I think the main reason Raspberry Pi succeeds is the quality of the software ecosystem. There are plenty of other SBCs out there, but most of them have very poor software support. The vendor typically cobbles together a janky Linux distro, throws it over the wall and says "OK, it's done!" and never provides upgrades or much in the way of assistance.

My ODROID U3 and ODROID XU4 say hi :( Even official Android support was stuck to ancient Android versions shortly after release and the graphics had stuttering issues even on lightweight games, but Desktop Linux support is even worse.

That said, even Raspberry Pi support isn't what I consider good. I mean, no full OpenGL support in 2026? Only OpenGL ES and Vulkan? I know, the SoC used is a smartphone chip and vendor officially doesn't support OpenGL, but you'd expect the poster child for Desktop Linux on ARM to cobble together a driver that fully implements OpenGL, even if it doesn't squeeze every last fps from the chip, but nope.

You can buy the device at the end of a lease with a lump-sum payment, but Apple banks on you not doing so and trading the device in for the latest shiny and getting on the debt treadmill again. It's basically an intelligence test, that many people will fail (as expected).

The cheapest iPhone is $599, which isn't exactly cheap but acceptable for an iPhone. The problem is all those schmucks who think they "deserve" a "Pro" model with extra peanuts and whatnot even though they can't afford it. By getting Apple into the debt business, Tim Cook is playing those schmucks like a fine violin (or like a harp from Hell, depending on your perspective).

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with Apple's downmarket expansion with the MacBook Neo. They are making good money from it (since the MacBook Neo uses an iPhone chip), and the value is there (contrary to popular belief, it does its job of running MacOS just fine). Apple keeping laptop prices at early-2000s levels was the reason people who didn't need Windows compatibility were buying Windows laptops (and had to tolerate McAfee screaming at them about virus-definition subscriptions from a brand-new device).

But Apple dabbling into the debt business with the Apple credit card and now by getting into bed with Klarna (and historically with Apple Pay Later)? This thing sucks from a brand perspective, since nobody likes debt collectors.

Apple is already in the debt business with the Apple credit card. Sure, this has led to some funny-titled Reddit posts ( https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FApple... ), but as long as it helps smooth-talking people who couldn't otherwise afford the latest Apple shiny into buying it with debt, Apple is OK with it. Or should I say smooth-UI-ing instead of smooth-talking?

Note: Apple Pay Later was also a thing once, which was a service exactly like Klarna, so, Apple sees no problem with offering a service like Klarna

Much like "everyone" can see the ongoing lock-in to AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure? If by "everyone" you mean "everyone except the people with the power to approve procurements", I agree.

Seriously though... what happens if Amazon, Google, and Microsoft start massively jacking up the prices for AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to cover their massive AI capex or whatever? Is moving things out of AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure any easier than moving things out of VMWare?

With the exception that it's not only egghead CEOs and PHBs this time, even "hip" startups are heavily locked-in to the big 3 cloud providers.

As opposed to IBM, a company whose IBM System/360 OS was totally open-source and didn't create a huge API moat that continues to this day. Same for VMS, a rather expansive API moat that was the sole reason anyone was buying VAXens after RISC workstations became commonplace and is the reason some corporations are still buying VAX clones or VAX virtualizations solutions. Or even the various RISC workstations, whose Unix-based OSes were proprietary and just different enough among each other for every OS to have its own app ecosystem essentially, which is the reason anyone still tolerates Itanium (hint: HP-UX compatibility) Or was the Apple Lisa and the first Macintosh running FOSS operating systems?.

This "lost paradise" narrative was always dumb. OSes were usually proprietary going back to the vaccum-tube era. API standardization is a recent phenomenon, false-starting with Java and sill trying to go mainstream with HTML5+JS.

For consumer-facing products, I disagree. Discontinued consumer products aren't deprecated, they become retro and their value on eBay skyrockets (for example, before Nvidia killed Nvidia 3D Vision, you could get Nvidia's 3D glasses brand new for MSRP, now people are asking for above-MSRP even for used).

But for enterprise/corporate products, I agree. The sad thing is that AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are the new VMWares, since what runs under your open-source Kubernetes cluster is a proprietary stack. Yes, you can move your Kubernetes clusters to Rancher by rewriting all your Terraform files, just like you can move all your Ubuntu VMs from VMWare to Proxmox, but both cases are cases of vendor lock-in.

And yet, everybody, from startups to big corpos, is ok with this new severe form of vendor-lock-in. Please someone make it make sense!

I hope this succeeds, but I highly doubt it. What will realistically happen is that publishers will stop implying ownership and will start selling "10-year subscriptions" for the same price it costs to "buy a license" to a game now. Which can be reduced to "5 year subscriptions" in the middle of a game's life (for half the price, games become cheaper as time goes on anyway) and so on... After your "subscription" ends, you cease to have any rights to access the game.

Meanwhile, every EU member-state has a bunch of governmental apps that are available only through the (American) Play Store and the (American) App Store app distribution platforms. For example, for my country: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2F... and https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.apple.com%2Fat%2Fdeve...

And then there is all the banking apps that also promote the Play Store - App Store duopoly, despite banks being heavily regulated by both the EU and the member-states.

So, the EU can start its "tech independence" journey from this little dependency on US technology. You'd expect the eurocrats to mandate support for the European Jolla OS for governmental apps and banking apps at minimum, but nope.

Exactly. Since when 16GB is the minimum for adequate performance? I am running Windows 10 on an 8GB laptop from 2015 and it runs fine. Just say no to Windows 11 and hack ESU into your Windows 10.

It won't seem pricey after the RAMpocalypse raises the prices of cheap PCs and Chromebooks. In fact, it has already started happening.

The reason repair monopolies exist is governments enforcing patents and "anti-circumvention" provisions, it has nothing to do with capitalism.

If you think Trump and his ICE goons are complete arse-holes, wait until you see the kind of arse-holes that voters will elect as President if "undesirable" people start illegally mass migrating from unlivable areas. You see, people are generally like that: they can become complete arse-holes (and vote for complete arse-holes) if their self-interest and way of life are threatened.

I mean, what will the UNHCR do if the POTUS orders ICE to shoot anyone who tries to illegally cross the border? Send a strongly-worded letter?

I'm just letting you know how humans work, don't shoot the messenger.

Buy an 1TB SSD and store less stuff. The 2020s are Moore's Law going in reverse.