Item — HN Reader

I think this is getting us nowhere, but ok, I'll try again.

Flying and books incite us to wonder. A computer can assist us in wondering. It can enable us to explore ideas. That's the potential of the computer and that's what Alan's Dynabook was promising.

Sure, we can rip out functionality until we have a computer that is so pretty and simple that a monkey can use it, but that's not fulfilling the promise that computers hold. That's not what Alan was talking about.

Forgive us all who dare persist contentedly with balloons

You're forgiven. (Just not tolerated well on a place like HN. :-)

Sure, we can rip out functionality until we have a computer that is so pretty and simple that a monkey can use it...

So now my mother is a monkey? Come on now, you're exaggerating.

Your mother is a monkey!

But seriously, I apologize if I went over the top. I understand and respect what you're saying. There's nothing wrong with getting the current state-of-the-art stable and usable; I shouldn't have intimated otherwise.

Edit: And don't tell your mom what I said or she'll tell my mom, and then I'll get it.