Beg to differ. Inside the deepest bowels of the Linux kernel lies some of the best operating system concepts and implementations man* has even seen. Are you missing something if you're not using the command line? You betch'yuh. But are you still getting a far better operating system than Windows? Definitely.

* - kind, not page.

For example, show me the documentation for an experienced sysadmin who's never dealt with LDAP before, to configure and fire up openLDAP. The middle of '06, I spent nearly a month googling, asking on mailing lists, and fighting with it. The "documentation" was garbage, and appeared to assume that I had the time to read the code and understand the zillions of lines of it.

If I had, I would have rewritten their tools so that a) they gave correct error messages, and b) they didn't require deeply obscure sets of switches just to do normal things like searches.

        mark, author, Egoless Documentation, SysAdmin, June '06

These days I spend hours playing with Udev, HAL, PolicyKit, and GNOME, often feeling more like I'm fighting a Windows machine with its typical determination to hide all interfaces but the desktop interface from me and prevent me from controlling my own system in the way that I see fit.

This is why I stick with Slackware, which has none of that nonsense, lets you control everything manually, and behaves in a consistent and well-defined manner.

I think it's more likely that they are trying to get a cut of any assets sold by 3D Realms, either physical or intellectual. I could see them making a grab for Duke Nukem copyright, handing it over to another developer, and putting it out under the Duke Nukem Forever title...

I think you just didn't notice people using them; they are not only limited to cell phones and credit cards, you can buy Suica / PASMO cards and load them with money. They can be read through a wallet or purse too. They are a godsend for trains; you can skip the crowed ticket vending machines, and go directly to the tracks. You wave your wallet / cell phone / purse over the blue IC reader on the turnstile and you're in. You ride to which ever station, go to the exit turnstile, wave it again, and it automatically deducts the appropriate amount. It makes dealing with transferring train lines so much easier to; just walk through the turnstiles you need. The paper tickets support some limited transferring, but you have to know exactly where you're going and how much it costs, and buy the combined amount of money for the station you want to end up in. If you make a mistake, you either throw away the ticket and the money or have to talk to a station master to pay the difference.

They were all over the place two years ago, but I noticed a sharp increase when I was in Tokyo two weeks ago. Every station on the Yamanote Line has added pink Suica / PASMO only turnstiles, something you learn to watch for after trying to use a paper ticket on them. It wasn't just Tokyo, either; Niigata, Kyoto, Oosaka, all of them had these at every turnstile, on vending machines, and at every convenience store I went to. They seem pretty dangerous, though; they're even faster and easier to use than a credit card. You think American's average debt is large now...