Post-deal arithmetic is forcing price hikes, job cuts and trade-offs, underscored by Microsoft's layoffs, rising subscription costs, and a $300 million sales sacrifice to seed Game Pass. Simultaneously, AI infrastructure is straining memory supply and governance lags while externalities from satellites to data breaches show risks being shifted onto the public. The emerging countermove centers on open hardware and safety-first standards as users seek repairability, choice and accountability.
Reddit
#consolidation
#price hikes
#ai demand
#memory shortage
#data breach
