Windows user here, definitely not MAGA (or even American for that matter). This is a wild take to have, and there is a definite “updates Boogeyman” that Lemmy users seem to have about Windows that just isn’t the case if you’re remotely comfortable on computers. I use Windows 10 and turned off the updates, so my computer doesn’t update. There’s no AI features being forced onto me, there’s nothing unexpected being downloaded, there’s no pain involved in my computer experience.

I’m not going to argue that my way is better, and fully understand why someone would choose not to use Windows, but the convenience it offers me in my computer needs (mostly just playing World of Warcraft) is enough for me to stick with it. I am however strongly considering throwing a Linux build onto an old desktop or laptop I have laying around in case Windows ever does get to that point so that it’s an easier swap. Your comment is pretty fuckin wild though I had a good chuckle at that.

I mean, not strictly talking games this year but we’ve had Baldur’s Gate 3, Expedition 33, Hades 2, Fellowship, Little Kitty Big City, Dispatch, Split fiction, Silksong, Black ops 7 (lol jk), Nightreign, Lies of P and plenty more that I probably am not aware of recently. Games haven’t gotten shit lately, games have always been shit. Just like “all music from the 70s was good” is due to only the best standing the test of time, “games were better in the 90s” is because we forgot the absolute garbage that surrounded the gems that still hold up.

What would you consider a natural lifespan for a phone? I’m currently using a Pixel 6 that I got in 2021, it’s still well within it’s 8 year lifespan (which is around what I would call reasonable for something that costs me $800) and the USB-C broke at around late year 2 early year 3. It’s been the same issue with each phone of the USB-C getting loose and eventually failing to charge. As for your point about the micro USB port outlasting the button, same vibe those ports were indestructible, this is an issue that has only come up and consistently come up when phones started switching to type C. My blackberry bold is still kicking and usable so you can call “user error” all you want but I’m not convinced I suddenly became bad at maintaining my phones suddenly when the port swapped.

So I’m supposed to solve the issue of not wanting bluetooth headphones by…using bluetooth headphones? For five years while I wait for my phones natural lifespan to pass? K. Like yes I get the audio quality argument, you’re going to use a DAC anyways as I do on my desktop, but having the possibility of my headphones dying on me, as well as the price to performance when compared with wired options is enough for me to not want to deal with it. Sure I can get 100$ bluetooth buds, but they’re going to not only not be high quality, they’ll sound like shit at best.

The “scenario I made up in my head” is coming in the next few years, guaranteed. I remember when “the 3.5mm jack is going away” was a stupid argument that wasn’t going to happen too.

Just like I can buy a phone with a 3.5mm jack (with increasingly limited options for that each year) that isn’t my only criteria when buying a phone, it’s about weighing pros and cons of it. Sure you can’t fit an optical drive in your razor thin Lenovo, but you have options to buy a laptop that can, it all depends if you’re priority is buying something functional or something pretty.

You’re probably right though, it’s on me for having a broken port on the only piece of tech that I can’t easily open and tinker with, I just don’t understand technology.

I read the comments properly. Laptops are modular where you can slap any old disc drive in them, I have one in my basement right now where I can do exactly that. If I couldn’t swap it easily without taking apart the laptop, I can easily open the laptop and attach it to the board as well, something that I can’t do with modern locked tight phones without specialized tools. Last resort would be using USB and an external drive. Tech literacy is dead when people are arguing against having a 3.5mm jack and don’t know that you can open a laptop with a screwdriver.

You can only use the USB-C dongle for as long as your USB-C port functions, which for my last 3 phones including the one I’m typing this on, isn’t for the life of the phone. So once that fails which it always does, how do I listen to music? I shouldn’t be forced to use Bluetooth headphones/earbuds when they are objectively worse options that the collection of wired headphones I’ve gotten over the years. What about when the phone manufacturers decide that contact charging is good enough now and remove your USB-C ports, where does the dongle go now?

Your point about optical drives on computers is fucking dumb, since computers are still 100% modular and customizable, the point is that phones are not. I CAN put an optical drive on my PC, I can’t put a 3.5mm jack on my phone.

Massive respect to the men and women who stick with their teaching careers despite not being paid, respected or honored in any way by Western society.

America isn’t the entirety of western society

Unicomp is the company you are thinking of I believe and I am pretty sure they will.