I think all things digital have evolved. Yes, Windows 10 and 11 are inferior in some ways to Windows 7, but also more “modern” (I kind of dislike that word).
It wasn’t until quite recently that Windows got a decent terminal application out of the box that felt “modern” (that word again...). Not that you have to use the terminal much on Windows, which speaks to the maturity of the platform.
As a user there is "nothing" I miss on Windows. There is "nothing" I miss on Android. And after years of tinkering I’m able to set up a Linux system that I consider "complete".
What do I lack on the Web? Nothing.
In my mind everything is almost “feature complete” from a user perspective.
You can rearrange the chairs, but what is there to actually invent?
I don’t know how the Web is evolving, but from a Web site and Web application perspective it seems to me that the Web is pretty complete from a functional perspective.
Some implementations might be better than others, but from a user perspective “if it works, then it works”, right? The biggest user facing problem right now is that things are becoming too complicated. I see this "trend" everywhere in the digital world. It's dangerous because complicated things are burdensome and people lose interest.
Maybe AI will change things and even be able to change the interaction model with digital devices. To some extent we have that already. Maybe AI can make programming easier, but there are two sides to every coin so I think it is too early to make conclusions about the impact of AI.
I have never been interested in VR and AR. I like the desktop metaphor and I realize the simplicity of the smartphone is a winning formula in society at large. I would like a hardware keyboard, but would it improve my life in a meaningful way?
Maybe my mind is rather limited, but what I’m trying to say is something like: If I were to die today, what would I miss from tomorrow? I can’t think of anything. This thought is kind of unsettling.
End of digital (r)evolution?
Forum rules
The Off-Topic area is a general community discussion and chat area with special rules of engagement.
Enter, read and post at your own risk. You have been warned!
While our staff will try to guide the herd into sensible directions, this board is a mostly unrestricted zone where almost anything can be discussed, including matters not directly related to the project, technology or similar adjacent topics.
We do, however, require that you:
Please do exercise some common sense. How you act here will inevitably influence how you are treated elsewhere.
The Off-Topic area is a general community discussion and chat area with special rules of engagement.
Enter, read and post at your own risk. You have been warned!
While our staff will try to guide the herd into sensible directions, this board is a mostly unrestricted zone where almost anything can be discussed, including matters not directly related to the project, technology or similar adjacent topics.
We do, however, require that you:
- Do not post anything pornographic.
- Do not post hate speech in the traditional sense of the term.
- Do not post content that is illegal (including links to protected software, cracks, etc.)
- Do not post commercial advertisements, SEO links or SPAM posts.
Please do exercise some common sense. How you act here will inevitably influence how you are treated elsewhere.
-
moonbat
- Knows the dark side
- Posts: 5605
- Joined: 2015-12-09, 15:45
Re: End of digital (r)evolution?
You're right about usability being feature complete - it's why most web development is just make work for developers, including the breaking changes to specs as we've seen. Just Javascript and CSS syntax variations that do nothing for the end user but will break Pale Moon for not implementing it, forcing it to play eternal catchup.