5 ms·

I wish there would be more distinction between hardware and software. Just buy an iPhone and install Winedows 10 or buy a S7 and install Sailfish. Why is this

by pasta 10y ago

I wish there would be more distinction between hardware and software. Just buy an iPhone and install Winedows 10 or buy a S7 and install Sailfish. Why is this so hard to do? Can't a desktop OS compile the right rom and install it via USB? Edit: I understand this is a driver issue, but it seems there isn't that much difference in hardware in the mobile world.

coldtea 10y ago
>I wish there would be more distinction between hardware and software. Just buy an iPhone and install Winedows 10 or buy a S7 and install Sailfish. That would be the antithesis of what makes the iPhone good though -- the hardware/software limited fragmentation + lock-step iterations.
- pasta 10y ago
  But why not have the freedom to use iOS on the iPhone because you think it works best that way? A lot of people install Ubuntu on Macbooks for that reason. But right now it's very hard to install a different OS on your phone.
  - fpoling 10y ago
    Do you mean MacBook Air or older MacBook Pro? Ubuntu or other Linux does not work on MacBook. There is no driver for track pad and keyboard.
mbel 10y ago
There is no technical difficulty. The only difficulty here is to find business plan that is not negatively affected by this feature.
- BoorishBears 10y ago
  Maintaining a consistent level of quality is the main technical difficulty, see: Android
  - mbel 10y ago
    Arguably the phones with open bootloader have the best Android experience out there (Nexus line), so I'm not sure if Android here is the best counterargument.
    - BoorishBears 10y ago
      They have an open boot loader because Google sells them, and they have the best Android experience for the same reason. The open boot loader doesn't enable that experience. In fact, I think that somewhat proves my point, it's no coincidence the hardware Google has the most influence over has the best experience. And it's no coincidence they gave up on just influencing the phones and went as far as manufacturing a phone with the Pixel, all in chase of the perfect experience
- BoorishBears 10y ago
  Maintaining a consistent level of quality is the main technical difficulty, see: Android
- paulcole 10y ago
  Wouldn't it be a UX nightmare?
  - mbel 10y ago
    Is UX a nightmare on desktop right now? Nearly all desktop/laptop computers can have their OS changed to different one. There is technically nothing stopping mobiles form working in the same way.
    - criddell 10y ago
      > There is technically nothing stopping mobiles form working in the same way. What about power consumption issues? If you load up Windows on a Mac laptop the battery drain rate is doubled. That's a pretty big user experience issue IMHO.
      - mbel 10y ago
        I wouldn't call this a UX nightmare. This is certainly an issue. On the other hand, as in case of today's laptops, users themselves decide to switch the OS and it's their responsibility in this scenario.
        criddell 10y ago
        Does anybody really care that much about operating systems any more? The big three on the desktop - Windows, macOS, and Linux - are all good enough. What matters (and I think this has always been true) are the applications. When friends ask for my opinion on what they should get, I almost always recommend buying from Apple (gamers probably want Windows). The two big reasons are (1) they can (legally) run more software than anything else and (2) you can walk into a store for support that's actually pretty good.
sigmar 10y ago
>Edit: I understand this is a driver issue, but it seems there isn't that much difference in hardware in the mobile world. There are huge differences in the hardware. Go to XDA and try to build a rom for an android device. Bluetooth, wifi, GPS, HAL sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, display drivers, audio hardware, NFC sensor can all have significant differences that need to be sussed out. Most significant of all- the camera.

by pasta 10y ago

coldtea 10y ago

>I wish there would be more distinction between hardware and software. Just buy an iPhone and install Winedows 10 or buy a S7 and install Sailfish. That would be the antithesis of what makes the iPhone good though -- the hardware/software limited fragmentation + lock-step iterations.

pasta 10y ago
But why not have the freedom to use iOS on the iPhone because you think it works best that way? A lot of people install Ubuntu on Macbooks for that reason. But right now it's very hard to install a different OS on your phone.
- fpoling 10y ago
  Do you mean MacBook Air or older MacBook Pro? Ubuntu or other Linux does not work on MacBook. There is no driver for track pad and keyboard.

mbel 10y ago

There is no technical difficulty. The only difficulty here is to find business plan that is not negatively affected by this feature.

BoorishBears 10y ago
Maintaining a consistent level of quality is the main technical difficulty, see: Android
- mbel 10y ago
  Arguably the phones with open bootloader have the best Android experience out there (Nexus line), so I'm not sure if Android here is the best counterargument.
  - BoorishBears 10y ago
    They have an open boot loader because Google sells them, and they have the best Android experience for the same reason. The open boot loader doesn't enable that experience. In fact, I think that somewhat proves my point, it's no coincidence the hardware Google has the most influence over has the best experience. And it's no coincidence they gave up on just influencing the phones and went as far as manufacturing a phone with the Pixel, all in chase of the perfect experience
BoorishBears 10y ago
Maintaining a consistent level of quality is the main technical difficulty, see: Android
paulcole 10y ago
Wouldn't it be a UX nightmare?
- mbel 10y ago
  Is UX a nightmare on desktop right now? Nearly all desktop/laptop computers can have their OS changed to different one. There is technically nothing stopping mobiles form working in the same way.
  - criddell 10y ago
    > There is technically nothing stopping mobiles form working in the same way. What about power consumption issues? If you load up Windows on a Mac laptop the battery drain rate is doubled. That's a pretty big user experience issue IMHO.
    - mbel 10y ago
      I wouldn't call this a UX nightmare. This is certainly an issue. On the other hand, as in case of today's laptops, users themselves decide to switch the OS and it's their responsibility in this scenario.
      - criddell 10y ago
        Does anybody really care that much about operating systems any more? The big three on the desktop - Windows, macOS, and Linux - are all good enough. What matters (and I think this has always been true) are the applications. When friends ask for my opinion on what they should get, I almost always recommend buying from Apple (gamers probably want Windows). The two big reasons are (1) they can (legally) run more software than anything else and (2) you can walk into a store for support that's actually pretty good.

sigmar 10y ago

>Edit: I understand this is a driver issue, but it seems there isn't that much difference in hardware in the mobile world. There are huge differences in the hardware. Go to XDA and try to build a rom for an android device. Bluetooth, wifi, GPS, HAL sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, display drivers, audio hardware, NFC sensor can all have significant differences that need to be sussed out. Most significant of all- the camera.