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Comment by krrrh | Hacker News Reader

I believe in general purpose computers, I see them every day and I know they exist.

I also believe in choice and experimentation when it comes to business models. If I want to buy some systems with trade offs and benefits that don’t always include being able to root and run Linux on them, who are you to prevent me?

Believing that all systems must be maximally flexible is a scarcity mindset that felt more reasonable when families had to save to be able to afford a desktop computer that would be in use for several years.

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> Believing that all systems must be maximally flexible is a scarcity mindset that felt more reasonable when families had to save to be able to afford a desktop computer that would be in use for several years.

This is a good insight and it's entirely possible that general purpose computing was a historical aberration.

You say you want to be able to choose between a real computer and a restricted appliance, but how long will the market allow you to make that choice?

Selling locked-down terminals with access to a pay-to-play "platform" is obviously very profitable. How much longer will MacOS and Windows allow you to install unverified software?

I don't think there is a cogent risk that general computing open platforms will go away soon.

PCs can be self-assembled without buying them as an appliance from a specific vendor, and you can at the very least install Linux on them. If you care about Windows, Microsoft is adopting open source more and more, you can have install Ubuntu within Windows right now, I doubt they will change course on software installation.

I do have a Linux box in my home and successfully use it for many tasks. This doesn't mean that I feel that all devices that have a CPU in my home must absolutely run unsigned binaries compiled by me.

But why shouldn't they? Why would anyone on a site called "Hacker News" be advocating for deliberately gimped devices?

I'm not saying manufacturers need to expend money and effort to support tinkers and hobbyists, but why deliberately go out of their way to block them?

> PCs can be self-assembled without buying them as an appliance from a specific vendor

For now.

Every year, integrated SoCs become cheaper and more powerful. Self-building a PC is more and more niche.

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