I hated the first Macintosh. There was no command line. The video screen was monochromatic. It dealt with metaphors. It was closed, sealed off, unhackable (well, not that unhackable, if you had the tools), everything the Apple II family and DOS computers wasn't. And the mouse is more responsible for hand wrist fatigue than typing in commands. But the damn thing was built for civilians, it truly was a toaster.

Thirty-three years later, a new kludge rears its head, threatening to consign trad dead tree conveyance mediums to the museum or recycling bin of history. Once again, we hear the echoes of viva la revolution! , the future is now! I am excited about the possibilities of the Kindle, but two things give me pause - the price (new technology always seems to be exorbitant on day one, then volume drives down the price to the point of ubiquitousness) and the proprietary nature of the beast. This device has the potential in years to come be for better or worse a veritable The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy or its slightly more costlier cousin the Encyclopedia Galactica, upgradeable, user-friendly, a repository of knowledge, a travel agent, Ticketmaster, portable entertainment center, a concierge, a Michelin guide, a web browser and more.

If Amazon cannot ease up on the restrictions, rest assured the hackers will clone this and probably the good people at Red Hat or Canonical (perhaps even Google?) will give it away or sell it at near cost, making up in monthly subscription and or maintenance fees. The difference being a hackable device people can upload or build their own utilities or upgrades or customize to their own personal preference. (Apple will no doubt have its own clone that has a slicker interface, be unhackable and probably license or buy the H2G2 moniker from Adams estate to push its device among fanbois and the Apple base.)