If the iPad or something like it wins, disruptive innovation in computers is dead, because incumbents will control the market, and incumbents don't like disruptive innovation.
Fingers crossed we're heading to at least two viable tablet OSes, if not three (number three being a total wildcard, but I would probably pick windows 8 if only because eventually business adoption will give the momentum).
It is proprietary but users have enormously more freedom than they do with the iPad. Just the ability to side load apps makes a universe of difference. Further I'd be very surprised if most of the current crop of tablets don't get the upgrade to (open source) ice cream sandwich at the end of the year.
> And Motorola is notorious for locking down its devices
The Xoom bootloader is unlocked, so presuming ICS gets released it should be possible for people to flash it on there even if Motorola doesn't want to do it.