Can you feasibly resell a license/copy of a game purchased on Steam?

Nope. There's no way to detach a game once it's purchased onto a Steam account. The best you can do is try to sell the account and hope that Valve doesn't find out if done on eBay or something similar, since they will do their best to deactivate the account.

Steam really isn't the best option if you like selling your games after a while.

Apart from the obvious issue of crippling second-hand games, replaying games in the future is going to be seriously threatened if online activation/authentication becomes the norm. There's no way companies are going to keep servers running for old titles.

We joke about Microsoft all the time here, but stuff like this shows that Windows is still significant enough to be installed on critical systems instead of some customized Linux distro, which is what WE'D have hoped.

Let's face it, Windows isn't going to die no matter what people say. Linux will have to fight even harder to stay significant, somehow.

Why are Macbooks such a popular option at schools/colleges? I thought Apple still wasn't "mainstream".

spend whatever you're saving on some Tux-savvy teachers.

They don't exist. Not in the necessary numbers.

COBOL.

... but all this talk about cyberwar just makes me think PEW! PEW! PEW! for some reason.

what's the problem?

Let's hope you don't want to resell a game you purchased from Steam.

Let's hope that VAC works perfectly and won't ban you from VAC servers by accident because you were running something perfectly legit which happened to trip its detection mechanism.

Let's hope that when Gabe says Valve will release an unlock tool so you can play your games when/if Valve ever collapses, he actually follows through.

Disclaimer: I've used Steam for years and continue to do so. I think it's great... as long as nothing goes wrong.

Let's face it, if (hypothetically) Silverlight happens to become a common-place tech used on the Internet, then we're better off with an implementation in Linux than without. Even if that means binary-only and proprietary.

It's not ideal sure, but few things are in life. Give people who want functionality the means to do so in their OS of choice. If others wish to stick to their own principles, that's fine. They don't have to install the plugin, and can choose to miss out on the next Olympics stream or ability to use an upcoming HD movie service or whatever. But if people want such features, then cool beans, they've got the choice now.

I don't trust Microsoft either, but I've given up complaining about missing functionality in Linux. I just take whatever I can get, proprietary or not (including Flash and NVIDIA drivers). MHO.

Hell I don't even want 3D desktops and transparent windows - take all the damn effects away, and leave me with the folder metaphor, current UI for editing text and pictures, and a command line.

Keep in mind, you're unusual. You WANT a command line for example. Oh, and when I say unusual I mean when compared to those outside of the Slashdot crowd, so no offense. :)

I would suggest that since humans are a very visual-thinking species, there's still a lot that can be improved in the visiual representation of information and the way in which it can be manipulated. The "minority report" interface might be a little impractical perhaps, but it's just one idea out of a group of other ideas for the future of UI. I don't think we should stagnate by keeping current GUIs because they "just work". If they did, people wouldn't keep clicking OK or Close on error messages while not actually paying attention to them for example.

in order to get Blu-Ray playback licensing

Most likely. And yet when Microsoft did it first by implementing it in Vista, they were (and continue to be) flamed for it.

Yes I know DRM exists in other areas of Vista (eg. protected audio path), but still, now that Apple have gone with this, will they be flamed too as should be fair?

Directly attacking the fans who are providing free advertising of your product is about as stupid as it gets.

I don't quite understand the moral of the story. What's wrong with the novice programmer playing a computer game?

Is the master programmer some dry sort who doesn't agree with computer games or something?

There are a ton of BONE-HEADED design decisions in Vista (try selecting a wireless network with less than 5 or 6 clicks).

Indeed, Vista certainly doesn't have the easier way to select a wireless network.

Having said that, Microsoft is (sometimes) capable of learning from their mistakes. Windows 7 has a modern wireless selector now: http://windows7news.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/win7_m3_ms_17.jpg

Well I have a better chance of getting fully-functional drivers in Windows than Linux. That's my point. Doesn't have to be out-of-the-box either (Linux has the advantage there), just in the end. Doesn't matter whether it SHOULD be the case or now, just what it currently IS.

Seriously, this bullshit about underestimating Linux has got to stop by the Windows crowd. Makes them look uneducated, ignorant and/or astroturfers.

Sorry for having a different opinion.

(Disclaimer - disillusioned former Linux user, having been promised the world and not seeing much as a result. Life is just harder in Linux, too many things to think about.)