I'm using an Asus EP-121 full time at work now. Add OneNote 2010 and the pretty good handwriting recognition in Windows Tablet and I've got an excellent, two and a half pound tablet with a real processor (dual core i5 1.73 Ghz), 4 GB of RAM, and a 64 GB SSD and a Gorilla Glass screen. The only moving parts are the two fans. When I need to type a lot (and not just take notes) I use the included Bluetooth keyboard. This was at the $1100 price point, and while it has a few warts (mostly related to the stylus driver) it's been a great way to abandon paper and share notes from meetings, etc.

But just *try* to buy one: when I last checked everyone was sold out (even Microsoft), and when retailers get them in stock they're gone within hours. The market for tablets with handwriting recognition and full MS Office is out there even if it isn't as big as the market for iPad and Android toys. Compared to my last 7.5 pound Fujitsu tablet, the promise of the notebook replacement has finally been fulfilled.

My company is aggressively hiring Java developers. We're trying to recruit from all over the country, but we've also got a high bar and a lot of people won't consider moving to the intermountain West and that thins the pipeline quite a bit.

The jobs are there, although I had to move from Seattle to actually find companies that would follow-through with full-time offers for Java devs. It was a great market for .NET.

Maybe so, but the current system is much more prone to abuse. In any case, no system will be perfect, and the fairtax reduces copliance costs by a factor of 100, and also reduces the number of collection points significantly, allowing government to focus their enforcement efforts more efficiently.

2. The arguments that interest rates will fall by 0.25%, and that the costs of all retail goods and services will fall by 20-25% are really, really tenuous, at best, and they are integral into the supposedly neutral effects of the change.

I assume you have research to back up your statements?

Please refer to these documents for more information. Americans for Fair Taxation (creators of the FairTax) was founded as a research organization, and is supported by research from places such as Stanford, MIT and Harvard.

This public policy paper by the CATO Institute on a national sales tax specifically refers the the drop in interest rates. The revenue-neutrality refers only to the fact that the FairTax would raise no more or less revenue than the current system, while reducing compliance costs and broadening the tax base. This reduction in costs is where the savings comes in, hence the reduction in prices and interest rates.

3. The issue with new homes versus existing homes seems fishy, at best. The market doesn't work that way.

I one again refer you to the research on the effect to the housing market.

COMPARATOR reported 15 potential hits. I reviewed each of these potential hits in detail and determined them [...] to be matches of common terms in the C programming language.

SIM did not report any potential hits."

so... all this SCO bullshit is finally over?