Interoperability can be aided through enshittification too

Posted May 28, 2025 14:20 UTC (Wed) by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
In reply to: Interoperability can be aided through enshittification too by excors
Parent article: Cory Doctorow on how we lost the internet

> (Bayonet isn't universal in the UK though, now that markets have become more international - it's easier for manufacturers to have one design for the whole UK+EU market, so E27 is quite widely available too, and many houses will have a mixture. And now we have expensive long-life LED smart bulbs, it's even harder to adopt a new standard, so I guess we'll be stuck in this transitional state forever.)

And it now gets worse because both Bayonet and Edison have their "small" equivalent so that's four ... and we have spotlights which are becoming more common which also come in two versions, GU10 and MR12 (plus, I believe, a bunch of minor players).

I'm trying to standardise my house on Edison (because I think it's better/safer than Bayonet), and GU10 (because I'm fed up with the grief of 12v transformers for MR12). More and more lamps and wall lights are ES or SES now, although it's still hard to find non-Bayonet pendant light fittings.

Cheers,
Wol

Interoperability can be aided through enshittification too

Posted May 30, 2025 9:28 UTC (Fri) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link] (1 responses)

E27 means it’s not too hard to find a bulb with good CRI and white point choice. GU10 is second and E14 even further. If you make the mistake of buying anything with built-in led or any other kind of micro socket you’re condemned to 80 (or even 75) CRI and yellowish 2700K white.

Stable standard API/sockets trump “better” experiments that lack the reach to form a diverse ecosystem.

Interoperability can be aided through enshittification too

Posted May 30, 2025 14:26 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> E27 means it’s not too hard to find a bulb with good CRI and white point choice.

The number of people who don't even realise there is a white point choice (and why it's important), though ...

Our study had "cold white" bulbs, until we re-purposed it as a bedroom (at which point I was scrounging around for warm white bulbs to swap it with). Now it's pretty much just the room I use as an office that has cold white bulbs.

So I don't think most people would notice the lack of choice. But when you need it, you most definitely need it ...

Cheers,
Wol