Yes. Technology has moved on. Sitting in front of the TV with a bare board and a mess of wires isn't very appealing, compared to sitting with a laptop at a desk, running a fast and modern OS and applications.
Because Linux is in no way modern.
If you add up all the costs for the Pi
$20 for a DVI cable, $20 for a 16Gb flash card. Case by dollar store. Keyboards and mice I have, but even if you haven't, a half decent set will cost $20 tops.
the price difference isn't all that interesting either.
Less than $100 verses what... $500 for a laptop that won't die within 6months? Ok, if you say so.
The laptop will cost a bit more
Even if you have to purchase all of the above, it's still 5 times the price. Hardly "a bit".
and it will run (Open)Office
So will this. It's even in the FAQs.
IM software teenagers want to use.
Hmm, linux doesn't run IM software? I must be imagining the Pidgin icon in my tray then.
For any kind of hardware tinkering, the Pi is very closed, and doesn't offer much interesting I/O.
As I pointed out to you, there are datasheets out there for the CPU... Whilst that might not be enough for some people, it's a start.
Not everyone is looking at this from the perspective of "from scratch" tinkering and just because it's not the Arduino doesn't mean that others might not find it interesting.
Also, if you make something useful, you can't make your own hardware based on it.
The designs are there, and quite frankly this is a complete nonsense of an argument. Good luck trying to find anyone willing to build you hugely complex multi layer circuit boards in single units at anything like a price mortal man can afford.
Taking your argument PC's are also useless, because you can't get all the parts in single unit prices to roll your own either.