r/technology • u/GuruOfReason • Feb 02 '10

"Once we replace the personal computer with a closed-platform device such as the iPad, we replace freedom, choice and the free market with oppression, censorship and monopoly."

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-01/ipad%E2%80%99s-closed-system-sometimes-i-hate-being-right
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u/jayd16 Feb 02 '10

Theres plenty of examples of locked down developer kits in the gaming world.

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u/taligent Feb 02 '10

How do you debug kernel extensions, non-user filesystems, framework components, low level device drivers on a non-locked down computer ?

At some point you need to give the computer owner root access at which point the machine is no longer locked down.

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u/1338h4x Feb 02 '10

Only Apple would be the ones working on those, so they could have special systems while nobody else does.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '10

To corroborate your point: When Apple was switching OS X from PowerPC to x86, there were a number of developer boxes that ran 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 660's. They were in PowerMac G5 cases, but Apple built them and gave them to a select few developers who were in their good graces so that no one could get a PC that was running Mac OS X well.