I'm afraid what you're saying is basically correct, Remote User. I also think Gates and company realize that terminal-like devices are the future of computing; that's why they want to move to internet based applications with subscription fees to some extent (that and the holy grail of businesses: recurring and dependable revenue without having to produce anything new). I think they intended that to stall progress toward the point where using a computer is more like using a TV--and the OS doesn't matter because nobody really sees it anymore. I don't know, it's just a theory. I think people were saying that about them a couple years ago but I haven't heard much lately.

I wonder if Gates realizes that everytime he mentions the $100 laptop it makes more and more people wonder why they should pay $600-2000 for theirs. And maybe one or two of those people realize that it has something to do with the greedy, obese and wasteful software Gates wants to force them to put on it. It feels like there's been collusion between them and hardware makers for years: you put out the bloated and unreasonably inefficient software, and we'll sell the hardware that people will have to buy in order to make it bearable to use. Then eventually people will have to buy your software over again because your last version no longer support our hardware.

Anyway I'm afraid in the computing world I'm the equivalent of the people who wont put their money in a bank but keep it under their mattress. I don't want my applications and documents hosted somewhere I can't get to. I want it in the palm of my hand. It may be that I don't have internet access all of the time, but I have the feeling that I'm just the type of nut who doesn't trust the (computing) banks.