"Components" as in individual transistors, resistors, and capacitors as opposed to integrated circuits. And MS already has veto power. You can't run device drivers that haven't been OK'd and cryptographically signed by them. DRM is baked into the media layers (e.g. you can't watch a blu-ray movie on a non-HDCP monitor).
> I find the prospect of Apple or Microsoft having veto power over how I use "my" computer extremely worrying.
This is because we expect "computers" to do so many things. When their area of responsibility shrinks to more trivial tasks, like only browsing or running simple apps, the limitations become less of an issue.
There will always be a need for a "development" caliber platform where you can do whatever, install anything, build whatever you want.
It's just that for 90% of the people out there, they don't need or want this. While I find it amusing that grandma's new MacBook Air comes with a C compiler, bash, and Perl, this really isn't something she's ever going to find a use for and would hardly notice if it was absent. For the 10% of the market that does care, perhaps they need a different sort of product. The two markets are destined to split.
There's nothing worrying about it. What's happening is what used to be general purpose is now becoming an appliance.
I find the prospect of Apple or Microsoft having veto power over how I use "my" computer extremely worrying.
Until Cory is out there petitioning blender makers to open their firmware, he's just grabbing headlines with this nonsense.
The manufacturers of blenders are generally not advocating that taking them apart should be a federal crime.