I bought my first Thinkpad (a used T20) in the early 2000's after reading Slashdot reviews. The various reviewers discussed Sony Vaio, Dell Laptops, etc. What eventually sold me was that the Thinkpad was consistently well regarded (durable construction, backwards compatible, etc.) and most importantly had the best keyboard feel of all the brands.

I love the feel of the Thinkpad keyboard and how the layout preserved essential aspects of an extended keyboard (esp. the insert/delete/home/end/PgUp/PgDn keys). The function keys were grouped in 4's which made them easy to find by touch. It made the transition from a full keyboard to the laptop keyboard that much easier.

Lenovo seemed to have started down the slope when they started tweaking the layout by moving the "Insert" key and enlarging the "Delete" key.

The whole point of the Thinkpad line (esp with the T and X series) is that when the time comes to upgrade, one could simply start (/focus on) working as one didn't have to relearn/readjust where keys got moved around to.

For mass market appeal, Lenovo had the IdeaPad line to experiment with. The traditional business laptop series should have remained unchanged. The T series incarnation in this case is nothing special; it's not really a ThinkPad anymore. Hopefully, Lenovo will hear the cries of the T series devotees and revert the design emphasis.

...sad but true (the part about making a profit)... ...though to be fair, to commercialize does also imply that they would be trying to expand the number of people to whom the treatment can be given to. Currently, it's only one person treated, under the guise of a highly talented doctor and his research team.

Sometimes, seemingly ingenious ideas never get out of the research stage because the processes involved can't be replicated on a wider scale. (of course, there are other reasons why some ingenious ideas never see the light of day, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion)

...for a while now. Mutation of the CCR5 gene seems to provide some degree of (even total) immunity to HIV (and also the bubonic plague).

read:
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/01/66198
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCR5

It's a recessive mutation, so it is as a result of the bubonic plague going across Europe that certain European populations have a greater incidence of this mutation.

Yeah there is...

Currently, the theory is that HIV immunity is provided by a mutation of the CCR5 receptor. In particular, it seems to provide an immunity also to the bubonic plague--it is as a result of the bubonic plague that this recessive mutation has manifested itself today in somewhat greater numbers in certain populations--natural selection, so to speak at work.

check out:
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/01/66198
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCR5