Glad to hear someone's working on this...

sounds horrible...
don't you just end up with a hodge-podge of functionality, with no unity to the whole at the end?

I'm a CS student at ODU (virginia, US) and we have (almost) exactly this as our "capstone" CS course. It's two semesters: the first is software specs, development timeline, funding, that sort of thing; and the second is a kind of semi-implementation. As far as I know, the implementation is done by the same group of students though.

I can see a benefit of a different group doing the implementation, though - when using someone else's specs, it makes you aware of deficiencies in communication, both in the to-be-impemented specs and your personally written ones.

I have to say that I'm not really looking forward to this class. I probably won't be that interested in the group project, and the whole focus seems to be business-oriented... and while I want to develop software (that I'm interested in), I don't want to deal with the business end so much. Yes, INB4 comments about my naivety and such, but what is your advice on what I should try to get out of (focus on) in this dream-class of yours?

If you did some research, you'd find at least a couple of alternatives (not saying you don't have any in mind). Unfortunately, they kinda break the current corporate/global system...

I whole-heartedly concur. I have an imac as my desktop, basically so it's reliable and I don't have to mess with it, and run linux mint on an asus netbook. I run linux because a) I'm a CS student, and running *nix is a valuable educational experience, and b) it was a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a macbook when I began to need a laptop. After a year or two of experience, I think I would feel comfortable switching to a linux distro on the desktop, and I would have the ability to do that with minimal hassle.

However, that's the main difference between most ./ 'ers and the average mac user. If all apple products became locked down like the iphone/ipad, a disgruntled average user would be a lot more *locked* into just having to deal with it, because of the hassle/cost involved in the move to a different OS and/or hardware. Just because it's a viable option for hybrid mac/linux users doesn't mean that Apple won't switch to this type of software/hardware model out of fear that there will be a sudden mass exodus from OSX.

http://thinkorthwim.com/2010/02/12/mathematical-porn

if you take the time to watch till the end, its worth your while....

Fraud IS a felony... and *that's* why it's different than 'blatant theft'. I'm wondering the same thing OP.

When I "steal" digital music (and get caught) I too must pay a hefty fine... with no jail time. Why should Dell be treated differently?

>>can we get a public vetting vote?

In a day and age where almost everyone forms their opinion based on PR, media spin, and un-verified internet article claims, this idea sounds just as ridiculous.

C'mon, a platform of "Change"? Really, that's a political platform? (and I'm NOT particularly anti-Obama)

How did this get modded to 'Insightful'?

Most people don't understand Luddite-type choices. We (Americans at least) live in a culture with an emphasis on automative (er...sic) technology to "make life easier". And while the argument is often made that the omnipresent devices and inventions that make our lives easier are time-saving technologies that allow us to trade work for more free time to spend on family-and-friends/leisure activities, I feel that they mostly just allow us to live in a kind of 'automatic pilot'. By this I mean that "the hard way", which often takes longer and requires more of our attention or labor, forces us into making deliberate and conscious decisions about the hows and whys of our activities. I value this 'deliberateness' because it makes me live in the present moment, fully aware.

For example, I have been riding a bicycle (also fixed...but that's neither here nor there) 9 miles to school daily, and around town with trips of similar distance for a couple of years now, and yet still have friends that know it's my personal choice try to pick me up and give me rides. Sometimes when the bike transporation comes up in conversation I feel like I have to tell people that I DO own a car, I just choose to ride the bike, and not solely or even primarily for monetary reasons. What it comes down to for me is that my lifestyle and feel form my personal world/community context have been fundamentally transformed by this discipline. When I ride I am much more aware of the area I'm traversing, the people I'm passing, the energy it takes to get me from here to there. (which has really changed my relationship to food.) And when I do drive, it's not an automatic activity that I take for granted. Instead I'm aware of the costs, environmentally, monetarily, and otherwise, that I almost never thought about when I drove as my primary means of transportation.

This is just one example, but if you try something similar - taking the hard way instead of the easier technology-assisted way - I believe this aspect of 'deliberateness' will become very apparent.

(and yeah, I understand a bicycle is a piece of technology.)