An Unexpected Ass Kicking
No discussion about this?<p><i>when people use iPads they end up just using technology to consume things instead of making things. With a computer you can make things. You can code, you can make things and create things that have never before existed and do things that have never been done before.</i><p>I think closed devices are really a step backwards. I learnt  programming (and a whole lot more, like mathematics and logic), when I picked up a computer as a kid and discovered Python and started hacking around. I could look around for tutorials, download code or try out code from books and nobody stopped me.<p>On a somewhat similar vein, I am also sad that desktops are slowly going away. I learnt so much more about computers (and how it is not magic) by building my own.<p>I think something needs to be said about systems that allow you to explore and hack around for the fun of it.