The last blackberry device you had ran an outdated J2ME-based OS. The new one is built atop the POSIX-compliant QNX kernel and in many ways (though not all) is better technology than is offered by the competition. Not specs, but underlying capabilities.

I'd suggest trying it out before discardng it out of hand. Also - no reason not to develop for both. Qt apps will run just fine on BB10 with minor tweaking, and I suspect on Sailfish as well.

Android started as a tiny project when the sum total of the smartphone market was approximately the size of the number of devices that Samsung or Apple sells in a quarter now.

It's a different world. I wish them luck, but it's an uphill battle.

BB has tried that route with BB10. It's yet to be determined if they'll succeed - but certainly it's not enough on its own.

See above.

http://developer.blackberry.com/cascades/.

You're welcome.

So what you're saying is that you want a BlackBerry? ;)

Legacy OS and BB OS 10 both offer this feature. The user is in control for the most part - OS10 doesn't do it quite as well as legacy BB, but it still does it.

I hadn't noticed where the folks at Jolla had committed to an open source stack, do you have a reference?

Nobody is making an argument for anthropomorphic global warming - that is, global warming with human-like characteristics.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Nice to know you've looked sometime in the last two years ;)

They gave India what every other government gets: consumer messages when proper legal channels are followed. This isn't new or surprising, it's required by law. Every messaging platform provides it.

They have not and cannot give access to business messages because they do not own the keys that businesses use to encrypt their data within BES. So if you're using bes for BBM, you're still safe.

  If you aren't, you were never safe from a subpoena. If there is no subpoena your data is not interceptable even as a consumer.

You would think that by now people would have learned that their own experiences does not equate to those of most people ;)

Most people don't use ad blocking software. Most people don't actually know it exists.

Most people accept that the Internet is all full of ads, and will continue to frequent sites laden with them because they don't realize there's a choice.

We know this is true because the advertising business remains extremely profitable - which only happens when ad impressions are made.

I also have no FB account anymoer, and I have to say that you're not as right as you might think.

Sure, you get communication with people when you initiate conversations - but if you want to just keep up-to-date on what your friends are doing in life without having to pester them about, it's gotten much harder for the facebook-disconnected to do.

Please tell me where I said that. The rest of your argument is based on that premise, which is incorrect.

My point was not that anything should be sanitized, but that the sensationalist so-called journalism we have today does have consequences. Nothing more or less.

When you win a copyright case you may be awarded your attorneys fees. I can't wait to see YouTube's attorneys fee motion. It's going to make my firm's bills seem like chicken feed.

But the defendant's lawyers have done a great job of beating back the Evil Empire, and in so doing have accomplished an important victory for the vitality of the internet.

Yeah.

And trying to 'maximize' the 'minimal' legal authority that exists to support their positions.

And trying to maximize their eroding monopolies.

Actually, you're 100% right. I think I was trying to decide between the phrase "content cartel" and "copyright maximalists", so my aging brain settled on "content maximalists". Would you change that to "copyright maximalists" for me, please :)

It means the big old school content "gatekeeper" companies, and their trade groups like the MPAA, RIAA, ASCAP, etc., whose economic power is being eroded by digitalization and the internet, and who are fighting back by taking extremist positions in defense of their copyright ownership.