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Comment by dwild | Hacker News Reader

> That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles.

And I'm pretty sure many people would be quite against this practice and believe this is an harmful monopolistic practice. The thing is though, no one had the balls and/or the cash to defends this like Epic does right now against Apple.

Let's hope this will bring a more open future on video game consoles too.

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Most people I've seen commenting on this Epic vs. Apple debate seem to think that it's okay on game consoles but not okay on iPhones, which is just preposterous. At least you're consistent. But what about e-readers, GPS devices, car entertainment systems, etc.? Should all Turing-complete computing devices be forced to provide a way for the owner to run unsigned code?

IMHO that would be a really good thing. We are not there yet, but that seems like a laudable goal to me.

The difference is that those other devices have a specific use. Smartphones are general purpose devices, so it's not the same at all

That's a bizarre argument. It seems to imply that Apple could avoid these allegations by either increasing or decreasing the restrictions they place on third-party developers.

Isn't that specific use mostly artificial by restricting your ability to install things though?

If it's a CPU in a box, then it's purely a matter of what software you are allowed to install on it, right?

How does it imply that? Which of those devices you mentioned (e-readers, GPS devices, car entertainment systems) have a store for downloading apps? If they do, then yes I would like to be able to put whatever I want on there without the approval of some corporation.

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