The first commenter who alleged that Canonical / Ubuntu has a NIH syndrome may or may not be right. I use the damn Ubuntu just because it looks fair and it can be twisted into shape so I can crunch out some code, look at the 'net, and track my mail. If I want to write, I use Libre Writer. If someone is making some bucks from this, I am happy. I am glad to see Linux making some effing money for someone. I wish Red Hat as a corporation and Canonical as a corporation a bunch of luck, and all kinds of profit margins. Maybe they could throw their weight around in this country so MS and Apple aren't the only voices in the room. Purity and virginity are equally worthless. I am the only guy who looks at /. who isn't an addict to computer games, and I'm possibly one of the few who has never played one. But they are as popular as masturbation, so that's fine with me, if you need your desktop / laptop for games. I have my own weirdness: I read books. So who am I to criticize others? So long as Canonical delivers a fair - looking screen that can be forced into a haven for my command - line preferences, let them make a profit. Shuttlesworth isn't out litigating and trying to patent stuff, so let him fart around a little, once in a while. We're being cornholed every minute by a benevolent government that is trying to imprison its populace. Inequality of incomes is squeezing a huge part of the populace into penury. Idiots are successfully repealing laws that allowed black people to vote. A nation that isn't supposed to have an empire is now in the business of maintaining a world - wide empire of novel savagery in the name of morality. You've heard of the NSA, and you're complaining that Canonical is nosy? Some perspective, please.

Taco Cowboy has some novel information. Not only was Ed Snowden a Security Guard (did he mow lawns, as well?), but the Cowboy has a new kind of poker. I've played five and seven card stud, jacks or better to open draw poker, and even lowball. Once or twice I was in a game with deuces wild. I've never seen guys play with trump cards. This is a cat with some new and wild ideas.

I was in myself, for misdemeanor resisting arrest, some damn thing like that, when helping others bust up a Klan rally. But a month for a misdemeanor is no big deal, just something that has to be done. A felony is a different matter, so I've kept myself out of trouble since. The only way to deal with the law is to steal billions, and to do it with a corporation. Then you make the law, and sometimes pay fines in millions for earnings in billions.

The Mythical Reptile is making a decent point, and we ought to listen to him. If we agree with Abelson or not, we had best not shovel him into a false category. He's more than a representative of a generation or an apologist for the University. I think we can agree with him, or not, and still realize that the prosecutor was not acting in the public interest. I think we can even argue with him with some civility. Abelson's record ought to show that he is worth listening to, and that the details of the Swartz case might make some parties actions not so clear-cut as they appeared at first.

I certainly am. There's no other sort. While there's no guarantee that violence in itself will bring satisfaction, the current regime is held in place with massive violence. If it is to be overthrown, it will be done with violence and bloodshed. We can argue politely about lesser evils, and we can speak about peaceful change. We'll see none that's meaningful. So long as that is certain, the need for an armed revolution, it makes sense to compete in detailing how one can progress from a successful revolutionary military command to a successful leadership of a divided nation, given victory.

What is particularly insidious about this announcement is that Google discriminates against linux. Their free email is one thing they have done well, so far. In their other software efforts, they show a general and understandable concern to get things right for MS and Apple, who have the dominant share of the market; they haven't much regard for the shaggy 1%. Their mail works as it is.

When I took my laptop into the Verizon store and asked for wireless support for Ubuntu Linux, I was told that "Linux was not available on personal computers. It was only for big, expensive computers such as those in Universities and in Hollywood." One of the kids at the store had briefly worked at Pixar. I booted up my laptop to show them, and they were astounded, as if I'd brought a tiger or a cobra into the store. Sprint, by accident, supports Linux on broadband. Verizon is casual about the responsibilities of their position as a utility. Why shouldn't they be casual? This is the United States of America, where near-monopolies are encouraged, right? Their only duty is to provide profits for shareholders, and otherwise they've already paid for ... what was on sale when the government auctioned the airwaves. Ask Verizon about Apple, then, or Windows. Or ask for a phone. Or ask for directions elsewhere.

Skarecrow77 is really hitting the nail on the head, here. I and many of my pals are not rich, and many of us are poor. It is a real pain in the butt to have to navigate in my little flat, because I have about a hundred and fifty couches. I can barely pick my nose, I have so many damned couches. I no longer can use a desktop computer, because of all the couches I have bought; I have to write code with a laptop. I can't afford to drink or to do drugs, but the couches, ach!