So I thought a little in why that is, and I realised the constant needless worthless churn on every part of "UI" from every corner of OS and application has made discovery impossible, especially discovery on my terms. A new update or UI is now terrifying rather than exciting.
The only two times I remember being excited about computers in last couple of years is when I picked up NixOS and Lisp. Now that says more about me than computers, but that's my 2c.
> Honestly kind of a depressing thing to read on "Hacker News"
Is it? For many of us, our computers are tools we use to get jobs done, so stability and predictability in function are far more valuable than something that looks pretty. Ask a carpenter if he wants glitter on their hammer, or a plumber if they need tinsel on their monkey wrench (oh and also the nut screws the opposite direction because some programmer with UX designer aspirations thought that might be neat two decades ago).
I think the implication was that this site was supposed to entertain "hacker culture" rather than "software development culture". I've also noticed a general trend from "Hacker News" to "Software Developer News", and sometimes joke about petitioning to rename the site.
Treating a computer as nothing more than a tool to get a job done is perfectly valid, but other people see general-purpose computing as a medium of self-expression and something that has value in and of itself. The latter group understandably enjoys sharing experiences with others who feel a similar way. Many came to HN hoping to find a space for that (since the site was marketed towards "hackers"), but have since been disappointed. That's probably the sentiment that the text you quoted comes from.
> Honestly kind of a depressing thing to read on "Hacker News"
I agree it is, but I also must say as of recently I agree. There hasn’t been anything in a while that’s excited me. Probably in part because I went around to learn how all the parts of the sausage are made.
So I thought a little in why that is, and I realised the constant needless worthless churn on every part of "UI" from every corner of OS and application has made discovery impossible, especially discovery on my terms. A new update or UI is now terrifying rather than exciting.
The only two times I remember being excited about computers in last couple of years is when I picked up NixOS and Lisp. Now that says more about me than computers, but that's my 2c.