Who says that's "trouble?" That's exactly what those who release their code uder the BSD license choose to allow. The BSD code is wholly free. Its derivatives may or may not be. There's no stealing/pilfering going on -- those making the derivatives have permission to close off their versions of the work.

There are good car analogies?

I don't think it's working.

That's a silly, silly bet. Wine has made amazing strides, in particular when it comes to certain popular applications, but it can only run so many apps, and most of them with some glitches or incompatibilities.

Windows 7 will run virtually everything that runs properly on Vista. Most Windows software ran on Vista on Day 1. And for what didn't, or for what didn't work properly - virtually any software that's still being maintained has been updated so that it will. Compatibility bugfixes to Vista helped some software that's not under continued development too.

Vista introduced certain incompatibilities, and I'm sure Windows 7 will too -- but there's just no way Wine can hope to run as much Windows software as -any- currentish version of Windows does.

Are you reading the Kent County Daily Times? I used to be the editor (mid-2006 to mid-2007). I know the paper is continuing to struggle and has cut back some under its new ownership. It needs more people like you.

To the GP - Yes, papers that deliver real news no one else is providing are more -valuable- to the reader, but they're also more expensive to produce. Staff costs money. That's why the people in the expensive suits are making what appear from the outside to be boneheaded decisions about what to cut. They've got two options: Lay out a lot of cash and produce a quality product, hoping the readers and advertisers will reward you for your efforts; or cut costs to slow the bleeding while getting pummeled by readers' and advertisers' shift away from print, a failing auto industry (among the biggest advertisers papers have ever had), and a general economic downturn. The dirty little secret is that in most instances, both business plans will fail.

Small community newspapers have a shot of surviving, but I fear not dailies like the Kent County Daily Times. There's just too much overhead involved in producing a daily paper. But well-done community weeklies have a shot. They're cheap to produce, can pack a lot of information into an issue, can deliver an explicitly local audience to their advertisers, and aren't as vulnerable to the Internet because immediacy was never their big selling point anyway. Twice-a-weekers like the Warwick Beacon also could do well (and John Howell, the owner/editor, is a smart enough business man to keep his papers afloat for some time, even in this climate).

I can't stand Bush and think his presidency has been among the most dangerous in modern history, but there's no credible evidence he "let" 9/11" happen. There's evidence he treated the threat too lightly, but no real reason to believe he had specific knowledge of what would happen and chose to look the other way. What not-so-credible evidence has been presented by conspiracy theorists has been debunked to high heaven.

Hate him on the indisputable merits. It's easier.

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

Some of us wash our opinions very carefully, and even use moisturized baby wipes when available.