I'd say one possible problem is with the usb drivers. Usually, if you go to the device manager and right click on the device icon, you should be able to select the option to install/update the drivers for it.

As far as I know, the USB drivers that come with the Android SDK are limited to the following devices:

• T-Mobile G1* / ADP1
• T-Mobile myTouch 3G* / Google Ion
• Verizon Droid*
• Nexus One

* Or similar hardware on other carriers

Any additional devices will require Windows drivers provided by the hardware manufacturer."

Were those drivers that came with Galaxy S phone or...special, magical drivers from some place else?

It's the operating system.  It's running an outdated version of Android....

I don't have experience with the ipad, but on the android side it is true that many hardware manufacturers have been releasing devices with outdated version of the OS. This situation is improving, though, as android 2.1 and 2.2 are becoming more prevalent.

I just want to mention that the following Android tablet (Odroid-T):

http://www.hardkernel.com/productsodroidt.php

looks quite interesting. It is more like a "developer" tabled, so the design is not very fancy, but seems to have very good specs (similar to the Galaxy S phone). It runs Android 2.1

That looks very nice...  I will see if we can get a few at my lab.  I'm working on a project to rebuild the 1964/65 New York World's Fair virtually.  While mobile devices are not in the scope of the original project, we are looking to extend the project to touch based devices.  In particular, the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education modules.