I see the same level of competence in first model year cars, as you see in Adobe Reader or Internet Explorer. And it is for the same reasons: Add these features. Get it out the door by ship date. We''ll fix the problems next year.

I normally read slashdot (well, skim) at -1, and the comments here are relatively decent. It really helps that I can browse as a single webpage. Compare slashdot to "news" sites, where the "noise" overwhelms the signal. And since slashdot has (had?) a reputation for tech articles, many of the commenters know how to type.

Here in the United States, the cut-off is approximately 15% graft. I suspect this may be from the high costs of auditing and investigation quickly outpacing cost recovery.

Joe's Own Editor. Read the top line (press ctrl-k [then] h for help) . It's soooo hard to learn.

"At 60 cents per 1,000 gallons, it's far cheaper than any other source of water..."
I believe Israel is desalinating ocean water for 0.50 USD per cubic meter, which would be 60 cents per 316 gallons.

"Without any hardware to test on, developers are leery of committing to supporting new hardware features. Without software that takes advantage of new hardware capabilities, customers aren't willing to pay for new equipment."

Is it not the manufacturer's interest to provide initial software / libraries? At least version 1.0?

Joe's Own Editor!

I use JOE for teaching students how to write code. That way they can concentrate on learning the material and not how to make the editor work.

Because Windows programs have a habit of taking over a processor; acting like I am still using DOS.

I said "may" age out, subject to official policy and budget constraints. Alternatively, emails related to assigned case files need to be saved, archived on CD, and/or printed out for the case file. Emails with general instructions such as "Ask for more information from 501(c)'s which have to following words in their name..." are considered internal, and not case related. The email servers are for work only, so most email is plaintext or attached PDFs / Word DOCs. The emails probably use less space compared to what you would see from private accounts.

Yes, the IRS runs Exchange. Yes, they have back-ups of the servers. However, back-ups from more than 2 years ago may age out. Thus, if you wait 2 years and dd if=/dev/[zero|urandom|random] the harddrive, you can make emails hard to recover.

Fifteen years from now those Chinese made parts will be manufactured in Africa and SE Asia.

They may not be de jure monopolies, but they are de facto monopolies. And it's for one simple reason: cable franchise fees. The county/parrish/city receives a percentage of the gross revenue collected within their borders. The more money people pay, the more revenue local government collects. An additional provider would only split the customer base, push prices lower, and lower total customer payments (at least in the eyes of government). There is no incentive for government to encourage another provider to enter the local market, and every incentive to discourage additional providers. And it doesn't matter if we consider this rational, it only matters if it's considered rational by local officials.

"Additionally the company noted that they had complied with all applicable environmental regulations."
Doesn't matter. If you cause damage, you owe damages.

"Time Warner Cable operates in 29 states, but thanks to the old system of regional and municipal cable monopolies, Comcast and Time Warner Cable don't compete anywhere."

This is your state government(s) shafting you. The states created laws which allow cable monopolies. Local governments collect a franchise fee on the gross revenue of the cable companies operating within their boundaries. In the eyes of local government, less competition means higher prices which means more tax revenue (without voter feedback). Local government passively discourages competition through regulations, filings, public meetings, disclosures, insurance requirements, etc. Some local (and state) governments *actively* discourage competition.

The chip-and-PIN system is used by processors to transfer fraud liability from the merchant to the user. EMV was written by committee, and it fails to provide the security it touts. Also, it is not a positive endorsement when "the civilized parts of the world" have a card system forced upon them by their governments.