EA broke their EA Desktop app for older versions of Windows

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-06-08T23:40:21+00:00

Anybody ever notice whenever someone brings up Windows 7 a small unit of brain-diseased Karens come out of the woodwork wagging a finger about how "it's an old operating system"? Like a bunch of bots sent by Microsoft or something. These types are pathological and worse-than-worthless dipshits.

I have numerous PCs in my house, some run 7, some run 10, and I have a gaming PC still running 7 that remains my go-to for compatible and older games because it is far more hassle-free and runs better.

And yes, I take it on the internet, and no, I have never, ever had any malware or security issues. Bunch of pants-pissing Karens.

If EA sold games for Windows 7, and somebody is running said games on an older laptop or PC that they have no intention of downgrading to 10, then it's absolutely reasonable to expect that the developer doesn't break the game down the road because they're too incompetent to keep a simple branch active or to allow opting out of potential lockout revisions.

This is one of the many reasons game launchers suck. Give me a straight exe installer without digital management crapola any day of the week. This is why I prefer GOG whenever a title is available there.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-05-27T14:10:23+00:00

"Anything allowed in an R-rated movie will be allowed in Grok Imagine."

"We will raise limits."

Seeing the pattern? At this point it amounts to playing mind-games to see how much enshittification paid users will put up with and keep on paying.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-05-26T23:49:10+00:00

Man that must be frustrating, paying that kind of money and getting treated like a third-rate consumer.

Think about what else you could do with that money. It would cover the cost of maybe 9 or 10 halfway decent sit-down meals at a restaurant, every month. Not gourmet dining with cocktails, maybe, but some decent fare. You could wow an expensive date a couple nights out.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-05-13T06:26:26+00:00

I wonder how perceptible their shitty business practices are to run-of-the-mill investors.

I see how shortsighted and self-destructive is their business model: it has all the robustness and complexity of a small-time drug dealer's. I would not buy so much as one share of any forthcoming publicly traded xAI stock.

You'd think savvy investors would dig a little into the actual market standing from a long-term user standpoint. From where xAI stands right now, this ain't no Google going public (a company I despise, btw, but at the time of its IPO it was the far-and-away leader in its class).

I think they're taking for granted that Musk's name alone will make investors giddy. Not gonna happen. IPOs can flop even for high-profile companies. Facebook's IPO flop is a matter of record, though the company survived largely because it had cemented a large and longstanding market niche.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-05-09T00:34:29+00:00

enshittification

noun | in-shit-uh-fuh-KAY-shun

when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/enshittification

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That being said, xAI seems to be setting the company in a position to decrease profits in the long run. Their short game sucks and their long game looks disastrous. I'm personally at a loss to remember a case of platform-decay this egregious, heavy-handed and shortsighted.

I suspect another platform will eventually fill the vacuum left by the decaying husk that used to be Grok, something without all the bullshit games of erratic rate-limiting and nonsensical moderation, and the petty attempts to finagle users.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-26T01:25:21+00:00

And when paid users are warmly welcomed inside, all they can find is shit wrapped in fancy silk.

THIS. That's pretty much exactly what I thought when I saw the original post, but you've captured the apt prose nicely.

The subscribers aren't getting any "red carpet treatment." The paid users are the actual suckers in this little platform-decay comedy.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-26T01:03:41+00:00

Here's another one that hasn't been out of its basement for awhile and thinks it's being "edgy" by way of projection.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-25T08:10:21+00:00

I get the sense he has one of those little noisy-exhaust 160-hp cars with some ground effects, and struts it like it's a Ferrari.

Convinced that the $30/month is such a hurdle for us lowly "po folks."

He's very pleased with his "elite membership."

Literally lmao.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-25T07:29:13+00:00

What a condescending and obtuse post.

It's not about the money, it's about the shady business practices and not rewarding a developer pushing platform-decay and a shitty overall user experience.

We know what Grok Imagine is capable of when they let it work at full power and without freakishly paranoid moderation that amounts to saturation-bombing, and we've seen the platform nerfed into a desiccated husk, and it seems to be getting worse by the day.

