<i>This is why I say that the iPad is a cynical thing: Apple can’t – or won’t – conceive of a future for personal computing that is both elegant and open, usable and free.</i><p>Sheesh.<p>It's not a computer.  It's an appliance.<p>If you want an open programmable device, they will cheerfully sell you a Mac.<p><i>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><p>And if I had a dishwasher rather than a real computer as a kid, I'd never be a programmer today, either.  Oh, wait.  The two have nothing to do with each other, except that they both contain microprocessors.