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unless system security is already compromised in some other way

If you HADN'T "compromised security in some other way" then you wouldn't be able to put up a fake login prompt no matter what key press was required as you wouldn't be able to run any applications.

The point is that if you can already run things on the computer (often by fooling the user in to doing so themselves, but other security holes would work too), then you have enough authority to intercept ctrl-alt-del, and if you don't, well it doesn't matter what you can intercept...

Among other methods:
-MSGina.dll can be replaced with a customized GINA DLL.
-Keyboard filter driver (one example: http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/33581352/keyboard-filter-driver.aspx)
-Replacing the process manager application that you get when you press ctrl-alt-del during a normal session
-Changing the registry to point to a different application when you press ctrl-alt-del during a normal session
Further discusion: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/preventclose.aspx?msg=1666328

Apparently users love it when 30+ years of interface design (DOS-era menus, not pine or BASIC.exe's bottom-laying ones) is removed without giving mainstream users a single "did you know?" pop-up on how to use the new system or revert it. To Whom do we owe the pleasure of this arbitrary feature? Believe it or not, to MS Office 2007's orb menu. Forums show people think the menu disappearance is a bug and not a feature (File/print and Edit/copy and paste is used by millions of non-savvy users who never click on buttons and never right-click.) They're in for a surprise again.

Oh, add Opera to your list. All major browsers in the EU browser ballot are or will soon be menu-less out of the box, except for Safari.

Your software woes are a direct result to the developers of said software refusing to update their programs to run on the new system. If you want to complain complain to them, Vista is not preventing you from doing anything other than screwing up the system by running software that was not designed to run on it.

If you want support for faxing then use a third-party product. Just because Microsoft doesn't include a fax program in all versions of Vista doesn't mean you can't use some other program to do so. This was one of the first results in a Google search for "third party fax support vista": http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/33125582/sending-fax-from-vista.aspx

Are you using Vista? The F-Lock setting seems to remain unchanged on reboot with my Windows XP SP3 work machine. I can't remember it being an issue with my home Linux box either (I own two Natural 4000 keyboards). However, maybe you just haven't loaded the Intellitype software or have a different version? I'm running Intellitype 5.50.66.1.0 on this PC

You can also disable the Caps lock key if you have the MS Intellitype software. Go to the Key Settings tab on the Keyboard control panel (in the Printers and Other Hardware CP group).

OK, here is ALL of the evidence that the RIAA has been strongarming Dell into this behaviour:

(from http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/32286847/vista-audio-solution--wh.aspx)

"Many of you may have been as frustrated as myself by Micrsoft bowing to the RIAA
and pressuring the soundcard manufacturers to remove the "What You Hear" feature
from their drivers."

Oh, yeah, and there's the other article which points to it, on http://www.ripten.com/2008/07/07/bend-over-dude-youre-getting-a-dell/:

"Some believe that Dell, and several other computer manufacturers such as Gateway and Pac Bell, were pressured by the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) into disabling the stereo mix functionality." ...

"So that we are all clear, the evidence points to Dell appeasing the RIAA by disabling hardware, only to have their customer service reps turn around and offer a solution to their consumers that reverses the alteration they made in the first place at a premium price."

Yep, that's it. One guy claimed it with absolutely no evidence, and so it's apparently true. Another guy wilfully misinterpreted some random tech support guy's suggestion, and now we have a collusion between Dell and the RIAA. Wow, this is investigative reporting at its finest!

My Dell laptop at work didn't have a way of turning off the damned 'tap to click' feature of the touchpad. I spent ages looking for a downloadable driver to make that feature work. Based on the rules of logic illustrated above, this is clearly a sign of collusion between Dell and Logitech.

Honestly, aren't there enough examples of corporate bullshit that we don't have to invent false ones?

Only if you keep your sessions in the same process as your application. ASP.NET supports keeping your session in another process (potentially on another machine) or in a database (slightly slower, but can survive server restarts etc). See http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/20021016.asp for a quick summary.

You're correct about the application cache not surviving config changes, though typically this shouldn't be an issue as cache is only for convenience: users won't feel the difference if there's a cache miss, but they will feel the difference is the session is lost.

So those references you gave are just a compilation of web search hits based on language. This in no way reflects size of community or language activity. You would be dense to believe that these numbers reflect anything more than search criteria. I might as well take the number of books listed on Amazon for each language to see what is the most popular. It's all bullshit.

It sounds familiar because the VB guys said the same thing. Look what happened to them.

yes, what did happen to vb6? Well they upgraded the language to .Net and allowed .Net to call COM libraries seamlessly through the RCW. So you get a more powerful language and don't lose any of your old code/functionality. Boo Fucking Hoo.

Most languages we use widely today are truly open.

Newsflash: C# is open!

If Microsoft wanted to beat the crap out of Java all they'd need to do would be to put down the patent gun, open up their sources, and let .NET embrace cross platform. They could perhaps out-Java Java.
This I agree with

We both know very well they wont. It's because .NET is not designed to win the language wars or be the best language.
.Net is a set of technologies, not a language. You keep waxing intellectual about .Net, but yet, I keep having to correct you. And as for the open sourcing of .Net that is yet to be determined.

There is no reason we couldn't have done Ajax 5 years ago

We did, it was called remote scripting.