RouseWorld | Main -- The flip side of prosumer

The flip side of prosumer

The flip side of the "prosumer problem," is easy -- BSD. Apple's use of BSD makes each Mac a true general purpose computer, not an appliance.

When I say "general purpose computer" what I mean is a computer that doesn't have any artificial restrictions on what it can or cannot do. In practical terms, a general purpose computer should have a compiler available and that complier should be able to at least process standard ANSI/POSIX C code. In a broader sense, a general purpose computer is a Universal Turing Machine, able to emulate any other computer or computer like device.

A console game system is not a general purpose computer, not because it would have been impossible to make it a general purpose computer, but because the manufacturer didn't want it to be one. Every once and a while, someone will say that all computers should be like console game systems -- with closed systems and a few, trusted, developers. Legal and technical ploys have been attempted to limit computers' ability to act as a general purpose device.

So what is wrong with that?

Innovation comes from doing what isn't currently being done. The founders of Google were able to find success by taking machines that might have been made originally to run MS Office (or what have you) and making them run programs of their own design. Without the freedom to do what they wanted to with the hardware they had purchased, starting Google would have been either impossible or much more expensive.

One of the great things about the computer industry is that the basic machine shop is the general purpose computer -- available to anyone for a few hundred dollars. You don't need an expensive lathe or forge to build things anymore, just that little box on your desk. I believe there is considerable value for our society to keep those machine shops available.

I don't do a lot of coding, but I want that freedom. If not for me, then for the person who comes up with the next Google.