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We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

(hugotunius.se)
2071 points K0nserv | 1 comments | 31 Aug 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.207s | source
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kylecazar ◴[01 Sep 25 00:24 UTC] No.45088315[source]▶
It's a matter of ownership vs. licensing. You own the hardware you buy, but you license the software. I agree with the author that as long as you use that software, you should be subject to the constraints of the license.

The key is that if you choose not to run that software, your hardware should not be constrained. You own the hardware, it's a tangible thing that is your property.

Boils down to a consumer rights issue that I fall on the same side of as the author.

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1. hibikir ◴[01 Sep 25 01:02 UTC] No.45088472[source]▶
When the hardware is complicated enough that the software required to run it al all would take many millions of dollars to replicate, hardware freedom alone doesn't cut it. Just like a modern processor needs mountains of microcode to do anything you'd actually want. And that's without companies needing to obfuscate their hardware to avoid interoperability they don't want.

In practice, a whole lot software would have to be open source too so that the hardware is reasonably usable. The layers you'd need to let an iPhone run android well, or a Pixel phone to run iOS are not small.