New versions of Windows are also generally better than previous versions.

The word "refactor" has been insanely successful in getting managers to approve rewrites. Before the Agile Manifesto, when programmers wanted to take a completed function and write it again, they would ask to "rewrite" it. The manager would ask what's wrong with it, the programmers would say, "nothing, really" and the manager would decline the request. Now, the programmers ask to "refactor" the function, the manager asks what that means, and the programmers give a confused answer whose only consistent message is that whatever-it-is is urgently needed. So the manager says, "okay, I guess."

The first case leads to crufty codebases that are hard to add new functions to. The second case leads to writing the same functions over and over and getting nowhere. It's not clear to me which is better, but it is clear to me that substituting the word "refactor" for "rewrite" has changed the world.

The Windows HAL is certainly not the greatest API ever, but somehow everyone other than Apple manages to have their device detection work by callback or event sink, not by polling. If Apple really is polling for USB presence, then there's really no way you can blame that on the Microsoft API, which does provide better ways of doing USB device presence detection.

A couple months ago, we had the (likely made-up) incident of the programmer outsourcing his job to China. That story was widely told in corporate boardrooms, along with mentioning Tim Ferriss. Now they have all just read The Four-Hour Work Week and have come to the conclusion that anyone who wants to telecommute is trying to rip them off (which is what they already secretly thought anyway).

It wouldn't be running from this device. Dell would, notionally, have rack cabinets full of Mac Minis in some data center somewhere. To the user, it's all just the "cloud."

> If you're gonna have to learn a new OS why does it have to windows?

Because only Windows runs all the applications you depend on. If your business runs on Quickbooks, then it runs on Windows for the foreseeable future. (Though not necessarily Windows 8. Many businesses are still running Windows XP today. You won't be forced to Win8 for several years - and who knows what might happen in the next decade.)

I don't hope this means the end is near. As much as we all like to complain about Microsoft, imagine what Apple would do with a desktop monopoly.

'If OpenStack isn't an alternative to VMware, then what the hell is it?'

It's an alternative to VMware with an easy migration path.

This isn't difficult ... is it?

That would make sense if they were producing revenue for it. But for a free giveaway, the faster they can kill it, the sooner they can fire the one remaining developer who knows anything about it.

tl;dr - keep Flash on your Android device for as long as possible, because Stan really needs that job.

It needs to be more sophisticated than that.

For example, in the automotive industry, you DO NOT void your warranty (no matter what the dealer tries to pull on you) by installing a K&N air filter. But you DO void your warranty by reboring the cylinders and putting in oversized pistons. This is all regulated and the manufacturers don't get to just decide you void your warranty if you sneeze inside the car, the way computer industry manufacturers do.

What we need here is common sense regulatory involvement. Apple needs to be told to quite the ridiculous arms race and just let 0.01% of people run weird software on their hardware - just like GM needed to be told that bolt-on upgrades don't void the powertrain warranty.

You might as well ask why people read newspapers, when hardcover books have better typography.

Netflix streaming is as good or better than any other kind of streaming, but nobody ever claimed it would be as good as discs. If you want the highest possible quality, stick to Blu-Ray ... which Netflix also offers.

They have a script. Their decision to avoid CGI *and green screens* is pretty radical, considering that their script is interstellar space opera.

So what do you want to do about it? Deny them access to education so they don't get so uppity?

In theory, everyone is. States with a sales tax also have a use tax, which is a tax payable directly by the consumer to the state on items they purchase and do not pay sales tax on at the time of purchase.

It's just that nobody actually pays it.

Funny how none of the Ron Paulies seem to mind when the "partisan" Supreme Court comes out with decisions that favor their positions. If you don't like Roe vs Wade, just come out and say it - don't hide behind this farcical mask of constitutional respectability.