FINALLY! we can buy Staria

[Dr. Evil]

(is that the correct plural of Starium?)

http://www.tactronix.com/s100.htm

NOW TAKING PRE-ORDERS FOR DELIVERY IN DECEMBER 2001/JANUARY 2002

Very Limited Quantity Available

A 50% Deposit Will Reserve Your Units Today!!

1-10 Units  $995 USD Each

11-20 Units $936 USD Each

21-50 Units $884 USD Each

51 Units+ Call For Price

What do people here think of this?  My initial thoughts are:

Pros:

1. Voice encryption is great.  It's the Last Great Encryption Taboo
   (the other is file encryption, but that's not nearly as taboo as
   voice).  I'm glad to see something on the market which addresses
   this.  Obviously, all traffic, including saying hi to grandma,
   should be encrypted.

2. The unit looks very easy to use.  I could travel anywhere in the
   world with it (well, anywhere that it's legal) and plug it in and
   press one button and it works.  That's great.

Cons:

1. I would like to see an open source reference software
   implementation, or some way to verify that there are no "naughty
   bits" in this thing.  I know, open source isn't much of a business
   model, but with encryption products, it seems almost essential.

2. It's expensive.  It costs more than a PC.  However, $2k for two
   units is small compared to the value of data it could be securing,
   so for many users, the price will be fine.

3. A minor nitpick: It uses 3DES.  What's wrong with AES?

I think I would like to buy some of them, but I can't decide if I want
to be an early adopter, or wait for cheaper and better versions to
come out.