I think the ultimate question is whether it's markedly better on average than what the rest of the market can offer for $30k. Covid has reduced the value of almost all education services that aren't exclusively online, thus has Lambda's perceived reduction in value in line with the average reduction across the industry or is it uniquely bad?
I think the idea of the 'Personal Computer' has been grossly warped over the past 20 years from a tool that primarily serves our personal goals to a 'Device' that's designed to serve the goals of a corporation. The general public has become 'ok' with the concept of paying for a premium for a device but not really owning it.
From years of schooling and artificially constructed engineering problems we've gotten used to, for some addicted to, the idea of end solutions fitting neatly into a clean edged box. We've grown up on complex physics problem with a clean integer solution, homes with clean lines and polished finishes, and engineering that's constantly pushing for smaller and faster solutions. So, naturally we want our code bases to reflect our experiences : concise, clever, code that feels like a clean integer solution. And while maybe it should be a common aspiration to write code that's 'clean, the reality of the natural world is that solutions to some of the most complex problems are not 'clean'. Furthermore, rarely is the true end goal of the code you're writing to be the 'final state' of logic. The code that we write is almost always for ever evolving and expanding use-cases; we are creating scaffolding rarely a 'finished' product. Furthermore, most of us are writing code in ever evolving languages so even 'finished' state code will ultimately be paved over with something more concise and efficient as the language evolves. The point being : there's a happy medium ( I haven't mastered it ) of reconciling with the realities of complex evolving solutions and our internal desire for clean elegance in our codebases.
To be fair, the way that people in technical roles explain things to those with less technical knowledge can often feel condescending and 'mansplained' regardless of the gender roles in conversation. I ( male ) felt this in my first job out of college from everyone that was senior to me on the engineering team. When I was there, I worked with a girl that was both younger than I and more senior in many areas technically. She, albeit I think unintentionally, would effectively mansplain issues to me.
Point being, in technical roles and roles where you interact with technical people, you will undoubtedly have moments where you feel like information is being disseminated in a condescending fashion. Context is key here as it would be unfair to conflate the general 'prickliness' of many engineers with misogyny.
Very impressive performance loading considering the number of fonts. Curious if they are just loading an incredibly stripped down version of each font for the preview and then lazy loading in the full font if you click to edit the text. Either way thumbs up.
Privacy is obviously the foremost issue at hand with the Government's request here, but there is also a huge potential impact on the future of the iPhone software. There is a huge difference between granting access to a user's data at the Government's request vs demanding a customized build of the iPhone's OS. Imagine the long-term implications of having a third-party tether its misaligned feature requests to every OS update that the iPhone makes. What would be the continued relationship with Apple and the agency behind this? Would this evolve into something analogous to HIPAA compliance?
Being from Chattanooga, it is ironic to me that I moved to San Francisco for tech only to have slower internet here in SF than the small city in Tennessee that I left.
I liked 'Don't Be Evil'. It felt like it was a constant reminder to fight becoming a cliche evil corporation. 'Do the right thing' adds little to no value in terms of being a moral compass to use when expanding the company.
I think it's safe to say that when a tech company reaches a certain size, especially ones that have a substantial amount of user data, it's impossible to be politically neutral on the war on data. If a company doesn't outright say where there position lies, it will come out in the leadership actions that are taken. I agree with this opposition against Dropbox because a company like Dropbox has to adamantly say, both with words and actions, that they are in favor of data privacy. Without this strong declaration, I can't do anything but assume that their integrity in regards to data privacy is weak or that they are outright in favor of exposing sensitive data in exchange for powerful partnerships.