Well, what Microsoft is saying here is that FTC might not know how long the data needs to kept for things to work.
If this is the case, the software is completely broken and need to be redesigned or scraped.
Besides from a user point of view Microsoft does not provide any services where where storing of privacy data are needed at all(Apply to Google too). Obviously this does not include a regular customer database, as this is not what the FCC discuss in this case and such databases have already some regulation in place. What FCC discuss in this case is user profiling/spying.
I wish Nokia provided some better alternatives to C++ for development on Symbian.
That is exactly what they just did! The way Qt extends C++ gives you a fast and powerful development environment, surpassing plain C++ big time.
Of course, building/prototyping hardware CAN be more expensive, but thinking of software development as "cheap" just because you can get a PC for ~$200 - yeah, well, no... not really.
You got it, building and prototyping hardware is more expensive period. Software development will always be cheaper on matching complexity levels. Even disregarding the ~$200 PC, going for a ~$1000 and adding a ~$50000 for development tools, you will still always come out ahead with SW development. Decent tools for hardware development does not come cheap, and considering the free tools for sw development its easier to cut cost there.
And after the initial investment, you only burn man hours with sw development. The compile-debug-compile cycles only cost time, where in hardware development each successive round of prototypes add the cost of parts and production. Not to mention the delay after the prototype design is finished until you get the produced part. If you think a 20min compile time is bad, try waiting one to eight weeks for your prototype before you can start testing and debugging it.
Old programmers never die, they just hit account block limit.