Classic case of "The end justifies the means".
They rather offer the info they get through these new channels to the newspaper exclusively for a certain time then to never get their hands on it at all.

Sounds to me like Google totally ripped you off! You should definitively sue.

You're on it.

How does it matter how much RAM you got?

"a potentially dangerous chore, since a misstep could cripple the PC"

Wow, what a statement. There are endless ways to cripple your PC if you have no clue what you're doing. Hell, if you put the --delete in a 'find' call at the wrong place, that could cripple your PC as well.
You know what else is extremely dangerous and will most definitely cripple your PC? Ignorance about the system you are using. Computers are complicated machines. You can't hope to use one without having to learn how your system works.

It's like when your car breaks down for the first time and someone explains to you that you need to check the oil every once in a while. At some point you gotta look under the hood, otherwise you will break it.

So please spare me these observations about the outrageous hazards that come with your Windows operating system.

Actually, OCCT includes a feature to run tests similar to memtest86 on the GPU.

You think that if I pay money for a product that can be altered at an any time through the distributor or where the distributor can revoke my right to use the product at any time is somehow bad? I can not believe what I am hearing! Here I was thinking that it was totally awesome to buy a product which I could never resell nor would I have any control over. I personally think that Steam is an awesome platform and am very happy that all these DRM practices strayed far away from it.

There is this always Amazon.

Well maybe someone will port X to it. And Compiz! Then it will totally rock.

And here I was thinking it was actually called OS X. But roman numerals are SO much cooler indeed. Oh those amazing folks over at Apple, how do they never end to amaze us with their impressive marketing and their fabulous names for their operating system, thus making them far superior to everything else that is on the market. Thanks Apple!

I dunno. But I'll make sure to start a poll at the next meeting. And we prefer the term "Microsoft Lovers" thank you very much.

I really don't understand the issue. Microsoft is offering an operating system. They ship a toll with it that allows you to browse the web. Great. I personally don't favor Internet Explorer, so the first thing I do when installing a new system for personal use is downloading Firefox. So, I already have a choice. It's not like Internet Explorer is forced on me.

If I had the option somewhere in Windows to install a different browser than Internet Explorer than that would just be a different interface for what I have been doing all along. I guess one could argue that this is a nice feature to have but I fail to see how this can be such a big problem for anyone.

I totally get how it can be a problem that a product which is seen as inferior has a large market share just because it's users don't know of the alternatives. Yet, I doubt that giving a choice to the users in question will make any difference. If they didn't care until now, they won't care when given the choice now.

It's like forcing tobacco companies to print health warnings on cigarette boxes. The problem is not the product, it's the person using it.

People already have free browser choice. They just chose not to make use of it. If you present them with a dialog during installation to pick a browser they will just pick IE again, cause that is the browser they grew accustomed to. This will change nothing. Except for the fact that MS can now say "Well, we DID give the users a choice."

100% of the market already has free browser choice.