Comments on: The Personal Computer – part one https://wimminz.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-personal-computer-part-one/ Wimminz Sun, 08 Apr 2018 01:13:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: zi4you2 https://wimminz.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-personal-computer-part-one/#comment-7255 Sun, 06 Apr 2014 05:15:52 +0000 http://wimminz.wordpress.com/?p=4254#comment-7255 I don’t see how and why the government will outlaw the sale of PC components. As long as you get those, you can build your own non-closed device. What I see is that the general population who doesn’t give a damn about the issues you raised, because they wouldn’t know a harddisk from a DVD drive if they opened a computer case, will still happily adopt anything the industry throws their way on account of how flashy it is and how ‘new’ it feels. Hasn’t it always been thus?

]]> By: JFP https://wimminz.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-personal-computer-part-one/#comment-7251 Sun, 06 Apr 2014 00:25:38 +0000 http://wimminz.wordpress.com/?p=4254#comment-7251 Funny line I came across the other day: “Only Apple could make a $3000 laptop with no user replaceable battery”.

I’ve grown tired of the cloud proponents. Its either a variant of “its what the consumer/customer wants” or “its green!” (no its often not). At least some point out that its just due to price/economy of scale which helps sell the fact that you’re given up control of your data.

]]> By: Joe https://wimminz.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-personal-computer-part-one/#comment-7238 Fri, 04 Apr 2014 17:53:14 +0000 http://wimminz.wordpress.com/?p=4254#comment-7238 I also think the trend is to follow the apple lockdown model. Lockdown means the product ends up in the landfill that much faster. Imagine buying a car that wasn’t serviceable. As soon as the oil goes bad, the car is junk. Time to buy a new one.

]]> By: hybrid short bus https://wimminz.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-personal-computer-part-one/#comment-7237 Fri, 04 Apr 2014 17:25:19 +0000 http://wimminz.wordpress.com/?p=4254#comment-7237 the ibm pc was not intended to be an open platform. the bios was a failed attempt at lockdown. it took compaq doing a clean room reverse engineering of the bios to open the flood gates on compatible pcs.

eeprom software distribution failed because it cost way more to burn a prom than toss a floppy in a box. follow the benjamins.

firmware is hackable. linux booting out of the bios. openwrt routers. etc. all firmware hacks.

as to the future of computing, everybody is trying to follow the apple lockdown model. cloud computing is mainframes for the masses. crippled access devices to somebody else’s cloud taking control of you and your data. the end of general purpose computing. governments outlawing non-closed devices. brazil for computing instead of hvac. bleak days ahead.

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