I wish I had a dollar for every time an OSS project spat out something like "ERROR: 0947445" with no mention anywhere of what aforementioned error code meant or how to fix it, then upon further dredging through a hundred uncommented lines of code to find out what was going on it turns out that the root cause was that I hadn't installed some-package-to-do-something-2.4-beta (which should have been a prerequisite, but isn't).

Source is actually on the more modular side of engine design - bolting in a new render path for OpenGL isn't massively taxing.

My MacBook Pro with an 8600M GT plays L4D2 just fine and that's an '07 model.

Yes, because Valve are going to release the source so that the communities can compile their own distro-specific releases...

I'd love to see Steam become a truly cross-platform application, but until the Linux community can come up with a way of making something as simple as a CLI utility install and run the same on every distro without resorting to --with-obscure-option-to-fix-ui-glitch and --without-something-that-doesnt-come-with-this-distro then it's not going to happen.

You can record it to watch it later though. See the BBC's Internet Blog.

Hey now, some media players are hooked on their timelines. I recall RealPlayer back in the day insisted on a timeline and scrubber for live playback (it may still do, but I haven't used it for many, many years) and IIRC Windows Media Player still does.

Lets be honest here, the OSS guys can barely agree on which letter should appear if you press the "A" key, never mind before you introduce shift, ctrl, alt, option, meta, super or chording.

Weren't CompuServe email addresses numerical?

There are only so many lastname.tld kicking around, and if you have a common name you're screwed. I need to get to some quite obscure variations on my first name, last name and middle initials before I find a domain which is still available and can fit in a sensible amount of space.

Given the choice of the free mail providers out there who provide webmail and a reasonable approximation of reliability and longevity who would you choose?

Once upon a time AOL was a nice, neutral email provider.

Things like @aol.com and @hotmail.com don't bother me, what bothers me is before the @ symbol. joe_middlename_bloggs@ is fine, even from things like Hotmail, but xXxXx_BuBbLe_PrInCeSs_1987_xXxXx@ is going to find its way to my trash folder very, very quickly.

To an extent. If my manager suddenly told me to turn off the print servers (printing for over 10,000 users) I wouldn't blindly log in and shut them down. It's an action which affects the vast majority of the business operations, and therefore needs more than my manager coming to me and saying "kill the servers" before it'll actually happen.

The trouble with lanyards is they get caught, especially annoying if you're crawling under desks. Plus once you start adding the paraphernalia of all but the most state-of-the-art centrally controlled door locking systems you end up with a wide variety of swipe cards and keys which mean it's equivalent to carting a good pocket full of crud around your neck. I don't want to walk around with my ID badge, two USB sticks, a SecurID fob, two RFID fobs and twelve keys bouncing off my chest.

How about the tried and tested solution - name badges. Your name on one line, "IT Services" on the second line, and the corporate logo on the left hand side. Make them the fancy magnetic clip type so they don't ruin clothes and can be pulled off if they snag. Simples.