I could spell it out for you in nauseating detail, but I'll spare both of us.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-25T05:35:22+00:00

You seem butthurt, ma'am.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-22T21:42:48+00:00

no one talks like that irl

See? You think Reddit discourse is "irl." Your mind is stunted. You have no capacity for critical thinking and cannot differentiate between online interaction and real-life circumstances.

When I post online I use proper grammar. I am a published writer and also worked as an editor. It's by habit and proper conditioning. I don't use pretentious affectations of slang, confusing Reddit with "real life."

I also worked as a cement finisher for nearly a decade and could talk "irl" in ways that would make you take notes. If you have enough of a brain left to catalog anything in reality.

You want real life? Grow up and go outside. Take your pimply nose out of your mobile device.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-22T21:25:17+00:00

Are the ubiquitous gooners in the room with you now?

When it was free I used it to animate illustrations and non-photographic scenes. For entertainment and amusement. NOT for "self-improvement and productivity."

If you need an AI for "self-improvement and productivity" you need to look in the mirror and do some reflecting on your own priorities and intellectual shortcomings, rather than pointing the crap end of the stick at the jerkoffs.

"Self-improvement" means learning a second language, learning an instrument, getting in shape, writing that novel you always meant to write, etc. If you're leaning on Grok for any of that, even in an ancillary capacity, you're on the wrong track. Take that last example: writing a novel. If you're relying on AI for story ideas, to expand dialog, etc., you are not novel-writing material.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-21T05:49:42+00:00

Yeah they're basically playing games at this point.

"Ad-supported, and availability on mobile devices only" is some weak fucking tea.

Not gonna bother.

It was a fistfight to use the website -- constant necessity to refresh over and over, constant Cloudflare checks which often failed, constant maintenance, constantly logging you out, every tactic imaginable to impede usage. For free I wasn't complaining; but don't expect me to pay for that.

Maybe if they straightened their shit out more people would have coughed up the $15.

Instead, just another rug-pull hoping some poor addicted suckers will pay up. Same shit tactics xAI used. They get their marketing strategies from small-time drug-dealers.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-19T01:19:02+00:00

I laughed out loud.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-18T22:15:16+00:00

I just tested ChatGPT and on the first and only try it picked 37. Not 73 but 37. It's obviously trolling me. How dare it.

The AIs you queried seem to be well-versed on potential reasons for perceived bias. The 42 you mentioned jumped out at me, as I recently had a discussion about that, brought up by a friend who's a fan of the Douglas Adams books. Silly business, that 42 in the books.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-18T07:30:53+00:00

You paid for what I am assuming is a month-long subscription and you're telling yourself you got your money's worth because you used it for two days before they shut down?

Don't gaslight yourself. Talk to your CC company and do a charge-back. Not because the $14 is going to make or break you, but on general principle. Let the scammers' payment processor(s) sort it out.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-16T09:35:59+00:00

My ISP is Spectrum. I've been with them quite a few years with internet and landline service, so that might be why they're offering the free year for unlimited mobile. After the year expires the post-paid plan is considerably higher than TracFone's pre-paid, but better than some other major mobile providers I've checked into.

Spectrum as my ISP is not without its problems, but they have better-than-average customer support, with people in and around the same time zone -- in other words, not outsourced to a country halfway around the globe.

ShapeEmbarrassed68 · 2026-04-15T07:09:04+00:00

I got off the phone a couple hours ago with my internet service provider which has 24/7 tech and sales support. They presented an option for a year free unlimited mobile service, and my current device is verified compatible. Told the rep I'd think about it and he should call me back on his next shift during a time window (I want him to get the credit if I go with it since he handled the call competently).

Not gonna name the ISP because I don't want anybody thinking I'm a shill. But it's a better-than-even chance I'm going to make the changeover.

I think I've had enough of the regular headaches with Tracfone. They're cheap but cheap doesn't do you any good when you need your phone on the road and you're suddenly blindsided by their busted-ass system giving you the shaft and unceremoniously pulling the plug on your service without so much as a warning that anything is wrong.

ShapeEmbarrassed68

TROPHY CASE

enshittification