Thanks for your comment MoonBuggy, RE your netbook. You like your Netbook, I like my iPad, I wouldnt take that away from you.

Heres my friends Facebook status from yesterday:

I mentioned that it might be time to get an iPad, which does everything 90% (I'm expecting someone to jump on me for a "made up number"!) of the worlds computer users could want, slickly, in a beautiful design, for a low, low price. I got this back in response:

"didnt do everything I wanted", for a non technical user seems to mean "I looked for Windows Solitaire and didnt see it, or the start menu" :-) So, he went from Apple, to world leader Acer:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/new-acer-will-be-more-like-apple-less-like-hp/

Who'd you rather be, Steve Jobs, on top of the world, or this "Gianfranco Lanci" character, who just got the boot from Acer? :-) Lets face it, a "race to the bottom" sucks ass for everyone, you end up killing your own business, working on making the blandest, most awful machine you can for the lowest price, thats got to be great for morale, and the customer ends up with a hunk of crap, bought on hire purchase that they'll hate before it runs out of battery charge the first time, that cannot even use Facebook, you know, that thing that 500 Million people use? "but it was half the price"! :-)

I wouldnt take away your Eee PC, I agree, I dont think I'd enjoy editing/compiling code on my iPad, for students? I think you'd be nuts to buy something other than an iPad, truly.

Thank you for your refreshing comment, best wishes :-)

And I enjoyed your rebuttal :-)

RE my joke that fell on "deaf ears" - "hey man, I actually READ it, with my EYES dude, and I'm not deaf!" :-) -, I'd consider blind obedience to anything or anyone A Bad Thing.

RE "software lockin", by all means, if you want to teach children on the OLPC, be our guest! Imagine that thing next to an iPad... :-) Another joke, from Fake Steve - "you fanboy!!!!!!" :-) - http://www.fakesteve.net/2007/11/olpc-smash-hit-among-pilot-customers.html

Nothing is "limitless", but there I go playing the pedant.

I mentioned all devices breaking over time, I specifically mentioned "drop-ability" of an iPad in case VS a netbook being the same, although I stand by my theory a dropped netbook would be easier to damage, especially if the screen was open, as opposed to a slim, light solid device like a tablet. A device with hinges, ports all over the place, vents, screws... far more points of failure than a device with a breakable screen, and one major docking port at the bottom. I hope to have further infuriated/humoured you with this paragraph! :-)

Rather than debate back and forth with someone on the other side of the world, who owns the device in question, who likes it very much for his usage, and enjoys seeing the poorest school in his area giving all students such a device, when his "not as bad" school had shit, broken computers for his schoolyears, why not visit a nearby school where each student has an iPad of their own? Ask to sit in on a class, or for a teacher to show you the apps used some time convenient. I wont be at all amazed if you appreciate the device on its own merits, having seen a class in session.

From when I read the majority of replies, it was curmudgeons whining about the price, "they should have bought a lame device with a fraction the capabilities for 75% of the price!" :-)

I'd be fine with "parents paying", the school could get a very large order, and pass the savings on to the parents, who'd each pay for their childs unit.

I was the only "fanboy" I saw, its not particularly interesting to continue posting during my time off, I only thought to stop by as someone who loves the device in question, who lives in another country where schools are *also* giving each student the device, where the program has been wildly successful.

Of course, those who've never touched the device know better! If the schools were spending a wooden dime on each student, "its too bloody much! it should be a lower denomination, made from dirt!" :-)

Find a comparable device for a lower price.

You know you're in trouble when Apple not only has the most powerful, "sexiest", "magical" device on the market, but also *the cheapest*.

I wonder how that "Xoom" is doing! Poor old Apple, stuck with 5% marketshare....oh, wait..........

Give the students the choice between which they'd choose to own for *educational* reasons, and I doubt a single student would want the Kindle.

Take a teacher used to working with a classroom of iPads, and give her a class using Kindles... is she going to enjoy the change? I highly doubt it.

I've got friends with children at a local school, all using iPads. They love *learning* with the device, students of all ages, all abilities, they all enjoy *learning* with it.

I dont know about when you went to school, when I did, we had ten year old computers, with 15+ year old Macs in a back room. We often had more fun with the old Macs software, learning the programming tools included with them, and the Lego... mindstorms? These Macs were a fraction "the power" of the "good" computers, running bloody Windows NT and then later 2000, the few who also used "the antique Macs" (compared to the "old" Windows computers for the majority of classwork) enjoyed the *software* on the even older devices.

