At some point, having a server (like Linode) becomes well worth it. As long as you have a network connection, you can connect to your one development box.

When they started releasing band-specific titles I thought maybe they were on to something.

Then they released Green Day. Really? Forget them. I don't want Green Day, I want Dire Straits.

They also released Metallica. Really? No, I don't want Metallica, I want Joe Satriani.

There were other specific titles where they screwed up by focusing on bands that sold out or were overrated as well, but those were two of the most egregious examples.

I loved his acting as much as anyone, but I disagree that it was necessarily a sad day. He was, after all, 83 years old. He beat the average life expectancy in this country by a wide margin. He made an impact on a huge number of people, as well. He was ready to check out and move on. Really, what could you reasonably expect an 83 year old man to do beyond this point anyways? I'm happy for him and all he's done.

Because it would, of course, be a terrible thing if drivers were well qualified, reasonably paid, and respected by their employers. Really, who doesn't wish they could work 70+ hours a week for 35 hours of pay? And job stability is so 1950s...

Who has one of those? Most of the local computer shops have been snuffed out by Best Buy and the Geek Squad. The few that survived that have been killed off by Amazon. You're likelihood of finding one anywhere that can help with older stuff is very very low.

That said, you might have some luck with placing a want ad on craigslist. Every town has old codgers who use to work at (or run) said old computer shops and they have all the adapters for this stuff that you could ever want. Several years ago I used craigslist to acquire what were likely the last 5.25 (and 5.25 / 3.5 combo!) floppy drives in the county I lived in.

Then the third world can quickly become as woefully unproductive as the first world.

Don't get yourself too excited about what my trolls like to try to rattle my cage with. As usual, when he uses a word derived from "prove" it doesn't mean anything.

Most people do not have a problem with the jackboot of authority, so long as it is on their feet rather than their neck.

This is the worst crime of all.

All of your "potential" scenarios are so fucking crazy, either from a technical or business standpoint I gotta ask you for the number of your drug dealer. That's some good shit.

That is one way to look at it. A competing hypothesis is that the business line systems are more profitable in general, while the consumer lines are subsidized by the software that they install on them before shipping. Hence the consumer level ones were being consistently filled up with an ever-increasing load of crapware to make them more (if only marginally) profitable. Whether there was ever any ethics considered by the company is not clear.

When Linux has a worthy Office competitor.

Libre Office not good enough for you?

That's some grade A word salad there.