Tech Unpopular Opinions

 I promise I'll make other posts eventually. I think there is one more after this one.

• The OS war[s] is pure poop. Use whatever OS fits your needs. Judging people for what they choose to use is dumb AF. And this is someone who daily drives all three[Windows 11, Mac OS 11 Big Sur, and Linux Mint Zena]. Same with phones. Just use what fits your needs, and those needs may change over time.
• I don't understand the love for Windows Vista. OK this one was from the FA post, but it fits here too. Vista was all style, broken substance. Windows 7 came and saved the day, then 8 ruined it.
• It was time for Windows 10 to go. It is better than 11, but by this point 10 was 10 years old. It was becoming outdated and was replaced for a reason. The replacement sucks. It's also funny how people hated 10 when it first came out, but only cared for it once it was getting discontinued. 
• I miss goobery looking tech. This one may not be super unpopular, but as a kid, tech was just, more fun. Each device felt so different. Now, every device feels exactly the same. It's boring. Where's the colour, the see through plastics, the strange features?
• Framework's devices seem like a good idea, but aren't ready for prime time. Framework, for the uninitiated, is a company that prides itself for its ultra reparable and modular computers. Sounds cool right? Well, there are some caveats. Modular devices tend to be somewhat fragile. It's neat that you can choose what ports you have, but people don't want to carry all the dongles with them, and the dongles can snap. The price isn't right either. These computers can cost as much as $2,000 for last gen specs. Now, some of that is due to the RAM shortage AI has caused, as well as inflation and tarrifs, but still. You can get a decent gaming laptop for that price! Also, other manufacturers such as Lenovo and even Apple have been putting in more effort to make their newest machines reparable. That, and many machines aren't as hard to get into as you may think. An ifixit kit and a teardown walkthrough is all you need. The reparableness is cool on paper, but parts all tend to break around the same time. So by the time one part breaks, another one will. After a bit, it would be cheaper and easier to just replace the whole machine rather than replace it bit by bit. TLDR Framework is more for enthusiasts, and not the general public. If you want to get one and have the money, go for it. I won't blindly glaze them like so many others.
• I don't see as many Apple stans as Android Master Race people claim. I see far more people complaining about Apple fanboys than actual fanboys. Maybe I'm not in the right communities, but this almost feels like a strawman argument. 
• I will never buy another Samsung phone again. This one is purely ancedotal. I had a Samsung Galaxy S20 in 2021-2022, where out of the blue, it just decided to not make or accept phone calls. This sucks when you need to call your dad to figure out where the emergency shut off valve is[a pipe burst and was flooding the basement.]No other phone I had borked itself out of the blue. I got an iPhone SE second gen around 2022, popped my sim in there, and went iPhone and never went back. The Note 7 debacle didn't help either. And before anyone calls me an Apple stooge, I was an Android person for about 10 years. I switched because I had a free then somewhat current phone, and I use a lot of Apple stuff.
• Android tablets kinda suck. The phones I feel like have perfected the software[and with GrapheneOS even more so], but for some reason, android tablets haven't been great. They tend to be slow and laggy. I've had them crash quite a bit. There's a reason I went with an iPad. 
• Wired headphones are objectively better than wireless. It's just the way sound wants to travel. I get why people have wireless, but wired always has the superior sound. Why do you think all audiophile headphones are wired?
• Windows ME is overhated. Yes it was rushed, but it's really not that bad. I've only really used in in a VM, but if it's usable in a VM, then it's probably fine. ME is really just Windows 9X third edition. 2000 is still better. That NT core was far more stable than the DOS kernal
• Linux isn't as scary as you might think. It really depends on the distro. Mint or Zorin tend to be good options for total Linux noobs. I've been using Mint for nearly a year, and it's been great. Plus no AI. 
• Windows 11 started off fine, then went downhill. When it was released in 2021, 11 felt like 10SE. It wasn't until they introduced CoPilot, announced Recall, and vibe coded each update. 
• iPad OS really isn't as bad as people think. It's optimized well, and runs fine. I think people want a portiere version of MacOS, and it just isn't that. iPadOS is just IOS for bigger screens.
• AI does have its uses, but none of them are what the general public use or can use it for. AI, even GenAI, can be beneficial for medical, biological, or ecological research. However, the public shouldn't have access to this technology in the way that they do.
• As trendy as physical media is right now, do be aware that the piece of media you hold in your hands may not be usable. Disks have been known to go bad and "rot," tapes can get ruined, disks can get scratched, vinyls get cracked, you get the picture. Plus, the devices needed to play these are now at their oldest point, and may need repairs. Too many people underestimate how much work goes into maintenance. If you are not willing or able to fix a device/get one fixed/have alternates ready for your media, then physical media may not be for you.
• It's not always modern tech's fault. Some of the blame should be placed on companies for enabling addictions, and parents for not monitoring their kids. So many of the Zalphas and Gen Alpha are struggling in school because they were shoved in front of a phone or a tablet before they were able to walk. Corporations want to make their social media platforms as addicting and inflammatory as possible. You can have a healthy relationship with tech and real life, and for any parents, please don't just leave your kid in front of a screen 24/7.
• On a related note, minors should have access to tech, but in a limited capacity. It seems like people have an "all or nothing" mindset with minors and devices. It's important for minors to know how to use computers and phones safely. No child needs social media, but to ban anyone under 18 creates a tech illiterate society, and that's bad. The best way to introduce kids to the world of tech is to start young, and create three lists: A green list, a yellow list, and a red list. The green list are sites your young one can visit without permission. School sites for example. Red lists would be a big fat no. These sites they will never have permission to access. Porn sites, gore sites, and possibly social media sites. Yellow will be everything else. Yellow sites they would need to ask permission, and you may need to keep an eye on them. YouTube, Neocities, etc. could fit into here. As the child gets older, some sites could move from red to yellow, or even yellow to green. This is what my parents did for me and my brothers, and it seemed to be affective.
• Microsoft Bob should have been for kids, neurodivergent, and/or the elderly, and could make a comeback. Microsoft Bob was a shell that you would install overtop of either 3.1 or 95 that replaced the desktop with a house. The idea was to make computers easier to use. Remember that PCs were brand new for people at this time. It was marketed towards business savvy adults, but had a cartoony style that caused a clash. It could have worked so much better had it been marketed as "baby's first PC experience" emphasizing safety and control. Bob may be successful today as a way to ease computer illiterate users into tech without going all in. Restrictive but fun.