You should read: Alex Payne — On the iPad
The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital economy.
This is an incredibly well thought out piece on Apple's latest gizmo. When I finally saw the specs for the iPad, my first thought was "I'd rather buy my son a netbook". The quote above helped me figure out why.
Great article. And in case you missed the link under the quote: http://al3x.net/2010/01/28/ipad.html
