I tend to be one of those people who picks the best of products from a variety of tech companies based on my own needs. My Cell Phone is from Palm. I love my Mac Mini, but avoid Mac peripherals like okra. The best word processor is still WordPerfect, but Open Office is definitely better than Word and is more than good enough for home use. Firefox is by far the best browser for 99% of websites, but I use Chrome for Yahoo's fancy email version because Chrome is much faster with JavaScript than any other browser, which is Chrome's only redeeming value.

I figured I should disclose that I'm not a fanboy. I'm a picky bastard.

Anyway, Steve Jobs has teased the world with his release of the IPad to high praise and enormous ridicule. I find this interesting, because the IPad that he showed off was very much an unfinished product. Microsoft is notorious for releasing beta software as a finished product, while Google will call finished and stable products "beta" for years. Jobs is definitely emulating Microsoft on this one.

The video I've seen on the Apple website shows that the IPad has a lot of potential due to its portability and style. But, it needs major improvements.

Things it needs:

1) 3-4 USB ports. My Mac Mini has USB ports so I can use a real keyboard and mouse and other devices. There's no excuse for the IPad not having them. Touch screen keyboards are crap. They should let people use real keyboards (and not shoddy Apple keyboards either) for longer amounts of typing. Since IPads don't have cameras and would be too big and awkward for taking lots of photos, there should be an easy way for people to sync their cameras via USB.

2) A Camera: I suspect the AT&T's crappy network is keeping Apple from implementing a camera which would logically allow video conferencing. F That.

3) Choice of Carriers: AT&T is already swamped with people using IPhones. Sprint is better and cheaper than AT&T. People should be able to use whatever carrier they want.

4) A Phone: What's the point of getting a big IPhone that doesn't even have a phone?

5) Alternatives to Apple's Apps Store: Apple arbitrarily excludes apps for dumb reasons. The apps API should be open so people can buy any kind of app they want for the IPad from anybody they want, including ones with sexual content. If IPads become market leaders, the Justice Department will be legally obligated to intervene against this monopolistic, Microsoft style tactic.

6) Multitasking: Until Apple implements that, you're better off buying a Palm Pre, which also has a phone. At least you can use a retracted ball point pen as a stylus for that device.

7) Lack of Disk Space: The IPad really needs at least 200 GB of disk space to be worth buying. Otherwise, I would have to constantly do complicated syncs with my Mac, switching which media I want on the IPad. I like the simple syncs I do with my IPod Classic, and I would expect to be able to do them on an IPad just as simply.

8) A DVD Player: Face it, the single most popular reason people will buy IPads will be to watch porn. Locking people out of their DVD porn collections is biting the hands (usually right hands) that will be feeding Apple. There's no reason why people should be prevented from seeing their other DVDs on IPads either.

A Thing It Might Need:

1) A Stylus: I tried the IPod touch when I finally got around to buying an IPod, and the touchscreen interface was execrable, especially for someone who has big hands. Fortunately, I tried the IPod Classic, and the wheel interface works wonderfully from the get go. (The Classic also has much more disk space, which should be the biggest criterion for buying an IPod anyway.) Basically, IPhones and IPod touches are for women and men with teeny, tiny fingers. Fingers are terrible devices for using touch screens in general, even small fingers. The styluses, which even Palm is phasing out, are much easier, faster, and more precise devices for using touch screens than the human anatomy. Perhaps the larger screen of the IPad will help make the execrable IPhone user interface more usable, but I'm skeptical.

What's the Rush?

Why did Jobs feel the need to rush something to the market which wasn't even close to ready?

This should be the focus of a lot of speculation among Mac addicts. I wonder why it isn't?