>Computers are not tools. I think this is a part of the trend that we're criticizing. Computers use to be tools, and to use them one necessarily had to learn s

>Computers are not tools. I think this is a part of the trend that we're criticizing. Computers use to be tools, and to use them one necessarily had to learn something about them. Over the last decade or so, the computer has been transformed into a platform, one in which the user has decreasing control over. Instead of empowering its users its become yet another mechanism for marketing. Sure, the rising tide has lifted all boats, its users have become more empowered. But there was so much more potential (and still is). We're not seeing this potential being explored in the current era of startups (or at least they're not front and center).