The apps available for free, or 1.29NZD (the majority) are very hard to beat. I can think of many apps that make my iPad a must have, its my personal device, most of them would be games, but I have a handful of "educational" apps that have impressed me, that I got for no particular reason other than to try them out, and they all cost a dollar or two. Local students given iPads have far more of the educational apps than I, an adult who decided to try them, use, they are in brilliant colour, they are often rather interactive, they are simple, they are robust, and they are cheap.

The Kindle may as well be "real ink", as in a book, compared to the capabilities of an iPad.

If someone offered you Tupperware containers filled with sawdust, for a hundred dollars cheaper the Kindle deal, would you have gone with them? :-) Initial price is near irrelevant, I'd rather my children were taught in buildings, than tents - "yes, we're cold, half the students have developed gangrene from weather conditions, and its really annoying when the students rip holes in our walls with a pocket knife, but think of The Taxpayers Money!" - and the iPads are *cheap*.

Not "cheap and nasty", but powerful, capable devices, and *cheap*. "Now Children, the principle has decided to save some money, so please return your iPads, they'll be bought back by Apple, minus the restocking fee, to go to the students of , but dont fret! We've gotten you all Kindles, they're cheaper for the school, yaaaa!" There'd be a bloody riot!

Ah right, the deficit, so nice of us to pay attention to it now, after the debt clock has been upgraded a few times to keep up with all those digits!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Debt_Clock

You know how we could really run that sucker down? How about we cut ALL spending, eff education, healthcare for citizens, HA! Just bloody well pay up, or you'll end up in our *essential* services, like Gitmo!

In The Morning

http://www.noagendashow.com/

Are those things still around? I've certainly never seen them deployed in New Zealand schools. And good luck getting any kind of designated educational software for them, it would be a bloody mess! "well, the program is made for a netbook with a screen size of .....ok, now click this button, oh, that key has broken off?...."

The iPad is *cheap*, its slim, it has ten hour battery life, people of all ages LOVE them, its hard to break physically (the ones I've seen at schools have cases, a netbook would be just as breakable, perhaps more so due to mass RE dropping), the software is incredible...

HELL, I have an older friend who bought a "netbook" recently, the damn thing lags on FACEBOOK for crying out loud! I saw his status yesterday, "might have to give up Facebook, it takes a few seconds for each word to appear..." while he types his status...let alone video calling, GPS abilities, geocaching....

Netbooks are a "bag of hurt", as our Lord Steve would say.

They already learn that when they stand and pledge their lives to a flag each morning, right? In all seriousness, the iPad is reliable, its *cheap*, its powerful, its also integrated, yes, however, what could go wrong? RE "Vendor lock in", were you really wanting to take each childs tablet down to the local computer store, "yeah, I'd like it to be pimped out please, double the RAM, check the CPU's thermal paste, add a liquid cooling system..." ? :-)

Ah, you meant software? No more "locked in" than any of the other educational suites used, actually, a much LARGER array of software vendors, feel free to count how many large makers already have iOS software designed for students of all levels, and all designed for the exact resolution and device the students are using, not cobbled together, like the Windows NT and then Windows 2000 computers we had to put up with, where each and every day MORE ten year old machines would crap out, necessitating "computer sharing", one senior student looking over the shoulder of another.

"but they were open!" :-)

Heres a local school being covered in The Southland Times, Invercargill's main newspaper:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/4070984/School-trialling-portable-devices-to-augment-students-learning

When trials were over, the iPad had absolutely destroyed any "competitors", the students loved them, they are "cool", they are CHEAP, they have MUCH better battery life, far better educational software custom designed for each device, often free, or 1.29 NZD.... , great quality screens, thin... did I mention they are also CHEAP?

"we were given books, all we did was draw in the margins all day", both are issues of no guidance, and uninterested students. The iPad solves that, they'll be engaged, they LOVE the iPad (what student loves the school computes? Ours were ten years old, and often broke, most of my computer classes had senior students "sharing" computers, ie one watches as the other types in Excel....riveting shit I tell you), its cool, they feel great being trusted with one...

And the best part? Even if Mum and Dad, or the teachers arnt watching? Steve Jobs sure as hell is! He Knows Whats Best, he keeps all the porn out, thats for Android you know, and he makes sure the kids are going to school each day via tracking the device! ;-)

And what would you rather that money go to? Wars overseas? Feeling up the few American kids who visit other countries? Keeping corrupt leaders in power?

"our taxes" have to go somewhere, do you want them being spent on your children, in the schools you attended as a child, or do you want it going elsewhere?

Lets face it, iPads are cheap, they are amazing, I've seen very young children using mine, its "magical" to them, they understand its technology, they learn how computers work from an early age, they use them to communicate with friends, the apps for education are MARVELLOUS and only getting better... and they are CHEAP!

