Well said, thanks a lot. Where can I find a list of organizations that lobby for the ordinary folk? Can we have these organizations grouped by subject matter?

How for instance, is it OK for members of congress to have a medical insurance scheme that members of a certain party (that I will not mention), find so toxic to be of [any] benefit to the ordinary man and woman? I would like to know.

When done in other countries, my government calls it corruption. When done here, it's called lobbying.

Question is: Who is lobbying on behalf of Joe Six Pack and family?

Didn't they agree to this long ago? What do you expect anyway?

From the piece, authored more than half a decade go, "The FDA now admits that Americans are suffering and dying because the FDA does not have the scientific ability to ascertain if new drugs are safe or effective or to evaluate scientific claims." (Bold mine).

What troubles me though, is that most Americans believe our country has the "best" medicine or healthcare one can find anywhere on planet earth.

I can only think of Microsoft and its failed partnerships.

My suggestion: You could perhaps look into your skill set. How about that?

I don't want to come off as too negative, but let's be realistic/objective as a tech community. Does this release really matter? I doubt! In my last 7 years supporting schools and small businesses, I have seen several KDE and GNOME desktops. I have come across zero XFCE installations!

I guess slashdotters can tell me where XFCE is making a difference. Does such a place exist?

I had a car that at about 18,000 miles, had its "check engine" light come on. I ignored it as I knew from past experience, that this car had no major problems. This light remained on till 29,000 miles when the car started shaking while at about 80 mph.

Any speed lower than that would be without problems. I decided to have it checked out. The dealership wanted $480 to for a new sensor. Without fixing, this car "will stall on you one day" he said.

Well, stubborn as I am, I ignored his advice. I added another 120K miles on it without any problems at all. When it used to jerk at the 80 mph point, I would just push the gear lever into N and rev it hard...At one time, I thought my tank may be dirty - it wasn't.

Later on at the same dealership, the fella (who was now out of the business), told me that cars are better built these days and that manufacturers had to find a way to get you back into the dealership to spend.

Look folks, we need a radical direction otherwise car companies will hold us at ransom as Microsoft has done with its MS Office software.

I guess the designing and launching of satellites isn't the preserve of the so called "developed" nations only these days. the other month, it was India. Now Iran! Folks, we need to raise the bar.

Is registration enough? Are there advantages to being a US company? What does Apple, which I assume is a US company lose if it suddenly became a "UK company?" Anyone know?

Yes, I have never liked tech in class. Never!

About me: I am a former full-time teacher:

Now my $0.02.

That's why kids from the so called "third world," that come here consistently beat our own kids in all subjects that really matter. Why? Their brains were conditioned to think. They only used PCs if they had any, at home. And only when homework was complete. Homework done the "old fashined" way.

Look folks, there's so much distraction in class that kids can't really learn. It's hard for such young minds to focus. The trouble is that our learned colleagues submit studies that are clearly biased, and what can you say? The contract to supply the latest gadget is inked! It's a sad state of affairs now. The so called "third world kids" when here, quickly catch up with tech and do even better. Is anyone listening?

"Unique, disruptive innovation is really hard to do. Doing it multiple times, as Apple has, is extremely difficult." That's why Apple has had its share of failures..."

Additions mine. This is one fact that a simple google search would have shown. One may ask, are the authors of these pieces paid?

Google has most of the world's internet and Android users where it wants them and that's not good news for Microsoft. Look, how can one ever do without Youtube or the search engine Google? Guess what, you want Youtube, you MUST take Gmail, Calendar, Photos, Docs and all the rest as well. Heck, Microsoft doesn't even have a compelling YouTube alternative!

I have problems with Google's Android though. Does anyone find that it's native Android apps are kind of cumbersome to use? I specifically point to the SMS app.

While I don't belittle or despise the WAMP stack benefits. that stack just won't cut it for me as I need to put business and common logic into the forms before committing data to a table.

Example, clerk inputs sex as "Male" for a child bearing individual, I need to disable data fields asking about how many pregnancies this individual has had. I know this is possible by other means, but it gets complex if my needs are to be met.

Not requiring an "encryption chip" itself shouldn't be something we're proud of. It should be a fact that drives the point home that the USA is almost always a little behind other countries though you'd be hard pressed to find an ordinary American who believes we're indeed a little behind.

Riding the NY subway system just last week drove the point home when I witnessed rail cars those in South Africa may think are from the 50s, and wouldn't associate with a "first world" country.

While I applaud the founder for this move, I can't help but wonder what could have been if these efforts had been put toward producing a truly MS Office replacement.

I mean, for every office product, there would be a true open standards [drop-in] product.

But right now, all I see are what some may call "me too" browsers, all competing for the little attention they can get among so many. Sad!