Microsoft Started With Code Literally From The Trash, Nothing Has Improved Since
1970s: "We were moving ahead very rapidly: BASIC, FORTRAN, LISP, PDP-10 machine language, digging out the operating system listings from the trash and studying those." -Bill Epsteingate
2025:
Microsoft wants us to think all computers and computer programs are bad. The solution is thus to buy a new PC and always "upgrade" (i.e. pay again for a new version of the same thing).
The reality is, there are systems and code that are reliable. But they're not Microsoft's. █
"The supposed need for growth creates "solutionism"; the gratuitous creation of unnecessary products to fix problems caused by other non-functional products. This creates a seemingly limitless market in accordance with a Broken Window Fallacy, where causing problems and harm seems to be a generator of "wealth". -Dr. Andy Farnell a few days ago
Dr. Farnell's breakdown:
Aim of Practice Example Effect/Harm Offloading risk Gig economy apps Low wage poverty Confusion, disorientation Complex reward schemes Causes victim to make mistakes Social division "Loyalty cards" and schemes Divide and conquer Advertising, propaganda Habit nudging Slow manipulation Opaqueness (hide the magic) Closed source, TPM, DRM Backdoors, hiding problems Extraction of data Tracking habits/ preference Easy targeting Novelty and amusement Gamification of life Hypnosis, docile acquiescence Ideological design fixations Thinness, aesthetics Poor maintainability Invisibility Covert (ambient) computing Privacy problems Low friction (convenience) Predefined "choices" Cognitive decline Brand tie-ins etc Linking "partner" products Antitrust, Non-interoperation