I'm always surprised of how this things are implemented. They usually _start_ with a bang and public announcements and trumpets and all. That is, before they have done anything. When you see something like that, you know they are going to have lots of problems, simply because the people that thinks that way (first let's make a big decision and a big press conference) usually cannot think in the way needed to solve the very difficult problems that arise in big migration.

IT systems have become very complex things that pervade our work and private life. They have evolved for decades to adapt themselves to peoples' needs, and people has changed too to adapt to the IT systems. Windows has been part of that mutual evolution for many years now, and Linux hasn't. That's the elephant in the room that nobody speaks about. Linux won't be able to compete with Windows till it has many many years, not of existing, but of being widely used (even in special locations like call centers and so), after it.

For doing migrations I'd recommend the following guidelines:

- Gradually is the thing. Start with localized users, preferably new people that haven't got used to the old system.
- These new users have to get a good experience. If you cannot make it happen for a couple of desktops, sure you won't be able to make everybody switch.
- Provide comparative advantages to the new users. Things like putting big screens in the Linux systems will make other people wish they had been migrated.
- Everything you use should work in both systems. If something cannot (Outlook/Exchange, custom apps, Access databases) then you have to search for an alternative or replacement. If no alternative exists that is good enough, you better forget about the whole idea.
- Even if everything works in both systems, when you set up something new (database or anything) make sure it works a bit better in the Linux than the Windows systems.
- Set no end date for the migration. You are going to keep Windows for a long time, so don't fight it. Gradually is the thing, remember.

I'd say that suing them would be enough to prove your good faith. I mean, if you had registered both domains, you'd probably refrain from suing anybody, as you could get into trouble when the truth came out. It's the same principle as insurance companies asking you for a police report before paying for damages to an stolen car. The police won't even see your car usually, but most people won't risk a problem with the police for the repair money.

It never pays to really block all pornography. Then people has too much time in their hands (no puns, please, it's too easy), and might start thinking. You want to have them with all the porno they want, but scared of having it. That way you can use porno as a way of pressuring people to do whatever the state machinery wants (drug possession is used in other countries with the same end).

Chinese and Japanese symbols are a brutal inefficiency. The cost of learning them is so many times higher than the possible benefits, that it put the users of these languages at a disadvantage. In time, ruthlessly competition with users of other languages will mean the end of such inefficiencies. Natives of these languages naturally tend to cut corners when they can. Soon a mobile phone camera will be able to automatically subtext the symbols with their pronunciation, in real time. Then you won't really have any longer any reason to learn them. In a couple of generations more, knowing the symbols will be seen as terribly uncool by the youngster, in a couple more, they will be dead, nostalgia notwithstanding. Well, make it ten generations in Japan, perhaps :o), but I don't think it'll be more.

Dura lex SED lex

After all, they don't worry about what happens to geeks' muscles.

If there is a problem with online banking, why not put all the banks in a different net, accessible only to identified persons? Putting all the websites in an ID-net, for the problem of just one small segment of the whole net, seems a bit of an overkill.

Microsoft seemingly doesn't recognize that as long as they don't make the hardware along with the software they cannot control the user experience. And they cannot alienate their customer base (not the users, of course, the computer makers) by competing with them. So they cannot do much. Except complaining of course, that is what Ballmer is doing.

A difficult law to implement. How are they going to know how much pirated content travels by one ISP's lines? Even the ISP itself has no idea. Are they going to suppose that all bittorrent traffic is pirated content? What is the percentage of pornographic content? I assume that they don't represent the pornographic content providers, specially foreign ones. What about encrypted content? If they implement such a law I assume that the level of encrypted content will rise. There is no reason why all pirated content is not encrypted, except that it's at the moment not needed.

In the end they probably just want to get a fixed levy an all ISPs. And all blank CDs, DVDs, hard disks, memory cards, diskettes, memo pads, pens, photo cameras, and people with good memory.

Well, if the free publicity stunts work for Apple, why cannot Nokia try them too? They will probably need to "lose" four prototypes, for Apple two, but in the end they will probably move a bit the interest of the people.

Have you ever heard of poetic licenses? Or, more to the point in this case, of size limitations on sigs?

Well, after so many years seeing software makers get away with it, I can understand them trying it out.

Why Video Calling Is a Wasted Feature In the UK

Is a wasted feature in most of the world, for most of the people most of the time. A grandma can want to video talk with her grandchildren, and in business settings can be also very useful, but for most of the people, most of the time, video just get in the way. My wife is now talking with her brother, that lives in other country, and they could video talk, but who wants to. She is playing MahJong while talking, and the brother is packing a suitcase (he has a headphone), so video would just be a damned nuisance.

My point is, if from the beginning of phoning, all calls had been video calls, we'd welcome the option of just-voice calls as a big liberation.

The designers also hope that one day the underwear can release drugs

We hope too!

Slashdot is the culprit now, for pointing out where the data was to be found.