I happen to work as a field engineer for one of the bigger companies that is funding this project. I work pretty closely with our product management and software development group. There are massive network virtualization projects going on now with a couple of Tier 1 Carriers and Hosting companies. There are probably more projects that I'm unaware of. The Carriers and Hosting Companies aren't looking for new standards, they are just tired of buying a $20k - $150k router that can only ever be a router. That is a large capex risk that you can't recoup if you don't need it after a year or two. A x86 platform on the other hand is very low risk as it is the swiss army knife of data center expenditures. If you can place almost everything on x86 gear then your expense risk is pretty much nill.

We all know that there is a reason ASICs have always been used for TCP/IP processing and not x86 procs. Up until about a year ago that fact still held true. That was until Intel developed a cool little piece of code called DPDK. Seriously, look into it if you want to know why x86 might actually be OK for simple L3/4 IP/TCP tasks such as routing/firewall/vpn etc. I know that today you can push 40gbps line speed L3 operations on COTS hardware on a single proc (8 cores) in a server. To buy a router today that can do the same will cost you around $25 - $30k. Switching operations that still require low latency and high port density will still need to be done on dedicated switches, but anything requiring brute horsepower for L3 forwarding at high throughput (not the same as latency) will be able to be done in virtual appliances now.

While we are still a few years away from mass market enterprise virtual router/firewall parity to hardware, we will make it there. The is a boatload of money to be made any time there is a huge market disruption. There are only three companies that don't want this kind of disruption, namely Cisco, Juniper, and Huawei. Every other networking vendor is watering at the mouth at the very thought that they could steal money and market share from those three. There are huge amounts of money and talent working on this (Intel, VMWare, Red Hat, HP, Brocade, and many more). I know for a fact that Intel is going to invest massively in networking over the next few years. Sit tight and watch John Chambers writhe in his comfy leather chair. It's gonna be fun watching that company go the way of Blackberry.

Shell is European. Yes they probably committed fraud in one form or another. Unfortunately, it is the fraud of your elected officials that is to blame for your overall problems right now in regards to your economy tanking. In classic political fashion they are blaming some foreign entity for your problems (all countries suffer from this sort of scapegoat shaming, not just Argentina).

Here is a historical breakdown of why Argentina is where it is (summary: it has absolutely nothing to do with Shell):

- Starting with Nestor Kirchner (Christina Kirchner's husband), there were a ton of social programs started that basically bankrupted the already bankrupt country

- In order to keep funding said programs, Argentina decides it doesn't want to pay it's foreign debts anymore, especially to the US. Argentina claimed that they had already paid back well beyond the original loan amounts. Simply put, they didn't like the terms of the loans and decided to threaten defaulting. The IMF threatened to put them on credit blacklist which drove their borrowing interest rates up even higher. In the end they restructured their debt, but like all spending problems, it is never the math that causes massive debt, but behavior.

- Fast forward to about a year or two ago. Christina Kirchner keeps spending on social programs with no way to pay for them and is facing massive devaluation of the Argentine Peso. Investors and individuals start buying up dollars and euros before the peso collapses. Kirchner bans the exchange of foreign currencies in Argentina.

-Fast foward to a couple of weeks ago. Argentine economists fear a massive bubble is building over the artificially propped up peso and convince Kirchner and politicians to open up foreign exchanges before the bubble gets so big that its collapse will crater the country like it did in 2001. You can read more about that incident's culmination here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

- As a result of foreign exchanges opening up the bubble pops and the peso loses 15% of its value in less than 12 hours.

-Foreign companies that operate in dollars or euros have to raise prices. Commodities tied to dollars or euros are always the first to rise. Oil is probably the most exposed to this as all Oil selling countries have to sell Oil in dollars.

-After a week of rapid inflation, Shell raises it's prices, and...drumroll...SO DO ALL OTHER GAS STATIONS TIED TO IMPORTED OIL.

It bothers me that people are always so quick to crucify companies (in this case oil companies) just because it is the popular thing to do. Those dirtbag Politicians in Argentina are no different than the dirtbag politicians we have here in the US. Their arguments consist of blaming anyone but themselves for domestic policy disasters. Just like Bush blamed Terrorists, Obama blamed Bush, and whoever comes next will blame Obama. Down there, they just say "Those damned European/American money grubbing corporations are doing this to us!" Sadly, like here in the US, the people there buy it hook line and sinker.

Sources - Reading the news, living in Argentina for a few years (2003 - 2005), and having a basic understanding of macro economics and currency valuations.

I agree completely. I used to buy used games, and I still don't buy them right when they are released. To me, the majority of used game buyers fall into two categories: Those who simply can't afford a $50 game, and those who can afford it but are only casual gamers that don't HAVE to have it and can go without if the price isn't right. In either case, eliminating the used game market wouldn't do much to boost sales, as both groups simply wouldn't make the purchase. I guess that leaves only one option left for our beloved game companies, copy the healthcare law and force people to buy games even if they don't want them!

It's not that the programs are bad, it's that they are run incredibly inefficiently. I am a member of the US Army Reserve in a Brigade level unit. Whenever we buy a computer from Dell, we get a brand new monitor too. That is how the contract is set up. What if we don't need a new monitor you say? We get one anyway. We have a little over 20 brand new 22" lcd monitors in our supply cage collecting dust. It's retarded shit like that that the government wastes it's money on without enough sensible/responsible people having the authority to say "hey! that's fucking retarded, why are we spending money on that!?" Oh and another example, my last unit got a new Mobile Storage Container Lift (think Giant Wheeled Crane). The thing cost us a little over $3 Million. We had 3 fucking containers. Again, the problem isn't the program, its the inefficiencies in the program.

Que the current T-Mobile My Touch 4G commercial... Hipster: What's that on your back? Loser: Oh, it's my AT&T wireless contract, but say..what do YOU have on YOUR back? Hipster: Oh, um....(looks slightly embarrassed), I see what you mean...