To be fair, I should have been clearer. I have Cox Cable in the southeastern US, and the cost for cable Internet access is about $62/month; add TV (with DVR rental) and you're looking at another $150~$200. No thanks. Between free content on Youtube, Hulu, and "broadcast" networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC), and only $8 for Netflix, I'm happy with what I get for the price point. If you like live sports that's really the only big down side.

Ultimately, it's a total of $70 for all the goodies I can consume on the Internet each month, no data limits, etc. Also, Cox has been surprisingly good as an ISP in general; our bandwidth (DL speeds) were just doubled for zero cost, and in this case it actually WAS noticeable. If the chart that was widely publicized about how ComCast dicked over its subscribers until Netflix ponied up is accurate, Cox's internet division is one of the rare almost-good guys in the USA's ISP world.

That makes sense. It's the exact reason why I use the unpaid versions of both :); why I have Netflix instead of cable; etc. etc. Thanks for the response.

Honest question: Why choose Pandora over Spotify, when you can choose entire albums with Spotify? I really am curious, not criticizing your choice.

I don't agree with every stance of the Church, but this is one that has been held true from my earliest recollection (I'm middle-aged). Evolution and scientific origins of the cosmos are entirely legit, and that gives me hope that in time other reasonable and logical viewpoints might be adopted.

When I first saw the Lumia 1520, which my wife wanted, I laughed my ass off. A year later, and now that I'm the one using it, I have to admit I love it, and find it to be a great tool. True that if you don't have big pockets or carry a purse it's going to be tough to haul around (not heavy, just big), but I don't have that problem. Screen visibility is awesome, watching videos is wonderful, and even gaming is better since my fingers don't hide everything I'm trying to control.

In short, bigger is better - for me. YMMV, certainly.

Your pessimism is disappointing. There are plenty of people who want this to happen, and who want to help achieve it (read / watch / listen to the news; search for videos with well known astrophysicists and other scientists). Have some hope and faith, and open your eyes to more than the naysayers - the world isn't nearly as dark and doomed as it seems you feel it is. Human beings have not lost their desire to learn and discover. We will get there - it's just an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish, that's all.

So, you've been using computers since at least 1999. Congrats. Considering your decades... errr... years of desktop use, I hate to have to tell you this, but there are plenty of good reasons to pin apps to the task bar. Not every app is best served this way, but plenty are. Perhaps with some more time and experience you'll learn that, instead of attempting to speak for the rest of us.

Agreed. My Lumia's poly-carbonate bodies have always been a blessing in that area. Sure, not quite as "flash" but far more resilient.

Whoa, simma! :)

Let me address this in a narrow band. It's a good user experience when we limit our discussion to the user experience on the phone itself, removing programming considerations from a developer POV, and from an "I bought an app for my PC but it doesn't run on my phone" POV. I don't think people currently expect their phones to be like their desk/laptop OS environments. You have a valid point that MS are being misleading with the naming convention, but again, user expectation probably doesn't lead to much in the way of true confusion here.

I've never owned a Mac (iPhones yes, Mac no), so I can't say with 100% certainty, but I'm pretty sure the experience on one is vastly different from the other. Android, true, has some cross-formfactor success, but from phone to desktop (Android to Linux) we're looking at a new app again, so I wouldn't think people, tech-savvy or not, will be confused too much.

I hope you don't take this as argumentative - I simply like using my Windows Phone 8 / 8.1 phone, more than I liked my iPhones, more than I enjoyed using my wife's Android phone. I did state, MS' marketing strategy is crap, no doubt. I have shunned Windows 8 for the desktop so far, though I've had co-workers tell me it's fine, they just chuck the "Metro" side of things (in which case... it's Win 7 again with a few enhancements).

MS is doing so little on the consumer side right these days, let's highlight what they get right (competition drives innovation, right?) and encourage people to at least consider it as a viable option for their choice of mobile phone.

Could be because the photons are locked in place...

I've had one for two years now (okay, two - a 920 and now a 1520). I was initially skeptical, but I love the platform. It's actually impressively good. It certainly took MS a while to catch up, but they truly have. The sad thing is that since there's no cachet in the name, and since they're not the best at marketing, few people (percentage-wise) will truly realize that Windows 8.1 on a handset is a platform that isn't just use-*able*, it's a platform you will honestly *want* to use.

Entirely disagree:

Entirely agree:

When I became a member ten years or so ago, and was a lurker for a few years before that, the jokes were always there, but mixed into an often in-depth discussion of math, science, programming, etc. I don't read or post as often as I used to (I was never a major contributor, and the few 5s I've ever gotten were for funny comments rather than for anything important) myself. Perhaps older users are simply moving on (only two of the comments are 6-digit UIDs, the others are either 7s or ACs), or maybe no one's had their coffee yet. Also, today is a holiday in the US (come on, rest of the world, talk about Saturn!!). There are still good discussions, but yes, this particular set of early postings is disappointing.

Someone should promote the AC comment (I'm currently without mod points) - it's actually insightful. MS is making money, and putting out both good AND bad products, just like any other firm does. While it's true that they had their day of highly visible dominance (i.e. most private computer consumers were techies), and they are now easily second / third place in that area, they still lead by far in the business software world, and there's truly no sign that this will abate any time soon.

Branching out into hardware, starting with X-Box and Zune, was an attempt to diversify, and while it hasn't been a home run, it's been a good testing ground for ideas. Some have panned out, some have not. To say that these factors point to MS' overall marketplace dominance being entirely in danger of failing is to overstate things a bit.

It might be able to generate a 3D image of Natalie Portman with a bowl of hot grits. You never know! I for one bow down to our Cray petaFLOPS overlords.

Tangentially related - I have Cox service (and - disclaimer - even worked for them for 9 months until I found my dream job), and since I don't have cable but DO have three kids, we chew through 250 Gb of data via Netflix and YouTube in no time. I get an e-mail asking me to be mindful, but never anything nasty, no threats, no throttling (I've checked), and no overage charges. I'm not saying that some or all of these things will never happen, but so far so good. Of all the providers, Cox has honestly been the one I've seen complained about the least (I wish I could find the graph of Netflix speeds over time, before and after Netflix agreed to pay extra fees to some of the other providers - Cox's speeds were higher than everyone's both before AND after those agreements were put into place). It would be nice if all the fees we as consumers pay (mentioned in a comment somewhere above) were actually used to improve the infrastructure as intended, but at least one company seems to be somewhat lenient and understanding when it comes to its customers given today's limitations.