Actually, the arch enemy of GPL, especially GPL v3, is Google. You just haven't figured it out yet...

Because a single PST file is harder to automatically backup on a daily basis that multiple files spanning in numerous mail directories?

You should also add another rule: The Ethernet / Internet connection must be directly to the net, no NAT or blocking router / firewall between.

You have been able to do that for a long time. Just not with open source software. Google Maps Mobile is pretty good at this already, and it's free.

Lynx, out of the box?

It really does not matter why it does not work properly. It just doesn't, period. In the mean time the "shoddy plugin" has worked in Windows since the beginning.

Don't have any, ain't getting any :)

Then again if Steam style DRM that actually works, is required for example PC gaming to exist in the future, I really don't mind at all.

I don't know about you, but I can still copy CDs and other DRM-free content pretty fine with Vista.

Ok thanks... I didn't think about the amount of RAM in consoles, now it makes a lot more sense.

Yes, my original question was a bad. But isn't most of the other stuff anyway already provided by the platform, or the game code is non platform specific code that can be reused pretty much without conversion?

It would seem odd to me game companies looking to port would not use tools and code which was easy to port to begin with.

Do game developers really file I/O operations including streaming themselves? I always thought that stuff is for the OS and it's libraries. Is there a point in doing that stuff yourself? Are you saying if you develop for XBox 360, you have to code your own I/O code? And is physics engine code tied to a certain platform? Why?

How can DirectX games be hard to port between PC and XBox as they use DirectX for pretty much everything?

Yes, they made it to cash in on the console market. But it's in Microsoft's interest to keep PC gaming alive: It's the other thing that keeps people using Windows, with Office being another.

To be fair, it's not like Microsoft beat Netscape with a superior product, but Netscape completely wasted their market share on bad business decisions.