this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
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Technology

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[–] whereitsat@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

hey, scientist here. i did an extensive study on ram prices that tracked the cost of ram between 2007 and 2026. this may not sound impressive, because all i had to do was look at the average price every year, but trust me, bro, it was difficult.

if you think your average american can read or use microsoft excel you got another thing coming.

[–] motruck@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

Legit. Thank you from one scientist to another.

I wonder if anyone else is a bit of a scientist and can weigh in.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have a meeting coming up where I have to teach a bunch of people who to do something and there's no less technical way to do it than using the Power Query function. I am dreading it because even getting someone to understand what a query is if you're not technical is a nightmare.

[–] Mangoholic@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Query for none technicals. A shopping list you bring to the warehouse to be given all you requested for pickup.

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 38 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They put the onus on AI for the price increase but honestly I believe the ram cartel is responsible to the same degree.

Either way, it looks like we're soon getting an out, because both of those things are at the brink of changing. And if any one of us has any say in this, they should make sure these things change as fast as possible.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The cartel can only price fix because no other foundry wanted their stock price to go down because of small margins.

AMD sold their foundry. Intel has a foundry. They could have made ram to ensure long term growth but that would have affected their quarterly profit.

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For all we know AMD would have just joined them.

It's just really depressing to see the global economy basically be held ransom by 3 companies just because the EU and America didn't properly slam those companies the first time. History doesn't repeat itself but there's been way too much historic poetry lately.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

The US couldn't slam Asian businesses for price fixing if they wanted those same countries to buy American price fixed food. That's why it was a slap on the wrist. It was only political theatre.

[–] DisgruntledPelican@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Every stars are aligned. We are At the top level of capitalism greed. For decades tech companies have piled up as much cash as possible sucking every dime selling their product. Now they want to rent their service instead. The best to do that is to host the service on a super computer, the user having only a low power terminal. They deliberately crippled the os to use the maximum ram and said we need to update our computer for ai and other things most don’t want, don’t need and don’t have the money to pay for it. The best move is to exchange their huge pile of cash to drain the whole market to build data centres. They now want everyone to become dependant on ai and pay them a significant part of our salary to satisfy their shareholders.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago

the user having only a low power terminal

Low power terminals that are going to have enough power to run doom locally. Sounds like retro gaming might see a boost. Along with current games that have low system requirements like Mindustry.

[–] SoupBrick@pawb.social 22 points 3 days ago

Consumer: Prices have been falling :)

Shareholders: Prices have been falling :(

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Tell me something new. We don't need scientists for that to know. :D

[–] PacketPilgrim@thelemmy.club 2 points 2 days ago

Eventually this is going to crater. Ammunition experienced a similar situation where it was being diverted to government contracts for years plus panic buying led to high prices. Then they came down again once demand normalized.

[–] Dispassionate@quokk.au 2 points 3 days ago

Oh so that’s the real reason