“Apple is as closed a system as it gets – listen to all the restrictions they place on apps for the iPhone store. People would jump all over Microsoft for less – far less. They limit iPhones to just one vendor and people are more upset at the vendor than Apple for being so closed.”

I love my iPhone and am a Mac user who hasn’t looked back — at Windows or Linux. Just wanted to set the frame for what I’m about to say…

…I completely agree. The restrictions on the iPhone are infuriating. It was a victory when they dropped DRM from their music, but it was just one of the millions of places DRM is used to cripple what we can do with the things we pay for.

I’ve been thinking of building a Hackintosh for a bit, actually. It’s a taboo subject since it’s “illegal,” except that I’d buy a box copy of the OS and install it on hardware I bought…

(Oh, and Palm tried to get their Pre to sync with iTunes. It became a cat-and-mouse game of Apple doing things to cripple it and Palm finding a workaround.)

All this said… A coworker brought in his new iPad today, and I was sold after about 60 seconds playing with it. I think the struggle is how to define it. It’d be a terrible tablet, for the reasons you mention. I don’t really see it filling the same roles as my iPhone, either — like the ability to get my email, check the web, or put things on my calendar anywhere, because I always have my phone on me. But for casual web browsing not around a computer, checking your email, or playing some games, it seems fun. It’s hard to articulate exactly what I’d do with it, I suppose.