I guess this is just for the ones who want a solution right now. The others still can wait until the next kernel update, which will probably include the 200-line patch.

True ... but to me, it's all about the display technology. I wouldn't be interested in them otherwise. E-Ink displays don't require power when they're not flipping pages. I.e. you can even remove the batteries and see the same image that was loaded last. Can't do that with a Palm! ;)

Booking space for DVD printing is scarce, and when the game isn't ready to ship at this point, then boom, lots of bugs in the shipped product, b/c the booking slot had to be used. Happens to many game publishers.

This video shows off E-Ink displays running color video. In principle, it's possible, even if the frame rate is not particularly high.

TFA says the device does have WiFi ... the only question is if there's a way to program it in some way. E-Ink earlier complained that with better drivers, a lot more could be done with the display. This video shows off various E-Ink displays, some running color videos ... it is possible to some extent with the right software, so I figure with the right drivers, it could be used as a regular computer display, which in turn would enable the development of arbitrary applications.

Why? People waited decades for that technology, but that doesn't mean it's old ...

Uh ... really? ...

The printing solution exists, from Toshiba, using erasable plastic sheets.

That printing technology does exist. There was a Slashdot article about it a while back. Can't remember from which company, though.

Have you ever tried to use the tiling function that's built-in in Windows? Windows always had that function. In Windows 7, you simply right-click on the task bar and choose the menu item. :)

The pages aren't there when I surf the online help in German language, but in US English, all chapters are there. Sorry for this spur-of-a-moment article!! ;-))

Definitely. Once I had a coworker, who said, after I had explained the concept to him: "What do you need a spacecraft for? There is Earth! Isn't Earth like a giant spacecraft?"

And he's right: Earth is like a spacecraft too. Or, if you expand on the concept of giant spacecraft, our solar system could entirely be contained in some kind of chamber inside a spacecraft, and what we see as stars, might be other chambers with other solar systems. That's the largest of spacecraft imaginable! ;)

Universes could be like snowflakes falling on a winter day, and galaxies like little ice crystals ... who knows? ;)

And then there might be God who sent us on a journey ... question is: Will we ever know when the journey is over? Is there a goal within our reach? :)

The secret order should be where the AI of the ship comes in. It would have to select the best new members for the order, and keep them "aligned". This would keep management "cost" in that area minimal. Now picture the consequences of your suggestion: Let's assume for a moment that the ship is governed by a democratic government. In the worst case, it would have control over the ship. There'd be various interest groups that would try to gain control of the ship. Would you like to see them die, the billions of people on such a ship? One tiny error in the control of such a ship can cause all people to die. Now put it in the hands of power-hungry madmen. That's why still in democratic governments, there's still shadow groups like secret societies, and secret services that keep some information out of the hands of even the highest ranks in government. To keep a democratic government at bay and in functional condition, the AI would have to use far more sophisticated tactics (if even allowed to do so). Meh ... I like the secret order thing much better. People can go ahead and have their governments and such, but don't mess with the ship! lol ;)

Certainly, you're right. It would be the reasonable choice, to make everything transparent and open ... if it works for a couple hundred or thousand years, that is the question. What if the ship falls into anarchy, civil wars, dictatorships? The ship must still function under those circumstances, and ship its passengers along and nourish them. In a ship with Earth-like conditions, rain would fall and sun would shine, grass would grow, and cows would feed ... mountains and rocks would endure the centuries. People will be born and die, become dust and nourish the trees. I wonder if people would not forget where they are after a couple of centuries ... with all tech happening in the background, they would never even need to be aware of the fact. But who knows? There's a lot of possibilities.