Accumulation.

First: historical cost of computing, adjusted for GDP:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkedrosky/468721697/
(from Paul Kedrosky at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InfectiousGreed/~3/111094704/progress_of_com.html

Second: the government knows all your prescriptions: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008872.html

Third: Michael Dell uses Linux ( http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/biographies/en/msd_computers?c=us&l=en&s=corp ) and Dell will make Windows XP available again on selected machines, ( http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2116076,00.asp ) because nobody likes Vista, especially if they can't afford a $3000 desktop. In related news, a $650 computer can be quite a screamer (dual core AMD 3800+, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB RAID-1 disks) but the price goes up by $370 if you need Microsoft Vista and Office...

Fourth: Macs are easy to use, and a low-end MacBook with a gig of RAM is sturdy, well-designed and performs decently, all at a price point not terribly dissimilar to a brand-name PC notebook. And the OS is much more stable than Windows anything... Just saying.

Accumulation.

First: historical cost of computing, adjusted for GDP:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkedrosky/468721697/
(from Paul Kedrosky at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InfectiousGreed/~3/111094704/progress_of_com.html

Second: the government knows all your prescriptions: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008872.html

Third: Michael Dell uses Linux ( http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/biographies/en/msd_computers?c=us&l=en&s=corp ) and Dell will make Windows XP available again on selected machines, ( http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2116076,00.asp ) because nobody likes Vista, especially if they can't afford a $3000 desktop. In related news, a $650 computer can be quite a screamer (dual core AMD 3800+, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB RAID-1 disks) but the price goes up by $370 if you need Microsoft Vista and Office...

Fourth: Macs are easy to use, and a low-end MacBook with a gig of RAM is sturdy, well-designed and performs decently, all at a price point not terribly dissimilar to a brand-name PC notebook. And the OS is much more stable than Windows anything... Just saying.

As geeky as they want to be

"The Complete April Fools RFCs" by Thomas A. Limoncelli and Peter J. Salus

http://www.rfc-humor.com

Compiled, really, not written. Salus is a UNIX/Internet historian, and TAL is an uber-sysadmin.

I believe Eliz used to know Salus, and TAL co-authored a paper with Ringel.

As geeky as they want to be

"The Complete April Fools RFCs" by Thomas A. Limoncelli and Peter J. Salus

http://www.rfc-humor.com

Compiled, really, not written. Salus is a UNIX/Internet historian, and TAL is an uber-sysadmin.

I believe Eliz used to know Salus, and TAL co-authored a paper with Ringel.