What's worse is that the mother's maiden name question doesn't work:

1) If your mother divorced your father and took her maiden name.
2) If you're relatively young and your mother lives in Quebec, where women are now required to keep their maiden names.

My old password was automatically generated and not used on any other site, and I generated a new password also not used on any other site.

If you're a Java developer who's frustrated at the fact that Java is aging badly you should really give Ceylon a try.

First of all, it's designed with Java's strengths in mind but addresses its weaknesses.

It's designed to be readable, unlike some other newer JVM languages, so a large team of developers can work on its codebase.
It has a module system that Jigsaw was supposed to be 5 years ago.
It supports first class functions and higher order functions.
Unlike Java, variables are defaulted immutable and methods/classes are "private" by default.
Null is not a primitive type, therefore NullPointerExceptions are virtually non-existent as Optional is a first-class construct in the language.
Generics are reified and covariance and contravariance are supported in a much more coherent way than Java.
Ceylon also supports union and intersection types as well as type aliases, saving much of the boilerplate involved in simple subtyping.
The Eclipse IDE plugin is excellent and for all intents and purposes, production ready.

Check it out at: http://ceylon-lang.org

I know you've gone on record supporting closures in Java and have apparently supported them for a very long time.

I apologize then for being unfamiliar with the history behind Java closures, as it is badly documented on the internet (or my Google-Fu is weak, I don't know which).

So why do you think Java didn't originally have closures, why weren't they added instead of anonymous inner classes in Java 1.1, and what were the other roadblocks to Sun adding closures in the past.

FIrst of all, non sequitur. My question was what makes Apple different from every other patent holder? You didn't answer that question.

Second of all, what makes Apple a "once-creative company" that "wants to be a twisted old"?

Is there a problem with Apple's business model? If so, please enlighten me, because for a company to be #1 in market cap, they must be doing something right?

Has Apple stopped creating new products? The iPad came out in 2010, so I'd say the answer is no.

Does Apple have a great, modern technology stack? Among other things, considering that they maintain their own open source C-compiler tools, and they have by far the best consumer desktop operating system, I'd say the answer is yes.

So how is Apple declining? Because you feel their attempts to assert software patents supposedly mask an insecurity about their ability to innovate? Please.

Or they could, you know, innovate, like Microsoft did with the Surface and RIM did with Blackberry 10.

Samsung is a blatant copying machine.

Blame the broken software patent system. Remember, Samsung, Motorola Mobility, Microsoft, etc, are also suing prolifically with mobile patent suits.

Apple (like the other companies mentioned above), is only acting in the interests of their shareholders. That's their legal obligation as a publicly traded corporation.

Fix the software patent laws (or eliminate them altogether) and the problem goes away.

Shouldn't have fed the trolls.

Ad hominem and non sequitur.

"A really shiny Best Buy?" You're kidding, right?

This is a company that makes consumer electronics and computers. It built and maintains two operating systems, including its own browsers, email clients, etc. It contributes to a number of open source projects, and maintains its own C compiler toolchain (which it also open sourced), an IDE. It also maintains a relationship with a certified team of developers, and maintains an ecosystem of online content, including music, movies, books, etc.

Oh yeah, and it also has retail stores, which have by far the best consumer experience of any electronics store.

I can't believe this got modded up +5.

Why would Apple alienate their professional customers, including developers? They're the ones who, along with graphic artists, movie editors, radiologists, etc, who pay top dollar for the most expensive Macs?

If developers can't install Apps like Eclipse, Mac Ports, various command-line tools, etc, then they'll switch platforms. Apple can't afford to lose those sales.

Besides, many game developers don't distribute on the Mac App Store, including EA and Blizzard (and Steam still runs separate from the App Store), not to mention Microsoft and Adobe. Just how can Apple afford to lose Office and Photoshop, among other high profile non-App Store apps?

It doesn't matter if there are more devices running Android because Apple is more profitable than any of them.

Also, Apple sells more iPhones than each of the Android licensees.

Comparing an operating system (Android) to a company (Apple) is really disingenuous.

All those Java developers who brought their MacBook Pros to JavaOne, between 1/4 and 1/3 of them depending on who you talk to, probably disagree with you.