Good points. However, it's not so much that the various app frameworks make us dumber, it's that they take away opportunities for us to exercise our intelligence to create solutions. Concerning backwards compatibility: well, you know, it's about Microsoft pushing all of us - developers, managers, clients, users - into the bright new worlds they create, not about establishing continuity for their subjects. Just turn off part of your brain, submit, go with the flow, and everything will be fine. Don't worry, those backwards shops using old technologies will eventually drag themselves into line.