>People don't want to buy a bunch of small stuff a la carte. They just don't.
Are you familiar with In App Purchases? The fact that so many apps are moving towards being free with paid content after purchase/install kind of goes against your statement. If anything, it would support the argument that people are willing to use a system like this if it is usable and trustworthy.
When learning a new language it is often difficult to master the little details. Swap out 'has' with 'have', 'its' with 'their', 'other' with 'others' and it changes to:
"All the services have their advantages and disadvantages over others"
Each of these differences may appear significant to a native speaker, but the basic meaning of each word is almost the same.
Exactly. I censor myself all the time in any online setting that isn't anonymous. I'll have my contribution to the conversation typed out, edited, and then I think on whether someone somewhere could possible take it the wrong way, or if it could come back to bite me. It's usually not worth posting (to me) if it's a controversial topic - there's very little to be gained, but a lot to lose.
Also, don't underestimate the value of making sure a client is happy. My first client required little more than setting up a WordPress theme and doing some design tweaks. I bent over backwards for them, and now about half of my clients are referrals from that first client.
I'm not saying that you should do everything for everyone, because some people will be unreasonable; when you're first starting out it's probably in your best interest to be a little more flexible.
One of the winning entries from the Node Knockout competition did this[1]. They didn't give any real numbers (20kH is mentioned in the comments, but it's not clear how many devices it took for that), but it does seem like you would have to have a massive amount of devices running it.
Why do you think this? The company that I work for uses remarketing, and it actually works really well. I don't know the details behind it, but I know that it's a good source of leads (at least for my company).
Keep in mind that it might not work very well with you, but HN readers don't exactly represent the majority of web users.
Especially when you consider the fact that it's impossible to upgrade the RAM. Sure, many users are fine with 4GB now. However, many users that want a laptop that will satisfy their needs for several years will be frustrated to learn that their machine can't be upgraded.
There are quite a few services that offer non-DRM epubs. O'Reilly's online store[1] is just one example, and there are a lot more listed in Defective By Design's ebook guide[2].
Blog posts and wikis are great for finding a quick fix/example on how to solve a small problem. I find books useful for when I'm learning a new concept from scratch.
Hopefully, one day I will be the crotchety old man complaining about how the new kids never had to worry about IE8 issues.