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Comment Re:Google has this habit (Score 1) 272

Maybe I have become paranoid, but unless a link is obvious I am usually checking the bottom of the browser to see where a link is sending me before I click it. I don't think there are that many redirects to Bing or Google.., but sure there could be many to Bing or Google search results, but those as well as direct links are easy to spot.. Broken links should lead to Web page not found errors, although I know some configurations can lead to your default search engine.. If Bing is your default, then there you go.

Comment Re:Not quite (Score 1) 354

And it could also be done with FTP or via email attachment and numerous other ways.. The percentage of illegitimate use is high, but you could say the same thing about email and web sites in general with their spamming,phishing and malware, We are not going to shut down the protocols and technology that make those possible any time soon.. But all this really comes down to is whether or not anybody has a right to control what bits I am sending and receiving, and even more importantly to know what those bits are and be upset by them.. If someone intercepts these companies communications and is found out, you can bet they will have a different view on privacy "as it applies to them".

Comment Re:Fork it, then (Score 2) 403

It's not like your choice is permanent like a tattoo or anything.. Forget browsers, I used to do the same thing with whole distros until I found trends in what I liked and narrowed down my choices.. I realized that for the most part I could make pretty much any distro to my liking with some work. There are some fundamental things (mostly package managers/reps) that do work better in others that matter.. But if I felt that I was missing out, it would be no big deal to test drive something else to usually find that my original choice was better after all.

Comment Re:The perspective of a home user on updates (Score 1) 230

Really ?.. I haven't had to worry about a dependency ever for an update.. EVER.. and thats not just my apt based distros.. I have not had to worry about dependencies at all for about 6 or 7 years now, and when I did, it was when I was doing some more complicated things involving compiling programs.. But that's the nature of the beast isn't it ?... When you do something more complicated, it's more complicated... I have gone the way of less complicated, and if it's not available in the repositories, then I don't need it.. Linux doesn't need to be difficult, and it's not unless you try to make it that way.

Comment Re:Good reason not to go there... (Score 2) 202

Its flat out a campaign of misinformation and fear.. The buzz words are "Socialism" which is supposed to be synonymous with "Communism".. Then the efforts at any reform to get costs under control, which actually involves some mandated Capitalism, they still say it's Communism.. The percentage of people who don't actually know what those words mean (along with Fascism and propaganda) must be extremely high.. all they know, is it's bad and if the talk show host of the moment happens to call something one of the buzz words, then it must also be bad.

Comment Re:Stealing is business (Score 1) 492

Stealing is a harsh word.. and not really what is happening.. If I like your car and I buy one just like it, is that stealing ?.. If I buy a similar car that has everything yours has is that stealing ?.. If I build a car from scratch that that has everything your car has, is that stealing ? .. I say no to all... Now if I take your car and you no longer have it.. well, that would be stealing.

Comment Re:voting isn't enough (Score 1) 599

No, that was a compromise that when combined with forcing insurance companies to maintain a smaller profit margin or reduce rates is supposed to lead to reform of what is already a broken system... The majority of people who already have medical insurance, never use it.. just as the majority of those now forced to get insurance will never use it.. This same type of reform was done in the auto insurance industry, and it did lead to reduced rates.. The alternatives are to leave things as they are, or go even further and take over the whole thing to make it manageable.. Medical Insurance used to be almost a given when you got a job, but it has gotten so expensive it is hard to find a job that offers it without you paying in 80 percent.. perhaps if the reforms lead to reasonable rates we will get back to those "good ol' days",, but I'm not holding my breath.. Still if I end up having to pay for it, I'd much rather it be reasonable.

Comment Re:Yes, but other than that, how did you like it? (Score 1) 453

I have had my Hotmail hacked too many times.. and I use a mixture of upper and lower case letters with some numbers.. I have finally resolved myself to delete it if it happens again.. I have 3 other email accounts that have not been hacked.. I really only have Hotmail because I used to use Messenger.. I don't know what Hotmails log in policy is, but maybe they need to find a way to suspend it after x amount of unsuccessful tries, and force the owner to recover.. yes you might have many customers frustrated for a time, but as it becomes too difficult to hack, the hackers will go elsewhere.

Comment Re:It's the business model (Score 1) 192

Your contention that the Galaxy S's Android v2.1x -> 2.2x -> 2.3x is somehow better than the 3GS's: iOS 3.x -> 4.x to 5.x is stupid.

I didn't say it was better.. I said it was the same number in less time.. and there are also incremental updates for security and bug fixes besides the version updates, even on older versions that you seem to think are abandoned.. As to the developers woes, well they seem to be doing a good job if the majority of people don't know there is a problem.

Comment Re:It's the business model (Score 5, Interesting) 192

Had two brothers and a niece and nephew in town for Christmas.. They all have Android phones (as do I), as part of breakfast conversation I asked them if they were on Gingerbread.. none of them knew what that was, or what Froyo was, or what Eclair was., or that Ice Cream Sandwich was released and should be coming soon., We had four different models on 3 different carriers (2 different EVOS, Fascinate, Sensation).. there was nothing someone else had app wise that any of us could not get if we wanted.. In truth, although we all used our phones at times, other than directly asking to see their phone none of would have known what the other had.. no one said they liked anothers phone better than theirs.. there was more talk of the carrier differences than there was about phone models.. The reality of fragmentation is that it's not a big deal that some people would make it.. I also have a phone on Froyo that I assume will never go beyond it, but I got my 2 years out of it, and it is in a drawer as a backup phone.. Now the iPhone crowd car harp on the 3GS getting updates beyond the 2 and a half years, but the same type of enthusuuast, that would care, would also upgrade within that time. My 2 year old phone in the drawer had the same number of updates as the 3GS.. The Galaxy S that this article is about, has also had the same number of updates as the 3GS, and in over a year less time.

Comment Re:Interesting... (Score 1) 349

The average dependent (who is not paying taxes btw) increases the tax return well beyond what the average single person gets,, multiply that by each one, and it's some nice cash.. It's a strange system in which those that use more of the government services pay less than single people.. Don't mean to start another inequality debate or "occupy daycare" movement.. just the way it is..

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