[ale] Android Tablets

[James Sumners]

Okay, I'll bite and play the name things game.

* An LCD television is a computer. Are you upset that you can't change
how its operating system functions? Probably not. It's a specialized
device.
* The same can be said for many traditional CRT televisions.
* A TI-8x graphing calculator is a computer (it's even in the name).
Are you upset that you can't change it's basic operating functions?
Likely not.
* Every new car in at least the past ten years has a computer
built-in. Are you upset that you can't change its operating system?
Probably don't want to risk it causing your, or your family's, death
so I suppose not.

Yes, the iPad, iPhone, etc. are computers. There aren't too many
electronic things you can buy nowadays that _don't_ have a computer in
them. And pretty much every single one of them has some sort of
protection to (attempt to) prevent people from tampering with them.
And you know what? That's fine. As long as the device does what it was
designed, and sold, to do then there is no reason to try and fix or
change it.

So if a device doesn't work like you think it should, and you know it
does things to prevent you from making it work like you think it
should, just don't buy it. If the majority of people feel the way you
do, then the device will cease to exist. But I bet there are more
people out there who just want things to do what they are advertised
to do, and don't really care what else it _could_ do if it were
"open".

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 8:03 PM, Brian Pitts <brian at polibyte.com> wrote:
> On 08/19/2010 06:51 PM, James Sumners wrote:
>> There is no point in trying to get some folks to see reason. They see
>> such items as a traditional computer, not as the specialized devices
>> that they are.
>
> Your toaster is a specialized device. Your ipad or android tablet is a
> computer. I haven't fully thought this through, but I think I like the
> distinction made in question #23 of this interview [0]. Is the device
> intended to run software, or is that just an implementation detail? If
> it's the former, it's a computer, and all the concerns you have about
> your traditional computing experience should be applied to it. Now, you
> might not have the same concerns as Aaron does, and I think that's fine.
> But did you really mean to imply that concerns about DRM are not reasonable?
>
> [0] http://blog.reddit.com/2010/07/rms-ama.html
>
> --
> All the best,
> Brian Pitts


-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59