The Mobile Phone Is How They Want To Design Computers
As a tech enthusiast, I feel kind of numb thinking about. Sure, it lets me visit websites, and so on; and even do things that computers can't like call people. But there is this a feeling that there is something that corporations stole from us by not giving us any options and building monopolies: that every single app has to be pre-approved on it. I just feel like thinking about iOS, that I can't uninstall that operating system, and even if I tried, it could break the whole system, and that is not a risk taking. There are ways around it in my opinion in ways that matter. For example, I listen to music with their version of VLC media. If a media site can't use an app, you usually can use it in the browser.
This is different from the PC universe, where installing Linux takes effort, but still works increasingly well. We are talking about a tech universe where corporations choose which apps, basically what Microsoft and Apple dream of. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their "Windows Phone" idea failed, likely largely because of the fact that Windows functions as a desktop/laptop/PC operating system and was slower as a result. (Windows is a pile of bloat, this was before Windows became bloated but still.)
The system which resembles this dark vision companies like Microsoft and Apple have the closest is Chromebooks. Despite running on Linux under the hood, ChromeOS only allows Google apps and the like to run outside of developer mode and things like that. You are forced into a certain locked in space that would make Microsoft let alone Android blush. (I think that is appropriation, because Chromebooks using Linux as the hidden floor to create an OS that is significantly more locked down than Windows in many ways is stolen valor because it is the polar opposite model of Linux's model, which I will describe later.)
Even as regulators are upset about corporations making oligopolies function as cartels in the sense of only allowing their software to run, they seem to want to tighten their grip. Fortunately, I don't think they will go down this road because of the antitrust laws which are great for developers and normal people even but are pesky restrictions for Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc. I don't think they will do it, but it is important to realize that is apparently what they want, even though they probably won't get to.
By the way the European Union actually forced Apple to allow independent app stores to be allowed in major European markets. European, American, and global tech teams should reverse engineer that feature to allow anyone to use it even if they are not in a country that mandates it (assuming it isn't impenetrably locked down) because it should not only be available for people who live in countries where companies are held accountable. Because even though I think regulators should crack down worldwide, especially in America where they could actually force global mandates due to headquartering, I have a hard time seeing them pass those kinds of laws.
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I've used both Mac's & PC's, and my favorite OS was Macs' Mountain Lion. You could own and control all your data, store it yourself on relatively cheap hardware, and easily transfer it to other devices -- no need for the inconvenience, expense, and risks associated with having to rely on the Cloud. You had much greater privacy. The system architecture was logical and relatively transparent. You didn't have to worry about your data getting deleted or hacked on the Cloud.
Software in general, at least for the Mac, was also better in many ways. You could own it outright, instead of having to rent it in perpetuity. It also didn't force you to use the Cloud, and it was generally less cluttered and more intuitive.
The internet was also much better – MUCH less slop, and I preferred the way old search engines work. Lately it seems like a real struggle to refine my search enough to find what I'm actually looking for instead of results limited to my geographic region alone or relating to whatever the rest of the world is fixated on at the moment. I also often get fewer results, period – even sites I know are out there may not show up, if they're not already popular.
It's also a constant struggle now to retain even a few shreds of privacy. Seems like I spend as much time trying to opt out of having my data collected and shared as I do actually using the sites that want to collect and share it.
It's also become extremely difficult to avoid doing things on my cell – some sites don't seem set up to let you interface with them in any other way, even though a cell phone is generally the LEAST secure and LEAST empowering digital device that any of us use. I realize that not everyone can afford a desktop or laptop computer, but enough of us can that it seems to me that that should at least be preserved as an option – especially when it comes to authenticating accounts for "security" purposes.
Even social media platforms were better. They were more user-friendly, and efforts to bubble-ize, exploit, and manipulate us financially, politically, and psychologically were just getting started.
Note also that with the trend toward communicating via text or messaging platforms, it's become much more difficult for users to organize messages and the info they contain in empowering ways. E.g., I have elaborate architectures of folders relating to different projects, subjects, people, etc.; I can quickly find almost email I've received or any file I've created or saved without necessarily remembering a key word or phrase that effectively distinguishes it from a mountain of other content. This is extremely helpful, and nothing even close is possible with texts or other apps. Some other messaging apps or platforms at least allow some kind of tagging, but that is a much simpler, cruder, and less effective means for organizing info.
I could go on. Call me cranky, but I really pity younger people who never experienced that brief period around the early 2000's, when for individual users, digital facilities were enormously empowering.
(Of course, I still mourn the passing of community television.)
