That kind of testing wouldn't be done at the level of the independent farmer, but by one of the large chemical companies (like Monsanto, BASF, etc). Those companies produce a patentable and productizable strain of food crop through trial and error, and they produce seeds for sale to farmers.

All I can go by is what Valve has claimed to be its intention. So far, they've said that Steambox devices will be open and modifiable. And if they aren't, then you'll still be able to load Steam on any Linux OS anyhow, so I don't see a problem there. If some specific vendor locks down their hardware, I'd speculate that they'll have to deal with competition from vendors that produce products that aren't boot-locked. In fact, in the case that all vendors build closed systems, that sounds like a good space for entrepreneurship. Someone could become very popular by building SteamOS boxes that are easily modifiable.

Valve knows their customers pretty well. They know that PC games have a modding community, and I'd assume that they realize that there are a fair number of DIYers in their userbase. They've been smart businessmen thus far, and I don't see evidence that they'll make the mistake of over-consolifying their product now.

Well, consider 2001, when I could get an Xbox for $300 and a game for about $60. In comparison, my gaming PC at that time cost close to 3x that much, and the games cost a similar amount. Also, there's the simplicity factor. It's a little more complicated than "plug in the cartridge and turn it on" now, but there's also an OS that maintains itself, no need to worry about system requirements, etc. It's disingenuous to say that consoles don't have any features that someone's going to consider an upside. I prefer my PC in most cases, but consoles have the occasional perk.

From what I understand, SteamOS is Linux-based OS. Valve's been quoted as saying that users "can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want". That certainly sounds like you're free to run any game that'll run on Linux anyhow.

Meh. I've never sold a game; not about to start.

Can't really argue with that point. Almost all of the AAA games in the last few years have been DRM-laden, with online authentication via Steam, Origin, Battle.net, et al. It's less of a problem for me; the last few games I've played were either console games, recent DRM-free indie games, or games that were released 15-20 years ago. Those last two aren't going to be the most popular of choices, so you're left with....closed (but mostly foolproof) console systems.

As an American reader, I didn't have any problem with the wording that you used. You've just run into a den of trolls (or perhaps just linguistic prescriptivists, which can be even worse).

"Educated people" realize that "alot" is not a dictionary-standard spelling, true. But it's common enough to be noteworthy and doesn't cause any ambiguity in its meaning. The purpose of language is communication, and the purpose of standardized language is *clear* communication. Still, language will naturally drift from the standard over time, and when it drifts far enough, the standard needs to be updated to reflect the new definition of "correct".

Indeed.

174,592 EPM, for whatever use that is.

Not a fan of Back to the Future, I take it.

Depends on if the BB gun uses air to propel the projectile. If it's just a spring, then "air rifle" is a bit of a misnomer, isn't it?

Funny, I had the same reaction when I read it. He seemed like a salesman for Google or something.

Dear Prince Bernard, If you're talking about my bank account, you're barking up the wrong tree :)

Meh. They claim that "open source" always has to be "Free Libre OSS". I claim that "open source" is rather non-specific, also encompassing "Free Gratis OSS", unless otherwise specified.

I disagree with the OSI's "no true Scotsman"-style argument.

I don't know their exact circumstances, of course, but it's possible that the different cards have different rewards programs, and each one will gain them different benefits under different circumstances. Either that, or 2 are less-commonly-accepted cards that have lower interest rates, or something.

The cards have a smart-chip in them. The data on the chip is encrypted, which makes it much more difficult to counterfeit with a credit card skimmer. As a second authentication factor, the cardholder punches in a PIN. This style of card is becoming more common in Europe right now, and a lot of automated terminals won't take a card that only has a magnetic stripe, apparently.