this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Do you really think that's the definition of that term? "something that no longer works"?
By that logic, my bike has been enshitified because it has a flat tire.
Enshittification, also known as platform decay, is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time.
Due to "dark patterns", not simply due to difference of opinion on new features.
If you are going to cooy and paste, copy and paste the entire thing.
Examples:
Academic publishing
Between 2016 and 2022 the turn over and profit margins of academic publishers increased partly due to article processing charges from open access. This has been accompanied by predatory publishers who prioritize profit over scholarly integrity. This Academic enshittification results in a scholarly system that is "overwhelmed by quantity, distorted by profit motives, and is stripped of its purpose of advancing knowledge."
Amazon
In Doctorow's original post, he discussed the practices of Amazon. The online retailer began by attracting users with goods sold below cost and (with an Amazon Prime subscription) free shipping. Once its user base was solidified, more sellers began to sell their products through Amazon. Finally, Amazon began to add fees to increase profits. In 2023, over 45% of the sale price of items went to Amazon in the form of various fees. Doctorow described advertisement within Amazon as a payola scheme in which sellers bid against one another for search-ranking preference, and said that the first five pages of a search for "cat beds" were half advertisements.
Dating apps
The market for dating apps has been cited as an example of enshittification due to the conflict between the dating apps' ostensible goal of matchmaking, and their operators' desire to convert users to the paid version of the app and retain them as paying users indefinitely by keeping them single, creating a perverse incentive that leads performance to decline over time as efforts at monetization begin to dominate.
So are you starting to see the issue here, or do you think that my bike is an online platform?
Your new bike version comes with one pedal only. You see the problem?
Problem, possibly. Just not because of enshitification, since that has a very specific meaning.
in this case, the platform (i.e. vlc) has literally not changed. it's essentially the same thing it's been for going-on twenty years. there has been no updates or upgrades or changes that affect how it looks or runs. version 3.0 is like eight years old. version 2 was pretty much the same, as was version 1 before that. vlc is one of the most stable and consistent software applications on the planet.
So everything in that definition cant be applied to VLC, at this point ... stop digging a hole ...