The problem with low level languages, isn't anything technical about the languages.
It is about a common attitude among programmers.

As a kid, We learn things by taking steps up.
We Walk/Run, Then we Ride a Bike, then we Can Drive a Car. It is a simplistic way of viewing things. One is better then the other, and you need to be better to use the better method.

The same idea goes with programming languages. (I'll Show my age hear)
You code in Basic, then you go to Pascal, then you can do C finally you will be able to code assembly. It is common for the C developers who start doing C to think oh I am programming in C now, I am an experienced coder, and I will laugh and snark at all you Basic Programmers now. So many of the C applications will have a lot of issues due to these ego's of the time, and people really using the C Language as the wrong tool for the job. It is like using a Car to go a few blocks where your bike or walking would be easier and faster.
So their are ton of legacy apps in C which are not secure because the Managers of software companies thought the same way, and wanted to code it in the Best Language. Even if such an app would probably work and perform much better in Visual Basic.

I think is has more to due with Microsoft lack of advancement in Office... For the most part what we are doing in Office 2013, is the same stuff we were doing in Office 95.
Sure there were some incremental changes that took advantage of newer technologies, some new UI changes that I am not sure if it makes things better. But for the most part things haven't changed too much.
Word is still a word processor,
Excel is still a spreadsheet
Outlook is still a memory hog
Access is still causing businesses to slowly go bankrupt.
Power Point is still making meetings boring.

Using Open/Libra office, we get the stuff that we wan't it is compatible enough to not look like a jerk (say even 10 years ago) for not being able to read the document.

I for one welcome arresting people who seem to think it is a good idea to enter someones home just because they didn't get to update all their locks on their home.

Sure it is easy to update your PC, but if you have a mission critical application running, you need to make sure you take all the right steps even with the security vulnerability to make sure it doesn't go down.
 

So say we can double that. That makes the fuel 40% efficient as we use some of the heat towards efficiency. That will double the gas mileage. However if you need a smaller engine, then it will be producing less heat. That is good if it is 1 for 1. However if their needs to be a particular heat starting limit then it may cause an issue. Unless you go with a bigger car.

The idea as the engine gets more efficient people buy bigger cars, is economically sound and proven. A large truck today can do about the same as a station wagon 30 years ago. But what happened is more people started buying trucks.

They become old and bitter, just like those mainframe guys. Everything comes with a trade-off. When we went from the mainframe to PC's, software for a little while had to take a step back so it will work on systems with less power. The same thing is happening now with mobile devices. Software is taking a step back so they can operate on their mobile devices, where speed was sacrificed for weight and power usage. However, the fact we have smaller lighter carry anywhere technology, allows us to be more connected and less reliant on paper.

Trade-offs, they happen. Just like the mainframes, the PC will move more towards business only usages, while home stuff will go to mobile devices, as well as those light end business apps.

The Mainframe isn't dead yet, neither will the PC go away any time soon. However they will get more specialized for particular work.

As a non-gun owner, I still support the second amendment.

Increased freedom comes at a cost of reduced safety. If we want to be a free society, we need to be allowed to be dangerous.

Part of this militia bit, means we as citizens should be free to arm themselves in case we feel the need to revolt against our government or protect ourselves from a foreign source.
This was added during a phase in our government where we just fought off a legitimate controlling government, to make our own. The idea of replacing it with one that is unchecked is dangerous.

Now as time went along the US Government is one of the most stable governments in the world. Because we are in an era of stability. These gun laws seem more appropriate to stop those random nuts. As there isn't much of a real effort internally to overthrow our government. However... This may not be the case, we could go downhill fast, and if laws are too restrictive then if it needs to happen we will be at a disadvantage.

Now as I stated I don't own a gun, nor am I looking for a gun, as I while I don't agree with everything about the US, it is good enough for me to not feel like I need to get armed. Nor does most of the rational population.

Wow! I though we had data a lot longer then we had Electricity...

Hey look someone dropped all the pages of a manuscript.
How will we ever get them sorted back in order. Look we have a team of 16 people. Lets shear sort them, we can get this done in Log time.

We all talk about simplifying the tax code but it won't happen, and not because of Intuit, or H&R Block.

