@Fernando
Google Gears.

@Epsilon-Not
Why the hell is everybody forgetting about dual booting?

Boot up in Chrome OS for the vast majority of your netbook needs, boot up in another OS otherwise. Hell, maybe you can even have an option to boot into the full OS from Chrome OS.

@jayjay, et al

Read up on your economics. Start with Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, or read some of Noble-prize winning works from Friedman. Monopolies can only exist through regulation, such as the EU. No company based on voluntary trade can be accused of being "anti-competitive" -- the only way to be such (and enjoin a monopoly) is through force.

No one is being forced to buy Microsoft products. Most consumers (for better or worse) choose them, that is why most vendors ship with it. Just because Windows is bundled with IE, MSN, et cetera, is not a bad thing -- if it were, people wouldn't BUY Windows. This is why more folks are buying Macs: dissatisfaction with MS (neglecting the trendy hipsters). The system regulates itself.

All the EU and all their so-called "competitive" and "anti-monopoly" trust-busting does is raise the price consumers have to pay for MS products, directly hurting consumers. It additionally says to MS's competitors that they can use the force of government instead of creative improvements and better marketing, thereby decreasing the quality of their software, further hurting consumers.

For the record, I use XP at work, but I much prefer running Linux at home.

Everytime you see something like this, you have to think, "What's the payoff?"

The article fails to mention some important details:
1) How much did it cost to put in the system (including maintenance costs for the projected life of the equipment)?
2) How long will it take to payoff?
3) Does the time to payoff exceed the life of the equipment (as is typically the case with current generation solar panels, especially without tax subsidation)?
4) What is the net environmental impact, considering energy / carbon costs of development, production, shipping, maintenance, et cetera?

Of course, it's certainly possible it's just a marketting angle to pull in a bunch of "green" shoppers.

Except, it won't support SDXC (not this model; just wait a bit).

The major problem that few ever seem to realize is that companies like Creative and NVIDIA, et cetera, likely do not own 100% of the software in their drivers. Even parts of the hardware and firmware may be licensed.

So they can't just completely release the source code or specification. Still, one would think they could at least open up some of the code, lowering their cost of software development, while at the same time increasing their market potential and driver quality.

As a Linux user, it's frustrating, to say the least.

You can't sell used mp3's when you don't like them anymore or are in a pinch and need some cash.

And, what about 10, 20, 30 years from now, when nothing plays mp3's and you transcode them, making them sound like hell? Still have these CDs and backed up FLAC, converting to whatever format as necessary (of course, with storage in the future, it'll probably not even be necessary to ever use a lossy codec for stereo music).

Yeah, this concept isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Open-source would be great for a car, but such a niche market and most people like the fool Ross would think "OMG, Open Source, that means it's unsafe, hax0rz and viruses, oh my!" (tiny bit of hyperbole:)).

@Dave: there's no car/oil conspiracy or anything like that. The answer is so much easier (Occam's Razor), is that EV of any sort of practicality have much higher initial cost (see the Volt, "just" a series PHEV, creep up from $20k's to $30k's to now $40000+?) and much more expensive repairs and all. Heck, battery technology, even NOW, isn't that great.

The fact is, people that can afford to spend $40000+ on a car aren't so worried about gas mileage, and would rather get a BMW or Lexus with all sorts of luxury features. It'll be a long while before EV's are feasible for more than a niche market. We'll see PHEV's first, but even straight-forward hybrids are such a minority of the market (admittedly, PHEVs make a lot more economic sense than HEVs, but still tons more expensive than a gas sipper).

No, Gibson is a serious dick, but I'd say he's pretty funny and a fine actor.

Wow. Wrong on so many levels.