IANAM, but doesn't 2*inf=inf, so 2*1/0=inf is also valid.

You seem to be forgetting that Windows to Windows migration also involves cost unrelated to licensing. In fact only a small percentage of any large-scale migration can be attributed to licensing, which is why it is not really an issue to businesses.

What IBM are claiming is that factoring in all hidden costs(training, hardware, etc..) migrating from Windows XP to Windows Vista/7 is more expensive than from Windows XP - Ubuntu.

A good CTO will look at the costs & benefits of all configurations over the short, medium and long term before making a decision. Linux based solutions tend to be cheaper in the medium to long term, but are not always the best choice because, as you said, different companies have different requirements.

Unfortunately most CTOs seem to be put off by the FUD being put out and just go with Windows without even bothering to do that comparison. Their, or to be more exact, their company's loss.

*sigh* Yes, you have a piece of paper stating you have taking a bunch of classes in CS and passed with a reasonable grade. So what?

Games consoles are not PCs, Macs on the other hand - are, they are just the brand made by Apple. PC stands for Personal Computer. While their form factor keeps changing, everything I've ever heard called a PC has to be capable of more than just playing games. It has to be capable of doing general tasks and not just specialised tasks. To be honest, the iPhone is more of PC than your average games console. All you have to do is enlarge the screen 2-3x and you have a decent mobile tablet PC.

You are correct however when you point out that most consoles are capable of being PCs, all you have to do is add a few peripherals and replace their OS. Once you do that however, they are no longer game consoles... Similarly I can turn my DS into a PDA, by using a R4 and the correct software. Does that make all DSs sold PDAs?

In conclusion, the terms we use to describe computer systems(PC, Server, Games Console, PDA and even 'mobile(cell) phones') are based on what software they are currently running, or to be more exact, the use to which they are being put and not by what hardware they have or what said hardware is capable of.

It's still technically true, you do not need 64bit architectures for desktops. Even Vista does not need more than 4Gb of RAM to run. And even if you do need more, it is possible to access more than 4Gb, just not directly (not sure about windows, but I know Linux had a config option to do this).

Iran is clearly building nukes, and will succeed unless stopped.

That is what they want you to think!

I'm serious. They do want you to think that, just as Saddam wanted you to think he had nukes.

When analysing what countries have done and might do, you have to first look at the politicians who make the decisions. At the end of the day, this has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity: it is all about Power. IE in order to understand what a government is thinking, you must first understand the internal power struggles of that country.

Iran's ruling elite are currently in a state of civil war. The Right, which controls the government, currently has the upper hand, but only by a fragile margin. If the the Right withdraw on the one of their main principals, the principal that everyone is out to get them and that a strong military is needed for their protection, then that might just tilt the scales in the other direction. So to counter any possible suggestion that they are retreating on that principal, they are touting it louder: announcing 2nd reactor, missile tests, etc. I suspect the Right are also hoping that Israel will attack them, thus giving them the we-told-you-so card to play, but they won't attack first because that would tilt the scales the other way.

Israel currently is using the threat to attack Iran as a bargaining chip to keep the US off their back in regards to the settlements, which are needed as ammunition in their own internal power struggles. Attacking Iran would cause Israeli civilian casualties, because Iran will respond and large casualties from a war you started does not go down well at the polls.

President Obama currently lacks the ammunition to force Israel's hand, because all his political capital is caught up in the Health Care battle. Resorting to sanctions is probably a temporary measure until he has capital he needs to threaten Israel's funding.

Russia has its own internal struggles, which I won't go into in detail, but let me just say this: if you think Iran's government is in chaos, that is nothing compared to what is happening behind the scenes in Moscow.

In conclusion: Relax, there will be no war between Israel and Iran, because neither country wants to start one, but they both want everyone else to think they do due internal power struggles.

My prediction: In the long term the Iranian government will fall, the question is when. Sooner with sanctions, later without them. Russia is the key, China - the wild card.

PS You have to hand it to President Obama though. In just a few months his administration has managed to destroy most of the political power the Iranian Right spent decades building, they must really hate him now.

Dennou Coil almost had it I think, but without the glasses. They are bulky and we have already replaced them with the contact lens.

As I envision it, not only will cell phones as we know them become obsolete, but so will laptops and desktop monitors. Your computer needs will be supplied by a solid brick, which will probably be close in size and resemblance to a closed DS Lite. The UI will be provided by a VR overlay, like in Dennou Coil, that can be interacted with. Unlike in Dennou Coil however, most of the UI will be private, visible only to the wearer, but shareable, so that others can see it if you let them.

