It is the other user's process that gets me. Recall I mentioned that most of server processes run as their own unprivileged user: ie: "tomcat".

But you're right. NeXT's non-standard way of doing things was a pain-in-the-ass. I remember the great lengths I went through to connect to our corporate NIS+ (v3 or v4?) maps with NeXT's older v2 implementation.

P.S. I sold all of my black hardware when I moved 8 years ago. In hindsight, I wish I had kept my NeXTstation Turbo. It was sweet.

I disagree completely. Any non-OS related production proprietary software that needs to run as root is:

1. Poorly designed
2. A severe security risk

In nearly 30 years of Unix software development, I can only think of a single piece of non-OS software that I wrote that need elevated permissions. I separated that code fragment from the system to run as a separate process, then audited the hell out of its dozen or so lines of code. Nearly all the other systems and server software I have developed actually runs with reduced privileges - often with fewer privileges than the "average user".

OTOH, I have also done significant amounts of OS development: kernels, system libraries, loaders, vm and paging system, device drivers, virtual machines, etc. Writing them without admin rights (at least on the target test machine - only a moron would test a device driver on his dev box) would be impossible.

In general, I have had complete administrative control of nearly all of my desktop development environments throughout my career. Installing most development tools usually requires admin privileges. Attaching a debugger to a running process usually does, as well. Accessing system logs and crash reports are also frequently required.

Ironically, in the 10 years or so that I used a NeXT workstation, the IT guys would say, "You're on your own with that thing. I'm not touching it."

http://www.brother-usa.com/Printer/ModelDetail.aspx?ProductID=hl2170W

It comes with wired AND wireless network support built in. It did ship with the lower capacity toner cartridge, but at 1500 pages, it should still last a couple of years at the expected use rate (home office + school kids). The high capacity (2500 page) replacement cartridges were $46 OEM or $27 for generics.

The ink-jet cartridges for the printer this one replaced cost ~$30 a pop and lasted only a couple of months before they 'dried out' (half full). Even at $46, a 2500 page toner cartridge should last 3 or 4 years.

Them's fightin' words!

http://www.learningfundamentals.com/

It is a small outfit run by a very reasonable guy named John Scarry.

The only problem is "a few years" is like 150-250 years.

I look forward to paying $2000 for a box of nano-diamond Band-aids.

I did find it humorous that, in a search for 'Rosetta Stone', the actual artifact doesn't appear until 3/4 of the way down the first page. At least it shows up on the first page. I noticed the following stats:

Links regarding actual Rosetta stone artifact: 5
Links regarding Rosetta Stone Inc.: 15
Links to other language translator companies: 4
Number of above links that actually looks like trademark infringement: 1 (www.Rosetta.StoneLanguages.com)
Other Rosetta Stone links (Rock band, unix based translator, Mac OS X ppc emulator): 3

How can it take 1/2 a blackboard, when about 3 lines of algebra yield either 1 dollar = 1 cent, or .02 dollar = 2 dollar.

Hazeltine 1500? I would have loved to have had a Hazeltine 1500. I was using a frakkin' ADM 3a. Before that, I pressed 0s and 1s into clay tablets.

http://www.soynewuses.com/downloads/biobased/BiobasedSolutionsNov2007c.pdf[PDF]

There is still the 13" white plastic MacBook.
The mini and appleTV have white plastic tops.
The 30" Cinema Display has white plastic sides.
The Airport Extreme base stations and Time Capsules are encased in white plastic.
The Airport Express is white plastic.
All the external AC adapters for the products are white plastic.