With prime time I mean being comfortable enough to install it for a non-technical user. Even during Ubuntu's Unity days it didn't feel like I could install it on a computer for my parents or siblings for them to use as a daily driver.
My parents did fine with Linux. My mom still does; it's certainly less maintenance effort from me than Windows would require.
It was fine for non-technical users since at least early GNOME 2, if you're ready to help them set up and maintain. Semi-technical users (Windows power users, gamers, &c — people who like to install and configure things, but fear the deep dark abyss of the terminal) were and remain more problematic.
Unity days were the nadir of linux desktop ux — it was when Gnome 2 was gone, and 3 not yet there. Still better than contemporaneous Windows 8, though.
I had Kubuntu installed on my grandfather's computer for a year. I ended up replacing it for Windows because my aunt likes to install stuff on it. But my grandfather was happy with it. He only needed a working web browser and a program to use the TV tunner.
At this point, it isn't clear why federation is in there at all. The "forums, bit twitter" concept does produce nice places, but federation seems like a net negative for that.
Federation is good if you want to stay within a community but also have a chance to interact with others.
I.e. you mostly care about technology foo but occasion delve into epic poetry, and it's nice to interact with both footech.social and epicpoems.read. Also, being able to consume personal publishing (blogs!) from within the same app is quite nice.
The steelman for federation is that email survived the rise of the big platforms despite no-one owning email, so making other applications follow the email model means they too could be free from central ownership.
Obsidian is an itertion on text notes. Too many waves of this over the years.
There is indeed a lot of hardware progress, including 3D printing, but also a general shift to laptops, need to sync with phones, much better connectivity, sufficient performance for good video, and high-density screens. Looking at the software I use vs what I used ~2005, most positive changes are due to that.
I would support legislation that enforces a right to data export for 6 months in human readable file formats, or a physical equivalent like spending a USB stick in the mail.
> I effectively have over $30,000 worth of previously-active “bricked" hardware. My iPhone, iPad, Watch, and Macs cannot sync, update, or function properly.
(I assume these can be re-sold? They do mention that they can't sign out)
> I have lost access to thousands of dollars in purchased software and media.
Should the "purchased" software and media be within the data export scope?
> I don’t have a 6TB device to sync them to, even if I could.
...yeah.
But let's say we limit ourselves to stored bits.
How should the service identify the person asking for data export? Does your regulation imply government id registration for all internet services? Is that what you actually want?
What if the service is e2ee? How do they deliver "human readable file formats"? Are we also banning e2ee?
What do compliance requirements imply for people's ability to start competing services?
You are proposing to replace a very tiny bit of personal responsibility (having backups) with a very intrusive, and highly consequential, legal mechanism.
EDIT: Though I would, of course, support a requirement for these services to properly warn users (on the registration page, not buried in TOS small print), and provide thorough instructions for making backups to external storage connected to any of the devices they support.
I will empathize with you then and with your inability to empathize with the fact that people are different. Some people don't want to admit to themselves that this world is a wolf eat sheep world, trust that if you're a law abiding citizen, you shouldn't expect to be unfairly treated. Some people have more priorities and no time to dwell on harshness. They also would love it if everything just worked and you didn't need to spend 2 months of your life to configure things and always have to DIY everything.
They're not like me and I accept that. I will never use Apple & Google Cloud for my personal things. But I will empathize for those who get unfair treatement from these companies.
The whole meaning of a society is that we look out for each other, these big corpos have lost the plot, but I will not.
It is supposed to be : I buy a service from you, I did nothing wrong, please treat me fairly and do actually deliver on what I paid for.
That we don't trust them isn't how it's supposed to be, I wish I didn't have to do all of these things I do to keep away from big corpos, but this isn't how it is supposed to be. We're supposed to have the ability to trust each other in a society.
I qualified with "technically-inclined". You can't avoid seeing stories like this (about Apple and Google) on a monthly basis if you read tech websites. It is a known risk, which needs to be managed. Failing to manage it to this extent, while also writing tech books, is just baffling.
Apple is clearly in the wrong, and I'm certain that there are thousands of similar cases that are less public. The author is one of the best-positioned people to know and understand that. I'm sure they'll also get their account back, unlike many others.
(I can empathize with the difficult decision they'll face after that: do they continue to promote Apple, or try to reinvent their career somehow?)
"Looking out for each other", in this case, implies telling the people you care about to have backups, and helping them set up. I do that, a lot. I'd try to also help with this plea, if I had any pull with Apple.
I don't understand the sections of your comment with the word "supposed" in them. Supposed by who, and on what basis? What paid-for service are Apple not delivering? I assume they don't charge the author anymore.
I don't know what "prime time" means here.
edit: apart from, you know. Applications and drivers for random hardware.
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