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Considering SandForce sells controllers to multiple vendors isn't the only difference between them how they choose to provision the drives. I know there can be hardware differences, but lets say we have two drives with basically the same internals. Lets also suppose that Drive X is faster than Intel's equivalent, but Intel's is cheaper (not likely but stay with me here). Now you may be able to tweak the Intel drive's settings and get it to match or closely match Drive X for cheaper. That could be a good use.

Or you want to use the consumer level drive in a small business. You don't want to spend the money on the enterprise level drive so you take this new drive, reserve more space for failure (such as dropping the 250GB down to 220GB or something) and continue on.

Overall I agree that this won't be much use to most people but it does have potential for the unusual cases.

Not entirely true. When I buy a car I get charged taxes based on where my address is, not where I'm buying. Going to a nearby city with a lower tax rate doesn't work. I haven't tried across state lines but at least in state I always pay local taxes on cars.

The problem with this is we don't have government controlled mines. When a private U.S. company cannot sell it's rare earth elements cheap enough to compete with China, they cut their losses and shut down. Only if the government gave them money to keep running or was willing to buy U.S. rare earth's at U.S. prices could we not "set ourselves up". It's not the quick buck, it's the global economy.

Does that mean when you do see the silicon you'll hold your breath? For how long?

I also think lack of affordable public health care is a big factor. When even something as minor as a few stitches can cost an uninsured parent hundreds of dollars they my be more protective.

I actually like the all caps menu structure. Going by the screenshots in the linked article I think I'd find the new version more useful. It makes the items stand out without taking up more of the screen.

I don't think you go far enough! Why do I have to pay for your security and safety? How dare the government take money out of my pocket to pay the police in your town! And public education? If you can't afford to educate your kid then let him be stupid! And can you believe how the government forces food inspectors on farmers? If the farmer wants to use any growth drugs he wants, let him! Damn government always taking my money to provide safety, security, education, and health standards!!!

I was thinking that decrypting is similar to forcing someone to unlock their safe and I don't have a problem with this. However, the more I think about it I see it as a secret code. If I invent my own language XYZ and write everything down with it, can they compel me to translate my documents back to English? Or force me to give them an XYZ to English dictionary? The decryption password to me is the same thing as a translation dictionary.