In google-chrome linux, (v6 beta), minor loss in stability, but overall speed with lots of open tabs improves to the point that it's worth it.

Change the activation command in icon settings to
/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome -enable-accelerated-compositing %U

to try it yourself. Usual disclaimer... if your machine catches fire or demons materialize and eat you after you try this, it's on you.

If there's a difference in terms of stability between a Kubuntu desktop, a Debian desktop (ex-user), and a Fedora Core desktop (ex-user), I certainly haven't noticed one, and given that my desktop and netbook both run Kubuntu as does my roommate's 900 MHz netbook, if there were a stability problem, I'd be trying to fix it. I shifted to Kubuntu over driver availability and other convenience issues.

The whole point behind VMs is to make the host as reliable and stable as possible and put the flakier OS and software in a VM so when it crashes and burns, all one has to do is start the VM, not try to rebuild file structures and apps from scratch. Your post suggests you're not quite clear on the concept.

Unless you honestly believe that "Son of Vista" is more reliable and stable than Linux. In which case, I recommend you get help from a competent mental health professional.

speaking as someone who actually took programming classes on those things back in the 1960s, I'm not at all sure one can learn anything on those devices other than a better grasp of computing history. How is playing with paper tape going to teach anyone about how I/O works on modern computers?

If one wants equipment with super-slow execution speeds to let people see what's going on (try an oscilloscope as I did to debug a timing loop once), try finding an old Commodore 64 or Apple II on eBay.

Maybe an ad saying you're looking to buy on Craigslist might work. Offer premium prices if you have to, the idea is to offer enough money so people will dig into their garages to look for ancient hardware you need and they don't. Also, talk to some local hazmat-computer recyclers.

I have a Google Android tablet. I can go anywhere on the Web I please and install apps from any site I can download .APK files from. However, I bought it as a development platform for device control applications.

For multimedia, I prefer a netbook (I have an S101) for around the house or a motel room. The keyboard keeps it in one place in an angle suitable for viewing without having to add a stand or a docking device, and netbooks have far better performance than this generation of tablets. If I'm on foot, I'd rather get my content off a small smartphone, hanging a 7" or larger tablet off my belt is a stupid thing to do.

However, the real reason why "the netbook is not going away" is that not all of us are full-time passive consumers of content. Do you write papers for school? Do you create documents for an employer?

Would you rather type a bunch of pages on a real keyboard that does not take up screen real estate or on a virtual keyboard that takes up a third of the screen better used for document? I'm working on a patent application, and I frequently edit it via remote control from my netbook to the desktop where the file is. Speaking as an Android Tablet owner, I regard the idea of editing a 40+ page document on that tablet as a non-starter and creating one on a tablet makes a typewriter sound good.

The tablet will cut into netbook sales because the people who only want to websurf and run a few apps will buy it. But IMO, the "content-only" user is a lot less common than commonly believed.

The fanboys only want to believe that the netbook is going away because Apple doesn't make one. They're irrelevant, Steve Jobs' vision of a userbase solely composed of consumers of content created by major corporations doesn't fit the real world.

Are you running Vista, or did you totally FUBAR another version of Winblows? My quad core Linux box has no trouble with Flash. In fact, my single-core ASUS S101 netbook has no trouble with Flash. For that matter, Flash runs fine even on the 900 MHz eeePC I gave one of my roommates after I bought the S101.

If you're running quad core and have problems with Flash, while Flash has its problems, your machine has a PEBKAC problem, not a Flash problem.

the company I was working for suddenly got paranoid and started cracking down on carrying floppies onto company property because of a network viral infection incident widely believed to be the fault of somebody at C-level.

I brought in a QIC-40 tape cartridge identical to what the company was using for server backup. By mistake, I used the same format for my own desktop backup, I'd bought a cart the night before and forgot to take it out of my backpack when I got home the night before.

