There are a few major draw backs with the usual suspects:
Lasers: Create a lot of heat, hard to focus, but more importantly, can be deflected
Projectiles: Over large distances (and I hear that space is vast) they would be easily shot down with the above mentioned lasers.

Instead you use use stealth ships to close the gaps and fire projectile weapons at a range that would limit laser defense capabilities. The future belongs to the carrier!

I work for one of the bigger ISPs in Canada which isn't Rogers (should make it easy to figure out which) and we're suppose to be the fastest -broadband- (note that we're leaving fiber out of this) providers in North America. Our company has recently seen a 5 fold increase in our Internet speeds (out goal is to offer 250 Mbps) in some area, with that to be expected to be the norm in all areas within a year (so I figure a year an a half). If other companies are doing the same, and if a competitive market is doing its job then I hope they are, I can see this study becoming a reality. That being said though I'd love to see a study -not- done by one of the main Canadian ISPs and only then will I believe the propaganda.

Yet another way they punish you for purchasing their game. This is the reason I won't buy a Bethesda game either. The "always online" DRM for single player games makes no sense to me. Even Gabe (of Valve not Penny Arcade) says that DRM is one of the main reasons people pirate a game and I tend to agree.

Speaking as someone who learned a bit of BASICA back in the day and has recently been itching to learn to code again I think this tool is fantastic. To all those who have been saying "the advertising and hype is just sad" I would adamantly disagree. We need to have a site or two like this hyped. Sorting out the crappy tutorials from the decent is frustrating for someone like me who doesn't know what they're looking at yet. I've been going through the lessons on this site since it posted here and I'm having a blast. Thank you for standing up for it and not being one of the mass elitists looking down their nose at entry level support...as though they themselves never had to start at the bottom of the learning curve.

This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever witnessed on the slashdot feed. Where's quality control?