To be fair, after the problems with poisoned pet food, milk and candy, I try my best not to buy food products from China for safety reasons., but I do know people who refuse to buy any Chinese products for ideological reasons.

Are PCs an ideological product? I don't know, but I do know that anything that strays into territory that helps or encourages censorship is bad for all of us, in my opinion. Any other ideas as to how we can make that clear, and possibly strike a blow for freedom of speech and expression worldwide?

Now, if the Chinese government institutes some Big Brother system to check whether Green Dam is running before they allow connecting to the Internet (think Windows Genuine Advantage, but for Internet connections), that's a problem. However, that's the Chinese government's issue, not really PC makers, and it should be handled via diplomacy.

Remember that some of those companies you singled out (like Lenovo) are based in China. What do you think would happen if they decided to not ship PCs with Green Dam?

I'm not sure fighting this on the PC OEM field is the right place, either. Even,if non-Chinese OEMs decide to boycott China (despite a potential economic hit which wouldn't sit well with shareholders), the Chinese OEMs likely will comply and that will just boost their profits at the expense of non-Chinese OEMs. (Yes, it's the “if we don't sell to them, somebody else will” argument, but in this case, it's true.)

And why is Green Dam suddenly thie breaking point? China has engaged in repressive tactics for years. Assume China completely scraps Green Dam. Is that enough? So it would be OK for PC companies to sell PCs to a repressive government as long as they don't require Green Dam?

Personally, after all of the tainted products China has shipped to the U.S., I wish we'd boycott everything from China. That might also send a message to corporations that we want them hiring American labor, too, keeping jobs at home. (For those of you in other countries, feel free to substitute that country. :D)

Steve