I think many of us have noticed the trend that modern tech just… Doesn’t make things better. There’s little to be excited about, because anything even remotely innovative is going to be filled with tracking, ads, etc.
Let’s say you had a bored software engineer or 2 at your disposal and the goal was to improve something you do often, by creating an application or website that isn’t owned and enshittified by a megacorp looking to extract maximum short term value - what would your project be? Is it something you’d be willing to pay for, maybe with a free tier available?
The reason I’m asking is that I’m a software engineer and in the current hard-ass market, while I’m lucky enough to have a stable job, I know that experience alone isn’t cutting it anymore in the recruitment process. You need to be able to show side projects too. Plus I have an unemployed software engineer friend who also has no interesting projects to show. So if we make any money out of it, that’s awesome. If we don’t, it’s just something for our github accounts. Probably the latter.
PS: Yes, I know this is not a tech community - I want ideas from regular, non-techy people too.
PPS: This doesn’t have to be something in your personal life, it could also be something that would help you at work if you had it.
My life could in general be improved by the removal of software, not by the addition of more.
“Perfection is only achieved when there is nothing left to take away.”
I have done okay at keeping unnecessary crapware from creeping into my life, but there is the occasional second hand smoke from the masses who will bend over for literally anything.
Same here. I’ve rolled back hard on most software. I use only the stuff I need for work, plus my web browser at home (and even that I carefully choose which web sites I go to because web software is terrible) plus a small handful of apps on my phone (document readers and a shopping app, mainly). Where most people do, say, solo RP with “wikis” and “structured editors” and whatnot, I patiently write with a fountain pen in a physical book.
And ever since I started this detechification of my life, I’ve found that I enjoy my life more. There just seems to be something in me that is in intrinsic opposition to computers.
That’s an absolutely valid stance in this day and age, but maybe your problem with software is not the abundance, but rather the intrusiveness?
Nah, it’s been reliability at the core of my distaste for it. Since the '80s.