Several years (decades) ago, when I was in high school, I remember teachers rather snidely telling us that we needed to learn all of these things because «it isn't like we will be walking around with whole computers in our pockets.» (goodereader.com)
how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? (macrumors.com)
Hillis: But I think, you know, tying it to back to the whole computer thing, the idea of having conceptual systems that really are well thought out, so they're simple and easy to understand, so you don't have all these configurational problems that happen when you start combining them all together; because then it all of a sudden becomes more like a weather pattern: very unpredictable. (scientificamerican.com)