The other ones that want the job are people who want power... at any cost. Not usually the type of people you want to have power but, since anybody else would run from the job, that's what we get.

I really like that idea. Good one.

Quick and effective solution to this problem. Pass a law that if a service provider says that they offer service to an address they must do so by law. No fines, they have to install service. If that means $30,000 in new cable to be laid, then so be it. The service providers will get their service maps in order really quickly and we'd have accurate coverage numbers for the country.

I've witnessed this so many times as an IT tech that it's sickening. Even if we're standing there and try explaining it, our words just end up in "don't care" brain bin and they'll click on anything that makes the message go away the fastest. I've even had them click on "yes" then "Ok" on the install even when I was standing there and told them not to. It's like they're "listening" to their mother in law. Irritating as hell.

True, ActiveX was just one of several bad ideas that became "standards" during the web's explosive growth period. Others that came to mind were the blink tag, Flash (as you mentioned), Java (for the web, a terrible idea), and the abortion of a scripting language known as JavaScript. JavaScript is just the lesser of the evils of the technologies and no one has been able to push forward a replacement, though several have tried.

The main difference that makes HTML5/JS/CSS "open" in this case is that any person or company can use the technology free of charge in any capacity without fear of a copyright claim or demands for payment. With ActiveX, only the end users who write scripts may use it free of charge. If you want to implement it in a browser or some other capacity, you have to sign a licence agreement with Microsoft or get sued. That's what "open" means in this case though I fully understand and agree with the FOSS community that this is not what "open" should mean but, I'll take it over the alternatives we have at the moment.

What's infuriating is that USB drives used to come with hardware write switches and now you can't find them anywhere. And motherboards used to require you to move a jumper to flash the BIOS but, those are gone too. I don't know if it was cost cutting or a case of user stupidity or both but, the hardware write switch has faded into history. I'm fine with the being in a default-write setup as long as they had the option to cut it off.

My ideal keyboard would be the general design of the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 with the Cherry MX Brown switches and anti-ghosting features. Sadly, I've never found a keyboard even close. It seems that I can either have a comfortable ergonomic keyboard or one that actually works well, not both. Are there even enough people interested in a keyboard like this to have a chance of it ever being made?

That's only true for people with broad shoulders (such as myself). If you're shoulders are more narrow, a split keyboard design can actually hurt your wrists. Like anything with ergonomics, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution... sadly. What I hate being in the broad-shouldered gamer crowd is that I can either get a good mechanical gaming keyboard or an ergonomic keyboard. I've never found one that has both functions. I would love a MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 (the keyboard I'm typing this on) with the Cherry MX brown switches... no such luck. I guess there aren't enough of us to warrant making it.

That's what the suggestion of using solar panels to cover the driveway. It creates sun protection for cars parked there or anything you want to do and generates electricity at the same time.

Except that the same type of big pocket media companies have tried this exact tactic on more than one occasion and each time, the companies that dug their heels in and refused to change with the times were crushed no matter how much money or influence they threw at the problem. All they can do is slow their demise in exchange for guaranteeing their demise.

Time to join the dinosaurs and buggy whip makers.

Only on Facebook and Fox.

I must admit that I'm torn on this one. Who to cheer for? A corrupt politician or Oracle? Can we have a no-holds-barred cage match and shoot the winner in the head?

Yea, they could but, what company wants to spend 2-5 times the staff, time and money just to get the same result as your competitors. By doing it this way, their costs should be on par for development of Chrome and Safari. Mozilla is a strange duck in this arena as far as development so comparing them isn't quite right.

I agree; as long as they continue to play nice with the rest of the vendors, I'm all for them being in the race.