Tell HN: The iPad is open to hacking

I don't get the hate.

Pay your $99 to become a developer, and, once the NDA is lifted, share your code freely with others on github or some other public venue.

Think of the $99 as the cost of the SDK. (Even though the SDK & associated tools are freely downloadable.)

If you're really interested in sharing arbitrary code with people, this is even perhaps the best way to do it. They download the code, and build & go in Xcode.

You're running on a Mach/BSD Unix-based system, so go hog-wild. Port terminal programs, or write your own. Yes, it's true that apps are sandboxed, but now you've got inter-app file sharing (oops, is that under NDA?).

Apple has zero interest in what you do with the iPad that doesn't go through the App Store.

Think of the App Store as the public roads for the iPad--the state has a vested interest in making sure that drivers are minimally competent, so they have a gatekeeping function in the form of a license. On the private roads, or roads you make yourself, go crazy.