Not only are they stacking the US Courts, they are also preventing any other party from filling open judgeships when they have a president in office...thus the only candidates to the Supreme Court will be their right wing, ultra conservative, cronies. Pathetic.

This has been in the planning for well over 40 years...thanks for suggesting the book, will check it out.

If a party can not legislate, they need to be removed from office and their presence in the Senate and House of Representatives reduced so that all Americans can be helped with economic activity, jobs and more. They have forgotten that if they are not part of the solution, they most certainly are part of the problem. In this case, they are the problem.

To insure they get elected, given demographics going against them, they put in BS legislation to limit voting. Hey if you can not sway people to vote for you, you do not deserve to be elected. Its simply un-American to not want everyone to vote. And they are on the record stating that they can't win if everyone votes.

Lastly its lame to use the label that the left wants to re-distribute wealth, when the right re-distribute's to their political backers. Or to say you want government out of your individual lives and bedrooms, when you use the Court to legislate morals which legislatively puts government into individual lives and American bedroom, in so many nanny state ways. Pathetic.

Full disclosure: While I am fisically conservative, I am not a conservative or liberal, in fact 70% of Americans are closer to my way of thinking then either political party.

Just another victim of the issues around bandwidth and cost to do perform the updates.

With Net Neutrality no longer being upheld, Microsoft's patching and update process is very expensive. Can it even be done with a server onsite getting patched first and updates to the rest of a businesses client machines coming from it? If so, then even that did not help at the multi-national conglomerate I worked at. A huge Java dev cloud user env, the Administrators performing updates to thousands of machines were told to stop some days when the network experienced problems. Though the network was as much to blame as anything else.

Still the company with more than 10,000 clients simply stopped updating Windows machines. Simply stopped.

The personel that were patching were let go or moved to other duties, their positions were never back filled. Cut labor at what cost long term?

I strongly believe MS sees the writing on the wall and just as they cut other costly support services, they cut this patching / update process for the same reasons...not the reasons they tell us. Cut that labor and bandwidth.

Net Neutrality issue here perhaps? After all if MS starts getting charged for the bandwidth required to do the patching and updating by the ISPs wanting to charge more for bandwidth....

I see your 2560x1400 and the cough, cough, only 4GB of RAM...seriously? Why have the better resolution and limit the amount of RAM (or disk space)?

Instead I would rather have either 16GB (or 32GB) of triple channel memory (RAM) with only 1920x1080 pixels (here) granted it would be best to have both, my guess is companies like ZaReason will when customers clamor for it. The Verix-545 is one heck of a sweet laptop, especially for the price, works with your preferred version of Linux out of the box, everything, it just works. Love having 2 TB of storage too. No more limitations, except resolution, if you consider HD at 1920x1080 to be a limitiation that is.

My only regret is that it does not have a 17", 19" or 21" laptop screen size. Granted I hook it to larger monitors to do work anyway. My future monitor will be a 60" LED 300hz LG TV. Have seen them in the stores on sale for $680, which is phenominal. My last LG was an LCD, 42" and cost over $1,000 on sale years ago.

Best of all, by buying from a Linux vendor only, you are not limited to only MS Win8 via the proprietary hardware...no more blind alleys.

With a LInux vendor, you can always buy a copy of Windows and run it, however the converse is not true, any hardware sold today that is meant for Windows 8 or 9, will *not* run Linux without paying for a Windows license, whether you need it or not.

The only reason not to purchase from a Linux vendor is if you want to run Macintosh OS X, of course that Macbook Pro will cost you considerablly more for less bang...good machines those Apple Macs, just always expensive.

Could not agree more. Give me Wifi, allow me to configure and use as I need. No need for Cellular. Of course I need something better than Skype as Linux is not well supported in Skype. Sure it works, but you never know when it might not and new features take a year or more to filter down to the Linux version of Skype.

I would add, don't force me into any app that requires bandwidth use to use, not backups, not cloud, not anything.

Auto updates are a huge FAIL for me. This would be enough for me to say no.

I am in the process of determining how to reinstall my Linux 10" tablet from scratch. Figure I better be able to do that before I do anything meaningful with the device. Years ago I learned that if you are going to depend on a tool, you better be able to fully control that tool.

By full control, back it up, back up data, reinstall from scratch, etc.... if you can't, its a disaster waiting to happen.

In the same category would be allowing remote wipes or erasures of my device. No thank you. If the software did that and I could not turn it off to prevent it, I would not buy the device.

The first MS OS to ignore my settings was Windows 2000, told it not to reboot or install anything without prompting me first, which worked fine until a major\ update, than my settings were ignored. I checked after the auto update, it was still set to not do it without my approval, just ignored that setting after the update. Been a loyal Linux user ever since.

Full disclosure, I still have a Windows 7 box for testing, do not plan to ever buy a Windows 8 or higher OS again. No thank you.

