woops..ahem...yes Dictator.... <chuckle>

I think Linus Torvalds is an excellent comparison.  He is the benevolent leader of the Linux kernel.  Satoshi could have taken that role with the bitcoin protocol.  The only difference I see is that he has a huge amount of wealth whereas Linus never really got stinking rich off of Linux.  So people would have always suspected ulterior motives from Satoshi in that role.  I think a good chunk of the population are envious by nature and could have never looked past his wealth.  People with vested interests would have attacked him on that point alone, somehow using that as a club to prove that everything he does is in his own self interest.  Linus never had to worry about that.  Now if he had given it all to charity and taken on the role of benevolent leader of the bitcoin protocol he could be a strong voice for it and that would strengthen the bitcoin protocol as it would have a clear leader.  

I agree it gets confusing when you buy something for .0015 bitcoin.  But I like bitcoin being the standard denomination.  It's a unit of account and is a good barometer of its worth relative to other currencies and I think that is important to maintain.  For transactions it is not so good and smaller denominations make sense.  If bitcoin is only going to be used by technologically savvy people then millibits and centibits make sense.  If the goal is truly to make the average joe use bitcoin why not just make it as damn simple as possible and call a millibit a bitdollar or something.  Ya I know the anti fiat crowd will cringe, but if I told my dad that a bitdollar is worth about 70 cents he would get that.   Dollar is a common name for a currency above and beyond just US.  You can call them bitpounds or whatever.  Just make it simple.  I think millibits and microbits and satoshis are a stretch for average people who don't share the same passion for bitcoin but could instantly see its value as a replacement for transaction processors, if they could just have a decent frame of reference for what they have in their wallet.

Loss of privacy.  I felt like I had to take a shower after verifying with CAVirtex.  They say they encrypt your info on their servers but I feel like I will be kicking myself after the inevitable breach and id theft.

First post here from newbie prison.  lol

The only thing worse is trying to run a forum and making everyone happy.  You could always answer the question here with a link to the OP's thread and ask the mods to notify him that he was answered here.  Just that may be enough to earn your freedom. <grin>