Comment by whycome

> The only real innovation was the iPhone, but it’s just a more responsive multi touch palm, to some degree.

You can’t just treat this as a throwaway line. Touch interfaces signal a fundamental shift in the way people interact with computers. You just take swipes and gestures for granted. Have you watched a senior try to interact with the modern web? The interface is not only the buttons of the browser, but the page itself. Today we have shifting interfaces that move because of lazy load ads. We have popups that one needs to understand how to close. We have essential functions buried behind an arbitrary “hamburger” menu icon. We have sites that hijack the back button. Sites that deliberately try to deceive. And lots of software (including Microsoft apps) has shifted to a cloud model. This becomes an inextricable aspect of the interface itself. Suddenly, there’s no means to “save” and old “digital paper” model/metaphors have given way to “infinite web page” documents.

I spend a lot of time with seniors and see firsthand the roadbumps and dead ends they face.