<i>&gt; we&#x27;ve already seen home system storage go from [...]</i><p>Yes, but the point is that there will always be a requirement to manage and persist the data you are working on <i>somehow</i>, and how you go about this <i>somehow</i> dramatically impacts (or should impact) the choices you make at the more abstract level of data structures. It <i>is</i> a fundamental concept that you <i>will</i> be forced to consider in one way or the other. You can have the fastest algo in the world crunching huge amounts of data, but if you then take an inordinate amount of time to store and retrieve results, it&#x27;s as bad as having blazing-fast storage and crappy algos.<p><i>&gt; I&#x27;m sure there are some iron-clad universals in HID</i><p>I agree that is traditionally considered a subclass of I&#x2F;O, but I think in recent years we have seen that it&#x27;s much more important than previously understood. Good software with mediocre UI is ignored while mediocre software with good UI can change the world. This is one of the few real discoveries in our field since the &#x27;80s.<p><i>&gt;&gt; power management, booting<p>&gt; Two things which have changed quite a bit</i><p>... but are still there in some shape or form, and will forever be there. They are changing the world because people put effort and thought into them as fundamental parts of computing experiences, not one-offs that can be simply ignored as &quot;constant time&quot;.