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People are doing everything on smartphones they used to do on "personal computers", the form factor doesn't change that. As far as extensibility and/or opennes

People are doing everything on smartphones they used to do on "personal computers", the form factor doesn't change that. As far as extensibility and/or openness of the platform goes, that may define general purpose computing for you but the industry has abundantly shown that it doesn't for most people.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
I don't know about the other poster's opinion, but mine is that it isn't a personal computer unless I can program it with itself. The ability for anyone to write and distribute software was what made PCs great. Current smartphones fight the idea that the user can own their device and can do whatever they want with it, preferring a walled garden approach that's helpful to consumers, but not personal computing.
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  It's a disturbing trend but I see some dim hope. Everywhere across the world the importance of programming education is recognized. The BBC:micro is probably the epitome of this, with the the aim of the entire population knowing how to program a device at some point in a future. The people who learned to program in this way will appreciate the ability to control a device in this way and will naturally steer towards platform allowing them to do so. Moreover, even Apple is changing these days. Making Swift available is a step towards more ubiquitous app development. And with Swift Playgrounds you can learn to actually program on your device, even though it's not the same as controlling it the way we're used to. It's not unthinkable they make further concessions and at some point iOS devices could be programmable to a certain extent.
- lioeters 8y ago
  I'm also of the opinion that current smartphones are not "personal computers" in the original sense of the term. The power is in the hands of the OS and apps, they are the real users, making the decisions of how to use the computer - while the consumers are just that, consuming programs that other people/companies designed.
lordfoom 8y ago
> People are doing everything on smartphones they used to do on "personal computers", the form factor doesn't change that. I don't think folks are doing programming and graphic design on their phones...
- macintux 8y ago
  True, but we've gone from millions of people using PCs to billions using smartphones, and a majority of the people using PCs never used them for programming or graphic design.
  - michaelmrose 8y ago
    There are billions of pcs.
    - macintux 8y ago
      There are certainly more than a billion PCs in existence. I'm skeptical there are much more than a billion PC users. Right now it takes about 4 years to sell one billion PCs[1]. Considering that includes business sales, a significant chunk of that includes people with multiple PCs. Compare that to smartphones, which sell well over a billion per year[2]. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272595/global-shipments-forecast-for-tablets-laptops-and-desktop-pcs/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/272595/global-shipments-... [2]: https://www.investopedia.com/news/smartphone-sales-be-flat-yoy-2018canaccord/ https://www.investopedia.com/news/smartphone-sales-be-flat-y...
      - perl4ever 8y ago
        A "billion per year" is clearly unsustainable, given the world population. I mean, shouldn't we step back and observe that clearly if they're selling at this rate, some grave defect in human behavior is being exploited to the extent that something will dramatically collapse soon? Also keeping in mind the end of Moore's law as people have mentioned.
      - michaelmrose 8y ago

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

I don't know about the other poster's opinion, but mine is that it isn't a personal computer unless I can program it with itself. The ability for anyone to write and distribute software was what made PCs great. Current smartphones fight the idea that the user can own their device and can do whatever they want with it, preferring a walled garden approach that's helpful to consumers, but not personal computing.

dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
It's a disturbing trend but I see some dim hope. Everywhere across the world the importance of programming education is recognized. The BBC:micro is probably the epitome of this, with the the aim of the entire population knowing how to program a device at some point in a future. The people who learned to program in this way will appreciate the ability to control a device in this way and will naturally steer towards platform allowing them to do so. Moreover, even Apple is changing these days. Making Swift available is a step towards more ubiquitous app development. And with Swift Playgrounds you can learn to actually program on your device, even though it's not the same as controlling it the way we're used to. It's not unthinkable they make further concessions and at some point iOS devices could be programmable to a certain extent.
lioeters 8y ago
I'm also of the opinion that current smartphones are not "personal computers" in the original sense of the term. The power is in the hands of the OS and apps, they are the real users, making the decisions of how to use the computer - while the consumers are just that, consuming programs that other people/companies designed.

lordfoom 8y ago

> People are doing everything on smartphones they used to do on "personal computers", the form factor doesn't change that. I don't think folks are doing programming and graphic design on their phones...

macintux 8y ago
True, but we've gone from millions of people using PCs to billions using smartphones, and a majority of the people using PCs never used them for programming or graphic design.
- michaelmrose 8y ago
  There are billions of pcs.
  - macintux 8y ago
    There are certainly more than a billion PCs in existence. I'm skeptical there are much more than a billion PC users. Right now it takes about 4 years to sell one billion PCs[1]. Considering that includes business sales, a significant chunk of that includes people with multiple PCs. Compare that to smartphones, which sell well over a billion per year[2]. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272595/global-shipments-forecast-for-tablets-laptops-and-desktop-pcs/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/272595/global-shipments-... [2]: https://www.investopedia.com/news/smartphone-sales-be-flat-yoy-2018canaccord/ https://www.investopedia.com/news/smartphone-sales-be-flat-y...
    - perl4ever 8y ago
      A "billion per year" is clearly unsustainable, given the world population. I mean, shouldn't we step back and observe that clearly if they're selling at this rate, some grave defect in human behavior is being exploited to the extent that something will dramatically collapse soon? Also keeping in mind the end of Moore's law as people have mentioned.
    - michaelmrose 8y ago