If you control a tool, it should obey your wishes period. If it does not, its simply not reliable and will let you down at the worst possible time. The mere fact of requiring an auto update, violates this law for many of us.

Don't try to convince me that updating my device without my permission somehow keeps me safe from exploits that require local access to my device either, as I don't plan to give the keys of my house to anyone, thus they will NEVER gain local access to the device. Ever notice how 99% of exploits require 'local' access. Well I have noticed...no thank you.

Besides if that was a concern, there is an app agnostic tool for Linux that auto encrypts everything on the hard disk, data wise, so I would go there first anyway.

The idea of waking up and my device not working, merely because someone else in their infinite wisdom decided to do something without consulting me first, leaves me cold. No thank you. Is it my device or isn't it?

Having to reboot multiple times to finish would be frustrating as all get out....what a waste of time. At offices, it always seems to happen at the most inopportune times.

You think they would learn...if they force you into an 'auto update' scenario, you are one instant away from a useless paper weight, why even go there.

Great response. The last point would kill it for most people. You first point is significant based on experience for me.

My first handheld 'full' computer (Linux) had a small 4" screen. No way it could replace a laptop or desktop. As others have stated, need that keyboard. My biggest use was as a Skype phone via Wifi, never got into the geo capabilities with it, though it had two micro SD slots, which I notice no new devices have. Loved that and strongly believe it is a good reason to buy one tablet over another...does it have 2 micro SD slots. You will use them if it does. Also had 512MB of RAM and could play HD content as of 2006. We have come a long way baby!

My second handheld, a 10" Android from ZaReason (ZaTAb ZT2) is great, love it, but still would not want to do coding, word processing, spreadsheets, database work etc...for the same reason, like that Keyboard. Sadly only one micro SD slot. While I find Android a bit more limiting than a full Linux laptop, it is less limiting than any Apple or Microsoft tablet would be.

I see a tablet as a plus if you can do some things on it, but never as a laptop/desktop replacement. I think we are in agreement there.

The screen size of the new Microsoft tablet is too large and I just know it would get sat on, bent, cracked. If I went above my 10" android, I would get one of those Two-screen Linux tablets that opens like a book, that way each side can help protect the other when the tablet 'book' is closed. Heck I got a touch screen protector and case for my 10" ZtTAb as it was. Also having two screens is pretty important in order to do something on one screen while referencing another. Or when interrupted, to handle the interruption and move back to the task at hand with minimal interruption.

For laptops, I like my 17" Zareason Verix 530, would not mind the 15.6" screen being bigger, heck I would get a 21" screen if ZaReason made a laptop with one. At least I have 16GB of triple channel memory and two harddrives, so my laptop can be used to do 100% of what I did with a desktop. At work and/or home office I always have a second monitor anyway. Its become my primary device and I plan to turn my desktop (Breeze 4220, w/ 4 cores) into a glorified server + TV Wall when I get a 60" LG TV. There is linux software that lets you control the cores independently of each other....very cool.

When I use my tablet now, I do miss a keyboard, have not bothered to add one yet, I find myself reading a book, learning a new language (Italian), playing a game, etc... Hope to use it buy and sell stocks down the road, but have not attempted that yet. Also use the micro SD slot with a 64GB micro SD card...can search, review, look up information on documents, both those created by me and those downloaded as reference, but would not want to edit them on that tablet.

If I get PHP successfully running as I believe I can, than I will really want a second micro SD slot. Don't like the idea of needing a hub to do work, though that would be a work around. Imagine running any PHP application on your tablet. There is enough memory, with micro SD slots, storage is not a problem, the keyboard built into the tablet, while not as good as an external keyboard, does work effectively for small things.

I would still code and edit on my laptop, copying files to/from with a micro SD card.

I could see a tablet used for ordering products in a business, inventory, check off lists, but will have to either create the software myself or find a FOSS solution. Kind of doubt that exists out of the box for a touch screen.

I would also use it in a restaurant to keep track of tables, and where to seat people. Perhaps have a few at the bar, for triva, no point paying for a 'trivia' only system. Heck if you are a national chain, you could create software and license it to other restaraunts for a fee. Kind of like starbucks plans to do with their payment system if a business does not compete with them.

I am also not enamored with the Cloud per se. And I have support experience in a Cloud running Linux + Java apps. Just would not trust my personal data to reside ONLY in the cloud. Reasons, part privacy, part identity theft, part bandwidth restrictions I expect the cable providers to inflict on their customers if net neutrality is not upheld by their paid lobbyist running the FCC. I remember years ago, when people said the net neutrality issue would not come up again, in spite of Comcast and TimeWarners attempts to implement Bandwidth caps, they were wrong than too.

