Sony: PS2 Is A Computer! Uk Judge: No It Isn't

[AngelfireUk83]

I can't belive this but Sony have spent 5 years trying to persuade British boffins that the PS2 is a computer. And the Uk judge have denied that it be re-classified as a Digital Processing Unit weird!!!! hmm maybe the judge has had to many weetabix for breakfast.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32522

[soulfly1448]

I would agree. I wouldn't call it a computer unless it was able to do multiple things, like a desktop. I mean, when it comes down to brass tacks, your cell phone could be considered a computer as well as any calculator.

[Luftwaffle]

The first computer was just a simple calculator. PCs are just a glorified version of that.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/computer

It's all semantics and legal bs. I think it's dumb.

[Rydis]

When you look at it from the most technical of standpoints, and take the root name of a computer, which is compute. It got its name from being able to compute mathmatical equations (the first computer) to computing many tasks in our every day PC's and consoles.

Technically, yes, every console, calculator, cell phone, ect are computers. But they are not PC, desktops, laptops and such.

[Cheator]

They aren't PCs, but whats a mac? A digital Processing Unit? How coudl you not see its a computer? It computes, therefore...

[Trombe]

The first computer was just a simple calculator.

The first "computers" were in fact people. Check a dictionary that came out before WWII.

[FudgeNuggets]

It plays San Andreas, God of War and Grand Turismo. This is all that matters to me. They can call it a douche compactor for all I care.

[I.M.O.G.]

I wouldn't call it a computer unless it was able to do multiple things, like a desktop.

Thats a software difference, and software can be modified to make a device do anything... On a hardware level, anything able to perform calculations is a computer or contains one... The software you get running on it determines its capabilities.

How is PS2 not a computer when it runs linux?

http://playstation2-linux.com/

[Luftwaffle]

The first "computers" were in fact people. Check a dictionary that came out before WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer

Originally, the term "computer" referred to a person who performed numerical calculations, often with the aid of a mechanical calculating device or analog computer. Examples of these early devices, the ancestors of the computer, included the abacus and the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device for calculating the movements of planets, dating from about 87 BC.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/calculator

The first "calculator" was a person as well. :p

So, like I said. Semantics.

[Goateh]

It plays San Andreas, God of War and Grand Turismo. This is all that matters to me. They can call it a douche compactor for all I care.

Hahaha, best response ever :p

I would say it all comes down to how a person views what computer is

[-maddog-]

I thought sony called it "computer enterainment sytem" of somthing of that sort when you turn it on. What's the big deal if they don't consider it one?

[Luftwaffle]

There is a big deal about arguing what it's called. How else are the lawyers going to get paid?

This is all a big waste of time and money.

[Anjow]

It's all semantics and legal bs. I think it's dumb.

It is indeed. However, all this over-specification is necessary as a line has to be drawn somewhere.

When making rulings which will affect the normal consumer it's important to take into account what THEY consider a computer to be; whilst we know that anything that computes is a computer, John Q. Idiot thinks it is something that sits on top of his desk and lets him write letters.

[Ebola]

There is probably a tax code that gives a break to devices that can be called computers.

[Anjow]

Yeah, I believe whoever was importing them wanted a rebate on their import duty.

More here: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/06/20/ps2_not_a_pc/

[Elif Tymes]

34 million pounds if it were a computer :-p. I;d goto court for that.