In fairness, Steve Jobs did see this coming during the whole "why can't the iPhone multi-task?" drama from a while back. IIRC, he predicted that users would have bad experiences with multitasking too much and blame it on the phones.

Microsoft has too many "partners" to sneak in a new version 18 months after the previous version (like Apple did with Snow Leopard). As a result, they'll probably be tied into their recent 3-4 year schedule.

I think the sadness over Snow Leopard being weak was due to the fact that Apple had been shipping major new releases every 12-18 months for four straight upgrades. And then along comes Snow Leopard on the same schedule, but mostly under the hood. So yeah it was disappointing, but necessary (so no complaints here).

Is compatibility really an issue when 43% of your student body uses a particular computer? It's one thing to talk about compatibility in the workplace, where your employer might use some obscure mid-90s custom business software that ONLY runs on windows. But for email, web, word processing, and presentations, I think these students will have all the compatibility they need.

As far as how much 'extra' you get, that's a matter of personal preference. I could easily recount my friends who took a look at PCs and were disgusted at the OS, cheap build quality, etc. But what would be the point? Products that sell are obviously at a price point that makes sense to them. Either you're arguing that ~10% of the computer buying population are idiots for buying Macs, or we're seeing AND CARING ABOUT something that you're not. That's not a knock on you, but it doesn't mean we've had the wool pulled over our eyes either.

I am looking for a recommendation. SugarCRM and similar applications seem mostly directed toward sales.

What we need is an application (prefer a web application) that has built-in calendar / task / contact / email -- all linked together -- with the ability to add my own data, relationships, and screens for entering / viewing said data.

I would start with something like FileMaker Pro but 1) I'd like to go the web app direction if possible because you never know how well an app like FMP will transition to the web, and 2) it has no robust built-in cal/task/contact/email. And, of course, there are licensing fees (which I am not averse to, but I would rather not pay a yearly seat fee -- if I have to buy I'd rather just pay once for licenses).

I am open to all suggestions. I intend to build a robust and sophisticated field-specific application. But I need a good foundation to start on. I just need to identify what that foundation should be.

The FSF's problem is that they want everything to be free and open -- and aren't willing to draw lines anywhere in the middle. Sometimes they remind me of PETA complaining about Obama swatting a fly. It's ok to promote free and open software. But to act like we should all accept inferior software just because its "open" is, well, cuckoo.

Microsoft is "tasteless" -- That's definitely a "+5 Insightful" if I ever saw one...

Because apparently the only possible time to detonate something and bring down an airplane is in the last hour before landing. So THAT is why the shoe bomber failed....he did it too early!

How about we have a reasoned response to this instead of just blindly making shit up based on the last attack?