The ability to buy a product through a purchase order and have access to customer support is sometimes very important to large corporations. I had once used a legitimately downloaded PGP encryption product as key component of a complex Cash Management application in a global multinational bank but the biggest challenge in getting it accepted as a part of the solution was the lack of a purchase order. I remember the IT Head of the bank almost pleading with me to get a commercial product but because PGP had already been integrated with the system, the difficulty of a change was immense. I believe that the bank finally got someone do download PGP and sell it to the bank for $10 through an invoice before the row was settled !!

Believe me, as a not-so-expensive teacher in India, who has been unsuccessfully experimenting with Distance Education for quite some time, I can tell you that a watching a video is only one part of the story. The ability to feel the pulse of the audience, to take a difficult question and change the pace and style of the delivery are very important. Canned video is certainly better when nothing else is available but a human teacher cannot be replaced with a recording.

i would wholeheartedly agree with this ... put as much as possible on the cloud. if you have to buy and place a server on your premises, there must be an iron-clad reason to do so, because the default should be the cloud. and dont be put off my reasons like data safety and data security -- data is more safe with a reputed cloud vendor jwith a professionally managed data centre than it is with a 20-employee NGO with a single ill-paid sysadm ( just as money is safer with a bank than under the mattress at home )

in an increasingly bipolar world ?

is the illusion, or error, that the non-adept wrongly equates to reality and modern technology can either reinforce the illusion or reveal the basis of the same !!

The only piece of technology that adds value is an internet access device with a broadband connectivity to the internet. A school is meant to open your eyes to the all the wonderful things that are waiting to be learnt and this happens when you move from a single teacher ( with his limited knowledge ) to the library ( that stores the knowledge of many more people ) then on to the internet that dissolves physical boundaries. Everything else that a student needs will drop down automatically as and when it is needed.

and the US already has access to the servers ... so there is no need to worry here

How can the SEC hide behind the fig leaf of being understaffed when "As early as 2001, the media had quoted financial professionals who raised questions about Madoff's fund. In 2005, independent fraud investigator Harry Markopolos sent the SEC a memo raising 29 red flags -- he had complained about Madoff to regulatory officials for six years." It is very apparent that enough red flags were raised but they were ignored ... this smacks of connivance.
So what if the "crowd" finds some anomalies in accounts .. question is will anybody take any action on the same ? Their track record speaks otherwise ..

As a university teacher myself, my credo is that i do not teach, i help my students learn. One of the key components of learning, as opposed to acquiring facts, is the ability to push the borders of the known and seek out something new. So I always encourage my students to explore what is new even it is in something as traditional as -- say RDBMS.
In this context it is important that the teacher walk the talk and prove to the students that he or she is also pushing the borders ... and yes I do try to use whatever technology I have access or can afford .. and this includes stuff like Wiki, Blogs, social networks, YouTube, Print-On-Demand. Some of these have proved to be successful and some have failed. We rejoice when things work out but we do not regret our failures.
Unfortunately many of my colleagues see all this is a waste of time.

between a monkey and a Talibani Islamist ? ( mind you, i am not referring to Muslim Afghans )

While they might have got the winner wrong, they have correctly placed Netherlands and Spain in the final four !!