from wikipedia:

Wirth’s law is an adage on computer performance which states that software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware is becoming faster

hardware doesn’t degrade, yet a lot of devices, that felt very snappy in the beginning, that are merely 5 years old feel outdated and slow, because if a trillion dollar corporation can’t be bothered to write a native application, and graces us with a control bar widget that’s an entire chromium browser, whose only purpose is to push two buttons, then very few others will be

on mobile, because developers are practically forced to write an app for absolutely everything, and there are easy to use tools available that will take your js and compile it into native components (like reactnative and nativescript), otherwise your app will be crippled, it is less pronounced on mobile in my opinion

on desktop, because you can write applications however you want, every bloody thing is in electron: chat apps, text editors, IDEs and even terminals and browsers (lol), it’s a complete disaster in my opinion, even a person like me, who wages holy war against electron apps, is forced to use a couple electron applications (looking angrily at you discord and zoom 😡)

the problem is that most people start with (and never go on from) javascript as their first (and final language), which is an interpreted language, made to be run in a browser, that was designed in like two weeks, and the expectations are sky-high (apps that utilize native components across five operating systems and two processor architectures), and the unfortunate result of these requirements is electron

there are some emerging solutions like extremely cross-platform flutter (but it’s not js) and there are now native macOS and windows targets for react native, but it’s rarely used

it seems like unless there will emerge some framework, that would magically sip out the project from the developer’s mind in js and transform it into native apps for ios, android, linux, macOS and windows, with zero modifications required from the developer, we have little hope, and such a framework would not only be a silly project, but also an effort of astronomical proportions

so we’re stuck with either iron grip control of corporations over mobile platforms that force everyone to write an app for everything, or with the freedom of the desktop, but we end up running 15 instances of chromium, not to mention the fragility of the web standards nowadays

what do you think?

  • DessalinesA
    111·
    3 years ago

    Its an artificial / manufactured problem created by privatized / capitalist software development, as @yogthos@lemmy.ml has pointed out in a great recent post. Its not a real law, just part of the tendency to minimize labor costs by taking the path of least resistance by using bloated frameworks, and focusing only on features rather than performance.

    so we’re stuck with either iron grip control of corporations over mobile platforms that force everyone to write an app for everything, or with the freedom of the desktop, but we end up running 15 instances of chromium, not to mention the fragility of the web standards nowadays

    The only answer IMO is to continue support open source projects and initiatives… we don’t have the same incentives as companies who seek profit above all else, and can take the time to clean up our code, focus on performance, privacy, interoperability… etc.

    • pinknoise
      3·
      3 years ago

      Capitalism (or any kind of performance-metric) values output over quality. The problem can either be solved by the consumer (lol) or by overcoming (maybe later) or subverting this system.

      Copylefted free software has the power to do the later, as long as there is an active community that has a shared vision for the project and isn’t afraid to tell people to go fork themselves if they go against it. Maintainers should not only think about what they want but also about what they don’t want for their project to become and make that clear to users and contributers alike. (E.g. no DRM, no [proprietary service] etc.)

      I know thats not an immediate solution (how to get my friends on linux if they can’t do x) but thats the whole point, doing it properly just takes longer. And you should take that time, instead of hacking together something subpar that gets turned into infrastructure by some idiot.

      • seahorse
        5·
        3 years ago

        I tried running Windows 10 on a HDD and I was about to throw that machine out the window. Switched to a SSD and it’s like a brand new machine. Interestingly, my Debian installation ran perfectly fine on the HDD lol.

    • jazzfes
      4·
      3 years ago

      I’m not quite buying this. First of all, most people are forced to use some bloated OS and software at work. This means they get used to certain apps and unless they have a specific interest in say Open Source, they won’t look into alternatives. Schools, universities, etc. all get “sponsored” by big tech as well, leading to further market capture.

      Secondly, things like Linux are presented by large corps as complicated, which simply isn’t true but again, the large corp would have some credibility bonus.

      In general, the computer industry is largely consolidated from a customer perspective to a number of large players that scare people actively away from open solutions. As with nearly everything, you cannot vote with your wallet, since the markets are heavily tilted towards large corporations.

      Finally, what is “woke-sufficiency”?

        • jazzfes
          5·
          3 years ago

          Yes, generally agree.

          However the bloat in Linux can be managed more easily and is nowhere as intense. Even old RPis and old laptops are still usable after 10+ years.

          My IT experience at work has been deteriorating for at least 6 years now. It is now at a stage where I go back to handwritten notes and MS Notepad, because those generally don’t crash my work laptop that often.

          The other areas where there is intense bloat is phones. After de-googling my phones (incl. custom ROM), everything works more smooth and the battery typically lasts 50% longer (guestimate). I’ve de-googled probably over half a dozen phones so far and the end product was always way smoother and faster and much extended battery life.

            • jazzfes
              3·
              3 years ago

              Absolutely! I think any extra power in the phones is simply used to suck up more data and telemetrics. The phones get faster so the Samsungs, Googles and Apples can run their useless extras for their own benefits.

              That’s why the phones run so much smoother once you e.g. remove google and put on a custom rom

  • bluerabbit
    4·
    3 years ago

    The unavoidable fact is that supporting nice nimble native APIs for every OS is more work than targeting electron. The best thing any individual can do is help with that work - support software that compiles to native APIs, e.g. if you Matrix consider using/contributing to nheko instead of Element.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.de
    3·
    3 years ago

    I don’t think it’s just what you have been describing, but also nowadays it’s normal to expect fullHD video content to be processed etc.

    I think the solution is more open-source hard- and software. Because it has different incentives for the developers.

      • morrowind
        2·
        3 years ago

        This is one of the reasons I actually support subscriptions. Without them, you’re constantly incentivized to stuff new features to sell a newer version. With subscriptions, the incentive is to provide the best possible experience to convince people to stay, and to keep existing users.

        • murky
          2·
          3 years ago

          Subscriptions come with a whole lot of other problems though