[Boromir88]

phantom it's good to see ya back here for a little bit. I seriously was beginning to go through withdrawal.

I like the angle you approach this from. I'll still take Gandalf's advice in that over time the Ring would dominate and control you...aye even Tolkien said that in the one moment before the Cracks of Doom, the Ring's influence is at it's greatest and no one had the strength of will to resist it. But, I like the alternative perspective you have created, it was interesting and insightful to read.

Of course the Ring isn't this all corrupting force, if someone had the right mindset, and perhaps knew more about the Ring, they would be able to at least resist and hold off it's proddings for a while (I think that Boromir did this for a rather long period of time). Also another question is whether the Ring would really want to be in the possession of that individual. For example, what would the Ring want to do in the possession of a fox for? How is that going to help it achieve it's goal? How will that help Sauron? So, also I think there is a certain selectiveness about the Ring, it goes after the individuals it feels it can get a grasp over (Boromir and Gollum for example).

Now onto Saruman...ahh Saruman a truly interesting villain he is.

Did Saruman Believe He Could Master The One Ring?

I'd say so:

"We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bid our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be any real change in our designs, only in our means."
[...]
"And why not Gandalf?" he whispered. "Why not? The Ruling Ring? If we could cammand that then the Power would pass to us...~The Council of Elrond

Saruman really started this process of wanting to 'ape' Sauron, he wanted in essense to be Sauron...and be the knew 'Ruler.' He wanted the power and Sauron knew what Saruman was up to:

But they shall help to rebuild Isengard which they have wantonly destroyed, and that shall be Sauron's, and there his lieutenant shall dwell: not Saruman, but one more worthy of trust.~The Black Gate Opens

Or, a third alternative: Did Saruman intend to "dissect" the Ring in order to use the knowledge of it to forge a new ring of his own creation?

That may also be a possibility. Certainly I think if Saruman was unable to actually get possession of the Ring he was attempting to create his own ring of power:

He wore a ring on his finger and it was at one time rumoured that he had come near the secret of their making~Home VII: Treason of Isengard

The problem with this quote is that, in the final publication of LOTR, only 'He wore a ring on his finger' is written, the rest of it Tolkien removed, as the Treason of Isengard was an earlier draft. But, also this appears in The Foreward of LOTR:

The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dur would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confusion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self-styled Ruler of Middle-earth.

Now, this is Tolkien explaining why he didn't feel like the War in LOTR, was like any of the 'Real Wars,' but if we take this 'if it was like the real wars scenario' than we can see that Saruman was studying into ring-lore and was trying to figure out how to create his own ring of power. But, he had some 'missing links in his study' and supposedly only Mordor held those missing links to Saruman creating a true Ring of Power...as in one that could be like Sauron's.