Sotto Voce.

As I’ve said before, when I bought my PowerBook way back in mumble mumble, I was so impressed with how much of a leap it was over my previous iBook, I predicted that the next time I bought a Mac, it wouldn’t have a (physical) keyboard.

Well, it took longer than I wished, but damned if it wasn’t worth the wait. The iPad just absolutely bullseyes my hopes and expectations. And for about $50 less than I was expecting to pay too.

During today’s rollout I kept refreshing between Engaget (Winner of the Best Blog Coverage award), Macworld, CNET (Winner of the Best AV Coverage award for Buzz Out Loud), and a few others. Ars Technica I couldn’t even get to, so heavily was it being hammered. How many times did Twitter lock up? About two seconds after the name was announced, it felt like the whole web crashed. It was so cool.

And it looks like I’ll even be able to get it in time for my long-awaited “2010 Moment.” More on that later.

UPDATE: Wow. I mean, I know that haters gonna hate and all, but still, a lot the carping in the wake of the iPad debut — over a product, need I remind, that hasn’t even yet shipped and for which developers have yet to write anything to play to its strengths or expose its weaknesses — is just downright surreal:

• People who have concluded that, even though no single device can save publishing as we know it, it isn’t going to single-handedly save Publishing As We Know It . Therefore it will fail.
• People who have concluded that, even though the iPad isn’t aimed at them, they’re not going to buy one. Therefore it will fail.
• People who have concluded that, even though the iPad isn’t a computer, it’s not a computer. Therefore it will fail.
• People who have concluded that, even though the App Store has been a bottomless gold rush, no one wants DRM content. Therefore it will fail.
• People who have concluded that, even though Apple invents products that define new markets, it doesn’t fit into a defined market. Therefore it will fail.
• People who have concluded that, because they can’t imagine how they would use it, no one will imagine how to use it. Therefore it will fail.

But I think that my favorite reaction is this one: people who are disappointed because the iPad meets their expectations.

That’s me walking out of the room, just shaking my head.

UPDATE II: Just realized that the iPad will be debuting almost to the year after the Kindle 2, the “non-starter” that has managed to non-start its way to record profits for Amazon. Here’s hoping that the iPad is as big a failure for Apple.

My comment in that post, about how people often react to shiny new gizmos, is apropos here. The iPad, too, is like the moon — some people just feel compelled to howl at it, pray to it, or blame stuff on it. Whaddya gonna do.

That does it. I’ve finally had it up to here with the perfect is the enemy of the good as an excuse for crappy writing.

If it is true that the perfect is the enemy of the good, then I declare my allegiance to the perfect, and take the good for my enemy as well. Let me stand shoulder to shoulder with the perfect as it does battle with the good. Let me steal into the tent of the good late at night and slay it where it sleeps.

For while the good might be an easy friend to make, it is an unreliable ally, for it will always melt away at the first sign of challenge. The perfect is surely harder to befriend, but it will prove to be not only a steadfastly loyal partner but also an enlightened teacher, always encouraging friends and students to overcome obstacles, seek creative options, and respond, not simply react, to circumstances.

And if I shall fall while fighting alongside the perfect, let them never dare say that I fought for a lost cause. Let them instead know that I fought for the noblest cause of all — the drive to improve, the impulse to reach higher, the fundamental urge to aspire.

Those who would fain invoke one’s inevitable failure to achieve perfection as an excuse for never trying to attain it, I say unto you, o band of brothers, that such men shall never truly drink richly from the fountain of life.

And that’s just from reading blogs. Don’t get me started on discussion forums.