1. I get told that I am lying, and that they KNOW I'm running Windows.
2. I get more laffs out of leading them astray, "reading" the errors in my event logs.
3. Tried that. "I have several computers. Which one is it?" "All of them, sir" "But which one do you want me to turn on?" "Any of them, sir" "But which one are you getting the error messages from?" "All of them, sir" and so ad nauseam.
4. See #2

I've been handed off to "an expert on your computer", who I promptly told I knew he was a scammer. His reaction was to act surprised and even claim ignorance of phone scams.

Best reaction was telling one girl that her mother would be ashamed of her. That got a 5 second pause, then "Shit" and she hung up. I told another that I had a broken leg and couldn't get to my computer. You could practically hear the pages flipping as he searched for a response.

I once strung one along for 16 minutes, but 5 minutes seems to be a trigger point for most of them. I guess if you haven't got to *this* point in the script by the 5 minute mark, hang up and take the next call in the queue.

"for most people", then "simply no reason for desktops to exist"

Make up your mind. Is it "most people", which implies that some need the extra power/cooling/storage/whatever, or is it "no reason", which implies that laptops will cover all scenarios?

Or did you not think it through?

Yep - and not just power, but storage. High-def video footage takes a lot of space, and it's not sensible to have your OS +programs on the same physical disk as your footage, and it's even better to have a multi-disk RAID for footage (RAID 5/6?), AND a separate disk for renders. Can't see them putting 3 or more drives in a laptop anytime soon.

I've spoken to a number of people who want to edit/produce their own videos, but the most complaints come from people using laptops, i.e. OS + programs, footage, and renders on the same physical drive, and they wonder why their corei7/8GB laptop won't process video faster.

Premiere Pro in particular is finicky about which video cards it's happy to use for hardware rendering (although it's only a plaintext file in the program's directory, and easily modified), but if your laptop's video isn't on the list, you'll be stuck with software rendering, which is MUCH slower.

And that's why my hourly rate goes up, up, and away when the client can't supply documentation. It doesn't decrease the frustration, but helps to make it bearable.

This concept has been in use on the AS/400/i Series/System i/whatever since 1988. Everything is an object, and carries its own object description. The object description tells you and the operating system what the object contains, e.g. user file data, index, source file, executable, etc, and that determines what can be done with it, and what programs are allowed to act on it. The system simply won't execute a data file, and you can't edit an executable. Doesn't matter what your access level is, you can't override it and patch an executable directly.

I'll never forgive them for what they did to Talisman. Ever see a 3rd edition? Ugh. Their only saving grace is the release of the 4th edition.

And all their products are overpriced.

Well, that's how the commercial film industry works. You write a script, flog it to a producer (for a fee or a cut of profits, or both), the producer finds someone willing to put up the cost of production (executive producer/s and/or studio), cast and crew get paid, and the film gets made. THEN, those who paid for it hope to see a profit through screenings and DVD sales.

If you're a big enough star or an A-level DoP, you can negotiate for a cut of the profits, but if your job is 2nd unit camera assistant, you'll be paid at the union rate.

Copyright is one clause in your contract. Either you agree to sign away all future claims in exchange for being paid the weekly rate for your work (that would be all the "below the line" cast and crew), or your agent negotiates an insane "fee" for your work, and maybe includes a cut of profits.

Those who fund production want their money back, and more. It's worth it (to them) to do whatever's necessary to keep milking those cash cows, e.g. the mouse, for as long as they can. As always, it's the money that talks, not morals. I'd like to see copyright terms set to something reasonable, but what's reasonable when the mouse continues to bring in $BIGNUM every year? We're not going to see copyright reform until people vote in governments with enough spine to stand up to the money.

As for streaming radio, I pay ~USD$70 annually to Live365. I'd happily pay half that again IF the extra went 50/50 to the composers and performers.

Anyone got figures for their digital video camera business?

They're a popular choice for many filmmakers, from hobbyists to indies to professionals (but not this little black duck). They're good cameras, but I won't use them unless there's no other choice - I don't like Sony's ethics^W business practices.

The likes of Red, Canon, Blackmagic, and even GoPro have to be eating into Sony's revenue.

I've had a pretty good run with Toshibas over the last couple of years. Simple to setup, and when it reaches the desktop, delete the bloatware, install my suite of preferred anti-malware, browser, etc, and off to the customer it goes.

Toshiba warranty service has deteriorated a bit (re-install the OS for an un-detected DVD drive....really?), but Asus tech support here in Oz is TERRIBLE. I had a 27" screen that had a fault out of the box. My supplier told me I had to deal direct with Asus, because Asus support have to approve all returns (which is technically illegal here - there's a mandatory 14-day no-arguments return law - if it's faulty and within 14 days of purchase, it MUST be replaced, no questions asked). They made me sign up to their "support group" before I could lodge a fault, then it took over two weeks to get the return approved. Never buying Asus products again.

Hey, thanks! I'll get on to that right aaawwwwaaayyyyyyy zzzzzzzzzzz

Didn't the article state that it was email sent to jeb@jeb.org ?

Doesn't look like a government domain. Admittedly, he's a very public figure, but he took the step of establishing a non-government domain for these emails. Perhaps you should look at the privacy policy of jeb.org to establish whether publishing contact details is OK or not.

Junk!?!?!?

I mean, an emergency wrench for an Apollo mission? That thing would have magical powers x20, but only when wielded by an astronaut. Might be handy in the home toolbox, though.

Who modded this up? You need a reality check, stat.