I wish I had said that.

Thank you.

99 percent of the time, I'm running OS X. But, I do keep a dual boot (OS X / Linux) Mac Mini handy for the odd cases where a particular program happens to only be available for Linux, or if I experience strange behavior from an application hosted on OS X.

For example, I was getting system crashes after upgrading my Macbook Pro (mid 2009 model) to Yosemite, and running Arduino IDE. Attempts to upload sketches to the target Arduino would make the entire operating system crash. Very dramatic. Thankfully, this problem hasn't appeared when using my new iMac.

I was a hard-core Linux desktop user for over a decade. Still do a lot with that operating system on the server side. But, as soon as I could afford to do so, I bought a Mac. I love not spending unscheduled time fiddling with the operating system when I have serious deadlines to hit.

Recently I bought a Lenovo Yoga 2 for a very rare bit of Windows IE testing for a web app. As soon as that activity concluded, I ditched Windows 8. Linux Mint is a delight to use on it.

Following up about the Dell At-Home Service ... So, Dell will send out a human to attend to any problem with their computers? I'm assuming the customer will first be walked through a diagnostic trouble-shooting session over the telephone. Given that most of their computers are running Windows, this means that Dell receive a lot of "my computer is running sluggishly" technical support calls from oldsters. How can Dell afford to offer house calls for this common scenario?

The gaping lack of examples in Marco's blog post has me scratching my head. I'm curious what exactly has ticked this guy off to the extent that he uses the term "nose dive" to describe the software quality.

All of us power users of computers, no matter the operating system, will have a list of gotchas that we've encountered. I've got a very short list of squawks, nothing approaching serious, for Yosemite. I spend my days cranking out software on a Mac. This includes building apps in Xcode and Eclipse (for Android). Also includes running various apps for database management and image generation (Photoshop). I simply have not encountered anything awful. And I have a low threshold for pain.

That said, I count myself among the users of Apple computers who are ever fearful of what the company will become now that Jobs is gone. So far, I'm delighted with Yosemite.

From the previews that I saw earlier this year, it was obviously intended to appeal to high school and fraternity boys. So, it'll have one good weekend at the box office. Then unkind word of mouth will spread

A vague question posted to Slashdot isn't a _strong_ indication of anything other than perhaps being new to Slashdot. No doubt, more details will garner better responses. But, there's no reason to be harsh.

I suggest heading to a large city where there is more competition for IT professionals. In those cities, non-profit organizations have a difficult time competing for talent. You would likely have a better opportunity to resume your IT career in that sector. Then, once you have some stable years behind you working in IT, you can merge back into the general marketplace. Another good suggestion mentioned by another commenter is picking up jobs via Craigslist. Many of my own projects have been gained via that avenue. Good luck to you.

Tons of online books and tutorials. See https://wiki.python.org/moin/P... . Python is my go-to language for just getting stuff done. I use it for damn near everything these days, except mobile apps, which I code natively.

I'd appreciate hearing from Google employees about their impressions of Mr. Armstrong while he was an executive at Google. Is this a case of a competent upper level executive proving themselves too flawed to run a company as CEO?

At this point, I see little evidence that the U.S. citizenry has perceived the clues that are very obvious: free-market religion is destroying their country. Which also happens to be my country, alas.

Once we have universal healthcare provided by our government, this problem goes away. Perhaps in my children's lifetime.

Before jumping into iOS development in a very big way, I stuck a toe in the OSX waters by converting my old Toshiba notebook into a Hackintosh. It's been a few years. As I recall, it worked pretty well; but, would sometimes crash at inconvenient moments. My primary computer is now a three-year-old Macbook Pro. There are enough used Macs on the market to make Hackintosh less useful.

I briefly worked for a small grocery chain a few years ago in Bellingham, WA. IT personnel were of a much lower caste. Never mind that the whole operation would have almost immediately ceased to function if the technology folks took a walk en masse. Grocery operations culture placed a very large value on antiquated rituals, rather than useful new industry approaches. I recall how the clueless CEO and his direct reports would gather every few days in the BIG MEETING ROOM to strategize about next week's coupons -- coupons printed in the junk mail flyers that most folks probably just tossed directly into the recycle bin.

From a slide that promotes MarkLogic's appropriateness for the health exchange's particular set of challenges:

• - Highly complex data in many formats that change often and have varying quality
• - Massive amounts of data at high velocity; highly transactional
• - Highly structured data, but multiple and changing schemas

See: http://assets1.csc.com/innovation/downloads/LEFBriefing_MarkLogic_031512.pdf (slide 23)

My two cents:

• When faced with a very complicated software project, use what's been proved to work.
• Why would the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) dictate this particular less common technology? Very strange.