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Comment by njharman | Hacker News Reader

> all attempts to make a simplified limited computer over the years have failed

Really? Ever heard about iTouch/iPhone? They are the very definition of

> Make it simple to use, but not limited.

Tivo is another simplified, very limited computer. That is the nature of consumer devices. Limited but exceptionally simple and "just works" at the thing they do.

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As Kejistan said, you don't buy an iPhone instead of a computer. Most people are used to phones that can make calls, send messages and little more, so the iPhone is more capable. Tivo is also not a replacement for a computer, but for less capable movie/tv players.

Most people may just be browsing the web most of the time, but they also use the computer to copy photos from a camera, make party invitations, etc. Netbooks may not be suitable for running Photoshop and Excel, but they can when you need to. This is why they are so popular.

And yet you don't buy an iPhone as a replacement for your computer. People still need a "real" computer, and for that reason we're probably not going to see computers go the way of the dodo in favor of iPads.

Well, uh, isn't this how Apple is marketing the iPad? The thing you use when you're not out and about but don't want to deal with "the computer"?

The computing device that takes care of 80% of your day to day computing needs? (ie: Watching videos of kittens on YouTube)

And heck, even if that's the case and the "real computer" turns into an incredible niche device, do we even need the power of a gigantic desktop machine with 8 gigs of RAM and the super duper video card? I don't know about you guys, but all I need is a terminal and I can do 99.9% of the hacking I want to do (sometimes I use gitk).

The only reason my parents don't use an iPhone as a replacement for their computer is the screen size. The only reason. For a reasonably large subset of "people" a 'real' computer is an unnecessarily complicated device.

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