I don't see this being an advantage for ANYONE:

1. iPhone owners with an older model will get so little credit towards a new phone that they'll think twice before upgrading.

2. Apple fanboys will buy the newest iPhone, trade-in or no trade-in.

3. Android users with fancy devices (Note 4, S6) are fanboys and it'll be a cold day in hell before they switch to Apple.

4. People with regular mid-end Android devices -- see #1 above.

5. Blackberry users generally have company-issued phones, so they're not going to trade them.

6. Windows Phone users are drinking the MS Kool Aid (tm) and anxiously waiting for Windows 10 and the secomd coming of Jesus.

7. The trade-in program isn't available in developing countries yet, where Windows Phones are sold as budget devices (low end models only, of course).

8. So, who's left? Maybe all 3 people who bought a Firefox OS phone?

And when the Williams FW15C basically created a new sub-category within F1 and then was banned the following season, everyone immediately knew that F1 racing was no longer about advancing technology to make better street cars, but it was all about lining Bernie's pockets.

Seriously, count the tech items in that car that eventually made it to street cars.

At that price, they ought to be begging ME to buy, it, not the other way around.

This stance also applies to Bentley, Rolex, Cartier, Mont Blanc, etc.

Mod me down into oblivion if you must, but not everyone lives in Seoul, Tokyo, Stockholm, or NYC with insanely fast fiber optics.

This is going to be great for people in rural areas, developing countries, and others who otherwise would remain hostages to the poor reliability and high latency of radio and satellite internet.

"their incentives for accuracy and editorial judgment will disappear."

Have there ever been any?????

I'm sorry if you were born in a dysfunctional family and lived in a trailer park most of your life.

Apparently, you did well on your own, to the point of getting educated enough to be a nerd and read /. Congrats!!

I never get tired of repeating this. Someday people will learn that all forms of regulation are bad and we'll be on our way to a better world!!!

Government only exists to fuck us all and collect taxes to make its members and business partners richer.

We don't need government help to prosper.

All companies are doing fine using services from Oracle, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, etc. I fail to see why Facebook would be any different.

It's called a Service Level Agreement.

Basically, you sign a contract with Facebook that says "OK, Facebook, I'm going to build my infrastructure on top of your platform and I require that you support it for the next 15 years, capiche?"

Facebook may say Yay or Nay. Depending on the answer, you take your business elsewhere.

See? No government intervention required.

With so many awesome games out now, plus the backlog of 2014 and 2013, I just don't care about HL3 anymore, and I suspect most gamers are in the same boat.

Secondly, it'll invariably suck simply because people's expectations are just ridiculously high after so much time waiting. Look no further than Doom 3 or Diablo 3 for evidence.

Every new digital technology improvement in the A / V / videogame department has brought new DRM with it. I can't see how this time it's going to be different.

Let's not forget that this means new DRM and additional difficulty to get shit that we paid for working together.