As for privacy and the cloud for instance my accountant is probably going to swtich their IT systems to a cloud solution to save money, that will be a catalyst for me to look for a new accountant as I do not trust them to keep such a quantity of intimate personal financial data secure over the long haul. Love my accountant, do not want my personal information in the cloud. They made a choice without consulting me, so I will have to make one as well.

As for Identity theft and the cloud, considering it takes multiple years (3-4) and up to $3,000 to fight a single case of identy fraud, what an acquaintance spent and the time it took him, is it really worth the risk? Just too much risk for too little opportunity cost.

Even if they secure my data in the cloud, can I really trust all their employees, not to accidently open a hole that allows an attacker to gain acces to their cloud and start hacking the data? I know I will always use a secure connection with a VPN tunnel, with appropriate passwords and security, but will they?

I know of apps that encrypt the data on a harddrive automatically, but am unaware of any cloud apps utlizing such features...thus any data stolen would be encrypted and 'hopefully' useless should it get cracked and stolen. That would keep me with my accountant, automatic encryption on my end, before any data is transmitted. Yes I am aware of encryption weaknesses, sigh.

I would add that muni symmetrical FTTH is the ONLY viable solution for the future of any community. Don't settle for less, it can only hurt your communities economnic viability and small business job creation moving forward.

If one of your muni examples is incompetent/complacent/debt-ridden, there is an extremely good chance that the local oligarchy passed legislation to make it so. You need to do more homework as I have plenty of examples of this type of oligarchy legal pestilence.

Sadly the only way to get a "more healthy telecom environment in the USA" will be through de-regulation as in Japan, that gave Japanese consumers 100Mb/100Mb (unthrottled upstream) for $56 per month in the year 2000. The Japanese de-regulated NTT to accomplish this. A few years later, thanks to the investment in Fiber To The Home (FTTH), those same Japanese consumers could get more for less, 1Gb/1GB for $52 per month, again unthrottled upstream.

Did you know that it costs pennies for an ISP to provie 1 GB of bandwidth? To charge us more, they attempt to make it appear scarce.

Here in the USA, the oligarchy successfully changed the 1996 Telecomunications Act to the point it had no teeth, could not be enforced and is useless. The same thing is happening today at the FCC by hiring a Telecom Lobbyist to run the organization, thus net neutrality is in jeapoardy yet again. First they attack the government agencies that are responsible for enforcement, next they attack that agencies budget to prevent enforcement. This is true in every area, not just FTTH and muni Fiber.

Companies only do the right thing that costs more expensive when they are forced too. Markets are coopted to prevent market economics from having a balanced impact.

In some states, the oligarchy successfully legislated laws to prevent competition. In most states this happens after a city municpality first asks the local telco/cable ISPs to provide FTTH, of course the Oligarchy says NO. When the city goes it alone, (ie. in 100% of the cases, Chattanooga, TN) the olicarchy unsuccessively sues to prevent the roleout of FTTH. Of course if the city does not give in and stop, what the oligarchy is hoping for, the FTTH rollout goes through and those American Citizens are finally FREE. They have choices, economic activity, prosperity, unfettered bandwidth, etc... Of course after this the oligarchy pushes through law suits to prevent other cities from obtaining FTTH. In 100% of Republican and Tea Party controlled states, these laws pass successfully. Thus competition is thwarted along with the FTTH. I am not a Democrat, just stating the facts. Such was the case in Wilson, North Carolina after Greenlight built out FTTH.

In fact there are 7 states without right defacto bans on muni Fiber / FTTH and up to 19 US states with barriers, laws making it harder for communities to roll-out FTTH and muni Fiber. Most of these states passed laws after successful FTTH rollouts to one or two communities to prevent others from getting Fiber. Expect more legislation to be passed as citizens are lied to in order to get them to vote against their own best interests. They often prevent muni-fiber by preventing the best methods for the city to pay for the Fiber, its all pathetic, predictable and replicatable.

Because of the oligarchy pressure against FTTH, there are ONLY only 40 communities in the USA with Symmetrical FTTH. There is no technological reason for this, only a profit motivated reason based on the false scarcity myth.

Moral of the story, if you are not vested in a community, either a paid-off home or an extremely well paying job where you and your work are very well respected, than your best bet would be to move to one of these 40 communities.

Google may be the best Backbone provider going forward as they have been spending on Fiber and undersea cables for more than a decade! During that same period, the oligarchy, has been more interested in perpetuating the scarcity myth and charging you more...doing nothing innovated from an architecture standpoint in spite of knowing this day is coming. Don't feel sorry for them or reward their inaction in broadband. Thus a Google community might be able to avoid most of the oligarchy's interference with bandwidth.

One of the Google Communites, there are two now and will be 3 or 4 more in the future, might be your best bet for the purchase of a new home. Why a Google community, because they do not mind selling you the full pipe to your home for a monthly fee, period. In such an exchange, there is no incentive for Google to throttle or limit your upstream bandwidth to create a fake scarcity myth environment as there is with any provider that does not provide the same bandwidth upstream as downstream. It just does not happen in a true FTTH community. All Fiber is not FTTH. Do they offer the same bandwidth upstream as downstream? Why not?

