I deal with non-native English speakers on a daily basis as part of my job--and I'm married to one as well. Perhaps I don't have the complete picture, but I do think he's got some valid points.

I have little trouble entering Hanzi with a standard keyboard, and your typical Chinese person has even less.

You might recall that Chinese consists of a large number of related but mutually unintelligible "dialects". A Beijinger visiting Hong Kong might pronounce it "Jiulong", but he can still read the sign that tells him he's arrived in "Nine Dragons"--or, as the locals pronounce it--Kowloon.

For that matter, handwriting recognition works quite well these days. Very handy when you're out and about and you see a character you don't know--just trace it on the screen of your smartphone with your finger, and up it pops in your dictionary, with the meaning and pronunciation. (NB: You *must* know the stroke order rules for writing Chinese characters for this to work. You don't have to write the character especially neatly, but the strokes need to have the correct order and placement.)

I'm not saying I *prefer* an ideographic writing system, just that what you're alluding to is already (AFAICT) a solved problem.

I'm glad someone else noticed that. Not that it applies to me, since I've already learnt how to say "I can't eat crustaceans--I'm allergic" in about 12 languages.

Interesting read. Thanks for the link.

Apparently Redundant is the new "I'm a chicken-shit with a chip on my shoulder and no good response" mod of choice.

I was thinking more of the evolution of the Web browser from document viewer to (in theory) cross-OS/cross-device application platform.

(50? I've wondered about that. I think my posting limit must vary with the phases of the moon or something--seems to change without rhyme or reason.)

I stayed on KDE3 for a long time, but 4 finally got to where I could stand to use it. I actually still prefer Konqueror as a FM, but Dolphin became "good enough" (for me, at least) around version 4.7 or so.

I have never liked Gnome very much, more recent versions even less.

I also still have a special place in my heart for Window Maker--it's simple and easy on resources, which is great for older hardware and laggy remote sessions. Also in part because I know one of the original developers.

Wasn't the Internet supposed to do this for us already?

Except that cows give milk from their *udders*. Otherwise, nice job.

It's nothing of the sort. It's more like some of the frogs noticed when someone turned on the stove eye under the cook-pot they were swimming in.

Seems to me he's describing the very model that Microsoft's been using in corporate settings for the last 20 or 30 years.

"Per-machine licensing" or "per-seat licensing" doesn't ring a bell...?

"I not only inhaled, I drank the fucking bong water afterwards."

Seldom have I seen a response that so completely and utterly missed my point.

Where shall I send the cigar?

Two words: Virtual Box.

OpenSUSE.