The problem isn't needing a microsoft account (i.e live account to sync settings), the problem is that the program won't install if you are using a non-microsoft account in windows 8, which practically means you can't use this on business machines.

Not true, whatsapp doesn't store contacts, as it doesn't do contacts authorization.

When you change your android phone, you put your gmail account and you get your contacts back (this is being done by the OS), whatsapp just queries the server to find out if your contacts have whatsapp and shows accordingly.

I would love to get your local cable monopoly, or 6 Mbps choice.

In Venezuela, we get 1.5 Mbps on average.

You guys aren't that bad, you just can't compete with Europe or Asia (how should you? the US is quite bigger and harder to lay down fiber)

You are mostly right, i live in Venezuela, here we only get charged for data/outgoing sms/outgoing calls. Incoming sms and calls are free, as they should. Of course, our cell plans suck, for example i only get 60 minutes a month, 300 sms and 250 MB of data.

You are wrong about whatsapp not caring for new accounts, it is widely known whatsapp 450M users have about 70% of daily use.

Here a trick for whatsapp users: don't want to pay anually? Have android? Borrow an iphone, put your simcard, buy whatsapp for 1$, put your simcard back into your android phone. Boom, you get lifetime service for 1$.

Whatsapp is good enough, its strenght isn't security or privacy, but rather its comfort. You don't need to add anyone, no pins, usernames, passwords or logging in. If you want security then use BBM.

If you don't want 7.x you can use 6.1.6 which got released to fix this

Well said.

But just to throw a spanner in the works, it doesn't hurt to mention that even the so-called "classic" version of the site is looking pretty damn fugly at the moment for a logged-in user who has left any non-default settings in his profile. So (at least in my case) the beta could easily be seen as an improvement.

Why should we try to pursue women to work in tech? We have to accept they are different and the majority doesn't like working in tech.

I cringe every time i see something being specially tailored for them. In Venezuela, they even have their own bank. It's stupid, what happened to equality?

Problem is, that 8.1 is being marketed as a new OS. It's not a service pack. Technically it may be even less than a service pack in changes.

Except that I am aware of at least one case where a guy DID get fired for buying a non-IBM machine. He was a new broom on a long-standing Burroughs site (this was back in the '70s), and he reckoned he was the shizznit, without the requisite experience to back that up. When the directors heard that this fool had splurged on an IBM box that was virtually incapable of functioning in their company, he was dismissed immediately.

europe countries are a lot smaller

i=i+1 or i+=1 or i++

This is common practice on lots of countries. In Venezuela this has been going for almost a century (though i don't know the current status since our problem with $$$), they give you a scholarship to study abroad with the condition to come back, otherwise they give you (or your relatives) the bill.

Back in the late '70s, I shared a house with a guy who had a pet Bengal tiger. The animal was a real pussy (of the non-edible kind), but one time a prowler came round, sticking his head through an open window. The pussy-cat snuck up, put his nose to the intruder's face and purred or growled or whatever it is they do. That guy's screams were quite funny.

You would do better to read up on why some distros elect not to use systemd, despite the fact that it is becoming quite popular in some quarters. For my part, I consider it to be an unnecessary complication, so am happy that my preferred distro (Slackware) still elects not to implement systemd by default.

I'm going to change my name to William Shakespeare and claim royalties for all those plays (and sonnets, of course) that have been reproduced without my permission. That'll show 'em.