Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #235086

[OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery (was: Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26)

From	Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers
Subject	[OT] Shifts in type of computing machinery (was: Re: Old commercial UNIX in '26)
Date	2026-06-18 08:56 +0100
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<11108b1$2eb86$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(3 earlier) <OpdYR.493868$_BG8.200357@fx24.iad> <110sfd7$nvv$1@reader1.panix.com> <YFxYR.91907$tRR9.66255@fx23.iad> <n9foqeFdvd6U6@mid.individual.net> <zGCYR.185086$yrMe.96142@fx18.iad>

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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.

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).

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

-- 
Nuno Silva

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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