Your post makes me sad. I have been adding --ignore skype to my package manager update commands since version 4.3 requires you to have pulseaudio. I game on my machine and pulseaudio causes issues in multiple games, so I'm not about to install that. Especially since pulseaudio is such a pain when it comes to starting on its own. I'll stick with ALSA. I guess that means I'm going to have to uninstall skype. Will use the tablet until I can convince people to use another solution... So basically, damn you Microsoft for trying to force me to use pulseaudio! ALSA was doing a perfect job, not sure why they dropped support.

Yes, I should have added "proprietary" in there. Although we should still be vigilant even with open source, it's very realistic I think that they might be trying to subtly add vulnerabilities to open source software.

Good point. How can anyone trust hardware and software coming from the states? Although when it comes to software, I'm sure that the NSA's people will be quite busy with trying to find security holes into whatever the Chinese decide to go with.

Up to now, they've been banning proprietary products for the benefit of more open ones. I know that we like to show China as a country with isolationist tendencies, but I'm not sure the glove fits on this one. I don't think choosing not to get screwed by Microsoft or Apple is such a bad thing.

The wiki for Archlinux is pretty much the best source of information on the web for linux, as far as I'm concerned. It's valuable even if you're not running Archlinux, with detailed guides for configuration of many FOSS programs.

Do I really have to explain to you that the word freeloader is pejorative? Also, don't do that "quote piece by piece" thing. It prevents you from seeing the big picture and basically pigeonholes you into nitpicking. Every question you asked is answered in the comment I already made, if you take it as a whole. There's a reason this is frowned upon in forums.

You weren't kidding. I just downloaded gedit just to see. There's one option button. You can basically open files, save files, print them, hilight syntax, find and replace and see document statistics. That's certainly... spartan.

The problem is your claim that vim is the lowest common denominator. You could certainly argue, if you wanted, that vim is too obtuse for the majority of users, that its learning curve is so steep as to render it useless for most of them. But you can't deny that vim is powerful. Someone who masters vim will get the job done faster, by virtue of almost every command being just one keystroke away. The speed gained from being able to format large sections of text in just a few keystrokes is very noticeable. There will always be room for options that are harder to master but rewarding once mastery is achieved. vim is that option. I don't see what's wrong with that.

I honestly don't think they have any duty to give back any more than they're doing now. Do you donate 100$ everytime you install linux on a computer? Cause that's what it would have cost you otherwise. I know for sure that almost no one does. It's nice if they decide to give back but they have no responsability to do so. The whole concept of "freeloaders" is laughable to be honest. I thought one of the primary visions behind FLOSS was that information should be free? I guess if you view open source as merely a means to an end, you might think such a thing as a freeloader could exist, but I completely disagree with that vision.

The very first line of the summary says they're making available their own custom distro. So they're obviously not free loaders. FFS, I know that most people don't RTFA, but at least RTFS before bitching.

I actually find some of Linus' tirades to be pretty hilarious. He supposedly only does this to hardened veterans, so it's not that bad.

If you know the older phones were not designed to take advantage of the update... why release it to them? Isn't that deliberately slowing them, as the "conspiracy" claims? I certainly don't want an update that will make my phone slower, no matter what functionality you may be adding.

These people go to your country, make money, and then take that money back with them. They're not really adding much to your wealth. If these companies moved overseas, they could pay people even less. Why do you think they don't? It's not out of kindness. They stay because all kinds of subsidies entice them to stay. These subsidies are given to them with the understanding that they will create employment. One could argue that if they are just going to hire temporary workers, them moving overseas would actually be a net gain for the US.

Except you don't have to raise your hands and claim there's nothing you can do about it. The government can easily regulate this.

As vain as it may be, I like my computer's interface to look nice. Plasma 4 was so ugly, with strangely clashing styles for the panels and the windows. This new bit of design makes it much more appealing to look at. I'm more of an AwesomeWM guy but I might give this a try on my laptop, just to see.