And old arguments are always wrong. Clearly.

1. Possible, though I doubt that's the primary reason. I could be wrong.
2. Unlikely. Phillips head screws are far more numerous and widely manufactured, it's unlikely that an unusual screw that only comes from one or two suppliers will be that much cheaper.
3. I think Apple is too big of a fish to be playing nepotism with a screw supplier.
4. That's what the void clause of the warranty is for.
5. Funny.

6. Apple has a history of tightly controlling the way their products are used, are fundamentally opposed to openness, and have long screwed aftermarket service providers.

There are a few unjust and unreasonable laws in America (hellllooooo drug war!) but normal safety regulations (even those of the obnoxious TSA) are not those. I know we're supposed to be a nation of fearless individualists waving our guns and protecting our property from the hordes of Others, but managing the safety of hundreds or even thousands of people in a tight situation with the occasional need for rapid response to sudden problems is complicated and involves everyone showing a little team spirit and just doing what the people in uniform say.

You are a jackass.

What does it say about a person if they can't turn off their toy for 10 minutes to follow official directions that do in fact save lives every single year. Your iPod isn't more important than safety, no matter how much of an invincibility illusion you maintain.

So explain the switch. If they aren't doing this to screw the aftermarket and do more costly repairs themselves, why the change?

If Microsoft did this, there would probably be some sort of legal action.

A whoooole lot of the market is conservative, old, never reads tech news, and has very limited interest in apps. The people who line up at 4:00 AM are good press, but they don't actually count any more than any other consumer.

Blackberry has a market that is wary of switching. If they're smart they should be able to survive and grow.

I think they'd be a very different organization if they edited their leaks beyond basic redactions.

Wikileaks publishes and journalists decide what is relevant.

Last I heard, interpretation the Mars rock was "inconclusive."

Maybe they've figured something out.

There's the XBOX, they make money of their servers and related products, and they do a lot of business with various products and services related to Exchange.

And they make a damn fine mouse.

But in the consumer world, there's Windows, Office, and XBox. Everything else they've tried to do has failed.

Hah! They may be on top now, but thanks to CCD we won't have to be #2 for long. Goooooooooo humans!

Myspace had a bunch of teenagers. Facebook has managed to actually attract working semi-tech-literate adults to use their gee-whiz web 2.0 service. They're basically the only company that has done that. It will be very hard to move their entire network effect onto a competing service.

I really feel for these poor misunderstood billionaires.

I buy 100 machines from Dell, I get fired, I can be replaced by anyone who has worked with Dell before.

I build 100 machines, I get fired, the company is screwed. Ergo, I don't get fired.

I think it's pretty clear which way is smarter.