Any company that rolls Fiber but not specifically FTTH, (ie. Verizon) is trying to perpetuate the same fake scarcity myth that has held American economic activity back since 1990. There really is no excuse to not do it right!

Added plus, Symmetrical FTTH costs $1.5K to $3K to put a run to your home, which you own and is sold when you sell your house down the road. The value of FTTH to the price of your home is $5K. So if you are buying a home, if there is no FTTH, subtract $5K immediately. Enough people start doing this, the real estate pros might have a few choice words for the oligarchy as well.

History in the USA has proven that the industry (telco, cable, wireless) will not regulate themselves and provide a 'healthier telcom environment', anyone who suggest such is naive, uninformed or a paid shill for the industry. Unless forced to do so, telcom, cable and wireless will NOT offer net neutrality, decent bandwidth, Fiber, etc.... Just the way it is.

When FTTH comes to a city, the oligarchy suddenly offers plans with more bandwidth, at lower prices to customers in that area ONLY, what a surprise, NOT. So obviously they have the extra capacity to do so, but only when forced to do so.

If a community is Republican or Tea Party controlled, doubt you will see FTTH any time soon. The oligarchy is simply too entrenched, anyone who doubts this truth, only needs to look at the voting records in Washington D.C. how they all vote the same way, regardless of what their constituents really want. The various corporate industries, thanks to Citizens United vs FEC and the Republican leaning Supreme Court, are extremely successful at making Republican and Tea Party politicans too fearful of being primaried for them to buck against the majority and honestly represent their constituents. The foolish constituents naively deny themselves economic viability and small business creation in the process. Its sad. Does not help that they lie to you and confuse you about FTTH issues either.

Anyone who doubts the truth of the relationship between politics and the lack of FTTH, only needs to look at the history of these roll-outs, as I have first hand, and the amount of outside money flowing into local city / county / state elections. They are most certainly related. In North Carolina, in spite of talking big against the oligarchy, went on and passed the anti muni, anti-FTTH legislation anyway. Not a surprise from the Republican controlled government of N.C.

Push your local leaders for FTTH, and watch how strongly they push back against it until you get enough people with you. Guess which party will push back the hardest.... Better yet, don't take my word for it, do it and see for yourself.

Want job creation, want small business, want innovation, FTTH is an excellent way to get it!

Having read through all the comments so far, I could not help but laugh.

The only reason for Nuclear power is weapons, period. Once you come to that conclusion, once you follow the money, its easy to understand why the plants are not being shutdown.

Nulcear power is not cheap.
If the government did not insure them, they would not get built. Depleted Uranium weapons cost millions per shell, a very profitable business.
Even if a company could justify the cost and build them, there is no way to store the radioactive waste.
How much does re-casking cost? How many reading this understand that the current casks (old nuclear waste) have a life of only 100 years, and in reality start cracking and releasing radiation after only 50 years. Have you ever looked at satellite and or pictures of planes and counted the number of casks in each state of the USA? How much does it cost to re-cask? Did you figure in this cost? For how long?
Even if you take isotopes that have a half life of 240,000 years and just focus on say Cesium 137 (massive amounts released in both Chernobyl and Fukushima) which has a half life of 30 years. It takes a minimum of 10 half lifes to get 'close' to inert (near background radiation before the disaster/spill) 10 half lifes X 30 years = 300 years. Re-casking the waste, assuming it could be contained, its not in Fukushima nor can it be, every 50 years (when it starts cracking) costs how much per cask? That's at least 6 times for Fukushima. Still think its cheaper...than you are not being realistic.
Now consider that scientists went back to Chernobyl in year 29 and measured that the levels of Cesium 137 had not dropped by half as expected. Every half life the radiation should drop by half...but in Chernobyl it has not.

If you counter that there is no radiation in the containment area, that is not a good thing. It only means that its in the ground water already. Its leaking into the ocean, its being sucked up in the trees, bushes and folliage, Cesium laden pollen, yummy, not.

