As a non-American in an allied country I can attest that America more than just a bully. Sometimes a bully, yes, but often a great help and friend.

uber alles...

Feeling excluded is one thing. Telling people what to do is another.

I disagree. I think coders should all be forced to learn to learn the intricacies of investment.

Because, naturally, there can only be ONE human thinking skill which rules them all, and which people who are gifted in other areas should be forced to struggle through.

Used to live in a backwoods Canadian coastal area. It wasn't unusual to head toward the marina to watch the 4th of July fireworks coming from the rich American yachts because they could afford to put on a better fireworks show than the local town did a few days earlier on Canada Day.

All things considered we have good neighbours. Elsewhere in the world, little nations that reside beside super powers are sleeping with one eye open. We're not worried about USA. If they want something from us they pull out a check book, not a cannon. It will be just another Saturday for us but hope you guys enjoy your Independence Day.

Not sure what this has to do with tech news. I guess gun powder was a significant invention. What better way to celebrate the greatness of America than with Chinese goods?

It also doesn't account for the previously established fact that any proper zombie outbreak originates in BRITAIN.

I love USA as much as the next guy but seriously, you need to stop copy-catting every British hit.

Open source means the source code is available in full. Whether the creators/inner contributors run the project like the wild old days of Wikipedia or whether they are autocratic is up to them. e.g. I can't just tell Linus to put my code in the Linux kernel.

But if I have the motivation I can take the source and put in my changes myself. Perhaps it will gain traction, perhaps not. But I have the option.

Also, there is the little matter of transparency which only open source provides.

So in these ways Firefox is the only one of the aforementioned which is truly open, even though, as you say, they do not allow you any say in the development of their OS.

Exactly. Typical Obama nanny state government thinks it's their business to protect us from ebola.

Unless the giant software ecosystem is insecure.