Design

I just read a bit in Idoru where a character comes to the realization that devices -- computers, but really anything where the guts of the device aren't necessarily related to the externals -- are inherently wasteful. You want a new computer, you buy one and trash the whole of the other - when, usually, all you really wanted was a newer operating system or more storage. He comes up with the idea of divorcing the two, selling the ability to swap out as needed. I've often wondered why my data on a computer is on the same memory device -- hard drive, though it doesn't have to be -- as the computer's operating system. Why can't they be separate, so that when I want a new operating system, I either swap out or flash-update the computer's part?

Why not?