Something I haven't seen in the comments yet: do we think that Apple now referring to iPadOS by a separate name means future releases will slowly-but-surely (in typical iterative Apple fashion) morph the iPad experience to address not only Gruber's complaints but some of our own?

I'm actually surprised by a lot of HN's failure of imagination — "I can't imagine why you would want an iPad when you could use an xyz", often translating into "I don't believe an iPad could ever become abc".

And yet, against all odds and despite its relative decline in sales, the iPad marches forward, stands strong despite its flaws, and defies the naysayers of 2010 and 2020.

To give my own answer to my question: I prefer optimism over pessimism, myself.