The problem is are tax code is designed to help out the little guy... However it is so complex that the little guy cannot possibly take advantage of it.
But if you were to say, cut Interest deductions for your mortgage, or tax credit for charity, or even investment tasks. There are more then just the high income earners who are effected but the average Joe who is just trying to get ahead. So every tax detail will need to be debated and argued, and you will see stories from some parties super pack saying how horrible it will be for the average guy to get rid of it.

That can't be, My choice language has been told to be the most secure ever.
So
Input $Login
Input $Password
Let $LoginID= SQLQuery("SELECT LoginID from Logins where Login = '" $Login "' and Password = '" $Password "'

I am can rest comfortably knowing that I am perfectly secure.

The question would be IBM compatible, back in the early 80s

We have had C64 emulators for a while.
The Raspberry PI is more than enough to do the work of a 30 year old personal
computer.

It isn't really that interesting the fact that it has been done.
But for the person who did it, I would say it was pretty cool that they tried.

Well we have a few groups who would be resistant.
1. They are sick of being told how evil and bad we humans are! The news organization/scientific community. Have done a piss poor job at explaining the issues. By making us feel bad that we are killing cute animals or will cause New York City to flood. Will cause some people into action. But others who feel they cannot help, because it means giving up stuff they really need or like, is like telling a kid that he is Bad all the time, after a while they believe it and will live up to the expectation.

2. Religious humility. Normally Humility is a good aspect that religion teaches. However in this case, the idea how can we such little people be causing a world wide problem. Then you can combine some religions who feel a god will come down and save them.

3. Inconvenient truth. There are a lot of good people working for the Oil and Gas companies. However if it means their jobs are at risk and they won't be able to feed their families. They will not believe the science as it will cost them.

4. Conspiracy: There are a lot of people afraid of some dark secrete society trying to control people. If this society infuses the schools and scientists to believe that CO2 causes global warming. They can use that to control peoples lives, by having them go use less efficient energy, Where we cannot grow food, causing a famine where we will need to go to them for help. Thus infusing their power base.

5. Misunderstanding and distrust of science: Their biggest argument is that during the 1970's when we had a lot of smog, there was talk about global cooling, as the smog will block out the sun. The media doesn't help when they tout every hypothesis before there is any solid evidence as fact. So these people get mixed messages so they just choose to pick what they like and not.

Even without computers. Computer Science is a damn useful skill.
Computer Science is the Science of Computation.
So in this theoretical world where technology is gone, which will mean that we won't know how to make electricity by spinning a magnet in a bunch of wires, or how to make a battery with Zink and copper in an Acid. Then sending this electric current threw some sand to make a transistor. Then we arrange these things into Not gates, And Gates, Or Gates. We seem to know quartz can vibrate so we can remake a counter.... We can save stuff with magnetizing it on rust suck on something sticky.

So the idea were we cannot have a computer made from scratch within a few years, as we already know about them and how the basic components work, is rather silly.

However in the mean time, these computer scientists can use these skills to manage a labor work force. Giving them simple jobs, aligning them so they can perform complex actions. For example in college cafeteria. I found there was a long line for the utensils, Because all the forks were group together, the spoons were grouped together then the knives were grouped together. The computer science people saw that this line was being inefficient as only 1 person was at the table at once because they almost always needed the fork. So we moved the forks, spoons and knives into clusters next to each other and were able to improve the line speed threefold.

Computer Science disciplines the mind to think of things in terms of efficiency, and patterns, as well figuring in the unpredictable actions from people, and their more predicable actions in masses.

So in this theoretical Apocalypse work the computer scientist is still a useful person in such a world.

Now this said, in order to get such an world, you will need to kill off all the information and including the smart people. So you will need to kill of all the computer scientists, engineers, and other educated people to really create such a world.

As to not embarrass the people who normally do not pay for an app, except for Angry Birds.

This would happen to any group that gains market control.
IBM, Microsoft, Apple...

If a Linux distribution somehow got a large foothold in the market, they will find a way to keep their dominance. Having a particular fork of the kernel, a distribution system that is a bit different, rename some folders around. Add a closed source install tool or Windows manager....