Put that way, maybe Windows isn't quite so bad after all . . .

hawk

These are not the socialists you are looking for . . .

hawk, esq.

It was as if millions of cases suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced . . .

Oh, wait.

Just 400. :)

hawk, esq.

And which of these don't apply doubly or triply to Windows?

hawk

>Google often jumps into things without considering all of the details.

Yeah, that bit on taking on Digital, who didn't need to make money on their "web" search engine and only built altavista to show off the capabilities of their alpha processor was a disaster . . .

hawk

The conventional wisdom is indeed that most utilities are "natural monopolies," and for the reasons you cite.

But in Lubbock, TX, there are two competing electrical grids--and at least as of a few years ago, among the lowest electrical prices. I've spoken to other economists who have graphed electrical prices by distance from Lubbock.

Competition works even in places where we would expect it not to . . .

doc hawk

I believe that MBASIC shipped with a majority of CP/M machines. It shipped (generally version 2) on nearly every eight bit machine of significance except the original Apple ][, the TI 99, and the Atari 400/800 (and some other non-disk based machines).

Once the Apple ][+ came out (the only difference was that it had the Autostart ROM (with no disassembler) and Applesoft (e.g., MBASIC 2) instead of Apple Integer BASIC), it outsold the original by several to one (and then put the //e into the mix . . .).

The result is that most Apples shipped with MBASIC--which functioned as the operating system for most intents & purposes.

So prior to Mac, nearly all of Apple's machines ran MS . . . (and most of the early macs ended up with MS Basic for Mac).

So there is *something* reasonable to the notion that MS was outselling Apple before Windows & Mac.

hawk

*shrug*

However you spell "WinCE", it still makes you wince . . .

hawk

It's not that complicated.

A central agency publishes a table once a year of the rates for 5 digit zipcodes. Each zipcode has an associated entity.

Retailers pay quarterly with a single check and a spreadsheet by entity.

And, yes, there are a handful of zipcodes with multiple entities. Either they work out and submit to central their split, or the funds stay in escrow until they do.

hawk

Yes.

This isn't "malware;" it's "stupidware."

hawk

Gosh, ole Ben Franklin was *really* forward thinking . . . :)

hawk, still not certain he could finish his freon ice sculpture in just one hour . . .

hmm, looks like we've got a moderator that's new around here, too . . .

time to quote Zaphod Breeblebox . . .

hawk

>Why didn't you say up front that you had not read the fine article?

You must be new around here . . .

hawk

>2. No flash. No moving about. No Sound.

Bingo.

No blink; no animation.

Stay the *)*&% put.

I have never, ever blocked an ad just for being an ad.

I *do* block everything that moves around when I" trying to read, including part of what sites fancy to be "content."

(Hey, dummy: I'm *reading*. I don't want some scrolling bar of video).

I even have adblock set to "allow unintrusive."

Oh, and make sure they're coming off a blinding-fast server--waiting for something to load is another reason to block it's domain.

hawk

Well, if emacs can get an editor http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/02/16/0251239/evil-almost-full-vim-implementation-in-emacs-reaches-10, why can't firefox have a browser?

:)

hawk