Programmers who work so much with computers still love hard copies of programming books. Honestly I don't think that will ever change at all. Even with all these fancy e-ink e-book readers programmers still love hard copies and they love their large books. Maybe its just precisely because they work so much with computers that there is something refreshing about reading from a hard copy.

And yes the OP is right, giving away digital copies is in no way going to diminish the physical book sales. Programmers love e-books for reference like when you have already read the book and need to quickly find one chapter but most programmers can't stand reading an entire programming book on a monitor.

The key reason he used for keeping windows around was productivity and IE....

I mean there are plenty of reasons for keeping windows around such as gaming, users are used to it, etc.

But productivity and IE? I really don't know anyone who has used other brothers and still says that IE is a better browser, its basically that people just don't know about other browsers. As for productivity that is so far gone I can barely even respond to that...one word. "Openoffice" schools and businesses have been using it for years.

Haven't people always tried to separate Business and Pleasure. People who do a job like to use their free time to escape that job. It doesn't mean they hate that job or that don't like doing it...its just that after doing a 40+ hour week most people want to sit back, enjoy a sports game, or go fishing or something.

it is one thing if your a programmer who is fresh out of college and you still want to learn some new languages and new skills but when your a 30+ year old programming veteran with a family the last thing you would want to do or should do is be sitting there working on some pet project instead of being with your friends and families enjoying the little things.

That is the problem with this country vs. Europe. We don't know to enjoy the little things anymore. I mean as a programmer who is cooped up in a chair and a cubicle/office the last thing you should be doing is spending more time behind a computer. Go outside, read a book, and relax.

In fact it wouldn't be much of a venture to say that people who leave work at work and not take it home are probably more productive and happy. Wouldn't you want an employee who puts all their effort in at work and relaxes at home so they don't get burnt out. I think that employers who only hire people who do pet projects are quite simply delusional. Who cares what people do at home, that not your time, unless of course you want to pay them extra for it (which no one will).

Wow so people feel bad for AT&T that people are paying for an incredibly expensive plan and that its slowing down the network because even though their revenues are so high they refuse in infrastructure.

I can put up with a little bit of ads. I have played racing games and it does ad to the experience. I know a while back I played the "real GTA3" mod and it ahd the actual name for the cars and they had ads and stuff.

But I do feel like after paying $60 for a video game I shouldn't have to subside it even more with ads.I mean unless they want to reduce the cost of a video game with ads to something like $45 or so dollars.

I could only put up with ads in video games in just a few genres and in very limited cases like an urban setting and such.

Get a Sager(or any other Clevo reseller), they are the most amazing developer laptops. They have an upgradable video card, can have a matte high resolution screen (so high that you have to change the DPI), and quad core and core i7 processors. And its all upgradable and relatively inexpensive.

They are just a no brainer for gaming and developing.

>so the graphics requirements are based on what's in an X-Box 360.

I dont think thats such a limiting factor. Lets say they develop the xbox game first, instead of the PC version. They settle on 1080i for resolution and only a certain level of quality for textures. They also tone down the physics and AI to a level it doesnt slow down the xbox cpus.

Okay, now when you port the PC version, you let the user select the resolution he likes and you up the textures to max and ungimp the physics and AI. Its not that hard. Any company that wants to produce a good PC game from an Xbox start is able to. The real question here isnt the technical limitations, which are easy enough to get past, but if the business wants to produce a quality port. If the PC market isnt big enough then they have little incentive to make a decent port and will just outsource the port to some shitty porting company and PC users will just have to deal with it.

The problem is, the law does not say you cannot mess with your electronics, the law says you cannot bypass security measures in place that protect the intellectual property of the item you are messing with.

That said, I agree the law is stupid, vague, and consistently abused to stifle innovation and peoples rights, but currently, it is the law, and while I would love for it to be repealed, the odds of that ever happening are very very slim.

Streisand Effect

Wow. I've always wondered what the legalese for SHUT THE FUCK UP! was.

But if that was the case, then the sale of the physical disk wouldn't be a problem. However, they complain about that as being against the license, so they licensed not just the copy on the disk, but the disk itself. Otherwise, you could sell the physical disk, even if the buyer couldn't legally use it.

Well I think it is a good legislative response but enforcement is going to be tough.

Of course just because you can't enforce something reliably doesn't mean you shouldn't not pass the law. For the majorityof offenders simply having a law out there that bbans it will cause parentys to crackdown a little more knowing that they can get a point on their license and a large fine.

the funny thing is its actual illegal in many states to sleep in your car. I know someone who got arrested in Georgia for sleeping in his car on the side of the road.

Laws tend to contradict with themselves.

I am all against texting and driving and I only text at stop lights, especially cause I have a slider phone...but how in god's name are they going to enforce this.

How can they tell if someone was texting right before they crashed...I mean what evidence can you hold against someone to show that they were texting and driving?

I know there is some things you could do like phone records but although that might be enough evidence for a insurance company to deny someone's claim its not enough to sentence someone to a possible 15 years in prison.

For drunk driving you can prove unequivocally that someone was driving drunk using a breathalyzer or a blood test without there being reasonable doubt...but if your trying to prove someone was texting while driving there is plenty of room for reasonable doubt.

I must say SD card micros are fantastic. I have like 10 8GB Class 6 Patriots and some of them I use with those little tiny SD card adapters and they make for a great USB drive. The rest I use for my PSP and my DS.

At 16 bucks a piece you can't beat them with a stick.