2 ms·
Nintendo (and Apple, and Microsoft) are the counterpoint story to the story that I think a lot of hackers (especially of the open-source and DIY variety) tell t
by shadowgovt 2y ago
Nintendo (and Apple, and Microsoft) are the counterpoint story to the story that I think a lot of hackers (especially of the open-source and DIY variety) tell themselves about the way the world works:
There are benefits to both open and closed approaches, and people that really prefer each.
Nintendo succeeded in contrast to Atari because they clamped their jaws as tightly onto the supply chain as they could. In doing so, they created for their users a minimum quality standard expectation that could be relied upon: if it ran on Nintendo at all, it was a good game. That was the goal.
There's value and comfort in predictability and expectation satisfaction. While we shouldn't let the scales tip too far and give the exclusive platforms full control, it's possible for them to tip the other way too... A world where one can't create and protect a Nintendo is a worse world for end-users.
- BlueTemplar 2y agoI'm fine with pretending that a game console focused on kids is not a general purpose computer, but this is unacceptable threat to liberal democracy when applied to PCs. And nothing (yet) is as much of a PC as a smartphone.
- shadowgovt 2y agoThe PinePhone is right there, waiting for more people to use it. I don't think iPhone and Android constitute a threat to liberal democracy; I think they're just more reliable, and PinePhone hasn't taken off because it's actually not okay to have the tool you carry in your pocket to (possibly) make emergency calls be unreliable.
- BlueTemplar 2y agoYes, sadly for now I can't just shame normal people for using iOS / Android ( / Xiaomi HyperOS ? ) : there just don't seem to be any good enough alternatives for non-computer geeks. (Dumbphones rather than smartphones are today the ethical option for them I guess, but also a sacrifice that I don't feel comfortable enough to ask of them either.)