And the decline in quality tracks the introduction of invasive requirements: phone#, credit card, etc. Hey, whose fucking computer is this anyways?
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@hostbody @plastic_pizza @muzka
If it has a hard-disk in, that’s probably about to die. Make a backup, and replace it with an SSD.
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This is exactly why I stopped using a computer to make music. Windows 7 was fine. My machine died, could only get a windows 10 machine. You know the rest.
Computers these days suck.
They used to be useful.
My synths samplers and drum machines always work, all the time, just they way they are supposed to. That is what a computer is supposed to do !
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I can’t agree enough. As a programmer by profession, for 20 years now, software quality has declined over that period, AND IT CAN’t ALL BE ME.
No One Cares About Software Quality is a decent post about part of the problem. But yeah, software sucks. But hardware is software these days. My M:C has had loads of comedy glitches this last week (mainly timing based, embedded realtime is hard). I guess the mother of all software issues in recent history is the 737?
I used to try and do audio programming on linux, with SuperCollider, and it was just tears. I tried audio on Windows, and it failed. But my old MacPro from 2009 can run ableton live faultlessly.
I would council anyone making music on computers to use Macs. It’s kind of sad.
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I agree with pretty much every word, but I have given up this rant about 10 years ago. Back then I was bitching about how ugly and bloated OS X was compared to MacOS 9. Of course I wasn’t hailing OS 9 every morning when I was using it…
I decided long ago that I will pay the Apple-Tax and that it is a better compromise than saving on the machine and dealing with Windows daily. For us music/audio people computers over-promise and under-deliver constantly, but even after massively under-delivering the value for money is incredible and getting better all the time. Try to recreate fucking Garage band in hardware in you are up in the 5 digit price point. How much would 16 instances of Omnisphere cost to make in hardware? Think several times the cost of a Waldorf Iridium? 4 instances of your favorite reverb would cost like 4 Eventide Spaces? It’s a pact with the devil that we need to resist or learn to live with.
For the vast majority of computer users who mostly use Microsoft Office and a browser these updates are lovely. People who buy a PC for Overbridge do not register as a blip on the radar for Microsoft or Apple.
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Thinking about Show us the view from your window
I think Microsoft probably hit peak reliability and usability back in the days of WinXP. I particularly enjoy how the task manager prevents shut downs whenever it’s open. That was a sensible design decision. Linux still hasn’t delivered on expectations, not that I blame the developers, I’m sure the Apple/Windows/Android cartel has outsized influence over standards producing organizations.
My next release will be almost entirely produced on my OT and MV8000. Roland or Elektron need to get hip and produce a stand alone DAW device that is more current with today’s capabilities. I have to imagine there is a market out there. Thankfully my MV8000 remains highly capable 17 years on…
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Somebody shared that the latest ‘Mars Rover’ is running Linux, to which someone posted this:
I’ve been in it from the start. Believe me computers have always been stressful.
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Yeah true, although they are definitely (or their operating systems) getting worse.
Cut my teeth on a Vic-20 
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I had a blissful stress free period of 2 years since getting a MBP but this week I’ve encountered a real pain in the arse concern. I believe the Big Sur update has caused my Mac to think it has battery issues and it’s now advising me to get it serviced. At £200. It’s only been recharged through 246 cycles ffs!
Anyway, I’m in two minds about computers. Part of me thinks theyre much better. In many ways they are. But then you hit things like this random battery issue that just pisses you off.
I also think as I’ve gotten older I’m massively less up for hours of tweaking and coding to make things work. I used to do all sorts to get things working how I wanted them. Now in just can’t be bothered!
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Same here…but in a way, it’s sort of a blessing in disguise:
-The whole Windows 1984…hu sorry, Windows 10 situation plus all the crashes, loading time, software conflicts and tedious optimization tricks just to begin to make a first few bars…
…that led me to get interested in the Dawless Movement and to know the Elektron machines.
