4 ms·

Another move in the war on general purpose computing. Printers (and 3D printers) are as much of a threat to IP as the internet was/is. Nobody would argue that

by jakeogh 10y ago

Another move in the war on general purpose computing. Printers (and 3D printers) are as much of a threat to IP as the internet was/is. Nobody would argue that the costs of that threat outweighed the benefits, we all understand it was worth it. I think the same will be true for 3D printing. I'll enjoy ignoring Lexmark next time I buy.

Natsu 10y ago
I've done that for a long time now. I still remember the first time I realized that I could buy a new printer AND spare ink for less than ink refills on my Lexmark alone.
digi_owl 10y ago
There is both an outside war and an inside war going on, and right now i worry as much or more about the inside war.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  The problem with both of these wars is that their participants are mostly either unaware about the conflict, or without any intent to fight in it. On the outside, you have people wanting more security, pressure of various business models (e.g. IP protection), and people who would just want to watch the new episode of their favourite show with as little hassle as possible. On the inside, you have techies following the trends, or following money. I doubt many of them consciously want to destroy general-purpose computing, but the end result of the aggregate trend is nevertheless a huge threat. And it's hard to fight against without looking like an idealist with head in the (cloudless) sky, or an RMS follower, or something like that. Short-term practical thinking unfortunately tends to win over the big picture.
  - walterbell 10y ago
    Some money is shifting to the "Edge" to supplement the cloud, due to volume of sensor data and need for real-time response to sensed events at the edge, http://a16z.com/2016/12/16/the-end-of-cloud-computing/ http://a16z.com/2016/12/16/the-end-of-cloud-computing/
  - digi_owl 10y ago
    One wrinkle is that the security aspect straddles the inside and outside, as there are quite a number of insiders that want to restrict what owners can do "for their own good" (never mind for the good of society, aka internet).

by jakeogh 10y ago

Natsu 10y ago

I've done that for a long time now. I still remember the first time I realized that I could buy a new printer AND spare ink for less than ink refills on my Lexmark alone.

digi_owl 10y ago

There is both an outside war and an inside war going on, and right now i worry as much or more about the inside war.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
The problem with both of these wars is that their participants are mostly either unaware about the conflict, or without any intent to fight in it. On the outside, you have people wanting more security, pressure of various business models (e.g. IP protection), and people who would just want to watch the new episode of their favourite show with as little hassle as possible. On the inside, you have techies following the trends, or following money. I doubt many of them consciously want to destroy general-purpose computing, but the end result of the aggregate trend is nevertheless a huge threat. And it's hard to fight against without looking like an idealist with head in the (cloudless) sky, or an RMS follower, or something like that. Short-term practical thinking unfortunately tends to win over the big picture.
- walterbell 10y ago
  Some money is shifting to the "Edge" to supplement the cloud, due to volume of sensor data and need for real-time response to sensed events at the edge, http://a16z.com/2016/12/16/the-end-of-cloud-computing/ http://a16z.com/2016/12/16/the-end-of-cloud-computing/
- digi_owl 10y ago
  One wrinkle is that the security aspect straddles the inside and outside, as there are quite a number of insiders that want to restrict what owners can do "for their own good" (never mind for the good of society, aka internet).