I could care less about mono and Gnome. I've been using KDE for at least the last decade. I've avoided mono as the tool-set always seemed to be pretty useless for anything other than attempts to port VS Windows stuff. I use VS at work along with SQLServer and LabVIEW. While we have plenty of Linux at work on servers, most applications and development remains on the Windows platform. Mono just seems like a big waste. Too much incompatibility and a whole lot more work than I have time for. I avoid installing mono on my home desktop and avoid using the stuff on my systems. I've done C++/Qt and some Java on the Linux platform and have yet to see any need to use mono for anything.

So Miguel is now going to work on semi-compatible libraries and tools to confuse Mac users? Good luck with that!

Yep. This is also why I'll never buy another Seagate drive. Designed to fail by the warranty expiration. Use to be both faster and longer lasting than the competition. Now just junk. Last build lasted 6 years. Now the hardware is lucky to make it 3 without losing function. I have a stack of mainboards, DVD Drives, sound cards (to fix broken sound function) and Ethernet cards. I may plug as much into the USBs as I can get away with soon so I won't have to open the case any more to fix stuff just to keep my work...

I also have a VCR from the late '90s made by Sony and a Hi-8 camera from 2003 that both work fine. Nice hardware. Too bad they forgot how to build stuff to last... Or that people even want any more.

While the kernel is technically the "Linux" part each distribution is packaged with different components, utilities and capabilities. While most, RHEL, openSuse, Linux Mint and Gentoo are general usage by design there are others specifically targeted at different uses. Even general use distributions very in setup, personality and in a lot of cases the stability of the chosen software used for different tasks. Some are intentionally bleeding edge with some intended to extreme stability at the cost of newer features. Some distributions are pretty bare-bones affairs intended for specific use profiles.

I gravitated to openSuse from the Suse commercial distribution ages ago after Redhat became unstable and awkward to use around 1999 or so. I bought a Suse package at a CompUSA and have used a derivative ever since. The last setup of this on this system took all of an hour and a half to become completely useful. It used to take weeks of fixing broken bits. Once you become used to how a distribution does things it becomes easier to use productively and they all differ in setup and convenience features in how things are done. These days the results end up pretty much the same as they are all pretty easy to install and configure.

It takes a while to find one that does things in a way that is easy to understand, has the right mix of components and is totally useful for whatever you are using the systems for. Some of us just like to experiment.

Replace it my hairy ass! They might want to actually attempt to install some of it! The fact that they choose not to and cherry-pick areas where density and demographics provide the highest and fastest payback likely has more to do with their choices of installation areas.

YOU are an apologist for these companies and there is no way around it. I first received DSL in my area in 2001. Optical links, used correctly, should be less, not more, expensive. It's not the hardware, it's the politics. The industry wants us to be THANKFUL of their generosity in providing such wonderfully expensive crappy service.

"Look at the xbox - never have so many people had such a bad experience with a device breaking, and it was covered up."

I don't even have an x-box but I know about the red ring issue... This is hyperbole at it's worst.

Correct. But only for large businesses that need for problems to be someone else's fault. For startups and most private folks the question is always "What can I do with this that I can't do now". Apple and Android have been answering that question to folks since 2007. When is the last time you saw a Win Phone commercial? They need to make the same case and they need to make it better than all of the incumbents and I do not see that happening in the current marketplace.

This is also why Blackberry has failed: It answered a single need and then stopped looking for other markets. The phones were considered a distraction when they should have been looking closer at an existing market they already had a deep brand stake in. Why they didn't partner with MS then I'm not sure but the two were then heavy hitters in the enterprise sector and they should have capitalized on it but didn't.

"All in all, both Microsoft and Nokia have wonderful product. We just need to force people to buy it."

Sure! But how are you going to force the carriers to REQUIRE a Win'8 phone as the next upgrade? Give them away? They are almost doing that now. My Galaxy S II cost me a hundred bucks. The price was recently cut in half. I doubt that AT&T received any sort of discount for being such great customers from Samsung. I used to like the old Nokia feature phones but I doubt even they can make them that inexpensively as good as they are.

That's good to hear. I've skipped every other release and only done the upgrade after the system was getting real crusty. I have a nice backup setup now and upgrading every other year or so seems pretty reasonable as long as the system still makes sense. I've stuck with Suse since 1998 or so. Back then it was the distribution that was the most complete out of the box.

