Intel's relation with Microsoft has always struck me as more along the lines of "I've got a gun under the table pointing at your groin, now smile to the camera // Same for you buddy."

Wintel was a PC thing. The relation deteriorates rapidly nowadays, with Microsoft courting ARM in mobile product niches and Intel investing in Linux.

But what about certain expectations that the buyer had? Fairly reasonable ones, IMHO. Such as (a) "I can play games on my PS3" and (b) "Sony will respect my privacy".

Suddenly, (b) has been proven wrong and if you object to that, (a) will follow. [Not to mention the infamous (c) "I can run Linux on the PS3".]

I think you can see how people might get a bit pissed off about all this.

Adding to the GP and P posts: I also play online FPS games, I am an admin with reasonable experience, and, most importantly, [b]I've had the chance to see autistic kids gameplay[/b].

And here's the thing: before I found out a player was autistic, their manner of play raised all kinds of warning flags for me. There were spurts of uncanny abilities, they wouldn't talk to anybody, they were focusing obsessively on a limited sets of actions (run this exact route, attack at these exact points), they displayed anti-social behavior (attacking their own team) for no apparent reason. My first reaction? What a cheater/asshole combo!

Has anybody considered how their repetitive/compulsive nature alone may cause autists to deviate from the player norm? Not to mention that about 1 in 10 autists show outstanding abilities ("idiot savant" kind) and about 9 in 10 exhibit enhanced sensory perceptions.

So I find it strange that most highly-moderated comments so far have completely ignored the fact the kid is autistic and how it may have affected his gameplay. My own experience tells me that unless Microsoft knows for sure he used an actual bug or exploit, I'd take that "cheater" verdict with a BIG grain of salt. I'm fairly confident that an autistic person can trip both automated and human cheater detection. They were designed for regular people.

Dunno, but I'd sure like to ask the devs of Torchlight that question. Why intentionaly exclude a Linux port considering they used a cross-platform engine? It blows the mind.

Granted, it later turned out to run ok under Wine... but in the meantime I was undecided and waited until the game was up on offer for $5. If there was a native Linux port I'd have payed the full $20 from the start. That's $15 they cheated themselves out of. All this while most indy devs out there would be aghast at the thought of throwing $15 out the window like that.

The only people who will not install Windows at any cost are those with a moral objection to non-free software.

I wouldn't say I won't install Windows "at any cost"... but I'm not exactly looking forward to that ever being the case. I'd have to have a really burning reason to do so. It's just become so... alien.

No Compiz, not even workspaces; no centralized update and install; having to install firewall, antivirus, antispyware, wasting resources and still never be sure what's crawling inside your PC; apps installing pieces of themselves all over the main menu and the HDD and leaving cruft behing when you uninstall; every other app using a different look and feel; a taskbar, a "start" menu and a desktop in general that feel like a joke when it comes to customization; having the pleasure of being nagged about a perfectly legit copy as being "pirated".

Moral objection? I have a moral objection to the Apple lock-in. For Windows I have practical objections.

The problem with no centralized servers is that no one pays attention to ratio and the like.

Then they should implement the concept of "authoritative peers". Peers that have a secret key that gives them special powers over the swarm, such as kicking them out or regulating their participation.

It would also solve another problem with torrents: incremental updates. Today, if you want to do a minor alteration to one file out of 100 in a torrent, you have to publish a different torrent, tell all the peers to switch to that one and to start building up to 100% again. An authoritative peer would just push deltas on everybody.

I'd rather have pedophiles get their fix by watching child porn movies than by actually going out and doing something to a real child.

I think Japan has the right idea on this, with their simulated porn is ok approach.

Why would it benefit me personally to have to deal with wads of cash, write checks or directly expose my bank account via debit cards rather then making credit card transactions?

Why does it have to be exposed if you use a debit card? Have you never heard of double accounts, one empty (or with a max limit) in which you put money just before the online payment, and one with all the rest of the money, which cannot be withdrawn online?

Really, if JVM went away currently there is nothing that can replace it.

Not instantly, but eventually...

Let's take a look at the alternatives. We have Python, C and C++, as well as plenty of non-proprietary widget platforms, of which Qt is also well supported on mobile devices. I've kind of had it with companies who bait you inside their ecosystem only to trap you there. When you spend more time looking over your shoulder for fear of patent lawsuits than programming, something's wrong.