Without Apple's "We've Got a Secret" marketing machine, Apple would have died off long ago. It's free advertising that permeates the industry. How many free ads have I seen on /., Engadget, AppleInsider? Dozens... and the hype is out of control.

If Apple would have come out, six months ago, with a clear road map of how they were going to build a tablet and an example of the OS that would fuel the device, knock off companies would have beat them to market, or killed the device before it saw the light of day.

On the flip side, can you name a Microsoft item that has approached the Apple level of events? Microsoft has a number of interesting devices, but I'm happy to wait. With the Apple events... I basically feel out of touch if I don't watch it live.

From the article: "Bowing to pressure from the EU"

I wouldn't say that Microsoft is exactly doing this by their own accord.

You mean the European Union? ;-)

I am a PS3 user. I would never have purchased a stand alone Blu-ray player or HD-DVD player, and still wouldn't. Neither of them offere/d enough to throw down hundreds of dollars ($200-$400+) for movies only. The fact that one format was a little cheaper or one loaded faster just wasn't enough to push me one way or another. In fact, the more the HD-DVD fans foamed at the mouth about how great their format was, the more I wanted to see Blu-ray win.

What changed EVERYTHING for me was the fact that the PS3 could eliminate TWO pieces of current hardware AND replaced one future piece of hardware. It was also capable of playing games (I have yet to use it for a game) and was "future proof" for the most part.

The PS3 replaced my non-upscaling DVD player, it replaced the PC I used to stream divx movies. It also replaced a future high definition movie player (Blu-ray or HD-DVD). My setup has never been more complete.

You could argue that the Xbox 360 with the additional HD-DVD player could do the same thing, but it just seemed like an afterthought from Microsoft (why didn't they just offer a HD-DVD version?)... and they really didn't have vested interest in the success of HD-DVD. When HD-DVD "fell" the choice was over.

In my opinion, the "Play" in PlayStation 3 is actually holding the system back. When I talk about how I use my PS3 as a media center, the first thing out of their mouth is "but I don't play games." Neither do I, but for $400, you get a DVD player, a high definition movie player, mini-computer/divx streaming system... along with all the other stuff.

I am a very happy PS3 owner.

Inventory, inventory, inventory... and make recommendations.

Also, when talking to the higher ups, make sure to consider a "transition period" where you go from illegal software to "gray software", to a fully licensed office. It makes them recognize that it doesn't all have to happen overnight.

I worked at a design firm and they had illegal versions of Adobe CS and MS Office floating around like it was their business. I basically performed an inventory of every system, created a spreadsheet highlighting the illegal software and then created a strategic timeframe/cost for how you are going to go legit.

If they don't want to go legit, you should consider a new company or push FOSS alternatives.

I LOVE the idea of those that use the roads the most paying more to use them.

I HATE the idea of the government forcing me to install a GPS unit on my car.

My question: Why not use that newfangled odometer I've been reading about. They could check it when you have it inspected (for most states).

I'm also one of those people that loves the idea of E-ZPass... but have yet to install one due to privacy concerns.

I don't agree. I feel a majority of the Chrome users are former Firefox/Opera/Safari users. When a dominant minority group (Firefox) is fractured or segmented... it doesn't hurt Internet Explorer. In fact, it helps it.

----- Current Breakdown -----
Internet Explorer 71.11%
Mozilla Firefox 20.06%
Safari 6.62%
Opera 0.75%
Netscape 0.46%
Google Chrome 0.74%)
Other (0.24%)

----- Fun Numbers ----- (100% made up)

Internet Explorer 60%
Mozilla Firefox 15%
Safari 10%
Opera 1%
Netscape 1%
Google Chrome 12%
Other 1%

With the above made up numbers, I can still hear our CFO saying "see, we should focus on Internet Explorer... everyone else doesn't even have 20% share! And, that 'Firefox' thing is going DOWN! "

I'd love to see some information as to what browser current Chrome users transitioned away from.