Eehm isn't the password the encryption key? So what protection is still benefiting the people with half a brain?

Not trolling, just curious what I'm missing here...

You don't live in Europe do you?

Because here it was almost impossible to find a bar or a club that banned smoking before government regulation kicked in. Restaurants sometimes had a token smoke free area that was 2 meters away from the smoking section, which would not help one iota. I am very happy that the ban came, because now I don't stink after a meal or a night out.

You don't think the amount you ingest of a chemical substance would matter?

You should remember that phrase about toxicity: There are no toxic substances only toxic amounts.

We just have too many people fiddling with IT not to have these discussions.

Imagine we were comparing different brands of hammers. Nobody would care much about the way the hammer was designed and engineered as long as it works well enough and doesn't break at an awkward moment (or preferably at all). The only people who would care about this would be people who design and build tools. Everybody else would just bang nails.

Not to add the fact that I suspect having a number wheels that can turn would be a definite plus...

I think this is another case where the media turn something that might be good: increased understanding of how obesity works, into something bad: telling obese people that they have no control over their behaviour, fueling the "it's no my fault, I have a serious illness" justification for doing nothing to help themselves.

Except if they actually saw you put something in the bag that's not yours in which case they can arrest you/detain you till the police arrives (depends on the law in your country)...

I stand corrected, I am not really up to speed on the subject of the virality of the GPL. I just wanted to use an example that would appeal to Slashdot readers.

This has nothing to do with Apple, if you want to know about the US of A's imperialistic agenda, learn about Export Controls and how they use them to control companies and customers outside their normal jurisdiction. The viral nature of the GPL is kids play compared to this.

So the poll poster was trying to stir up a discussion on cherishing your genitals?

Man, you have issues... What's with the nonpixelated women? Don't you have a proper screen in your basement? And you call yourself a nerd?

Thinking about who you were insulting with that last statement made my head hurt. Then again, they both deserve it so it's probably moot.

Yes, or like those pesky phone companies whose capacity on the switchboards could nowhere near handle all their customers picking up their phone and making a call at the same time.

You may not like it but if you want an internet connection that's not overbooked you definitely wouldn't like the price. You can get a 20Mb DSL line here for about 25. Guess what that price would be without overbooking?

Overbooking is a way for the ISP's to provide a service at a decent price by planning for average usage. The system keeps itself in check: If they overbook too much they'll lose customers to ISP's with better service, if they don't their competitors will steal their customers with lower prices.

One of the points that I hardly ever see in these discussions is how some of the p2p protocols seem hell bent on squeezing out the last ounce of performance, never mind that it chokes up routers and screws with everybody else's connection.

There's another side to this argument: In some countries discrimination on the basis of sexuality is illegal. In The Netherlands Microsoft could and probably would be proscecuted for banning someone because he/she is homosexual.