Because the mouse offers a precise input method, useful (essential in a lot of cases) when drawing, and a real keyboard is easier to type on than a software one -- even drawings often have text in them. Unless you need to do your art while walking your dog, there is no downside to having additional input tools -- having a mouse and keyboard doesn't stop you from having a touch screen.

Maybe you haven't done much hunting or other outdoor activities, but anything that is not at least partially waterproof is utterly useless. Even sitting in your pack outside your tent/bivy overnight is enough to fill most devices with enough moisture to prevent them turning on in the morning -- and that's in good weather. They'll work fine once they've dried out (in most cases) but until then you're on your own.

Well, I put it in quotation marks because I was using it in the sense that I think the parent was using it -- I agree it's too broad a term to really be of use.

I agree with your point -- to an extent. Most of the tasks you list would be greatly helped if a keyboard and mouse could be used in conjunction with the touch screen with a suitably designed OS.

With regards to the hot air problem.... some see that as a feature. I prefer using my dell laptop instead of my GF's macbook pro, since the macbook's aluminium chassis and good power management make for a lap mounted heat sink, while my dell with it's plastic body and innovative combined CPU/heater make for a cosy lap heater (it's winter here). If only the dell came with a 50-cell battery so you could use it unplugged from the wall...

The problem is that there isn't enough money to be made in making products for people who know what they want..... Too small a market. The real money is made selling things to people who can be TOLD what they want.

I think he explained that fairly clearly.... At least, if it is designed for 'creating things', it isn't designed very well! If it had been designed to 'create things' it would have lost much of it's appeal to those who don't want it to create things, by requiring a larger screen, keyboard, more ports, better specs (==higher power consumption) etc.

The products that could really compete IMO are ones that are not just copies. A good example is the Lenovo Ideapad tablet. It isn't the same as an iPad, it's more of a cross between an iPad and a netbook. One of the great things about it IMO is that it switches to a special touch OS when you fold it up as a touch screen device, and back to windows when you open out the keyboard -- I think this solves one of the major drawbacks of other tablet PCs.

It is a bit larger than the iPad at 10", but still very compact. To people who like the idea of an iPad, but can't quite justify buying a device that doesn't have a keyboard etc. it could be quite attractive.

I've also been using KDE with PA since then, and up until recently I hadn't had any problems either. However, since installing Kubuntu 10.04 on my laptop recently I have been having no end of trouble with audio. PA does seem to have been working in most cases, but there are (have been?) issues, so I don't think the parent's comment was a troll at all...

Diein' ain't much of a livin' boy...

Yep, there is simply no substitute for tactile feedback when it comes to a good UI. Touch-screens are great -- in ADDITION to buttons, not instead of.

Touch screens are fine if all you want to do with a device is browse the internet etc. As soon as you want to type or control a phone or media device they fail miserably. The lack of tactile feedback prevents fast typing, and means you cannot control a device (like change music tracks or reply to a text message) without looking at it. That's a pretty fundamental problem IMO.

I'm all for touch screens, but most devices will always need good old buttons as well. If the industry ignores this, we'll end up with a whole lot of devices with less functionality than current ones.

Yes, but mass extinction-causing asteroids don't happen at regular intervals. There could be one coming in 20 years or 200 million years, we don't know. We may spot such an asteroid a few decades in advance, but would we be able to do anything about it in that amount of time? I'd say that would be a resounding "Maybe.....".

Well said. I think the only solution is to genetically engineer a perfect dictator, with no ambition or emotion etc.