I used to work on phones, it was so great getting to help design these pocket computers the way I wanted to use them. I honestly saw the future being something like, “ok, cloud is a bit of a trust reach, but on the other hand, your phone becomes a cheap access terminal.” I assumed we’d hit a point, with how cheap the hardware inside the machine is, (to this day) where phones would ostensibly become something you could grab from a vending machine. They’d eventually become highly recyclable so you could just take an old phone and chuck it in a recycling bin to have the parts repurposed/recycled.
“Oh crap, my phone just fell out of my pocket and got run over!” Go to vending machine, chuck old phone in recycling, log in to new phone, old phone is nuked remotely if it still functions, new phone starts caching your “phone”. You’re back in business in minutes.
Phones would have no value to be stolen, phones are accessible to all walks of life, a fairness of technology access helps balance the world.
None of that happened, instead, it was a war of walled gardens, information hoarding, privacy violations, expense, distrust, and loan pyramid schemes so people can dump $1500 on $50-$200 worth of parts that will probably just end up being stolen and sold in aftermarket/underground markets in countries that are less well-off.
I’m kinda irked I ever tried to work on the tech to make lives better and do not regret my choice to not go back to that industry.
I used to work on phones, it was so great getting to help design these pocket computers the way I wanted to use them. I honestly saw the future being something like, “ok, cloud is a bit of a trust reach, but on the other hand, your phone becomes a cheap access terminal.” I assumed we’d hit a point, with how cheap the hardware inside the machine is, (to this day) where phones would ostensibly become something you could grab from a vending machine. They’d eventually become highly recyclable so you could just take an old phone and chuck it in a recycling bin to have the parts repurposed/recycled.
“Oh crap, my phone just fell out of my pocket and got run over!” Go to vending machine, chuck old phone in recycling, log in to new phone, old phone is nuked remotely if it still functions, new phone starts caching your “phone”. You’re back in business in minutes.
Phones would have no value to be stolen, phones are accessible to all walks of life, a fairness of technology access helps balance the world.
None of that happened, instead, it was a war of walled gardens, information hoarding, privacy violations, expense, distrust, and loan pyramid schemes so people can dump $1500 on $50-$200 worth of parts that will probably just end up being stolen and sold in aftermarket/underground markets in countries that are less well-off.
I’m kinda irked I ever tried to work on the tech to make lives better and do not regret my choice to not go back to that industry.
Heh, your vision is kinda like the one Google was touting back when they first announced/launched Chromebooks.
“Oh it broke? Login in on another and your computer is back!”
Don’t know if the modern Chromebook/ChromeOS still works like that.
Edit: Oh wow, check out this super over the top ad they made to drive the point home, It’s still on the Chrome Youtube channel!