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You sound like one of those people who used to argue that you just want you mobile phone make calls and that putting cameras and software into them was pointles

by dejb 17y ago

You sound like one of those people who used to argue that you just want you mobile phone make calls and that putting cameras and software into them was pointless cause you could just carry camera an PDA everywhere. Personally I see the TV as just another monitor which may or may not also contain a general purpose operating system. The difference is with a really big monitor is that you can share what you are looking at with other people in the room , some of whom may not have a laptop glued to their legs. So for example you can do stuff like taking turns at selecting your favourite youtube videos.

derefr 17y ago
I never said you couldn't have a TV that allows general-purpose access to the web. But also having TVs that are "just" TVs gives you more options, not fewer. Devices can integrate, but the future is not one kind of device that does everything (e.g. a phone that is also a TV that is also a toaster that is also a book reader that is also a game console); it's an infinite variety of devices that represent the power set of all possible device synergies.
- dejb 17y ago
  A world full of crippled devices that only allow you to use them in the specific ways that the manufacturer allows (or has thought of) does not give you more options - it gives you less options. The reason I say crippled is that a general purpose TV (or other device) can encompass all the functionality of specialist device. It can even masquerade as a specialist device, only exposing its extra functionality to users who really want it. Often it is easier for the manufacturer of the device to use a general purpose operating system to build their specific functionality on. So the specialist device is actually just a crippled version of a more generally capable device. Remember we are only talking about computation here, not hardware capabilities. A TV with a inbuilt toaster is a stupid idea because you are combining hardware capabilities without any real purpose. However if both the TV and the toaster are controlled by processor chips with networking capabilities then why not let them to talk to each other? Why not allow a toastcam app to run on the TV? Why not a allow an app that would allow to to draw a shape on the TV's touchcreeen and that shape would be burnt onto the toaster? We are obviously talking about a future with very cheap processing power here (and very precise heating in toasters) but that is the direction things are moving in.

by dejb 17y ago

derefr 17y ago

I never said you couldn't have a TV that allows general-purpose access to the web. But also having TVs that are "just" TVs gives you more options, not fewer. Devices can integrate, but the future is not one kind of device that does everything (e.g. a phone that is also a TV that is also a toaster that is also a book reader that is also a game console); it's an infinite variety of devices that represent the power set of all possible device synergies.

dejb 17y ago
A world full of crippled devices that only allow you to use them in the specific ways that the manufacturer allows (or has thought of) does not give you more options - it gives you less options. The reason I say crippled is that a general purpose TV (or other device) can encompass all the functionality of specialist device. It can even masquerade as a specialist device, only exposing its extra functionality to users who really want it. Often it is easier for the manufacturer of the device to use a general purpose operating system to build their specific functionality on. So the specialist device is actually just a crippled version of a more generally capable device. Remember we are only talking about computation here, not hardware capabilities. A TV with a inbuilt toaster is a stupid idea because you are combining hardware capabilities without any real purpose. However if both the TV and the toaster are controlled by processor chips with networking capabilities then why not let them to talk to each other? Why not allow a toastcam app to run on the TV? Why not a allow an app that would allow to to draw a shape on the TV's touchcreeen and that shape would be burnt onto the toaster? We are obviously talking about a future with very cheap processing power here (and very precise heating in toasters) but that is the direction things are moving in.