this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Enshittification

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What is enshittification?

The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source

The lifecycle of Big Internet

We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.

Embrace, extend and extinguish

We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.

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Get ready for "enhancements" and look out for alternatives.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

For alternatives, there's Wikiloc: https://www.wikiloc.com/

And perhaps GeoVelo: https://geovelo.app/en/

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well this is sad. We just cant have nice things I guess.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What would be the best alternatives? I love Komoot's maps for planning out MTB rides, and their Garmin app makes it super easy to navigate while riding.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

OSMand is no full replacement, but planning GPX tracks on some other app and then transferring that to OSMand should be a breeze. Navigation while riding/hiking/biking/driving on OSMand is pretty feature complete, but I never touched Komoot or used their Garmin app, so I can't make a good comparison.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The buyer "Bending Spoons" also bought Evernote in 2023, for those who remember that downfall.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Time to shine a light on Joplin! It's FOSS, has great support for your own cloud, powerful plugins and is just an all around fine piece of note taking software

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

+1 for joplin. I recently switched over to it and I'm a big fan.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I never used Evernote, but I know of the layoffs. Is the product worse now than before the acquisition?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I was an early adopter and lover of Evernote. It was a simple proposition, syncing your notes across all devices, and relatively good management system. Used it for school notes, managing life, planning holidays, events etc.

Loved loved it.

Then came along Google keep which did everything, and had a simpler cleaner UI/UX. Made the switch and never looked back. Until now (de-googling)

I guess the trajectory is pretty much the same for all these other companies where they couldn't sustain the growth, and it reached a limit within their reach.

Besides business model decisions, perhaps it's also down to the appetite and ambition of the founder.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

from the article:

Evernote: Acquired in January 2023, in July 2023 Bending Spoons laid off all Evernote staff and transferred the operations to Bending Spoons HQ.

Mosaic Group: Acquired in January 2024, immediately laid off all 330 staff members, folded operations into Bending Spoons HQ.

WeTransfer: Acquired in July 2024, in September 2024 laid off 75% of all staff.

MeetUp: Acquired in January 2024, in February 2024 laid off a “significant” portion of the workforce

Brightcove: Acquired in November 2024, yesterday, March 19th, laid off 2/3rds of US employees

komoot knows what they're in for

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

I understand (even if I don’t like/agree) some downsizing, but firing everybody is a smooth brain move. Evernote was all the shit when I went to college in Europe, and MeetUp was also very popular, and now they are barely mentioned. Maybe these companies started declining before the a acquisition, okay, but then why buy them in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago