Chrisoft::Blog(r#"Site Revamp and Other Rants -- 2019 Edition")

If you are reading this, your browser probably fetched all data it -required to display the page directly from my VPS hosted by ConoHa.

Mirror in Japan

(No pun intended)

I set up my own git server half a year ago. Now I’ve found the perfect use for it. I -create the git repository right in /var/www/html on my -local server. The remote server has a post-receive hook that -automatically pulls in the document root. Any volatile large files are -moved to a new virtual host filestorage.chrisoft.org and -kept in sync with rsync.

The site also underwent a major cleanup. Many legacy stuff got either -removed or relocated.

Generally this means you should experience major speedup visiting -this site. If, however, you are exeriencing problems, please do not -hesitate to contact me.

The reverse proxy is now moved to rp.chrisoft.org. It’s -not yet accessible at the time of writing because my local server is -hidden super stealthily under multiple layers of NAT.

An Eruditus -from Waseda and An Illiterate in China

Everyone except me has made significant progress.

I was actually shocked to learn that he’s now majoring in something -related to aviation machinery.

Shame on me, I guess.

A world in which everyone -can program

I shall probably quit programming and move on by then.

The world of smartphone…

… is now a wasteland. Literally all flagship models are mutants from -the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Googlephobia

Shit. They are probably also watching me writing this.

Thanks to (?) the GrandeFreakWitless, my reliance on Google is not -that strong – nope. It’s actually my general fear and distrust of those -tech giants.

My fear was magnified by my recent findings of just how much Google -knows about me – they probably know me better than myself; and again by -Louis Rossmann [1].

When those Google fanboys are still enjoying the great convenience -they provide, I’m already planning to flee from Google. It’s probably -just me being hyperallergic, but it also could be Google doing something -really unfair to their users.

Software Subscription Model -Sucks

Reading through Roland Cloud’s product page triggers me everytime: I -sincerely cannot figure out why they make it a subscription service -rather than a one-time purchase (with a fee for each upgrade).

Usually people subscribe for:

Publication or media services, e.g. television, newspapers and -magazines. These services provide frequently updated information to the -subscriber.
Physically consumable material, such as dairy product.

Roland Cloud falls into neither of these two categories. It’s not -updated as frequent, and it’s certainly not physically consumable. The -most triggering detail is that if you end your subscription, you will -not be able to use any of the products you previously owned, which is -ridiculous because you can always keep older issues of a newspaper even -you unsubscribed from it.

Supporters of the subscription model may reject me saying ‘if you can -get access to everything when you join and keep it after unsubscribing, -you are essentially purchasing it with ultra-low price’, which brings up -my next point: Roland Cloud’s subscription model is flawed from the -beginning:

Get everything on subscribe: this differs from traditional -subscription a lot, which seems a great bounty to the customer. But it -causes problems such as …
Lose everything on unsubscribe: this is very unfair to the -subscriber and makes short-term subscription worth almost nothing. For -example if I just want Sound Canvas VA really badly, I would imagine -subscribing shortly before its release and unsubscribe after I’m -eligible for keeping the product permanently. But this is simply not -possible.
Weird pricing. To be honest the current pricing is pretty fair for -long-term subscribers. But if Roland somehow decided to fix the ‘lose -everything on unsubscribe’ problem (which is very unlikely to happen), -the pricing would become super complex: they probably do not want people -to keep a virtual TB-303 for just $19.99.
Potentially unsustainable. Every good thing must come to an end. The -most attractive products in Roland Cloud is the software models of -Roland’s synthesizers from its golden years. But Roland will run out of -models to recreate one day. What would Roland do by then? Release -everything as a one-time purchase so that every long-term subscriber -feels ripped off?

I’m an absolute supporter of Roland releasing authentic-sounding -digitialized version of their legendary synthesizer models. But their -subscription model pisses me off so hard. I know it’s not a big deal for -a professional producer. However this is a real deal-breaker for -amateurs such as me.

Unfortunately there’s no real competitors out there when things come -to reproducing their own synthesizers. Also a little bit off-topic: the -music producing industry deserves more high quality free (as in freedom) -software.

Now let’s move on and talk about Office 365 by Microsoft and Creative -Cloud from Adobe. They bundles software with value-add services such as -e-mail service and (optinal) creativity material. IMHO these products -they are trying to turn into a service resemble a tool, such as a -screwdriver, rather than an apartment that people actually go for -renting instead of purchasing.

Paying a monthly fee for a screwdriver makes absolutely no sense. -That said, I would stick with my plain old screwdriver, rather than that -shiny gold-plated screwdriver with 10 heads which I will lose whenever I -stop paying them. Green is my pepper.

The purpose of this entire rant is to remind the reader of just how -many ways proprietary software vendors could come up with to screw their -users up. What they care the most has always been money and this will -simply not change any time soon. Get ready for more!