An auth integrator, a pretty notable one, mostly (originally?) OAuth I think. Multiple people calling it a trash fire here came as a surprise to me, but I defer to their experience.
People calling it trash and then recommending microsoft was an even bigger shock to the point where I am not convinced that those aren't microsoft AI bots astroturfing this post.
So, what are their strengths then?
I've fed it with a detailed, very well documented and typed API description. Asking to construct me some not too hard code snippets based on that.
GPT-5 then pretend to do the right thing, but actually is creating meaningless nonsense out of it. Even after I tried to reiterate and refine my tasks. Every junior dev is waaay better.
I recently had something no longer compile. I got bored sniffing around after maybe an hour, set Claude in Zed on to it, got a snack, and by the time I was back it had found the problem.
When I am unsure how to implement something, I give an LMM a rough description and then tell it to ask me five questions it needs to get a good solution. More often than not, that uncovers a blind spot.
LLMs remain unhelpful at writing code beyond trivial tasks though.
"It’s funny how “ownership” in the digital world has become an illusion. You don’t really own your apps, your music, or even your tools anymore."
That's your decision. I've published an music album on Bandcamp. You can buy it, I'll send you a real physical tape and you can _download_ high quality FLAC you own then.
If you like to own things, you have all the possibilities.
But I agree, we maybe tend to forget about high quality stuff, if we consume conveniently low quality streaming content for example on Spotify.
It’s a descision everyone makes, in almost all cases (okay, maybe only in few mobile app cases) "ownable" alternatives exist.
> You don’t really own your apps, your music, or even your tools anymore
This is the more general statement, once again, alternatives exist. I own almost all my apps and tools, and 100% of my music. Either because they are free, or because I bought them. Sometimes I’d would be easier to go the other way, but it’s still (mostly) a choice.
If I have FLAC or mp3 files, they cannot become a subscription.
If I have a working binary that does not need internet, it cannot become a subscription.
If I have invested in making open source solutions work, then I can also figure out ways to continue to own my tools, even if the company goes the subscription way.
Yes, you can snapshot your entire life and try to have it be isolated from online. I know because I do this all the time, but the reality is the world moves forward, and the point of the post is that the trend is towards these customer hostile patterns and away from ownership. As someone focused on digital sovereignty, I very much notice this trend, so I think the point is valid.
Oh for sure. I struggle with keeping my offline workable music collection up to date vs just using spotify. But the pain point of not having music with no internet (the laughable limited option of spotify "download" does not count) is strong enough for me to do it regulary.
(Also I like working offline when I can. Less distractions.)
The point of the article is that Goodnotes stopped selling a lifetime purchase version of the app and a lot of other products go this route. You can't buy things that can't be bought.
It does mention music in the quoted part though. And even regarding goodnotes, it’s a choice to use a tool like that. There are *many* note taking apps.
Not just apps but methods, too. And they're all fishing in the same pool, and they're all trying to sell the same product (a subscription), and they're all trying real hard to integrate AI, after making extra money from selling your notes (or a distillation or statistical analysis thereof).
This is why I collect vinyl records, make my own cassette tapes and have a fairly huge DAS drive with all my media (movies, music, photos, etc). Ironically, I use Plex (non free), but I can pivot very easily if needed.
But even buying your album comes with limitations.
I can not copy and redestribute copies. I can not play it in public spaces for an audience with further ado, etc.
The concept of owning is, rightfully, changing. We are a lot of people who use this planet, and the purist view of ownership simply does not make sense.
You can not own a part of a river to dump chemicals, just for thst to flow to the next owner down stream.
> can not play it in public spaces for an audience with further ado, etc.
Ah that can of worms. When i would play music out loud in the office, the company has to pay a fee to the copyright reimbursement foundation and a fee to the same system representing the artists (actually the studios, but semantics). And that would be for every employee no matter who heard it and if it was audible in public spaces they count for the max allowable. And that comes on top of the fee I'm already paying (double tax, yay). There is a reason most companies pretend they don't know about this system or ask you to use your own devices and headphones.
Example: in Australia there is an organisation named APRA AMCOS. A friend had a job with them, his job was to visit businesses, see if they were playing music, take evidence of such, and then that business would receive an invoice for the right to play the music.
There were many employees of APRA doing this, in every state, and many cease+desist/lawsuits.
The case was clear cut - you play the music, you paid a fee.
I have zero qualms within myself copying, saving backups, and playing media anywhere and to anyone. I treat lots of ridiculous laws as other people's opinions, and I believe millions of people do the same, and none of us ever get "caught".
> The concept of owning is, rightfully, changing. We are a lot of people who use this planet, and the purist view of ownership simply does not make sense.
This is a bizarre statement. On the one hand, property rights are considered a fundamental human right, and for good reason. And on the other, digital goods don't take up space - no matter how many copies exist. What bearing does the number of people on the planet have in light of this?
All I see is excuses for exploitation by our corporate overlords.
No, I don't have all the possibilities. I can own movies in physical form, but I can't own the movies I want to own. And it can be even worse. Here I can watch Disney/Pixar movies wonderfully dubbed into local language in cinemas with my grandchildren, but even Disney+ subscription doesn't have these audio tracks.
Using my Atari still today as my midi driving house in combination with Cubase 3.1. The Atari triggers my synths and drum machines and has a very stable and jitter free clock and timing. Unbeaten.
That's why so many of these new age development tools, libraries and abstractions are such incredibly janky pieces of bloat that literally require what a few decades ago was supercomputers.
The inherent belittling of children's right to the enjoyment of alcoholic drinks... Our current form of social media is a drug and it harms our children in all ways and adults too btw.
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