Stop nitpicking on the meaning of a word. Assuming the software is used then a downloaded copy is depriving the vendor of money. Think of it another way then, what if everyone did it? What would happen? Would the software vendor continue to make software? Would they even bother in the first place since the compensation has been removed? Depriving the vendor of money will deprive people of much needed jobs. Like that football game, if everyone watched it from outside would they keep having the games? I'm not from the USA so I don't know what they use the money for but I bet it's not pure profit. Yeah, nothing is taken my arse.

The main problem with the Debian edition as it stands is it's a rolling release. Taking updates can be *very* hit or miss as to whether you have a working desktop afterwords. Still, I regularly use two machines with it installed and generally I'm happy. I use one as an experiment to determine if I should update the other :)

I'm somewhat confused. Why would they care? You're talking about a small percentage of web browser usage compared with all other browsers and platforms. Not only that but this is just a small percentage of the network traffic. What about instant messages, bittorrent and other formats of communication some of which will be completely bespoke?

No, I call bullshit. Some conspiracy theorists will happily sling around that an agency has their claws on the data but when you realise it is such a small percentage of all the data out there. It's pointless. Besides, they could get more information by hooking into the little facebook Like buttons, google's +1 or other tracking technology already in use. The real winners are the data miners, now amazon has a way to increase this without having to buy so much from other sources.

My thoughts too, this is not off topic. Like any other computer given to an individual they will be filled with junk very quickly, oh and perhaps some business content. I'm assuming they aren't factoring in the cost of writing secure software so all that tracking information that the device sends back and who knows what from the apps will be very useful to someone. Better yet, how long before one of these is left in a taxi, on a train? Unlike paper these will slowly fill up with all manner of information that is likely not meant to be released.

I feel cheated! I've never seen any toolbars bundled with Java :( It isn't anything to do with not running Windows or OSX?

I really dislike this sort of opinion. Do you really believe all available police officers are scouring facebook and twitter rather than say a few officers who for various reasons are unfit to participate in riot control but are helping to prevent them spreading. Yes I want police on the streets cracking skulls but that doesn't mean that they stop dealing with all the normal day to day problems either. This is the same as saying you have a bomb when on a plane or in an airport. It's a crime regardless of how stupid the person saying it is or how they say it.

In tomorrows news, Bethesda has been sued for patent infringement

The most important due to the sheer size of the ISO downloads.. stable is 8 dvds or 52 cds? ;)

I have no idea what is on most of those (nor likely care) but I like that someone does care enough to be the package maintainer. I'm sure other distributions also can say the same so I'm not saying Debian is best for that. I'm not even saying it's best, different distro's for different tastes and needs. I personally dislike the sheer number of distributions though. It's almost becoming a fashion statement and what is in this season. I predict a retro comeback in 2012, console only with blingy gold border decorations :D

I'm not trying to be funny but I am curious, what rights are you referring to that would be violated by having a test to determine if you are fit to drive a vehicle. Most places consider driving a privilege, not a right. If you abuse that privilege, by drinking, doing drugs, driving stupidly, causing death etc then you lose it. At that point what right do you have to allow you to drive?

This isn't true everywhere. Insurance companies seem to think there is a difference :)

Also, in the UK, Software Engineering is offered as a slightly more specialised course than Computing Science. They are both the same for the first two years but then become slightly different in the third. It's been a while for myself so it may be different now but a while back the main differences between the two were that software engineers had to do specific courses (I think we only had one elective in the final year unlike the two computer science allowed) a placement between third and fourth year, and a greater emphasis on the final year project. Which was typically intended to be a software writing project (ie, not graphics, UI, hardware based). These differences were reflected in the marking, with the project and placement making up a substantial part of a software engineering students grade, and far less for a computer science student. A computer science student could do a placement but this would not have any impact on their grade. In essence, those graduating software engineering would have a some experience and employers could use this knowledge when making employment decisions.

After that though I suspect you're right about the industry not caring but I do think they care for that initial role when faced with multiple applicants with the same degree but obviously having studied slightly different subjects to make up that degree.

All I want is for the android platform to distinguish internet access for it's purpose. ie, have a permission that says this app shows adverts or another for collects usage stats. These would then have limited access to some websites already preconfigured or even restricted to Google or the phone provider/carrier. Then if this is part of the API the phone can control what information is allowed through, even restrict the granularity of information (ie, age groups, or country rather than city). I'm happy if the app is honest with its intentions, then I'm more likely to trust and use it.

Make them out of lego like bricks that can be reconfigured and we have a V0.1 Replicator. I'm sure there won't be any problems with little robot armies building everything for us

Mod this up! This is so insightful it should be a tattoo!

I was going to write a lot more but it can be summed up with this: I can't decide if you are trolling or something else. Did you really buy licences for products that have free trials without trying them out first to see if they were suitable?

I believe that will not work, eBay requires sellers to provide a reimbursement method and if it isn't paypal or there are insufficient funds then they reimburse the buyer and then the seller owes eBay. I'd guess at this point eBay is more likely to use any lawful means to obtain the money. Either redirecting payments into the account by giving it a negative balance or lawyers, leg breakers, goons.. you get the idea.

I agree eBay/Paypal need to be more fair and take some responsibility but there are ways for sellers to protect themselves by always mailing items with the right kind of insurance/proof of posting. At the very least, the seller can then claim on the insurance for a reimbursement. It won't prevent ebay being dicks and blocking accounts sadly, thats where they need to improve their processes. If they want to get more auctions back they'll need to do something about the automated bidding software that essentially snipes auctions. It's great up to a point for some buyers but sellers won't see any benefits if all buyers are using the software. I hope they put captchas in at the point of confirming bids so at least it is a human bidding at the last second.