It was this sort of realization by people in the 80's who were seeing Microprocessors that could do much of what computers could do at the start of their careers, who thought "Wow, we can make a 'microcomputer' that does all that too."
It is possible today to write a full accounting package that tracks an entire families budget for all the things they buy and all their expenses and income that runs on a $2 chip with another $5 in peripherals. If you re-use the family TV for a display, you can build an inexpensive appliance that could help a family manage their budget, wirelessly send required data to a tax calculation service or program, and never need software "updates".
This is the opportunity of the "new" microprocessor revolution (in my opinion), which is basically one computer per program. And the whole package "just works."