Yeah s/he/it lives in a rural area and none of the ISPs want to run cable or fiber out to so s/he/it is stuck with dial-up. S/He/It considered satellite but it just ended up being too expensive and had too much latency. So in the end, when s/he/it does dial in he has to talk to the first person s/he/it connects to and a lot of times they end up being whack jobs.

I realize that, I just think it's sketchy for the company to have sat on the the suit for so long and just so happen to file it after Windows 8 and WP8 were released.

Like I said in my previous post if MS violated their patent then some kind of penalty should be applied, but that doesn't make the timing of the suit any less suspect. From an outsider's view it seems like SurfCast sat on the patent and suit until they thought they'd be able to extract the maximum amount of cash.

I would think that a company that actually cared about its patent/product, and isn't just trolling, would file suit or some other sort of defense soon after it discovered the infringing product.

That's the way I see this, WP7 has been out for quite a bit and only now they are filing the suit?

If MS violated the patent than SurfCast should certainly get some money out of them, but if I was the judge I'd have some questions as to why they filed now and not when the tile interface was first released in WP7.

I know next to nothing about court procedures or trials so I'm not even sure if that's within the judge's purview though.

I went to a catholic high school and that was my sophomore or junior year of religion class. We learned all about different religions and philosophies (Shintoism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam...Christianity wasn't included because that's for the other 3 years of school). It was also one of the classes I remember the most and really set me on my path to agnosticism. I think a comparative religion class would be a great class to include in most school curricula.

This... The WP8 OS itself, from most perspectives, looks pretty good. The lack of apps is a large detriment though, plus it's probably getting harder and harder to get people to switch from a platform they have become increasingly invested in over the years of using it. Who wants to have to repurchase apps for a new OS (if they are even available)?

Between this and the shunning WP8 and WP7 phones seem to get from most cell stores (from my limited experience) they'll probably keep the few people, like me, who are slightly invested in the WP environment or those that are platform agnostic, have no or only a minor investment in another OS, and are looking for something different.

Living in AZ I've seen some of the things you mention.

Mormons do seem a bit more cliquey than some of the other religions though. When I first moved into my neighborhood I had a few of the Mormon neighbors come over and talk to me on a somewhat regular basis. As they got to know me and eventually find out I'm agnostic, and would not be converting, they stopped talking to me, not slowly one by one but all at once. This being my first dealings with any Mormons I was kind of taken aback.

One of the guys I work with, and is married to a Mormon but isn't Mormon himself, confirmed that's generally how it is and that they are a very tight knit group.

This is just a single anecdote from my limited experience so take it with a grain of salt.

I would say that should be obvious to most people, but time and time again it does not seem to be the case.

Sadly, those honest opinions are what some consider blasphemy or disrespect.

I don't use the tethering and the guy who sits in the desk next to me, whom also has an HTC Trophy, doesn't use it either. So no, we are not currently enjoying that feature, but at least it's offered.

Stubbornness and the ability to cling to your ideas/ideals in the face of overwhelming evidence/facts is seen as a good thing these days.

God forbid anyone be able to actually consider alternatives based on presented evidence/facts and change a stance on an issue, you'd be known as a flip-flopper!

That makes the whole thing even more ridiculous, they aren't even consistent about the screening.

When I was traveling with my infant daughter on the way to our destination all of her food (those little pouches of baby food) and breast milk my wife had put into bottles had to be tested on the way back nothing was tested, even though we took it out and put it in plain view for the agents to see. During another trip it wasn't tested in either direction.

None of this should be done in the first place, but jeez if you're going to do it at all at least be consistent. Just goes to show the whole thing is a total crock.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.