As much as everybody hates DMCA takedown notices around here, it seems like that would be the proper avenue for this sort of thing. It's certainly not an abuse of the DMCA in this case. Apple would likely respond relatively quickly so they don't lose their safe harbor.

I think that's exactly the point he was trying to make when he said "It's absurd to expect ordinary members of the public to think about what they're allowed to do [with CDs, digital downloads, etc]... and then ask themselves whether it's legal or not.". Because downloading music became so easy and so anonymous so quickly, it entered into the ordinary workflow of people's lives and users that download are so numerous that the chances of any one of them getting caught are infinitesimal at best. Geeks get really up in arms about it and so does the recording industry, but in between are hundreds of millions if not billions of people who genuinely don't care about the politics of it beyond "Is what I'm doing illegal and can I get caught easily?". I hate to break it to the recording industry, but the number of people who are acclimated to downloading music—legally or otherwise—is increasing rapidly, and the number of people who prefer to physically walk into a music store or best buy/walmart/whatever to buy a CD is dwindling fast.

That's actually a really good point, but I don't think most people think of it that way. The airlines have now trained customers to think that they're paying for the privilege of not having to schlep their luggage onto the plane, not for the extra weight it will add to the airplane.

If you completely disregard the value of social skills, you're not very intelligent. That's what I said and I stand by it. Disregarding the value of social interactions and the value of being able to navigate those interactions effectively and the value of being likable is a stupid thing to do. Intelligence is but one part of what makes you successful, yeah, but understanding what will make you successful is part of being intelligent.

Then, in the end, they're not that intelligent are they? I was picked on a lot in school, 'cause if I'm being perfectly honest here I am a huuuuge nerd. There's just no point in denying that when I'm here, posting this comment on Slashdot. The difference came when about halfway through high school I found out that a couple of people I'd written off as total douchebags were actually very smart, and their behaviour was largely a social ruse. I figured I could do the same.

Also, one thing that seriously helped was going to college all the way across the country from where I went to high school. Nobody I met in my first year at college knew I was a huge nerd in high school so they didn't treat me like one, then by the time I had to retreat into myself more because of my heavy computer science courseload, I already had a nice circle of friends going. I'm not saying the transition is easy but it is possible if you have made the decision to see yourself differently, and thus have everyone else perceive you differently. Things like Asberger's make it a lot harder but not impossible.

American Science and Surplus (http://www.sciplus.com/) in Chicago just needs to be mentioned here. That place is magical.

That's a good start and all, but we need good musicians to speak out too.

I'm amish, you insensitive clod!!!

Seriously though, that's just about the most eloquent way I've heard it being put. I didn't have mod points so I decided to go with the above comment instead. Enjoy.

Why not force an upgrade to IE7 or 8 and separate the ActiveX functionality into a plugin IT personnel at companies that depend on that functionality can install. That way ordinary users who don't have the plugin installed don't have the security headaches ActiveX implies, and companies get to keep their ancient software.

That extinction level event was just as probable a thousand years ago and it didn't happen. This is the flaw in the "it's not a matter of if, but when" thing, because there's a certain probability of it happening tomorrow and there's another probability of the human race dying out in some other way—like as a result of global warming or resource depletion here at home—long before something like that happens. I'd rather my tax money be spent sending robots to do all the interplanetary exploration until it's cheap and safe enough to send humans instead. While I'm on the subject: RIP, Spirit!

Are you really arguing against orbital solar by saying there's more clouds in space?

This is something I've never really understood. What is the rationale, if any, for making it so that the web browser updates the system? If you uninstall IE, can you still update your system?

The problem wasn't that a browser is really important and everyone needs one; the problem was that Microsoft had integrated their browser into the operating system in such a way that the operating system itself could not work without it, effectively making it impossible to uninstall it even if the user preferred another browser. Part of what makes other browsers more secure than IE de facto is that they don't have their tentacles as deep into the system as IE does. I'm sure someone will shoot back that it's not true, but really if you have a browser that's able to change system settings like IE can without asking for a password first, you're doing it wrong.

Nobody's really proposing that windows ship without a web browser; I think the current idea is to force them to give users a choice of web browser when they install it.