> But I never claimed that kids should be taught that. What I do 
   > claim is that kids should not be taught that it's ethical or
   > normal/acceptable to try and use malicious functionality to 
   > institute vendor lockin, creating an artificial monopoly in
   > compatible peripherals, because it isn't.

I'm sorry, I didn't buy a Raspberry Pi for my little brother in order to teach him about vendor lock-in. I bought him a Pi so that he'd learn Python and explore the boundary between the electronic, software world and the real physical one that so often seems shrouded in mystery. I did not buy the Pi because I like supporting non-open companies- I bought it because A) it has a great value proposition, especially once you factor in the community support, and B) I like the Raspberry Pi people. They have hearts. They care. I understand them DRM'ing a $10 part when it's not crucial to standard operation (nor a lot of projects) and it's not like you can't just get an old PC and stick a webcam on it.

The way I see it, a Raspberry Pi is more than the sum of its parts- while commercial companies care about the chips and the complexity a solution like a Pi can remove, I personally bought a Pi for my brother to learn on.