Their GIT was updated as recently as last month. I'm excited!

I recently resumed using WindowMaker and I've been asking myself why I stopped. My current desktop consists of WindowMaker's 0.95 GIT snapshot and various XFCE components (filemanager, CD burning utility, etc) in addition to the usual mature selection of apps for every day use. WMFire even supports multiple cores (one dockapp per core looks really nice on new systems). Menu is all set up using the XDG standards. I'd say I have all the functionality I have under GNOME 3, though it of course requires some preconfiguration. I even found my old theme from 10 years ago. Hee!

Check out the newest 0.95 GIT snapshot. Its wmmenugen utility generates the menu from the contents of /usr/share/applications. Quite nice.

I doubt the iPad is going to be sturdy or rugged by any stretch of the imagination.

I've been using the HP EliteBook 8540w and it's been hard to destroy. I ran an HP demo unit through the mill too (dropped it from six feet on all corners, etc) - it's rated for military use, and I'm pretty sure it's one step below the ruggedized laptops you can get with armor plating.

A small 25 user company would best take advantage of Windows 2008 Small Business, which allows for up to 75 users and includes both Exchange and SharePoint. After that you only deal with OEM licenses of Windows. Outlook is optional, as Exchange provides capable webmail services, but again, Office Small business edition provides reasonable pricing for a small shop.

Remote desktops is a possibility, but the real loss that will stem from the tide of cloud computing is the atrophy of the personal computer down to a set top box whose usage is supported by ads. An iPad or iPhone is an apt example - when the personal computer no longer exists, where will an end-user's freedom to explore go?

The Tinkerer's Sunset is a good example of what bothers me about the current widespread embrace of cloud computing.

Why does't slashdot have a like button

It takes Microsoft Excel approximately 1.5 seconds to load on a moderately old PC running Windows XP; this with many more features available to it...