Thanks for ruining my awesome iPad experience. :)

Choosing providers is a function of the value of your files and your ability to pay. Choose providers with strong financials and replicate critical files among providers.

Is the lone red dot remaining in the Sick & Poor quadrant North Korea by chance?

This is true - it is a market of freedom. Now, I use *only* FOSS for my server-side development and deployment and have done so since the mid-to-late 90's. There is also no doubt that the influence of FOSS continues to keep closed systems like Apple, MSFT and even Facebook in check. We'll never return to the days of Windows de facto monopolization or even pre-Web strangleholds on online connectivity such as CompuServ, Prodigy, AOL.

We're all better off with FOSS, even if not directly using it.

I'm not as pure a FOSS adherent as you — all my personal computing devices are from Apple — but I definitely agree that without FOSS we'd have less freedom and innovation in computing today.

As the richness of the web experience increases due to interactive technologies available on the client-side unscrupulous people work to catch people off-guard for their own advantage. At the most benign level this is done by advertisers seeking to gain attention. At the worst thieves use client-side scripting as a virtual pickpocket tool.

When possible I remind my family members to stay on alert when on-line (or even off-line). This includes not clicking on links in email, of course. It also includes not logging into a service unless they have entered the URL themselves or used a bookmark they have set up. Yes, this does not prevent MitM attacks and will not protect them from a scheme that changes a browser's bookmarks. But it solves the bulk of the phishing attacks to date.

One reason I prefer specialized apps for important services (banking, on-line status update services, email) over using a generic web interface is that specialized apps are less prone to be faked by XSS, phishing look-a-like pages, etc. This is especially true of closed platform apps like iPhone/iPad apps that undergo an approval process by a third party.

Sad as it is to admit one benefit to the lack of "freedom" on the iPhone/iPad platform is protection from scammers.

What is an open alternative to protecting the unaware from these scams? I'm all ears.

Then we're all good! :)

I was told there would be no Latin on Slashdot... :)

Well, that's all that matters, right? :)

I probably watch too many cop shows but when a suspect says, "No proof exists", it's usually a sign of moral guilt. Maybe even of distruction of evidence. Regardless, this is weak and should be treated as a serious infringement against the privacy of the students and their families.

IMHO, of course. Oh, and IANAL but I do watch Law and Order. ;)

Here's a thread that discusses the reason for the logo.

While it's true iPad cannot doesn't allow me to do everything my laptop does, I find that for most of the things I do with a laptop the iPad excels. Especially consuming content. Creating content is getting better (I'm more used to the keyboard and use an external BT keyboard for long writing sessions), iSSH makes it bearable to manage my servers remotely (the only servers I use anymore are "remote"), and when off work the iPad is a fantastic movie and gaming platform.

So, I am finding myself using my iPad more and my laptop less. (Ironically, I'm writing this from my MacBookPro :)

See this comment and follow-up discussion regarding the icon

So, ever since family and friends found out I could help with arcane errors and problems with their Apple ][+ computers (did I mention I'm old? That was back in the early 80s) I've been standing between computers and users and trying to reconcile both to each other.

Eventually, this turned in to a great opportunity for me to help people with their use of current technology. Are computers and software packages irritating? You bet! But being in the middle position between the user and CPU has been something I've enjoyed for more than a decade.

Sure, I've been a developer and struggled directly with computers on one hand and produced software that unintentionally frustrated users on the other. But it's standing in the gap between the technology and humanity that I find myself the most valuable.

As long as computers and software suck there will be a need for people like me. And, as it turns out, people prefer to turn their problems over to other people -- not wizards, FAQs, etc. -- for assistance.

The trick is not considering users as the problem but oneself as a key to the solution.

Maybe I wasn't clear - it didn't expose the contractor to Apple, but to others outside Apple. I didn't like that, either.