Microsoft's quality assurance in testing the updates is junk. Just this year, I've had numerous situations where an update borked my customer's machines including one where it totally crashed a server. Automatic updates is no solution and in many cases is deadlier than the original problem.

What are you talking about? Android is fully open. I don't need to install from Google Play. In fact, I install software from other marketplaces including F-Droid. You can even set up your own web site and with one setting be able to install software from it. You don't need to pay Google a 30% cut. It is only M$ that has the MOST restrictive store for BOTH the phone model and for the desktop model. Developing and deploying metro apps for Windows 8.1 is the most frustrating experience there is if you don't want to pay the M$ 30% tax.

I guess you really haven't use this. Surface is nothing but a steaming pile of turds. Totally locked down, no alternative browser, only IE, and very little software available. And definitely no open source programs allowed. Just to prove to myself it was M$ that was artificially restricting this machine, I applied the jailbreak that's available. Using Visual Studio, in no time I had several open source utilities compiled and running. I have an iPad, an Android tablet and a Surface, an I can tell you I am the most productive with the Android tablet. The Microsoft Office requirement that M$ shills keep bringing up is nothing but a red herring. I use open docs format and ALL of my office needs are met with alternative products.

Their thought process to receive such high pay is that somehow they are special and provide high value that they are worth it. Meanwhile, the staff who are tasked with executing the CEO's vision are not receiving such rewards. If the CEO is that good and according to intolerant Republicans that that a rising tide raises all boats, then shouldn't their staff's lot in life also be better? Shouldn't the staff's pay also show the fruits of a successful strategy which they had a part in? Without a successful execution a winning vision is meaningless. So if companies want to pay millions to a CEO because "he is worth it", then they should raise the staff pay. This keeps the pay ratio in line, and more indicative if the CEO's real value.

I guess you haven't really been paying attention. If you want to see want their future Windows direction, just look at their Surface RT/2 approach has been. It's already is an extremely locked down environment. No sideloading, no alternative web browsers, no non-Microsoft app stores, no Java, no VPN, no open source programs, etc. All your apps must come from a 30% Microsoft taxed store. Windows 8 is just the initial phase down that road. Microsoft has already announced that in the next version of Windows they are taking steps to reduce the visibility of the desktop. They already foist secure boot and TPM2 on desktop users. Do you really believe that it's for the benefit of general desktop users? Or are these moves intended to place the market in a place where at some future time they lock down the desktop just like their Surface/ARM products?

The Microsoft apologists are saying Windows 8 isn't bad because there is sideloading. But when you investigate further, there only is sideloading when you have joined a domain. And you must pay exorbitant fees for that privilege. And you must be running the enterprise edition version of Windows for it to really matter. There is NO sideloading for that single desktop. And this is the current Windows 8. As far as I'm concerned, if you want to develop Metro applications, then you really have no other option than pay M$ their 30% tax. All this really does is make me think twice of even creating a Metro version of my program. And if I do I am going to price it much more expensive on M$ store. And if you don't believe me, just compare the cost of the same app on both Google store and M$ store. When you do find that an app has been ported over, it is on the order of over 500% more expensive on the M$ store.

Yes, for NOW you can still load Win32 application on Win8. But that environment is no longer being actively developed. M$ has pretty much discontinued a whole slew of technologies, including .NET, WPF, Silverlight, and yes, even Win32 for a very incomplete WinRT environment. With Win8, M$ has been much begun the process of locking down the desktop into a walled off garden, for which only they control the keys to, and if you want entry you must pay an extremely high price to enter.

And like M$ doesn't? It fully sells you out, and hides the fact that it's doing so. Furthermore its in bed with the NSA to fully compromise your privacy and security.

This is already happening. I have a cousin who was arrested a couple of years ago participating at a demonstration. A cheek DNA sample was taken at booking time. She recently applied to get a pricier health care plan and was denied. She didn't understand why considering it was with the same insurance carrier and hadn't used her existing policy much. They wouldn't tell her when she pressed them on this issue. She decided to sue, and in discovery it turns out they had obtained her DNA sequence under the guise of "medical research". The case officer in charge of approving her application had seen this info and decided to reject it because she had tested for two faulty copies of the BRAC2 gene which raises her chances of getting cancer significantly. The insurance company eventually backed down, and my cousin was able to get the plan she wanted. But, to how many others is this happening? What other conditions are they filtering out for? Who knows. But it is quite clear that this is just going to expand. There is an ulterior motive for building these DNA databases and we are just pawns in the big picture.

In NY state, in many others and in cities around the world, DNA is taken from you when you are arrested. It doesn't matter if you are innocent or if the charges are misdemeanors, your DNA is placed in a database and will never be removed. In NY, Murdoch's education initiatives are already sequencing all children that are in public school. Just like the DMV selling your private info, Murdoch has made deals with insurance carriers to sell them this sequence data. If your DNA is sequenced it will be used against you in ways that you will never know. Gattaca is already here.

Most companies nowadays wont pay for training. That's why most ads have a long laundry list of ridiculous requirements. They will hire someone who already has the training and let you go when they can. They expect you to be responsible for your own training.

what a load of crap. Companies insist on treating their staff as indentured slaves and are surprised when their staff start dishing the same lack of respect back to them? They say that we have to take that because it's a new global economy. I say that is bullshit and that they reap what they sow. Today's management has done everything in their power to sell us on the story that staff is not as important as management is. From the imbalance of CEO pay to the language they use (human resources vs natural resources), it's all designed to force us to think of staff as inhuman! If a company treats me poorly, why should I have any qualms about treating them the same way?

I just ripped out an old Exchange box and replaced it with a Linux replacement because the cost of a new Exchange box and all of the necessary licenses is ridiculously expensive. I've also started doing the same with Office. Office 2013 is expensive and the ui is nothing but garbage.

I do this all the time with an Android tablet. All you have to do is install PocketCloud from the store and you are ready to go. It works quite well and if you have some kind of 3g capability on the Android tablet you can do this while on the go. With PocketCloud and ConnectBot I am able to fully manage both Windows and Linux servers.

I guess you didn't get the news. As a consequence of the Windows 8 direction, Microsoft has abandoned .NET. So it doesn't matter that a platform doesn't support .NET. Java is a 100x better anyway.

Postgresql on Windows works better than Mssql for many scenarios. I have recommended this to several clients after MS significantly raised their prices on SQL. I've gotten nothing but positive responses. One of my clients loved it so much, that they are planning to upgrade their other custom LOB apps to use Postgresql as their back end.

Here's my answer to that!

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

Never would I by defective equipment from the start.