I recall the same issue with the Ubuntu and the Ruby community over RubyGems.

Ubuntu packagers would have preferred the use of APT instead of RubyGems for Gem installations, despite the fact that APT's lagged behind RubyGems.

Donner Kebab Pizza in Hull, circa 1993-1995. Best! Pizza! Eva!

Good luck evading the locals who insisted on beating up anybody "foreign" (you were foreign if you from London or anywhere 10 miles out of Hull).

I am not Caucasian for those of you wondering.

I am, however, a very stealthy Ninja.

I am just wondering if these oppressive regimes wouldn't have such a hard time subjugating their populace if the West wasn't supplying them with the means to exert their power.

Is the Iranian government technically able to censor/throttle the Interwebs? No. Most likely some US or European publicly owned company is supplying the technical capability to do this.

Does anybody know who this is as I for one would like to know and boycott their products.

Yes Yes! But does it run on Linux?

I wouldn't really bother:

1. Xbox360 is VERY noisy to be of any use as a modern media appliance. It might have been cool ten years ago but these days you have several cheaper and QUIETER alternatives.

2. Xbox360 is DRM laden and locked down. You can play a DVD but that is pretty much it. Forget streaming video files from NAS/Network Shares unless you have a media streamer (i.e. PC) or formats that MS approves of.

Shame really as a modded classic xbox with XBMC beats the pants out of Xbox360. We're moving backwards instead of forwards.

Viable alternatives are mainly Atom and nVidia Ion GPU based hardware coming out onto the market.

I've recently acquired an Acer Revo. Its tiny, whisper quiet, comes with a Linux only option (read no $100 MS tax) and thanks to its Ion GPU can render 1080p h264 files whilst utilising 10% of the CPU (this is an Atom we are talking about).

All of this on XBMC on Linux. XBMC also offers a wealth of plugins that allow you to stream music, video from the net (you tube) etc.

Its sad state of affairs that it is the open source projects (i.e. non-funded and understaffed) that are leading the way in home entertainment usability whilst these multi billion multinationals are only concerned with limiting and controlling your experience, i.e. propriety formats, cables, DRM..... this shit never ends.

I repeat:

DHS == Gestapo
to confirm, DHS === Gestapo

i ABSOLUTELY DETEST THEE!!!!

... don't write a web app using Delphi.... and don't write a an app using Paradox.

Having used both circa 1999 and vouch for the awesomeness of both products (at the time), the world has seriously moved on in regards to web development and database platforms.

There are many viable (and cheaper and far more reliable and easier and....) solutions utilising PHP (and their frameworks), Ruby (and its Frameworks), Java and dare I say (wretch) ASP.

Good luck!

I am thinking that extra effort has been made to ensure that it can never run Linux...abit like the xbox and then more successfully the xbox360.

Shame as it is what I love about my PRS-505.

Brought to you from the makers or successful and well beloved products such as the Zune.....

Looks nice but I'm not holding my breath on this one as I expect it to be hobbled/crippled and DRMed to infinity and beyond!

In that case I better invest in some screen wipe stocks, or better still in a screen wipe factory.

>By the time the earth is uninhabitable, we will have terraformed Mars and Europa.

I don't think so somehow. I'd give us all 100 years tops:

* 2030 - Major/Vast global wars over resources
* 2035 - All the infrastructure that we take for granted today will be but a dream.... referred to as the golden years. Mad Max 1.
* 2045 - Mad Max 2 (lets not talk about Mad Max 3) lifestyle. Nomadic, barbaric and feudal fiefdoms circled around the last few remaining energy resources.
* 2100 - humans loose ability to read/write
* 2200 - I, for one, welcome out xyz overlords...

Its already too late as no effort is being made to find alternative resources... one days we'll just wake up with, "ZMG!!11oneone... no fuel!"

Humanity as a whole is less interesting in scientific endeavour and natural selection is no longer at work as we actively encourage our stupid/lazy/selfish behaviour via socialism and x-factor (pop star type show).

Followed links from TFA but could not find any images.... intrigued to see aerial/satellite images of this.

Goes without saying that I, for one, welcome our new plastic bottle overlords

I did the same with Dell last year when I ordered my XPS M1330. It came with Vista + MS Works (at the time they had no pretend Linux alternative - with lower specs and same price as a Vista laptop).

I wrote to Dell for a refund and enclosed a printed out screenshot (via digital camera) of me ticking the "I reject license" on Vista bootup and another screenshot of Kubuntu running on the laptop.

A month later I was refunded £120 + vat for both Vista and Works. Not bad considering the laptop cost £520 - minus M$ Tax = £400.