I politely say, "that's nice". Please take a seat there by the Americans who have made the same demands. we'll see you after them. They've been waiting a few years, so you make want to bring a lunch and something to read. Really, the government is in a minority position (has been for a few years) and has plenty of real trouble to deal with... they also want to be elected with a majority some day so they are not apt to piss off the population too much.

How do you reconcile pro athletes who negotiate their salaries etc, but are still part of a union (player's association) and can still go on strike?

hacks and the like, such as jail-breaking etc, they are sure encouraging things that beg for it. One thing Apple should be learning is that their stuff is not as un-hackable etc as they would like to have people believe. Another thing they should be learning is that pissing people off is a poor business model.

Welcome to mass market! The growth of the iPod, iPhone etc has put Apple in a new position. They will adjust no doubt, but this is new territory for them. Hey, when you catch the attention of DVD Jon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoubleTwist) you've made it...

all this really. That Apple wants to do this is not out of character as others are pointing out. Nor is this type of thing out of context for things like telecos, and other traditional purveyors of things such as music, movies etc. They are used to a take our stuff the way it is, like it or lump it. Now these companies have gone into areas where the savvy consumer doesn't have to, like it or lump it. On the computing side of the game, the hard core "I want it the way I want it" is served by Linux. Apple sells it as "have it our way", while Windows both to their folly and benefit has tried to walk both sides of the street with mixed results. They are all running into difficulty with their philosophies with all this new tech... Apple doesn't want you doing certain things... well, tough darts, jail breaking exists and they don't like it. I need not go into the RIAA philosophy of such things and the rocks they have smashed up on... MS, well, sure they have DRM, but there's a hack for that! Linux, well, those traditional industries call Linux communist for a reason (in their minds)... In their minds, convergence was never supposed to be like this... Let them patent it, who gives a flying f*ck... Like all attempts to try to curtail people from using tech for their own purposes, this is fail

is going to grow up (it really is still stumbling along, show up on more phones and spread because the shenanigans of companies like this... When Android hits that critical mass and these companies start crying and whining about the implosion of their market share, I am going to laugh my ass off. While Google has punted some developers off their site, it's no where near what the other companies have done.

This is good advice, and gives me an opportunity to speak to the community at large: some of us who go to cons and are in a position to shake tons of hands politely decline. It's not because we're being dicks, it's because we know it's a good way to substantially decrease our chances of catching and spreading any germs.

I played the PAX Pandemic game, where the Enforcers handed out stickers to attendees that read [Carrier] [Infected] or [Immune] (There was also a [Patient Zero].

I got the [Immune] sticker, and by the time I got home on Monday, it was clear that I had the flu. I've had a fever between 100 and 104 all week that finally broke last night, but I'm going to the doctor today because I think whatever I had settled into my lungs. I'll tell him about the H1N1 outbreak and get tested if he wants to run the test, but at this point I think it's safe to assume that I was [Immune] to the Pig Plague, but definitely [Infected] with the damn PAX pox.

Even though it's been a week of misery, it was entirely worth it, and I don't regret going to PAX for a single second.

Public stops buying DRM'ed music. RIAA cries piracy. Retirement homes across the coutry raided!

It probably won't, at least not to consumers. The questions is how will the netbooks equipped with it sell. And the answer to that is about as well as any windows netbook as once this is out, XP will probably not be offered. And as most people only use one or two apps at a time because of the nature and limitations of netbooks, the limit won't likely even be noticed.

Whether or not you are a mac, linux or windows user, I don't know how anyone can say their marketing backfired. Techies read tech press, others do not, so they are unlikely to even hear those voices. Marketing is about creating buzz for your product, and judging by the reactions to MS's latest campaign, it has done that. It's when people don't talk about you at all that you have a problem.

upgrades their OS without having new equipment first. Business will upgrade as they replace their machines. That has always been the way, so this is no surprise. When their XP machines crap out, they will replace them with whatever flavour of windows is available then... OS upgrade is a misnomer, they are generally new to accommodate new tech that becomes available over time since the release of the last OS. That tech is usually hardware-based and the new OS talks to it better. If you don't have it, the old OS will do just fine. Most realize that.

The extra money is for the blessings of Jobs that make your hard drives last longer as they are and also run soooooo cool

This is why my motto (and fundamental rule for life) is Don't be a dick: it's simple to understand, and reasonable people can agree on what it means.