<i>I don't understand why so many people are getting their panties in a knot because somebody is selling another non-general-use device with a processor.</i><p>They actually are general-purpose devices, just deliberately limited by Apple. And I'm sort of ok with that; I'm not ok with them actively trying to stop you from removing those limitations on your own device, and calling you a criminal if you do. A seller trying to control how you use a product after you've bought it is an attack on your property rights.<p><i>This is not undermining constructivist education, free culture, decentralized power or open systems in any meaningful way.</i><p>Not by itself. But if closed devices like the iPad marginalize open devices, it becomes much easier to enforce user-hostile laws like CBDTPA (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Broadband_and_Digital_Television_Promotion_Act" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Broadband_and_Digital_...</a>).