It seems to me that this is just a few more minor discoveries away from Amy's talking tattoo. I mean, the medical applications may be important and all, but come on; I'm sure everyone here knows that practicality isn't really what drives innovation...

" 'Why do people still come to the office when they're coughing up a lung?' asks the exasperated Olshansky. 'Because unfortunately, there is a still a strong perverse culture that equates staying at home when sick with weakness. ... Given that we have the tools now to complete most tasks from home, ..."

I call bull. Corporate America has done everything it can to discourage staying home, period. I don't know a single person who would actually prefer to be at work while they're sick and miserable; we just don't have any other choice in the matter. For starters, some of us don't have any kind of "sick leave" that we could use for such things... we are forced to take vacation time, or "comprehensive leave" if we stay home sick. And despite the beliefs of some people, (like Olshansky, apparently) most jobs don't even have any kind of a "telecommute" equivalent... mine certainly doesn't.

Tell big businesses to give us back our sick leave, and I'll be happy to stay home and cough up my lungs there instead of in the office. Until then... I still have bills to pay.

They won't go "Well, we won't supply you any more" and get a new customer, they'll take you to court for the money.

Well... no. They'll just suspend your account for non-payment until you pay.

And that's part of the problem... the service provider ultimately has the upper hand, since the customer needs that internet connection a lot more then the service provider needs the remaining $7. As such, the reality is that pretty much any customer who tried that kind of stunt will panic and promptly pay up as soon as they realize that their internet has been shut off.

This service provider advantage is also why utility companies (gas, water, electricity, etc.) can so easily get away with charging outrageous "reconnection" fees, just to flip a switch and turn you back if you should happen to miss your payment date for some reason. As such, it's that much more important that the service provider be held accountable for their system of measurement. A "proprietary" system of measurement just doesn't hold water.

The notion that many or even most users of a new and largely untested (insert any-fracking-thing here) would prefer the one they were using and were comfortable with previously over this new and unfamiliar experience, is nothing short of blatantly obvious. Likewise, the notion that any new complex system is going to be completely perfect on day-one of release is utterly ludicrous. Crud... I'm a Mac user, and I'm not in the slightest surprised to hear that W8 users might want to go back to W7, any more then I would be surprised when any given Windows user who has migrated to a Mac expresses certain regrets over that move, now and then. Growing pains always suck... and in the case of W8, there's not really any seasoned users around, who might be able to help navigate through this new territory.

The real test of W8 will be to conduct the same type of survey a year or two from now, to see if switchers who have been using it for awhile still want to go back. Vista very (in)famously failed that test, which is what kept XP around for so long... but trying to conduct such a test now, on W8 early adopters is basically the same thing as testing to see if water is still wet.