However after that takeover fails (you already know it will,)

It had better fail. Corporate consolidation in the US has been a disaster.

A lot of Slashdot back end code is being rewritten, and HTML5 is supposed to be part of the deal. All the people who actually work on the site and read your comments agree that Flash video is [insert bad word here].

Weren't there huge complaints as a result of this?

Oh yes. And they were told, "elections have consequences".

You idiots also said that about TV's, music devices, homes etc...

No, they didn't.

But I'll say it right now: My house does not need to be on the Internet. My shoes do not need to be on the Internet.

Not this Internet, at least. Because every one of those connected "things" is going to require connecting to a web page to manage, and that web page is going to require you to create a profile, that is connected to your personal information. The Internet of Things is not designed for your benefit. Right now, in 2014, do you really need to be told that? Have you not noticed anything happening around you?

For a group of people who are supposed to be tech-savvy, a lot of techies really don't seem to get what the Internet is about. There is some fantasy from the 1980's that still seems to hang on in the minds of people. Maybe a fairy tale that is told from generation to generation. But it has nothing to do with the truth. That Internet we dreamed about decades ago never happened.

I don't understand why this has been modded as a troll. He took the words right out of my mouth.

My "things" don't need to be on the internet. I like the Internet being in a neat compartment where I can go when I want it. I don't want it following me around.

Seriously, what the fuck is so attractive, I mean, given that the Internet has become pretty much a combination of a low-rent shopping mall and the equivalent of having your boss, your government and your phone company looking up your ass every minute of the day, about an internet of things? Have people really gotten that bored with life? Can you really not live one single minute without the illusion that your measly existence matters one bit to the universe?

Can anyone be so dense as to not be able to see what this "internet of things" is really all about? And here's a hint: It's not about making your life better. For fuck's sake.

So if it's a representation of the community, why would you believe it has anything to do with affirmative action? The "point" of the GPP was that black people are "takin' ar jerbs".

I could say that you see it because the government is a bastion of political correctness where people are chosen based on quotas rather than on experience

You could say you're Superman too, but that won't give you x-ray vision.

And this is the fault of Apple / Google ?

No, it's not the fault of Apple/Google. It's a feature/bug of any bubble market. If you can get in early and score, get out fast and buy real property. Then think about what you're going to do next. Not the other way around.

I bet a lot of those app guys wish they had bought a house with their money instead of renting that warehouse and hiring their WoW clan members to develop the next big app.

You seem to think the institutions are racist because they wanted some "very sharp" kid to get a GED ?

Not at all. I don't think the institutions are racist at all. I think they saw talent.

And because of (and in some cases, despite) the efforts of people who have fought these fights for many decades, there are now such opportunities. There was a time, not that long ago, in my lifetime in fact, when this young man would have not gotten the opportunity because of the color of his skin and his station in life.

Now his job is to make sure he gets as much out of them as they get out of him. That is the hard fight.

Yeah, hate that $13 billion *developers* have made so far.

That money's been spent a long time ago. A lot of it on development of more apps that have not been profitable.

Assuming your figure of "$13billion" is correct, of course.

Anyway, this article is about the marketplace, not about the relative handful who have scored big on an app, then hired a staff, invested in their businesses, took venture capital and private equity and now are well and truly fucked.

Why, in theory, build out municipal fiber when internet service is already offered by two respectable private businesses?

Because places have done it and saved the population money and provided better service?

If there's been consolidation to the point where there are only two providers, I completely understand a municipality providing the competition. I lived in a town with municipal power generation. It was cheap and the service excellent. Until a group of Koch-backed corporatists got elected to the county board and privatized the service without public hearings or comment.

Home energy bills doubled within six months.

Oh, of course not. It just demonstrates the hypocrisy of the accuser.

If you look up the definition of "madam", you will see that Lucianne Goldberg fits the bill rather well.