That's a matter of personal preference.
There are people who prefer their devices to stop working when the network stops? "I can't access my photos because the net is down. Hooray!"
But people like you never mention that when talking about other countries, only Israel gets called on the carpet for that anytime money is in question.
As an AC said, two posts up is someone complaining about Palestinian money coming from the EU.
But more to the point, Israel receives more US foreign aid, including military aid, then any other country. That's not even including all of the support we give to dictators in the region so that they'll take a softer stance towards Israel. That's also not including the costs of all the hate directed our way because we're supporting hated dictators.
Supporting Israel has cost America a lot of blood and treasure, but they don't seem to respect us for it.
In general, I'd like to see one standard for corporate databases of private information, and another, weaker, standard for individuals publishing information. Where those activities intersect (me publishing my information on a corporate service), I'd like tighter regulation on how the corporation uses that information (e.g. don't datamine my "friends only" social network posts to see what brands I prefer and notify interested retailers.)
Citing Shadow of the Colossus as an example of why we don't need innovation is confused. SotC doesn't have a huge list of asterisks on the back of the box (you know, *Multiplayer! *Online Player! *User Modications! *Physics simulator!). Nonetheless, SotC stands out from the pack. SotC's innovation was omission--like it's wikipedia entry says, "The game is unusual within the action-adventure genre in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with which to interact, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi." It was unusual because of what wasn't there. Well-designed simplicity is innovation.
If you just re-worded this rant to be against adding stuff for the sake of adding stuff instead of against innovation, then it would been making a rather insightful point. As it is, it's just flamebait.
Maybe you didn't like Mirror's Edge, but whatever problems it has are unique problems. Citing it as an example of what's wrong with the industry is deeply obtuse.
How can you make this statement, and miss the BLISTERINGLY obvious conclusion that your Operating System is also a means, not an end?
Good question. Answer: I didn't. I wrote the following:
To the extent that Linux does have a problem here, it's an insufficient number of vendors selling pre-configured Linux consumer devices. But that's less a matter of Linux lacking hardware support and more a matter of Linux applications lagging behind. If your applications meet the customer's needs, then any customer worth worrying about will find the hardware required to run your software.
Note how I anticipated your "Pro Tip". But thanks!
I am consistently told by Linux-using friends that I should "absolutely be using Linux instead", that all Linux software is inherently superior, etc. Yet when trying to install any of the various Linux/MythTV flavors, I've consistently found all sorts of problems. The ATi Remote Wonder doesn't work well for most of them. The recording software either doesn't work at all, or is "spotty at best." Video playback quality is lower.
But see, this isn't Linux's problem. The number of users like you--smart/patient enough to be able to install their own operating system, not smart/rational enough to purchase hardware to suit their software rather than the other way around (hardware is a means, not an end)--is really small. They are not the primary or even significant barrier to Linux adoption, and it would do Linux little or no good to care more about them. As another poster noted jokingly, Mac OS X only runs on the shiniest of hardware, and frankly in some ways Linux's support for older hardware is better than Vista's. Microsoft and Apple made billions not giving a damn about you, so you shouldn't expect Linux to give a damn about you either. Next time be smarter in picking your hardware.
Yeah, "not my problem" and "not my fault" aren't necessarily the same thing, but in your narrow circumstances, they are. To the extent that Linux does have a problem here, it's an insufficient number of vendors selling pre-configured Linux consumer devices. But that's less a matter of Linux lacking hardware support and more a matter of Linux applications lagging behind. If your applications meet the customer's needs, then any customer worth worrying about will find the hardware required to run your software.
A better example of the phenomenon you're referring to would be support for proprietary data formats (e.g. Microsoft Office). It's not free software's fault that the proprietary software companies intentionally made this difficult. But it is free software's problem.
I doubt it. I wonder how many research dollars are spent chasing "easy in hindsight" ideas that would fail to be discovered if patents wouldn't cover them. I suspect that most of the research money that is spent with the expectation of future patent revenue goes toward chasing ideas that are too complicated to look easy even in retrospect--stuff involving fancy math, chemistry, biology, physics, etc. Surely, even with no patent system, Amazon would still spend just as much money trying to make their site as usable as possible, and one-click ordering would still have been "invented". The drive to achieve a temporary advantage over your competition is probably a better incentive than our broken and arbitrary patent system.
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. -- Ambrose Bierce