Java won't long be the only game in town. Microsoft already plans to publish a rival software, code-named Blackbird.

To many, a railway ticket is but an uninteresting bit of pasteboard, which must be purchased before a journey is undertaken, and once obtained, may be stowed away in a convenient pocket and forgotten, until a watchful railway official requests its production.

Have we witnessed the casinoization of Wall Street with its emphasis on short-term returns on investments?

... uneasie steps / Over the burning Marle, not like those steps / On Heavens Azure...