Post #4020355

2026-07-22 21:28 UTC

My central computing conspiracy theory is that "general computing for normal people" was largely a solved problem by the 90s, through things like Excel, visual basic (and HyperCard before it), Flash, and comprehensible html (along with web design tools that were deeply flawed but extremely usable like Front Page and Dreamweaver), and the industry has spent every year since ripping us farther and farther away from it by forcing effective software development to happen only in enterprises contexts. And the only reason they're letting people have something like it again through "AI" is that they(*) think they can wrap it up in subscription fees. If "open models" "win", look for the gates to shut, the MCP descriptions and AGENTS.md files to evaporate, etc. Just like how the app APIs evaporated from Facebook and Twitter when they were no longer useful. Look for corp llms to require enterprise licences with lock-in clauses and to refuse to work if you hold them wrong. Because we've been here before. They'll do it again. If you're betting your farm on this stuff you should have a plan for this. (*) "they" are not a shadowy cabal of evil mustache twirling guys in a smoky room, "they" is all the humans responding to the incentive structures around tech and venture capital as an industry.

Replies (6)

@AmeliasBrain@mstdn.ca 2026-07-22 23:56

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems That asterisk footnote applies to so much of what's wrong with the world.

Open ##4022448
@plzupgrademe@fedi.txw.ca 2026-07-23 05:35

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems @smn@l3ib.org I would like to go back to this, Hypercard and Front Page

Open ##4028037
@kevinrj@mastodon.social 2026-07-23 06:11

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems @nmott@infosec.exchange the thing about all of those tools you mentioned, is that they weren't very accessible to screen readers. :(

Open ##4036410
@yoasif@mastodon.social 2026-07-22 21:36

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems I have been thinking idly that the forced move to LLMs is a way to return personal computing back to a client/server model. Today, you ask the computer to do something and it grinds away and does it. Tomorrow, when you ask your thin client to do something, some computer in Indiana does it, and charges your credit card too. Computers are too powerful now, there aren't enough paywalls. Moving more computing back to the server makes you a microserf again.

Open ##4061462
@valorzard@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-07-22 21:58

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems it is funny that the browsers have basically reinvented Flash with like WebGL/WebGPU and WASM tho

Open ##4061474
@LovesTha@floss.social 2026-07-22 22:15

@megmac@social.treehouse.systems I don't agree that general computing things are harder today than in the 90s. Excel still exists, yeah most have moved to web versions, but that isn't a drop in accesibility to normal people. Same for website creation, it is easier than Dreamweaver, and squarespace/Shopify make full commerce websites accessible to normal people. The hellscape of LLMs doesn't need conspiracy theories to explain.

Open ##4073284