Agree with jimrpa. Your gripe is not with the person sitting in front of you, who is using the seat as intended. Your gripe is with the airline and the distance between the seats. It is unreasonable for your to request/demand that the person in front of you not recline his seat. It would be selfish.

Some suggestions: But your computer bag on your lap and put the computer on top of that. Often, that allows you additional space to open the computer. Or try opening your computer to as close to 180 degrees as possible, putting the screen towards the top of his seat, giving you more room to work. Finally, I travel with both an 11-inch MacBookAir and a much larger Dell. The MacBookAir alleviates the space problem.