sterling

How is 'socialist' used in meaningless ways? Socialist in 2012 means someone who believes that wealth should be distributed from wealth-creators to the public sector, with the result that the country as whole grows more slowly than it should. Maybe you are thinking about what "socialism" originally meant, or what it "should" mean. Socialism has been defined by history.

Are you here Rexxar (in France)?

It's not "damaging" to France to say that the country is run by dishonest incompetents. France is a wonderful, beautiful country - any visitor can see that it in a few hours. But if a government is lowering people's incomes and increasing unemployment, we have a right as rational people to say as much as we can about it.

I agree with martinced completely.

I've spent 12 years in Paris working on the web. Before that I spent 9 years in Russia - I know propaganda and lies. The French government is incompetent and dishonest.

Why do I write this? Because it's in all of our interest here in France that the rest of world know. These buffoons want to be taken seriously on the world stage, like Chernenko and Brezhnev. No reason to allow that to happen.

I've lived in France 12 years and run a web consultancy in Paris. The government is completely out to lunch - and I feel the international media has not covered this story sufficiently. Unemployment is going to rise, investment will drop and extreme political movements are going to become even more popular.

Just curious - was it mostly in French? English? Mixed?

I've lived in Paris (12 million people) for 10 years - but I grew up in Montreal (3.5 million people). Montreal has better nightlife than Paris, and it's no contest.

Why is this a good deal? Isn't it about $1000 for this machine (let's say 3 years of use x $336/year). Tablets and netbooks are a lot less than that.

My first reaction to this was: creepy. The sales pitch is creepy - telling us in the best newspeak that less is more. The sales language is creepy, describing how much more "secure" a machine is because it only browses the web. The sales video has the smell of a lecture, with a message that hints at Big Brother. The layout of the product page is even creepy, with all kinds of colors and icon styles. Google doesn't want to add value to anything here. They want control, and they are playing catch up with the iPad. This is the textbook way to run business, and it will fail.

I am 49 years old and I work as freelance consultant on e-commerce projets. Honestly, it is impossible for me to work (which means mostly sitting) for 3-4 hours in the morning and 4-5 hours in the afternoon and also sit during lunch. If I do that I will either fall asleep or be unproductive for most of the afternoon. At lunch I spend at least one hour walking, running or biking. At the least I must get outside, whatever the weather.

I was studying in Russia when Chernobyl occurred, and I dated a woman from northern Ukraine who was a teenager at the time of the accident. I saw the results of the accident firsthand - basically everyone under the age of 10 was affected - hair loss, skin rashes and nausea in the immediate years after, cancer and early death later. But even so it isn't fair to judge the safety of nuclear power by Chernobyl. Chernobyl happened because the Soviet system had become incredibly incompetent, and technical decisions were being made by thugs.

Paris, France - contract web programmer

I am

I'm sorry, but this is not "publicly clarifying" anything. This new is huge. My guess at the real reason is this: Google created and continues to dominate the global market for low-priced ads - but it isn't doing enough to retain that dominance by either innovating in search, developing content networks (like Facebook or Amazon) or by taking control of new platforms (which is hard to do).

Here in Paris this is a huge story. In addition, Tunisia is a major source of programming talent for French companies - if you work on the web in France you are sure to meet Tunisians on a regular basis. Tunisia is very "real" place for us.

"It could be written by my 50-year-old uncle who's "in IT"."

What does that mean? Does your 50-year-old uncle exist? I am 48 and I am "in IT" and I work mostly with men between the ages of 21 and 27. Despite their youth, their very long/very short hair, and their t-shirts, some of them are genuine fuddy-duddies (old-fashioned, conservative, set in their thinking, however you want to call it). The chief focus of their conservatism is an almost religious adherence to doctrine, to how things have been so far in their very short lifetimes.

Here's what someone my age thinks: Google has introduced a "service" that politely adds to the annoyance of our lives. If google cared about what users wanted, they would be improving their core business, search, which is becoming increasingly polluted by spam.

"The most plausible theory, though, is that Google’s Android phone software is a more open and hackable operating system than the proprietary software on the iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm. Therefore, Android appeals to precisely the sort of frustrated, anti-establishment people who have no trouble writing abusive notes. It brings them out of the woodwork, gives them a new counterculture champion."

I agree with Pogue. It is absolutely baffling how something as ephemeral as a technical solution tickles our religious reflexes.