Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Tycho has a goodly rant on the wackiness of the PSP.

Making the PSP directly compatible with MP3 must have been like pulling teeth internally - their reluctance in the past based on their ample music holdings. But building in MP3 support, that shit isn't hi-tech anymore. That shit is in sunglasses now. And you know they're sensitive to the global psychic penetration of the iPod, or else they wouldn't say things like this. That's why I have no idea what would make them geld the PSP as a full platform. How would I distinguish the PSP from full platforms? Let me count the ways:

# Full platforms can play any audio type, or allow applications to do so.

This should go without saying. The way to "beat" the iPod, as though such a thing were even possible, isn't to clamp down hard on the capabilities of a device. Read some Sun-Tzu for fuck's sake.

# Full platforms can play any type of video, or allow applications to do so, and these videos should be able to use the entire resolution of the screen.

You might not be aware of this if you've never goofed around with the video capabilities of your PSP, but they simply disallow videos beyond a certain resolution, and you're limited to MP4 for some reason that must make sense in a boardroom. I'm sure it has to do with selling those Goddamn UMDs that no-one I know even wants, but you can sell UMDs or you can make your Memory Stick media completely ubiquitous. Up to you!

# Executable code

I'm willing to bend on this one if you give me the other two. But letting people expand the functionality and value of your hardware isn't some imaginary thing. People write whole browsers and operating systems and every other Goddamn contraption, just because it's there. They'll make your product the kind of phenomenon you couldn't pay someone to create.