For reminding me how old I am! Ugh, you young wiper snappers. Back in my day we had to mess with bootup scripts call the autoexec.bat and config.sys just to get the mouse to work along with our soundcards. We had a few Megabytes of ram and we liked it. We had a few Megabytes of storage and we were fine with it!

I disagree with alot of what people have said about the computers not changing as much though. The architecture may have not changed that much, but our experience in using them has. I could live without my Samsung Galaxy 2 in my daily life going to customer sites and/or driving without getting lost. My regular computer runs several OS's at the same-time using Vmware, without having to dual-boot. Browsing the Internet takes seconds as does compiling most of my development software. I think we've come a long ways.

Start locally then in your township. Or start a consortium in the neighborhood / purchase some dedicated circuits. This "shifting profit" model is ridiculous as they are already making fistloads of cash on my monthly service to begin with. If they offered more value then that would be fine, but what value would consumers have going to this model?

Downgrading will matter, but I agree with parent, this is a bit odd.

"About 90 percent of AAA securities backed by subprime mortgages from 2006 and 2007 were later downgraded to junk status"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/moody-s-s-p-caved-to-mortgage-pressure-by-goldman-ubs-levin-report-says.html

"Excitement crushed."

Your forgot:

Profit!

Completely agree with your post, but no hardware manufacturer has attempted to come out with a table that has a reasonable cost and better functionality. XOOM at $800? Seriously? Almost like an Apple II E clone manufacturer claiming like the clone is better than the original and charging more for it. As soon as a tablet manufacturer comes out with a reasonably priced tablet, I still believe that Apple will maintain its dominance.

Experts can get things wrong. Doctors make mistakes all the time, albeit with higher consequences. In anycase, every aviation expert I've talked to said they thought it was a contrail.

And hosting companies are starting to cash in on the new buzzword as well. I recently ran into it myself when figuring out an issue for a client. My write up: of the issue that I came across.

Maybe something to do with the God Helmet?

So wait. It doesn't just work?

I agree in part, but the higher ups do not take any "Higher" risk in making those trades. If the programmer screws up with his code and it causes the company to lose a significant amount of money, he will be fired. If the higher up does the same, he is rewarded with a significant parting compensation package. That being said, if the programmers are unhappy with their pay and feel they can do better, then they should leave and start their own trading firm. Actions speak louder than words...