In my company, we have 3 colleges, a hospital and software teams that have been using the same PCs for over 6 years now. About 800 of them.

All large companies have the same IP strategy and they behave exactly the same simply because they can.

Sorry. Google, Motorola, Samsung, etc. have used patents purely in defensive mode. Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Erricsson etc. are the litigious bastards.

If these patents would be worthless, they wouldn't pay anything in the first place.

When these patenting agreements were drawn up, Android had a much smaller marketshare. So rather than getting caught up in litgation, some large Android makers chose to pay. But not Motorola, and they are yet to pay a penny. Now that Android is the undisputed king in mobile and tablets, even Microsoft making Android devices through Nokia; there is not much compulsion to continue paying.

Phones and tablets do not replace desktops and laptops.
Agreed, they don't. However people hesitate a lot before upgrading the desktop OS. And desktops and laptops last more than 8 to 12 years, so not much revefnue for Microsoft from those markets. Hence my prediction that they are doomed.

What the large monies paid by Samsung indicates is the enormous mindshare and marketshare for Android. Windows on the mobile and tablet space is non-existent. For some years Microsoft might make money out of Android sales using these patent threats, being the litigious thugs they are.

But in a few years - say three at the max, Android makers will realise that these patents are really worthless, and back away from their agreements.

In any case a few billions in patent royalty is pocket change for Microsoft, and their bloated manpower will plunge them into the death spiral since Windows is becoming fast irrelevant in the only space it serves - viz, the desktop.

Not fired. Quarantined. as is the case with the whole city. They need to take a one-month break, with robotic Amazon food and TP delivery on call.

Of those 80 people, how many do you think work at the lochal grocery store, or a fast food restaurant? How many would be permitted to take time off for minor cold symptoms? How many could afford to do so?

okay, first: they HAVEN'T identified the length or method of transmissability, because it keeps spreading by surprise.

second: we know that in Africa they have missed many cases. Therefore, 7000 actual cases would not be far off.

Third, the world population is 7 million, so there are 2^20 doublings (at 23 days each) between now and total infection, at the current rate.

Fourth, the US population, including illegals, is about 350 million. So by the math, you might guess that there was 350 cases in the US, but the actual rate of spread is probably initially faster than a 23-day doubling, but slower to enter the country. So a reasonable guestimate is that we might have 120 cases, about a third of 350, but with Dallas/CDC response, we'll rapidly catch that 350 number.

In line with that, I'd estimate that in any state that has a lot of human commerce with Dallas (including Louisiana, Virginia, Oklahoma, and California), you could estimate the number of cases by dividing the state population by 3 million, more or less.

In other words, we're in deep trouble already.

Everyone knows the even number versions suck.

how is this news for nerds?

Chromebooks do not run Linux, they run the Chrome OS, for God's sake!

When Adobe Photoshop truly comes to the plain vanilla distri, then we can start putting up articles on here.

I've been using a desktop for more than 15 years. It is not a good habit to pin apps to the task bar. Putting up the shortcuts for the browser and email client is good enough most of the time.

When rarely used apps need to be called up, the Start Menu is the best way to do it.

Using a keyboard instead of a mouse on the desktop is like using the mouth instead of the penis for sex. Some like you seem to like it that way but do not speak for the rest of us.

and fucking closed the beta once and for all.

I absolutely want no fucking around with the interface I have been using for more than 16 years now.

Ridiculous.

Just like the Windows 8 user interface. Rubbish.

Please stop it.

Kind regards
jkrise

Why should MS decide what tablets and phones need as minimum hardware?

Not only minimum, but maximum as well. MS gets to decide the biggest screen size, the highest speed CPU that can run Windows - tablet edition, on a non-desktop form factor. MS does not want vendors selling full fledged Windows on tablet form factor devices even though it is technically feasible.

Hardware had to be compatible to sell bundled with Windows.

MS does not want to encourage vendors who also provide open source drivers with their hardware. In this day and age, if MS made a reference standard for writing drivers hat did not require any signing, many vendors would only be too happy to innovate.

MS's goal is not to promote innovation, but to restrict vendors from making PCs that can also run Linux flawlessly. Having lost the tablet and phone business to Linux and Android, MS wants to keep on stifling the Linux desktop for as long as they can. One way they do this is to give incentives to vendors that make only Windows compatible hardware. Also the driver signing and Windows Update gives them a lever to destroy any vendor who gets too cosy with the Linux world.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

From Vista and up, the hardware can be designed to give out intentional error messages that are ignored by Windows, and thus the hardware becomes unusable in Linux.

http://redmondmag.com/articles...

Make of these what you will.

Well. Sandra Bullock doesn't look like Indian Bullocks. Besides, in India bullocks are male, and usually castrated.

nobody bothered to tell you? There's an app for that, you know.

Third time's the charm: trying to come up with something you can just click-and-read:

This one's in html:

http://file.scirp.org/Html/1-7...