I think it might be, there's no way Anakin would be able to buy proprietary hardware or software. So either he stole it, which his mother probably would not have allowed. Or he was able to scrap all the parts together because there is a template for humanoid protocol droids that we have also seen round Star Wars. And then the software itself either Anakin programed entirely himself, (which I know he's very smart, but even that seems a stretch) or he forked it. So it would make more sense that there was an open source catalog of protocol droid software. It also would make more sense due to the fact that a lot of people have droids, but they are not all created equal. I would think many of the droids on Coruscant were proprietary, while many of the droids in the outer rim are open source.

No, the prequels just have shitty writing.

The parts could be proprietary, but with an interface that Aniken reverse engineered and jerry-rigged together..

There are tons of protocol droids in universe. He cobbled scrap bots together. Clever, but he didn’t invent or program it. More like fancy legos

Star Wars has a data transmission problem in that software isn't easily distributed across the galaxy.

Its much more likely Anakin found the programming or just a part with the "OS" installed and put it into a bunch of spare protocol droid parts. Maybe it took some tinkering but I don't think he did a bunch of low level stuff as he's a slave without real education, and I don't believe anything of that level of skill comes up again.

Also noted, I don't think the droids in Star Wars are 1 for 1 "operating systems" as we know them as they (can) have advanced personalities in a way that our software certainly doesn't do.

From a SF perspective, droids are universally shittily written throughout the franchise:

You have robots that are completely intelligent and self aware and can do any job and they just sort exists side-by-side with humans as helpers without having any significant impact on the economy or asking for rights.

I know there are droid rebellions somewhere in the lore, but droids are assiduously unstudied on film.

The internet doesn't exist in SW, so likely things are based on physical modules; so he probably scavenged, repaired, or assembled a physical module that embodies the droid's mind and everything is more or less hard-coded. And because the internet--and perhaps copyright law--doesn't exist, he doesn't need to activate the module with a central server.

I don't really even think programming is touched on, it's more just based on electronics. Software isn't really at thing.

[Edit: I mean, obviously software exists, but it doesn't function like real software does in the world. Tech is largely based on droids, which are delightfully physical and embodied for a visual medium, and droids are more like artisanly-modified cars than software that can be updated and copied. That is to say, the technology in Star Wars takes a lot more cues from mechanics and electronics than it does from software and programming. It is a markedy and consciously retro type of future (or should I say "past?").]

Its kind of like the "wait do they eat the pokemon?" question, where its gone unmentioned for so long its become too big to tackle properly. Instead you get a brief mention of slowpoke soup or a droid who says hey treat me like a person but 90% of the time its brushed under the rug.

They do have the Holonet which seems to be a sort of amalgamation of media including information that can be looked up.

Also worth mentioning that a lot of droids start developing personalities if you don't wipe their memories regularly, which is kind of existentially horrifying.

This is exactly the content I want from the internet. Thank you.

Incorrect. Anakin programmed Threepio with the desire to serve his mother and with the six languages he spoke at the time.

I would agree its more like modification than building from scratch, but he still had to get in there and noodle with everything. Programming was absolutely involved.

Anti-Janets.

I could see this being more like code blocks instead of actual software engineering. He probably found the different language modules and stuck them all in, and then did the equivalent of changes to a config file.

There’s also the coruscant library that can be accessed anywhere by most people for a fee. Most planets also have their own.

There's also, in Scarlet & Violet, Klawf al ajillo, which is just a soup of Klawf claw cooked in garlic, as well as Klawf sticks. This is in addition to a bunch of indistinct meats that seemingly also have to come from Pokémon. (Unless those meats are lab-grown, which seems plausible in a world where Pokémon can magically regenerate to full health at a Pokémon Center.)

Klawf can grow back their claws if they lose them, but organically losing their claws is definitely not how Klawf claws are being harvested for commercial sale.

He did not "program" 6 languages. Even if he was a super genius and spoke 6 languages, there's physically not enough time for Anakin to have typed the entire vocabulary and grammar of 1 language, much less 6.

Imo, his "programming 6 languages" was plugging in 6 hardware language modules and running a command to load them.

Unrelated question: is there any scene in any of the Star Wars where C3PO does anything useful? Like translate something or advice on protocol or something? I remember it kind of walking around and commenting on things but I don't remember it ever actually do anything. R2D2 hacks stuff, helps pilot things and delivers holographic messages but is 3CPO anything other than a toy? Some sort of next generation Furby?

but I don't think he did a bunch of low level stuff as he's a slave without real education

You know, back in the not-so-far-away days, the best programmers didn't have educations and the worst ones did.

In A New Hope, Luke mockingly says “hi” to R2D2 when C3P0 introduces them, as if saying hi to a droid is stupid as they’re not alive.

Later in the series, when R2 gets his head blown off in combat, Luke doesn’t blink. After the fight, they unload R2 from the X wing and he says “fix him” and walks away. Droids are very much not human in the OG trilogy.

