Right, but the original statement was whether other companies have made a competing and profitable “Deck,” and the Switch is already such a device. Portable, plays games locally, has a thriving software ecosystem…
Whether those games within that ecosystem are “quality” or not is irrelevant. Both platforms have examples of good and bad games. My point was that if you buy a Switch, you are forced into their ecosystem. On the Deck, you do not have such a limitation (with a bit of effort, you can access anything a regular Linux machine can). Nobody is coerced in, sure, but that wasn’t the point I was making.
So where you see apples and oranges, I see a small, dry apple vs. a big, juicy apple. A better analogy might be Apple vs Windows.
Just because the switch runs a proprietary OS does not mean it isn’t a personal computing device. It can run Linux, it has a CPU and memory, it runs software, its a personal computer for sure.
The ability install “arbitrary software without restriction” is what defines a PC? Now that is complete and utter horseshit. A Chromebook isn’t a PC? A laptop with account restrictions to prevent the end user from installing software isn’t a PC? A desktop running an immutable linux distro isn’t a PC? Quit your bullshit. A PC is a computing device with a CPU and Memory, meant to be used by several people or less at a time, everything else is superfluous.
A chromebook runs arbitrary software without any sort of hacks. Before this was the case, Chromebooks were very obviously not PCs. So do immutable OSes.
Account restrictions are the owner of the hardware “running arbitrary software” to control what someone else can do and completely irrelevant.
There is no scenario where you can call a Switch a PC, any more than you can call a phone a PC, an ATM a PC, or a pregnancy test with a chip in it a PC. It’s not a misunderstanding; it’s a lie.
Honestly, I think you are just using a very specific (and pretty inaccurate) definition of a personal computer. Also, a strangely specific usage of “arbitrary”. All of the cases I mentioned (chromebooks, immutable distros, enterprise windows with administrative restrictions) intentionally lock out the user from running software the hardware could otherwise support.
Saying a device that the manufacturer artificially locks out users from installing non approved software is somehow related to the definition of a PC is simply a lie.
You can install Linux on smart phones, so by your definition, a phone is a PC. You can install Linux on first gen switches without modifying the hardware, so by your definition, first generation switches are PC’s. You can even install Linux on modern switches just by soldering on a special chip, so “modified switches” are PCs.
ATM’s often run Windows as the base OS ffs, of course you could call them a PC. As you said;
the owner of the hardware “running arbitrary software” to control what someone else can do is completely irrelevant.
If account restrictions are the “owner of the hardware” preventing the end user from “running arbitrary software”, then all that means is Nintendo owns your switch. Not that the switch is incapable of running arbitrary software.
Your strange definition of PC simply does not hold up to scrutiny. I get that you are trying to say that “because a Switch is a device manufactured for the express purpose of running games only accessible through Nintendo’s official channels, it is a far different user experience than what we think of as a traditional desktop”. But to say it isn’t a personal computer, when it is a personal device that runs software using a processor, ram, storage, a graphical processor, all connected by a central print circuit board is simply absurd.
If you jailbreak the Switch, you can do all of those things. But by your definition, because I can’t arbitrarily install Windows software on an Apple computer, it is not a PC.
Just because it’s not easy doesn’t mean the Switch isn’t a personal computer. It is a device you can personally own that takes bits and bytes and performs computations with them that results in things like saving a game (data storage), internet communication (network computing), and video rendering (video stream computation).
Words have meaning. I’m sorry you don’t like the definition of Personal Computer. Go write to the dictionary committees about it. You are emphatically wrong.
Right, but the original statement was whether other companies have made a competing and profitable “Deck,” and the Switch is already such a device. Portable, plays games locally, has a thriving software ecosystem…
Whether those games within that ecosystem are “quality” or not is irrelevant. Both platforms have examples of good and bad games. My point was that if you buy a Switch, you are forced into their ecosystem. On the Deck, you do not have such a limitation (with a bit of effort, you can access anything a regular Linux machine can). Nobody is coerced in, sure, but that wasn’t the point I was making.
So where you see apples and oranges, I see a small, dry apple vs. a big, juicy apple. A better analogy might be Apple vs Windows.
No, the Switch is not such a device.
The article is very obviously about PCs. The Switch is not a PC.
Just because the switch runs a proprietary OS does not mean it isn’t a personal computing device. It can run Linux, it has a CPU and memory, it runs software, its a personal computer for sure.
Yes, it does. It cannot possibly be described as a PC if the end user can’t install arbitrary software without restriction.
Calling a Switch a PC isn’t slightly incorrect. It’s complete and utter horseshit.
The ability install “arbitrary software without restriction” is what defines a PC? Now that is complete and utter horseshit. A Chromebook isn’t a PC? A laptop with account restrictions to prevent the end user from installing software isn’t a PC? A desktop running an immutable linux distro isn’t a PC? Quit your bullshit. A PC is a computing device with a CPU and Memory, meant to be used by several people or less at a time, everything else is superfluous.
A chromebook runs arbitrary software without any sort of hacks. Before this was the case, Chromebooks were very obviously not PCs. So do immutable OSes.
Account restrictions are the owner of the hardware “running arbitrary software” to control what someone else can do and completely irrelevant.
There is no scenario where you can call a Switch a PC, any more than you can call a phone a PC, an ATM a PC, or a pregnancy test with a chip in it a PC. It’s not a misunderstanding; it’s a lie.
Honestly, I think you are just using a very specific (and pretty inaccurate) definition of a personal computer. Also, a strangely specific usage of “arbitrary”. All of the cases I mentioned (chromebooks, immutable distros, enterprise windows with administrative restrictions) intentionally lock out the user from running software the hardware could otherwise support.
Saying a device that the manufacturer artificially locks out users from installing non approved software is somehow related to the definition of a PC is simply a lie.
You can install Linux on smart phones, so by your definition, a phone is a PC. You can install Linux on first gen switches without modifying the hardware, so by your definition, first generation switches are PC’s. You can even install Linux on modern switches just by soldering on a special chip, so “modified switches” are PCs.
ATM’s often run Windows as the base OS ffs, of course you could call them a PC. As you said;
If account restrictions are the “owner of the hardware” preventing the end user from “running arbitrary software”, then all that means is Nintendo owns your switch. Not that the switch is incapable of running arbitrary software.
Your strange definition of PC simply does not hold up to scrutiny. I get that you are trying to say that “because a Switch is a device manufactured for the express purpose of running games only accessible through Nintendo’s official channels, it is a far different user experience than what we think of as a traditional desktop”. But to say it isn’t a personal computer, when it is a personal device that runs software using a processor, ram, storage, a graphical processor, all connected by a central print circuit board is simply absurd.
If you jailbreak the Switch, you can do all of those things. But by your definition, because I can’t arbitrarily install Windows software on an Apple computer, it is not a PC.
Just because it’s not easy doesn’t mean the Switch isn’t a personal computer. It is a device you can personally own that takes bits and bytes and performs computations with them that results in things like saving a game (data storage), internet communication (network computing), and video rendering (video stream computation).
You can’t “jailbreak” any current switch without replacing hardware.
You can install Windows software on a Mac.
Calling a switch a PC is a lie. It’s not ambiguous, and it’s not a gray area. It’s a malicious, bold faced lie.
Bruh, are you for real? Lol.
Words have meaning. I’m sorry you don’t like the definition of Personal Computer. Go write to the dictionary committees about it. You are emphatically wrong.
https://www.britannica.com/technology/personal-computer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer