[naasking]

> But we know, that it's plenty of layers of GUI and OS code, that most people don't want to miss.

You're missing the main point: you're just assuming that we must trade those features for improved latency, but this is just not true. The properties he measured are a result of particular architectural and abstraction choices, but other choices could be made that don't necessarily require such sacrifices. For instance, the exokernel.

[halicarnassus]

I'm not assuming that we must trade those features for improved latency. It is a possibility, but there are always alternatives.

Unfortunately in IT you always trade one set of problems for another. And clean architectures have to be watered down with time to stay practical.

Nobody is smart enough to predict all pros and cons accurately. We're always smarter after the fact. When we have finished a transition and gained some experience with the new technology. But then it's mostly too late to go back.

On top of that, computing is always a moving target. Now you have to target highly mobile devices with small batteries traveling at high speed in metal tubes connecting to unreliable networks. While more or less related to keyboard input lag, depending on where the action should be registered, you have to be careful where you spend your development resources.

That's why I think this is an oversimplification. True in its deepest form, but neglecting reality.

[cxr]

> Now you have to target highly mobile devices with small batteries traveling at high speed in metal tubes connecting to unreliable networks.

In another comment[1], I called your earlier characterization a motte-and-bailey[2]. I'd wager it was probably not deliberate in that case. I have to think, though, that you're at least aware of how intellectually dishonest this move is.

Compare like for like. The existence of my phone, running a completely different system and set of applications, has _no_ bearing on how responsive to input an entirely separate machine in a traditional laptop/desktop form factor is or explain why the state of things should have degraded over the last ~10–20 years.

1. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36115622>

2. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey_argument>

[BlueTemplar]

I have recently seen ridiculously bad and slow smartphone apps, which seem to be so because they are programmed to phone home for every single action even though there is no need to do so.