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Isn't this more appropriately described as "The Era of General Purpose Microprocessors Is Ending"? A general purpose computer is the entire machine, reprogramm

Isn't this more appropriately described as "The Era of General Purpose Microprocessors Is Ending"? A general purpose computer is the entire machine, reprogrammable to perform a variety of tasks, hence general-purpose. While I do think it's potentially coming to an end as well, I think it's doing so for entirely different reasons. The general purpose computer has become a somewhat niche device in that the public is increasingly interested in consumer-oriented appliances which just happen to contain microprocessors, like phones and tablets. They're often locked-down and only capable of running a blessed subset of applications available from select suppliers through a walled-garden. That's threatening demise of the general-purpose computer as we know it. I'm genuinely concerned that we may find ourselves one day limited to very expensive niche machines produced in low volumes having general-purpose capabilities targeting STEM-oriented uses. I hope I'm wrong here, but we're already seeing evidence of young people not even learning how to type because they never used a keyboard, it doesn't seem impossible. The linked article is talking about processors, not computers.

segfaultbuserr 8y ago
Yes, I agree. I found the title misleading and led me to think about this https://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-purp.html https://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-... as well.
tenebrisalietum 8y ago
The general-purpose computer was something most of the public never wanted. It just was that for the a while starting in the mid 90's you needed a computer to use the Internet, "AOL", or email in any way. > I'm genuinely concerned that we may find ourselves one day limited to very expensive niche machines produced in low volumes having general-purpose capabilities targeting STEM-oriented uses. General purpose computers belonged to tech nerds in the 70's and the same plus professionals/creatives through most of the 80's, and it sounds like it's going to go back to them. Honestly I can see benefits to this, it was nice to have dirt cheap hardware for a while but maybe things will get back to being more modular and expandable again. Regarding general purpose processing, I think RISC-V is going to save us here and keep a general purpose microprocessor around as long as anyone wants.

segfaultbuserr 8y ago

Yes, I agree. I found the title misleading and led me to think about this https://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-purp.html https://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-... as well.

tenebrisalietum 8y ago

The general-purpose computer was something most of the public never wanted. It just was that for the a while starting in the mid 90's you needed a computer to use the Internet, "AOL", or email in any way. > I'm genuinely concerned that we may find ourselves one day limited to very expensive niche machines produced in low volumes having general-purpose capabilities targeting STEM-oriented uses. General purpose computers belonged to tech nerds in the 70's and the same plus professionals/creatives through most of the 80's, and it sounds like it's going to go back to them. Honestly I can see benefits to this, it was nice to have dirt cheap hardware for a while but maybe things will get back to being more modular and expandable again. Regarding general purpose processing, I think RISC-V is going to save us here and keep a general purpose microprocessor around as long as anyone wants.