On: The Pendulum Swings, Again

[rolux]

5 years ago many people could and did swap components in their PC. Now try doing that with a modern smartphone or laptop.

Do you think this is an entirely new development? Wouldn't the statement "5 years ago people could do X with computers, now they can't" in fact hold true for the last, say, 40 years in the history of computing?

[chii → rolux]

But the argument here is about the specific property of black boxes.

Computers in the olden days tend not to be hermetically sealed black boxes.