I should disclose a bias I'm having towards tablets. In general, I'm very concerned about the knee-jerk reaction that everyone seems to be having to the iPad. Don't get me wrong, it's a great device, but I'm worried by all the folks who make it out to be more than it is. It's those people who are influencing companies like Apple and Microsoft to move towards the tabletization of everything and make their desktop operating systems more like tablets.

That scares the crap out of me.

I'm one of the Windows users who will be avoiding Windows 8 like the plague. I know my desktop is still there, but I NEVER want to see that Metro UI on my 30" monitor. And you can laugh and say that it's just Microsoft being reactionary, but from what I've seen it sure looks like Apple is slowly trying to bring the tablet experience into the laptop/desktop world.

And the thing is that for most people: I think it's a good idea. I think half my clients would benefit from a simple computer. But my concern is that these tech companies are so obsessed with the public's reaction to the iPad (selling millions), they don't care if they bulldoze over those of us who want the more powerful desktop experience.

That's why I'm so protective of my "productive" desktop experience. I see it as endangered

I just want to stress again how great I think tablets are for certain things, and I use mine all the time. I just worry that the computer industry thinks it's all or nothing, and that nobody can use a tablet for some things and a real computer for everything else, because if I'm forced to use a tablet operating system for everything I do, I'll go insane. Or start using Linux, which is the same thing (that's for you, Mark)

Sorry for the little rant there. It's something that's been bugging me for a while and I wanted to get it off my chest. I'm interested to hear what you guys think about the issue.