Only 1 of my 3 computers has a working optical drive in any case.

Live CDs now make use of a quirk in the ISO format to allow writable partitions on a 'burnt' USB key, if I'm not mistaken.

People still use flashdisks, with 'the cloud' and 2TB USB3 drives? :-)

Migrate to Geany.

It's a GTK+ text editor that works on both Linux and Windows and has a configurable toolbar.

otoh, Hacker News has a pro-MS anti-FOSS slant.

I got savagely downvoted there by suggesting you *should* look a gift horse in the mouth when it came to 'free shit' from Microsoft.

that POS called Firefox OS

Have you tried it recently? I'm running a nightly 3.0 on my phone which has served me well for the past 12 months.

FxOS got a series of bad reviews based on early releases and nasty hardware but is evolving.

Copied and pasted from a comment yesterday.

Please think before you moderate this FUD up. An article on Microsoft is no license to Mozilla-bash.

Maybe you should complain to Amazon to optimize their unresponsive web page? :)

The Windows Insider builds are available to anyone who can be bothered signing up to the program. The only 'leak' here is if publishing screenshots constitutes a breach of the EULA.

MS releases an updated beta. *yawn*

If he didn't get a planet named after him, the dog certainly didn't deserve one.

Because Apple is a premium brand whose users typically receive 'free' lifetime upgrades to the newest model whenever their contracts roll over.

So as long as the battery doesn't lose too much juice over that period, consumers will tolerate a slight drop since a replacement phone is just a few months away.

It's 2015 and Windows still doesn't have a package manager? Oh wait, it does...

C:\> choco install jre8

I'm kind of surprised that Microsoft haven't done something like that yet with an Atom powered phone.

They are. It's called Continuum and allows one to plug and pray mice, keyboards and external screens into one's Windows 10 phone.

Well yes, Russia under Putin *will* do whatever the hell he likes. But failing to implement policy based on the actions of a global pariah is not something to aspire to.

As for China, we buy their stuff. Using Tim Cook as a poster child, insist that any environmental standards that would apply to building an iProduct in the USA apply to the manufacturing chain from start to finish, including the sourcing of renewable energy. If that adds $75 to the cost of a manufacturing a $1500 Macbook then so be it. Other companies will follow.

100% is ambitious certainly. Using a compound interest calculator, the global target range of 40-70% can be achieved by a mere 1.5-3% annual reduction.

If the world were actually serious, they'd divert more than a trivial % of GDP into investment.

My own Australian government are apologists for the coal industry, naturally. :(