These figures are certainly bogus. Fabricated by green crusaders that know nothing. Energy footprint is a fabrication.
208 karma · joined August 26, 2012
Of course there are (obsolete) alternatives to all these commercial "ecosystem" sofwares. I feel that some people don't upgrade (latops, phones) under the excuse that "it works for me, is the right tool for the job". Or worse: are simply afraid of learning new things and using new software.
I have a feeling that many reader feel like not updating the hardware is a sort of protest against big companies. It isn't as Apple is continuously selling more phones and laptops. My guess is that the younger audience wants to be updated, the older not so much.
This is entirely fine for a subset of people but not fine if you want to be competitive in the IT business.
If you do commercial work you need to be up to date and in line with your team and company demands. If time is important, a faster processor and software optimised for it, can save you many hours. This to me is worth fare more than the price of the hardware.
Of course there will be exceptions of coders being as efficient or more efficient with basic software and older hardware but why limit yourself?
My point is that the article seems to suggest that is a good idea to stop buying new laptops. It isn't.
My previous laptoop was an Macbook pro intel 64gb ram full specs. The M processor is much faster, even with just 16GB ram. Now if going strong means use the terminal, Vim etc. all is good.
If you use a laptop professionally you do want the latest updates from apple, not a Github repository.
Advocating obsolte hardware is just wrong.
For business use you do need a browser. Fast, with security updates etc. For some people doing web development having access to professional products e.g. Adobe suite is a must too. And no, you can't do that on linux.
But sure, you don't need icloud if you got your photos on DVD right ?
I find this type of advice (change your laptop only every 10 years to save the world) irresponsible to say the least.
Imagine visiting a medical doctor with obsolte X-Ray technology, lab analysis tools etc. I wouldn't feel comfortable with that regardless of the money they saved or the illusionary "save the world" green footprint.
Of course none of this matter if one doesn't require the latest technology or software (e.g. Adobe etc.).
Of course to each its own and is perfect that this solution works for you. But suggesting that is a lighter alternative to a real, modern laptop is incorrect. As it is the article that seems to advocate using obsolete browsers, obsolete editors and no modern software for the sake of saving money or the World.
The truth is that whomever depends on a computer for paid work needs performance. New processors (like the apple M1) are much faster than a 6-7 years old laptop. And, if the green cause is important, much more efficient energy management and longer battery life.
If you need power and quality (think images/video editing) you can't work with software and hardware of a decade (of two decades ago).
Imagine having to do any testing for a mobile app or a new website and you go like "oh sorry I only use a light web browser" or having to code anything more complex than 90s cgi scripts "oh no I use only notepad" .
Or receiving an excel or word document to edit, notepad is not going to cut it.
Invest in a laptop? With the current prices pretty much everyone that uses a computer professionally can afford a laptop.
With Vercel, Netlify and many others offering free stating hosting and let's encrypt https certificate there is no excuse to run a site without an SSL certificate.
To me the moral of the story and that you should never ever follow instructions by an alleged bank calling you asking to confirm informations and, even worse, give them codes over the phone. Especially if you are an "expert".
The most unbelievable part is falling for the idea that if you had called back your whole account would be on hold. That was such a smoke bomb that was easily detectable.
If this seemed plausible as your dislike your bank and don't like the service why not take your business elsewhere?
From your own story, if anything, Wells Fargo prevented this from becoming a much bigger problem and acted very promptly to your request.
LCARS CSS is nice and original, perhaps you can change the font/contrast to achieve something more readable (just in case here are some ideas https://www.thelcars.com/themes/ )