A normal geiger counter does not register Cesium-137. You need a special dectector designed to register radioactive Cesium-137.
Cesium-137 gets asorbed by the heart muscle.
Baby doctors from Ohio to Pensylvania reported an increase in the holes in hearts of infants, post Fukushima.
Plants that pull up Cesium-137 laden ground waters release the pollen into the air that re-impacts areas previously cleaned.
Pine Trees on mountains high enough for the pollen to get pulled up to the upper atmosphere, not just through evaporation, have been tested and their pine cones have been found to be laden with Cesium-137.
It takes only 48 hours for anything that gets into the jet stream in Japan to find its way to North America and get rained down.
This will occur for the next 10 years, or longer until a method of containment is invented, remember it does not exist today. Nor will it exist in the next 8 years. How much water are they spraying, where are they holding it for 300+ years? Their not holding it for that long...well there you go.
Radioactive debris has already started to reach the West coast of North America.
Everything in the food chain will get its share of Cesium-137, just as some fish are high in mercury, the same rules and principals apply. Bigger feeders eat smaller feeders that eat yet smaller feeders, some of which are bottom feeders. There is no escaping Cesium-137 exposure in the future.
Heart disease was a big killer pre-Fukushima, I believe higher than Cancer, post Fukushima, tracing a connection to Cesium-137 will be impossible.

Who needs Chernobyl and Fukushima to prove its not safe, just start reading the reports from the Nuclear power industry itself on how tritium is released into American rivers...among other radioactive releases. I know not a month goes by that contamination is found in American rivers, I would suggest that its a weekly occurrence.

No political party has the desire to impact their political contributers by not only protecting the air and fresh ground water from corporate pollution, but by funding the bugets of the government agencies responsible for inspecting, policing and arresting officials of corporations that abuse our fresh water. Pick your industry, all of them could be safe, if not 100%, at least 99%, however the cost to comply would be significant. Look at Duke Energy in VA, W.VA and North Carolina with their coal ash ponds, polluting the drinking water of the creeks and rivers....
Fracking pollutes 100% of the wells those pressurized chemicals are pushed into to fracture the rock to get gas, there is absolutely no way to contain the pollutants and keep it out of your ground water.
With Nuclear power, why do you think they want to bury the waste in a Mountain, close the door and forget about it. They know they can not afford to re-cask and keep the waste safe for the long number of years required to render it inert. (Hey Chernobyl, Cesium-137 did not drop in half 30 years later...why?)
Like oil spills in the ocean, apply corexit push the waste down, out of site, out of mind. Never mind there are huge DEAD ZONEs in the Gulf of Mexico and will be for years, just flowing around in circles. The corexit that forces the oil to sink is more deadly to the food chain (and humans) than the oil and the oil ain't good.

Nuclear Power is never safe.
We already know this to be true technically based on 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.
A plant has either a 20 year, 25 year or 30 year life, after which it is no longer safe to run. In other words, if you exceed the time frame, you expose all those for 200 - 300 miles around that plant to unnecessary exposure to radioactivity. This is by design, that plant should shut down after xx years, period, end of discussion, but they are not shut down are they? Think.
After a specified period of time, the plants are suppose to be moth balled and never used again.
Very few Nuclear Power plants in the USA ever stop operating, many excuses are made to continue operation beyond their 'safe' life of 20, 25 or 30 years.
Why?

In Japan, when all the Nuclear Power plants were shut down, at first their were rotating brown outs in larger areas like Tokyo. After a month or two, those living their adapted and there was NO NEED for NUCLEAR power for electric power needs.
The industry does not want you to know you do not need them. Follow the money.

To do the same thing and expect a different result is the best definition of insane.
To pursue Nuclear power, except for weapons (depleted Uranium enriched shells), is insane.
If you operate a plant beyond its safe limits, its not a matter of if a disaster will happen, only when.
If you calculate the amount spent to build, operate, and cask the radioactive waste, its not cheaper. You only get it cheaper if you lie and play funny math.

Never underestimate the power of current power creators to prevent any new industry that will make them obsolete, follow the money.

Never assume that the government (all political parties) does not have a vested interest in the existing oligarchy.
Did you know that as of 2010, there were over 3000 secret-ized energy patents. If 10% of those patents work, alternative energy production, Americans are being denied at least 300 different alternative methods of generating electrical power.
The number of secret-ized patents came out in a court case related to energy patents and energy power generation in the USA.
If you come up with an idea, don't try to patent it, don't try to sell it, use it to get your family, friends and neighbors off the grid and put the savings into your retirement investment account. If you control your retirement investment it can not be taken away from you by those wanting the hard earned money you have worked for and earned. If you try to patent it, the government, under pressure from the energy oligarchy will shut you down, secret-ize the patent, if you ever discuss it, you will be arrested. Better not to ask for permission in the case of alternative energy advancements. Just use it and save money, invest your savings for retirement, that will be your payment for your invention.
Energy indpendance for your family would be fantastic. Food and drinking water independence allows you to weather food and water shortages and protect your hard earned retirement and investment money. Sometimes the only way to win, is not to play!

I just wish paid shills and those unwilling to do their own research would stop lying. Stop parroting, conservative talking points, that are partially or outright lies due to their own naivety. I did the homework and learned first hand. You can too!
I am fiscally conservative, however I do not believe in allowing those with a monitized agenda, redistribute wealth to either 1% or 9% of America that does not give a crapola about me and my family. Many of these paid for elected shills, don't care about voting against their family's own financial self interest...sad and evil.

