Safari (desktop version) has a developer menu that lets the end user specify any HTTP_USER_AGENT string:

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QZzFwb0h1YlJLQkU&export=download
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QVEdMc0tnZGlwSHc&export=download

Apple (all iOS versions) will let browsers change their HTTP_USER_AGENT; here's the Mercury browser doing just that:

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QWlJKSk9uOUhOVG8&export=download

Anyone can sue anyone for anything. (Whether or not they can do so successfully, or without being sanctioned, is another story -- I just won a nice attorney fee award from a father (lawyer) son (douchebag) team that sued a client of mine in state court, and then dismissed when we filed the Anti-SLAPP Motion to Strike I'd warned them repeatedly was coming... sigh...)

That said, the "must increase shareholder value" trope is a myth: "This common and widespread perception lacks any solid basis in actual corporate law." http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/6/18%20corporate%20stout/stout_corporate%20issues.pdf (p. 4)

If a business wanted to spend three years on R&D, as long as the directors embarked on that path in good faith, with appropriate consideration and care, and reasonably believed that they were acting in the best interests of the company, they'd be able to do so under, e.g., the Business Judgment Rule.

Dating back to at least 1990: http://steveblank.com/2009/04/16/supermac-war-story-7-building-the-whole-product/

My fear is that we're getting away from the "market forces" that used to work. Netflix couldn't care less if they lose me, the Windows Media Center folks with the same problem, or the thousands(?) of Apple TV users with the same error message who haven't dug as deep into troubleshooting. With 30 million subscribers, 2,500 of us is a rounding error.

Maybe I'm showing my age, but I remember when there were but a handful of Linux users (I've had a Linux shell account since '93), and we were perpetually in danger of being steamrolled by the Big Corporations who could change things on a whim (Winmodems... Microsoft's SMB protocol...) and shut us out.

This isn't quite that, but it's similar. (It's also 2:45 a.m. and I'm not sure I can express myself as coherently as I need to right now...)

After a bit of brainstorming / research, I put up this Google Doc draft, that more clearly outlines what I'm talking about...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/16/AR2007021602102.html

“We've had men in those silos since before any of you guys were watching ‘Howdy Doody!’ Now I myself sleep pretty well knowing those boys are down there ... Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new [automated electronic] defense system sucks.” - Gen. Beringer.

Modern printers can be printed to directly. For everything else (my trusty Canon multi-function, my 8 year old cheap-when-it-was-new Samsung GDI contraption) that are shared via my Linux fileserver, it was a simple setup for CUPS and now those printers are iOS-accessible, too.

The iPad has supported Bluetooth keyboards since day 1, and Apple (and countless third parties) have sold such keyboards since day 1 (of the iPad). I use one (a Zagg model with a slot that can be used to conveniently stand the iPad) with an iOS 4.3.3 first-generation iPad, routinely...

I just got served with Requests for Production that read, in part, "Electronic Media devices may include, but are not limited to, computer memories, hard disks, diskettes and cartridges, network drives, network memory storage, archived tapes and cartridges, backup tapes, floppy disks, CD-ROM, removable media such as Bernoulli Boxes and their equivalent, magnetic tapes of all types, microfiche, punched cards, and any other vehicle used for digital data storage and/or transmittal."

Well, the DMCA was a compromise between the interests of ISPs and those of copyright holders -- so, the result of lobbyist dollars. But secondary copyright liability (vicarious or contributory liability for the direct infringement of third parties) is entirely judicially created. There's no statute on the books w/r/t secondary infringement liability. (Federal judges are appointed for life -- they don't campaign, they don't need to run for re-election, I've worked "on the inside" of enough MPAA etc. litigation to know that the rights holders are as much at the mercy of the judiciary as are the tech heroes. Witness how Grokster was decided by Judge Wilson, then by the 9th Circuit, before SCOTUS used it to graft the doctrine of inducement liability onto copyright law...)

Anyway, for everyone asking "why do we let judges rule on / lawmakers govern the Internet" -- the Internet is us. We are the Internet. Just because something occurs over TCP/IP packets instead of in an alley, doesn't make it any less a part of 'the real world,' where real laws apply.

I knew I'd never reliably hit a gym, etc. (BTDT, repeatedly), and working out *at* work wasn't really feasible, so I worked out by going to / from work by bicycle. At first it was 5 miles each way, then I changed jobs and it was a 35 mile round trip, daily. Lost ~100 lbs in about 8 months. Have kept ~80 of those off since 2008...

Ah, France. You’re so dynamic and quick to embrace change From the Toubon Law to propping up Minitel to the stoic way you embraced labor regulations aimed at easing ridiculously high unemployment by making the first two years of employment somewhat more flexible with your non à la précarité movement... (Does make for decent wine, though, and likely will for centuries.)

Over the years, I've kept tabs on, and used to one degree or another, various Office alternatives. Apple's Pages. OpenOffice.org and now LibreOffice. Etc. None of them are 100% compatible with Microsoft's file formats. For the type of work I do (law-and-motion briefs, appellate briefs, etc.), there are strict formatting requirements (e.g., line numbers 1-28 down the left side of the page, double-line borders, specific font and margin requirements, page limits, etc). There's also quite often a need to exchange documents with opposing counsel, for, e.g., joint stipulations. Finally, I need to be able to submit documents to the judge's chambers in Microsoft Word (or WordPerfect .WPD) format, and they have to look right when the judge opens them. The judiciary isn't going to go with OOo anytime soon (they're still slavishly tied to WordPerfect!)...

None of the 'Office alternatives' has been able to work with a document created by 'real' Office and retain its formatting; likewise, none of the documents I've created using Pages or OOo or ... has looked anything close to what it should (all line numbering/borders gone, etc) when opened in 'real' Office.

For even moderately complex documents, the alternatives, including Google Docs (a/k/a/ Drive), QuickOffice, etc., do not create or properly work with fully Word compatible documents, and hence I cannot use them in my profession. Office 2011 is a cost of doing business for me.