When I get mod points, I tend to browse from the bottom. I do that generally because, when I come in to work after a long vacation I found it was always much more informative to browser the newer emails first. If I found and interesting chain, or post in this case, I would read the preceding posts.

The real question is, if this system is so broken, why do people keep coming back?

I did the same thing in my life, except I went to college for about a year for a CS degree though I never finished. I think mostly if you dont have a degree they will look at job experience, if you don't have experience, be prepared to prove yourself. Ask an employer if they would be willing to let you sit with one of their top developers to prove that you know your stuff. Not only with that show initiative, but it will show that you are not afraid of working under pressure and the scrutiny of a experienced developer. This is my advice at least, and with this approach, I have never been turned down for job that I have interviewed for. You do have to be careful to pick jobs that aren't over your head though because it can also make you look rather silly if they are expecting something you aren't aware of.

I think the biggest reason is possibly that the integrated graphics can function as your primary adapter when the the power of the dedicated cards is unnecessary, reducing power consumption and heat overall. Certainly its not going to win any graphic wars, but its more than enough to run Aero efficiently. I suppose power consumption is not on the top of the list of most peoples concerns when buying something like this, but its nice to have the option to do so.

This, on the heels of the accouncement of that MS is discontinuing Silverlight development as well. Seems like a bad business decision on the part of both companies. I realize that HTLM5 is intended to take the place of them both, but being a .net developer I can say from experience that HTML 5 is a lot more frustrating to code and debug... more than silverlight at least cant really speak for Flash. My point is, there is a place for both and with the only two big players jumping ship its going to be hard for developers that have already learned Flash or Silverlight, to just switch gears and starting mucking around in JavaScript again.

Having worked in a VERY large data center, with hardware from many different manufacturers and functions, I have found this to not always be the case. When you have large systems interacting as such, one single bug may cause a chain reaction of events that are different every time it is triggered. Stack traces, network dumps, etc, all vastly different. What is truly random may not be the "instructions" themselves but the usage patterns of the users, and thus the processes on those machines as a result of that erroneous instruction. Its like playing Plinko, both the board and the game piece follow a simple set of rules, but the path of the game piece is and always will be truly unique each and every time.

Best comment in this entire thread! lol Mod parent up for favor :)

Anybody actually know what are the patents that Samsung is supposedly infringing on?

In a lot of cases their patent suits are just, in others not so much. Its the ones that are "not so much" that stick most peoples minds.

Like I said I don't know if either of those cases actually ever made it into court, or out of blog status for that matter. I only recall reading a couple articles on these two issues, where they were at least sent cease and desist letters, and were being threatened with lawsuits. I may be completely wrong in both cases as I was only recalling that from long term memory so mod me down if you like, but you cannot deny that there are a lot more examples other than those I provided.

You're right, it is a battle that will never end. But there just seems to ME, and is there for my opinion that they have made some really horrible choices in the way they've done business. Thus they wont be receiving my business, and I know without a doubt that I am not the only one that shares this opinion. The alternative majority of users are PC users, where the general consensus is that Apple is evil. And that opinion is not entirely unfounded, although it is generally misunderstood because the majority of PC users are (statistically) idiots. Until they change their ways, evil or otherwise, they will pretty much stay a niche company, and that is what I was implying.

I know their market valuation is huge, but that is arguably just the brand value, not an actual reflection on their profit and size. And I am speaking metaphorically when I say "niche marketing firm" because you cant argue that the company would not be anywhere near where it is without their marketing department. That can be said for any company, but that is most certainly one area in which they excel above almost all others.

Interesting point, and I agree it is somewhat disconcerting that your search habits may be tied to a social networking login profile. Although I generally use an incognito/private browsing window for searching without logging in. Im not sure what they can get from a private browsing session, that would be in my other login session, but hey it makes me feel safer so I will continue to do it anyway! hahaha

"Facebook is so idiotic I'm looking forward to not going there if I can help it" Exactly where I am right now. I deleted my facebook page, but the only reason I went back was to keep in touch with some local friends so I know when/where the party is at on the weekends! haha I do otherwise use G+ and will continue to use it, and I look forward to canning facebook entirely at some point.

All due respect to the deceased, and his family. But that company is/was horrible from an ethical standpoint. They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but they put a lot of people out of business for trivial copycatting. From the cookie shop in NY ( if I recall) being sued for making iPhone cookies, to the carpenter sued for making decorative wooden iPhone plaques. I don't know if any of those cases made it to court, but that's not the point. They sued the living hell out of anybody that even looked at them wrong without permission. Not to mention the ongoing suits against the rest of the technology world, so many lawsuits open right now I cant even recall. Jobs was a huge proponent of defending his copyrights, but he very often took it WAY to far. For example, attempting to enforce patents on touch screen gestures? Really? I actually like a lot of Apple hardware, they certainly have their place in the industry, but they will never be more than a niche marketing firm until they pull their heads out of their asses. RIP jobs, despite all his failings as a ethical human being he was a brilliant marketeer and business man. I give respect where respect is due but otherwise; while am certainly not happy that he is dead, I AM glad that there is now somebody else at the Apples helm. Hopefully Mr Cook, has a bit more common sense with the company going forward.

This makes me want to go play a round of Civilization V lol.

You're right, but I think you are slightly misinterpreting my point. They make great products, I am not complaining about that at all. It is the fact that you can make a much more stable system when you control all of the channels, which DOES give them a big advantage in the market. It is not only the use experience that makes them great either, DJs use them because you can take a spare chassis to a gig and literally switch out and boot from the same hard drive you had in the other system. Makes for very little down time. There are many advantages to controlling every aspect of their platform. But the hardware in MOST cases is inferior (the only real common exception being on board sound quality) or only just as good as their PC equivalents and in both cases you pay for the quality. I have seen non apple servers with uptimes of years. Never crashing once, though not all of them were running windows either. Enterprise is the only segment that Apple doesnt do so well in, and there is a reason for that. But also consider that most peoples experience on a PC is usually on a low budget one that they could only just afford, running windows. You buy a known solid "part matched" PC, and it will serve you just as well if not better in most cases simply because it is more useful for more technical things due simply to its customizability from a hardware perspective, and from a software perspective. You can say that I am underestimating Apples quality, I am not, I am only saying that you should also consider that apple is only like 7 percent of the computer market in terms of ownership. And there IS a reason for that. Apples amazing marketing and r&d can not save it from itself. But that's their gig, they thrive on several market niches where they do well, but that is almost literally it.