Why is it that very few Americans understand that no company today, 2014, has the technology to stop the leaks in Fukushima. Nor will any company for the next 8 years minimum. If you know this, that the leak can not be stopped technologically, and say Nuclear Power is safe, your just evil.

Fresh drinking water is more valuable than any other energy fuel in existence, you just do not see it yet. Just let others continue to decrease the amount of available fresh water. Eventually the price will go up. Assuming by that time you can get fresh water.

How many hours can a person exist without water before having a heart attack and dying? I know its less than without food.

If nuclear power were outlawed, stopped, other sources for energy would be easily found...they already exist and are known. Problem is some of them can not be controlled by a corporation, charged to citizens and taxed by government.

It is that simple, follow the money! Do your own homework, stop repeating lies you, yourself have not researched.

Of course stop using any part of Java that Oracle is claiming a copyright on. Heck I thought it was 9 lines of code, now it might be 37 APIs, come on now...enough already.

If this really pisses you off, especially if you are in a decision making position for IT in your company, seriously look at mariaDB and if possible switch out Oracle's SQL database for mariaDB. If you are considering Atlassian (JIRA, Confluence, Fisheye, Crucible, Bamboo) than use MariaDB instead. The first thing they did when they wrote MariaDB is get rid of all the things wrong with MySQL.

If you are the CEO of a company, did your VP of IT even consider the savings to the company that maridb would mean vs Oracle's SQL database solution? If not, perhaps its time to find a VP of IT that will put your company first.

Do you buy stock in companies? Do they use SQL databases? Do they use Oracle? Perhaps its not the best solution. Any company that does not control its cost effectively will take a hit one day, not a matter of if, only when.

Java is a PITA for overhead anyway, ask yourself, can I accomplish my goal without Java when developing applications...you might be surprised at how much faster and customer responsive your app is if you can 86 Java.

If its the entire API and not just 9 lines of code, everyone needs to re-evaluate their use of Java in development and especially in Cloud applications. No more Service As A Dis-service (SAAD vs SAAS)!

If you are reading this, you are a developer, time to think outside the Java / Oracle box!

Good post, will add your points to a list to look at when I have more time.

Since you claim to have an open source preference, I will accept that.

I do not believe Windows is cheaper to run than Linux, period. I do believe that people think it is and this false economy is perpetuated by the FUD MS keeps in the news.

At the sites I have been involved with, when Linux scales, they have fewer IT support and Systems Administrators than much smaller Windows sites. Granted Windows salaries are often less than equivalent Linux salaries for the same job.

As a Master Console Operator on IBM mainframes, I experience first hand how they segregated the jobs, creating 'print operators' in order to lower salaries...when I started an operator did it all. So paying less by segregating jobs is nothing new, that started in the late 70s and early 80s. Same with Microsoft Windows today.

I would suggest that the only reason there are not more Linux sites in the range you specify compared to Windows is strictly because of the FUD continuously spread since the 1970s about costs. In the 70s and early 80s we were told you were 'safe' if you picked IBM. Than Novell LANs took the dominant role between PCs and mainframes. In the mid to late 80s, 90s and 00s the FUD was you were 'safe' if you picked Microsoft.

Thanks to the outright hate of Windows 8, perhaps more sites will realize that opensource can be scaled correctly and when it is, ends up being much, much cheaper than the equivalent Windows environment. It will be interesting to watch, though I doubt the FUD concerning Windows will diminish in the least.

I will apply your questions to the last place I worked, though it would be the same for most of the large sites with hardened NOCs where I have worked:

Just as a Techwriter could learn new things about WordPerfect every day for over two years back in the day... Such is the case with JIRA alone. Its that powerful of a product, a person would spend multiple years mastering every facet.

Based on the job postings I see today, not only do they expect you to be proficient in everything in their platform (no one ever is, though many lie to get the position), they want your experience to be in the last 3 years.

Never mind that your history proves you could learn. They will not train, they would rather ask for more foreign visas and wrongly state they can not find those with equivalent experience here in the United States, which in most cases is a bald faced lie.

The last site I worked at, had multiple thousands of Windows PCs (XP, Vista primarily with some Windows 7) and that was only one site of hundreds around the world. They had literally stopped patching / updating their Windows PCs, citing costs. The employees hired to do the patching were moved to other areas or let go. I spoke with one of them in the last few months and as far as they know, no patching is going on at all. The reason cited, it was cost prohibitive to patch/update. And the bandwidth used to patch was excessive, there were multiple days that the team was told to stop patching due to network problems. Of course no one wants to take responsibility for the network problems when they happen, what a cluster-****.

No I will not tell you the company name, so don't ask. Too much of professional Sys Admin to do that.

