dasmurf asks: "Many users have discussed this possibility. Now that Steam has pioneered the biggest online game delivery system to date, is it as simple as that? Read my concerns about the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Has anyone else read this agreement? Should Valve change it? If you love Valve's games but you've never religiously kept an eye on your credit card statement, maybe this will give you more reason. ;)"

Rev Wally asks: "Next Tuesday, I hope to achieve one of my life long goals, as I've been selected to try out for Jeopardy! in Boston. I am looking for any words of wisdom from any one else who has appeared on/tried out for any game shows. Also, from any one at all, I am looking for you to throw random trivia questions my way, to try to sharpen my skills. Any help will be much appreciated, And I will try to keep any updates in my journal."

spirality asks: "I've been developing under *NIX since I started writing software about ten years ago, and my company has been developing its product under *NIX since its inception. Until recently that is. We just completed the first Windows version of our product. Under Unix we used CVS with a custom build environment that we developed in house, and it simply can not be ported to Windows. What are Slashdot users, who must develop under Windows, using for a development environment?"

Milo_Mindbender asks: "So, geek that I am, I have several computers at home and several at the office, these come in both Windows and Linux flavors. Most have a copy of Firefox but for various reasons some have Mozilla and Internet Explorer too. Naturally, I'm going crazy trying to keep all the bookmarks in sync. Has anyone seen anything that can do this AUTOMATICALLY? I'd really like to just be able to use the 'add bookmark' feature in any browser and have them all sync up every now an then (each launch or at least each day). Various searches return tons of hits on bookmark managers, far too many to try them all out...so has anyone found anything that works?"

weekendWarrior asks: "Every office has 'that guy.' The one that performs some bizarre or nonsensical action almost daily. The guy with an almost love-affair for the company's standard issue red stapler. The guy who prints out every email he receives (even the spam - thank god he's not on some pr0nographic spammer list). What strange, bizarre, and wacky habits do your co-workers have?"

CyNRG asks: "Lately, I've been reviewing the different programming and protocol standards in an effort to guide my career in the most fun and profitable direction. The proliferation of standards is astounding! Choosing which path to follow is more like a trip to Las Vegas. Standing at the craps table in Ceasar's Palace at 3:00 am: do I play the point? Big 6 or 8? Play the field? How about covering the hard ways? The world is using technology more and more, so I would expect more standards based on that fact. It seems like common knowledge, vis-a-vis Microsoft, that companies try to put forth 'standards' in an roll of the dice to make their 'standard' defacto. Are there too many standards?"

frugalRepairs asks: "The hard disk in my Sharp PC-MV12W laptop recently died. It gave me warning and I had everything backed up. It was out of warranty and the repair folks want an arm and a leg to fix it. I would like to replace the hard drive myself but I've never done anything like this before. It seems to me that I would just extract the old hard drive, note the physical measurements, purchase new hard drive, and install it. However, I'm expecting Mr. Murphy to visit me as soon as I open the case and would like some advice from Slashdot experts. Do I need special tools? Does the BIOS have special needs? Are all 2.5" laptop drives created equal?"

koelpien asks: "I am a tightwad geek who likes to print photos without spending lots of money on OEM ink cartridges. Both Epson and HP have let me down; HP doesn't have a lot of third party cartridges available, and refilling the OEM's is a pain, especially resetting the ink level counter. Epson is just as bad, with cheap low-cost cartridges available, yet using them will often clog the heads, needing multiple ink-depleting cleaning cycles to restore proper flow. I am on the market for a new printer, and want to know which technology most Slashdot users happy with, in relation to printer brand and the use of third-party or refillable inks. Is one technology superior to the others, or are printers mostly the same?"

lohmann asks: "I was recently paying rent in my apartment office when I noticed several of the rental agents frantically shaking a nearby keyboard. Being a geek, I intervened... and plugged the mouse back in. A barrage of performance questions ensued, so I checked their system for any issues. The results were astounding: Windows 95, no firewall, no AV software, and no backup software on a machine containing thousands of individuals personal information (including mine). I ran some utilities and removed dozens of viruses and instances of spyware. I voiced my concerns over security issues, but was told that 'there is no budget for such things' and that 'we haven't had any trouble in the past.' Have any of you run across similar instances of small companies refusing to protect your data? What can I do to convince them to secure the network?"

Martin Clarke asks: "I've recently been considering undertaking a technology boot camp to get some more certs under my belt to help with my employability. I've always taught myself, but I feel like I need to get it done. I've came across an interesting option, a very well priced tech boot camp in Dehli from Koenig. Has anyone ever considered something like this? What other unorthodox training options have Slashdot readers tried?"

Taylor Flagg asks: "I'm about to finish up with my bachelor's in Computer Science, and am looking into graduate school options. My advisor is persuading me to go right into the PhD program but I know I don't want to be stuck lecturing for the rest of my life. Are companies in the industry hiring PhDs, and if so, what are their roles and is anything different expected of them (aside from making more cash)?"

miyako asks: "I'm 20 years old and going to be graduating soon with a degree in Computer Information Systems. I was thinking recently about the job market available and I began to realize that I don't want to spend the rest of my life using my skills to make someone else money. I've been making money these last few years doing odd computer related jobs, programming, networking, graphic design, but never steadily or on a big scale. What I've come to realize is that when I graduate I'd prefer to work for myself doing contracting jobs. I thought that I would put the question out to Slashdot since a number of you seem to be doing this for a living or to supplement your income. What's the best way to get started, especially for someone without a lot of professional experience under their belt?" Update: 10/08 11:20 EDT by C : After press time, another worthwhile related question popped up. Rather than post another story, it's probably better to handle both issues together. So in addition to the current question, what legal aspects should Independent Contractors consider, especially when it comes to writing contracts?