"The incumbents said the personal computer was inadequate and underpowered. It couldn't even multitask, unlike their glorious, room-filling computers. The perso

"The incumbents said the personal computer was inadequate and underpowered. It couldn't even multitask, unlike their glorious, room-filling computers. The personal computer would never catch on, they cried. They were wrong." Notice how the modern personal computer eventually grew features that made it a more attractive proposition for people who were addicted to the power of the previous model. A modern personal computer offers all of the power and flexibility of an early vacuum tube computer, and much much more, without needing to deal with burned-out vacuum tubes (suck on that, people who think the command line is a big deal!). A quick perusal of the iPad programming guide reveals that there are now rudimentary features for sharing data between applications. That said... My worry is that with the New World computing model (locked down by default, with the inviolability of the locks arguably backed by the DMCA) this process will be significantly slower and less pleasant if the mothership (whoever 'owns' the platform) has that kind of leverage over people who would otherwise give it a well-deserved kick in the pants. Here is a well-known app for the early Macintosh, well into 'jailbreaking' territory: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Switcher.txt&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detail=medium&search=switcher http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s... It is interesting to compare the difference between then and now in what kind of experience the guy who develops Switcher ends up having.