Micron exited the consumer DRAM market in December 2025, leaving Samsung and SK Hynix as the only two major suppliers. It is now rumored that SK Hynix may follow Micron's lead, stopping the production of consumer DRAM and NAND chips.
that doesn’t seem to be the same thing, I skimmed most of the article, but that speech is about restricting what hardware can do , not making hardware unavailable to general people so that we become dependent on “cloud computing”
The reason I see the connection is that big dogs like Apple or Microsoft will be able to get RAM from those suppliers (or build it themselves like Samsung), and will be able to sell you walled-garden “computer appliances” which only run approved software. But you won’t be able to afford to build your own computer from parts yourself, and won’t be able to install whatever you want on it as a result.
Think about the power Microsoft has when they have every business document on earth and an AI that can summarize vast quantities of them on an ongoing basis.
They’re taking control of free markets, of political movements.
If we can’t store or compute anything, we will be reliant on those with that power. Cloud providers. They will suck up all our data, analyze it with their AI, and charge us for the privilege.
They are forcing us to rent from them their ability to watch us and predict us.
The speech is about software (and laws) not being able to properly limit software, and that as long as we have “General-Purpose Computing” (aka. PCs or hardware/computers that you have access to) we will not be able to properly limit software. Cory just didn’t think as far as the solution 15 years later being to move the hardware on which your software runs away from you.
It is quite tragicomic how we went from mainframes and terminals in the 60’s to GPC/PCs in the 90’s and now are moving back to cloud (aka. mainframes and terminals but on a global scale).
Freedom in the future will require us to have the capacity to monitor our devices and set meaningful policy on them, to examine and terminate the processes that run on them, to maintain them as honest servants to our will, and not as traitors and spies working for criminals, thugs, and control freaks. And we haven’t lost yet, but we have to win the copyright wars to keep the Internet and the PC free and open. Because these are the materiel in the wars that are to come, we won’t be able to fight on without them. And I know this sounds like a counsel of despair, but as I said, these are early days. We have been fighting the mini-boss, and that means that great challenges are yet to come.
(emphasis mine)
I think Cory was pretty clear that it wasn’t just about copyright and DRM, and the enemy will come up with new ways to achieve its goals. That article was about the first battles in the war, we’re now entering the midgame.
that doesn’t seem to be the same thing, I skimmed most of the article, but that speech is about restricting what hardware can do , not making hardware unavailable to general people so that we become dependent on “cloud computing”
The reason I see the connection is that big dogs like Apple or Microsoft will be able to get RAM from those suppliers (or build it themselves like Samsung), and will be able to sell you walled-garden “computer appliances” which only run approved software. But you won’t be able to afford to build your own computer from parts yourself, and won’t be able to install whatever you want on it as a result.
Think about the power Microsoft has when they have every business document on earth and an AI that can summarize vast quantities of them on an ongoing basis.
They’re taking control of free markets, of political movements.
If we can’t store or compute anything, we will be reliant on those with that power. Cloud providers. They will suck up all our data, analyze it with their AI, and charge us for the privilege.
They are forcing us to rent from them their ability to watch us and predict us.
Welcome to the global panopticon.
The speech is about software (and laws) not being able to properly limit software, and that as long as we have “General-Purpose Computing” (aka. PCs or hardware/computers that you have access to) we will not be able to properly limit software. Cory just didn’t think as far as the solution 15 years later being to move the hardware on which your software runs away from you.
It is quite tragicomic how we went from mainframes and terminals in the 60’s to GPC/PCs in the 90’s and now are moving back to cloud (aka. mainframes and terminals but on a global scale).
(emphasis mine)
I think Cory was pretty clear that it wasn’t just about copyright and DRM, and the enemy will come up with new ways to achieve its goals. That article was about the first battles in the war, we’re now entering the midgame.