[Discuss] Class action against "Secure Boot"

[Richard Pieri]

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.

-- 
Rich P.