You are stretching, with your tortured defense of tablets, and your attack
on the keyboard and mouse.
The fact remains that, a flat surface will NEVER be as simple or as ergonomic as a keyboard. Your mention of a NOVICE user is a very big stretch of an example, and of course, using the worst case scenario is not how usability of tablets or laptops or desktops should be approached.
Most people who reach the workforce, and who reach the age where they understand the alphabet (like in he first grade of elementary school), will know and understand that, a keyboard is a much easier form of entry than a simulated keyboard on a shiny surface.
If you were to be in business, and were charged with the responsibility of trying to sell a simulated keyboard vs a regular keyboard, and you touted the benefits of the flat keyboard as superior to a regular keyboard, you would be laughed out of your own presentation and you might even lose your job. No matter how much you stretch the facts to make them suit your view, the real fact remains that, a regular keyboard, with ergonomically raised and spaces keys, will always be superior to any flat surface keyboard.
When it comes to a mouse, the only reason it won't be suited to a tablet is because it would defeat the current accepted definition of what a table is, which is that, all components are contained in one flat, square, lightweight package. Any keyboard design for a tablet will always seem like an afterthought and a very limited one at that, and any touch gestures will be attempts at replacing what the mouse and keyboard were meant to do in the other computer form factors.