The temptation to do an unauthorized backup quickly passed when I realized my employer had nothing worth stealing... their technology was useless even for its intended purpose (including making money, the company folded a few months later), and anyone buying the product was probably an idiot.

I was there because I REALLY needed the money.

might keep some troops alive one of these days. They're in the prime demographic for this kind of game and I predict that lots of active duty soldiers will be buying it. One could hope there's a military discount. Think of it as a "combat simulator troops will voluntarily play on their own time on very sophisticated graphics hardware". A simulator with a "Red Team" option is automatically more useful.

A soldier who's thinking when on convoy "Hmmm, if I were a Taliban, where would I put IEDs on this road?" or "What a wonderful place to put an ambush" because he played the "Red Team" option might outlive one who isn't thinking about things like that.

While video games are not reality, that's the problem with any kind of simulation regardless of who makes it or budget.

"Sick building syndrome".

If you aren't familiar with that, you can use the above as a search term, including the quotes.

Has the school district hired a good environmental consultant to check the affected schools for bacteriological and/or chemical contamination? Were the affected schools built by the same contractors? Are these schools relatively new?

While microwave radiation may have long-term health risks (as I recall, the results of the studies I've run across largely depend on who's funding them), what's described here doesn't fit anything I've ever observed or heard of in connection with microwave energy. But it does fit contamination problems in buildings. Lots of people have wireless routers, me included and these things aren't going on here or around us.

Do these kids carry cell phones off campus? If microwave energy is bad for them, shouldn't they stop?

Unplugging campus routers sounds like the solution to a PR problem, NOT a health problem.

I've got a netbook and android tablet next to me right now, and I don't have a headache, skin rash, or naus... excuse me, gotta puke!

switched to a *nix with an emulation layer running XP while porting the company flagship apps to *nix. Imagine a M$ OS that's stable, reliable, and until the virus h4xx0rs catch up, largely malware free.

on the latest WikiLeaks info has gone from the DOD's "no big deal" to "threat to American troops".

But anyone who's followed politics for any length of time knows that the average classified document is classified to protect the jobs of bureaucrats and politicians, NOT the American people.

The Obama Department of 'Justice' is far more likely to prosecute whistleblowers than the companies ripping American taxpayers off that they're informing on.

A very large part of the sales appeal of a phone with an aging UI and an "uncool" form factor and a proprietary OS and limited app capability (why yes, I do have one) is precisely because it's "secure". That's why President Obama carries one.

Government and big business sales of the RIM phones are largely driven by "secure", more modern phones with more features and better UIs are available at the same price or cheaper.

Having "just" Saudi Arabia able to read Blackberry messages is like being "just" a little bit pregnant. RIM's product differentiation just disappeared... and by the time two more nations have built in wiretap capabilities thanks to RIM, their major customers will be switching to something else. IOW, they'll have destroyed their basic market for sales of a few thousand SKUs.

This is great news for Apple and Google and everyone making Android phones. If anyone wants to compete in the "secure" government and enterprise market, it's a matter of simply bundling crypto apps into the UI and making the setup easy and automatic.

As for RIM. I hope a smarter vendor picks up the touchpad when RIM goes down... IMO, it's superior to touch screen for small form-factor platforms. With a touchpad, you don't have to try to guess what's under your finger when you push the button.

target for elimination from the Internet, since Wikileaks serves a useful purpose and WaPo's apparent purpose is to spread political propaganda for whoever is in political power just like the rest of the legacy media.

Of course, there isn't a need for government action in this area, all WaPo has to do is annoy the wrong bunch of h4xx0rs.

The "journalist" should be careful what he asks for. If Wikileaks disappears, there's always a chance that he's in the "insurance" file with the rest of the rats. I don't take it for granted that the Manning Afghanistan expose is the only or even the primary content of that 1.4G file, which I would guess to be a compendium of the most embarrassing material they have been able to collect... the kind of stuff that gets politicians kicked out of office or indicted.