I'm not sure that logic plays through. Frankly, for Microsoft, the real problem is that damned few people really even consider Microsoft mobile products at all. They're a niche player, competing with BlackBerry for who will end up pushed right out of the market.

Imagine you're Microsoft, you're faced with the possibility that you will never, even if you heavily subsidized a mobile Windows product line, be able to make any significant headway into the iOS-Android hegemony. What would you do? If it was me, I'd quietly admit that I'm never going to be able to dominate mobile platforms the way I do desktops and portable computers, and I'd leverage what I had by opening up my software to more platforms.

This isn't even a revolutionary idea for Microsoft. They once owned their own *nix platform; Xenix. Windows NT itself was designed a hardware abstraction layer so it could be ported to multiple hardware platforms. But somewhere along the line Microsoft and the x86 computer manufacturers welded themselves together. I can't say it was a bad decision, as it made Microsoft and Intel absolute shitloads of money for a quarter century, but at the same time it seems to have frozen Microsoft in place. It became a one-trick pony, only able to envision itself in a world of Backoffice apps and OEM licensing. Now it's got to be nimble again, and as it has already effectively ceded a large portion of the computing products out there to Apple and Google, it's got to make the best it can with what it has.

No, this seems to be evolving into "Embrace... or die."

The world is a very different place for Redmond, and if they want to hang on to any piece of the consumer market, they need to get their software on to all the major platforms.

My municipal government can't even keep the streets in good shape. Ever seen this meme? It's an accurate reflection of the condition of the roadways here. They don't even have the hard freeze excuse that my municipality in the northeast had. You want them running the last mile? Thanks, but no thanks.

There's probably merit to someone owning the last mile infrastructure and leasing it out to ISPs; there's definitely merit to separating the TV side of the house from the ISP side.

It was mentioned in the CNN article I linked earlier. I also watched them carry it out of the car on NBC Nightly News last night. Feel free to find the footage on NBC's website if you wish.

First of all, I'm not British, so I only meant this as an outside observation. I'm Canadian, so certainly well versed in the realities of Westminster politics.

Second of all, as much as Cameron may be far from ideal, I don't think he's any kind of Palpatine. As much as anything, he's been delivered the fruits of the Labour meltdown in Scotland which began in 2010 and now appears to be permanent.

I do think that the specter of a Labour government reliant on the SNP disturbed a good many English, and I think there are reasonable grounds to argue that, for England, the idea of a Devo-maxed Scotland still able to push English MPs around on matters of largely English concern demonstrates fundamental inequities. And before we all forget, it is Labour, as much as anyone, who created this dilemma by dealing with the Scottish question, and going out of its way not to deal with English question.

At any rate, British voters had their chance to pick a new electoral system that would have made the ability of any party to form government with less than even a 40% share of the popular vote far less likely. They rejected that. Coupled with what looks to be a permanent break with Labour in Scotland, and the phenomena of UKIP actually stealing more Labour votes than Conservative votes in the North, the Tories probably have a good chance of repeating the 2015 election again, providing they don't go completely off the rails. And that will moderate them as much as anything. Their first majority in 23 years is not something they're going to be keen to throw away on a pack of Thatcheresque exploits.

The alternative being a weak Labour government with its balls firmly in the Nats hands.

If there was ever an election that was a choice of the lesser evil, the 2015 UK general election was it.

"Shall I felate you with my misshapen blackened teeth, luvvey?"

"Please do, dearest, and I shall think of England while you do it!"

Finland lost 10% of her territory, had to relocate 15% of her population, and pay reparations for a war she didn't start. Despite all that, they've built one of the most successful countries on the planet, by any metric.

It's truly sad to see how far the cradle of western civilization has fallen. On the bright side, tourism there will be dirt cheap when they finally get booted out of the Eurozone.

Were you paying attention to what two idiots did with pressure cookers in Boston a few years ago? Or what another idiot tried to do with a propane tank, which this story says may also have been in the vehicle?

I own both of those items. I've transported them within my vehicle many times. What I haven't done is parked my fucking car outside the local Federal building and left it unattended with those items inside. Should I have to think that way? No. Is that the sad reality of the world we live in today? Yes.

Jesus Fucking Christ, look up what "common sense" means sometime. Stop trying to rationalize this as some sort of oppressive Governmental action. This is called an "abundance of caution," and is perfectly understandable to anyone that hasn't been living under a rock for the last twenty years.

Which he'll likely be reimbursed for, notwithstanding the fact that he was illegally operating the vehicle immediately prior to this happening. A pressure cooker costs ~$30, a rear window ~$400, and a propane cylinder ~$30. We're not even talking one thousand dollars worth of damages here.

Do you think quoting my post line by line makes you sound like less of an absolutist idiot?

Gasoline doesn't explode, it burns. Of course, as our resident expert in IEDs and Constitutional Law, you already knew that, right?

In New York State you can get expired registration and/or inspection citations while your car is parked. There ain't nothing to see here. Drive without a license and you'll get cited for driving without a license. If you have proof they made up that charge or revoked his license for political reasons why don't you present it? Otherwise you're just making shit up to fit your narrative.

You people really are something. Have you ever heard the expression, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should?"

I can legally put every single firearm I own into the trunk of my car with thousands of rounds of ammunition and drive through Washington DC on my way to Virginia. That doesn't mean cruising past the White House on this little road trip is a sensible decision, never mind parking nearby while I grab a bite to eat or take a few photos.

Fucking common sense says don't park your fucking car a block away from the United States Capitol with anything inside that could be misidentified as an explosive device. It also says you should keep your drivers license current and in good standing. You think they just cited him for that offense without checking to see that he was actually operating the vehicle? You are familiar with traffic cameras right? Hell, he probably admitted that he was driving when they interviewed him.

He's not getting the book thrown at him in any of the media accounts I've read, he's getting the same treatment he would have received if he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop. If it's his first offense he'll probably get off with a small fine and a conviction for a violation rather than a misdemeanor. There's no fucking miscarriage of justice here.

To the best of my recollection, there is no legal parking on that section of 3rd Street, NW or SW, near the National Mall. If you illegally park your car near the US Capitol Building you should probably expect some scrutiny. If you have a pressure cooker inside in the day and age of improvised explosive devices you should expect further scrutiny. Is the latter bit "fair?" Maybe not. But it's reality in this era.

If the police don't investigate an illegally parked car near a sensitive structure they're grossly negligent. If the investigation reveals you broke the law to get the car there, well, you're going to get charged. If this gentleman was driving on a suspended license it was only a matter of time before he got charged anyway; he just managed to do it in a high profile fashion, vs. the thousands of idiots doing the exact same thing that get picked up in a more mundane fashion every day of the week.

Not to burst your paranoid bubble, but the cops can't just revoke drivers licenses in the United States. Generally speaking, your drivers license can only be revoked or suspended after convictions for certain serious traffic offenses, a combination of convictions for minor traffic offenses, or failure to pay renewal fees when your license expires. A handful of jurisdictions allow the cops to physically take your license when you're cited for DWI; the actual suspension thereof generally occurs at your first court appearance.

In this instance they haven't released any of the back story, but it would seem that the guy was driving on a suspended or revoked license, which is a crime most everywhere in the World. It's a tough one to get away with in the day and age of license plate readers but if you're gonna attempt it you're probably best advised not to park your car on the Mall in Washington DC.....

Maybe they should shake down Italy and Turkey too.

Funny how Poland isn't flat broke; anyone that thinks Greece came out of WW2 worse off than Poland is delusional or a member of the Greek Parliament. Oh, wait, I'm being redundant. :)