Some interesting perspectives and commentary here.

I agree with Gruber that the “openness” argument with respect to the Apple iPad has about as much merit as it does applied to a modern motor vehicle. One is no longer able to pop the hood and tinker; there’s nothing left to tinker with. And automobiles are much more reliable, powerful, economical and efficient as a consequence.

I’ve spent the last ten years riding the only vehicle I own—a Yamaha RD350. It’s a two-stroke. It’s less efficient than most modern sedans. It smells and pollutes. It needs expert hands, love and care to fix (if you can find those hands). By necessity, I can tell what’s wrong with it by the way it moves and sounds. I can strip and rebuild it’s carburetors in 20 minutes. I could and have modified it to go faster, turn better and look the business. It’s “open” and it’s a giant pain in the ass.

I’ve used PCs for over 20 years. I’ve used DOS, OS/2, various versions and flavours of Windows, Linux and the BSDs. I can build a PC from scratch in 30 minutes, code if the situation is dire, remain on-call for tech support to friends and family and generally owe my gainful employment to the PC. Through the years my PCs have broken down, been upgraded, replaced, reformatted and tinkered with just for fun. My PCs are “open” and a giant pain in the ass.

These days, ET uses a MacBook, which she bought against my better judgement. My better judgement wasn’t. It has been a singularly prudent computer purchase. Three years, one dead hard disk and battery later, she still uses it every day. It’s rarely turned off or rebooted and has been around the country and halfway across the world with her more than once. Today, the home PC is in the best shape it’s ever been. Guess which one needs more tech support?

Nowadays, I commute on a tester Yamaha R15. It’s tiny, 4-stroke, fuel-injected, plastic, boy-racer red and has the old-school motorcycle cred of Lady Gaga. It’s also quick, reliable, safe, fun and frugal to the extent that I have money left over at the end of the month. I don’t want to give it back.

So I’m keeping my second iPhone and saving for the 3G iPad when it comes along. As applied to most people, complaints about it’s level of “openness” or lack thereof is just hypocrisy. We consume more than we create. Deal with it or learn to clean your own carbs.

You don’t have to have just one computer or just one motorcycle, but if I had to choose today, I’d probably choose to ride to work with a very tiny backpack for my lunch and iPad on a plastic rice-rocket.