[victork2]

Very well put together, I just want to say I fully agree with your point. To give a face to what you describe I would say that Apple is one of the most blatant example of what you are describing.

Furthermore the same dumbing down is happening with websites: we lose control over the information or customization because we want a slick design. Just take a look at modern website with just one function that are posted almost daily on here. They just feel so empty compared to the old and clunky websites of just a few years ago.

I don't want to make it sound like a rant but I really wonder where we went wrong in society and decided, again, to take the simplest path and just ignore details and be dumb about a technology that governs us all.

[udp]

iOS may be one of the most blatant examples of what he's describing, but Apple are not. For all the eye candy of OS X, it's still the only mainstream operating system where a bash shell is just a click away.

[keithpeter]

Depending on the definition of 'mainstream' there is only one OS where the bash prompt is not one click away...