Very few technology companies, or companies in general, give the user decision power. By this I mean that when you purchase a device or an object companies like to cage you in with the services that support the device or even just lack of customization. Take a moment and think how much real world influence this has on a person. By limiting what a device can or can not do one is also limiting a users lifestyle and real world interactions.  When you buy something from a company you also partake in the drinking of the koolaid.

I think that the average consumer does not mind this because they are too glad to have a new feature or whatnot. In reality though these features could have been around longer or been introduced earlier they where just being held back for monitory reasons.  The average user is average because the systems they use are built for average use. Even when a system can handle advanced customization or advanced use it is made difficult because manufactures and designers are afraid of a user breaking something, the user is lazy, and the user does not have the time.

If you think about the past when people did more hands on things you think about the level of customization they wanted to be able to do in a product. Things had to be built, like radios and TVs, and the act of building them made them yours. If you wanted to customize them you could because you had the time.

While technology is more advanced very little effort has been made to create a universal system of parts that can integrate. A modular build your own device or user interface type system. You have to be an electronics engineer or a software engineer to accomplish these things.

Companies making these decisions for us is convenient and allows us to move quickly and have a standard of knowledge to share but it removes human ingenuity from the equations. It is an evolution that easily creates wider gaps in knowledge classes.  We now put most of our time into using these devices then actually using time building something.

The makerspace and hackspace movements are creating new crowds dedicated to building and making something your own.  I hope that fast build components and strategies come out of these groups and start giving the decision power back to the person.