Enshittification

[BrightShinyGirl]

Recently coined by Cory Doctorow, the term describes the movement by companies to make their products and services LESS useful to consumers, while locking them into continuing to use them through monopolies. If the company that made your laser printer pushes a firmware update that prevents you from using third-party toner cartridges, they have locked you into buying their crappy, expensive cartridges. That’s “enshittification”

Discuss.

 

[Lazaran]

Recently coined by Cory Doctorow, the term describes the movement by companies to make their products and services LESS useful to consumers, while locking them into continuing to use them through monopolies. If the company that made your laser printer pushes a firmware update that prevents you from using third-party toner cartridges, they have locked you into buying their crappy, expensive cartridges. That’s “enshittification”

Discuss.

I think you’ve just about covered it…

Also:

The fucking food monopolies that are gouging the fuck out of consumers suck even worse imho; because not everyone needs a printer, but everyone needs to eat.

See also:

https://www.vox.com/money/23641875/food-grocery-inflation-prices-billionaires

 

[Chernosoth]

Proprietary hardware is one little bit of the unnecessarily and deliberately disposable merchandise that currently make most of the sales of everything, but will be dropping off as we run out of energy and materials.
The Story of Stuff is a 13 video series.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Proprietary hardware is one little bit of the unnecessarily and deliberately disposable merchandise that currently make most of the sales of everything, but will be dropping off as we run out of energy and materials.
The Story of Stuff is a 13 video series.

Proprietary hardware, supplies, accessories, APIs, operating systems, digital stores, battery chargers, etc. are everywhere. Innovations that lead to disruptions in capitalist systems usually break these monopolies over time.

 

[Bray123]

Unique batteries for cordless tools are a total enshittification. I can use any AA battery for 99% of things and if I cut open a tool battery it has a cluster of lithium AAs inside.

 

[Chernosoth]

John Deere tried to lock farmers out of repairing their own tractors with proprietary software. The farmers pushed back and lobbied for right to repair laws. They can't afford to wait for an appointment with a distant JD tech during harvest or planting season. JD has compromised somewhat, but mostly those huge machines with extremely complex software will just disappear. They use too much diesel fuel. Horses run on grass fuel.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Proprietary hardware, supplies, accessories, APIs, operating systems, digital stores, battery chargers, etc. are everywhere. Innovations that lead to disruptions in capitalist systems usually break these monopolies over time.

Monopolies are broken by government intervention. Once a monopoly is entrenched in the market, innovations will quickly be bought out.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

John Deere tried to lock farmers out of repairing their own tractors with proprietary software. The farmers pushed back and lobbied for right to repair laws. They can't afford to wait for an appointment with a distant JD tech during harvest or planting season. JD has compromised somewhat, but mostly those huge machines with extremely complex software will just disappear. They use too much diesel fuel. Horses run on grass fuel.

Farmers demanding the right to repair their equipment was an early example of people pushing back against enshittification. When I buy new tech I try to get the stupidest device that can do the job.

 

[Bray123]

John Deere tried to lock farmers out of repairing their own tractors with proprietary software. The farmers pushed back and lobbied for right to repair laws. They can't afford to wait for an appointment with a distant JD tech during harvest or planting season. JD has compromised somewhat, but mostly those huge machines with extremely complex software will just disappear. They use too much diesel fuel. Horses run on grass fuel.

In the UK you can have your car serviced in any damn service shop you like and provided they stamp the book the warranty has to be honored. Presumably there's some level of competency required, but you don't need to take a Ford to a Ford dealership. You can take it to the small independent in your village.

 

[Chernosoth]

Monopoly is the natural result of capitalism. With dominance of a market, the successful capitalist's next objective is prevent competition. Government may get involved, or the monopoly may continue until it implodes with greed and incompetence, like Microsoft is doing now.

 

[Rightguide]

Recently coined by Cory Doctorow, the term describes the movement by companies to make their products and services LESS useful to consumers, while locking them into continuing to use them through monopolies. If the company that made your laser printer pushes a firmware update that prevents you from using third-party toner cartridges, they have locked you into buying their crappy, expensive cartridges. That’s “enshittification”

Discuss.

Hewlett Packard was guilty of the same thing and still may be.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Monopolies are broken by government intervention. Once a monopoly is entrenched in the market, innovations will quickly be bought out.

Government can and does break up monopolies although often at the behest of competitors rather than for the benefit of consumers. Innovation and competition resulted in lower oil prices and higher production long before the dissolution of Standard Oil in the early 1900s. Before and after the breakup, vertical integration proved to be a superior business model for petroleum industry and more importantly, for consumers.

In the 1970s and early 80s, there was an antitrust case aimed at breaking up IBM’s 70% computer monopoly. The case was eventually dropped and by the mid 80s, mini computers, workstations, the PC, and networking technologies emerged to break to make it all a moot point.

In the 90s, Microsoft was the computing industry bad guy. Antitrust action didn’t break Microsoft’s control of the desktop. The internet and the browser made the desktop largely irrelevant. Throughout all of this, the cost of computing plummeted and computing power exploded to unimaginable levels. Today we all carry devices in our pockets that are more infinitely powerful than those mainframes of yesteryear.

With regard to printers and cartridges, it wasn’t that long ago that those were considered “office products.” Only businesses could afford them. Thanks to inkjet technology and other print technology advances, printers are now found in most homes, and print per page costs are peanuts. With evolution of mobile digital imaging and electronic signature technology, the role of printers in our lives is rapidly diminishing.

Capitalism has a miraculous way breaking up monopolies for the benefit of consumers.

