Perhaps, the better question is: DO you want MS Office 2010 to be able to work seamlessly with all my other account or document info on the Web? The original poster  biznass should let us know. There's a big difference between signing up for Microsoft's 1-account, 1-password access vs. letting Office 2010 translate my documents from other platforms.

In this recession, our local services are going to feel the strain of unemployment. We have people applying for food stamps who've never done so before. Social stigma be damned. I'm betting that Section 8 housing and other affordable housing programs will also be considered from those were once middle class.

According to the Contra Costa Times, 40,000 families swamped the county Housing Authority, begging for entrance into the county's Section 8 affordable housing program. That's twice what county officials expected. This is the first time the Housing Authority has accepted new applicants for the program in seven years. Next step: a random lottery will narrow the field down to 7,000 families, which will be ranked based on a variety of needs. How many Section 8 vouchers are actually available? That would be 341.

Did you know? Google mentions pricing on their premier Google Apps: Apps Premier costs US$50 per user, per year and, as the most sophisticated version of the suite, is geared toward businesses with more than 50 end-users." Currently, that cost between five and 20 times less than Microsoft's Office according to Google.

Can we say price-war between Google Docs vs. Office 2010 web app users?

Did you hear? The US House of Representatives passed The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. We'll wait to see if it passes the Senate but...The House-Senate conference recovery bill supplies $8.4 billion for transit projects, and an additional $8 billion for high-speed rail, according to Center for American Progress. There's over 50 projects that are ready to go I hear in that list.

Good news for the economy? It would put Americans back to work to the tune of nearly 20,000 jobs for every $1 billion invested in mass transit, analysts say.

Check out this latest development. For Office 2010 according to the UK Register: 

Microsoft has announced plans to introduce sandboxing technology with the next version of its Office suite.Office 2010 will incorporate sandboxing technology so that when users want to simply read Office documents, these files will have no access to other files or information. "Even if the file is malicious, it can’t get out of the sandbox and do harm to your computer or data," explains Brad Albrecht, a Microsoft security specialist on the Office 2010 blog.

A pretty good idea for your home or office.

@VMac There's nothing wrong with having public and private options side-by-side. Hello, we have industrialized countries that offer that now: Canada, Britain, etc. The current proposal still allows that - if you're happy with your private insurer, you can choose to remain. 

The problem VMac is that millions of Americans -- 47 MILLION -- go without health insurance (Seattle Times). Whether because they became unemployed, work only part-time/contract, our private insurance options don't cover the full range. Not only that but healthcare costs -- for American citizens and our government -- are skyrocketing and are unsubstainable.That's 1 in 6 Americans.

In regards to your anecdote:
"My mother and father both received elective gastric bypass surgery paid for by Medicare even though they are extremely wealthy.  Guess who really got screwed: the middle class taxpayer."  That's null. Your parents paid into Medicare so really, there's nothing to say that they can't take advantage of something they paid into. Rich people still get Social Security but that's from their own contributions to government.

BTW, I don't find 'corporations evil.' If you read my post earlier, I said "I'm all for the free market finding a solution, but they haven't for 50 years." Private insurers were against the creation of Medicare/Medicaid since the 1960s but millions of Americans take advantage of it when they become disabled/elderly because for-profit insurers wouldn't take them on otherwise.

Thanks for the rant VMAC. The original statement posed by the forum still stands: Will Americans be left behind in the race for clean energy?

I agree with you - the Chinese Government owns our US economy. If they wanted to cash in on their Treasury bills and bonds, our economy would flip out. Don't forget that China's economy is too intrinsically tied with the US to do that though because we're both tied to each other.

However - let's not derail. The facts I cited are true. The Chinese are beating the US in terms of green technology production and investment (I cited the New York Times). The Germans are beating the US in terms of green technology. If other countries are going to adopt green technology, it's looking MORE LIKELY that they'll go to our fellow competitors then something MADE IN THE USA.  If you care to add to that, please do so with your sources.

It's going to be a tough climb for America. Let's face it, Germany and China are the leading countries on clean technology. China's taking the aggressive stance and building its own domestic agenda with its own native companies. China has built the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing industry by exporting over 95 percent of its output to the United States and Europe (New York Times). It's first solar plant had over 90% of its parts to be "Made in China."

