At the university I go to, I recall a computer architecture teacher that used handouts/slides from when the Pentium 4 was the highest-end CPU available and some introductory programming classes that used 16-bit Turbo Pascal (so the students that were using a 64-bit OS - most of them, those days - were screwed) or non-.NET Visual Basic. Kinda says something about their CS program.

My bank and some other applications (which I rarely use) require Java applets. Thus I keep it disabled until explicitly needed.

I have a Dell XPS 15 (the only laptop with a non-1366x768 display I could find here in Brazil - the other choices would be from Apple, whose Brazilian operation is known for overpricing stuff, or gamer stuff which I don't need/want).

Not much to complain about it, really: almost everything worked out-of-the-box on Linux (except for the 'hybrid graphics' bullshit which requires a little hacking to get going, and the card reader - which I don't use that much - which won't automount until you run a command, then it works until the next reboot).

Of course, YMMV, the plural of anecdote isn't data, yada yada yada.

Internet filters/blocks. Low-quality hardware/software. Phone calls. People that do not realize that IM is not for chit-chat. Endless meetings. Noisy people (I've resorted to earplugs quite a few times). Etc etc...

CP/M.

The important stuff: around 40 GB (photos, [home]work, repos, the /home I have had since forever etc...). The rest (music, videos, games I have bought, etc...) can be re-ripped/downloaded if needed - even though this would be a major chore. Haven't used a CD/DVD in quite a while: external hard drives (even an old HDD in a case) become more convenient for storing not-very-useful data.

The required first-aid kit was tried in Brazil some years ago. Until someone with a little bit of common sense realized that, for serious injuries, it was better to call an ambulance than have someone unskilled attempt care (which could turn the injury into something worse).

... get used to something I haven't used at all, due to a complete lack of interest, and that I will not use any time soon?

Slippery slope anyone?

If you don't mind doing coding, try Sage or Python + IPython + NumPy + SciPy. For a quick calculator I like to just use bc in a terminal.

... that the most interesting feature in library is discovery: finding related books just by looking at the nearby shelves? I will miss that when most libraries reach this degree of automation.

Hardening a newer processor, with much more transistors in a smaller process, will be quite expensive. Usually you'd go with the lowest-end possible for your application (all the heavy processing will be done on Earth, anyway).

But Apple has enough money to turn the development of this into hell.

... Apple finds a loophole and sues this developer into oblivion?

We are walking towards the same situation in Brazil: every new law pushes for higher salaries, as long as they are for politicians or judges, and other ways of keeping our bloated government fed. No matter who you vote for: they all stink and won't move a finger to make things slightly less sucky.