Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)
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Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)
Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.
Razengan · · focus · HN ↗
If you read old computing magazines from the 1980s or watch any of the TV shows about computers from that era (a fun rabbit hole on YouTube if you're ever bored), the prevailing optimism was that everyone and their cat would have a computer in their kitchen, and just write the programs to do whatever they want.
But the fragmentation of operating systems and programming languages didn't really let that take off. HyperCard and Visual Basic came close, but they were killed off because of course.
It's only since a year ago that the original promise of computers has started to be realized.