Playing Devil's advocate here-- But many, if not most games today are available for both consoles and the PC. I would bet that a lot of game developers have stopped targeting high-end PC hardware and write for console hardware first.

Sony is somewhat annoying... but Blizzard?

Disclaimer: I am not a hard-core gamer. But my copy of starcraft II plays just fine under linux, and I don't need to have the CD in the drive or anything stupid like that. And there are guest accounts provided so my son got to play the campaign. I haven't bought any other blizzard games in the past few years, but starcraft II was $50 well spent. YMMV, of course.

Since *EVERYTHING* that can be downloaded is governed by draconian copyright laws, your comment is kind of lacking.

Not just "like"-- I admit that I've never run it. It's actually great to get a response from someone who has.

Part of my original post was trying to get my head around just what made it special, and another part was wondering whether it has any real value today. Is it still unique?

The UI was original. There are Be-like window managers available for linux-- somehow I doubt they capture the complete experience. How close are they to the original? Speed is another thing people always bring up. But they bring that up with light weight linux distros also. So again I must ask: is it truly superior to modern operating systems, given a similar feature set?

So what? I mean, it's pretty. I can admire its simplicity. But.... can I run open office on it? It's built on Qt... but can I run kde apps on it? Play some ksoduku? The article doesn't really mention application support, except to say that 3d acceleration isn't there yet. I remember back when Be was first released everyone was wowed by its multi-threading support-- but surely modern operating systems have duplicated this by now? It seems to me that if you took a linux distro, stripped out all the 3d support and other power-consuming enhancements, and ran xfce or some other extremely light weight window manager, that you'd have a system that's just as fast but one that you could actually run the programs you wanted on.

What's the point of paying extra for blackberry service if it's not secure? Isn't that what people have been paying for?

Valve isn't "just one gaming company". They're a pretty big player.

Senior Manager for the Dungeons and Dragons Design Team

Why not sit down with a bunch of actual designers instead of interviewing the manager?

Depending on the details. Is it REALLY unlimited? Or just unlimited for 1 device, up to 5GB/month, and you also need to pay for a voice plan?

A wireless data plan that I could use any compatible device on, could hook up to a router and connect my home devices to? That would be worth paying for.

My son used to love the hardy boys. As a change-up, to introduce him to science-fiction type stories, we started getting some of the tom swift books out of the local library. He loved them. If you have an e-reader, I think the copyright on them expired, and they're available from gutenberg.

Doesn't using noscript block most of the sites that track one's browsing?