If a school decides to spend money on living in 2011 rather than 1911, I'm all for it.

I hope you'll decide to be Vegan, and to extend your respect towards all other animals.

I found Professor Gary Franciones website useful when I first become Vegan, http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/ as well as the many podcast shows out there, heads up, Coexisting is my own show, http://bit.ly/veganpodcastinfo

I can understand your belief that we *need* to "experiment" on other animals, I disagree with you very strongly, and I think we can both look forward to the day that nobody is hurt in the name of experimentation.

I realise it doesnt, however, the school went ahead with the iPads, as I said above, it was covered in The Invercargill Eye, a small, free publication which is unfortunately very difficult to share online! They want you to PAY per issue, to read a PDF! :-) Bugger that, and in a day/age where every student is given an iPad too! :-)

I suggest watching Apple's advertising, because THATS surely a legit and trustworthy source ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2DGi_inE10

There are many other, longer testimonials about iPads in schools around the entire world. I used a local school, here in a rural city of 50,000 at the bottom of the world, please by all means investigate your own area.

The fact that a device can be given to each student, and it could legitimately replace ALL other "books" etc (I dont know if it is RIGHT NOW), thats great! That they own it, its theirs, its marvellous. I can imagine how I'd feel, were I one of those students, I have friends involved with the school, and they mention nothing but positive opinion, that students LOVE the device, they LOVE learning with them.

RE your "taxpayer money" argument, I'd be more worried about my taxes funding the killing of humans, multiple invasions and the instalment of puppet governments, than the HORROR of local students, my future children, at the schools I attended getting a cheap, reliable, fun, educational device to make them LOVE learning. Each to their own! :-)

The iPad is dirt cheap, dont believe so? Look at the competition, all those "floods of cheap Android devices" that will "kill the iPad", as our local Tui beer ads say, "Yeah Right". From what I've been told about US university costs, I'd think it cost effective for students to be GIVEN an iPad also, to have apps, text, podcasts, videos etc provided free, or, to help out the institute, have them for 99c! Imagine that, all your textbooks etc costing 99c US, with the majority going to the university/school.

"A Personal Computer does NOT replace a mainframe", "GUI is a toy, Command Line forever" etc :-)

I'll put it simply : where once schools might have given out "netbooks" - remember those? that little fad of shit quality machines for a few hundred dollars? -, now entire schools are given iPads, even in small, rural cities like mine, Invercargill, New Zealand.

Heres a local news story about the comparisons.... and the iPad won out by a huge margin. It was cheaper, better, "cooler" (by FAR), had more functionality via Apps... students would actually WANT to use it, to show their parents what they were working on, to use the device with their friends.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/4070984/School-trialling-portable-devices-to-augment-students-learning

Thats a few hundred sales right there, and thats excluding the consumer and business markets. "Digital" is the way of the future, and thanks to the iPad, the present, even in my area, at the bottom of the world.

It makes me wonder though, what IS the iPhone 4's competition amongst Android handsets right now? If I wanted to suddenly throw my iPhone into a blackhole, and get an Android phone, which would I pick?

It seems there are literally a HUNDRED current phones out there, all slightly different in trivial ways, probably fitting into three main classes, cheap ass and nasty, kinda better, and high end. The cheap, and thats in a bad way, Android devices SUCK. And they are probably the ones making up the big "marketshare", collectively.

I have no problem with my American friends who have an EVO, or Nexus S, although both of those are majorly offputting to me, I dont think they are at all comparable to an iPhone 4, which has a *much* higher overall quality.

If someone wants a 3.7 inch handset (can you imagine the average customer going into a carriers store and asking for something "in a size 3.7 diagonally, perhaps an OLED..." ?), or a 4 inch handset, or a 4.3, there are options. The phones seem built around a certain spec, "we gotta have THIS", the rest of the device serves as life support for that one spec. Another example are the current Dual Core phones, which are universally butt ugly, "but they is the dual cores!!!111!!!"

I see the iPhone as built to be THE iPhone, its all together, its whole, it is more than the collection of its parts, an XXXX size battery, with a X.X "inch" screen, with a XMP camera etc. I dont feel the same way about Android devices.

What is *the* iPhone competitor with current Android devices? I dont think theres an exact match in the Android world? They are all larger, plastic, have inferior cameras, nowhere near as nice design....

And really, if I'm going to spend a thousand dollars on a phone, and then $10-20 USD a month to use it for an hour+ a day, with it on my person at all times, my lifeline to the world, why would I want some big ugly plastic lump, built as cheaply as possible, and all around one particular number?