eh, when I ran XP on my own PC it was just as fast as running a PC with SSD, despite running on hard drive. Hit win+E and the file manager comes up instantly etc. (configured to remove the useless panel and add useful stuff like status bar and refresh button, etc.)

Before that I ran 98SE past its due (10 seconds boot and instant shutdown, wow!) then ran warez Server 2003 as a desktop : wow! that was actually a version of Windows XP without crap running. I now run linux, which is slower than 2K/XP/2003 but much less wasteful than Vista/7.

Windows 10 might be better than linux again (and with features such as package manager, a terminal window that can fucking get resized so you can use it instead of using substitutes like putty, teraterm or a terminal over X11 server etc.) but it still at least $100 and I'm worried about phone home features.

Windows Vista with service packs is good, but another way of seeing it is that it's just the same as Windows 7 and Windows 7 is severely overrated. Windows 7 is a horrible resource hog, which everyone has forgotten because they upgraded their PC since then.
It's usable on a slow PC though, after the hours of installing and updating it. Don't make the mistake of browsing the web before it is fully updated (or at the least, download firefox using ftp.exe not IE and don't install flash yet)

The CPU is similar to a fast Pentium III but with two logical cores ; 1GB RAM is considered a good amount on smartphones/tablets in 2015 (but it's silly not to bump it to 2GB, and using browser tabs will fill it up) ; and the HDD is not very slow - a 320GB one is at least a 5400 rpm with mildly high density, not your father's laptop HDD.

This thing would have perhaps been a $5000 desktop back in about the year 2000 or 2001, with an SCSI HDD and all the latest hardware.
So, it's a good thing that a PC powerful enough to run some Photoshop, Quake 3, 3D graphics software or even some video editing can now run a damn OS and its GUI.

Note that a 320GB HDD is much better than 16GB or 32GB of horrible integrated flash.
The flash may be a ton better as some things (like 100x better read latency) but writing data may be inconsistent to say the least. The HDD is consistent, and realistically allows swapping.

You can download the application programs that came with Windows 1.0x and run them under Windows 7 32bit!
ditto Windows 2.x ones. Slightly more useful, a little known version of Reversi reworked to give it a Windows 3.x look. I ran that under Wine (the game is unforgiving, it's even worse than chess on a computer : you have no hopes of winning)

The only quirk with the Windows 1.x/2.x software is that a window manager from 21st century Windows doesn't size the window properly, so you have to resize the program before using it.

It looks like a rant about a language construct. I shrugged the word off as self-evident given we have such terms as "sub-zero temperatures", "subterranean", "subsurface", "subway". Some people might not like cooking up of new words like that, or such a rarely used word encountered in some narrow fields.

Perhaps "nanotechnology" is a word we can bitch about, it's made up too and unlike "subwavelength" it doesn't have an actual clear meaning :)

Let's imagine a button press is an individual shot, but the software doesn't allow to fire again before 3 seconds or before the drone is stabilized. Then you can tap the button repeatedly, regardless and it will be like an auto unless the software catches this and yells "Stop doing this" at the user.

Is it legal to build a "gun trap" where opening your front door will pull a rope that triggers the gun's firing?
Probably not, that sounds horrible and is indiscriminate (very likely to kill an LEO or fire worker etc.)

What if you build the gun trap contraption, but pull the trigger yourself? (by mechanical or electronical means). What if you only use it at the firing range? What if you keep it at home for use in a potential home invasion? (that latter question is out of scope here, I'll give you that)

I don't know the answer (with US laws or some US state laws) but my intuition is that by adding a new mechanism to fire the weapon you've made a potentially unauthorized weapon modification, which should be a big no-no. Perhaps it should be unconditionally illegal. Perhaps it's okay if you register it and only use it on fire ranges under certain circumstances. Perhaps it's just a "creative" way to fire the weapon (e.g. is firing guns akimbo illegal, or just really stupid?)

Desktop software is really horrible these days. To preserve your freedoms, use Chrome OS or Android and organize your collaborations and activities over Facebook. Capitalist computing is much more trustworthy than that evil communist Linux thing.

Wave length is techno babble now? Where have you been for the last 150 years?
Clearly those 19th century scientists were all basement dwelling Star Trek nerds!

It's more known as RDS (S for "service"), RDC being the name they now give for the client.
I thought you were talking about RPC first :) (Remote Procedure Call)

They'll creatively find a way to let you have a genuine, activated supported Windows after you install a warez Windows 10 pro from a random torrent site.

I first read your first sentence the other way around : I had far more downtime due to intrusions than to Windows updates. The one that bit me was upgrading to Internet Explorer 6 on a Windows 98SE installation, which made the OS completely unusable (no big deal as I was used to boot under DOS, load smartdrv and run the setup from D:\WIN98 on the other hard drive)
Now in the XP days I always disabled the updates (and ran without antivirus too) and ran as admin, security was assured by using firefox, being behind a router and disabling all autorun/autoplay. That crumbled down precisely in the year 2009 for me. Now it's do all updates, or disable/remove networking (and don't plug untrusted USB drive or hard drive)

If you're an update refuznik, you should like Linux Mint though : updates are easy, conservative, optional, vetted (run "level" 1, 2 and 3 while ignoring 4 and 5 as per default, or do something else ; right click on a package to put into the "upgrade ignore list")

Iran has a sinister and evil plan. At the table, they will cast a vote recognizing they are in violation, and an outraged US will oppose its veto.

The robot cops's trouble with pathfinding is a very faithful depiction of AI.
It preceded by over 30 years the Counter-Strike gamebots getting stuck in some place of the map.

We've had PIN since at least 1992, and most people don't expect to be able to change the PIN or most likely never ever thought about it.
I guess it used to be fused in at the factory. Making it rewritable just adds complexity and perhaps a security issue.