This became a huge problem here after we started to upgrade to dual cpu machines. On the old machines it would only index when the computer wasn't doing anything which really wasn't that often. With a dual cpu setup one cpu is usually doing nothing so desktop search was indexing _all_ the time on just a few machines in one office. The office kept complaining about their network connection running at a crawl. The few machines indexing the share were conflicting with each other. "Hey somebody looked at this file, we better re-index it." They created a vicious circle of indexing the same files over and over.

I tried Vista but it was slow and half my hardware didn't work. The same computer runs Win7 without a problem with fewer driver issues. I have it running on 2 of three desktops at home. The wife gives me a funny look when ever I mention upgrading her computer or it would be three for three. This might have something to do with it. http://xkcd.com/349/

Its like win2k and xp. XP was really win2k done right. Win7 is vista done right.

Four computers at home.

OS - Came with puter that I got second hand, MS really likes me and sent me a free copy, RC of Win7
Office - MS really likes me and gave free copy, part of license from work (the guy that deals with MS told me that our license actually covers people taking it home, who am I to argue?) and OO.o
AV - Avast free or AVG free
Games - Paid for, Armor Games or Gamespot
Utilities - Sysinternals, downloads.com etc. all free
Graphics - paint.net, picassa, paid for Macromedia Creative Pack once.
Programming IDE - MS really likes me and sent me a free copy.

The only thing I have had to pay for were games and one of the graphics packages. I use the Macromedia suite for work so it really doesn't count.
I am not going to count MP3's since most were ripped from CD's I own. The licenses for Office and Windows might be a little iffy but I don't feel bad since I provide free support to family and friends. I do try to actually have at least one real license for Office and Windows, but since I fill out survey's, beta test, and watch propoganda vids that is usually not a problem.

Yes

16. failure to include a floppy drive in the iMac G5 and only use USB ports at a time when almost no one was using USB.
17. not really a pc design flaw but a decision that would haunt Outlook users for years, "Allow ActiveX in email made even worse with 'preview window' on by default" by MS
18. Any pc produced by Packard Bell. At one point when someone would start to ask me work on their computer I would interrupt and ask "Is this a Packard Bell?" If they answered 'yes' I would run screaming from the room.

Day the Universe Changed by James Burke if your interested in why and how we came to think the way we do. Its based on the philosophy that the universe is as we perceive it. If our perceptions change then the universe is changed. Everyone through out history has thought that their view of the universe was the correct one. If they thought their view was correct 1000 years ago. And we view most of their beliefs as silly now. Why should our view of the universe be any more correct in another 1000 years?

I loved the Logitek wireless keyboard and mouse so much I got another for my wife. She kept having issues with the mouse and keyboard going crazy. Finally replaced them on her computer. Only later did I realize that the real problem was a baby monitor.

Yes, giving the government the perfect tool to track everywhere you go, what you do, what you say and what you buy sounds like a great idea. No way that would ever get abused.

Paranoid? Maybe, but then I am amazed how we sheep pay to carry around personal tracking devices(cell phone). Now were did I put that tinfoil hat?

The US purposely stationed troops in the Philippines in the 40's and parked a large number of battleships as far West as possible even though Japan viewed this as hostile actions. And we were surprised when Pearl Harbor happened. Here in the US we viewed Pearl Harbor as a sneaky dirty sucker punch. I imagine that if I was in Japan and we had won the war it would have been looked on as a stroke of genius.

I have no delusions about our troops being angels but I will not condemn their actions. I heard one Vietnam vet that was a gunner in a helicopter describe it this way; "When you fly over a rice patty with some farmers working in it and they smile and wave at you, you feel good and wave back. Then, as your flying away they suddenly pick up rifles and start firing at you. What do you think happens the next time you see farmers in a rice patty?"

I read another report from troops in Iraq that talked about the frustration of taking prisoners, "It gets real hard when you see people that you took prisoner back on the streets a few weeks later taking shots at you. It makes you really question the benefits of taking prisoners and the justice system."

When you choose to fight a guerrilla war that means your willing to sacrifice innocent civilians for the cause. If you want to hide among them then you can expect them to get hurt. This does not make it ok to hurt civilians but it is a reality.

I am amazed that their are not more reports of bad things happening.

Amen brother.....

I hate to think how many companies are locked into MS because of Exchange.

Paper roll type accounting calculator. Its always on, not far from my hand, and keeps a record that I can rip off and give to someone else, attach to paperwork or go back to later and see what I was doing. Once you get the keys down like a touch typist you can fly when adding a list of numbers together. It has full size keys that I don't have to worry about miss hitting like when using a tiny calculator and the numbers are huge and easy to read on the display. If I need to do any kind of higher math, well that is what a computer is meant to do.