And if you want a tiny computer you can get a more powerful machine, with a keyboard, that supports all the software you already use, and is roughly the same size, for less than half the money. And humans can already use it, ‘cos it’ll use whatever interface they already know. And you won’t get fingerprints on the screen.

Nope, don’t get it at all.

As to OS X, I think it is far too complex and I quite agree that things like Dashboard and Hot Corners are unusable widgets. I don’t think the iPad will have those problems.

The value proposition of the iPad to me is: £550 or so for a thing that’s better than my current laptop (or any I could buy) for doing the things I usually use it for. Given the amount of time I spend using my laptop (vs how much I used my pre-iPhone phone), this is a much easier purchase to justify.

It will be a success, if it is a success, because (a)Steve Jobs tells everyone it should be (b) it will look pretty, (c) it will have adverts with cool dancing young people. I can’t see it personally, because I think they’ve got an uphill struggle to persuade many people they need a completely new toy that doesn’t do anything their current toys don’t – with the phone, they just had to convince people to spend £100 a year more than they currently did on their contracts, but this sounds like a tougher proposition.