I couldn't agree more with this viewpoint. Space hardware needs to be built with a mindset of permanence and reliability. The only way we will go to space and stay there is if our systems are robust and reliable. (It's also a good goal for earthly engineering.. wink wink)

Any rules must apply to all citizens.

This whole thing about private devices, smartphones. And personal mail servers, Hillary.

All of it is about where does individual dominion stop and civil participation start.

I really wish there was a truly open phone OS. Like a BSD varient for smartphones. Where you can own the whole enchilada. Trust, but be able to verify.

Is the Linux foundation doing anything to insure the various distributions each incorporate the improvements done in the various distributions?

I'm worried about the long term branching side effects. We have Debian, Red Hat, Oracle, and others adding functions and improvements.

What is being done to insure both hybrid vigor and "re-mainlining" of promising branches?

I don't understand. There is a whole spectrum of abuses on the Internet.

Comcast blocks port 25 and port 80 (inbound) so its impossible for me to run a mail service or a web service from a home computer. I'm forced to rely on service providers other than myself.

AOL is taking advantage of the uninformed. But other ISPs are preventing users from independence in other ways.

Sadly, fighting for an open Internet is getting harder and harder.

If there are a plethora of god particles. We may have to rethink more than just physics models.

There was a popular app called "screen" which allowed switching between multiple contexts and workspaces.

I used it all the time to make the best use of (then) limited desktop real estate. In that era, big bitmapped displays were a rare luxury in the marketplace.