Yeah, it's called picking the winners and losers. Someone always is suing the state for something or other, but I don't expect much movement on this issue. The state (most states, I suspect) will continue to favor the hip and trendy businesses at the expense of businesses they don't like.

But you can't blame Musk for considering the deal. Because hey, free money.

My perception is that libraries carry books because they are books, and not for trendy or financial reasons. If I can't find an obscure title online, (admittedly, this happens less and less often) I can often find it at the library.

Ob. youtube.

Mind you, I've never done business with Qwest. The point is, the person in question did have options other than Comcast that he had never considered. Maybe they weren't viable options. He doesn't know, because he's never checked.

> I can get comcast internet for a total monthly bill of $65. I can get the same internet service and their basic cable for a total monthly bill of $45. I view this as being paid $20/month to warehouse one of their cable boxes

Comcast made the same argument to me, but my current ISP charges just over $40 a month for internet only. So the $45 Comcast price only looks good when compared to other Comcast prices. Assuming, as you implied, that you don't watch basic cable. (I don't either.) I think the deal is meant to suck you in -- you get basic cable as a loss leader, and then you upgrade so you can watch Game of Thrones, and they've got you.

But was that the ongoing price or a "limited time" price? I think the business model assumes that you'll take the really sweet six month deal, and then you'll just grit your teeth and pay the ongoing, much higher price because it's too inconvenient to change.

Some of the problems people are having is that Comcast is making it difficult or impossible to drop the service. Having them drop you might be a relief.

But how slow is slow? For years I used Speakeasy at 3 Mb/sec rather than deal with Comcast. And then fiber became available, and I was perfectly happy with 15 Mb/sec for a few more years. Most recently, the fiber provider (not Verizon) bumped the download speed to 25, and I'm told that soon I'll be seeing 25/25 at no extra cost. Comcast advertises a faster speed, but why do I care? Past 15, only geeks will notice. Hell, past 3, Ma and Pa Kettle won't really notice.

Because the bundle includes the home phone.

"Comcrap screwed me again. I couldn't get them to reverse this charge."

"Why do you do business with them anyway? You regularly call them things like 'comcrap' and are complaining about them constantly. Why not move to another carrier?"

"I'd love to, but they're the only game in my part of town."

(after a few minutes of research) "No they aren't, you have Qwest Fiber available in your area. Why not switch to that?"

"Well, Comcrap is faster. They offer (some speed) and Qwest only offers (some slightly slower speed)."

"Ok, do you really understand what those speeds mean? How much faster is your pr0n going to download at, for instance, 15 Mbps vs 30 Mbps? In real minutes."

"30 is twice as fast."

"That's only the top peak speed possible from the connection. The actual speed can and does vary wildly. Besides, the speed at the head end of the service you're accessing is much more significant."

"I've had comcrap for six years."

"And you've HATED every minute of it! You haven't called the company by its real name in all of that time! You're regularly telling me how they promise a discount and then don't give it to you, or charge you for stuff you haven't ordered, and how you can't get any charges reversed. What the hell?"

"I got a good price on the bundle."

"You never answer your home phone! And you only watch stuff you've illegally downloaded."

"I don't like commercials."

"Ok..." (deep breath) "So, let's summarize. Of the three services you're currently paying for, you only commonly use one of them (internet), so despite the great deal you got on the bundle, any cost you're paying over and above internet is A WASTE OF MONEY. And the company regularly busts your chops. Yet you stay with them. Are you an abused spouse?"

...the conversation doesn't go well from there.

This is only slightly paraphrased from a real conversation. The conclusion I've drawn from speaking to comcast subscribers is that some stick with it under the impression that they're "getting a deal", and some because they have been sold on the idea that "it's the only game in town", but I suspect that some people just like to have something to complain about.

So, let's all be troublemaking customers. Let's make it as unpleasant and difficult as possible for Comcast to do business. We will be doing the world a service.

Or perhaps, this was written by a MS employee on the free Surface Pro 3 issued to same, with the understanding that it be used to increase visibility of the platform. Or face the dungeons below Redmond.

That's a vivid metaphor, and describes the situation precisely. :-) I may use that.

> Should Microsoft pull the plug on the tablet?

No. Why should they? It looks like the Surface is making money, it's just not penetrating the market to the extent of its competitors. A product doesn't have to pillage and burn all competitors to be viable. It has to make money. It appears to be doing so.

I'm saying this from the standpoint of never wanting to own one, for several reasons I won't go into now. But obviously some people like them. That's why there are different kinds of products, because different people have different needs.

Wow, I didn't know. For O'Hare to be struggling with mental illness, and still be concerned about the rest of the cast, and for the show to continue, shows character like you seldom see anymore. And JMS trying to accomodate O'Hare where it was in his power to do so, even when it put the show at risk, shows integrity over and above what one would expect from the entertainment industry. Really puts today's spoiled, intolerant divas in a different light, doesn't it?