Yes, there are iPad alternatives-CNET (blog)

There are other options.(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

A week ago, just after Donald Bell his positive evaluation of the iPad 2 posted, I posted a list of alternatives to the Apple tablet device. My intention was to show from CNET readers the wide availability of tablets on the market, and to show what promising products are still to come. At the time I thought it was a pretty innocuous post, but I had better need to know when a product from Apple is involved.

Over the weekend I started to receive reader emails asking me what the point of such a list was. The iPad was the best, of course, so suggest that there are alternatives to useless and was irresponsible. More readers comment on the post itself. Like commenter "segal2011", "only a sucker would buy one of these tablets. I would not like to be Kent German when someone follows his advice and one of these devices to buy only to find out that they are not an alternative to the iPad. "

If your mother would have said, everyone has a right to his or her opinion. But I don't hate that me and I don't feel any shame about CNET readers a range of tablet options. It is very true that the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak 7 not quite like the iPad. But that's the whole point. If Apple tablet, each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each will appeal to the needs and the budget of a given user. If these are not alternatives, I don't know what.

Sure, some products are better than others, but I wouldn't want to live in a world where we all use the same gadget. Not only would I get a job, but it would be a pretty boring marketplace if each tablet was exactly the same. And dime-store philosophy, if everything was the same then how would we know really what was good?

So go easy on the people who just don't want to buy an iPad. Even if the iPad really the best tablet ever is, people have the right not to buy. And if they have something else to buy, they're not losers or ignorant. They choose simply for a product that appeals to them. And there is nothing wrong with that.

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