Quote:
Originally Posted by temp
i've been thinking. the e-reader is actually a low budget computer with very comfortable to read screen and low weight. wouldn't it be better if we just call it an eink-computer or something like that?
companies could just release a few basic programs, a developing environment, and the required libraries, and let the open source community deal with language compatibility, calender and whatever application that the community needs? this could help reduce the price since the software developing would be cheaper and support would cost less!
|
There's nothing to stop a company doing that if they wish. I imagine all the companies that make e-readers think they'll sell more, and thus make more money, by marketing them as dedicated e-readers.
Many electronic items have computers, and could run other software if the companies opened them up. Some people hack them and make them run other software anyway. But they're not called computers because they're not intended to be general-purpose devices, they're designed to do one or two jobs. We own a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner - it's got a computer, it can be hacked to do all sorts of things, but it's sold as a vacuum cleaner because more people will pay for a robot vacuum cleaner than will pay for a short, cylindrical robot.