Could you please be a little more kind and a little less vitriolic? Not talking about right or wrong here, but if this comment chain keeps going in this direction, we're left with lots of anger and little in the way of interesting reading.
Your reaction is mine too, but it feels like you're fighting for the sake of fighting.
Yes, it's infuriating that they effectively made an iMac, don't let you run your own software on it, but do charge iMac prices for it.
Also, if you're a consumer who wants a retina-class desktop display, do you have any better option? So far as I can tell, the 27" 4Ks we bought for my office ~9 years ago are still state-of-the-art if you're unwilling to consider Apple's option.
People are taking exception to your "idiot product" remark, because you're standing so high on your principles that you're calling people who are willing to make a financial sacrifice to get the best available option "idiots." If you spend hours a day in front of a screen, you can justify amortizing out stupid-expensive over the amount of time you spend using it.
We'd all like to see either just-the-screen for half the price, or a revived iMac Pro at the current price; but neither of those are options anyone can buy right now.
I don't think I'm fighting anything. You just choose another product. In particular for design professionals, you're better off buying monitors with panels from Samsung or LG, who are also Apple's suppliers.
Edit: The real point is you've been conditioned into thinking you need a 5k or even a 6k display. As someone who has done professional media work, no you do not.
Apple's monitors are products sold to people who don't know seemingly don't know anything about monitors, color accuracy, who don't calibrate, or have to test against multiple devices to ensure readability or clarity of picture.
They're really nice toys for people with a lot of money, not unlike Teenage Engineering products, except Apple markets them in earnest to "pros" not "professionals." People who know better use different products.
Good to know that other companies are supplying 5K displays, but neither is significantly cheaper than the Apple. In fact, Samsung's MSRP is identical to Apple's.