I bought a couple dozen Hitachi VisionPlates this year at about $1,800 each. They can be ordered with Minix (er, make that Midori Linux), a mobile Linux put out by a group which included Linus himself when he used to work for Paul Allen and which can be used as wireless touchscreen X terminals. They only have a 802.11b wireless connection and they do work pretty well, but it is very difficult to upgrade the firmware in them. Compared to the VisionPlate the 770 represents a revolution in price, in speed of connectivity and in ease of connectivity. By the weigh, the VisionPlate weighs almost 3 pounds whereas the 770 weighs half a pound. So, you are absolutely correct when you stress the importance of being able to easily upgrade the 770's firmware and apps. The 770 is a HUGE step forward in many, many ways, not the least of which is its upgradeability. As people figure out how to access and make use of devices as network resources instead of as peripherals they will appreciate the 770 more and more. A laser printer is much more valuable on a network than when it is attached to a PC - it's the same with any device. When the network is wireless then it's an even bigger breakthrough. The tipping point though, that makes the 770 such an innovation is that it fully implements Richard Stallman's vision that anyone who needs to depend on a software system is entitled to be able to understand it and fix it without having to get any licenses to do so and without having to further pay for the right to do so.

You're now free to innovate. It wasn't always like this. A lot of people spent a lot of time and fought a lot of battles to make possible everything that the 770 represents. It didn't just 'happen'.