Oh we are stuck to Windows for sure. Our main web-based application (that simply glosses up the mainframe app because the daily data entries dumps over at midnight each night) is IE8-only. Some outside folks have used it with IE10 and it failed. Add in custom Word scripts that have carried up from Word 95 and I think you can kiss Libre Office or any other competitors.

And don't get me started that we are still tied to BlackBerry...

Let me give you a sad glimpse into my corporate world.

Cash-strapped organization of about 1700 employees. 2009-era Dell desktops and laptops. Windows XP, Office 2003, IE 8, homerolled mainframe applications from 1970s and 1980s mixed with Access databases, homerolled mainframe feeds Oracle financial backend.

IT has been "testing" Win 7/Office 2010 but STILL with IE 8 for over 1 year. "Should" roll it out organization wide in calendar 2014 replacing all machines with Dell laptops.

The cost of machines is NOT non-trivial in my world, at least to the bean counters. They feel like they cannot drag feet any longer on getting off XP.

Well.... that escalated quickly!

I pretty much agree. I had my bill handy so I checked how many kWh out of curiosity, but what really can I do about it? We minimize usage as we can, but at $0.138160/kWh with no competitor, what am I really going to do about it? And sure as shit the price "must" be raised, according to said monopoly, every year no matter what. What am I really going to do about it? Like it or not, most of us are just cogs in the machine.

Our home used 654 kWh in October in the upper Midwest. We ran the heat some but it's a boiler system fed by gas. Same with the water heater. We have an electric clothes dryer so I assume that is our main consumption device.

Assuming their telemetry system is limited and that "safe = slow = low prices". That isn't always the case!! Slow may very well = dangerous in many occurrences.

In my little rear-end of the US Government (agency of less than 1500 employees) we have been on BlackBerry since 2003. Moving to iPhone over the course of this year with the troubled waters of BB. I won't shed a tear. Our IT folks have stuck with BB 7 devices and the attachment handling stinks, web browsing is horrible, and I hate the keypads versus touchscreen keypads.

Damn right! Their overreach of powers can try and pry the trans fat from my cold, dead arteries!!!


Seriously.... Dept. of Health & Human Services: please try, I am mere seconds from a heart attack.

Everyone is flaming this poster for using "bias" but I think perhaps it's just a case of the wrong term. I think OP perhaps meant SENSATIONALISM. The "Beeb" and all news these days rely on sensationalism to jazz up stories.

"Bullet" is more sensational than "tag", "projectile", etc. I want to read about a "GPS Bullet" story far more than a "GPS Tag" story!

I wonder how Elop can sleep at night for getting $25mil to tank a company.

But I suppose it isn't too hard on a pillow made of 250,000 Benjamins

But he's BROWN, which is close enough for most of the US' security apparatus, isn't it?

So far in this thread, you are the only one who - I think - has hit the nail on the head. It's all about employee lock-in.

The "free" shuttle buses, laundry, meals, etc etc etc has one goal: KEEP YOU WORKING. If you don't need to maneuver your own transport? You can work more. If you don't need to cook? You can work more. If you don't need to wash your own clothes? You can work more.

A colleague of mine has a daughter hired by a Bay tech company right out of college. He was humble-bragging that she gets all of these "benefits" plus a low six figure salary at 22 years old. But to me, it's a bit of a sucker bet because the goal of these "benefits" is to have you work as much as possible.

Spot on. My prices were on the generous side!!

Well if it was still within the .gov domain it would still fall under all NARA and other legal requirements to archive. It's when Gov officials use commercial services, like DickyC@evilempire.com to control the Bush Administration that I have a problem!

**facepalm** My above post should have read minister@"domain".com and "ministersname"@"domain".com

Setting aside the ridiculous $1M issue, the accounts are called secret, but aren't they simply PRIVATE? That is, they aren't publicly distributed and shared widely, but they aren't "secret" since multiple parties obviously know that they exist. Even my low-budget church has a "Minister@.com" address for the public and a private @.com.