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askjdlkasdjsd | 5 years ago

I'm a software developer myself. For me, its more like a disengagement from the whole thing.

Do you remember when android/ios were new and there were all new and fun games coming out like angry birds and such? Everyone was into it for a couple years.

Now, if you look at those same games (or even apps from the same era), every single thing about them is made to suck money out of you. It just does something to you, and I've noticed this in most people I know too, it just makes you sick.

Rather than constantly worrying about how not to be a sucker when searching for a new app, I now frequently decide that whatever it was that I wanted to do, I could do some other way or not do at all rather than be subjected to the constant victimization by aggressive monetization everywhere you look.

The hard truth that we, the tech industry, are currently not accepting, is that the value of a lot of the software out there, is actually zero or close to it. The industry has matured. Commoditization is imminent.

Software will be like auto, energy, medicine. Just another industry. Software developers will be like plumbers, advertisers, electricians - It'll be just another trade, but the past gold rush and the remaining few nuggets still out there will blind us all to this fact for the next decade at least.

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Rotten194|5 years ago

Some anecdata on this point; I've tried two times to find a decent solitaire app on the app store. I don't play solitaire that often, it helps to pass the time occasionally, so I don't need something particularly complex or featureful.

Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both. Some kind of streak system where you were encouraged / nagged to play every day or else lose your "coins" (aka preying on loss aversion to try and addict players), fullscreen interstitial ad pages that try to trick you into clicking them when you're moving cards? Animated banners that distract you from the game?

I ended up giving up and just using a web version. It's not perfect, it's made for desktop and the cards are really small on my iphone 6 and the UI is hard to use, but it's clearly someone's labor of love and a lot pf care has been put into it. I'd happily pay a few dollars for it, if it wasn't free.

There's not many apps like that on the App Store nowadays. And with Apple's predatory rent-seeking practices, requirements of owning a $2000 computer to develop for their platform, and high developer fees, they aren't helping the situation.

ohazi|5 years ago

> Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both.

This is one of the reasons I strongly prefer using open source software whenever possible. The program was written because somebody wanted it to exist, not because someone was trying to trick you or hold your work hostage for a few bucks.

theturtletalks|5 years ago

Apple just has to open up the Webkit to support more features so people can just use PWAs. Apple drags their feet because they know once PWAs take over, their app store profits will drop significantly.

fierarul|5 years ago

> Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both.

Apple's ecosystem evolved towards a 'market for lemons'.

jacobn|5 years ago

Add to that: software has built in global competition, whereas most other trades are inherently local.

While Developer demand has thus far outstripped supply, that gravy train will eventually slow down.

It’s been one heck of a ride, and it’s gone on for decades, but how many more? Enough to recommend it to your kids?