I wonder what we can do to preserve personal computing, where users, not vendors, control their computers? I’m tired of the control Microsoft, Apple, Google, OpenAI, and some other big players have over the entire industry. The software has increasingly become enshittified, and now we’re about to be priced out of hardware upgrades.

The problem is coming up with a viable business model for providing hardware and software that respect users’ ability to shape their environments as they choose. I love free, open-source software, but how do developers make a living, especially if they don’t want to be funded by Big Tech?

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Saris 21 hours ago | parent [-]

Run a lightweight Linux distro on older hardware maybe?

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ta9000 20 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is it. Buy used Dell and HP hardware with 32 GB of RAM and swap the pcie ssd for 4 TB.

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dartharva 12 hours ago | parent [-]

No, this is not it. It only worked when there were a small number of buyers for used hardware, who were largely enthusiasts. The moment it becomes mainstream you're going to face the same scarcity in the used/refurbished market as well.

	▲	intrasight 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There are lots of such computers to be repurposed. It'll relieve price pressure and avoid e-waste.

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thatguy0900 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Exclusively using a ever dwindling stock of old hardware is not really a practical solution to preserving hardware rights in the long term

	▲	jjgreen 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The future is ragged shoeless and grimy humans fighting over the last few 1990's pocket calculators.