Glad the move appears to be working out for you and you have better things to do then blog

Also, congratulations on the engagement.

I didn’t attack anything specific about the iPad, but because you felt the need to address them, I will counter-point them:

Multitasking: It should be a choice. I should be allowed to and recognize that the battery life will drain. By Apple not letting me do that, it impedes on how I want to use the device. It’s a negative. If you can live with it (I do with my iPhone and have no problems) fine.

Flash: It’s not going to die any time soon. Devices coming out currently should not be abandoning it.

Thick Bezel: I cant really comment without seeing it. You may be right, but it looks awkward.

Keyboard: I think the keyboard they designed with it is best they could do with a touch screen. I’d prefer a physical keyboard, but that would require more hardware.

Camera: I agree that this device doesn’t need a camera. The 14-year old argument however, I don’t agree with. As the world gets smaller, offices start to spread and telecommunication becomes more standard, web cams and streaming videos are going to be a large part of corporate life.

Oh, and you can also use your iPhone while you poop. The iPad doesn’t cover any of my needs, therefore I will not be purchasing it.

Not to white knight, Apple can throw out some duds, but I don’t think the iPad is one of them.

On a related topic, it seems most of the big issues are really not that big a deal.
As for multitasking, I have yet to see anyone come up with a compelling reason beyond “I want to listen to Pandora while I ____” and is a good way to murder your battery life (ask any Droid owner)
Flash is going to die (a welcome death) at the hands of HTML5, and Hulu said they plan to EVENTUALLY move away from flash for their video.
Thick bezel? Conveniently thumb width, almost like it was by design or something.
Keyboard typing issues? Just like everyone in the world had with the iPhone for the first week they owned it.
No camera? Oh no. I will have to continue to never video chat with anyone ever. (Does anyone over 14 _really_ use video chat? Yeah, I didn’t think so.)

I think this is a great starting point for the device, and it will fill a hole between laptop and iPhone well. Look how far the iPhone has come since its launch. Apple has shown that the experience on Day 1 only gets better.

On a final note, have you talked with anyone who hasn’t spent the last few weeks dreaming about what wonka-esque device would be appearing today? The response has been amazingly positive. Remember, the tech community dissing this device now were the same ones who chided the iPod back in 2001, and the mini a few years after that.

Also, you can use it while you poop!

Something I’m curious to know is how do you feel about post-grad education? Specifically in relation to IT? I remember you tried to do it around the time you were graduating, but now, three years later, do you still think its worth it?

I’ll handle the easier question first. Personally I would only consider going back to school if I were to focus on something vastly different than what I studied, or to sharply focus on one aspect of my current degree. For example, I think about going to get my MBA often, because eventually I would like to be in more of a leadership role sometime in my life, and the strength of that training would assist me that that leadership role. Or, I could go back to school in IT, or CS or whatever, and focus on a very specific specialty, and become an expert in it.

Baring all this in mind, and playing devil’s advocate, what makes going to RIT that much more valuable than say DeVry?

I don’t feel qualified to answer this question because in your post you brought up money, and I’ll just say it outright: I am one of the very, very, VERY fortunate people out there that I was helped 100% financially through my college education. I don’t know the pain of paying for a really expensive school. However, I will give my honest opinion: Up to present time, it’sall about the name. RIT is regarded as a fine technological school, DeVry is joked about on Family Guy (I personally won’t judge what I don’t know). I think moving forward however, paying the higher price will have to net you more than a name. For example, while it can never be guaranteed, I believe high end (and high cost) schools should have one of their core values to be “Help each and every one of our students find a job after college.” Also, schools need to take care of their alumni. RIT is ranked top 20 of the best career services schools.

Paul, thanks for a well thought out post.

Something I’m curious to know is how do you feel about post-grad education? Specifically in relation to IT? I remember you tried to do it around the time you were graduating, but now, three years later, do you still think its worth it?