Okay….I’m going to rant: I love my iPad, I really do. I do most of my morning computing on it, I use it for gaming (tabletop and on the device itself.) I liked it so much it drew me into a MacBook Air as my other computer. Apple makes great stuff.

But this is a bit much: already lines are forming for the iPad2. It goes on sale Friday evening, and there’s no preordering…however, it’s going to be available at a number of retailers, unlike the original iPad. Your phone companies will have it, Best Buy will have it, the Apple Store will have it, you’ll probably get one in a box of Cracker Jacks (which they do still make!)

In other words, you’re making yourself look like an utter prat if you are queueing up for the device. There will be plenty of them. If you have an iPad already, you probably don’t need to rush out for the new one — iOS 4.3 will give you a lot of benefits on performance. You won’t have a webcam, no; you’ll live.

It’s like queueing up for a movie to be the first to see it: you’re really not going to be extra-cool for more than a day…and like movie queue squatters, it’s the sort of thing that makes non-Apple people look at the Cupertino Cult askance (much as they do sci-fi fans.)