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Comment by millstone | Hacker News Reader

I demand open computing. I have it, it's cheaper than ever, like RPis are given away in cereal boxes.

I also have an iPad. I know I lose some software access (e.g. Facebook streaming games) but I also gain software, like Slay the Spire and FTL and Bastion. These games are iOS exclusive in part because iOS effectively prevents piracy, which is another way of saying that users cannot run whatever software they want.

I'm quite happy having some general-purpose computers, and also some purpose-built app-console devices. Why must every device be general purpose?

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>Slay the Spire and FTL and Bastion. These games are iOS exclusive

FTL and Bastion aren't iOS exclusive. Here are links to pages where you can find their Linux versions. Out of curiosity, where did you get the idea that they were iOS exclusive?

Edit: I hadn't previously heard of it, but googling reveals that Slay the Spire is also available on Steam. The steam page says it has a Linux version. That means that all of your examples of iOS exclusives could actually run on a Linux box, maybe even a raspi. ;)

I will counter with the claim that no major, artistically significant games of the past decade have been iOS exclusives. I might even go so far as to suggest that there are no leading iOS-only productivity apps (by leading, I mean better than what you can get elsewhere to the point where there's a major platform advantage, a status conferred to applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office which used to be Windows-only). That's a claim that you might be able to refute, but I can't think of any at the moment.

https://lutris.net/games/ftl-faster-than-light/ https://lutris.net/games/bastion/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/

Fair point and thank you for the clarification. By "iOS exclusive" I should have said "not on Android." I honestly considered it common knowledge that these games are available on Windows, Switch, etc. but maybe not all readers know that.

To refine my point, many successful games come to iOS because it is a controlled environment, with negligible piracy. The games come to Android later or not at all, because it is more of a wild west.

As for productivity, iOS has an undeniable platform advantage, and by that I mean tablets. Apple focuses on the iPad but Android tablets are kind of a joke. Here's androidpolice agreeing: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/04/21/do-yourself-a-favor...

>many successful games come to iOS because it is a controlled environment, with negligible piracy.

How does that make sense when all of those games were originally developed for the PC platform, which has rampant piracy, even above that of Android?

Every PC game developer sweats piracy. Windows is targeted first (or only) because it is the vastly dominant gaming platform. But the piracy aspect is real, and important, and it hurts Windows gaming.

If you are developing a Nintendo Switch game, you can focus on building a better game, instead of anti-piracy techniques, or futzing with hardware incompatibilities. That's iOS too.

> instead of anti-piracy techniques

Or you could simply focus on the legit PC market instead of worrying about people who will likely never be your customers.

My take (I develop games) is that it's a combination of piracy on Android, and a prevalent unwillingness to pay for things upfront. Android users have come to expect that all apps are (initially) free. On PC there is piracy, yes, but there is also a large audience that is eager to purchase premium games (mostly locked into Steam though, but that is another discussion)

Your educated choice here, together with the uninformed choices of millions of Americans, support an economic system that disenfranchises device owners, software engineers, and small businesses.

It's okay, have your iDevice. But that choice supports a company that makes the world less equitable for others. To deny that is to deny economics and the power of monopoly.

We need to educate our lawmakers about this situation so that they can make a decision that most Americans are unequipped to understand.

Well I strongly disagree with all of that. You're talking about "uninformed choices of Americans" that are "unequipped to understand," but I was there in 2007 when the iPhone was introduced, and there's a reason that EVERY phone is essentially an iPhone and not a Blackberry. This did not "disenfranchise" anyone, it radically empowered us all (in the same way that google.com did).

I don't think you're using "disenfranchise" in the same way the parent is. You're being denied the ability to truly own your hardware and run whatever you want on it. You're being hurt in ways you don't even know because by definition you can't, as you don't know what you're missing.

You're ok with this now, and may never change your opinion on that, but you are being harmed by this in the long run, as is the entire market for these sorts of devices. An entire generation is being brought up on devices that they're not allowed to tinker with -- and don't know that anything different is even possible -- and that will have negative long-term ramifications, though we may not be sure exactly what those are yet.

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