True Multitasking

No. Healthcare is rationed in all current societies. In some societies the decision between whether someone receives treatment or not depends on whether they have insurance or money. In other societies, the decisions are based on other factors.

These are all questions of health rationing, normally decided by a government organisation (such as NICE in the U.K.) who sit down to thrash out the priorities. Some choices are easy - i.e. $50000 for treatment and ITU care for a 20 year who has had a heart attack due to a congenital heart problem versus $50000 for a series of cosmetic operations. Obviously, there are much harder decisions - but that doesn't mean one shouldn't try to make them, and revert to a system where these decisions are based on the ability to pay.

Generally children are not ones that are limited against, but yes, if your father is in need of a liver transplant because of alcoholic liver disease, the next organ is more likely going to go to the 25 year old with the autoimmune cirrhosis in need of the liver.

Really? Freedom of speech requires a fully functioning democratic government that supports freedom of speech - forcibly if necessary, with the full backing of economic stability and peace. Privacy - same again.

That is true, but it is unlikely that you will never wish to make use of health care - but I'm guessing you mean that in that scenario you will pay for it yourself. If you are in a position to pay for it yourself, you are likely a high earner. An argument can be made that your wage is dependent on a number of people with a lesser wage to support your position, and it is in your interest that these people are able to receive health care.

as a replacement for Ubuntu 10.04. I want to stick with debian because I get on with apt-get, but I don't want unity/kde/gnome3/cinnamon. Obviously the other alternative is linux mint mate.

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I don't get the connection between this http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/15/171201/barnes-noble-names-microsofts-disputed-android-patents and what's happening now.

In fact, because of B&Ns stand, I would have bought a nook here in the UK.

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I'd like to know how they replaced MS Outlook.

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for the first time from XP.

It was a bit of an anti-climax and a slight disappointment at first. Nothing happened. No pop-ups appeared. No first-time guide. No helpful hints. No gnashing hard-drive activity. Just silence and waiting for my command.

Since then I've come to appreciate this as the #1 reason for using linux - when you actually want to get something done, it just seems to get out the way. It's a shame that more recent distro versions seem to be moving away from this though.

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http://guerillascience.co.uk/archives/3748

He uses renoise - something I used when getting back into tracker music...

"When Guerilla Science asked if I was interested in composing a small bit of music to accompany their project The Sonic Tour of the Brain, my answer was immediate, profane, and in the affirmative. I was delighted to get a chance to apply some daubs of art to their science and be, if only briefly, aboard their motley caravan of learning and revelry...."

Good point - I couldn't hear it at the exhibit, so I think you're right, whereas I can hear up to 18250khz with my equipment at home. I imagine there'll be a load of under 20's panicking about their hearing now. Maybe not a bad thing.

I somewhat take Linus's view - who cares?

-Interview with Linus last year (http://www.techradar.com/news/software/why-linus-torvalds-would-rather-code-than-make-money-1112900)

LT: "Technical people will complain 'it's Linux, and now people don't know they're using Linux'. Which is true, a lot of people don't even know they're using Linux"

LXF: "And that doesn't bother you?"

LT: "And that doesn't bother me at all, because I'm interested in the technical side. And I actually think it's the right thing to do, to say: "Hey, we're doing our OS".

And when they say OS, they mean more than just a kernel, and when I say OS I usually mean just the kernel.

But if you're doing your OS, Linux is a central, but it's still just a small part of the overall thing - you shouldn't need to name your stuff just because you use the Linux kernel.

So, I actually wouldn't want to use the trademark thing, plus I think it would be stupid anyway because I think people should just rename their things."

Microsoft encourage this.

I was out in India in 2007 and visited an orphanage school. They were teaching photoshop to what looked like 8 year-olds. I spoke to the teacher there (this was in fact before I had any experience of linux myself). He told me how Microsoft officials visited the school and requested the fee for the Windows XP license x the number of pupils. The figure was in the thousands of dollars - probably several times the school's whole budget for the year. Overnight, he wiped all of the computers and installed linux on it.

When the MS officials next visited, they were horrified to find linux on all of the computers, and quickly made a deal - microsoft windows for free. I can't remember at that time what he did - probably took up the offer.

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Here here!

Also my biggest gripe with Windows 7.

It upsets me when you realise that something you 'own' is actually 'owned' by some corporation.

Back in 2009, Ubuntu was a breath of fresh air, and made me realise it doesn't have to be like that.

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