriptions, no hardware DRM (though there was software copy protection), no tracking. No need for special tools to repair it either. In fact, Apple openly encouraged experimentation.
Further, what percentage of your income had to go towards annual software subscriptions on a 20th century Windows PC (like this Sony VAIO)? You bought an application and you owned an indefinite license to use it. If there was an upgrade, you bought that too. And if you liked an older version of the software, you could keep using it without having it vanish in an automatic update.”
Old technology was more boring but more straightforward and less user hostile. Enshittification is everywhere and I’m thinking to assemble an old PC with Windows XP to see how productive I can be.