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#enshittification

47 posts37 participants1 post today

The first time Ive seen this kind of message in Gmail. 'Smart' features have existed for years, only Gemini is 'new'. I dont want Gemini. Ive never used smart features bc they are dumb. I dont want restaurant recs in my email account, frankly the list in img 2 is struggling to find reasons. Basically, they want all your emails for Gemini training and they're gonna do that whether we like it or not!

Replied in thread

@chartier It wouldn’t be half as bad if they weren’t so gleeful about it. That demo showed everything I already expected I had to do to emulate Slide Over minus the convenience of being able to swipe in a side app that doesn’t disappear as soon as I tap the main app, i.e. what makes it delightful.

I’ve been citing Steve Jobs’ car and truck analogy lately, and I do not see how turning the car into a truck improves the car, except to raise the price. This is real #enshittification.

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I don't say that @pidgin is bad and I appreciate @grimmy et. al. for keeping it up and working.

Infosec.SpaceKevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)One thing that really pisses me off personally is the #regression in terms of #Messenger #Apps. My personal distaste and dislike for #proprietary, #SingleVendor & #SingleProvider #services like #Signal [¹](https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114234551915193036), #Telegram, #Discord [²](https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114865723904157014), #WhatsApp, #Slack, #MicrosoftTeams, etc. aside: - *WHY* is there no #CrossProvider #Messenger to handle that shite? - *WHY* does everyone of these shitty providers think people want to download their #bloated #WebApp that takes up triple digit Megabytes if not entire Gigabytes and will gobble up all the #RAM and #CPU they can?? This problem ain't new and *already got [solved for corporate social media](https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114862619013462466) ages ago!* (Not to mention actually good messengers!) - And no, [bridges](https://toots.ch/@dalai/114862754556459439) *[don't](https://swecyb.com/@troed/114862774972645542) count*! - I mean `API 0` - [style](https://digipres.club/@foone/112685423773959519) access because obviously [none of the platforms](https://digipres.club/@foone/112685414638522984) will *allow, endorse or support such an endeavour* and [*actively fight the developers and users*](https://digipres.club/@foone/112685441496803574) ! So yeah, consider this a call for a @gajim@fosstodon.org / #Gajim or @pidgin@fosstodon.org / #Pidgin *for garbage platforms!* - Cuz back in the day we had *way worse messengers* yet people actually made #AIM, #ICQ, #MSN, #QQ, #IRC & #XMPP work just fine from one single *"phat" client*! - Can we please get that back? #api0 #Enshittification

Housefresh is at it again with some journalism on Google’s AI answers.

housefresh.com/beware-of-the-g

@pluralistic did a good job contextualizing the broader context here: pluralistic.net/2025/07/15/inh

I am left remembering the late 90’s / early 00’s when people mocked Excite and other “portal plays”. The received wisdom was that Google won by being useful even if that meant sending users away.

Joke’s on us. Google is a Portal now. They work hard to get us to stay on platform.

Beware of the Google AI salesman and its cronies
HouseFresh · Beware of the Google AI salesman and its croniesExposing the overly salesy AI Overviews that will push you to buy bad products and exploring the system making it possible.
Continued thread

And yes, whoever uses #discord for #documentation and #versioning instead of a goddam #git [doesn't have to be @github / #GitHub or @gitlab / #GitLab or @Codeberg / #Codeberg or even @gitea / #Gitea - just use any git and write down your documentation in a useable format like #Markdown or goddamn ASCII plain text FFS] should be banned for life from #coding, working in #IT or contribute to #FLOSS.

  • Because it's literally worse than people shitting "#Ai" #Slop all over the place cuz that can be fixed faster and easier by backrolling said commits and banning the offender!

youtube.com/watch?v=9ehLMlVTRJ

corporations are inherently evil

take starbucks for example. they're literally running a shadow bank. you load money onto their app and boom, you just gave them an interest-free loan. they get to invest your money while you wait to spend it, plus a chunk of gift card balances never get fully used so that's just free money for them. why would you want to load money? because otherwise you don't get any "rewards" so it feels like you are missing out. genius scam tbh

but here's the really dystopian realization I have had. if you want to fight corporate bullshit, you need to use... more corporate bullshit. company won't give you a refund? well you can do a chargeback! oh wait, that requires having a credit card, which means participating in the debt economy that's designed to trap you

so you can either be responsible with money, pay cash/debit, get zero protection when corps screw you over OR play the debt game, risk financial ruin, but get some consumer protection

it's rigged at every level. want to complain publicly? use corporate social media. need legal help? most people can't afford lawyers. customer service? that's just theater designed to waste your time until you give up

the "solution" to corporate abuse is always more corporate involvement. there's no independent way to get justice, every avenue of recourse is controlled by other profit-driven entities

this isn't a bug, it's a feature. we've created legal entities whose primary obligation is profit maximization and then all of us act shocked when they behave exactly like sociopaths

anyway that's my rant for today. time to go give corporations more money because my earbuds broke. (hm it's almost as if they were designed to break right after the warranty ran out)

There are bunch of critical vulnerabilities in #VMWare - "VMSA-2025-0013: VMware ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, and Tools updates address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-41236, CVE-2025-41237, CVE-2025-41238, CVE-2025-41239)" support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/s

The best part? softwareupdate.broadcom.com is still down, so for example VMWare Workstation or Fusion are blissfully ignorant of any update being available.

Support PortalSupport Content Notification - Support Portal - Broadcom support portal

One thing that really pisses me off personally is the #regression in terms of #Messenger #Apps.

My personal distaste and dislike for #proprietary, #SingleVendor & #SingleProvider #services like #Signal ¹, #Telegram, #Discord ², #WhatsApp, #Slack, #MicrosoftTeams, etc. aside:

  • WHY is there no #CrossProvider #Messenger to handle that shite?

  • WHY does everyone of these shitty providers think people want to download their #bloated #WebApp that takes up triple digit Megabytes if not entire Gigabytes and will gobble up all the #RAM and #CPU they can??

This problem ain't new and already got solved for corporate social media ages ago! (Not to mention actually good messengers!)

So yeah, consider this a call for a @gajim / #Gajim or @pidgin / #Pidgin for garbage platforms!

  • Cuz back in the day we had way worse messengers yet people actually made #AIM, #ICQ, #MSN, #QQ, #IRC & #XMPP work just fine from one single "phat" client!

  • Can we please get that back?

Infosec.SpaceKevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)Content warning: Rant re: Signal Shills being dangerous Tech Illiterates