Though many of us knew this day would come, as NT started dominating the desktop over OS/2 and DOS back in the day. I am just surprised that it took this long. Without the news FUD around the Total Cost of Owership, Windows vs Linux, it would not have taken this long.

I started with DOS 2.0 and have the MS scars which is why even with over 30 years of Microsoft experience, I prefer Linux. While I like MacIntosh, the Macbook Pro is a great laptop, for my home use I will stick with zareason (Linux hardware done right) and Linux software, preferably Debian, Mint or Arch. Hey the Mac uses OS-X and even Windows 7 has more Linux-kernel-related stuff than ever. Wish they would give back to the community, they certainly use Linux heavily in their new operating systems.

If that makes me a fan boi, so be it, But MS pissed many of us off long ago, from the GPFs of the DOS/Windows days, to not honoring their committment to OS/2 (and IBM) with NT, to ignoring our settings with Windows 2000, to requiring manufactured restricted chips in hardware that requires a windows license to boot...just sick and tired of the FUD, especially when Linux on Linux hardware just works, day one of the box. Granted pre-2006 that was not always the case, as of 2008, it most certainly was the case. Its 2014, time for new FUD! Hint: Any expense you incur to switch to Linux, there is an equivalent expense to go from one Windows OS to a new Windows OS.

For me, being burned multiple times, simply has made me cynical. I would suggest that not only is Windows more expensive, any company using Windows instead of Linux for the majority of their work is wasting their share holders money. Considering the pay increases of most executive boards, even when the stock falls, doubt they really care.

If only that were true.

Used to live in Florida, not any more, its gone crazy conservative Republican / Tea Party leaning with legislation and thinking. Creating a fake crisis and giving public contracts created from the uproar, to their own businesses for personal gain for example (Gov's wife owned his testing company on paper.). As such, Business interests take priority over privacy and they will *not* close that loophole as the lobbying for the businesses that feed the those political coffers will prevent it.

Wishful thinking on your part, but alas, far from reality given the current political climate in Florida.

Full Disclosure, I am no Democrat, they abuse the system also, just at a lesser degree than Republicans and Tea Party candidates who always abuse the system for their donors benefit. Thanks to Citizens United vs FEC and their prevention of judges getting seated (at all levels, esp Federal Courts that feed into the Supreme Court), they intend for their style of cronie-ism to continue for the foreseeable future. They want only a Republican to appoint judges.

While there are many examples, one that readily comes to mind by its frequency in the news over the last few days are the tax cutting in Kansas and now Missouri. While Missouri's will not take effect for two years, obfuscating the true cause of the problem when it occurs in 2016, in Kansas, the promised new revenue from economic development did not materialize and they are running a deficit (tax revenue) of over $580M ($480M + 92M was reported on TV news...msnbc I believe, I watch CNN and Fox some too, but I believe that number came from MSNBC) up to $1.3B per this article (Kansas is on track for a nearly 1.3B tax shortfall this year, and in April we endured an unprecedented income drop of over 45%. That's right. The state economy lost 45% of its tax income.). Because of the deficit the Conservative state government (100% Rep controlled) did not fund the school system effectively. In fact it was so poorly funded that judges had to step in and order the state legislature to fund the schools. (this is still playing out and will be interesting to see what the Republicans say to the courts)

The Missouri governor is a democrat, how he got elected in a Republican dominated state would probably be interesting history, perhaps the citizens are waking up to the Republican political realities, not holding my breath.

I would not want to live in either KS, MI or MD...or for that matter any state that is lowering the standard of living by such a great degree that a normal family has to pay for the children's education up through High School. Of course this is also planned, just look at who owns the private schools and which politicans they donate money too.

Of course this is not new, has been happenning since before Pres Reagan, the difference is that the middle class that existed back in the day is gone now, thus the economic ramifications are felt almost instantaneously today.

Being a Capitalist, I fully understand that left unregulated, companies will do all the wrong things, even to their own peril. Once they exploit an area, they will simply pull those jobs to another area stupid enough to lower there standards enabling them to exploit them as well. Democrats do it too, just Republican and Tea Party do it always.

Most important, the politicians pass laws impacting small business, the only true job creators, preventing competition.

In summary, these abuses of our privacy, our standard of living, must continue until "we the people" realize we control the government, not the 1% of monied interest that control 90% of the wealth in this country. As long as we allow politicians to abuse us, promise one thing, never deliver except to their political donors, nothing will change. The majority of us are neither ultra conservative Republican (9%) nor ultra liberal Democrat (19%), the majority of us, well over 50% of the USA population, are sick and tired of both parties.

We need to stop voting in politicians that will not work together to improve our (60%+) standard of living. Monetary policy, livable wage jobs, fresh water, clean GMO free food, fresh air all come to mind with respects to our health and standard of living.

I too have tried this with text files and other methods (ie. SQL databases) only to come up way short. I know you cellphone users don't like that as anything more complex than text is going to present allot of problems for an itty bitty display surface.