I'll wait for the core to stabilize for a few months and then do the update during the winter break. Setting up openSuse 12.1only took a few hours to get the final pieces to work and was mostly flawless. Best in a long time for me. 11.4 gave me headaches because of the NVIDIA open source driver and the crap I went through to switch to the proprietary X drivers. They may get it stable some day but I actually USE my system.

I thought Gnome was permanently broken... Which is why we use KDE or LXDE at my house. Which Gnome anyway? Didn't Ubuntu kill the current one off?

I have three GUI setups on this system: KDE, LXDE and Enlightenment. The wife and kids use KDE. I use LXDE and Enlightenment.

Agreed. Daughter Number One moved to just outside NYC. She works there from time to time and revels in both the cultural and artistic access that that city allows. She also learned how to drive in the big city and has the dents in her car to prove it. It isn't for the faint-of-heart. Mostly she parks just inside the borders at a large parking garage and hoofs it to the closest subway station. Navigation in the city requires a mental map of the subway that still leaves me perplexed but is a requirement to economical and efficient travel there.

As far as companies relocating to cities in general is concerned: It sort of depends. I live close to Baltimore. Baltimore is a mess. Companies seem to be relocating away from here. This is historically a heavy manufacturing town. The infrastructure required for any sort of high tech manufacturing seems to be lacking because the only companies that have moved here were Biotech outfits that don't seem to last long before running through their start-up cash and going out of business. The only chip foundries here are the kind used for defense outfits that are pretty close to obsolete. We are not likely to get a Google or similar here any time soon as the big money access is elsewhere. DC is right down the road and that means most companies want to be in either northern VA or in the DC suburbs like Bethesda or Germantown. There are lots of Banks, law firms and lobby firms in DC but very little manufacturing that I know of.

I've actually known Samsung for some time as a reasonably priced alternative but well-built brand for a lot of things like monitors, optical drives and memory...and phones. The Galaxy S II is my second Samsung phone but my first Android phone. My wife had an iPhone first. She said that, all things being equal, the Galaxy phone would have been fine because the screen is bigger and it seems to work fine. It's not as reliable as hers though as I've had to pull the battery a few times after lockups. I suspect this is more an Android issue than a Samsung issue though.

Patents are not what is keeping this company in business. They make a reliable, well made and functional product at a reasonable cost. Any manufacturer can make similar designs but they choose not to regardless of the effective quality of the design because it isn't theirs. Apple keyboards are nice too but those who learned to type the original IBM design will want one of these. I have one at work for code alone. Crappy keyboards are a distraction.

I watch movies at theaters, borrow DVDs from the Howard County Library and my wife rents from RedBox or Blockbuster at grocery stores from time to time. I use DVDs for Linux and updates or home movies more than anything else. If the studios try to lock things down any further we'll likely just skip the stuff they produce altogether.

The big three networks seem to have clued into delivery. If you have broadband the networks will let you watch most recent episodes of their most popular series along with a couple of commercials. There is Netflix, Hulu and a few others that are a lot less expensive than content from regular Hollywood sources. If you really want what they produce there are a bunch of ways to go legal without going broke. We are likely to go back to Netflix when our Verizon contract expires. Even with no 2 year contract it makes sense to drop the phones, the cable and just keep the internet. Verizon is likely to hate it but that seems to be where we are headed. $160 a month for all three is too rich for us for something most of us when we only watch a couple of shows a week at most. If I lived closer to Baltimore I'd consider OTA but we live in a lower level condo and their is literally no signal here to speak of without cable. It will save $100 a month for something not used very much.

Is there a way to ignore them harder than I was to begin with? My attitude is that these things have no purpose in the world other than to enrich someone else with my personal information. It's enough that I'm forced to use my SSN to get medical service even after my insurance company explicitly stopped using it. The forms used by every medical provider require it. Now I'm going to give my life story out to any clod on the internet about what I had for lunch that day?

Absolute total bullshit!

Right now the provider with the most expensive plans is Verizon. I know as I switched a little over a year ago. AT&T was cheaper over time than Verizon and had better support where I live (East Coast) in some places. This is for "just" phone service with text messages rather than a data plan as none of us has a smart phone. For data plans it makes no real difference - they all cost too much.

Do I think they need to buy T-Mobile? Hell, no! The whole idea stank from the get-go. If this causes them to raise prices I'll switch again. Two years is over at the start of next year and I check other plans at the end of every year. I rolled over for Verizon and they did their jolly best to roast me. I won't go that route again, ever. They might get my business again but I'll keep my eye on prices regardless. Too many of my friends seem to just stick with them out of inertia like I used to.