-So yeah, Computers, Internet, Softwares are fantastic tools/toys and as a creative, i’m grateful to have access to those…but The spying, the preference for constant updates instead of solid releases, the almost mandatory online status and to add a last one : the new subscription model for license softwares…
This is becoming less and less enjoyable.
Being an “old man” i could easily live without computers ( again ) and i have the feeling that this state of mind might be a plus for future times…
I have windows 10 running with as much of the “shiny” shit removed.
I basically use
Chrome for browsing.
VSCODE thru wsl2 ubuntu for coding stuff (imo its excellent and Microsoft deserve some credit where its due)
And then games/music stuff.
The rest of windows is mostly a mystery to me
Hopefully someone will come along and redefine what a computer is, lose all the bloat and make them more reliable.
Bill Gates and Microsoft omnipresence has a lot to answer for.
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Same here. 2012 mbp with added ram and it works 10x better than my 2015 mbp. Wild honestly no issues at all. I’d love a new MacBook maybe the 14” mbp m1x but I don’t need anything it’s all just a desire. If someone could make a barebones Linux box with a great GPU ram and SSD then you wouldn’t have any bloat ware and it would be smooth… theoretically.
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A collegue and I joked today that 2021 was the year linux was on mars, before the year of linux on the desktop
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My first computer was a Jupiter Ace. Like a white cased ZX81 but you programmed it in Forth. Cool machine for writing your own primitive games on, as Forth was waaaay faster than Basic. Even if it meant teaching yourself a language better suited to controlling radio telescopes. Of precious little use thereafter as a skill to have, sadly, given my choice of career was never going to be radio telescope control.
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I feel, you. It’s endless. If you buy something old, its compatibility won’t last long. If you buy something new, it might not even yet be compatible.
I upgraded my 2015 iMac from Sierra to Mojave for Adobe + future Live compatibility.
Then, when I bought my 2019 16" MBP (which replaced my 2016 15" Mojave MBP), Catalina was minimum, so bye bye C6 and a few other things I used regularly. I don’t use the MBP with an external display, so I can force the integrated graphics and I don’t deal with fan noise, but if I did, I’d be super annoyed and looking at these M1s real hard.
Sometimes I wish I had bought a 2015 15" MBP, updated it no further than Mojave, and just stuck with that until the Apple M1Xs roll out. But here I am, stuck with what I have, and have paid a lot of money for. It works, for now, with a couple exceptions, so I’ll push it as far as I can. Don’t want to have to buy a new laptop or desktop until the current offerings are far faster, and I can afford to upgrade both simultaneously.
Some typographies in my town still have their old mac with os9 connected to the printers just because they do their job flawlessy.
The same with a photo printer shop that use the same old machine with the same old software since years connected with an AGFA printer. Just because it do its job well.
A system that works, shouldn’t be touched.
In my perspective, to have a stable pc, it should be used like as a mechanic tool or a swiss knife for a limited set of tasks, disconnected from the web.
Offline updates should be applied only when there’s a serious bug that limit your tasks to be successfully completed.
In the moment that you start to connect to internet, install updates, install software that you’ll use a couple of times, trials, demo, play left and right with some settings… you’re done, pc, mac whatever it is.
Like a lot of people I started to play with PC since my youth, even assembling them.
I was always anxious to check the latest techs, softwares, etc.
Then, when I started to work with pc for a job, I understood that it should be set with just the essential software that you need, nothing more.
Less shit, less headaches, less things to eventually fix.
Once you find your setup, leave it as it is and before add new stuff, think twice.
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When I was about 10 years old I fancied a ZX81 ,… later I saved money to afford my 1st C64
feels like a lifetime ago … 
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Besides the endless updates, Windows Ten and a SSD run fantastic. I say that only using it for work and my clients. It started horrific but has come a long way.
Have a M1 Mac Air new in box waiting to start using as a daw so I’ll have to see how that works out.
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