Features that didn’t make the cut for Windows Vista. For those of you who already think I’m too much of a Microsoft fanboy, check out the list. My favorite is “Safe Delete”:

Clicking this button would instantly delete all of the files shown in the window permanently from the system, overriding every confirmation, bypassing the recycle bin, and also zeroing out the space on the disk that the files used to occupy (hence the “safe” name).

• Still not sick of my months-long rant about monoculture? Witness Ryan Naraine’s insightful look at the One Laptop Left Behind program:

If the plan is perfectly executed, Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child project will deploy 100 million laptops in the first year. In one fell swoop, the nonprofit organization will create the largest computing monoculture in history.

Wary of the security risks associated with a computing monoculture—millions of machines with hardware and software of identical design—OLPC foundation officials are seeking help from the world’s best hackers to review the full specifications of the $100 laptop’s security model.

• On a completely un related note, from one year ago, What it’s like at Web 2.0. It’s like that, but more so, now. I think the event was a success, and have nothing but respect for the people behind it, but the standout panel was the one where they ask kids how they use technology. I think it’s called something like “Talking to Teens”, and I’m always shocked how out of touch the audience is with young people — they treat 15 year olds like they’re from the moon. Interestingly, this panel could also have been called “Talking to People of Color”, and been used for the same poke-them-with-a-stick anthropological purposes. Good thing cultural diversity isn’t a life-or-death issue for our industry. Oh, whoops.
• This is a segue about natural selection. It’s Safe Delete for bad ideas.
• The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online. A simple entrance to the collection is also available. I had a chance to see Darwin’s notebook offering up the quiet assertion “I think” and found that surprisingly, profoundly moving.