No idea how you got modded up so high, but you are barking up the wrong tree.

"Microsoft Research" isn't the same as MS marketing or operations or senior executive. Research does some good stuff, and they employ real researchers. They're closer to the old Bell Labs than anything else.

Glad to see someone else posting this. I would also argue that democracy will likely cease with the introduction of immortality. Although this may strongly appeal to conservatives...

"Internet" is pretty well defined. If he had said "internet" you'd have a point.

That said, I hate the term "non-routable address". "Reserved" or "private", please... and this whole thread... geez. It reminds me of that scene in the Hobbit.

No, this is what you said:

Cherrypick much? When you say "___ pay more of their income in taxes" you're talking about total tax burden. If you don't want people to laugh and know you're a troll, you can't just exclude the regressive taxes that account for a bigger chunk of wages.

...And it would be entirely reasonable for a company to pay Dell $6 per PC to enable PXE boot, AHCI, Vt-d, or whatever on all those systems in advance.

Worth pointing out that Unix and variants absolutely dominate virtually all of the markets now. From a skills perspective, separating "Linux" is a bit pointless...

Not disagreeing with you, just trying to underline your point. I do not advise people to pigeonhole themselves into Microsoft, particularly when they will have a much better foundation for networking, security, storage, mobile, programming, and virtually everything else by learning *nix.

My kingdom for mod points... ok, maybe my small fiefdom of servers.

While I want to agree with the AC here, I should point out that there is some research into this. Relationships with large differences in IQ do not tend to be successful.

I felt the same about BBedit, until I got good with textmate... I'd never go back, at this point.

Making Mac usable:
Path Finder - Finder replacement
TotalSpaces 2 - improves workspaces.. instant switching, very customizable.
Unclutter - better than leaving files on desktop, stores notes very well
Bartender - tidies the menu bar
Quicksilver - launcher
Xee - image viewer

Productivity:
Parallels
MS Office
TextMate
OmniFocus

For admins, I'd also add:
Apple Remote Desktop
VPN Tracker (if you need a bunch of IPSec vpns)
Tunnelblick or Viscosity (OpenVPN)
lots of aliases, setting up .ssh, etc.

It's not. Taken to court, I highly doubt the developers would win... but for some reason the FBI aggressively pursues online poker sites while everyone ignored "Apps".

I am [obviously] not a lawyer, but I suspect the defense/justification is that you can't actually win any real money in these games... only in-game currency or items that you would otherwise have to pay for. So I guess it's not gambling if you can't possibly win?

So what? It's an asset worth 6 figures that will likely be re-sold during its useful lifetime. Depreciation matters. You expect a house to at least hold its value over time.

I know people who spend a few hundred per year to have the latest MacBooks, buying the new model with every release and selling the old one. Laptops aren't investments, either, but resale value matters.

It's probably also worth pointing out another huge cost: medical insurance. Lee Iacocca (former Chrysler chairman) complained that employee medical insurance cost ~$1250 per car, whereas Toyota Japan paid around $250 per car (read it a while ago and too lazy to get the exact figures right now). He also stated they paid out more to Blue Shield than they spent on steel, rubber, etc.

A good chunk of this is that companies _start_ from the position that they want to hire H1B. Then, to comply with H1B requirements, they create job listings that they know they won't be able to fill. When they fail to fill the positions, they can get H1Bs for people who say they meet the requirements. Approved! It's amazing how many people in India have 20 years of Java experience...

And yes, I have friends who specialize in this little corner of law.

That's based on a very restricted view of "illegal alien". Though they may be a minority, there are plenty who are currently here illegally (or undocumented) who are well educated.

The two I am personally aware of are those who have overstayed their visas and those who were brought here as small children, but grew up as Americans.

I agree that it is better for society if we teach these things, and that people need to learn them. Not everyone needs to know how to do a complex tax return or be a CPA, but they should have a basic understanding of the fundamentals.

All that said, I never took a class for any of this. I didn't need to. Not because I came out of the womb fully formed, but because I am a curious person who wants to learn and improve myself. I got books, used the internet, and figured it out.

What's pathetic is not that children need to learn these things, but that so few have bothered to self-teach anything of import. Why don't we have a culture of learning? Why are so few financially responsible? Why do kids graduate highschool with iPhones, iPods, iPads, and laptops, yet no savings accounts? Why is it socially acceptable for a 20-something to be unable to cook, clean, do laundry, or maintain a budget?

I won't say whether past generations were better. But I will say that ours should be.