Being exclusive to schools clearly had two strong effects on its early dominance: ability to build up critical mass within a smaller user pool and increase desirability because of that exclusivity.

However, and this might not so much explain "why Facebook" as it does "why not MySpace," I think the biggest reason Facebook became dominant instead of MySpace is that its user interface wasn't a hideous nightmare and its user pages didn't all look like some wrist-slitting kid's Geocities site gotten eaten by a dog and barfed up.

And the nature of Facebook already does the splitting up. If you went on Facebook and your timeline or whatever was filled up with everyone's posts on Facebook the author and GP might have a point, but since that isn't what happens I'm inclined to think that they're just idiots.

I didn't read the article either (who has time when the topic is so stupid?), but it seems like she's making a huge mistake by thinking that Facebook is a single location just because it has one address and one name. Facebook is much less like a singular marketplace like the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market and more like a serious of (millions?) of magic Tesla dealerships that allow you to show up at any location but when you walk inside you're at the same dealership as all of your friends. The non-physical nature of the Internet just allows everyone to just go straight to one address instead of needing the magic.

"The single biggest differentiator between iPhone and its predecessors was the capacitative screen."

I can't see how that wasn't what you were saying there, but okay.

First with capacitive touchscreen you say? That's interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

I have this conversation fairly regularly with people born after 1990. Like those born before 1965, kids these days don't need to know anything about computers so they don't. The main difference is that the old timers at least have the excuse of not using a computer of some sort for nearly every waking hour of their lives.

It's the ugliest building in Seattle. Next question!

It's unAmerican that we let Frenchmen work fewer hours, make more money, and live longer than us. Clearly our tactic of making fun of their laziness and pungent odors has failed. It's time for a race to the bottom of the time clock.

Fuck Pierre and his 80%, I'll see you guys back at the office in June! Just in time to get things in order for my summer vacation.

Didn't you get the memo? With the announcement of SteamOS, the "Year of the Linux Desktop" has been moved to 2015 (Valve Time, so maybe 2016 or 2017). Of course the "desktop" has also been moved to the livingroom, so plan accordingly.

I don't believe you! That doesn't sound like a computer programmer at all.

K-Cup compatible brewers and cups have been on the market for a while now. This is precisely the reason that Keurig are adding these DRM-like controls to their new machines. I guess that was easier than coming up with a new invention as innovative as the K-Cup, or simply competing based on quality and price.

Any computer programmer should also be able to tell you that programming computers requires at least one full pot of coffee, making a Keurig the worst possible solution ever.

Name one.

Everyone always says that, but it never seems to be true when I call. I've never had more pleasant or helpful Comcast CSRs than when I've called to cancel my account.

Was that $30/month for unlimited text on one line? If it was you were getting ripped off, even for an AT&T customer.