re: your "designed in reverse" observation. Right on. And not only that, but many organizations still use those metrics of cpu cycles and I/O to bill internal clients for running reports. Which explains why people here in my current office are afraid to request reports.

In a meeting with your boos tell hom/her that one of your responsibilities as the IT guy is to ensure license compliance and that you would like to document all of your software. Ask for access to invoices to see what's been purchased. Inventory all software installed and prepare a report showing where there might be an issue. Offer a solution or solutions to dealing with the issue: buying licenses, researching alternative programs, etc.

Don't be confrontational, don't be a dick, don't make threats or demands. Do tell them about the BSA and what can happen if they are to get audited. Turn your concerns into a positive for the company. That's why they hired you.

with all due respect to a fellow slashdot poster, if you are asking a court to give you money for "loss of enjoyment of life" then your life is now fair game for examination. relying solely on the plaintiffs statements would not make for a just proceeding.

I'm not a kernel developer, but every mailing list to which I once subscribed moved to web based forums, which I find much, much more convenient to use. I think mailing lists are a relic which some are reluctant to give up, and I'm sure there may be good reasons for that. I just don't know what they are.

If a "solution" to spam were to exist or be developed, and mailing lists suffered collateral damage, there are other ways for the participants to communicate and discuss.

much of that problem is a holdover from pre-OS X days. many Mac users got so used to using little hacks from garage developers that they keep using them with OS X rather than finding a better way to do it. I've been a productive Mac users since 10.0 and haven't seen the need for "haxies" or other Rube Goldberg type programs.

My Levi 501's never change in style, and last a hell of a long time. I am ntt a slave to fashion. Black Friday makes me sad.

Perhaps, but solutions make money. I'm using some genuinely crappy software on an assignment now, but it's got the largest share of its market, and my employer is paying bags of money to use it. There is no open source equivalent, because it requires more expertise than just writing good code: legal, financial, and regulatory expertise isn't cheap.

and I've started making efforts to use external memory as much as possible: calendars, phonebooks, todo lists. All the things I didn't need 10 years ago.

i've been told that a good diet and exercise can help, but it's not THAT bad yet.

i forget people's names right after they introduce themselves. i lose my car keys every morning.

my daughter (8) is taking advantage of this; "daddy, remember you told me you'd take me to a movie." shit, maybe I did.

not very relevant to the overall discussion, but my public library has PC games available for borrowing. Some new ones, even.