Quoting: tohur

Quoting: tpauI wish we could replace this with element&matrix.

sadly will NEVER happen as will never be enough people using either to gain traction

I just read an article that governments are interested in using Matrix - and funding it.

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Quoting: walther von stolzing

Quoting: EikeIf enough people do want it, they sell us what we want.

Assuming that it's profitable, no matter the wants, or even the *needs* of consumers; and also assuming that possible satisfactions of such wants/needs can't be manipulated. In consumer electronics, 'products' are slowly turning into further 'revenue streams', or portals for indefinitely extended rentals.

For example -- "If enough people do want" ... perpetual licenses as opposed to subscriptions ... would "they sell us what [they] want"? They wouldn't, and they don't; and those smaller companies that do sell perpetual licenses weasel their way out of it the moment they get bought out.

As luxury/specialist items, vinyl players, or even penny farthings can be produced at smaller scales; what's at issue here is mass production at scale, of things that have everyday use -- things that you can't just "vote with your wallet" not to buy, because you *need* them; things that you can't get from the 'competition' ... because there's no competition when it comes to the large-scale trends like what we're seeing with electronics right now. 'Competition' is at best a short term illusion, when the model requires the bigger players to keep swallowing the smaller players, or at the very least constrain the possibilities with which they have to work.

You're right. What I said was simplified (and vinyl probably was a bad example). The company satisfying customer wants has to economically survive, which might e.g. lead to luxury products due to small scale.

Some examples having been given are not touched by this, though. There's no strong reason to not have multiple USB ports at a notebook. If people want them and buy them, it's easy for manufacturers to provide them (and maybe sell the laptop for 20 bucks more).

(Which might be the reason they're not "gone" at all: https://preisvergleich.heise.de/?cat=nb&hloc=de&xf=893_2&asuch=&bpmin=&bpmax=&v=k&plz=&dist=&sort=r&bl1_id=30 [External Link] )

I BTW am looking forward to have a monitor that's a full USB hub with many device inputs and being able to attach at least two computers. I'll attach all my USB stuff to the monitor (which happens to stand conveniently right in front of me), attach the work laptop and the home desktop to it and switch everything from one computer to the other with a single button. I consider this a nice technology development.

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I don't wanna fuel, but web archive might have an old version of the FAQ to check the text.

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Quoting: mr-victory@Eike do you have a fairphone?

Yes. :)
The Motorola G-Whatever I had before hat removable battery and SD card slot as well though.

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Quoting: apocalyptech

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Removable Batteries on Laptops and Phones

Not true. Have it in my phone I bought this year.

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Removable MicroSD Storage on Phones

Not true. Have it in my phone I bought this year.

I'm not quite as inclined to a Total Doom prediction as ElectricPrism, but those two points up there specifically are at least extremely strong trends over the past, I dunno, five years or so? Sure, are are phones available with removeable batteries and MicroSD cards, but those have been becoming increasingly rare. I'm hoping the zeitgeist will turn back around eventually re: MicroSD in particular, but even brands and product lines which have historically been really good about that kind of stuff have ended up dropping it on their more recent models. Saying that features like that are entirely "gone" is probably overstating things slightly, but I know that my own phone selection pool has drastically shrunk since ten years ago.

I agree these are trends!

But, vinyl records vanishing was a trend, too. If enough people do want it, they sell us what we want.

I also find it funny to strange that AFAICT it is not too hard to get a phone with SD card slot - as long as you buy for say 200 bucks instead of 1000.

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Quoting: Trias

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Optical CD/DVD/HD/BluRay Drive on Laptops
☑ Ethernet Port in many cases gone necessitating USB-C Hub
☑ Anything outside a single USB-C

Not true. Have it in my laptop I bought this year.

Oh, you bought a notebook with an ODD this year? Regardless of ElectricPrism predictions those *are* becoming more and more scarce and harder to find. Did you bought it for gaming or office work? Was it good? Can you please tell the model?

Ah, sorry!

I should have edited the quote, it has multiple USB-C ports, not the other points.

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Quoting: ElectricPrism@Eike

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: ElectricPrismIn the near future, possibly the year 2030, you will not be allowed to own a modular computer as we know it now.

That's nonsense.
I offer a bet for 100€ to be paid on 1.1.2031.

"as we know it now."

2005 is unlike 2025

Gone:
☑ Removable Batteries on Laptops and Phones

Not true. Have it in my phone I bought this year.

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Optical CD/DVD/HD/BluRay Drive on Laptops
☑ Ethernet Port in many cases gone necessitating USB-C Hub
☑ Anything outside a single USB-C

Not true. Have it in my laptop I bought this year.

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Removable MicroSD Storage on Phones

Not true. Have it in my phone I bought this year.

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Ability to open devices with a screwdriver, Screens are glued.

Not true. I can open my phone I bought this year even without a screwdriver

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Increasing un-affordability of Modular PC Parts eg: after 29 years in business, this article: "The RAM price and availability situation is going to worsen as Micron pull their Crucial consumer business"

Yeah. Wait for AI bubble burst.

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ RAM Soldered to Silicon

Not true. We still have RAM Soldered to Silicon. And RAM not Soldered to Silicon, which you probably meant

Quoting: ElectricPrism☑ Phones, Tablets, and Laptops as SBC where no parts are removable or replaceable, or difficult to repair

Again, not true for my phone.

... and nothing of these have anything to do with your original speculation anyway. You said "you will not be allowed to own a modular computer". Which of your points are due to somebody not allowing you to do something?

Quoting: ElectricPrismNow if you'd like to move the goal post, go ahead. The facts are the facts regardless of arguments, opinions and speculations

You're the one speculating - and obviously not trusting your own speculations enough to bet on them.

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Quoting: ElectricPrismIn the near future, possibly the year 2030, you will not be allowed to own a modular computer as we know it now.

That's nonsense.
I offer a bet for 100€ to be paid on 1.1.2031.

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Quoting: RetroGamerCA

Quoting: EikeLet me take this opportunity...
Now, I want to get a Steam Frame next year, and I want to play HL Alyx.

Might I suggest the NoVR mod for HL Alyx. So, no VR equipment necessary. I used it to play thru the entire game, and it was fantastic!
https://github.com/HLANoVR/HLA-NoVR [External Link]

That's the opposite of what I'm looking for TBH.

I want the best possible VR experience possible. I heared that's HL Alyx.
So I want to understand what's happening there.
If I would be looking just for Half-Life, I would have begun some years earlier. :)

Thanks nevertheless thank you of course!

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Quoting: StellaI don't really get how this is different from Black Mesa?

It seems Legacy is way closer to the original (be that good or bad...).

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