I remember at least 7 years ago when I went to the SETI website and Amazon.com greeted me by name in a little box on the site and asked if I wanted to donate to SETI.

Have you ever gone to a web site to look at some product like insurance then notice that everywhere you go on the web you see insurance ads for that company popping up? Until you figure out which cookie to delete or go to the advertising management's website and opt out you are going to keep seeing that ad!

It is sad if dimensions are the only argument Apple has.
Can I copyright the golden ratio?

You are overthinking this. Government and courts are not that smart. We cancel men's sports teams in colleges because there are not enough women to play using the same amount of money.

net nutrality is in the eyes of the beholder. Gamers want the advantage that most Slashdotters are fighting against!

Today all new cars have several onboard computer systems controlling various functions from brakes to fuel to suspension. The real surprise is not that this car has a problem, but that other cars don't! I have to say that this is a real pat-on-the-back for the programmers writing this code as we don't see this in any other discipline I am aware of

> When a company is so successful that it can "get it" and "do it" for less...
  > when a company offers something over an infrastructure that is so expensive
  > and offering a product/service on a huge, national scale is the bar that has
  > been set... That company will be so incredibly entrenched that it will never
  > be rooted out by a startup. Ever.

Ever is too broad a statement. In the 1800's Fulton obtained a monopoly from NY State to run steamboats from NYC to Albany up the Hudson River. Vanderbilt not only had the monopoly overturned in court, but set up a competing company which brought down cost of passage which Fulton started at $10 (VERY expensive in those days) to ZERO. Vanderbilt found that he could make enough money on food and accommodations to pay for the passage.

The anti-monopoly company won by providing a better service for less.

MUST run 64 bit code? How are they going to put Windows 7 on Netbooks?

Do Netbooks get special dispensation?

And every electrical failure is caused by a "short curcuit"!

There are many reasons I don't want the government setting standards for protection on my computer. Among them are that since government computers are more likely to be compromised than computers owned by others, why would I take their recommendations? Why expect the government to offer a solution when free solutions are already available through A/V companies and many ISPs? Why would I want a standard government mandated solution when it might not be what I need? Why doesn't Microsoft allow free software updates which would make many more computers not get viruses?

Some A/V companies make their A/V software (like AVG) available for free already. Should I pay the government for a copy?

Many ISPs (AOL, ATT and others) already provide A/V software for free. They determined that if they buy an Anti Virus (A/V) program for you and that stops you from getting infected then they save more than the cost of the A/V. Want a free one? Switch ISPs.

You want the government to MANDATE every computer has A/V? How about my servers that do not connect to the Internet? How about my Linux desktop? Should I be forced by the government to waste resources running A/V programs on an OS that for one reason or another does not need it?

Should I be required to run one on my set top box? How about my Tivo? My car? My phone? Next year, my refrigerator?

What will the government decide I need? The Lobbyist from one or more of the A/V companies will make sure that the specs are drawn in such a way that you can only use THEIR A/V solution. Who will lobby for OSS solutions like ClamAV?

If the government has already found the holy grail of A/V software what incentive so I have of advancing the art by creating a better one? Remember Ada?. It was to replace ALL programming languages used for government contracts.

If I do create a better A/V software, who would buy it? The government has already found the best ones and mandates you buy it or they supply it for free. Will your machine be slowed if it is running the one required by law AND my new improved one?

All in all, when the government solves computer related problems (and many others) like this, they do either too little too late or to much too late (see CAN-SPAM Act of 2003)

Many compromised computers have been compromised because they are running bootleg copies of Microsoft software and MS will not allow them to be updated. Should MS be forced to allow illegal copies to be upgraded?

Keep the government out of my bedroom and off my computer!

The problem with hi-tech solutions in schools is how they are used.

First, this is coming from a tech guy. I have a technical degree and have have been using Linux since '96. You can't call me a Luddite, but I have to question whether introducing tech for techs sake instead of concentrating on the three R's is what kids need, and if it is, are our schools the place to teach tech?

Is the objective to TEACH or to be cool? I have been observing what my kids do in school. They attend schools that can afford whatever tech solutions they want, but is "the best" what we want? Is it a crutch? Does it just help lazy teachers?

Does technology replace teaching? When a student has bad handwriting, the teacher can request a free laptop for that student's use. The student never improves his handwriting and the teacher can read the student's work.

I see students in middle school and high school authoring a power point presentation each week, and maybe three essays each semester. Will they ever learn to write essays or reports, or are these dead arts?

They wanted me to sign a permission slip to make it my responsibility for the safety of a video Ipod (about three years ago) that my son would bring home so he could watch classroom instruction that the teacher did not want to bother to show them during school time. My son lost the $5 pedometer he we had responsibility for the year before. Should I entrust him with a $400+ (at the time) video Ipod? Since I did not give him permission to bring home the Ipod, he had to stay after school to watch the material.

Why can't these teachers show the material during class time? They tell me that there are copyright issues with putting it on the Internet, and I guess they have never heard of password access. They tell me that the Ipod solution will only work with the expensive Ipod, not with software we can install on our home home computer (some kids may not have home computers) or the $29.95 mp3 player my kids have.

The school decided to teach "blogging". Why you need to teach middle school kids to blog is beyond me. They assigned them usernames consisting of their first name, last initial, and the period they were in a specific classroom. This information was available to anyone on the Internet. I informed them that knowing that username Joannahr203-7, was Joannah R and she was in room 203 during 7th period could be a security risk for poor Joannah! The principal told me he was sure that the blogs were not available to anyone outside the school (they were) and that IT people would make sure it was safe for the children (it isn't). My son realized this was a security risk on his own and ignored the teacher and chose a safe pseudonym.

Perhaps safe "HEX" is best taught at home.