although they want $10 for the software and then $10 for many of the actual video loops.

Well, nothing is stopping you from making your own if you want to save $20, after spending several thousand on the hardware. Actually I suppose you could just engineer your own plasma screens too. Screw you patents! Stick it to the man!

I liked the pictures. Is there a name for the muppet guy in the first one?

It might help to read the actual paper instead of some hand-waving article.

I really don't think it's demoting anti-MS pages.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=is+windows+expensive&go=&form=QBLH&qs=n

• Is Windows getting more expensive? - CNET News
• Windows 5x More Expensive than Mac OS X
• Windows Vista: One Expensive Operating System!
• Expensive Computer Dead Slow
• Windows, Skylights & Doors | Sierra Club Green Home
• Why is Windows so expensive?
• Windows 5x More Expensive than Mac OS X
• Windows 7 pricing thoughts - Is Windows too expensive? | TalkBack on ...
• RoughlyDrafted: Five Windows Flaws - 5
• Comparison of Windows and Linux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "In practice, the availability of Windows source code is generally heavily restricted or extremely expensive, if available at all. However, even where source is available ..."

And "is windows expensive" returns just plain anti-Windows results. "why is windows expensive" (eliminating the 'so') returns more neutral responses. This is just a difference in the search algorithms. I wonder how many phrases were tried before the authors obtained suitably pro-MS results for their troll.

I was only pointing out that copy protection mechanisms are not immediately defeated, contrary to popular belief. I wouldn't buy anything with StarForce or SecuROM, either. You'll need to ask the companies that decide to implement such technologies about the cost/benefit analysis.

If I had mod points I'd mod you up. I don't know why everyone around here is under the impression that all copy protection is broken virtually before release. It took over a year to crack starforce. Besides, most publishers are just looking to buy themselves a few days so that the people desperate to get it will go ahead and buy it when they can't find a torrent.

Of course -- and I realize you're being sarcastic -- they are doing what you say, AND their job postings have made it clear they are also working on a "next-gen" MMO.

Did you think maybe it is not the brightest idea to post one's salary on the Internet?

I can't find an online reference for this, but supposedly Warren Buffet once started out an earnings call with, "We would have done much better this year if I had never come in to work."