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Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Close... my primary argument is really coming from the opposite direction, that simplicity and focus are virtues routinely lost in the world of electronics. (The secondary argument is that certain additions impede the basic functionality.)
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Come now, surely you are not saying eReaders should have no other options mainly because in your opinion simplicity is a virtue? That is like saying they should have no color either because black & white is a virtue, or that they should have no dictionary support because knowing how to manually use a dictionary is a virtue.
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Specialization isn't always required or optimal. But ultimately I am asserting that a device that is made for reading books will benefit greatly by focusing on reading books. What a concept. 
As to detraction, yes some functions will degrade the benefit of an ereader. Calendar reminders and integrated email will interrupt reading. Background apps -- even the ability to run a lot of background processes -- will require more powerful (and power-hungry) hardware, which will increase costs and reduce battery life.
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Who said anything about calendar reminders or e-mail popups? Do you really expect manufactures to say overnight "hey, you know what our eReader needs? Popups! And ones you cannot turn off!". You are talking about a hypothetical scenario that is as likely as me winning the lottery. And I don't buy lottery tickets.
Additionally, again you focus on hardware changes. I say no, au contraire, many of the features people want can easily be achieved using the hardware that is already there. There is no reason whatsoever why these functions cannot run on most existing eReaders since, as I already pointed out, the hardware required for it was already available a decade ago.
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Sure, but as any decent programmer -- especially one who has been through development cycles where the end-users or managers keep piling on "just one more function, c'mon this next one will take you 5 minutes" -- knows, more code = more development time, more bugs, more customer support, more manuals etc.
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One of the first arguments I can agree with: yes, it would throw up some obstacles development-wise. But the whole point of this thread was to ask what functionality people wanted - as such, we are already assuming a situation where a company has some capacity for development left. Since Sony for example is a huge multinational with over
400.000 eReaders sold I find it save to assume there is at least some budget for development here. I'm fairly sure they can handle a few extra functions, call me mister optimist if you like