...and the server is just used for database work.

And that mentality is precisely why so many web applications suck farts off dead chickens for performance and scalability.

The first step to designing a scalable application is designing a scalable and flexible database model. The database is not an "afterthought", it is the heart of an application.

The code which accesses the database can be tweaked and fiddled, but once you've created your database, it becomes very expensive to change it in the future because of the costs of changing not just the code, but creating and testing database migration scripts to move the data to a new model.

But you go pat yourself on the head that you're a 'leet programmer because you know a scripting language.

And then hang your head in shame when you realize that JS runs in the browser and is only a presentation layer, not the application itself. Only a fool puts the business logic in the client if they have any understanding or concern for transaction consistency and application reliability. You have to assume the presentation client is going to break half way through processing something and leave the database in an inconsistent state if you put the business logic in the front end.

Yes, I know of the Metro interface and Microsoft's App Store. The problem is I've never seen an actual Metro Application, only applets and games. No word processors, spread sheets, compilers, etc. -- those all use the desktop interface style, which, as I noted, is difficult to use with a tablet.

If Microsoft thinks their big selling point is compatability with Windows applications, then by all means they should pull the plug on RT.

As to the Surface Pro, I think it suffers from one big glaring flaw: it runs Windows applications.

That means using menus, right clicks, and other such interface behaviours that are far from natural for a tablet/touch screen interface. What is needed for a successful tablet is an ecosystem of applications that are built just for tablet use. All the gestures in the world won't make it easy to right-click with one button (your finger), and let's face it: most of the useful functions of a Windows application interface are provided by the right-click menus.

Even something so trivial as the toolbars and buttons/icons have to be upscaled for a touch interface, otherwise you get touches/clicks on the wrong interface widget. That which is easily clicked by an accurate device like a mouse or touchpad is notoriously hard to nail down with a fat finger.

They've re-invented PL/1!

But it's China.

You know. The evil communists.

Well, ok, they're not communists any more. But they're still socialists, and that's almost as evil.

Of course the NSA is evil, too, but they're American, so they're ok. Rah, rah, rah, USA!

Nowadays your "real world learning" seems to mean sitting with an X-Box or equivalent for hours a day. There are several kids living on my block -- I've seen them outside less often than I do during the school year, so it's not like they're spending the summer days playing outdoors or anything like that.

No, every kid I know is glued to a TV, a cellphone, a tablet, or a computer. They're not learning *shit* about the "real world".

Summer vacation was originally created so farmers could use their children as labourers during the crop season.

Nowadays it exists mainly because the teachers unions would scream bloody murder if teachers had to work all year like everyone else.

With the number of double-income families nowadays, it would be a lot easier for parents to deal with 4 1-2 week breaks per year instead of a couple months at one shot, due to the hassles of arranging child care for the summer months.

However, I don't expect anything to change in the near future. See earlier point on unions.

Why didn't they just post it to a private web server with no public facing ports?

The issue is not PowerPC hardware. The issue is the early Intel hardware which is widely reported as unsupported by later versions of OS/X.

Stick your head back in the nice comfortable Apple sand. I'm sure it's warm and moist in there like mama's womb.

That inability to upgrade is precisely what Mac users were complaining about in the last thread on this topic only this past week.

I was running Windows 7 on 10 year old hardware. Can you say the same for OS/X?

I thought not.

Fanboi.

Yeah, free upgrades if your old hardware is supported.

Hundreds of billions of dollars, and it's obsolete and useless before it even gets out the hangar.

See what happens when you whine enough? Even Microsoft provides longer term support for obsolete, unsupported operating systems than Apple does.

Suck it up fanbois: Apple sucks farts off dead chickens. Their only game is to keep you on the re-purchase treadmill.

Jave does what it needs to, and does it well. So does JEE.

There isn't a lot of "innovation" in the stack because the stack serves it's primary purpose quite well, and is used by tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of websites to deliver business functionality.

And that is, of course, the crux of the matter: functionality. Business is not interested in jumping on the latest and greatest craze just for the sake of doing so. Business wants stability. It wants predictability. It wants reliability.

Not "innovation" for the sake of being different.