He likens the computer today to the electric motor of yesteryear. The obvious analogy is to the overly general personal computer with specialized software for word-processing, databases, and drawing. But that's as far as the analogy holds, because the computer has many more degrees of freedom than an electric motor. But I do not believe that anyone is going to think of all the ways that I want to use a computer. There is a joy in making things for yourself, for expressing yourself through a medium.
People still do make wood bookshelves.
The computer offers unprecedented flexibility with unprecedented ease. I don't want anyone taking that away from me. Of course, there are levels that I probably don't want to dig down to, like rewriting network code. But I want as much flexibility reservered for me as possible. People can create things of beauty with computers.