Rene Ritchie on the tension between the traditional desktop and the new world of touch:

When the iPad was announced, a friend and former colleague of mine lamented it as the death-knell of powerful, open computing. I welcomed it as the death-knell of me providing tech support for every relative and neighbor who walked into a Best Buy and walked out with a beige box of mystery and pain. Turns out, we were both right.

And this:

And that was Apple’s plan. It’s always been their plan. From Apple II to Mac to iPad to Siri or whatever’s next, Apple has relentlessly pushed form factor and interface towards the mainstream.

Don’t know how I missed this article last week, especially with that perfectly catchy title. Rene totally gets it. That was our plan. And we came to terms with the bargain that made it.

They’ll pry the Mac from my cold, dead hands, but I’m a geek. The good news for me and other power users? That Mac is not going away anytime soon. Plus, now we have an even better solution to recommend to everyone else. Nothing but upside since we can enjoy it too.

By the way, the support war stories within the article are great—the anecdotes aren’t just anecdotal. As I mentioned to Rene earlier today, we’ve all been there with friends and relatives.