Jeff Atwood (a previously non-Apple guy) has finally acknowledged the importance of the iPhone, at what it means for the world of programming:
The platform is now so compelling and polished that even I took the plunge. For context, this is the first Apple product I’ve owned since 1984. Literally. I am largely ambivalent towards Apple, but it’s impossible to be ambivalent about the iPhone — and in particular, the latest and greatest iPhone 3GS. It is the Pentium to the 486 of the iPhone 3G. A landmark, genre-defining product, no longer a mere smartphone but an honest to God fully capable, no-compromises computer in the palm of your hand. Here’s how far I am willing to go: I believe the iPhone will ultimately be judged a more important product than the original Apple Macintosh.
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I didn’t write this to kiss Apple’s ass. I wrote this because I truly feel that the iPhone is a key inflection point in software development. We will look back on this as the time when “software” stopped being something that geeks buy (or worse, bootleg), and started being something that everyone buys, every day. You’d have to be a jaded developer indeed not to find something magical and transformative in this formula, and although others will clearly follow, the iPhone is leading the way.
He’s great writer and quite a good programmer; many of the things I learn about programming come from him.