Look, I know nobody cares, but Microsoft Azure has nothing to do with Windows 8. I'm also not sure it's a failure. Microsoft tried something new after getting great positive reviews for Windows 7, which is the BEST time to try something risky. Worst case, people skip one generation of Windows, and stick with... Windows. Best case, you redefine the PC interface. It is innovative, no matter how poorly implemented. Besides, Microsoft has a history of creating a shitty first version and then fixing kinks as time goes by. Was anyone expecting a good first version of Metro? The slow adoption numbers can easily be credited to how good Windows 7 is. Why would you switch? It costs $0 for me to stay on 7, and > $0 to upgrade. We won't be seeing many Windows 8 devices for a while. The timely upgrades brought about by Windows Blue might even spur more adoption (too early to tell, I think). Windows Phones I won't attempt to defend since I know nothing of them.

That's what I was thinking. Other than the Naginata, every single one of these options is from Diablo 2. Granted, they are also real polearms but it was suspicious. Will there be future polls for swords? Because honestly, that's where it's at.

Whoops. Just re-did the math, you're right. Still, given the current situation in the US a lot of people can't even find jobs. Of course I'm talking about English and history majors but still, complaining about 80K fresh out of college seems selfish. That's my main complaint here. Given that this is still above the average wage (assuming I didn't crap up that math too), it seems silly to complain about 80K. And anyway, isn't the programmer philosophy that if you don't like it you can just make a startup where you're CEO? The article definitely lacked substance for me as well. Only interviewed one person.

Very little factual information. While this COULD be true, I just saw one guy complaining combined with an interesting statistic that average wages for programmers are still below $40 an hour. That's a joke, right? That's six figures a year. Sure, everyone would want more, but it's a perfectly reasonable salary as is.

What behavior is that? I'm genuinely curious. You have apple making devices more closed, patenting shit like rounded corners, and suing everyone around. If you read up on Jobs, he had a very nasty side to him too. Look at his biography (the one by Walter Isaacson). He wouldn't give one of the initial employees of Apple any stock despite Wozniac insisting on it. He cheated Wozniac on multiple occasions (I won't look this up - Google). There are stories of him having horrible relations with his wife (in the biography). It seems from a glance that his "innovation" was just good salesmanship. Supposedly (again, in the biography) there were times when an employee would bring up an idea, he would hate it, and then claim it as his own a few days later. I can't think of any instance of him donating money like Bill Gates, who although not a saint is certainly helping the world at this point. Not much of what I'm saying here is hard evidence but it paints a pretty poor picture of someone so idolized. What did Google and Schmidt do that left you more disgusted than that?

Tell him to consider re-taking some intro courses at college. For instance, if he's "qualified" for MAT 102, maybe tell him to take MAT 101. It sounds lazy and counterproductive (it also sounds like you're trying to inflate your GPA), but I'm being serious. Oftentimes, you will find that high schools skip certain parts of a course that colleges don't. Alternatively, they teach at a different level. You can teach electricity and magnetism in such a way that a middle schooler will understand it in minutes (I = V/R is something an elementary school student can do), or you can create problems that play on obscure resistance rules to the point where one needs to read the book for an hour to understand what's going on. When this happens, you can quickly get lost and earn a bad grade. I would advise your son to go back a level in such courses, or at least carefully look at the textbook and sample assignments/problem sets to make sure he isn't getting in over his head. Besides, sometimes intro courses are a lot of fun ;)

You would be surprised at how accurage "OMG, shiny!" is. I'm ashamed to admit that when I installed Windows 8 Pro, I loved it solely because Metro was so shiny. It wasn't even "pretty"; it was just "shiny". And it didn't work as well as Ubuntu, but it was SHINY! I imagine a substantial number of users will buy it for that reason.

Why not buy a laptop? They weigh 5 lbs... that's light. They're usable. They run all the software desktops run because they're the same thing. Battery life can reach 6-10 hours depending on OS and model. They come with a USB port (Nexus 7 complaint).

Are there alternatives? Dropbox is US, Google Drive is US, I would assume Skydrive is US... What else will they use?

If yes: Diablo I and Rogue. Past that, emacs and vim. I suppose vim implies vi.

That's what I'm doing. It seems to teach you much more practical matters and how the real world works. My least favorite part of college is the idealistic (and incidentally, philosophical) arguments people have. I will however, also recommend you learn more along the way. Not to sound like an ass, but you do have some gaps in knowledge as you yourself pointed out. I'm seeing no mention of C, which is pretty huge, or Java (although you know C# which might even be better at this point). Also, as much as I hated this subject, some theory might be required in CS. Final verdict: get a job and if you don't love it, go back to school after you make some money. If you love it, ... game over, huh?

Overall, I'd say you're correct, but there is something else to consider: Microsoft's image. Windows and Office are what your parents (most likely) used. That makes them lame, broadly speaking. So if Microsoft has only those, it's lame. And nobody outside of industry has head of Lync or Exchange. Try getting a teenager excited about them. So to reach these people, MSFT needs something hip or cool. What is that? It could be Skype sure. That's pretty sweet and has a big following around the world. Or maybe if Windows Phone takes off, it could be that. You laugh now but that phone is... unique, to say the least. But what it really is right now is Xbox. Xbox is cool. It's the center of so many American homes. Your kid wants an Xbox. Microsoft can't afford to give that up. Maybe, if my wishes come true, Steam consoles and OUYA will rise up, but they haven't yet. Xbox is all that separates MS from a wrinkly old prune. Hell, even their CEO is old. And if Sinofsky comes back and succeeds Ballmer? He's also old. Xbox is the only thing there that's even slightly young. I doubt they'll be selling it.

Well, what you described was Steve Jobs making an idiotic decision, not Apple. Even then, it was a decision on health, not technology - I'm not sure how many people would trust him as a doctor. But yes, my example was idiotic, I was just trying to secure first post (worked!).

I cannot believe this is getting posted here. I know Slashdot hates Microsoft but this is the equivalent of me saying that Apple will sell off the iPad because the iPhone didn't sell as well as they wanted it to. Or something like that.

I'm American (so... stupid) and while I can see where you're going with that, given what the government here does with my tax money (go to war, not fix roads, bicker, etc), I would be happy for any organization, especially one as useful as Google, that manages to hide its money. Now, I'm told in countries like Canada, taxes are actually redistributed to the people. That would be a different story. As it stands, I just can't feel sorry for the US not getting its "share" of Google's money.