I wouldn't say D&D was crappy, but it is primitive by today's standards. WOTC managed to oversimplify it... that made it crappy.

These short lifecycles are proof that WOTC (and their Hasbro overlords) still don't know how to manage an RPG. Almost everyone complained about moneygrubbing when 3.5 came out, and then some more when 4e came out. WOTC over-corrected for TSR's failure (too many crap/undersupported settings, and silly supplements) and took the wrong lessons from it. They've reduced the number of settings and put the core system on a version cycle that the model can't support, when they should have let system versions stand for 10 years and draw turnover from new setting materials.

Granted, 1e only lasted ~11 years until 1988 because of a legal spat between TSR and Gygax, otherwise who knows how long it could have run. 2e ended because WOTC thought it was too complex, and therefore difficult to market (it sort of was, after TSR spent its last six years bloating it). 3.5, 4e, and now this are just gratuitous.

And the sad thing is, most people who cut their teeth on 3e+ just don't know how to portray a character (or properly GM a game), because modern D&D is more about combat and powers; it's become somewhat more an FPS/MMO with dice than a classic tabletop RPG.

If this new version trades feats/powers/prestige classes (all the roll-playing junk that metastasized from kits in the brown books) for actual role playing, they'd be getting the game back on track.

We have now arrived well within step #2 of the plan I laid out before. Wait for some more networks to jump on this litigation bandwagon, then offer to shelve AutoHop in exchange for offering their channels a la carte, even at up to triple each channel's carrier rate. This way, people who actually want ESPN can pay ~$15 for it, instead of everyone paying ~$5.

I started in 4th grade on an Apple ][e in 1985. I was the first kid in the class to figure out how to do animation, as a result of a bug in my code.

After your first sentence, you're absolutely right. UI designers have unlearned the difference between can and should.

If I hadn't already commented, I'd mod you up for your use of "Fisher Price".

Aero, and to a lesser extent Luna, had no coherent design philosophy. Random things were made shiny (from among a few different shiny styles), or animated, and the use of color was inconsistent. Plus, Aero sacrificed a lot of easy customization... why am I stuck with 8px thick window borders unless I download and install a binary that replaces Areo's images and skin geometry?

I suspect Metro is a correction for that, perhaps an overcorrection.

1. Continue taking steps to roll out AutoHop. Let the networks rage.
2. When the networks begin making serious litigation threats (which they will), offer them a deal: AutoHop or a la carte channels: Dish will cease to offer channel packages.
3. When the networks choose a la carte (which they will), stipulate that if a la carte is ever abolished, they consent to AutoHop.

Result: Dish customers get a better deal, and Dish gets more customers.

Or Miguel de Icaza starting with the .NET framework documentation and creating Mono?

The discord you point out is why I have trouble believing these stories as they are presented. Sophisticated obfuscation techniques thwarted by boneheaded transport tactics, all done by Muslim fundamentalists embedding secrets in porn. It's just a bit too contrived and shiny.

Ignore everything he says to justify iPhone on Sprint, what Sprint really wants is to get in on the Apple party.

As a Sprint customer with an Android 4G phone (but no 4G service in my area, and I pay $10/month for it), I really would rather that they spend that pile of money on building out their network. Sure, they're going to roll out LTE over the next couple years, but my phone isn't LTE. Dammit. And my city will be among the last to get Sprint LTE.