With LibreOffice Writer, I can save pretty much anything, except perhaps binary blobs, instead I can 'refer' to that blob's subdirectory path within LibreOffice. By referencing other documents, even images stored elsewhere, you can keep the file size of your journal from growing larger than your journal editor can handle. Wile 'hackedit' (h.exe) would let you edit a file larger than memory, like other text editors, to not have links to content and the ability to include graphics is too limiting. For windows OS I found WordPad to be adequate as it could handle pretty large files, however ultimately too limiting.

Forget about MS Office Word, if the data format is not changed on you, there will be some quirk introduced in a later version to make it more difficult to include other content.

LibreOffice Writer works very well for saving URLs in a format that you can click on to get back to the original source. If you need the material for future reference, you should store a copy of the web content in a local directory. Down the road if your source gets deleted, you can put the saved copy on your own website and call it a 'cached copy'. At least you have the source. Not much you can not download with FireFox + the DownloadHelper Plugin.

Nothing worse than trying to back up information with sources only to have those sources disappear...biggest problem on Google's Youtube IMO. (If someone does not like what you are saying, they will say you are infringing on a copyright, Google automatically pulls the content and you are required to prove that its not infriging before you can load it back...by the time you load it back, the gain of immediacy for your content is lost, thus the value of Youtube for that is diminished.)

Some Positives . . .

Some negatives...

Backup copies of files...:
No matter what tool you use, keep lots of back up copies. I do not back up every day, instead I backup when I feel I have contributed enough work to the file that losing it would be painful to me. Remember LibreOffice Writer will automatically save the file while you are working on it, so this happens without you needing to think about it. What I am referring here are more copies of the file in case your original gets corrupted. When I feel like it I will save it based on the day of the week, today is the 28, if my file is called Journal.odt, I might save an additional copy as Journal-bak28.odt today. Over time you might end up with a file for every day of the week, but since you are not saving them every day, one might be this month another might be last month or even a few months ago. It is easy to to see the date of the file in the file list to see which one is the most current. Hint: Its not always the largest file if you have pared something out of it and put it in another file, having refrenced this other file in your original.

Backup strategy, gets data off computer and stored safely, can also be retrieved as needed:
You should have a backup strategy that you adhere to. A conversation about backing up, is way beyond the scope of this here, just regularly make backups and keep a copy offsite (in another geographical location) in case there is a disaster, rain damage, fire, etc... Now-a-days hard drives are so cheap that there is no excuse for not simply compressing your files and copying them to a hard disk. This method does not impact bandwidth caps and delays caused by backing massive amounts of data over an internet connection. Its an effective DIY solution that does not involve another monthly fee. Hate those monthly fees.

Don't use Cloud apps: need a local app and avoid reoccurring monthly fees:

Since I know others might mention some cloud application, I provide one of my biggest objections, automatic reoccurring fees; however not having an application that will open your data locally is a non starter for me. So Cloud only no, Cloud to enhance, perhaps, but even than I would want to make use of HTML5's ability to store and retrieve data without being actively connected to the Internet...Cloud apps will never allow that.

Use Ripple, Dwolla, pre-paid cards instead...

Hint to ecommerce sellers and especially SAAD providers (Software As A Dis-Service cloud providers) give me an option that does not include 1) a revolving charge (bank account, debit/credit card) and 2) my phone number/cell phone or I will NOT use your service. Hint: a pre-paid debit card, Rechargeable Gift Cards, Dwolla, WePay, Ripple.

I would like a game that does not penalize a player for having a life away from the computer.

Imagine a game where someone who logs in a few times per week, can still enjoy as much as someone who has no life and plays for 8 hours (or more) straight and you get the idea.

Also prefer games where you have a mission and are flying/driving a tank, plane and/or spaceship more than the personal shooter games. The Activision Battlezone and Wing Commander games for the PC come to mind, they were excellent! Would love to get those running on my Linux boxes, even if I had to slow down (or ignore) clock cycles to get it to run right. Loved those.

The First person shooters make me yawn.

Another valid post, a valid reaction, for some reason was modded down.

The article referenced mentions that you can purchase your own private IP address and run the VPN tunnel from it, since no one else can register that IP address with Hulu, it will work with a VPN tunnel from your home.

Granted we should not have to do this, way to blow it entertainment industry through Hulu, a huge fail!

Someone mod this one back up, as a valid response to this type of stupid FUD is to cancel the service and take your money elsewhere.

As others have mentioned, a good use of 'the cloud' to constantly change an IP address to obsfucate and anonymize, which of course the advertising industry does not want.

Why was this modded down, unless some shill does not want others to know how to do it, perhaps?

Seems that if you 'mask' the VPN IP Address, as 'your IP address', while it would no longer be anonymous, your VPN should not get flagged as being either a service or from a foreign country.