 

[Rotadom]

Every iPhone user has entered the chat

 

[RobDownSouth]

About 8 years ago I purchased a "deluxe" version of the MyFitnessPal app that had calorie tracking, fitness tracking and all the bells and whistles. Lifetime one-time purchase. Used it for 3-4 years, stopped using it, decided to pick it up again for a 2023 New Year resolution. Surprise surprise surprise, the "new" version required an annual subscription of $80 per year for the previous "lifetime one-time purchase" features.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Every iPhone user has entered the chat

And the evil green bubble monopoly is coming to an end!

 

[Rotadom]

About 8 years ago I purchased a "deluxe" version of the MyFitnessPal app that had calorie tracking, fitness tracking and all the bells and whistles. Lifetime one-time purchase. Used it for 3-4 years, stopped using it, decided to pick it up again for a 2023 New Year resolution. Surprise surprise surprise, the "new" version required an annual subscription of $80 per year for the previous "lifetime one-time purchase" features.

I had the same thing happen with the texting app "pulse." It was really innovative at the time but I wanted to go back to the google ecosystem. when I went back to pulse, it was more per month than my "lifetime" purchase.

 

[bijedi]

In the 1970s and early 80s, there was an antitrust case aimed at breaking up IBM’s 70% computer monopoly. The case was eventually dropped and by the mid 80s, mini computers, workstations, the PC, and networking technologies emerged to break to make it all a moot point.

It became a moot point because IBM voluntarily changed its business practices in response to the complaints filed by federal antitrust regulators.

In the 90s, Microsoft was the computing industry bad guy. Antitrust action didn’t break Microsoft’s control of the desktop. The internet and the browser made the desktop largely irrelevant. Throughout all of this, the cost of computing plummeted and computing power exploded to unimaginable levels. Today we all carry devices in our pockets that are more infinitely powerful than those mainframes of yesteryear.

Microsoft was another case where changes in internal business practices due to pressure from antitrust regulators resulted in a more open playing field. This one I have actual firsthand knowledge of as I spent almost two years at Microsoft during this period and was told more than once that certain product changes could not be made without approval from antitrust monitors.

With regard to printers and cartridges, it wasn’t that long ago that those were considered “office products.” Only businesses could afford them. Thanks to inkjet technology and other print technology advances, printers are now found in most homes, and print per page costs are peanuts. With evolution of mobile digital imaging and electronic signature technology, the role of printers in our lives is rapidly diminishing.

Capitalism has a miraculous way breaking up monopolies for the benefit of consumers.

Some market factors work against monopolization, some market factors work in favor of monopolization. Capitalism itself doesn't really favor either outcome.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

It became a moot point because IBM voluntarily changed its business practices in response to the complaints filed by federal antitrust regulators.


Microsoft was another case where changes in internal business practices due to pressure from antitrust regulators resulted in a more open playing field. This one I have actual firsthand knowledge of as I spent almost two years at Microsoft during this period and was told more than once that certain product changes could not be made without approval from antitrust monitors.



Some market factors work against monopolization, some market factors work in favor of monopolization. Capitalism itself doesn't really favor either outcome.

The mainframe market and the desktop market were replaced by new technologies and new competitors. Changes to internal business practices were irrelevant. The irony of the Microsoft/Intel alliance the Bush DOJ was so aggressive towards is that during their most powerful era of market dominance, consumers kept paying less and less for more computing power and application functionality.

 

[Lazaran]

 

[bijedi]

The mainframe market and the desktop market were replaced by new technologies and new competitors. Changes to internal business practices were irrelevant. The irony of the Microsoft/Intel alliance the Bush DOJ was so aggressive towards is that during their most powerful era of market dominance, consumers kept paying less and less for more computing power and application functionality.

Well I guess I will have to take your internet wisdom over my own personal experience.

Microsoft had plenty of talent and vision and capital to be able to compete in those emerging markets, but were prevented from doing so by both internal and external pressure resulting from the antitrust litigation. I won't excuse Microsoft's management from the poor strategic decisions they made during this time, and they made a lot of them. But in many cases there were confounding factors involved that their competitors did not have to deal with and most people outside of Microsoft will never know about. I can't speak directly to IBM's issues as all of my knowledge there is secondhand, but the stories I heard from those who were there are eerily similar.

And I will agree with you that in the 80's and 90's, US antitrust enforcement became to focused on balancing the interests of competing corporations and lost focus on the interests of the consumer. This was a mistake and while I have a lot of issues with the EU antitrust regulators, I do believe they do a much better job addressing the consumer's interests.

You are certainly welcome to opinions of the infallibility of free markets to produce ideal results. My experiences inform me that is it a little more complicated than that. Free markets can be fantastic and powerful engines of creation, but history has repeatedly shown they work best when they are governed in such a way as to minimize their worst excesses.

 

[John_von_Neumann]

Look up "Enshittification" in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Google search's landing page.

 

[ll74]

Look up "Enshittification" in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Google search's landing page.

That's not too far off - Google has a horrible history of developing products and then just shelving them for no reason.

The latest is their podcast app.

 

[desecration]

Look up "Enshittification" in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Google search's landing page.

'The Man Who Killed Google Search'​

 

[stxjimmy]

Recently coined by Cory Doctorow, the term describes the movement by companies to make their products and services LESS useful to consumers, while locking them into continuing to use them through monopolies. If the company that made your laser printer pushes a firmware update that prevents you from using third-party toner cartridges, they have locked you into buying their crappy, expensive cartridges. That’s “enshittification”

Discuss.

A bit like signing up to lit and then finding out about the deplorables?

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

A bit like signing up to lit and then finding out about the deplorables?

The Politics Board is great idea. It’s like flypaper for deplorables.