to protect from 4 node failure, is the storage overhead 1:5 or do you use some compression technique?

Just by quickly scanning the article, it looks like their world domination is intended to hinge on the "Facebook Connect" thing for websites --- which Google already has an answer to: the "Google Friend Connect". (Correct me, if you indulge in reading 20 page advertising articles about nothing.)

All in all, saying that "Facebook is going to dethrone Google" sounds to me as saying "Somalian pirates are going to defeat US army and then dominate the western society."

<joke>
Facebook: blah blah dominate blah blah
Google: yawn (removes Facebook from search index)
</joke>

But to stay objective, Google should seriously do something about the abomination named Orkut, which runs on .aspx. But I guess they don't care too much - their intent is to social-networkize the whole web using open protocols - and open thinking - which is why they will succeed.

..a different technique to solve your problem -- enlist as a red-cross or similar org volunteer and go see and live the life in Somalia and similar countries. There's a high chance than when you come back to UK, you'll be the happiest man on earth.

I will append my opinion here, because parent is probably the only comment that mentions licensing.
Can't believe the licensing option wasn't mentioned more in this discussion - if you've got a killer IP, then approach the MegaCorp's competitors, and offer non-exclusive licensing deals to the MegaCorp *and* their competitors, at the same time.
That will make them think twice about developing the product themselves from scratch and losing the edge during that time.
Put the first money you make towards a patent application, assuming you are a prior (first) art.
Don't sell out in these times, if you've got a place to live and something to eat, the money is just a piece of paper. Money can dramatically devalue from one day to another, MegaCorps can fall or downsize to the bone.
It all depends on whether you really believe in your idea.

Exactly as the name says, it will be in development forever. It's the customer expectations based on this misunderstanding, that was misguided.

On a more serious note though, maybe now it's the time for the company to do the right thing and open source / free domain the game for everybody to finish. Even if in the form of a Quake3 mod, or based on its engine.

No matter how much thinking or logic you apply on a problem, you never think it completely through, because we don't know everything, thus we might as well know nothing. Therefore, by logical continuation, everything is faith. Even this very statement.
And don't be so sure :)

No waiting for a manufacturer to provide open source drivers. Better cooperation with other open source projects, like Xorg. Perhaps faster progress if the number of open source developers exceeds the number of developers of competing proprietary products, hourly/motivation/quality-wise.

Well, second step is Open Source Factories.

They have, but the only effect of that was - upon seeing two crew members talking in a sound proof area - an immediate suspicion of mission endagerment followed by ejection of said sound proof area to the outer space and blasting it to pieces with an ion cannon, as to lower the probability of its return to an acceptable value.

So what's the frequency, Kenneth?

And logically, I think the next question is: Was at least one of the above points done with the intent to actually create the current crisis?

<nazi type="xml-grammar">
...<nazi type=grammar> BEEP!!!
</nazi>