Haven't we read those often enough? "Things didn't work out, and we mutually agreed that it was time to move on."

> Apple's era of naming OSs after big cats is over. The Mavericks wave is rolling in

So we will eventually see a MacOS Longhorn?

"These are not the droids you are looking for."

"Yuck, no thanks, keep your s..."

Except for those getting paid for saying otherwise...

Can't try it at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that the Amiga and PC releases of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken supported mice. Using the keyboard for shortcuts was optional. While the C64 supported mice, I do not know whether these games supported them on this platform. I remember using a joystick for these games on the C64.

Many games are too boring to play to the end even once. They lack story, or the challenges are repetitive in nature (Shoot that alien! Now shoot that alien! And that must be an entirely different alien, even though it looks exactly like those I shot before it, but it's still moving!...)

It is an interesting challenge to see whether you still remember the solutions to all the puzzles in the LucasArts games. If you do, playing these games is like participating in an interactive movie, but often with way more alternatives. I still like exploring large and complex environments when I find the time. Leave linear first person shooters to the masses and give me a new Fallout, Wasteland, or Elder Scrolls. Zak Mc Kracken 3D?

The LucasArts games were made with love and programmed thoroughly. I mean, while many games in that era were difficult to set up, the LucasArts games usually scaled better with faster hardware and enjoyed patches for years, long after other manufacturers would have dropped similar games. Also, the philosophy of death-free play that encouraged explorative playing style without a gazillion load-attempt-reload. The LucasArts games still serve as an ideal that is difficult to reach for many productions even despite much larger costs.

... always.

Buffer overflows, heap corruption and many similar bugs are found easiest by someone who has access to the source code and can understand it. However, not all problems can be laid on the developers. Phishing is a problem that developers that can hardly prevent. Also, users need to understand URLs (http://www.google.com.somewhere.else). At some point, users are always forced to trust software they did not write, and on a modern computer that has been used for a while, no one can assure that no malicious code has been installed, whatever antivirus vendors say. However, users need to be able to detect signs of infections.

Despite all that, clearly more security by design is needed. Reading about all the patches for Windows, Flash, Adobe Reader and Java makes me sick -- instead of building new features that are rarely needed into these systems, security should become a top priority for high-profile software. Simple mishaps put millions of users at risk. While Microsoft has at least instated measures (secure development lifecycle), similar efforts by Adobe, Oracle and Apple seem to be lacking.

OK, anyone up for raising the money for a flight to Mars as a Kickstarter?

Looking at trains, ground-based vehicles that need to transport fuel are flawed by design. If we had electric cars that took electricity from an overhead line, these cars would be far more efficient for many reasons. Electric cars are normally twice as efficient as combustion engines. Also, many things that increase weight, and thus fuel consumption, are not needed in electric cars. This includes the fuel tank and gearbox. Going further, mounting the vehicle overhead on tracks would allow to integrate the overhead lines into the tracks, further reducing weight and aerodynamic resistance. It would also remove the risk of cars bumping into pedestrians and bicycle riders (may be more of a European problem).

OK, please refrain from hacking and crashing our simulated universe. Thank you.

If the arts were in steady decline over at least the last thirty years, technology has been on the rise. The knowledge gained may still prove to have a long life, and it still counts as a monument to the generation(s) that made it possible.

We need to increase the power output of the sun. Side effects: negligable.

Microsoft is embracing the ARM world by bringing its operating system to the platform. For many people, the Microsoft label alone will be sufficient to buy such systems. Over time, Surface RT will be extended by people writing software for the system. Ultimately, Microsoft will be able to leverage power given to them by the customers to extinguish at least the Android platform. They may be able to reconquer their monopoly. Is that something, we, as customers should want?

... Microsoft's "embrace, extend, extinguish" in the mobile world?