PC Industry in Dire Straits, ‘Asking You to Own Nothing and Be Happy,’ Says Framework CEO

https://gizmodo.com/pc-industry-in-dire-straits-asking-you-to-own-nothing-and-be-happy-says-framework-ceo-2000744967

39 Comments

  1. The tech industry needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass. If they do not allow for computer hobbyists to exists, that is the end of your tech unicorns. Those are the people that drive technology. Not these tech bros like Musk and Altman, not Zuckerberg. Effectively these are the Woz’s and they are the real people doing the work and they learned it from a healthy dose of curiosity.

    And gamers will revolt. If they can’t build the best hardware to play locally with no lag, they’re not playing your streamed garbage. Someone WILL fill that space even if it takes time to build the entire industry from the ground up.

  2. Person computers are still a major market and billions of dollars of them are sold a year.

    Cloud computing will carve its niche, but I don’t see the PC going anywhere anytime soon.

  3. These people… I don’t understand how they hate their children this much to want to build the world they are.

  4. I hate subscriptions. Specially because some are very difficult to cancel and you end up paying more.

    I don’t know why but subscriptions remind me of rent to own businesses that pray on low income people.

  5. ithinkitslupis on

    I don’t think physical hardware is seriously headed in that direction. There is a supply shortage that will eventually be remedied. In the meantime datacenter and cloud services are willing to pay more than the average consumer.

    A decent portion of software on the other hand has been headed in that direction and is in some aspects already there.

  6. I don’t understand why anybody would buy a new computer. Like cars the one to two year old systems work fine for 99% of users.

  7. I’ll be honest im in the market for a new pc for gaming because my current one is struggling and im half tempted to just use GFN, because it’s objectively cheaper; But I fucking hate it so I don’t want to.

  8. Yea, they can ask. They can also create a community that doesn’t want or need them. People have always found the path around when the demands are too excessive or repressive. Soon, all models will be self recursive.

  9. I really hope that when the AI bubble pops the government doesn’t save them and all the tech giants crumble under the weight of debt and they have to liquidate assets as fast as possible.

  10. It’s actually dire for microsoft. Even my normie friends are inquiring about Ubuntu/Linux , which shocked me. Unless windows 11 removes all nonsense garbage and reduces the dram requirement and fixes the laggy experience on $500 laptops, they are going to lose market share to macbook neo and linux.

  11. I’m in my late 30s and been PC gaming for over 2 decades. If I had to rent a PC I’m done. I have a strong feeling most consumers feels the same.

  12. I moved to a framework laptop from a MacBook specifically because I wanted to be able to upgrade and repair my own computer without Apple deciding I had to spend $1000 for a new one just because a few parts go bad

  13. this is a good thing, because it might finally get programmers to optimize their games again.

    that or hoarding my retro library is going to finally come in handy and I’ll be able to actually finish my backlog.

  14. Blackstar1886 on

    The last ten years has seen a wild jump in planned obsolescence between Windows 11 and Apple Silicon.

  15. Thebaldsasquatch on

    This is so depressing. Nothing good has come from AI, it hurts everything it touches. Honestly, at this point it should be outlawed so shit can get back to normal.

  16. Tha_Dude_Abidez on

    Everything around us is becoming like this. It’s so fucking depressing. They’re literally banking on the wealthy supporting it.

  17. I remember playing MUDs when I was a little kid and being more satisfied in that world than anything that came after. It’s the only reason I type so fast now. Maybe we’ll go back to that age 😂

  18. ElysiumSprouts on

    Probably the main reason I still use windows is that I can still run software I bought 20+ years ago and not pay stupid subscription fees.

  19. I have an IBM 5155 that still has a working harddrive. I’ll use that and use a floppy emulator for software before I ever get a subscription for a computer. 

    Try me.

  20. Maybe it may be actually good if we all owned nothing. By owning nothing such as a computer. We can no longer shop on Amazon. No computer? No Facebook. No Instagram. No technology.

    By going the route of analog and not owning digital items. The digital world falls.

  21. Extension-Avocado402 on

    At least we don’t pay subscriptions to breathe and extract nutrients from food. Yet

  22. A couple of months ago, I got bored and ordered an Asrock BC250 for a gaming PC in my lounge room. I’m pretty sure a $250 USD setup excluding peripherals is perfectly adequate for a huge chunk of people’s computing needs worldwide.

    Secondly, I’m hoping for performance optimisations from operating system and software developers over the next few years to address the lack of reasonably priced hardware. Given the current climate, the practice of simply throwing newer powerful hardware at poorly optimised software is no longer sustainable.

  23. This too shall pass. I remember buying 4 megabytes of desktop Ram in 1993 for $188 at Best buy. That’s $425 adjusted for inflation today. Pricing will have its ups and downs, and it really has over the past 30 years since.

  24. ergonomicdeskchair46 on

    This got me down a mental rabbit hole. I wonder if Anthropic would ever sell hardware. I could see them jamming it down people’s throats. No apps, just MCP connections. Your device is your AI and operating system or UI. Send a text, read email, etc just from the Claude interface.

  25. At this rate the only solution will become anti monopoly legislation to force these companies into fairer business models.

  26. Slow_Balance270 on

    Unless the subscription gives me access to a super computer I never have to upgrade or maintain, I’m not interested.

  27. Fuck that. This isn’t the cyberpunk future we needed, but it’s gonna be the one we get unless something changes.