General Purpose Computing

Every computer is capable of running any valid programme. Computer science has produced a wealth of breakthroughs in general purpose computing architectures, but has failed to produce a computer that can run most programmes. That's how bad guys can get your printer or your smart sex toy and your thermostat to run malicious software. By design, that computer is only used for a small set of special purposes, but there's no way to stop an attacker who gains access to it from running any program they can write. Group five was interested in preserving the very idea of general purpose computing.