There's definitely something in what you say - just use a small form-factor PC, or maybe just an old laptop, running whatever OS you like and any software you want to install. I have an Intel NUC running Linux Mint, Kodi, Plex, and Mediatomb (no really!), not mention any web-browser I might want to use. Also set things up so you almost never need a keyboard, then install an onscreen keyboard for the rare occasions when you do. More-or-less everything is controlled by wireless mouse (or maybe a remote app for kodi).

I _also_ have a chromecast, mainly for streaming services. But since the OP mostly wants to access their own media, a PC solution would be very workable.

You say you don't want a middle-man app, but presumably you need some sort of remote control - either an app or a physical remote? One solution that works for me is the using the BubbleUpnp app (Android only) to control streaming from my server to chromecast. It has the advantage that I can just as easily choose to stream directly to the android device itself and listen in on headphones. (Scrolling, by the way, is very fast if you use the scrollbar.)

You mean the fact that my granny uses netbanking is evidence that P!=NP ?

Odd indeed, as this is stated quite explicitly at the bottom of the first slide-image he reproduces (which, incidentally, _assumes_ P != NP).

The "why is this relevant for Linux users" crowd are spectacularly missing the point. This is interesting to me precisely _because_ I'm a Linux user. If I were a Windows user, I'd already _have_ Outlook on my PC! But I'm a Linux user and I don't, which is awkward as my employer uses Exchange. So now at least I have the possibility of trying Outlook on my Android phone. Whether it will _actually_ make a difference to me depends on the details: I can already access my email and calendar on Android with a bunch of different clients. But some features of Outlook are missing from the apps I've tried - browsing colleagues' Calendars for one.

Interesting discussion going on underneath the noise here ... We've actually encouraged our kids to use Google Docs exclusively for homework assignments because

1. we don't want them thinking that Microsoft Word is the only way to create a document
2. trying to teach good save & backup habits to small kids gets in the way of what they're supposed to be learning
3. with Google Docs their work is always there where they are, as long as they have access to a web-browser
4. Google Docs has a much simpler interface than Word or Libreoffice
5. Google Docs has good interoperability e.g. export to pdf, .doc etc

The privacy issue isn't one we've given huge amounts of thought to, partly because I doubt even the NAS cares much about a story about a hungry rabbit written by a ten-year-old, but mainly because the issues with their use of mobiles, social media, gaming etc. strike us as much more serious, at least at their current age.

Is that the kids on your goddamn lawn?

I like Scott Aaronson's response to this point:

My reaction, I confess, is simple. I don’t care—I actually told them this—if the former Pope Benedict has ended his retirement to become D-Wave’s new marketing director. I don’t care if the Messiah has come to Earth on a flaming chariot, not to usher in an age of peace but simply to spend $10 million on D-Wave’s new Vesuvius chip. And if you imagine that I’ll ever care about such things, then you obviously don’t know much about me. I’ll tell you what: if peer pressure is where it’s at, then come to me with the news that Umesh Vazirani, or Greg Kuperberg, or Matthias Troyer is now convinced, based on the latest evidence, that D-Wave’s chip asymptotically outperforms simulated annealing in a fair comparison, and does so because of quantum effects. Any one such scientist’s considered opinion would mean more to me than 500,000 business deals.

(from http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1400 )

Checked him out on youtube. Not bad, but inventively-obscene renaissance-themed doggerel is always going to be something of a niche market, methinks. Egad. Forsooth.

Also Einstein's theory of the anomalous specific heat of metals. Oh how we laughed at that one!

Joke all you like, but when ceefax started up it was the first time in our lives we had had access to up-to-the-minute news and other information on demand. We still have it here in Denmark although it's been a long while since I used it for anything other than subtitles.

I've been using purevpn for a couple of years, mostly to the UK although they also have servers in the US. They're cheap and reasonably reliable. You could just buy a one-month trial subscription ($6) and see how they work out for you.

In my experience, having lived in the USA, it is a country where a half-decent job gives you access to everything you could want, except for the leisure-time to enjoy it.

A temporary work permit in the USA will get you an SSN. I have SSN, or equivalent, in four different countries.

If people stopped developing stuff like cygwin, virtualbox, and assorted FOSS products that actually make Windows usable then I suppose I'd stop using it.