Mike Monteiro illustrates the shift in computer use from domination by geeks to domination by a much greater number of people who do not consider themselves geeks, and are more inclined to buy a product they can understand than one they can tinker with:

As many others have noted, the release of the iPad might be the cannonball into the consumer device pool the iPhone dipped its toes in. It’s also been referred to as a thing that sits between that iPhone and your laptop. I see it as more of a fork in the road. It’s the thing many people will get INSTEAD of a laptop.

Commenter Koen van Hees noted the high degree of civility in the comments on Mike’s article:

What the? A blog that writes about the most hyped product of all times, an Apple product at that, and all the comments are intelligent and nicely worded.

It’s good to see civilized discourse in the comments. Vitriolic commenting has gotten out of hand, especially in technology-related discussions. Earlier this week, tech website Engadget disabled comments to stem a rising tide of overly negative, attacking, and off-topic comments.