I think of this moment probably once a month and I don’t know how to make it stop.

Yeah, this post started as a reassurance that Tailscale wouldn’t enshittify. But it turned out to just be an argument about how to avoid enshittification that boiled down to two principles:

1. You shouldn’t make your product worse because it’ll eventually harm the company; and
2. Founders are magic and need to never turn over control of the company to others (be it new CEOs or VC) to resist enshittification.

Both are partially right and partially wrong.

For #1: Yes, making your product worse eventually harms the company. No, you can’t expect CEOs to accept that as a reason to not make their product worse because even if it harms the company, short-term incentives that lead to enshittification are eventually going to become irresistible. His comment about reaching “zen” with leveled growth and profit will never stop VCs from calling in demands and favors.

For #2: Yes, founders typically “get it” more than their VC- or failure-initiated replacements. No, that doesn’t mean founders are uniquely resistant to enshittification. This is your point too, and it’s why I don’t believe this person - they lose credibility here because they don’t acknowledge they aren’t special. Every tech bro out there thinks they’ve cracked the code to permanent tech hegemony. That exceptionalist thinking turns into enshittification, since the product-worsening or overcharging is easier to justify as temporary/necessary/not-a-big-deal (until it isn’t).

And all of this doesn’t explain why Tailscale specifically gets immunity if the principles are true.

So interesting post, and a lot more self-awareness than most founders which is still a little reassuring, but a lot of warning signs too.

Edit: clarity

Yes, but they make sure they have a separate account for each category, so the math works out.

To save everyone time, here’s a draft set of productivity bullets for “turtle tester”:

• Conducted thorough evaluations of turtle shell durability and structural integrity under various simulated environmental conditions.
• Monitored and recorded turtle behavior to assess mobility and adaptability in controlled habitats.
• Ensured all testing procedures adhered to ethical standards and guidelines for animal welfare.
• Collaborated with team members to analyze data and improve testing methodologies for accuracy and efficiency.
• Prepared detailed weekly reports summarizing findings and providing actionable recommendations for ongoing research.

It’s important Elon Musk knows these things.

Thank you for this. I plan to look at the authentication part more closely, but that’s the part I can’t quite figure out (being an amateur at this stuff but still trying), since I’m nervous with just a password accessing it remotely or from the phone.

Authelia, NGINX, there is so much that’s confusing to me, but this might help.

Wouldn’t your GPU have a greater impact? What GPU do you have?

I was a crisp pixel diehard for like 20 years even despite growing up with CRT, because I remember in the 80s-00s trying hard to get the clearest picture (RF->SRGB->S-video->Composite) and it felt like, “what’s clearer than exact pixels?”

And then I tried a good CRT filter that emulates not just scanlines and noise, but subpixel effects, and it really changed my mind. The graphics really were designed to be displayed with those analog “imperfections,” and if you lived in that era, you kind of took for granted the things that worked well with the natural CRT blur while pursuing image clarity. Bringing back the CRT effects was a revelation.

Like, even handheld emulation filters that mimic how those particular LCD screens functioned often give a better experience since game designers took that into account.

I don’t know if someone growing up with only emulated square LCD memories would feel the same, and I’ll always take pixely LCD over bad CRT emulation, but I’d suggest to give it a try with good filters.

The heretics who don’t stop at one magic are the worst.

Yeah, I browse All on Lemmy which I never would do on Reddit, and engage with whatever posts I connect with. I wonder if there are others who do the same.

Posting to new or “inactive” communities I think is less of a shout into the abyss on Lemmy compared with Reddit.

“How dare the left accuse us of fascism, they’re the fascists! Now c’mon everyone, let’s conspire to fake vote totals so we can assert authority we didn’t earn.”

Just for fun: this would have worked so much better if they price dropped the PS5 and introduced the PS5 Pro at the old price.

People are anchored into thinking the PS5 is a certain value, and if they did that, it would instantly make the PS5 Pro and the PS5 appear to be a bargain, and so much of the PS5-owning public would have bought another system because it would be “such a good deal,” while PS5 fence-sitters would jump at the core system. I’m not trained to say for sure, but I think while their profit margin would be lower they’d be making much more money.

It’s called Unreal PT. The last version I believe is 1.0.7, and it’s still hosted on the Internet Archive.

I wish I knew as well. I’ve been using Chromecast Audio myself, which works with PlexAmp self-hosting my music.

The problem is Chromecast Audio has been discontinued for years of course - Google did their Google thing, and unfortunately I never found anything else like it on the market. But you can connect those devices to any speakers and sync multi-room high quality audio very easily. I managed to pick up 4 of them when they did their fire sale, and I think you can find them on eBay for now still.

When did The Verge start paywalling? Ugh.

Ha, thank you. I clicked through two of the links to get context and none of them defined “DRM” and was like “I guess…everyone else knows what this means?”

Oh, so it’s the “Stop making me start this war, U.S.!” autocratic abuse strategy.

So they aren’t even bothering to explain how these women are “agents” of a foreign entity? Words just don’t even mean anything, huh?

Might as well make it a crime to be “bad person.”

From their website: https://futo.org/what-is-futo/

What is FUTO? FUTO is an organization dedicated to developing, both through in-house engineering and investment, technologies that frustrate centralization and industry consolidation.

Ok… So what does that mean?

Through a combination of in-house engineering projects, targeted investments, generous grants, and multi-media public education efforts, we will free technology from the control of the few and recreate the spirit of freedom, innovation, and self-reliance that underpinned the American tech industry only a few decades ago.

FUTO is not reliant on any existing tech company or venture capital firm for its funding. We are not expecting quick profits. We will never cash out with a sale to a megacorporation the moment our technology begins to catch on. We will focus entirely on the mission.

If you share these goals, either as a user or a developer, we ask you to watch this space and get ready to throw off the stultifying limitations of the current state of affairs. We want to return to an era where a substantial portion of computer users can understand, control, and use their technology as they see fit without the approval or input of oligarchs. And we need your help.

Ok so… What does that mean?

Maybe the OP’s video explains these things (I hate watching videos for things like this), but I really thought I’d be able to find an explanation, in practical terms, of what this organization actually does on their own website.

Yes, I didn’t and still don’t understand why they didn’t make the joycon buttons and “d-pad” more comfortable. It’s Nintendo’s least comfortable controller and it’s the biggest reason I hate using the Switch portable mode.

Everyone’s saying it’s old here - the Game Boy was more comfortable to hold and had better buttons. It’s not about age.

What does it mean that it’s “opt-in”? Meaning, my opt-out is just to never update Immich again?