After the topic of tablet-style devices recently came up in discussions on Sugar Labs' "It's an education project" mailing-list as well as while talking to various people in Montevideo I felt like summing up my own thoughts on this topic.
Like it or not, touch is here to stay
The short version
I think tablet-style devices could be quite well suited for use by primary-school children however I don't think that the products currently available or foreseeable to be available within the next two or three years will be well suited for secondary-school use.
