[Discuss] Class action against "Secure Boot"

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 06/26/2012 08:18 PM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> On 6/26/2012 2:41 AM, Derek Martin wrote:
>> Easy.  Neither the permanence of affixment of its parts, nor the
>> inability to upgrade them relate at all to whether or not a device is
>> a general purpose computer.  That is purely a function of its
>> hardware's capability to execute instructions to achieve a variety of
>> purposes.  Typed with a serenely straight face.
>
> If you follow that logic to its conclusion then your microwave oven
> and your car are general purpose computers.  Which, I assert, they are
> not.  There are components inside these machines that can function as
> general purpose computers but the machines, as wholes, are not computers.
>
> The Steve made this statement back in 2010:
>
>   "Apple is the largest mobile devices company in the world now."
>
> Think about that for a moment.  Apple is a mobile devices company.
> Apple makes mobile devices.  Apple's bread and butter are iPhone and
> iPad.  These are devices with computers in them, but the devices, like
> microwave ovens, aren't themselves computers.  They never were.
>
> To put a relevant spin on Cory's article, Apple isn't taking features
> away from general purpose computers.  Apple is making new devices that
> NEVER HAD THEM.  Certainly, all of Apple's mobile devices to date can
> be hacked to make them resemble general purpose computers but what
> happens when you do that?  You void the warranty, the same as if you
> open up the cabinet to your microwave oven or install a nitrous oxide
> kit on your car.  This, I assert, trumps any technical definition you
> can provide. This, more than anything else, marks them as appliances,
> not computers.
>
IMHO, tablets are computers. However, when you look at mobile phones,
Smartphones are primarily tablet devices with communications features in
contrast many cell phones have chips and software in them, but they are
phones with computers. Cars have had computers in them for many years,

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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