Final thoughts, for now

Microsoftish instapundits were quick to assert that ssh is insecure.

They're wrong. OpenSSH (which is what essentially everyone uses) is maintained as an integral part of the OpenBSD project, and as such a very thoroughly audited mass of code. And it keeps improving with every release.

I consider the Hail Mary Cloud an example of distributed, parallel problem solving, conceptually much like SETI@Home (but with different logic and sinister intent).

Computing power is cheap now, getting cheaper, and even more so when you can leverage other people's spare cycles.