Oh I fully agree. For stuff that is day to day then yeah, knowing your key functions off the bat is going to be handy. Most of the time I write code that includes functions that I have no idea about unless I look them up. I know 'where' to find the info if I need it but just don't ask me to do it without referencing something. It's funny when I look back at my own code and realise just how complex it can be. It's easy to look at that and think "this guy knows his stuff" but what you can't see is the stumbles, hurdles, google searches etc that went into it. That's what they need to be able to test. Anyone can get the desired result given enough time. How you go about it though is the key.

There were two parts to it. One was a set of about 20 questions that I maybe had an inkling of the answer. It was a warm day, I was wearing a suit and stuffed into a room by myself to see how many I could answer. Are they testing my abilities or my tolerance to being in an uncomfortable environment? Most of the questions were ones that only someone with OCD would be able to answer off the top of their head. Information like what protocol goes with what port is stuff that I don't use on a daily basis, but I know perfectly well where to look for it when I do need to find out. That's what reference material is for.

the second part was "here's a problem, how would you code the solution". In this case the language could be anything, so I wrote in pseudo code and even went back over one of them because I though of a more efficient solution.

Things that can be looked up in a reference manual or on the internet should be left out of interviews (unless the question is along the lines of "How would you determine XYZ?"). Keep it to methods used to solve a problem and you'll get a good understanding of how a particular person works and how they will work for you.

Most people I know that are nostalgic about their Amiga's (and C24's etc) have a perfectly capable emulation environment available to them that runs orders of magnitude faster than the original hardware, on even moderately powered netbooks.

But even if they get new hardware out and AmigaOS is fantastic, where are the apps? What's the draw to get people to buy this thing other than the nostalgia of having a computer with the Amiga stamp on it? It can be the best damn OS in the world but if it hasn't got apps then it hasn't got anything.

BeOS was pretty cool back in the day and kicked Windows to the curb in terms of performance but it died because it didn't have apps. Making an AmigaOS laptop today makes about as much sense as making a dedicated BeOS laptop (yes, I'm aware of various efforts to resurrect BeOS...still makes no sense)

Archivists might be worried but you can't say there wasn't enough warning. Production houses have been switching to digital since at least the 90's.

Not sure what mac users you know but my experience is the opposite. Petty much everyone I know other than my mum and my sister has either a virtual machine or bootcamp install of windows for running the few apps that need windows to run. VM's are more common that bootcamp though mainly for the convenience of not needing to reboot.

No way I'd take a paycut in order to potentially benefit my employer. If I'm performing better then I expect to get paid better.

Having said that I wouldn't go 100% telecommute either. One day a week or maybe two at most. More than that and you lose face to face interaction with co-workers and supervisors/managers. I could have done a recent project completely at home with no supervision but all anyone would have seen would be the end result. It's just as important to be able to physically present the process you go through in order to be appreciated for the work you do. No appreciation for the work = you don't get appreciated as an employee and you'll be passed up on opportunities.

Until you can get one single unified model for a linux desktop, linux ON the desktop isn't going to happen. Fine for servers and fine for users that know what they are getting in to. Not fine for regular people. With freedom comes choice and with choice comes indecision. Sometimes less choice is more and why Windows, with all its faults, has succeeded. One OS which operates the same (in theory) regardless of hardware. Linux, from a users perspective, does not operate the same regardless of hardware. The interface is a fragmented mishmash of every 'good' idea its contributors came up with. Linux is a server OS. Some of us run server OS's on our desktops and that's fine, but it's not for regular users and never will be.

I love it how if it a story about flash when concerned with iPhone/iPad everyone is full of hate and woe and spit venom towards Apple for daring to exile the chosen one.

However when you take Apple out of the picture (despite this being filed under Apple for some reason) no-one can think of a kind word for the Adobe wonder child. Oh how flash isn't open, only works on Adobe approved systems, Firefox runs on more systems etc etc....you can't have it both ways people.

I'm no fanboy but at least I'm not a hypocrite...Flash sucks, always has, always will....regardless of who choses to support it and who doesn't. FFS people, one would think you'd be happy that a company (in this case Apple) is trying to champion an open standard (HTML5) to free you from the shackles of requiring a compiled binary made especially for your system.

Analogy's are a way to start educating the lay person in a manner that their brain can process and understand. If the lesson were to continue the analogy would be only the first step in a flight of stairs.

Attempting to discredit an Economics professor with some perceived air of authority is a vile act of the highest order....or is that why you posted as AC?

Disclaimer: I don't know if the OP is a professor of economics or not but the story involved beer and a good probability that the beer was free (as in beer).