While the tycoon T. Boon Picken has stalled his plans to build the largest wind farm in the US (4000 megawatts), China's moved ahead and is building SIX windfarms at (10,000-20,000 megawatts). Let's face it, government assistance is needed to nurture major movement in the clean technology sector. The US has major catchup to play against its competitors.

Let's hope the American Clean Energy and Security Act passes -- somewhat -- intact. If they manage to keep this requirement in the bill, that would be a major start: "Require electric utilities to meet 20% of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by 2020."

If you look at the legal precedings and see what analysts are saying, Sonia Sotomayor's ruling was based on previous legal precedent. She wasn't acting as a rogue judge when she made the call on that case.

According to Think Progress: Judge Sonia Sotomayor followed this binding precedent when she rejected several firefighters’ claim of reverse discrimination in the now-famous Ricci v. Destefano case, as she is obliged to do as a lower-court judge. Yet, as the Justices showed in today’s 5-4 decision in Ricci, they are not bound by the same constraints that bound Judge Sotomayor. Today’s ruling creates a new standard which says that an employer’s decision to toss out a hiring test must have a “strong basis in evidence” showing that the test preferred one race over another. The Supreme Court has powers that Judge Sotomayor does not, and it used that power today. Unfortunately, conservatives will try to use today’s decision to attack Sotomayor, but these attacks have no basis. Sotomayor followed the law that was in place at the time of her decision in Ricci, and she should be commended for demonstrating proper judicial restraint.

The 2nd Amendment allows Americans to buy guns. There's no doubt about that. However, there's definitely a problem when we have criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns through gray areas where screening isn't as stringent as it is at gun shops, for example, gun shows.

For example, alot of Mexico's drug war is fueled by ammunition and weaponry purchased across the US border. Alot of folks cross the border, either the criminals themselves or they pay folks to go across, buy the weapons in bulk, and bring them back.

There are plenty of decent, law-abiding gun owners out there who get pissed off when you have the bad stories come out in the press of folks who shouldn't own guns in the first place, somehow, getting their hands on them and causing harm to others. That's why we need better screening.

Since we're facing a worldwide recession, I doubt imports or exports are going to be going up anytime soon. Americans aren't consuming nor or any of our favorite trade partners either.

Like you don't think Google is going to take that lying down ~ of course, they must have something up their sleeve. Though really Google Docs vs. Office, is there really any competition? Most people who need serious work done do it in Office at home/work/school and I only know a few people who dabble with Google Docs otherwise.

According to PC World they are reporting that businesses licensed for Microsoft's Software Assurance maintenance program are allowed to  run Office Web Apps as a free service within the company's firewall. That would also give workers access to the apps via the Web. They're calling it a boon to "skittish IT managers who want more control over potentially sensitive online content."

For a small office like where I work, it won't be a big deal but for places that can size up to the hundreds, etc. I can imagine it is a headache. The question is whether the most smaller companies that have an incentive to try Microsoft Office 2010 can afford Microsoft's Software Assurance program that lets them adopt both web/IT access.

And so it begins.... the scare tactics by the corporate media and Liberterian types  to try and keep everyone impoverished, lest they become "dependent" on government services that they pay for through our high taxes.

@Dovehill : Do you think we should get rid of Medicaid and Medicare completely?

If anyone has any Big Brother concerns about "civil liberties being violated" by government health care, perhaps you should ask your grandparents and the disabled on Medicare whether or not they feel that their civil rights have been violated by having access to affordable health care...

Somehow, the idea that people should get some decent services for all the taxes they pay is bad, I guess. God forbid you ever contract a disease or disability that your health insurer knocks you out for or you can't work your job that lets you HAVE health insurance in the first place.

Since the "Free market" that right wingers love has failed to provide affordable quality care, someone has to step in and fix the problem. I'm all for the free market finding a solutoin, but they haven't for 50 years. It's time to try another way.

For the geek folks, here's Microsoft's huge release of its Office 2010 protocol documentation, all 33,000+ pages, freely available:http://bit.ly/KQXSY