Whether it's Windows, Linux, VMS or ESXi doesn't really matter. The external differences boil down to syntax. If you find somebody who only knows the syntax, you're not going to be happy unless you're looking for a short term employee or contractor. You don't hire a Unix admin because he knows how to write a bash script - you find somebody who understands the importance of automation, the ability to document and test, and the ability to pick up new technologies. You know technology is changing so you need a person who can adapt. If you can troubleshoot the root cause of a system crash, it doesn't matter what OS you're working on and you'll pick up a different OS quickly. But hire an idiot that can't troubleshoot worth a darn and it doesn't matter if he's an RHCE, MCSE or VCP or holds all three.

If you find somebody that can't tell the difference between they're, there, or their or between its and it's, he's not on the learning curve you need him to be on. It means that in 20 or 30 years, he still doesn't care about quality and is too lazy to look things up. Those aren't good combinations.

Think really hard on that monitor size. A large display will add a lot to the price and make it heavy. If your sister really needs the larger display when it's sitting a desk at home the vast majority of the time, pick a laptop with a small display, add a docking station and buy an external monitor.

Actually the superzooms these days do have manual focus if you want to use it. I've been pretty happy with my Canon S5 IS and my wife just ordered me an SX40 for Christmas. I don't use the manual on my S5 often but it's nice when I do need it. Some objects just won't focus automatically.

But what if making money is "necessary for the Service"? The are implying that they have the right to license your work for profit so they can continue running Dropbox.

"voice plan: $20 a month" on an iPhone. Really? You are NOT getting a smartphone voice service for $20 per month. Unlimited voice minutes, which is what a landline gives you, is significantly higher. An individual phone line with unlimited minutes is $70 per month - that's $600 added to your cost for the first year alone.

It's not just that job search sites don't work well over dial up. You can't even keep up with security patches on your PC over dial up. I've got a relative that only has dial-up access and limited hours per month. Every time she turns on her PC, the patches start downloading and take over the phone connection. The only practical solution for dial-up users is to turn security patching off and that SUCKS. By the time you add up Window security patches, your Acrobat Reader security patches, and your antivirus patches, you'll easily consume hundreds of MB per month.

Not even close. You can't get a smartphone from any of the large retails for under $60 per month and that's to talk for 5 hours per month. MANY US citizens are not in an area where smartphone access is even an option - a vast majority of the central plains is dead.

A landline is cheap and gives you unlimited minutes - simply purchasing a dumb phone with unlimited minutes is going to cost easily 5 times as much. Data is significantly more.

I remember this going to court in Calgary, Alberta, around 1990. Somebody had a T-Shirt that said "Fuck off and die" on it and was arrested. The judge's decision at the time was that "fuck" could no longer be considered obscene because it had become everyday use. He did say the wearer demonstrated poor taste but it was unfortunately legal. And this was 20 years ago!

Even single-head sewing/embroidery machines for home use have floppy drives. We've got one and it would cost us easily several grand to replace it with a newer model that uses USB sticks instead.

...their IT folks are not smarter than their 5th graders.

Not all geeks with bad eyesight can wear contacts. My eyeballs have a funny shape and I'm not a candidate for Lasik nor contacts. 3-D movies with glasses make me want to throw up although I have no problems with 2-D movies. For me, I will *never* watch a 3-D movie.

To create an "open source game", you're giving your customers a license but you would be given them a license for something you KNOW you don't own. You're setting yourself up for a world of hurt. Not only can the original copyright and/or patent holders come after you, but every single one of YOUR licensees could come after you for damages as well. Whether or not you charge a fee has absolutely no bearing on the matter. The real question you need to ask is not whether you'd be in the right or wrong but whether or not you can afford the legal bills if somebody does go after you. You, and you alone, need to decide if you are willing to take that risk. Is the game THAT important that you'd be willing to risk thousands or tens of thousands of your own money on legal fees?

Mobile phones are a lot of things, but being cheaper isn't one of them. We talk to Canada for over 1000 minutes per month. I can easily afford to pay for my Qwest landline with unlimited calling to Canada for just those long-distance charges. Any time you get into many minutes for multiple people, cell phone plans start to suck.

Sounds like a Usenet to email gateway to me!

Herein lies the issue. If they go with the artist numbers, then revenues might be small. Punitive and compensatory damages will likely be small as a result. However, if they want to claim higher numbers, then the artists will turn around and sue them for the stolen revenue. They're caught between a rock and a hard place, and that's good...