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Comment Re:Bad faith (Score 1) 161

Care to provide some references. My understanding is that RAMBUS had an exclusive design RDRAM which wasn't all that great mainly due to unfair competition from DDR producers.

"In 2004, it was revealed that SDRAM manufacturers Infineon, Hynix, Samsung, Micron, and Elpida had entered into a price-fixing scheme .[16] Infineon, Hynix, Samsung and Elpida all entered plea agreements with the US DOJ, pleading guilty to price fixing over 1999-2002.[17] They paid fines totalling over $700 million and numerous executives were sentenced to jail time.

Rambus has alleged that, as part of the conspiracy, the DRAM manufacturers acted to depress the price of DDR memory in an effort to prevent RDRAM from succeeding in the market. Those allegations are the subject of lawsuits by Rambus against the various companies."

-Wikipedia

Comment Re:ignorance != bliss (Score 1) 36

If you believe in the science that brings you modern medicine to begin with, then more knowledge is always better.

It's not the science I object to; it's the politics. The Vioxx study, subsequent FDA action, and subsequent lawsuits resulted in nearly every COX-2 inhibitor being taken off and kept off the market, despite the tiny magnitude of the risks. Given that, I think it's better to not seek out knowledge of such small risks rather than risk that kind of overreaction.

Comment Re:Virtual keyboard not faster (Score 1) 203

Presuming you mean a tactile keyboard, it's faster because it's easier for your fingers to find the keys. My "evidence" is simply personal experience with trying out several different types of keyboards, and seeing which was quickest. That's certainly not proof, but it's exactly what the guy in the article has.

Comment why on earth not? (Score 1) 256

I don't think I would want to use it for regular daily tasks.

You'll find the same advantages in day to day use, as you observe as a media centre: efficiency, reliability, freedom from malware, nagware, and crapware, freedom from "progressive Windows dementia", and availability of many useful packages.

Don't take my word for it, try it. I use Linux for my day to day work and it "just works." Take the Windows brakes off and you'll immediately get twice as much value from your PC.

Comment Re:A patent troll with a win streak? (Score 1) 161

"Good luck with that - I'll just use your patented time machine to go back in time and patent it before you! "

That was a bad move. I was waiting for you because I had the first Time Machine, and now the cops are going to have to wait for someone else to invent one so they can play Timecop, because I'm not inventing it again and taking the chance that they'll put me in jail for torturing you to death!

Comment Re:SPAM contents still a secret (Score 1) 169

Right, but you can't yell threats or potentially damaging things like "FIRE!" in a crowded theater.

So really what it comes down to is whether the spam itself is constitutionally protected or not. It may fall under the harmful speech listed above.

Now as far as marketing goes, they make a hell of a lot of false claims, and they are legally liable for that.

Comment misrepresented (Score 1) 368

There are definitely plenty of paid coders on the kernel. But are they counting the kernel hackers that companies have chosen to sponsor as paid or as volunteer? Does a grass roots volunteer kernel hacker stop counting once a company sponsors him to be able to contribute full time?

Comment Re:Hope and Change, baby! (Score 1) 528

This is exactly what I want for myself.

This exists already. There are a couple of providers that offer that. Just be prepared for some eye watering costs when you go to the doctor a few times. And just pray that you don't need a specialist. I can afford it because I make significantly more than the average American. If I would make what I did 8 years ago, that health plan wouldn't be a plan, it'd be a big, fat reason to only go to the emergency room if I can't take the pain, or don't want to cripple myself for life. Guess who actually ends up paying anyway? Correct, the tax payer in that state.

Here's the justification for hurting you by taxing you to support a public option: you're already paying for it, and private corporations will only get on board if regulation is so tight that it amounts to direct government control anyway. Might as well streamline the process and take out the middle man.

As for the current bills, I hear ya. They suck, uniformly. Lastly, public options can be structured in such a way that pay-outs to smokers are minimized. After all, it's already being done by regular insurances. The big advantage of the public option is that in theory, you and I get to have input on what constitutes a rip-off by voting for the politicians who will ultimately vote on the bills. That's in theory, of course.

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