Software should obviously only be allowed to screw the consumer, not the middle-man seller! Seriously I have to ask myself what value these re-sellers provide when they even rely on software to price "their product" for them. I agree they should be held to their contracts in an effort to encourage most of them to make a real living.

It doesn't make sense to me. The patent has expired. There is nothing stopping a 3rd party from now manufacturing the drug - which is what should happen. If the original manufacturer wants to focus completely on their new patent protected drug that's their business. But if you screw with the market this way, anyone trying to make the generic will be forced into competition with this manufacturer who already has a fair slice of market share.

Who needs a warrant now. Yes sir I just need to take your "license" back to the police cruiser for a few minutes...

There's always a choke point. With Bitcoin - how do you buy them for US dollars? How do you sell them? Go after the "exchanges". With distributed networks I can sniff them and see who's on - and if I have enough resources (like say the NSA) I can figure out which packets are going where. If I know an origin (you, my suspect) and a destination (what I think you're accessing), I can make the same link. Why? Because you can make it.

So if Pauling would have gotten there first, you'd say we owe Pauling nothing. So basically your argument is, fuck them all, I don't owe anyone anything. Fine. Practice your philosophy then and go live in a cave somewhere.

They all say that. Bittorrent. Bitcoin. Etc. And yet somehow, there is always a key - some centralized process somewhere that is the Achilles' heel. Why? Because if I am going to start using that service when I boot up or when I log in for the first time - my computer needs to know where to find the info to check in and start looking for the network. Just like DRM will never, ever work, "decentralized" systems will never, ever work. If I can find it, the enemy/feds/hackers can find it and take it out. So instead of decentralized you could say highly obfuscated. But there will be a common thread. There has to be.

Eh no. Even if Dr. Watson were a complete asshole, he's still the one co-credited with unravelling DNA and therefore his PERSONAL views aside, the whole world including yourself owe him a debt you will never repay because you have reaped the benefits from medical and pharmaceutical advances to ecological and industrial ones. Recognizing someone's contribution does not endorse their shortfalls. Otherwise the US is up shit's creek, what with all the torture, drone strikes, coups, etc...

Reminds me of that Wall Street Journal article where the reporter was complaining about how poor she felt on "only" 480k a year income.

"cost of living"? Let me know when you've seen what the "cost of living" is for a billionaire, and then we'll talk scale. Hint: Yachts and jets are expensive. Oh wait wait you expect a billionaire to be living like a poor person...

Those utilities are not envisioning the fact that all that power savings that is "eating into their profits" today is energy they can sell to tomorrow's customers. Why? Because populations grow over time, and they grow quite quickly. Instead of bitching about the paper loss they think they are seeing, they should be celebrating the fact that they don't have to build more power-plants and infrastructure for 10-20 years and will be able to serve a much larger base with the same infrastructure. So that 2% increase to the electric bill they apply for in 2024 will mean much, much more actual revenue for them - for exactly the same fixed cost.

But no. Greed. Let's bilk people today because they dare try to do something to save money and stretch current resources by diminishing consumption.

Blah blah blah blah blah. All I hear is greed. I paid for my OS. Your original argument was I'm a cheap skinflint who wants stuff for free, and poor starving content creators etc etc etc. Well your argument is BS because I did pay. You're now switching your argument to something else entirely, but don't worry it's also incorrect.

Better yet, a Grand Jury! er guys?

You missed the bit where I already paid licensing fees right? Twice. You are just arguing with the voices in your head.

Because their OS software is pretty much the industry standard. I don't have time to tool around 30 hours just to maybe get my OS working with my hard/software. How's your systemd btw?

Who says that? I go to the movies once in a while and I pay. I don't download movies to avoid going to the cinema. I've paid for music CD's. I don't think I should pay AGAIN for an MP3 of a song I already own on CD just because I'm too lazy to look for it through my CD's and rip it myself, and I really don't think I should pay for watching the movie I missed on my cable TV last night because I was too tired to watch. You realize the cable company has no trouble charging me whether my TV is on or off, or whether I actually watch a show or not, right? The "creator" is certainly getting his cut regardless. If anyone should bitch, it's the ad companies - but no one watches those anyway.

It's not my fault if you can't see exactly where you are being manipulated into feeling sorry for the middle-men who add nothing except their expensive bills. That kind of thing results in economic inefficiency, and there is absolutely no reason to support it.

I bought a computer that comes with shitty Windows 8 installed. I paid the "Microsoft Tax" at the OEM level. Fucking excuse me if I prefer Win 7 - which I also paid an OEM license for 5 years ago. Wait you want me to pay a THIRD time?

No - Microsoft are greedy fucks, just like the *IAA are greedy fucks.