To clarify your last statement a bit, TypeScript is designed as a superset of JavaScript. All valid JavaScript is valid TypeScript. All you have to convert your project is say "my project is in TypeScript now," and you can then start adding TypeScript features to your code -- or not -- as you see fit. That's as opposed to Dart, which really is a different language with a different syntax and you have to start over.

No, assembly language is fast as hell and gives you complete control. The point of C is that it gives you almost as much control but makes it easier to build and maintain large systems without you being some kind of semirobotic idiot savant. In other words, C IS a "dumbed down" language, just like some of the other ones people are complaining about.

Or just compile your code twice, using two different back ends? I don't see much wisdom in building a compiler that tries to do two things at once.

Is the word "platform" officially over? My fucking toaster is a bread-browning platform.

What on Earth would Apple gain by undermining GCC? I guess it would benefit Apple's buddy Intel, but Intel's compilers are already superior to GCC on its own chips, so I don't imagine it's too bothered.

I think you've mischaracterized the GPL approach. By using the personal pronoun, you make it sounds like the GPL forces people who make derivative works to do things for the original developer. That's not the intent at all. The intent is to make sure that people who make derivative works do things for everyone – meaning everyone collectively, not individually. GPL grants users lots and lots of freedoms; the one freedom it does not grant is the freedom for you to withhold from others the freedoms that you yourself enjoy. BSD does grant you that freedom.

This model already exists:

• Satellite radio
• On Star
• Nav map updates (in some cases)

Enabling heated seats by subscription is an interesting example. It might be a good deal for the consumer depending on how much cheaper a car is without them, with the subscription version, and always available. Pricing would vary by region no doubt. People in desert climates might opt for the subscription where they are primarily useful at night, but people in cold climates might be willing to pay the price for constant availability. The opposite might be true for AC. Pricing various features sounds like it could be more complex than pricing airfares, however.

Yeah ... when every few weeks or so Windows Update tells me it's going to download something called the Malicious Software Removal Tool, I've always wondered what it did. We might have a few new clues here.

What is with all the HAL©, HAL(Circle-C) nonsense in the submission? Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? Looking at the website, the company doesn't style the product name that way. Is it supposed to be some sort of winking reference to copyright (hurrr, hurrr)? Because that doesn't make any sense...

If he has an unregulated rate then the highest I have seen in the past 6 months is $0.12/kWh. However the rates quoted don't include these additional fees on an Enmax bill:

Administrative Charge
Delivery Charges
Transmission Charge
Rate Riders
Local Access Fee.
Then another 5% in federal taxes (GST) on top of it all.

A 5 years fixed rate (just on the electricity charge) can be had for about $0.089/kWh (regulated rate). He could be worse off if he foolishly got a regulated rate through a company like Direct Energy.

My Enmax bill is usually 50% higher than the posted pricer per kW/h when all the fees and charges are added.