Because of the past. When IE6 had a huge market share (>90%, but lets be honest, at the time it was the best browser out there), the EU stepped in.

Now the EU don't like monopolies and accused MS - rightly - of some underhandedness in getting their browser in front of punters by including it in the OS and not allowing it to be removed (even though you could just 'not use it', weird). Cue the Ballot Screen (which sucks).

Personally, I think the playing field since around 2010 can be considered levelled and any harping and whining now is pointless. I agree with what you're saying about OSX etc. though, but you also need to wonder why email clients, media players and anything else that's bolted on to the OS hasn't fallen foul...

Plethora of cheap and free online and offline competent Office suites doesn't really work for most business people I'm afraid...

Sure, some suites might do most or some of what people want, but when it comes down to it, most people just want stuff to work. And if the RT version of Office means that stuff "just works" then people will buy it, regardless of position on whether it's free, cheap or whatever...

You can embed fonts in PPT file. It's not a problem.

Ok, so it's a slightly less featured version that the full x86 Office 2013, but if it means I don't have to fart around with reformatting at teh last minute in Keynote, Page and Numbers on an iPad, or any of the other feeble attempts at Office compatibility to do a presentation, then that's just fine by me. Sure I could take a laptop, but I get some good results by simply passing the tablet around.

10 years ago, people were paying £450 for a full Office software suite, so the idea of spending an equivalent amount for Office on a tablet isn't that much of a dealbreaker when you consider it.

That's for Metro apps. Skyrim is a Win32 app. Sure, the Metro bit is a walled garden, but the Win32 bit is still as open as ever on x86, you simply just avoid ARM based Win RT devices... job done.

Seriously, whether the desktop was available or not on Win RT ARM tablets, the experience would always be inferior. Saying that ARM users are getting a second rate experience is stupid. Have them install something that runs badly on their hardware, that's a second rate experience.

What the Metro and MS store is allow developers to write across both architectures with ease. While a Metro app may appear that taxes an ARM tablet, that same app isn't going to break a sweat on a multicore x86 box.

You may as well say iPhone users get a second rate experience because the iPad screen is bigger...

That said though, MS wording as to what Windows 8 certification actually is seems confused. It should really be Certified for Metro, and they should do more to differentiate between cosmetically identical, but technically different products in Windows 8 and Windows RT devices.

Megabits, not megabytes? A minor point, but when it comes to network speeds, it makes all the difference...

The Compaq TC1000 and TC1100 were PCs running Windows XP Tablet Edition. They were just over a cm thick and had a nice tilt and swivel detachable keyboard. For the time, it was utterly astonishing and only really let down by its slow CPU and half-hearted support from Compaq/HP. Indeed I only switched back to laptops when HP discontinued the range. As far as form factors go though, it pretty much nailed how a hybrid tablet/laptop should function... ten years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_TC1000

...I'll let you figure out why, suffice to say that I've seen someone try it, fully believing they were somehow gaining CPU cycles... oh how we laughed!

The story here misses out one key piece of information; that just the administration pages don't work on IE. The sites they're creating with said admin system work fine on IE. The company explicitly points this out - go here and click the sign up button: http://4ormat.com/

Now, that's not such a big deal and nobody's going to complain because they can easily get the thing working by downloading another free browser. .

I'v done the same thing in the past, and also the exact opposite - making an admin interface that only works in IE. It's not a big deal, and in most cases it's the norm for intranet-style sites. That said, if someone reads this, runs out and decides to make their public-facing site IE-unfriendly, thinking they'll save $100,000, then they're nuts...

Seriously, 225 mph farts from a dog are really not worthy of modelling... Trust me on this.

...going for a walk. A good walk works wonders and is a little less extreme than electrodes in the brain. That said, my depression was a side effect of a long term illness and the walking may have had other health benefits that improved my mindset.

That said, walking might not be a great idea if you'd lost your job, sold your car, etc. etc...

...nuke to lob at someone. Seriously, this is why nuclear technician isn't up there with brain surgeon and rocket scientist.

...that's two years to do something about it. What does everyone expect; Microsoft to support it forever?

14 years of support seems pretty generous - I mean how many versions of OS do Apple currently support? Certainly not all the way back to OS X 10.0. I'm also sure that a lot of those embedded and industrial systems will be updated before then. That's more the job of the manufacturers than Microsoft.

...as if a million nerds suddenly went out and bought contacts...