One car that made most of its motor "closed source" was the Audi A2. You could only check oil and add water for the windshield cleaning. It was a big fail. However, people later appreciated its design and its functionality so prices for 2nd hand cars are quite high. In addition, throughout the 80s cars in the western world were often repaired by their owners. That changed with the advent of electronic support for every function.

From my non-developer perspective, what apple made so attractive was the guidance they gave developers. The SDK seems to be pretty easy to set up and to use. And, the strict UI guidelines ease the stress to development of a unique GUI. Its just not needed.

While I think ubuntu and maemo offer similar simple solutions regarding the installation of programs, there is less control that you might end up not using certain programs because one needs sqlite2.1 the other sqlite3.

The ipad most probably will be a huge success. But, as many commentors on other sites have pointed out, the target audience won't be developers or experienced computer users, it will be people who associate work with computers and see the ipad as a non-work device.

icke