Enshittification Full Ahead

[Davide DB]

1 hour ago, Yannick Willox said:

No the burden is not on me. I am not the one writing endlessly long blog posts full of hearsay “facts” without sources.

You probably didn't waste time reading the various links in the article, but I understand if you hate the person. By the way, the accusations are so serious that if they were false, they could take him to court in an instant, but let's not get into that; it's not my place to defend Cory Doctorow here.

1 hour ago, Yannick Willox said:

I know for a fact Tesla has no subscription that unlocks a bigger battery capacity, so that alone is bullshit.

Indeed, this statement is a bit strong and, said like that, seems absolutely false. But, following the various links to his previous articles, I believe he was referring to his old article:

Tesla sells both 60kWh and 75kWh versions of its Model S and Model X cars; but these cars have identical batteries — the 60kWh version runs software that simply misreports the capacity of the battery to the charging apparatus and the car’s owner.

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/09/10/teslas-demon-haunted-cars-in-irmas-path-get-a-temporary-battery-life-boost/

BTW, you were complaining that all of this has nothing to do with my initial post. It absolutely does. In both cases, there's a distortion of the concept of property.

In the first case, the major music labels do you the favor of letting you listen to "their" music.

In the case Andrew cited, Bloomberg claims to have the copyright even on a POTUS speech.

In the magical world of subscription, you don't own a f*** thing and they can revoke everything at any moment. In all cases, you are only enabled to consume.

Maybe it's too left-wing? And yet the strong concept of private property and possession of a good doesn't come from there.

Ciao

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

4 hours ago, Yannick Willox said:

I know for a fact Tesla has no subscription that unlocks a bigger battery capacity, so that alone is bullshit.

Really?  Tell me more.  If you wanna mince words about "subscription" vs "upgrade," that's fine, but the one who is bullshit seems to be, in fact, you.  As to the rest, if you want to make a statement that an article is full of easily-disproven facts, it is not even remotely unreasonable that somebody asks you to do just that.  If they're so easy to disprove, it should hardly be a burden at all - barely an inconvenience!

https://electrek.co/2024/07/12/tesla-starts-selling-30-50-miles-of-extra-range-if-you-have-a-recent-model-y-rwd/

3 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I think more than ever there is a power struggle between the law and corporations, we'd do well to keep an eye on that - since most of the normal rules which keep companies in check like product and competition are becoming less of a factor. We have quite a few duopolies, even monopolies in many markets and in many countries.

Exactly this.  And they have the power to crush any upstart competition like insects.  And in cases where an upstart does give competition, it's only because they're burning VC money to sell at an unmaintainable discount until they've knocked off enough competition to enshittify and raise their prices (the Uber model).

[Yannick Willox]

4 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Really?  Tell me more.  If you wanna mince words about "subscription" vs "upgrade," that's fine, but the one who is bullshit seems to be, in fact, you.  As to the rest, if you want to make a statement that an article is full of easily-disproven facts, it is not even remotely unreasonable that somebody asks you to do just that.  If they're so easy to disprove, it should hardly be a burden at all - barely an inconvenience!

https://electrek.co/2024/07/12/tesla-starts-selling-30-50-miles-of-extra-range-if-you-have-a-recent-model-y-rwd/

I would leave at that. On topic we agree 100%.

the “proof” you posted about Tesla proves the original bullshit article is wrong.

i would argue there are many car companies that have a lot more political power (in EU) and are guilty of subscription models.

Microsoft and their W11 catastrophe comes to mind … and they can do anything to your PC, make SSDs crash (latest security update), and get away with it because you never bought the software !

Anyone running Resolve on Linux btw ?

[Andrew Reid]

I am running Linux on a gaming machine... Bazzite on a Legion Go. Windows 11 on that was a catastrophe and it was a massive relief to wipe the slate clean of Microsoft's spyware.

[maxJ4380]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

I am running Linux on a gaming machine... Bazzite on a Legion Go. Windows 11 on that was a catastrophe and it was a massive relief to wipe the slate clean of Microsoft's spyware.

Can you elaborate on what software you use ? i presume resolve for video editing, however i hear theres a few things to watch out for when installing ?

[octoplex]

20 hours ago, maxJ4380 said:

Can you elaborate on what software you use ? i presume resolve for video editing, however i hear theres a few things to watch out for when installing ?

Resolve works great on Linux. The "Studio" edition is required for some codecs. Major graphics cards all have native Linux drivers available for download.

First time Linux-Resolve set-ups will likely require some self-teaching regarding the Linux OS, but once the rush kicks in, there's no retreating from an opensource operating-system. Basically: if you know your way around a 35mm analog SLR, you're already in the prerequisite-intelligence demographic:

Other migration tips for anyone who wants to taste the Linux "rich stuff" (The Goonies - 1985):

Instead of Photoshop -> Use:  Krita / Darktable / RawTherapee /Blender

Instead of Microsoft Office -> Use:  Libreoffice 

Instead of InDesign -> Use: Scribus

Instead of Illustrator -> Use Inkscape

Instead of Ableton Live / ProTools -> Use Bitwig Studio (not opensource) / Ardour / etc.

I use all of this Linux software, in a professional context, and haven't touched a non-Linux system for over six years (yep, I don't carry a 'smart'phone). The most effective protest against fascism / late-stage phoney-capitalism is to stop using the products of that system. Protest without action is just noise.

The greatest trick these legacy-corporations have pulled is convincing the public that there is no alternative to their slop. Even if you start simply by running Linux in parallel with your existing legacy-surveillance-OS, at least you have an exit strategy from the subscription-crackhouse that Adobe and others are running.

Don't be another node on their networked fear-grid.

Good luck!

Volkswagen / Enshittification

On the topic of VW cars (earlier in this thread): If you think VW's new subscription policy is offensive, take a look at what Volkswagen did throughout World War II.

Volkswagen built and ran Nazi concentration camps

Volkswagen routinely murdered the children of their slave-laborers. Volkswagen didn't merely collaborate with the Nazis. Volkswagen are the Nazis. VW are still genociding humanity, to this day, via faked-emissions tests (SOURCE: Scientific American).

I'm not sure if any present-day Volkswagen customer is buying these vehicles with informed consent. This photograph should, by law, be placed on the door of every VW dealership. Then customers can make an informed choice:

LEGAL: Our right to reproduce this image for critique is legally protected under the terms of 'Fair Use' enshrined in United States law (17 U.S.C. § 107). Fair Use permits the reproduction of a copyrighted work in order to criticize or comment upon it.