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  • Alex Russellslightlyoff@toot.cafe
    Jun 29, 2026, 10:08 PM

    Pro tip for regulators looking to do good by their citizens (a troublingly small subset):

    The memorypocalypse (deflationary RAM pricing across multiple years) should put usable hardware lifetimes at the very center of the agenda; the best approaches are legislated bootloader unlocks from date of sale, firmware code-in-escrow (OSS'd + patent unencumbered for firms that fail to deliver security updates less than 6 years out), and legalising browser choice to extend app compat and enable alt OSes.

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Replies

  • Alex Russellslightlyoff@toot.cafe
    Jun 29, 2026, 10:12 PM

    The idea that users have a "choice" of brickware-from-day-one Androids, or brickware-from-date-of-revenue-collapse iPhones is a scandal, and the solution is legislation that legalises market forces to reassert themselves. That's not possible when hardware is held hostage to extractive OEM and carrier sales incentives.

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  • Alex Russellslightlyoff@toot.cafe
    Jun 29, 2026, 10:31 PM

    As a corollary, a useful guide for regulators to know if they're on the right track is the extent to which Apple and Google and Samsung and Qualcomm squeal, falsely claiming the consequence would be mass-scale insecurity.

    The more they do, the more correct the policy is.

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  • Alex Russellslightlyoff@toot.cafe
    Jun 30, 2026, 2:52 AM

    @willrs Thanks for the reminder about this recording! It's one of the sessions that I couldn't get to in person (was scheduled against something else; can't remember what). Great questions by Ben Kelly about ecosystem incentives; I've thought for a long time that we should expose to developers via reporting API more about when/why they get clobbered (e.g., for OOM/reclamation) or get de-res'd (smaller overdraw skirts, reduced color channels, image eviction, etc.)

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  • willrswillrs@vivaldi.net
    Jun 30, 2026, 3:17 AM

    @slightlyoff yup. Putting some series thought into memory is long overdue and I'm not just talking about browsers. I like Windows 11 but even 16 GB doesn't feel like enough when I'm working, which is crazy

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  • Alex Russellslightlyoff@toot.cafe
    Jun 30, 2026, 4:22 AM

    @willrs It won't surprise you, but what we're finding with partner teams at MSFT (often folks building on WebView2) is that an extremely large proportion of their app's memory use is down to legacy JavaScript-based UI patterns that the web platform has made obsolete. Loading less JS, moving back to "use the platform" is both faster, but also less memory intensive along many axes.

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  • 波鉄 (Hatetsu)HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl
    Jun 30, 2026, 7:14 AM

    @slightlyoff Shouldn't it be "inflationary" or do I have it wrong somehow?

    Anyway, yes, this many times! Firmware security for the people is far too neglected!

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  • Cassandrichdalias@hachyderm.io
    Jun 30, 2026, 12:30 PM

    @slightlyoff Forget 6 years. The escrowed firmware code needs to get automatically released whenever support ends, even if it's decades later.

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