Alex Iskold of Read/Write Web has a great post out today on the cultural shift underway in consumer computing. His premise is that the first generation of PC software (and specifically the once-dominant paradigm of Microsoft Windows + Office) made computing tasks too hard to understand, alienating most users. By contrast, the current generation of AJAX-y Web software and user-centered design (with much credit given to Apple) has brought computing tasks into closer alignment with the physical laws of cause and effect. As a result, computers and software (including the latest generation of mobile devices) are quickly shifting from a necessary evil to mainstream icons of status and culture.
