Quote:
Originally Posted by DuncanWatson
The original PC vs MAC difference was an open hw platform running intel (and variant) chips vs a close proprietary HW platform running motorola chips. Now of course Macs are Intel platform machines running slightly proprietary HW (not dissimilar to Compac PCs in the early 90s.). I think PC has become the superset term for desktop and laptop computers (regardless of the PC and Mac series of ads).
Either way for me I run mostly Linux and BSD OS variants which puts me somewhat outside the norm.
It is an important feature that my Nook connects to my various linux computers seamlessly since it just shows up as a USB drive. Sony's Reader Library 3.0 SW only runs on OS X (10.4.11+) and Windows (XP +). That limits my usage as a MS free household (and only miles away from MS headquarters).
I assumed the person posting was referring to the SW due to being a sony ereader user. I can see what you mean about potentially meaning the USB vs wireless connection though. Of course I also agree with you regarding how ITunes users are the ones locked down the most.
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The PC was a closed platform, too. The only difference was that IBM kept clones out of the market through controlling their BIOS while Apple controlled both the ROM and the OS. Once companies reverse engineered IBM's BIOS, it was trivial to get the rest of the hardware to work with DOS or CP/M since Microsoft and Digital Research would gladly sell copies of their respective OSes to whoever wanted one. Even if you managed to copy Apple's ROM, you still had to deal with making a compatible OS. Given the price difference between the an IBM and an Apple at the time, it was FAR more lucrative to clone IBM PCs and it was easier, too. I only remember a couple of Apple and Mac clones. They were buggy, had compatibility issues, and didn't last long. But I think you're right that the term PC is becoming ubiquitous again and applying to both the IBM lineage and the Apple lineage.
(Ironically, the Macs of today are keeping their OS from running on commodity IBM PC compatible hardware through their EFI (a sort of BIOS-on-steroids). People who are successfully running OS X on commodity IBM PC Compatible hardware have done it by reverse engineering the EFI.)
But back to the point, I took "slaved" to mean "had to be connected to the PC to get content." That confused me because I thought the Nook could wireless download content from Barnes and Noble. So I guess there are at least three ways to interpret the statement.