I worked in the nuclear industry a long time ago. The reason some parts are expensive is the documentation (chain of ownership) and testing involved. Some parts must be flame tested (set on fire and self-extinguish in X seconds), so that 50% of the batch are destructively tested in order to meet specific requirements. It doesn't justify excessive profiteering on a setup or per-part basis, but there is reason for connectors costing $90/part.
The point of Web of Trust is to only trust keys that other people you know have also signed. Everything else is garbage until proven otherwise.
Key servers are untrustworthy because anyone can upload random shit to them.
Trying to shift WoT to a third party is trying to get something for free that doesn't emphasize solving the problem: getting everyone you know signing keys of only other people they know.
It might be tinfoil, but it makes one wonder why a significant net neutrality opponent (Verizon) is considering purchasing the largest (monetary) proponent (AOL). Granted VZN and AOL had joint ventures previously, but sealing such a deal would have a chilling effect.
Economic and environmental collapse is the frequent Tragedy of the Commons consequence of unregulated human activity (markets)... Cannery Row, Easter Island, Silphium, Raphus cucullatus, extinction of N. American megafauna.
In other words, regulation is a necessary "evil" to make unsustainable behavior illegal.
In order to be successful, as mentioned in other comments, such a project would need more end-users as active co-designers / field testers. Otherwise, it's a pure "design for design's" sake that won't get used. And that would be sad if some extra attention were the difference between a large, branded product company that would be able to reduce the damage and discomfort to millions vs. a concept on a shelf.
I ... don't think that the end users are going to care about buying a branded product. I think the best possible outcome is a simple adjustment that reduces the damage and discomfort. Seriously. Look at the the pictures of the end users. It's a stick of a certain size and diameter. The replacement has to be... a different kind of rope & stick arrangement, equally cheap, equally trivial to put together.
Bezos could refocus on DIY, hobbyists and maker culture... classes (or sponsorship thereof) would be a good direction to get the cash register filling. It's hard to compete with online, open-source, but there are some things people would pay for (and want) in-person.
An apropos quote in-lieu of comment for obvious reasons:
"Nuptial love maketh mankind, friendly love perfecteth it, but wonton love corrupteth and embaseth it." ~ someone that hailed from southern Hertfordshire about a century later than in the article
I'm an American with a passport who has lived and grown businesses in Europe. (I attended private and public schools only in the US and half-heartedly finished a top 50 uni because it wasn't a top priority.)
GWB's NCBLA further inculcated standardized testing as an official religion in American education system. It's a complete and utter failure; another in a long line of ill-informed, "top-down solutions" that cause more harm than good.
First Bogey's Books in Davis, then even Borders. :(
From what I heard at the time, Powell's (one of the bookstore others would sell their inventory to) was overwhelmed with shipments from closing bookstores and the market rate for used domestic books was quite low for a long time. Has this changed?
Yea, if there were a Go teaching site beyond Go tour http://tour.golang.org/, that would be something. Regardless of language, https://rubymonk.com is one of the nicest interactive teaching with "try out this snippet" and "solve this problem" sites out there. The issue for Go is that it probably needs a little bit more on the video explanation-side for new users (distilled from Google I/O, Gophercon) to explain features. People would probably pay to be taught backend languages (Erlang, Go, ...) and infrastructure in a https://www.codeschool.com format (irrespective of spoon-fed teaching resulting in SRE-calibre practical experience.)
