Does SA really care about people running local models, though. I think he cares about all the rooms in institutional or enterprise settings that run those tiny, ancient square PCs from HP or Dell (medical intake, classrooms, admin assistants/clerks) that would look at the difference between replacing each PC in this "supply-constrained environment" - what's getting at me is the idea of what something like a "hybrid environment" would look like for funding-strapped orgs who are facing a refresh schedule.

The "it makes no sense" rhetoric has been around for a couple of years now, I guess the, uh, charm offensive is about substantiating valuation or something. But in a way this is the most good-faith argument I've heard from this dolt (SA, not you). In a lot of ways we've obscured the computer per se from the people who depend on it in the org, they might as well be using a thin client for all they know or care about the box itself.

There’s something deeply bizarre in his reasoning and worldview that looks like either badly disguised self motivated reasoning or some kind of ultra naïveté.

A double standard older than history itself.