The have the Nadella hammer. Personally, I'd love to see one Windows instead of Home Editions, Professional Editions, N editions, etc. Let's just have one single edition that runs on everything.

Perhaps you're being a little too optimistic here.

Apple borrowed BSD for iOS, Microsoft borrowed Digital VMS for NT, Google borrowed Linux for Android, and Blackberry borrowed QNX for BBOS. Unless I missed some other big company, looks like no one really started from scratch.

Indeed. I have very little incentive to go from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1. Going to 9 (8.2) is not going to be much different since they still seem unable to figure out how to incorporate touch-based apps alongside classic apps.

Can't blame you. Love installing just about any OS. I'm going to miss this when we all go to the "cloud connected with OS pre-installed" systems.

It depends on what does the SC means by "abstract ideas." If they means:

Then the implementation of an idea to a specific purpose makes it non-abstract and therefore can be patented. So it's not really the end of all software patents. Otherwise, further litigation might be required to establish a sound definition.

Layoffs? Perhaps for lawyers.

Given the work required increases over time and that there are limited supplies of BTC, it will actually not be very effective.

Or they can work harder at making them cheaper. This CEO is very short sighted.

Besides the risk of a nuclear accident, dealing with nuclear waste is the other main reason why some countries abandoned nuclear power. If Australia wants to take it (for a fee I expect) all, I expect a new revival of nuclear power until we have efficient fusion.

In the event of a breach of civil law (non criminal), aren't fines proportional to the tort the breach has caused? Judges usually take into account the ability to pay of the corporation when deciding on the amount. If it has to be exemplary, then the amounts would be significant. In all cases, the objective is not to kill the company but to ensure they put to settled the tort caused and more important, put in place better practices to prevent re-occurrence.

I came to the same conclusion after reading the FTA.

I always found Gmail interface confusing. It's about time they made some change. Personally, I cannot imagine it possible to be worse so I'm anxious to get started with it.

This is why the US needs to import foreign knowledge workers. The US school system teaches falsehoods and outputs ignorance.

I don't want my car to be smart. Instead, make drivers licenses much more difficult to obtain.