From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 18421 invoked from network); 19 Jan 2023 22:40:24 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 19 Jan 2023 22:40:24 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D2479424D4; Fri, 20 Jan 2023 08:40:19 +1000 (AEST) Received: from fourwinds.com (075-142-133-254.biz.spectrum.com [75.142.133.254]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D4798424CC for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2023 08:40:14 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.17.1/8.17.1) with ESMTP id 30JMeD9s1925845 for ; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:40:13 -0800 DKIM-Filter: OpenDKIM Filter v2.11.0 darkstar.fourwinds.com 30JMeD9s1925845 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=fourwinds.com; s=default; t=1674168013; bh=GwfqN9D21nDEqpEKrGBxioVy1W5Yfntjgr3ypVE8d4g=; h=From:To:Subject:In-reply-to:References:Date:From; b=TXLmeeGs5gJo7m4F/u16v79kqThAWEx6deS4CQoHTTtepBWMdhzmh09gmf+cLNPb4 zYtHm3BbO/FsA2hNWWMadGj5k3YG0LZGoDjjB/dm9ENli4I6grhTSzsjmrjn1DevIk Znc/GVuxBgP3/+UCgScNIGeyL8+kvJ1oCFB2zvUw= Received: from darkstar (jon@localhost) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.17.1/8.15.2/Submit) with ESMTP id 30JMeDnC1925842 for ; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:40:13 -0800 Message-Id: <202301192240.30JMeDnC1925842@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Jon Steinhart To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society In-reply-to: References: <202301180943.30I9hrOw030485@freefriends.org> <202301181513.30IFDDUJ015224@freefriends.org> <20230118151446.GD2964@mcvoy.com> <202301190802.30J82KwQ025718@freefriends.org> <20230119150434.GA626@mcvoy.com> Comments: In-reply-to Rich Salz message dated "Thu, 19 Jan 2023 17:29:34 -0500." MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <1925840.1674168012.1@darkstar> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:40:12 -0800 X-JON-SPAM: local delivery Message-ID-Hash: 2ZFD7GF3XUIJK2EI2TCZCNLOGIC7ENNK X-Message-ID-Hash: 2ZFD7GF3XUIJK2EI2TCZCNLOGIC7ENNK X-MailFrom: jon@fourwinds.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: The era of general purpose computing (Re: AIX moved into maintainance mode List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: Rich Salz writes: > > What % of people running Chromebooks, Android or IOS > > do any real programming on it? Even for laptops and > > desktops that % is quite low. Most people run just a > > few apps. > > > > So what. How many people fix their own cars, TVs, etc. Probably not a lot, but having just finished diagnosing a failing sensor in one of my heat pumps I'm one of them :-) In my opinion, the biggest threat comes from folks like Apple who are minimizing their use of off-the-shelf mass-market components. Those won't be available if demand fades. Just like with soldered-in memory chips, we're lucky that we can still buy disk drives that work with any system. While I personally want to be able to decide how to handle stuff that I own (another fading concept), my big concern is the long term effects of making it harder for people to experiment and innovate. Lack of general purpose components or needing keys and licenses to tinker means less tinkering which likely translates to less innovation which likely translates to less long-term prosperity. Jon