< p>The newest addition in the computer family is a Motorola Xoom. Yes, I still have my Pocketbook IQ 701 and I still use it every day mostly as an ebook reader because it is fast enough and has a nice form factor for reading. The Pocketbook IQ 701 does not come close to being a replacement for my laptop though, so I was still carrying around my Mac everyday.

My daughter has been rocking her iPad 2 for a couple of weeks which has given me pretty good view of the iPad 2 capabilities, so why did I get the Xoom? Ultimately, it comes down to control. Apple maintains very strict control over the iPad experience. I could hand an iPad to almost anyone and they "get it". You have to puzzle things out a little more with an Android tablet though much less so with the made for tablet Honeycomb or Android 3.0 release that comes with the Xoom. My wife, other than where's the "on" button was web surfing with the Xoom for a couple of hours with no problem. She also noticed a couple of sites that she got into with the Xoom that were a problem with the iPad 2 (flash based) but I didn't tell her that.

Control, however comes with a price - I've had an iPod touch for more than 4 years and STILL have not written a REAL iPod (or iPad) application. The barrier to entry and to learn is too high - Use .NET? Program in Java or Ruby or C#? Use Eclipse or Netbeans for an IDE? - TOUGH - suck it up buy a MAC and learn Objective C or else go away. Meanwhile Google gives away the Android SDK. Use whatever IDE you want and while Android is Java at the core, Google has thrown in hooks to use whatever language floats your boat. Hell I wrote an Android app before I even had an Android device and as of right now I've written 3 of them.

Microsoft is the new IBM, Apple is the new Microsoft and Google Is the new Apple. I personally want the openness. i wan ted the USB slot and the SD Card slot - I want to be able to write my own apps. Like the old Apple and their famous "1984" commercial, I'm on the side of the lady slinging the sledgehammer through the screen. At the end of the day I wanted the Xoom.