+1 for the new design - I think it is easier to read this way.

agreed: in 2008 a friend in China explained that while Chinese writing is unified there are so many spoken dialects that few know them all and while visiting one of his cousins in the south they agreed to speak English so they could understand each other.

Actually one can install apps; https://chrome.google.com/webstore and local storage or offline use is handled via Google Gears. eg, the notepad app permits local storage. Downloads are also stored locally.

In the 80's people would say "no one ever got fired for going with AT&T"

In the 90's people would say "no one ever got fired for going with Microsoft"

Anyone who has floated to the upper echelons of the DOI more likely got there by playing it safe, not rocking the boat and schmoozing the in-crowd - not by being smart - so while Google's technical arguments may be correct they don't fit the prevailing "cover your ass" mentality.

Here's hoping the law suit rips the DOI a new paradigm.

I suppose now we will need tin foil underwear too

Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would've hidden from it in terror. -- Ming the Merciless

A local company was featured in this month's Chamber of Commerce magazine. Three brothers who co-own a small chain of eight doughnut shops described how their father started the business by working every day from 1:00am to 4pm and how tough financially it was at the beginning.

I am firmly convinced that if you look back far enough every US business in existence started out with some individual doing way more than just enough to get by, made personal sacrifices and was probably considered a loser by casual observers who had either never tried or had given up long ago.

About this time last year I was working as the IT manager for a multinational manufacturer. The IT group was targeted for yet another round of cost-cutting; they gave me an hour to decide who would get a buy-out package and a shove out the door. I talked them into letting it be me, put the buy-out money in a rainy day account and started my own software company. I told my wife that if we weren't cash positive within 6 months I would give it up and start looking for a real job. Over the last 12 months we've made more than they were paying me in the "real job" and we've never actually had to fall back on the rainy-day account, in fact we've almost doubled it.

Starting my own company was not easy. I have to sell, communicate well, be easily accessible 7/24 and give my clients plenty of sound business reasons to keep coming back in between turning in top quality work on time. I'd have to work my a** off and most days are 12~16 hours long. I have still managed to take two vacation weeks since I started and we have a third week schedule for May... on vacations I do have to keep one eye on my email and be willing to get up a few hours early to handle anything that can't wait until we get back.

There are no sick days or personal days. Working for yourself means you both have all the time in the world and no time. Before when a stupid boss would make unreasonable demands or mistakes I just had to deal with it. When a client makes unreasonable demands I just charge more. They can be as unreasonable as they want $$$

To start your own company, software or otherwise;

- be prepared for long hours, don't let a client down even if it means pulling all-nighters until your not sure what day it is
- force yourself to learn the new things consistently, figure out where your clients need to be 6 months from now and learn or do whatever it takes to be there waiting for them
- find an accountant you trust to handle the tax laws
- find an attorney you trust to handle the legalese

I've never been happier in my career.

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to call Al Gore?

Q: what do you call 80 tons of lawyers on a slow boat to China?

A: a good start.

Seriously though, if we really could figure out to export lawyers; it would balance the trade deficit, and just think what it would do for the quality of life domestically.

I have a play list of up tempo favorites for programming which just about always gets me in that zone where all distractions are tuned out. Since most of my work is remote online I can crank it up to the optimum level (ie, one notch down from where my ears start bleeding) For those working in an office with people around them why not use ear phones?

follow up: the NDA states "The parties acknowledge that the other party may be evaluating similar proposals of competing vendors and may be considering currently or in the future internal developments similar to those being discussed by the parties. " IANAL but I would think it's going to be hard to show that B&N did anything to actually violate the NDA ... and so I bet it boils down to arguments over who knew what and when did they know it *ugh* so ... lots of legal fees, no big payday for Spring Designs, and B&N's Nookie Book launch is slightly tarnished... but that's about it.

It looks like there are copies of it here: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/03/spring-design-vs-barnes-and-noble-all-the-nooks-and-crannies/