[conspire] Flashing twelves (was: Twitter successors)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Syeed Ali (syeedali at syeedali.com):

> I think clocks should be clocks....

Have you noticed that the market doesn't tend to give people what they
most need, but rather what product-planning people think they should
get?

I mean, I'd like for there to be a market segment of computers tailored
for, and marketed as, home servers.  As such, they would need to be
silent, relatively small / unobtrusive, have fast I/O, support mirrored
storage, support fairly high amounts of RAM (32GB+ in 2024),
have perfunctory/minimal video console, and be based on whatever 64-bit
CPU best suits those constraints.

That product segment continues to be unserved.  The closest thing is the
HTPC (home theatre PC) market, typically mini-ITX boxen.  And even that
is only an approximate fit, as HTPC host tend to be a bit heavy on CPU,
hence heat and (often) noise.

> ...and not what most people have, which is:
> 
> - a phone
> - with smart capability
> - with software (app or OS)
> - with internet access
> - that connects out on the net
> - to a server which has internet access
> - which has software
> - which has hardware

And why is that?  In part, it's because a smartphone isn't just a utiity
device for the purchaser, but rather is a platform for selling to, and
data-mining, the user, i.e., as Cory Doctorow points out, even if you're
the customer, that doesn't mean you aren't also the product.

Manufacturers are, in general, not keen on producing simple utility
devices for the customer, as that misses long-term opportunities to
monetise the customer.

I am told that, if you want to by a new-production LCD television screen
that do not demand that you connect them to WiFi so they can phone home
for this-and-that, and where it's _just_ an NTSC display with several HDMI
inputs, it's now necessary to buy a _commercial_ (business-market) "monitor"
-- probably at much-higher cost.

You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
But, if you try sometimes, you'll find 
That you can get almost what you need in a wholly different category at higher cost.

-- totally not Mick Jagger

(Excuse me:  totally not Sir Michael Philip Jagger.[1]  ;->  )

> A clock was put in VCRs because it was cool, and it's put in microwaves
> and ovens because they have concepts of start and stop times.  I
> don't think these are good reasons to feature the time.

I think it was put into microwaves and ovens because buyers expect one
there (from prior ovens) and because it's very cheap to add.

The manufacturer doesn't want to lose a sale because some yoyo was
buying on the basis of comparing feature bullet-items.  That's the 
general reason for featuritis in things.


[1] It's really astonishing that both he and Keith Richards are still
above ground.  Go figure.

-- 
Cheers,                       "Stun settings are for people who can't commit."
Rick Moen                                       -- J. Michael Straczynski
rick at linuxmafia.com                             
McQ! (4x80)