I disagree. There are a lot of times where I dont' want to use- or don't want to carry- a computer.
oh, it's fine if you live at a desk! But even in a lab, it's easier to cart around a 41CX and have data entry, alarm fuctions, and the ability to solve complex interactions than to cart around a laptop, power cord, deal with no breaking hinged screens.....
Tell d.b. that a computer is easier in the field surveying. or a geologist.
In the same amount of time it takes a comanion to retreive a machine, boot, get into forte for java, and start working out code, I can complete a basic test algo on a 28, 48, 41, or even 42 (you have to sort of build some libraries for these examples) for an natural language or "experintial learning" problem and have the problem and solution definitions on the white board.
Yeah- most people don't need all the functions that were found in a 42S, or a 41CX, or a 67 for that matter. But they were there for a reason and got used. I don't think the utility is gone, I think people just have been programmed to need chrome by the ton.
After all, I could just as easily have put down the calculator and used my Commodore PET in the early 80s- nothing has really changed in that regard.