Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #235093

Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery

From	Daniel Cerqueira <dan.list@lispclub.com>
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers
Subject	Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery
Date	2026-06-18 15:27 +0100
Organization	Lisp Club
Message-ID	<878q8budnj.fsf@lispclub.com> (permalink)
References	(4 earlier) <110sfd7$nvv$1@reader1.panix.com> <YFxYR.91907$tRR9.66255@fx23.iad> <n9foqeFdvd6U6@mid.individual.net> <zGCYR.185086$yrMe.96142@fx18.iad> <11108b1$2eb86$1@dont-email.me>

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Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> writes:

> On 2026-06-17, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> On 2026-06-17, Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> wrote:
>>
>>> I remember going to a presentation by our computing service around 1990 or 
>>> a bit earlier, given by the deputy software manager.
>>>
>>> He extolled X terminals (we had NCDs) and confidently predicted that they 
>>> were the future, and the PC was a passing fad.
>>
>> In a way he might be right.  Many people's personal computers are now
>> nothing more than terminals to centralized e-mail and web servers.
>> We've come full circle: centralized -> distributed -> centralized.

"Many people's" should not count as something of value.  Was minorities
that made, I dare to say, all progress with computers.  Trying to make
everything equal, trumping over minorities, because of "many people's"
is the worst form of going forward.

Industry should me diverse, not all us having to have an apple(TM)
device.

For example, I need offline software to create my books.  The thought of
using a cloud service for creating books is an idea that I discard
easily and gracefully.  There is still many people that rely on offline
software.  I would think that we all do, but this is just me.

> A possible danger that I see in this is that cheap, "generic"
> computing machinery that you can use freely might end up going away
> with pushes towards tablets and smartphones - which tend to be, from
> what I understand, quite locked-down, and where the idea of just
> booting install media to choose another system seems to be quite alien
> to the point of requiring convoluted procedures or even cracks and is
> (in what I'm sure can be legally challenged) considered something that
> voids the warranty (at least Motorola seems to say this explicitly).

I can confirm you are right.  Android(TM) devices are a good example of
being difficult to change operating system, and android(TM) is a good
example of a non-free software (sometimes misunderstood as being
libre/free).

> And that's with disregarding the whole issue of hardware compatibility
> (maybe that'd get better if these systems weren't so locked down?).
>
> So not only it becomes harder and more expensive to get PC-style
> keyboard computers, it might even lead to a situation where you just
> don't have that flexibility anymore because somehow smartphones and
> tablets managed to set "fully locked down" as the new normal - which, to
> be honest, isn't anything new as a concern, 

The issue is based on the industry of hardware relying on capital
investors/capital venture money, and the many chains that this creates.
Sorry if I am sounding too much of a communist, but this problem is true
either way.

The hardware industry shouldn't try setting norms, it should cater for
people's need.  Which opens a whole new discussing about how most people
don't think when they buy, are zombies to big marketing, and are very
prone to rush-buy (just because capitalism is the establishment of most
societies).

> AFAIK this is perhaps the main issue with "trusted computing" and
> "secure boot", the potential for abuse is there too?

Trusted computing started about windows(TM) fear of having competition,
and of horrible and zombie people who do as they are told, without
having the good of society in their minds.  Being forced to have a job
creates a destination where most people are enslaved to those people of
high-status quo, and where future people (and future generations) suffer
even more.

-- 
The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that
refuse military service. ~ Albert Einstein

Thread

Old commercial UNIX in '26 Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> - 2026-06-15 08:27 +0200
  Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 mechanicjay@sol.smbfc.net (Mechanicjay) - 2026-06-15 06:57 +0000
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-15 09:25 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-06-15 10:01 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2026-06-15 13:39 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-15 14:06 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-15 14:36 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 jayjwa <jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid> - 2026-06-15 11:14 -0400
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-15 15:29 +0000
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-15 16:23 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-15 16:43 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-15 19:06 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> - 2026-06-16 20:07 -0700
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 drb@ihatespam.msu.edu (Dennis Boone) - 2026-06-15 15:16 +0000
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Daniel <me@sc1f1dan.com> - 2026-06-15 07:13 -0700
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 mechanicjay@sol.smbfc.net (Mechanicjay) - 2026-06-18 15:47 +0000
  Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 jayjwa <jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid> - 2026-06-15 11:34 -0400
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-15 23:55 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> - 2026-06-16 04:50 +0200
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-16 03:34 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-16 12:49 +0000
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 14:40 +0000
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-17 11:49 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-17 13:55 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-18 09:52 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-18 14:45 +0000
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> - 2026-06-16 21:59 +0200
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2026-06-16 13:53 -0700
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-17 12:00 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-17 13:21 +0000
  Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-15 19:35 +0000
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-15 20:01 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-16 12:50 +0000
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-15 22:40 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-16 09:19 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-16 13:00 +0000
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-16 13:44 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 14:47 +0000
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-16 14:59 +0000
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 16:24 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-16 20:19 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 21:27 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-17 08:44 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2026-06-16 21:39 +0100
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-16 21:19 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 21:29 +0000
      Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-16 12:59 +0000
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> - 2026-06-16 07:30 -0700
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 "Phigan" <phigan@mutinybbs.com.remove-54f-this> - 2026-06-18 16:28 -0400
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 "Kurt Weiske" <kurt.weiske@realitycheckbbs.org.remove-83z-this> - 2026-06-20 08:22 -0700
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-20 18:59 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 "Kurt Weiske" <kurt.weiske@realitycheckbbs.org.remove-jv-this> - 2026-06-28 14:16 -0700
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bud Frede <frede@mouse-potato.com> - 2026-07-04 14:19 -0400
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bud Frede <frede@mouse-potato.com> - 2026-07-04 14:08 -0400
        Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-16 14:51 +0000
          Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-06-16 21:32 +0000
            Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-17 13:54 +0000
              Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Bob Eager <throwaway0008@eager.cx> - 2026-06-17 14:21 +0000
                Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-06-17 19:35 +0000
                [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery (was: Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26) Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-18 08:56 +0100
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-06-18 06:37 -0700
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> - 2026-06-18 07:57 -0700
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-18 22:51 +0000
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> - 2026-06-19 07:37 -0700
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> - 2026-06-19 18:46 +0200
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-20 09:28 +0100
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> - 2026-06-19 19:57 -0700
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Daniel Cerqueira <dan.list@lispclub.com> - 2026-06-18 15:27 +0100
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-21 09:15 +0100
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> - 2026-06-18 07:52 -0700
                Re: [OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-18 22:52 +0000
  Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Anthk GM <anthk@disroot.org> - 2026-06-22 19:14 +0000
    Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26 Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-22 22:29 +0000

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