In the context of an argument over single-purpose microcontrollers vs. general-purposes computers with modern featureful operating systems: No, it doesn't count. Nothing counts at all. ESP32 doesn't count, ATMega doesn't count, RP2040 doesn't count, Pi0/1/2/3/4/5/eleventy doesn't count.
The whole argument is reprehensibly incoherent at its very core and there is no aspect of it that has any meaningful value.
Microcontrollers and general-purpose computers are both very useful things.
And while there is some overlap in how they can be used they are used, they are also very different things, with very different costs (to purchase, and to implement).
It's a tired old argument that has been happening for as long as we've had both affordable computers, and also affordable microcontrollers (several decades, by my count). It has never been resolved, and it cannot ever be resolved.
Both things can co-exist. This isn't like Highlander or the Superbowl: There can be more than one. It's OK.
The whole argument is reprehensibly incoherent at its very core and there is no aspect of it that has any meaningful value.
Microcontrollers and general-purpose computers are both very useful things.
And while there is some overlap in how they can be used they are used, they are also very different things, with very different costs (to purchase, and to implement).
It's a tired old argument that has been happening for as long as we've had both affordable computers, and also affordable microcontrollers (several decades, by my count). It has never been resolved, and it cannot ever be resolved.
Both things can co-exist. This isn't like Highlander or the Superbowl: There can be more than one. It's OK.