I've quoted this article before in some other Apple related question.

http://al3x.net/2010/01/28/ipad....

This is why I say that the iPad is a cynical thing: Apple can’t – or

won’t – conceive of a future for personal computing that is both

elegant and open, usable and free.

...

The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad

rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today.

I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially

harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I

wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup

sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my

parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it

allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a

detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital

economy

There is a theory floating around (this article is an example) that Jobs V 2.0 (after he returned to lead the 2nd time) is basically a complete victory for the Jobs ethos over the Wozniak ethos.

My paraphrase of the theory (I am not saying I believe it; I am just paraphrasing)

The original Apple product culture favored tinkerers/hobbyists/hackers like Wozniak himself. Jobs V 1.0 grudgingly let that vision ride the first time around partly because Wozniak set the hardware agenda and the technology wasn't there to fulfill Jobs' own vision. Jobs V 2.0, with Woz out of the way and the technology mature enough, basically fulfilled his consumer-oriented vision and abandoned the hacker market.

Do I believe this? Not quite. The move to a *nix base with OS X, and the newfound popularity of MacBooks among Ruby developers etc., says something about Apple's continuing appeal to creatives.

Also, I am now beginning to think that it may be premature to count the iPad off as a "deeply cynical device" designed purely for consumption rather than creation. You can't really ignore app-dev creativity that easily, and even the user may find ways to be creative instead of pure consumer with it.

Jury still out, as far as I am concerned.

I am leaning towards the pessimistic answer though.