>Desktops vs phones is a very different proposition. There are a huge range of tasks that phones/tablets don't do and won't do any time soon.

I agree, but we're not talking about desktops/laptops vs. mobile devices; we are talking about using computers in general and whether a deeper understanding of computers is actually valuable to most people.

>Recursive objects are unnatural and basically never encountered in real life,

I disagree, recursive objects are everywhere. File cabinets are an obvious example, being the literal source of the metaphor. Public libraries are another. An employee's place within a company is also one.

>The problem is though, that iOS/Android/ChromeOS simplified their UX not actually by finding ways to make things simpler, but just by getting rid of the ability to do those things at all. Simple things are simple and complex things are out of scope. If these newer platforms represented pure progress in usability we either wouldn't see or wouldn't care about these articles because universities and companies would just use tablets for everything.

From the perspective of the average user, it's an absolute improvement in usability. They don't have to be concerned about technicalities they never cared about in the first place anymore.

Photo and Camera apps just dump all pictures in one, single location and most people love it because they don't need to deal with files anymore. They're dealing with pictures they want to interact with, not "files".

Want to send a picture to someone? Pick a picture in the Photo app and hit the email button! Even grandmas can figure that out, unlike going into your email client and digging through the file system to find the pict-- I'm sorry, file that you want to send.

It pains me to write all this, actually, because I appreciate file system access. But the brutal reality of the matter is people don't fucking care, computers as we know it are an obnoxious nuisance to them. The people want computers that are simple and intuitive to use, power be damned because they can't and won't use that power anyway.

>They can't, primarily because of the choices made by those operating systems. Instead they have to give remedial classes in how to use Windows.

I'm actually half-expecting a paradigm shift from Apple on this front in the near future. They're slowly turning the iPad to be more in line with personal computers in productive capability, so if they succeed we might see the absolute end of the desktop and laptop form factors as anything more than an eccentric novelty; to be replaced by tablets, supported by servers on the internet ("the cloud") for the really intensive tasks.

We're already seeing an astonishing adoption rate of "It Just Fucking Works(tm)" computers like Macbooks, Chromebooks, and smartphones and tablets in places that would previously have been the absolute domain of Windows and Linux desktops and laptops. Apple and Google might be on the cusp of a turning point in personal computing history.

>The industry made progress in some areas (simplicity, robustness) but only at the cost of abandoning large parts of what made computing so useful to begin with.

Windows and Linux still exist for the enthusiasts and professionals who sincerely need or want that power of complexity and versatility.

The takeaway is most people never needed nor wanted Windows and Linux, they always just wanted a computer that works like an appliance and software engineering and IT infrastructure is finally getting to the point that desire is a reality.

>It'd be more like if people didn't complain about oil changes anymore because cars had been replaced entirely with public transport.

If the world goes the way environmentalists and certain politicians want it to go, most of us certainly won't be complaining about oil changes soon. :V