[Derbasti]

Lets compare this to airplanes. Air travel used to be limited to those who were able and crazy enough to actually fly planes themselves. Now everyone can use planes for transportation in a very mediated and controlled environment. A pilot flying in an airliner is very much like a programmer using an iPhone: Other engineers did all the hard work and the net result is something somewhat boring and limiting (a commercial airliner will only fly to certain destinations). On the other hand it is also very safe and comparatively cheap. Now flying an aircraft on your own is amazingly fun and an exhilarating experience. But it is also very expensive, quite complicated and somewhat dangerous.

Now the point is, I am both a programmer and a pilot myself. So I can definitely see the appeal of both. But, I happily use an iPhone and commercial air travel. Other people have put in a lot of work to made these very safe and reliable for common purposes and they really work well for crossing the atlantic while listening to a podcast.

The iPhone is not denying anyone access to laptops any more than an Airbus is denying you access to a Cessna. They are not dumbing the population down. They get the job done with as little disturbance as possible. For the crazy ones though, There are real computers and real airplanes!