radnom

*2001 was a transition point from slow progress to the sort of performance-doubling progression you're thinking of.*

You are way off here. Lets check a contemporary source to understand the public sentiment at the time:

"My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks But it was obsolete before I opened the box You say you've had your desktop for over a week? Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique Your laptop is a month old? Well that's great If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight"

Weird Al - 1999

You also are totally incorrect about internet connectivity adoption at that point.

I took the class as a freshman, taught by Matthias, and then was a grader/lab helper the following year. (Oh gosh, this is all 15 years ago now)

In my observation, it was those with previous java/c++ experience that couldn't let that go who struggled the most. Total newbies were a blank slate and more likely to 'get it', assuming they have the abilities needed to succeed in a CS program.

> Eventual expiration seems better than nothing.

Does it? Because that is the cause of the 'impending doom' from TFA

Actually, he explicitly called out "feature velocity" as a factor.

You mean, besides all those good reasons you listed. Wifi is far from ubiquitous.

Pretty sure that performing a google search is just as easy today as it ever was.

Your response to critique of a website's design is to question what use an entire industry is outside of entertainment when pooping. Its estimated that ~50m tablets were shipped worldwide in Q1 2013.

If you really want to understand why the PC industry is drowning and mobile is on the rise, go out into the world an interact with the people using these devices. The answer will be obvious at that point.