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I don’t mind locked down hardware as long as it’s usable. I don’t open a microwave or a tv for fun, but I mind the experience while using them. If you want to d
by skydhash 2y ago
I don’t mind locked down hardware as long as it’s usable. I don’t open a microwave or a tv for fun, but I mind the experience while using them. If you want to do one thing, do it well. And do it even after the manufacturer collapses unless there’s a service involved. What I don’t like is when it’s my computing ressources that are involved, but they want to reassure the mothership that it’s legitimate use.
Let’s take an ereader as example. I can buy it knowing that it can only display books from Amazon Kindle and I need an active subscription or a license for the book. Or I can buy it knowing that I can display any ebook file I have. It’s one or another, or both together independantely.
Which is why I don’t mind the old App Store model. I know that it’s locked down and I can license apps which will be tied to my account. When it’s no longer supported, I can still download the version that work. But now the license is temporary so as soon as you’re not able to pay, the app breaks.
- kbolino 2y agoA locked-down device is pretty much definitionally a subscription and not a perpetuity. You cannot fix a locked-down device yourself, so the vendor has to do it for you. When the vendor stops doing that, all of the "benefits" of it being locked down (DRM-protected media, games with anticheat, secure bank access, etc.) cannot continue. I can see the case that locked devices should be easy to unlock when vendor support ends, but then they'll lose most of their functionality too, since the primary reasons for owning them in the first place go away with the unlocking process. An old tablet that can't access any content is little more than a really thin brick.