The author didn't account for gamma correction [0] at all, so the math is meaningless. I mean, if the "Pareto Principle" numerology didn't tip you off.

[0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1141971

Yes. Web colors are supposed to be sRGB, but hardly anyone has a monitor that displays actual sRGB. Laptops and LCDs are convenient in so many ways, but we probably had better color reproduction when CRTs and desktops dominated...

Due to poor LCD quality, aging backlights and operating system configuration differences, all the parameters that affect color can vary wildly: gamma, color primaries... There's no guarantee of what #0044cc will look like, nor is there any guarantee that it would be perceptually about twice as bright as #002266.

At least Mac OS X 10.6 has finally switched to "PC gamma" (2.2) by default, so that eliminates one source of endless confusion about digital color.

Every user will not see the exact same color, however, every user will see approximately the same relativity and contrast to the color spectrum on their monitor.

Even in real life, our eyes are not calibrated the same. It is the contrast and relativity that makes things stand out and fade away.