The criticism of Apple's USB drive was insightful, and showed a definite flaw in the design of the unit. However, these two examples are just petty. First, any time you need your serial number you will be told how to get it, and clicking Apple -> About This Mac -> More Info is not an exceptional amount of work. Compare this with what you have to do on Windows:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/558124

Also, though this is not obvious when the unit is purchased, the serial number is etched into the bottom of the casing, not painted as the rest of the text is. I only discovered this when the rest of the text rubbed off of my MacBook Pro. This means that it can't be printed in a different color, but I'd rather have the permanence of etching over paint that can be scratched off.

Finally, the USB extension cable cannot be bought alone - it only ships with an Apple keyboard. It's been designed for the electrical requirements of the keyboard and not all USB devices, so it's understandable that Apple limits its use to the device it's manufactured for.