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Consider that some might not program for "fun". They might do it out of necessity: to "scratch itches". Limitation breeds creativity. This is true in general
by jingo 13y ago
Consider that some might not program for "fun".
They might do it out of necessity: to "scratch itches".
Limitation breeds creativity. This is true in general, but certainly in computers. Ever heard of demoscene? By comparison to the constraints we had to work with in the 80's, the power of today's handheld computers (one usage of which is as a "phone") is hardly a limitation. But I guess it would depend on what you are trying to do. I have no idea what you would want to do. Only you know that.
As for what others might do, were they to be able to upload their own software to their phones, well, the only way to answer that question is to let them and see what comes out of it.
Only a fool would believe he could direct, let alone predict, all the uses that might be made of a particular software program, a particular language or a particular computer.
One use of a computer is as a communications device, aka a "phone". Another is a "game console". There are plenty of other uses for handheld computers even if you yourself cannot think of them.
- Genmutant 13y agoBut you can already upload your software to phones. You don't need the simcard for that.
- jingo 13y agoI thought we were talking about SIM cards. Can I upload software to my SIM card? No. Most phones accept some type of SIM card, while not all phones have a means of user-controlled offline external storage (microSD, etc.). Why can't the user access a SIM card? Why can't she look at the software stored on a SIM card? The SIM card slot is pretty much off-limits to the user. Yet the user owns the phone. This is like buying a computer that has a special card slot owned by a single company or a consortium of companies that produce special cards only for their own use. The user is effectively denied access to the slot.
- pjmlp 13y agoDo you program your PC BIOS or firmware?
- nitrogen 13y agohttp://www.coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org
- pjmlp 13y agoHow many PCs ship with it?
- jingo 13y agoUsually, whatever software PC's "ship with" is crapware. Go figure. "Crapware" is just my opinion. Although I've heard others note the same thing.
- nitrogen 13y agoI think at least some Chromebooks use it. It finds use in HPC clusters and embedded/industrial settings as well.
- pgeorgi 13y agoAll Chromebooks except for the ARM model and the CR48 prototype use coreboot. The ChromeOS developers are currently porting coreboot to ARM, too.
- __david__ 13y agoI wish! I hate my PC's bios. So many superfluous timeouts, so much waiting around (clearly braindead programming that doesn't do hardware well). A stupid text based config interface. Nothing about the BIOS is good.
- pjmlp 13y agoYou mean, besides providing a standard way to access hardware that ARM systems still don't have to this day?
- 13y ago
- nicolas314 13y agoYou do not own the SIM card, it remains full property of your network operator. As such, they have a right to keep you off-limits. FYI: the main Javacard applet on a SIM card is the GSM applet, the one you use to authenticate against your network. Other applets are useful for network operators: IMEI tracking sends them your phone ID to help them configure it correctly -- it is also used to track stolen phones. Another useful one updates your preferred foreign network list when you change countries, connecting you automatically to a cheaper network when available. Uploading your own software will not do you much good. As mentioned above, CPU and memory are very limited on SIM cards, and Javacard is basically a glorified assembler you do not want to touch. SIM cards are mostly there to perform some simple crypto operations for network authentication and that's it.
- nitrogen 13y agoImagine reversing the direction of reporting: allowing the user to learn more about the network, for example. That would be just one reason to put custom firmware on a SIM card. Another might be running a known-secure firmware for security-conscious users (corporations, governments, kidnapping/extortion targets, etc.).
- nicolas314 13y agoSIM cards don't know anything about the network they are running on, this all happens inside your terminal. They hold an IMSI (=contract #), a set of private keys, and some utility applets. SIM cards don't even know their own phone number. As for running a known-secure firmware: in the end a SIM card only authenticate you against a Mobile Operator with a pre-shared key. If you believe your SIM is running a non-secure firmware, how can you trust your Mobile Network Operator not to do fancy stuff on their network behind your back?
- jingo 13y agoWho says there can only be one SIM card? What if the user can have her own SIM card? Who says SIM cards are only useful with cell networks? What if the user has her own network? Is that impossible, now and forever? What if she has her own authentication and encryption needs, apart from some telecom's network? Yes, the telecom owns the card they give you. Indeed, that is their property. But they don't need to own the smart card standard and use it to exclude users from using the slot. Imagine if the motherboard you bought would had certain slots that were off-limits to you and open to use only by certain companies. As for "glorified assemler", have you considered something more succinct, like FORTH. There's nothing glorious about Java.