General Discussion

The lifetime of incandescent bulbs is related to their efficiency. Long life incandescent light bulbs are less efficient than shorter life bulbs. For the same amount of light a long life bulb will use more electricity, wasting more of it as invisible infrared heat. A more efficient light will have a shorter life.

The light bulb makers did not "collude" in any malicious way. Instead they agreed to sell light bulbs that had a similar efficiency -- one that balanced the cost of electricity with the cost of replacing light bulbs. That was especially important for businesses that used hundreds or thousands of light bulbs.

Someone who was selling long life light bulbs would increase the cost of electricity for the user compared to a standard bulb for the same amount of light. Someone who was selling more efficient bulbs would decrease the cost of electricity compared to a standard bulb but would increase the rate at which light bulbs had to be replaced.

A better example of enshitification is all the cheap compact fluorescent and LED bulbs that are sold. Bulbs using these technologies ought to last many years. Unfortunately many manufacturers increase their own profits by using cheaper components and inferior designs. I've got a few compact fluorescent bulbs in my house that are over 20 years old. These were name brands that cost more than the cheap brands that flooded the market and gave compact fluorescents a bad name -- all the bulbs that lasted two or three years at best and had horrible color rendition. The same was later true with LED bulbs.

Two examples of enshitification that most appall me are Microsoft and Google. The last version of Windows I used on my personal computers was Windows 98SE. Computers are now magnitudes faster than they were then but I find the modern Windows experience worse. When I look at other people's Windows machines these days I don't know how they tolerate them. The machines are slower than 98SE was for me and they try to sell people a lot of shit they didn't ask for.

I use Linux. It does what I want quickly and efficiently and my machines don't get slower and slower with each update or additional app until I feel I have to buy a new machine.

Google searches became unusable to me a few years ago. I used to be able to type in a few words and get what I was looking for on the first page. Now I get a screen full of crap.

I used to recommenced Chromebooks to people who didn't like messing with computers. Lately it seems you are paying for a machine that is owned by Google. The Chrome browser is the same way. It doesn't feel like it's working for me, it's working for Google.

I've never bought anything Apple. I find them offensive for other reasons but I'm sure they too are on the enshtification bandwagon.

One of the more troubling things I'm seeing is the enshitification of food. The prices go up faster than inflation and the quality goes down. I don't think I'm some old guy who is imagining any kind of "good old days."