Rather unlikely after this revelation.

People who don't care about a secure communication line won't buy it because they don't care about having a secure communication line.
People who do care about a secure communication line won't buy it because they do care about having a secure communication line.

Any backdoor is by definition available to everyone. Some may have a key, the others have lockpicks.

Back then there was no Snowden, and the companies thought (correctly) that nobody gave half a shit about privacy.

This changed. Big time.

The implications are far further reaching than whether you can wash your dirty tax laundry somewhere offshore. This is about a country wanting to reach into the jurisdiction of another country and dictating them how to behave. That is unacceptable, especially from a country that is considered friendly. How do you think the US would react if Ireland told them to hand over documents from the branch of an Irish company 'cause they think that they try to harbor documents belonging to the IRA there.

Just in case anyone comes in and says "but terrorism"...

Well, if the US get their way in this case, who in their sane mind would host it with a US company?

That's the main reason why the others side with MS in this one. If the US get their way, no company on this planet would touch a data center that is remotely in league with a US based company with a 10 foot pole.

The US can bite my shiny metal ass with a court order. I'm neither there nor in a country that would send me over.

The US cannot force a sovereign foreign company? The US can force (or "persuade") entire countries and groups of countries to dance when they play the pipe, you think this would change anything?

TTIP, anyone? So far I cannot see anything in there that is NOT exclusively beneficial to the US and puts everyone else at a severe disadvantage, but do you see any kind of protest against it from inside governments?

Well, that depends on what you consider a guaranteed secure future. Having everything you ever want forever? Nope. Mostly because we do not have unlimited resources (yet, let's wait for energy-matter conversion). Basically that's why we're in the current economic crisis, because we noticed that it's impossible for us to maintain a luxury living standard for everyone, so to secure the luxury living standard of the upper crust the plebs have to be pushed back down.

True, true. With ADHD it's easy to get sidetracked when you ... oh, look, a dog with a puffy tail!

I thought that was evident from the text, but allow me to clarify it: Of course I do not copy content (unless the license agreement actually allows it). I had to do with a lot of games that I really wanted to have. Which in hindsight has more often than not actually saved me from some grief, anger and disappointment (from Sim City to Assassin's Creed).

It's a matter of principle. I can do without their content. The question is only if they can do without my money. Because lost sales actually hurt by as much as you'd pay for it, considering that there is near zero proportional costs in content, and fixed costs have to be recovered by fewer units being sold.

Give me what I want and I'll buy. Don't and watch how I'll survive without it, and without too much of a dent in my quality of life.

As long as you smoke them in your home and don't pester anyone with it, have fun.

I don't mind people having a mental condition. I mind people trying to force their mental illness on others. I.e. religious fanatics.

Actually, the main reason why DRM doesn't hurt console game sales is that it is "felt" less by console gamers than it is with PC gamers. Just wait 'til they come up with the great idea of "always online" and similar bull.

What's that got to do with XBox 360 GPUs?

One has to wonder how game studios survive that don't drown their games in DRM...

The joke was something like

Question to great radio Jeriwan: We hear that the victory of communism is already at the horizon. What is a horizon?
Answer from great radio Jeriwan: The horizon is an imaginary line where the ground meets the sky, and no matter how fast you try to run towards it, you will never reach it.