Comment by Wowfunhappy
4 years ago
I'm not happy that the Nintendo Switch is locked down, and any ruling against Apple which also applied to console manufacturers would be great news in my book. I just have better things to be angry about.
The thing is, I feel quite comfortable asserting that nobody uses a Nintendo Switch as their primary computer. If an app isn't available on the Switch, people can download it on something else. If an app isn't available on the iPhone, protesters in Hong Kong die: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21210678
Locked down consoles are regrettable; locked down phones are an affront to free society.
> I'm not happy that the Nintendo Switch is locked down, and any ruling against Apple which also applied to console manufacturers would be great news in my book. I just have better things to be angry about.
I'm just sad about where the technology world is heading
Well, I guess that's the other thing—Nintendo has been doing this for as long as they've been in the business. The NES launched with a so-called "lockout chip" to block unlicensed software. This was a key part of Nintendo's strategy for the NES, which launched after the so-called video game crash of 1989, when consumers stopped buying video games because they'd been burned by too many low-quality cash grabs. Nintendo's "seal of quality" program enforced very high standards, unlike anything seen on any platform today.
I hesitate to bring this up, because an old bad thing is still a bad thing. But it's not a new bad thing.