yeah, who spilled the beans on that one?

Time flies way too fast when you're having fun.

Chrome is coming to the mac soon. I'm running a nightly snapshot of Chromium (http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/), from a couple of days ago. They've got a bit of work to do on it, but it's good enough I'm using it as my every-day browser now. Only major problem I've run into is that the java plugin on snow leopard doesn't seem to work yet.

Haven't you read the news lately? Bank bailouts/stimulus? If the government now owns a portion of the bank, then it could be argued that it is a government facility.

OpenFire, as many others have noted, is an open source jabber server, that's highly extensible, and already has support for the logging you require (via the monitoring plugin).

The same group also has a web based client, SparkWeb, that you can lock down to your OpenFire installation. You can also lock down OpenFire, so that it only supports your official client. One of the nice things about a web client is you don't have to deploy to 100 desktops. You just send out a link. :)

The paid apps setup in the market is a serious mistake.

I think andappstore.com has gotten the security model right. It requires some work on the developer's part, but it provides for strong copy protection, and works on the dev phone.

Actually, there is a video recording app out (in the market), and it works.

Tethering is something that will probably never be permitted without a hack.

Battery Life: The battery life isn't too bad. I get about 3 hours constant use, with gps and screen on (brightness up for daytime use), on 3g, running turn by turn gps (telenav). Standby lasts a long time -- if you're not logged into IM, twitter, and facebook, and exchange mail client, all checking constantly for updates (which I do). My wife has a very light use profile (just voice, email, and calendar), and gets 3-4 days of standby. So I have to plug in at night, and depending on what I'm doing, plug in during the day. BFD.

GUI: I've had no GUI issues. The real downside here compared to say the iPhone, is there's no UI standards. There's conventions to be sure, but no rules. RC33 did introduce an issue with incoming calls (rings for too long before you can actually answer), but I wouldn't classify it as a UI issue.

Notifications: I don't have an issue here, outside of some apps (non-stock ones) not performing notifications as advertised. As much as you don't like it works, there is a logic behind it. You get notified, hear the sound, but don't check your phone. You check your mail and read your message. You remember you have a notification on your phone. You go to check it, but WTF, there's not notification! In my opinion disappearing notifications would be a much worse user experience.

Visual Voicemail: Don't use it, so I can't really say. I have a Grand Central account, and there's an app for that, so I've been thinking about using it. If you have issues with PF Voicemail, you could always write your own (You have a "dev" phone, you must be a developer right?). Or send the developer a friendly email with your suggestions.

Market: I have to admin, Google has REALLY screwed the pooch with the market. I mean, a hidden folder for copy protection? I think andappstore.com has gotten it right, and it will work with dev phones.

Google Apps integration: They're very well integrated, assuming you're a *NORMAL* user, and have only one account. You're not the only person "suffering" from this problem, but you're probably less than 1/10th of 1%. There's a fairly simple solution. Create a meta account. Have that account pull your mails from all your other accounts, and share all your calendars with that account.

SD Card: Music & Photos. Pictorial (by the authors of Maverick & Hello AIM!) is good if you use picasaweb (google's picasa app has some limitations pictorial doesn't). Video's work too, but lack of good encoding instructions is a problem. TuneWiki (also on the iPhone) is a very capable alternative to the built in media player.

Mini USB: The adapter isn't that bad. My phone shipped with one. It has a button to let you answer calls (and a microphone). The "standard" though is just for charging.

Potential: I can see your point. It is by no means a perfect platform. But I also don't think it's as bad as you make it out to be -- the iPhone isn't perfect either. "Cupcake" features have been a long time coming -- I want bluetooth stereo support (bye-bye adapter), and better video support.

They took the 7200 RPM 100GB hdd away as an option on the 15"!!! That sucks!

Other than the screen size, the 15" has a 6x dual layer superdrive while the 17" has an 8x (big deal), and you can only get the 7200 rpm drive on the 17".

I guess they have to give some reason for people to buy a 17" over a 15".