Keyboard + Mouse + Touch is the trifecta. They each do certain things best, but none does everything good enough for all-round productivity. So how long before I can expect to replace my dual 28" LCD's with multi-touch panels?

>>>> I can run my system much faster by memorizing keyboard shortcuts, never touching a mouse. You dont even need a multitouch computer to write and test multitouch apps, in a pinch you can use 2 mice. Very few laptops currently support touchscreen windows leave alone multitouch, and I dont want to get the first gen of that batch :) <<<< You certainly can GET BY with a non-touch laptop right now. But my point is that most budget-minded laptop power users (who typically buy a new laptop every 3-4 years) would be FOOLISH to buy a new one now, given that we are basically about to enter the windows 8 multi-touch era. Everyone loves to poo-poo the utility of touch on PC's right now, but just wait 1-2 years down the line when there are KILLER touch apps for windows 8 and the second gen laptops come out that really take touch productivity to the next level and here you are stuck with an windows 7 era laptop that you wish had a touch screen. Yes, it's annoying to have to wait 12-18 more months for the second gen win8 laptops to come out, but if you're gonna make a $2000+ investment, you might as well be smart about it. We can't all have unlimited tech budgets like Mr. Atwood. ;)

The great thing about being rich and famous like Jeff is that you can afford to waste your money on hardware that will be irrelevant in 3-6 months. NO LAPTOP is worth buying right now unless it incorporates a nice workable multitouch display. If I'm going to drop over a grand into a new mobile workstation, i'm waiting until the second generation Windows 8 models come out. Then Jeff will buy one and write a post called "REVENGE OF THE LAPTOP". :)

Is it possible to have a new stack exchange engine that isn't relegated to being ONLY about Q&A? What if the goal was simply discussion (On topic, or off topic)? Has it ever been considered? I get the feeling that StackExchange will never eradicate the 2001-era php BBS until it can gamify online discussion that is not only helpful but interesting to communities.

The problem of web identity isn't caused by passwords, it's addressed by passwords. Eliminating passwords only obfuscates the problem! Remember that cutting the Gordian knot was a bad thing. It symbolized a regression to brute force and violence. The knot puzzle represented intellectualism over barbarism. By cutting the knot with a sword, Alexander the Great propounded brute force as the solution, when in reality that was the problem. The brute force approach of addressing Web Identity by re-engineering browsers/html/protocols to natively support automatic password handling is a fool's errand at this stage in the development of the Internet. Thankfully what's great about the Internet is that it solves its own problems through a bottom up natural selection process based on pure useage. Much like every other web usability paradigm that came before it, proper and effective third party login credentialing will become second nature to the web development platform and ultimately a norm of internet usability. Until an ubiquitous hardware solution changes the game, users will always need to remember (or use tools to remember) the passwords to their major account providers, but eventually any website and/or service that requires identity to function properly will not have to annoy the user by requiring their own identity forms/procedures.