Actually, I've noticed that some netbooks are shipping with Google's apps pre-installed. So maybe this is MS trying to regain some ground they're losing in that space...

I think you're onto something there. Although from memory, many of the Office 30 day Trial versions give you the option to 'upgrade' to the full version at the end of the trial period. Which means a direct 'download' sale from MS and not necessarily a box-off-the-shelf sale for a 3rd party retailer. I suppose if it establishes lock-in for the customer then it increases the chances of the retailer making that sale long term rather than short term.

I copulated with a bear trap and lived. I loved it so much I bought a whole range of traps... mmmmmm masochism!

Heh, I think you argued yourself into redundancy when you noticed how bad the ribbon effect was! ;)

My in-laws didn't want to fork out the hundreds of for the full blown version of Office. Had something like this existed then, they may have used it out-of-the-box. As it was, at the time I gave them the choice - use an illicit copy of Office (which they weren't comfortable with) or use a FREE and legal Office replacement (which they weren't even aware was available).

The opted for the free and legal route and now use NeoOffice quite comfortably. The 'pain' of 'switching' was less than the pain of the pricetag for Office, although to be honest there was no real switch involved with it being a fresh install, and even if there was I think the average user is having to learn to 'switch' every time a new version of MSOffice is released because MS in their wisdom keep changing the interface dramatically. So simply sidestepping to a competitor version with at least the level of functionality the vast majority of users need is actually quite easy.

I think this 'free' pre-bundled Office Lite may have quite an impact on the uptake of OOo though. If only because there'll be fewer non-tech users buying a PC without Office pre-installed. At that point they usually turn to their 'techie friend' for help, whereupon their friend may suggest OOo like I did. People like free - if it's pre-installed it's free, yet OOo is also free. People like easy too - pre-installed means no extra work, installing OOo means 5 minutes of work which isn't QUITE as a easy... shame, but OOo loses on those odds I fear.

This is complete BS. If they only licensed the software to him, then why did they send him CDs? If they SOLD him copies of software on CD and a license to use it, then at the very least he has the right to sell on those physical CDs, even if they restrict the right to transfer 'ownership' of a software license in the same sale

Installed without approval or authorization.
Not removable by normal, non-invasive means.
Reduces performance and functionality of the infected PC. Sounds like Malware to me.

That sounds like a description of a pre-installed copy of Windows to be honest! ;)

Isn't it a shame that after all the hard work the devs put into great ideas like this at MS, once the accountants and marketers get their hands on it it comes out the doors like Vista! There's something seriously wrong with the workflow in that company...

To check for malware brought in through security holes opened by running virtual machines, hehehe ;)

What makes you think the 'terrorists' are anything but the state itself? It's a statistical fact that you are more likely to be harmed or killed by your own government than by a foreign nation's government. The only actual difference between what our nation's establishment and media call 'terrorists' or their associated 'acts of terror' and what our government does around the world is that our nation's acts of terror are state-sanctioned and use an organised and professional military infrastructure. The actual acts themselves are fairly identical - indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, propagandising our current given reasons for actually being there to normalise them in the public psyche.

Even when it comes to our government's latest official identified 'villains' and 'rogue states', many of their supposed horrific activities reflect our own governments activities quite closely - propping up tinpot dictatorships, supplying our 'allies' (some of whom are said tinpot dictators) with arms and logistics to often suppress and kill their own people and even neighbours, sponsoring certain terrorist groups. Just have a casual glance back over the UK's history that isn't reported in the mainstream media - currently the media are trying to keep the stories of UK involvement in detainee torture out of the news despite the fact the evidence has been out there for public consumption for years now.

Check out the reality of the NuLab 'ethical foreign policy' (it's just another one of those nuspeak oxymorons) - when they came into power they stepped up arms shipments to dubious regimes, making it even worse than Thatcher's despicable record. We sold the weaponry to Suharto to carry out his genocide in East Timor, and employed 'plausible deniability' simply by saying "well he promised he wouldn't use the weapons to wipe out the East Timorese". And that's just one very easily researchable example. The deeper you dig, the more deplorable you'll see our establishment is. The 'different' political parties are irrelevant, they're all in the same game of perpetuating the status quo.

There, fixed that for you ;)

...specifically about healthcare since that's the big thing currently being argued: One of my uncles in France got private health insurance because the government wasn't covering what he needed, in fact, they seem to be moving towards privatization like we currently have in the US.

I agree, we have the same problem in the UK these days. The NHS isn't covering everything we need because it seems to be moving towards privatisation (aka 'healthcare for the rich') like you have in the US. Before this shabby state of affairs when it was a truly socialised medical system it was much better, because the money pumped into it from tax revenues actually went to paying for services and for health care professionals. Now the majority of that money is sucked back out of the system by private shareholders in the PFIs. I prefer Socialism to Fascism any day - Private healthcare is a form of fascism with state and Corporation in collusion at the expense of the citizenry. It removes the choice from the individual and hands it to the insurers who can choose not to pay for your treatment for any number of spurious reasons!

Then they were BAD techno shows. I always tweaked around for real - what's the point of miming?

Compounding the bias, it includes insights such as that taking music without paying for it is 'songlifting,' and that making copies for personal use and then playing them while your friends come over is illegal.

Erm, no it isn't illegal. What if the music you're 'taking without paying for it' has been released as CC or Public Domain? Personally, since all the crap first started kicking off back in the Napster days I've released all of my own music as CC and sold some for commercial use, but my small fanbase always appreciated that I'd give them tracks for free and sell them CDs for the cost of the materials and they were free to share them around with friends (I encouraged it), because it was free publicity that got me bigger attendances at gigs and thus better gigs with better pay. Filesharing is a great thing for artists. Major labels are bad bad bad things for artists and will only screw them over to exploit their talent without fair compensation. I bet the RIAA don't talk about THAT fact do they?

The new version of iTunes lets you sync more than one machine - should work with your phone/pod. You can also manually add any tracks that aren't currently on your phone/pod from another library by dragging them from the library window onto the pod/phone icon in the devices list on the left in iTunes.

You can also use the pod (not sure about the phone, someone else with experience of them may advise) as a drive, you just have to tick the option for it under the ipod info/settings pane in iTunes (click Pod icon in devices list on left, under the 'summary' tab look for 'options' and tick the box at the bottom of the list). When it's in drive mode, you still can't access the music/content directly though - it is all about satisfying the entertainment industry.

You don't have to make playlists to get music on there, just sync your library and you music will be added anyway, along with any playlists you made. If your library is too big for your device meaning auto-sync doesn't work then it's not really Apple's fault that you bought a device too small to hold it all, hehehe ;P There are 3rd party apps that will find duplicates and remove them for you, a quick Google will show you this. Personally I wouldn't say that a piece of software which by default automatically syncs your library on your computer and mobile device every time you plug it in is overcomplicating things - if anything it's oversimplifying things. However, Apple are at least kind enough to give me a modicum of control over customising how I use it beyond this default simpleton state.

There are also 3rd party apps out there (some are FREE!) which will allow you to rip the contents of your pod/phone to another machine if you need to. But for most people, the fact they just 'plug it in' and 'it just works' (which it does out of the box) is the most intuitive thing you could imagine.

Twatter is for apathetic bloggers who don't actually have anything to say. Perfect for the shortening attention spans of modern consumerist society...