this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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The real sad part for me is the amount of e-waste this produces. Especially in devices like laptops.
A clean Linux distro can extend a laptops life by a decade. I have a laptop from the c2d era that I threw an ssd in and put Linux on. Perfectly serviceable as a basic machine.
It's shocking how much faster Linux runs compared to a modern windows installation. I do worry however that as more and more programmers focus on web apps that we will eventually see the same problem on Linux as well. Developing desktop applications for Linux is already a pain and the ease of making modern web apps will amplify the problem. At least Linux won't have all of the awful bloat that Microsoft runs in the background on windows these days, but I don't think we will be able to escape from web app hell on Linux.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it becomes a problem in Linux, there would have already been an implosion in Windows land and I am pretty sure people will start to notice and come up with better solutions. I honestly don't understand why web apps have to bundle their own Electron builds instead of just sharing a common installation of specific versions of Electron.
Yup, had a 12 year old laptop that ran my work stuff just fine. i3 window manager uses like no resources. I only just replaced it this month because it did not run dwarf fortress well...
I have a love/hate relationship with desktop web apps on Linux. They are a great blessing in some ways because I get to run apps that just wouldn't be available to me otherwise because Linux typically isn't a priority for consumer-focused services. Often support exists as a convenient bonus because it came with the web app platform choice.
On the other hand, you get a web app, which looks nice (hopefully) but gobbles down your resources.
There should be a way to limit cpu usage and nem usage for a pwa on Linux. Definitely something I should look into.
How are you running pwas on Linux?
I got a decade old laptop running Linux that's still kicking and outlived my MacBook. Surprisingly usable with only 4 gigs of ram thanks to Linux and a ssd upgrade. Without it would have tossed it long ago.
I don't typically see computers getting replaced because they are "slow" but because of factors more related to support like apple dropping support for older models just because of reasons. Or companies doing routine system replacements because their fleet of computers are getting banged up and damaged and since they are XYZ years since their release and are no longer in production their costs and complexity with repair, maintenance time, etc... Are no longer worthwhile. Not to mention, the more insecure members of our species feel their self worth is dependent on how fancy and new their things are.
If you want to point fingers at why performance for operating systems and programs has declined over the years I would say it's mostly in part due to security functions.
I doubt that the main source of software performance issues is due to security. I think the main problem is that software is not optimized anymore. Add this lib and that one.
Most devs I work with don’t even know how much CPU or memory their application needs to run.
I have an ancient early W7-era AMD dual core (bulldozer based? So it’s actually like 1.5c) that runs just peachy on Lubuntu LTS, 8gb of mismatched used Ram I got for free, and an ancient slow HDD.
I use it for D&D (Roll20 and Foundry) and MTG (Cockatrice).
I tested W10 with a ReadyBoost sd card and 2gb RAM and it barely worked.