this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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look, the enshittification isn't going to do itself (arstechnica.com)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

What would a mouse subscription even provide?

It infuriates me to see companies now co-opting the "forever X" language from the right-to-repair movement so that instead of "a well-constructed object you care for, repair, and use for multiple generations" it means "a thing you can pay a subscription on forever."

Logitech used to make such good hardware too. I have a pair of wired earbuds they made 15 years ago and they still work great, even after being accidentally machine washed. If any of their modern hardware was half that good they'd be all I buy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

My logi mouse doesn't have software like wtf are they talking about. It's a mouse?

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 months ago

"Logitech is seeking growth by appealing to the many people who don't own both a mouse and keyboard and by selling more expensive devices."

Lol. Magic thinking make line go up, forever. Shareholder expect 3% this quarter.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago

... I’m not planning to throw that watch away ever. So why would I be throwing my mouse or my keyboard away if it’s a fantastic-quality, well-designed, software-enabled mouse? The forever mouse is one of the things that we’d like to get to.

The watch you also don't need a subscription for? Great example, really.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

Thing that sucks about this, despite how stupid a “forever” mouse concept is (that isn’t a project with titanium and replaceable parts) is that this is normal in the software realm. But the grift is so easily observable and absurd when it’s applied to hardware. It’s normal operations for SaaS. It’s what SaaS is.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

As someone who has recently been spending a lot of time rolling my own USB devices, this would require logitech to form a gang and throw out the current USB standards and completely vertically integrate for this idea to not be an abject failure. I guess it could happen! But yeah in terms of who gets to rule over our inevitable cyberpunk dystopia, I just don’t think it’ll be Logitech. Unless they pivot to bionics.

*edit: am now thinking Logitech will definitely pivot to bionic limbs and you’ll have to configure them with logitech options, ugh

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I prefer the bionic limbs by Corsair. The biggest issue I face is that my LED lighting goes to rainbow if iCue isn’t running. Sometimes that shit just craps out when i boot up my arm.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

I like that RGB LEDs default to flashing rainbow.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

even hp already fucked off from this idea for less-used consumables, imagine being the product manager thinking you could make this fly for a decades-old computing peripheral people use literally daily

landlord brain truly is something remarkable

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A mouse that lasts forever... until y'know, it breaks, because it's a piece of hardware that actively gets worn out.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Sorry! We ended that service, your forever mouse has morphed into a forever brick!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (3 children)

In my experience, mice don't really break since optical tracking replaced rollerballs.

What does happen is that the exterior gets grody and the glidepads wear out.

A true "forever mouse" would be one where the stuff that gets worn out is easy to clean or replace. Ideally the tracking unit itself can be replaced, although that might be excessive.

For Logitech to produce a mouse like this, however, would require them to make a multi-decade commitment to supply parts and specs, which is basically just a cost sink in today's world.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

In my experience, mice don’t really break since optical tracking replaced rollerballs.

Sadly they do, sometimes they stop being able to click, or do double clicks or other weirdness. I have gone through a few mice over the years. Oddly, the newer a mouse the more likely this seems to be the case. Don't throw away old but working peripherals.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have been trying to navigate the current mouse market, I am hoping that these new fancy "good for 20 million clicks" switches that have migrated from mechanical keyboards over to mice mean that my next mouse will last for 20 years or so. Now to just find a way to differentiate between the 500,000 mice that are all at the €45 price point with the same form factor and specs.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

yeah my 3~4y old logitech g502 has a button that's progressively been coming loose for some months now, and I don't think there's much I can do about it. switch seems fine, but ugh

very not keen to have to hunt for a replacement

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Ugh the universe isn't fair all my favorite mice at home have broken while my work mouse is still going strong after most of a decade (well except for the glide pad which has indeed worn away into nothingness, now it glides on the grody exterior!)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ploopy kinda fills that niche, as the bits are replaceable and the non-generic parts don’t require stuff like your own injection moulding equipment. Not quite there yet, nor do they have a the full range of stuff you might want (and what they do have isn’t cheap), but it’s a nice start.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the link, I did not know about this outfit (and jeez, I know naming stuff is hard, but "Ploopy" is kinda bad as a company name).

While I appreciate what they're trying to do, the aesthetics are very much "hackerspace afficionado". Logi could presumably bring premium materials and finishing to a "forever mouse".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

(and jeez, I know naming stuff is hard, but “Ploopy” is kinda bad as a company name).

Naming themselves after something which implies immortality would've been my pick - something like "Theseus", to suggest a Ship-of-Theseus kind of immortality, I dunno.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hmm could be cutesier. Maybe Phesius. Pronounced faece-us

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Mouse-of-Theseus. Mouseus.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

apparently there was a yellow soda in the 90s named "urge." until now that was the worst product name I'd heard

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Tracer Sniper was the best mouse ever made. It lasted me a decade until one day the sensor just passed away into the night.

I then replaced three mice in the past ~5 years, each and every single one of them because the wheel broke (either the middle click or the scroll)

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

ROFL They could keep that mouse in that case! Trying to normalize enshittification is a real cute look, makes me want to buy other than Logitech next time I make a keyboard and mouse purchase. I'll support System 76 or a slightly saner corporation with a mouse and keyboard purchase.