Wave, as it was released , was basically a threaded and interactive/real-time forum (it was also a marvelous technological solution looking for a problem -- but that's another rant). If any of the current forum software (e.g., phpBB) implemented threading and collapsible subtrees, you'd get the major functionality of wave. (In fact, slashdot comes somewhat close, except that you can't edit/delete your posts.)

In iOS, the "beluga" app was wonderful for group messaging, as it was great at allowing people to come and go. However, they were sold to facebook, and is now supposedly FB messenger. :-( I haven't found any replacement as good as beluga.

Zarafa doesn't seem too bad, but I think it's positively stone age when it comes to mail filtering. Zimbra is much better in this, as is google apps or a hosted exchange solution (like office365).

I'm pretty sure the "single reminder" issue is a limitation of ActiveSync. If you use an app like "calengoo" or "calendars", you can set multiple reminders (I believe these sync directly with google calendar, and bypass ActiveSync).

A small business office365 account is $6/user/month or $72/user/year (up to 50 users). If you're willing to go email/calendars only, it's $4/user/month.

The easiest is to just go with some hosting solution, as maintaining your own server is going to be a lot of work (upgrades, backups, security issues, etc., etc.).

For hosted solutions, I'd look into either google apps or microsoft's office365. Office365 (maybe $72/user/year) might not be quite as cheap as google's offering ($50/user/year), but it seems to be a surprisingly viable alternative to google apps. The only possible issue that I've found with office365 is that password aging is turned on. Not only do they appear to not emphasize that password aging is turned on, but:

1. They don't give you any warning that the password is about to expire, unless you use the web interface (Outlook, Thunderbird, iOS, and android users appear to be screwed). I think some support doc actually recommends that you manually add a reminder to your calendar.

2. Once the password times out, you are, of course, locked out.

3. You cannot change the timeout interval.

4. While you can turn off password aging, doing so requires the use of a windows box and arcane windows powershell command-line commands. Yes, that's not a typo: powershell commands. Yup, there doesn't appear to be a web interface for this.

I've moved user directories after installation using these basic instructions, without having to resort to installation foo. I've actually done this 3-4 times over the past year, due to stupidity on my part trashing my system drive (and not having any backups, which I now do have). I've never seen any junction issues, but that's probably because I have c:\users\spoo pointing to d:\users\spoo (c:\users still exists and is valid).

I think it's trying to reach low-earth orbit.

You've obviously never heard of google's Data Liberation Front.

Yes. For some reason, in the SF Bay Area, the price of diesel is quite high. Price-per-mile-wise, I'm guessing that the cost of diesel is close to the cost of gas. If I had to put on a fruitcake conspiracy tinfoil hat, I'd think that the gas companies are doing this to make people continue to buy gasoline.

Yup, no argument there. It's just a concern, and one possibly where I'm the only one that cares about it. :)

Perhaps it's just me, but I'd be too worried about having a leaky roof some years down the line. Poking lots of mounting holes in a roof can't be good for it. Even if the installer uses some "leak-proof sealing system", how do you know that all holes are properly sealed, even assuming that, um, "low-cost labor" isn't being used to do the installation? (Possibly worse still, some solar power systems are rented -- what happens to the roof when the system is uninstalled??)

Many years ago, I installed a satellite dish on a roof, and sealed the mounting plate and all of the bolts using UV-resistant caulking. Years later, when I replaced it, I was amazed at how corroded the bolts were (they were supposed to be galvanized, but apparently weren't). Somehow, and I don't know how, water was getting to the bolts, and down the holes in the roof (the caulking appeared to be in great shape).

This. It was great when Gina was around, but I believe the quality can, IMO, "vary wildly". My favorite was last year's article on "Thawing Frozen Food in the Washing Machine". I kid you not.

You're missing the overall point (which, admittedly, wasn't very well made): a tablet fulfills (or will fulfill) the needs of the majority of people. To go into more detail:

1. A "majority" is not "all". No sane person is saying that a tablet will, in the next few years, fulfill the needs of everyone. However, as most people just consume media and data (web browsing, email, IM/messaging, etc.), a tablet works just fine.

2. No, a "majority" really is not "all". Not everyone simply "consumes media and data", and a tablet won't work for them. Examples include people who do significant software development, people who analyze data (spreadsheets), and people who heavy-duty number-crunching simulations of varying types. There are many other examples. Of course, a tablet won't work for them. (I suppose I should include hardcore 3D games, too, as the keyboard/gaming keypad/mouse input combo is still a much superior UI. :-)

3. While there are many examples for which a tablet isn't good, your thesis example isn't very good. As other people have pointed out, there is such a thing as a bluetooth keyboard, and a tablet & keyboard will work just fine for a thesis that doesn't have a lot of pictures, plots, and diagrams.

4. No, the PC isn't going away, but it's long-term marketshare is going to fall into the toilet. Like the horse carriage, blacksmith, and buggy whip when the automobile came out, the long-term outlook for PCs isn't good. (And, just for emphasis, let me point out that horse carriages, blacksmiths, and buggy whips are still made today -- just not in the numbers of yesteryear.)

5. Don't ignore the potential of "AI". For example, today, Siri is like a 1-year-old baby. Wait until it grows up.

(In case it's not clear, "HackTheWeb" is a viable replacement for "Aardvark" the firefox extension, and not "Aardvark" the social search engine.)