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Here is the product in question: Fuj:tech 10 m aktiivinen USB-jatkokaapeli

So from a technical standpoint it seems to indeed be a passive 1-port USB hub. Such solution probably improves the signal quality, but I believe that a true active cable would have an external power supply as well.

At Verkkokauppa.com we deploy several times a day. Our team is fortunate enough to work on our own system, so for small features or bug fixes the turnaround can be as little as minutes.

For us the most important tool is Git. We have a logging mechanism in our deployments scripts whish logs who deployed which version of the code base (SHA1 hash) and when. If we do manage to break something we simply immediately return to the last known good version by checking it out and deploying it. Then we have a lockout policy that prevents futher deployment until the bug is fixed.

On rare occations we have had to do reverts, but only a couple of times over the course of several years.

Other valuable assets that keep us agile deployment-wise is having the whole team physically in one place, and most of our stakeholders in the same building. We also use Jabber internally to make it even easier to communicate on those occations when face-to-face is not possible.

We also use Scrum, but this is a rather recent development, and we did mange the same deployment policy before we switched to Scrum. A continuous integration environment is in use, and does help keep things in order. But for minor features and tweaks with few stakeholders it's not entierly uncommon to simply deploy and communicate with the users directly to check if everything works as expected.

The fact that there is one installation of the system is a major asset. We really never have to deal with versioning. The current version is simply the HEAD commit on the master branch.

Here's even a nice mini-ITX case that can take 6 drives in it.

If anybody still has illusions about Nokia being well-established somewhere and able to hold this position for long, come to Finland and check how many people are toting iPhones and Android devices. Walk into any cellular operator's store, or check Verkkokauppa and see which models are on offer.

I consider WP7 a passable stopgap solution for Nokia. Certainly better than to continue flogging the dead horse that is Symbian. Those employees walking out should have seen the writing on the wall long ago and walked out of their Symbian teams for good. The sharpest ones actually did. Unfortunately, the old Nokia guard in charge carefully shielded the rest from the harsh reality. Now is the time to wake up.

And this time it's not Windows Mobile. That would have been a sad story, indeed. Instead, it's a reworked platform free from Win32 legacy and the 20 year old mouse UI paradigms that are ingrained into it.
And Nokia is in a position to become for this platform what HTC was for WinMo.

I really wouldn't know, I'm not a potential customer: I just happened to see the prices on the service desk while waiting for a clerk. The Ultimate edition upgrade is on their web shop as well if my word's not good enough for you: http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=13976 (only in Finnish but I'm sure you'll be able to find the price in there).

So, what's with the suspicion?

A list of mini-laptops with comparisons:
http://www.mbnet.fi/tuoteseuranta/index.aspx?rrid=1

Availability was scarce in verkkokauppa:
http://www.verkkokauppa.com/?page=http://www.verkkokauppa.com/main.php?path=tietokoneet%2Fkannettavat&title=Tietokoneet+/+Kannettavat&search=1&cat1=Tietokoneet&cat2=Kannettavat&cat3=Linux

Some sell Acer aspire one: http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/171402

Here's Asus:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/164709

Lenovo T61 is pricier:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/81991

MSI wind:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/79914

You can check driver availability to about any laptop, even if it doesn't have linux preinstalled:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/

My personal choice would be Asus Eee PC 901. Enough CPU and SSD-drives which are more tolerant to shaking and movement, in addition of being fast.
To play DVDs, an external drive would be needed:
http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=2585 ..commenting in the order that the device is supposed to work with Linux.

DVD-drive compatibility chart:
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/search_res.php?pattern=dvd

A list of mini-laptops with comparisons:
http://www.mbnet.fi/tuoteseuranta/index.aspx?rrid=1

Availability was scarce in verkkokauppa:
http://www.verkkokauppa.com/?page=http://www.verkkokauppa.com/main.php?path=tietokoneet%2Fkannettavat&title=Tietokoneet+/+Kannettavat&search=1&cat1=Tietokoneet&cat2=Kannettavat&cat3=Linux

Some sell Acer aspire one: http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/171402

Here's Asus:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/164709

Lenovo T61 is pricier:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/81991

MSI wind:
http://hintaseuranta.fi/tuote.aspx/79914

You can check driver availability to about any laptop, even if it doesn't have linux preinstalled:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/

My personal choice would be Asus Eee PC 901. Enough CPU and SSD-drives which are more tolerant to shaking and movement, in addition of being fast.
To play DVDs, an external drive would be needed:
http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=2585 ..commenting in the order that the device is supposed to work with Linux.

DVD-drive compatibility chart:
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/search_res.php?pattern=dvd

The U.S. is ahead of Europe in some aspects of consumer protection. As a general rule, the consumer is allowed to return purchased goods to the store on a whim, while in Finland, at least, as a general rule, all sales are final. The Finnish consumer ombudsman has stated so clearly.

Just yesterday I tried returning a laptop to Verkkokauppa because I couldn't load linux on it. The customer service representative said it didn't promise it on the box and wouldn't take it back.

Not surprisingly, Finns purchase goods worth 10% less than the OECD average, while the Americans lead the pack in the amount of consumption.

Bah! Everyone knows that it takes a keyboard that shines in the dark to be FTW-worthy.

In many European countries' postal systems, sending packages or letters abroad is not much more expensive than domestic delivery. In some cases, sending a package from another country may even be cheaper.

For example, in Finland, electronics store Verkkokauppa avoids a similar tax on storage media (currently on blank CDs, DVDs and media players (e.g. DVB and MP3 players with built-in storage)) by selling these products through their Estonian subsidiary, who simply mails them to the customer from Tallinn.

It's different here in Finland than in the States -- if stuff is bundled (like Windows is), it is bundled, and nothing will change that: You can freely refuse to accept the bundled stuff, but that does not make you eligible to any kind of refund. Shrink-wrapped licenses that are not really signed won't apply anyway (which also means that you're free to resell OEM stuff etc.).

And for sure there is demand for laptops sans Windows; perhaps you can't get a Fujitsu laptop or other branded laptop, but just go to verkkokauppa.com, for example, choose to customise your own laptop, and you'll save 133.90 € when you choose a "without OS" option instead of XP Pro. That option is, in fact, the default one.