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On Sun Sep 27, 2020 at 3:31 PM BST, Brad Rogers wrote: > Hello Ciarán, > Chicken and egg; hardware gets better, more and more shit is loaded > into web pages, requiring better hardware to render/run all the > java(script) and christ knows what else, hence faster machines,so web > designers get paid to put in even more spyware, tracking crap and god > knows what else. Yeah, it's getting pretty obnoxious, really. There are some things which couldn't possibly work without something like Webassembly/Javascript, but I would go so far as to say that the vast majority has no business using any of this stuff. Any textual information can be presented much more efficiently and effectively with pure HTML/CSS, and even more complex stuff such as logins can be handled without these if you just put a bit of effort into it (see sites like Sourcehut as an example of how to build a fully-featured application with no JS). > I still can't understand ppl that are totally euphoric about Apple > hardware. It's expensive and, especially when it comes to their phones, > seems to hit the news in a bad way all too often: > > Looses signal; you're holding it wrong. > It bends; don't put it in your pocket. I was once a part of the cult of Apple (I was duped into dropping £899 on a MacBook Pro back in 2009). It really is just marketing and preying on the hopes of users who want to ditch Windows. There is a vain hope that Company B is going to treat you better than Company A, but in reality each thinks just as little of you as the other. Apple's hardware quality has walked off a cliff in recent years as shipping volume has increased, so they can't even really pull that justification out any more. When it comes to hardware manufacturers, Apple is clearly ahead in the consumer field because they have the resources to focus on marketing to consumers. It's much rarer that you see dedicated commercials for hardware vendors such as Lenovo, HP, and Dell. They usually get lumped in on the back of Currys, Amazon, and John Lewis ads. For this reason there's no prestige associated. Apple? Now they must be quality. Didn't you see? They had a full advert for just one device! > Indeed. It's simply arrogant to assume that just because I can afford > to be online 24/7, buy the latest £400(1) 'phone, etc. that everyone > can. > Even in this country. Although (if I recall the facts correctly), in > India, where over 60% of ppl don't have access to a flush toilet, approx > 80% of the population owns a mobile 'phone. Even so, affordability is not the only consideration here. The fact of the matter is that there isn't a country on earth that has 100% WiFi coverage (certainly not with free connectivity), which means that an always-online device is inherently less useful than one that has online and offline capabilities built in. At least with smartphones they can join a mobile network but A) this costs and B) it still isn't 100% coverage. With all this being the case, I struggle to find any real justification for devices like the HP Stream and Chromebook(s). They are simply lesser devices pegged at the same price as vastly superior machines that run a full OS. Unfortunately, Pine64 has no marketing department to speak of, so nobody's heard of it. Ciarán -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dcglug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq