I don't think you will ever be in the market targeted by an iPad. Some people (me included) will always need trucks. On the other hand, I can see about 90% of the people around me being able to use and iPad right now to replace their current computer needs.
You're right. Compromises need to be made in order to keep the iPad efficient in the way it was originally designed and it's pretty unlikely that it will ever become a mobile coding workstation like the GP wants. Why you're being down voted is beyond me.
Is the hardware capable of letting you do coding and what not? Sure. But at the limitation of keeping it appealing to the masses? Probably not.
It's simple. There is more money to be made on the average consumer than the much rarer programmer/power user.
If you don't like that then I guess you should be happy there are alternatives that maybe one day will do what you want. But as it stands, not even Android (the "power user" OS, if you want to even call it that) doesn't even do what you want without rooting it.
Point is, what the GP wants isn't really something we'll see for the time being. Being cranky about it isn't going to change things.
No, I fully agree with the GP, but I certainly could see myself "in the market".
The hardware is perfectly capable of what I would need to use it for. However, the software unnecessarily cripples it. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to get a piece of hardware because other people don't want to use the software that I use.
Remove the artificial limitations and I'd buy one no problem. "Not in the target audience" be damned.
The "artificial" limitations are what keeps the iPad performant. If you loaded a web server, database, etc. on it, it would fall over and be truly unresponsive. It is a package.
I would imagine someone will build a tablet (Microsoft seems to be on that trail) that will fit the needs of developers / power users. Truthfully, I am surprised there is not such a tablet offered by a company producing Android tablets.
