DiskPart is the Windows tool, found in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management in XP. It's comparable to PartEd and GPartEd on Linux, but I prefer the GPartEd live CD because of its hardware drivers (now using Kernel 2.6.30) and rsync and dd for imaging.

You'll get modded down and I'll join the long line of people looking to correct you. Sure, it's Microsoft's choice to bundle software with their OS. But the issue raised is that Microsoft used their monopoly to skew the fair market for web browsers and gave incentives to people who didn't include other software in the PC's they built and sold. So, as part of the billions of Euros in fines, Microsoft have to make sure that there is a level playing field for web browsers in the OS they sell in Europe.

anybody who currently uses Internet Explorer ... is not going to change no matter how many browsers are included in the OS

And all the better for market share, improved quality of computer software and the world-wide web if people do have to choose a browser and can gain experience of what it's like without Microsoft's broken standards.

I don't use a mouse because starving rodents will eat butterflies.

Yes, it is possible. You could use Captive NTFS to employ the Windows filesystem implementation.

[P]erhaps you'd leave the right ctrl key where it is and have an asymmetric modifier key layout?

Given that I use the keyboad asymmetrically anyway (my right hand is on my mouse), I don't see the problem. Perhaps alignment and symmetry are far more important to you than to me?

In all fairness, exercise isn't abhorrent to rms when it's folk dancing.

I read a BBC blog that the present HD video equipment they have can only do single-plane focused images, and that good depth of field is difficult because of sensor noise and sensitivity. So to have a good set of lenses and a highly sensitive low-noise frame (and good sound recording) at the price of a 5DmkII would be a tremendous asset.

People will pay in blood and organs for Apple products, if that's the price Steve sets

In fairness, Steve's already after the BRAINSSS! BRAAAINSSSS!!!

The phrase "Just 'The Doctor'!" is how The Doctor answers the question:

"Who are you?"
"I'm The Doctor."
"Don't you have a name?"
"Just 'The Doctor'."

This is one of the re-used gags that make up the charm of Russell T. Davies' new Dr Who series.

Hey, thanks for your discussion. I'm not going to change my stance that the distinction made by the 2^(10n) system from the 10^(3n) system is a useful one for removing confusion, and you're going to keep insisting that SI interpretation of MB (etc.) is that it's the 2^(10n) value. I'll keep saying that what you think is a bullshit argument creates confusion and needs to be explicitly worked around, and you'll keep saying that there is no ambiguity and confusion, and I'll keep saying that your citation of the court case indicates that there is grounds for confusion and that I, as a member of the public, suffer from the confusion. Then you say "you don't have to be confused, because my way is the way it always has been." Well, thanks.

It's been nice playing, and we're now in the dangerous area where this becomes a last-to-post contest.

You explain where the confusion comes from: the marketers, a (class-action?) legal case, products on shelves, and I agree with you because I have to deal with non-technical family members getting confused. On top of that, I say that I'm confused -- about which you claim I'm wrong -- and that we need a system where the 'ol' bullshit about SI units' can't cloud the issue or where 'marketers' can't lie to us -- which you claim I'm wrong about, but it's your terms and your posts that show we need this.

As a result of the court case and the claim that SI units are appropriate to use, there is confusion. And so we need a system to tell which is powers-of-10 and which is powers-of-2.

K M B G T P E etc followed by a B or b means binary

Not on my hard disk they don't. Not on my broadband bandwidth or download quota allocation, nor on my mobile phone data contract. Each example is from a business which makes more money when it claims a bigger number than is really sold, and who benefit from the confusion. So I want a way that has no room for confusion, and the MeBi/GiBi/TeBi (and other powers of 2^(10n) ) system does just that.

My point is that there's a difference between a SI Giga (10^9) of bytes and 2^30 of bytes. As a consumer, I don't want to be ripped off by someone promising me that these things are the same, and as a programmer I also want an accurate marker for values which are 2^(10n). I'm grateful that there is this naming convention.

Did you find any significant performance improvements compared to ext3?

The extents mean that a large contiguous read is faster and files are more likely to be written in contiguous chunks, giving a bit of a boost to the filesystem. That's the explanation I have for my system and its 5400-rpm laptop disks seeming quicker (note that the appearance of greater performance isn't greater performance).