>> When someone buys an iPad they are escaping the hangover of using Microsoft Windows for two decades. ... form factor is irrelevant
Form factor is incredibly relevant.
For me it's not about escaping from vendor X, or operating system Y, it's about what the form-factor allows me to do.
It about having the freedom to chose where I want to sit and _the_posture_ I want to adopt when reading stuff on the internet.
Laptops/netbooks got us half-way there (no longer force to sit in a certain location). Their short-coming was you're forced to adopt a certain posture, or put something hard under it so it doesn't overheat (or burn you).
However, the ability of a well designed tablet to open another 'ergonomic dimension' does not guarantee that the tablet can maintain all the other ergonomics of other form-factors.
Some users realize this and think the fix is to make the new device 'morph' into that other form factor. I suspect that some team of people will realize that it can be achieved some other way that is simpler and sexier and make a mint from their idea.
It will involve a revolution in input device hardware (and acceptance of that hardware) to get there though.
Form factor is incredibly relevant.
For me it's not about escaping from vendor X, or operating system Y, it's about what the form-factor allows me to do.
It about having the freedom to chose where I want to sit and _the_posture_ I want to adopt when reading stuff on the internet.
Laptops/netbooks got us half-way there (no longer force to sit in a certain location). Their short-coming was you're forced to adopt a certain posture, or put something hard under it so it doesn't overheat (or burn you).
However, the ability of a well designed tablet to open another 'ergonomic dimension' does not guarantee that the tablet can maintain all the other ergonomics of other form-factors.
Some users realize this and think the fix is to make the new device 'morph' into that other form factor. I suspect that some team of people will realize that it can be achieved some other way that is simpler and sexier and make a mint from their idea. It will involve a revolution in input device hardware (and acceptance of that hardware) to get there though.