Jonathan Zittrain must feel a bit like Cassandra, the mythical Trojan princess cursed with the gift of seeing the future -- but having nobody believe her prophecy.

Zittrain, a professor and author, warns against the dangers of lock-in posed by technologies like the iPhone and the cloud computing environment.

The creativity that has marked the PC and Internet eras could be in peril, he says.

Obviously, people are flocking to the iPhone and the cloud despite these warnings.

Zittrain is keeping at it. His latest effort is an op-ed in the New York Times.

At least he'll be able to say, I told you so.