Then we get to the prequels. R2 saves the ship as they get past the blockade, and the queen does a formal thank you for the droid. It really is a complete 180 and now droids are “people” in the prequels.

In Return of the Jedi 3PO is gifted to Jabba the Hutt by Skywalker who uses him as a translation slave for a while. 3PO provides accurate translations for Jabba from what we can see.

Open Source was not invented yet, back then.

There were many such scenes. Mainly in the earlier movies (originally released order). Later he got somewhat degraded to a clown.

They're not treated as equals in the original, that's for sure, but they're sure written as self-aware individuals.

Luke threatens to wipe Arturito's memory, too, if he doesn't stop misbehaving; or maybe C3PO mentions it because he's internalized droid hatred?

I just popped in the DVD of the Lucas re-release of New Hope and Luke is very concerned when R2 comes down, says "oh no", and only relaxes when the technician says, "we'll fix him" ... so I think we see some growth there.

Sounds like copyright infringement to me

The movies do imply he's a pretty savvy scrap engineer, so I'll give him that.

Its just the environment he's forced to work in.

Yeah, and it's perfectly fine for a kid to be an advanced engineer/mechanic and championship podracer at 9-years-old who also saves the day in a key battle, just as long as they're not a girl because Mary Sues absolutely suck and it's not sexist at all to say that because Marty Stu exists as an entry in allthetropes. /s

It is a universe where DRM tied to a central server is impossible. It is likely the software beyond the OEM is cracked to hell and modified far beyond its original purpose. After all, the Millennium Falcon's nav computer is repurposed droid software.

Look at it from the perspective of 1977 or just before, when the scripts were written. I wasn't alive back then, but from what you read, it was a time when (real-world) devices came with manuals, schematics, block diagrams, and if they were missing you could probably find them or get them from the manufacturer.

Apple I and II are just hitting the market, with a strong background in DIY culture, and in the unlikely case you had access to one of these (or something like an Altair 8800 etc), you'd probably know how to fix a blown cap with a soldering iron.

Maybe I'm glorifying the past here but, Star Wars was written at a time when things, including computers, were expected to be repairable. So what you're writing really only makes sense from a contemporary 2020-ies perspective, nobody would have raised an eyebrow at that detail in 1977 ... probably.

Hard agree!

Star Wars was explicitly written by a greasemonkey as gritty and grungy in direct contrast to the sleek, clean, computer-controlled future that dominated SF in that era. Droids function much more like custom cars than assembly-line computers with wireless updates.

Even later in our time but earlier in the SW time line, the one example of mass production, the droid army, was comically bad: incredibly dumb, fragile, and incompetent.

I was a kid when I watched episode 1, and I was so confused by how any of it made any sense.

Midichlorians. Obviously.

(Unless those meats are lab-grown, which seems plausible in a world where Pokémon can magically regenerate to full health at a Pokémon Center.)

I suppose we could use whatever technology is being utilised at Pokemon centres to lop limbs off of Pokemon and then regrow them. No animal killing!

Oh right, that shit made me wonder why they weren't just transfusing blood around to induct new members... Or, you know, giving the power of the force to every person.

This should be marked NSFW. If Threepo wasn't open source before, the picture of his naked wires reveals all his secrets now!

He also translated the Eewok language for them.

No medals for the Wookiee OR the droids!

I'm mean screw the droids, but Chewie?! No medal?!

Honestly I think knowing he was vader made it a lot easier to accept. Like a main character not dying in a prequel. Still though, it was pretty wack looking back. lol

Just because you can open the can doesn't mean it comes already open.
That some people can run Linux on a PS5 doesn't make the PS5 open hardware.

There is no copyright if you lack the star destroyers to enforce it. Or enough money to pay the headhunters.

The cannon fodder droids introduced in Phantom Menace are, but the other droids used by the separatists are generally ruthlessly effective.

How well would he/it do in today's Robot Wars, I wonder.

Roger Roger

For example? I'm thinking mostly about the original trilogy. What does he ever do that's useful?

I’m pretty sure Luke gives an insincere “hi” to R2D2 because he’d rather be running down to Tosche Station instead of doing farm work.

He doesn’t blink when R2 gets shot during the trench run, but his face always conveyed to me that he’s scared shitless to now be alone with fighters on his trail while focusing on pushing through that fear because now he is the last hope for the galaxy.

Before attacking the Death Star, doesn’t Luke tell the technicians take good care of R2D2? “That little droid and I have been through a lot together”, or something like that? Are those the words of someone who doesn’t care?

In "A New Hope" after R5 explodes he tells Luke they should purchase R2D2. Luke and Uncle Owen could have picked any replacement droid, but C3PO advises them to pick R2D2.

C-3PO is proprietary. How do I know this? George told me it is supposed to be the first warning sign that Anakin is evil.

I mean, he's fluent in 7,000,000 forms of communication. That's gotta count for something.

Speaks to the Ewoks and gets them to help the rebels.

about as open as a TV remote smashed on the side of the highway after it's been run over by around 1000 eighteen wheelers.