Buttons, knobs, and scroll wheels are one of the best things about a DSLR - there is no way I would want them replaced by a touch screen.

Sorry but a lot of the default apps that come with Windows 8 - mail, calendar, address book, app store- won't even let you past the start screen if you don't log in with a Windows ID. Even if you want to use the default Mail app for a non-Hotmail account you need to log in with a Windows ID. Not only that, but Windows 8 pushes you to use your Windows ID as your login for your user account.

"you don't have to use your LiveID in Win8"

Right. As long as you don't want to do things like, oh I don't know, use the email app to get email, or update the stock apps, or have a Calendar, or have an address book - then yes, you don't need a Microsoft account.

I beleive the Skype engineers said that the WP7 notification system wasn't responsive enough to be useful - so no, it can't almost certainly be done on WP. http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/29/2832590/skype-windows-phone-background-limitation

And here I thought putting "Windows" in the name was all the negative they needed...

Maybe he just doesn't get any signal in his parents basement?

Too late, Google already beat them to it: http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

You mean it's Short & Wimpy?

Your comment referenced "laptops," not just the MacBook Air. Not surprising that a device designed specifically for maximum portability would be less flexible as far as upgrades. As of the the choices, while I certainly was expressing my opinion it is backed up by not just strong sales but also by extremely (and extreme is no exaggeration here) customer satisfaction numbers.

IBM's laptops WERE solid industrial designs, although I don't think they rose to the level of masterpiece. In general they traded at a bit of a premium over commodity WinTel laptops. But IBM hasn't made a laptop in many years.

Funny, my 30-day old MacBook Pro included official Apple instructions for upgrading both the memory and the hard drive. I think the difference though is that where Apple often makes choices (like no upgradable phone memory) they provide built-in capacities that satisfy the average consumer. Sony's choices, like memory stick, don't tend to satisfy the average consumer (any more).

Apple's gross margin is 41%, the average for their industry segment is 37.9% - nothing very startling (or monopolistic) there at all. http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/compare.asp?Page=ProfitMargins&symbol=AAPL

Exactly. Anti-competitive behavior would be Apple telling App submitters that in order to be approved you must agree not to write apps for other mobile platforms.

While it's true that open class USPSA (IPSC) shooters use "space" guns there are plenty of very good USPSA shooters who shoot something that closely resembles stock guns (production, revolver). Jerry, for instance, shoots double action revolver. As just an average USPSA shooter I can draw and hit six separate steel targets, one shot each, in under 4 seconds. Equipment helps, but the top USPSA shooters have more going for them than just equipment. The research is interesting, but if I had to draw against the guys I regularly shoot with I would not want to be the second guy clearing leather (well kydex actually).