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You are purposely taking the well known and understood term "general purpose computing device" out of context and using it as a polemical statement to push an a

You are purposely taking the well known and understood term "general purpose computing device" out of context and using it as a polemical statement to push an agenda.

mort96 4y ago
Nah. It's not outrageous to say that a criteria for being a "general purpose computing device" is that I should be able to run whatever code I want on it. I say this as someone who's an iPhone user, and I'm perfectly happy with my iPhone. But I wouldn't call it a general purpose computing device honestly. The Android phone I used many years ago, for all its flaws, would have fit that description much better IMO.
- feanaro 4y ago
  > It's not outrageous to say that a criteria for being a "general purpose computing device" is that I should be able to run whatever code I want on it. In fact, it is outrageous not to say so.
throwaway71271 4y ago
"general purpose" for me means I can set the program counter somewhere and run my code in general the term vaguely means 'this computer can perform many different tasks' but can an iphone perform a task you want, but apple did not allow?
- sumeno 4y ago
  Yes, you can run your own code on an iPhone. You can't run arbitrary binaries, but you can run whatever code you want.
  - Hackbraten 4y ago
    Are we talking about the same phone? The iOS kernel will literally kill your process unless you have an Apple-approved certificate. The kernel will also block you from accessing any OS service that’s not allowlisted in your certificate. And it’s impossible to obtain a certificate from Apple that allows you to fork a subprocess, access the filesystem, or run a custom hardware driver.
  - paskozdilar 4y ago
    > You can't run arbitrary binaries, but you can run whatever code you want. ...isn't the definition of "running whatever code you want" equivalent to "running arbitrary binaries"? How else could you "run code" if not as an "arbitrary binary"?
    - strken 4y ago
      Is this drawing a distinction between "you can run any code you build yourself and sign using the elaborate Apple toolchain" vs "you can run arbitrary binaries"?
      - throwaway71271 4y ago
        you also have to be approved apple developer to do that

You are purposely taking the well known and understood term "general purpose computing device" out of context and using it as a polemical statement to push an agenda.

mort96 4y ago

Nah. It's not outrageous to say that a criteria for being a "general purpose computing device" is that I should be able to run whatever code I want on it. I say this as someone who's an iPhone user, and I'm perfectly happy with my iPhone. But I wouldn't call it a general purpose computing device honestly. The Android phone I used many years ago, for all its flaws, would have fit that description much better IMO.

feanaro 4y ago
> It's not outrageous to say that a criteria for being a "general purpose computing device" is that I should be able to run whatever code I want on it. In fact, it is outrageous not to say so.

throwaway71271 4y ago

"general purpose" for me means I can set the program counter somewhere and run my code in general the term vaguely means 'this computer can perform many different tasks' but can an iphone perform a task you want, but apple did not allow?

sumeno 4y ago
Yes, you can run your own code on an iPhone. You can't run arbitrary binaries, but you can run whatever code you want.
- Hackbraten 4y ago
  Are we talking about the same phone? The iOS kernel will literally kill your process unless you have an Apple-approved certificate. The kernel will also block you from accessing any OS service that’s not allowlisted in your certificate. And it’s impossible to obtain a certificate from Apple that allows you to fork a subprocess, access the filesystem, or run a custom hardware driver.
- paskozdilar 4y ago
  > You can't run arbitrary binaries, but you can run whatever code you want. ...isn't the definition of "running whatever code you want" equivalent to "running arbitrary binaries"? How else could you "run code" if not as an "arbitrary binary"?
  - strken 4y ago
    Is this drawing a distinction between "you can run any code you build yourself and sign using the elaborate Apple toolchain" vs "you can run arbitrary binaries"?
    - throwaway71271 4y ago
      you also have to be approved apple developer to do that