The future is going to be fun, providing we don't blow ourselves up first.

Just because you don't know about it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist...
http://www.usonews.fr/en/article/2009/03/24/the-great-firewall-of-america/

Multi-flavoured fanta? Pah!
Mutli-flavoured Pepsi is the way to go. Available in Blue Hawaiian and Ice Cucumber flavours. I'm serious:
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1980
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4845

Personally I prefer the Final Fantasy Potion (the White ones) myself.
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/FINAL-FANTASY-DISSIDIA-COSMOS-WHITE-8-CAN-POTION-SET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ310117931520

As for the ancestor's complaints about Pocky: there is the cheap crap stuff, that is basically weak, thin chocolate on a stick and then there is the more expensive "Desert Pocky", which is thick, multi-flavoured, creamy chocolate on a stick. At 350yen for 12 sticks it isn't exactly cheap, but it makes for a good treat every now and then.

I generally find most ubuntu features easier to use that their windows equivalent. That is not always the case and there are plenty of improvements still to be made. I tend to be exited when a new release comes out because I know there will be a fair number of improvements. Occasionally something I'm not keen on creeps in, but I can revert to the old behaviour if I want. Can you say the same for windows?

There is a GUI for pretty much everything now, just as there is in windows. However while the command line is optional nowadays, it can be easier to use than a gui, especially when trying to get something done over e-mail/forum. "cut and paste the following into your terminal" is a lot easier to say and the results more predictable than "click here, now here, here and here"

Windows also has a command line by the way, not quite as advanced and it is a lot harder to use, but there are still a number of things that are easier to do there, than in the windows gui.

Graphic card support is a bit lacking in Linux, true. That said Ubuntu got better marks than Vista did in a few benchmark tests for new graphic cards a while back, so things are improving. For pretty much everything else using Ubuntu with new hardware has been easier than using it with XP.

My work XP Desktop, which has better specs, feels slower and less responsive than my Ubuntu laptop. While this is by no means proof that Ubuntu is faster than XP, in many cases it might not be. From experience however, I'd say that in a heavy workload environment, it is, even when using GNOME.

I have found Linux to be more tolerant than windows, even when it's a hardware problem. For example I used to own a motherboard with a faulty ide controller. Windows 2k would blue screen on boot 3/4 of the time. Linux would take it's time booting, throw a few warnings, but booted to a usable machine. I couldn't afford new HW, so that was when I switch to linux as my main OS and have not looked back. The HW in question wasn't 'old' at the time and w2k was the latest version of windows.

Windows also has a habit of getting slower and less stable the larger the uptime. Ubuntu does not have this problem.

Ease of use

I have found that once users get used to Ubuntu, they prefer it too windows. This was certainly the case for my parents and my 2 sisters. From what I hear this is generally the case for unbiased users, with no ties to either system.

Far more applications

Can't argue there. There are also a few applications that lack their equivalent on Ubuntu, but they are relatively small in number and their numbers decreasing every year.

Far better applications

Um... for the record: the vast majority of windows apps suck donkey balls. The same could be said about Ubuntu apps, but at least they are free.

MSOffice is not vastly superior to OpenOffice. It has more features, some of which are indispensable to those who use them. It also does a few things better than OpenOffice does, but on the other hand OpenOffice handles a few things better than MSOffice does. Overall OpenOffice does what is needed for the majority of MSOffice users.

GIMP is not Photoshop, that is true. GIMP does have, however, all the tools needed for basic image manipulation. A professional who needs Photoshop, will not be satisfied with GIMP, but then most professionals who need Photoshop tend to use Macs, not windows.

Windows designed hardware

eh?

Games

True. But a growing number of games are getting released across multiple platforms nowadays, so the days of there being no games for linux-based OSs are limited.

No it isn't. Ubuntu is no longer playing catch-up, feature wise is almost has parity and is now concentrating on doing thing better than Windows/OSX. The only thing they are playing catch-up on is market-share and that will come in time.

P.S. we're not the ones drinking kool-aid.

Never heard of anyone getting a refund.

They do give out the receipts though, which legally protect you from being tardy. Quite useful because when it rains, the train are guaranteed to be at least 5min late, sometimes up to 30min.

Other common reasons for trains being late are overcrowding and suicide.

What EULA? They don't license you anything. This isn't software we are talking about you know. It's a contract you sign with your ISP. Their services in exchange for your money.

On the less pedantic side, do you really think the ISPs want to give your data away? There is no profit in doing so, in fact it might even cause customer loss, which is bad for business. No, the reason they give out your data is because they think they have a legal obligation to do so. Now the court has said it isn't, so they won't.