[zahlman]

> unless I’m building software for a disconnected desktop?

... Why wouldn't you build software that works there?

As I understand things, the purpose of computers is to run software.

But more importantly, let's suppose your software does require an Internet connection to function.

Why should that imply a requirement for your development environment to have one?

Why should that imply a requirement for a code generation tool to have one?

[raw_anon_1111]

Because to a first approximation, no one wants desktop software, maintenance is a pain, it’s a pain to distribute across a large organization and people want to use the same app across devices and no one will pay me for it.

> But more importantly, let's suppose your software does require an Internet connection to function.

Because I have been able to depend on “fast” internet since 2000 both at home and at work, just like I’ve been able to depend on a compiler since 1992? There is nothing so important that can’t wait in the rare chance that internet goes out.

> Why should that imply a requirement for a code generation tool to have one

Because I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars to run a frontier model locally when I can spend $20/month and codex is included with my ChatGPT subscription?

[zahlman]

Then why are people constantly talking about how expensive it is now to get a new computer with 64GB of RAM and several TB of flash storage and a modern graphics card?

Why would they remotely need any of that, if "to a first approximation no one wants desktop software"?

> when I can spend $20/month and codex is included with my ChatGPT subscription?

I bought the machine I'm posting from for about $1k (with some minor upgrades since then). Canadian. More than 11 years ago. And that gets me the entire computer rather than one specific cloud service.

$20/month is a lot, actually.

Even comparing to a new computer (which there is apparently still a lot of demand for): monthly charges really should be compared to a couple decades of principal, the amount you'd have to save up to yield that cash flow as a return on investment (or just interest). But even just a year or two of $20/month is hundreds of dollars. That's not insignificant, when the opportunity cost is reckoned in terms of physical goods that perform general computation.

[raw_anon_1111]

People outside of the small nerd community aren’t buying computers with 64GB of RAM.

With that $1000 computer can you run an LLM that can write code for you?

[zahlman]

With this computer I can write code.

[raw_anon_1111]

So can Claude, if you’re wanting to be relevant for the next 5 years, hopefully it won’t be based on “I codez real gud”.