http://www.macosforge.org/

Have you ever used OS X?

And what does Apple "sound like"? Please enlighten us.

Aren't there shellshock patches available for the non-GPL 3'd versions of bash?

Because it runs on both the JVM and JS VM and is, for all intents and purposes, a dramatically improved version of Java.

http://ceylon-lang.org/

Slightly offtopic but Ceylon will run on top of the JavaScript runtime, so this an alternative to Dart.

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.