Yeah, this is my feeling on the matter as well. Someone who buys up currently useless patents in the hopes that someday they will be useful is what a troll does. A group of companies pooling patents for things they all make sounds fairly reasonable - *especially* in the tech sector.

I'll be interested to see the outcome of this. Given Nokia and Sony's current situations I don't think they will be too aggressive with Apple - I think their short-term need for cash from a licensing deal would exceed their risk tolerance for fighting for a big check and forcing Apple to perform these functions in some other way. At the same time, I wonder if, in light of the Apple Maps debacle, Apple will continue with their "we don't negotiate" tactic or seek to pay out some licensing and not rock their own boat.

I completely understand defending one's territory, but Apple is *clearly* not actually threatened by the rest of the industry. Their success is only somewhat based on their technology - they should have been more gracious about sharing/selling it. Instead, they aggressively pursued an entire industry. Now, they have no friends and are trapped in a room with a bunch of scared dogs. Not position I'd like to be in literally or metaphorically.

Your post intrigues me. Tell me more.

Dollar coins at the strip club sounds both dangerous and hilarious.

Metro is appealing to the consumers, that's what it's doing there. Your question might as well be "I have the cli, what is Windows doing there?"

There are always going to be people whose needs exceed or defy the common denominator. Yes, Microsoft would be thrilled "experts" could shoehorn their needs into Windows 8 and Metro, but they certainly aren't losing sleep over it not happening. Their design and their focus is Joe Consumer, because Joe makes up the vast majority of the PC buying public.

You may not understand the change adverse meme, but I don't understand the "I'm an expert, how can I be expected to use simplified things?" meme.

(FWIW: I too have no idea how my multi-monitor setup translates to using 8. But I also recognize that not everything I do employs an app:screen ratio greater than 1:1.)

I do not disagree with that sentiment one iota. Unfortunately, "new security model" is not going to sell OSs to consumers. Witness the multitude of them who cling to Windows XP because "their brother in law who knows computers said it's ok." Sometimes you gotta bolt on things that don't improve usability in order to appeal to consumers, tempt their sense of New Hotness. Personally, I think anyone who spends three minutes with 8 on a touchscreen will be sold.

Additionally, I think the *idea* behind Win8 has merit. I won't lie, sometimes I need to think for a moment to remember what I can do in the place I am. I'm not that old, but switching between half a dozen platforms and a couple dozen versions is a little jarring. If Microsoft really can deliver a UI that is consistent across PC, phone, tablet, and even gaming console that's pretty cool. Not having to remember what works where would be great. I am behind that, even if it means making another change. Hell, I'm probably okay with that even if it means making a small usability sacrifice on all platforms to get that consistency. I imagine most of the consumer world would agree, too.

Couple things that occur to me:

I broke my Android phone, and since I thought the iPhone 5 was incredibly lackluster I decided to give an old Windows 7.5 phone (Lumia) a go while I waited for the Nexus 4. Gotta be honest, I really dig the Lumia. Windows 7 OS Phone Mobile .5 or whatever it is works pretty darned well. Lack of multitasking is a PITA (especially this late in the game) but it's really quite pleasant to use and very well thought out. I am enjoying it quite a bit. So much, that I am thinking I might just get a Win 8 phone. Sadly (?) my professional life is keeping Windows systems up, and I take my work home with me.

I ran Win8 RC on an old Dell Dimension and it was fine, but not really good. But I just got an Inspiron 23 AIO PC with a touchscreen and Win8, and it's super. The touchscreen is not only more intuitive than I would have imagined, but more comfortable too. If you watch the three second tutorial that is presented when the system first starts up, the approach to the UI is obvious. Trying to apply what you know about Windows to Windows 8 is definitely going to result in confusion. The most disappointing part of Win8 is how frequently it switches back to legacy desktop... failing to make Control Panel native to Win8 is a big WTF. Win8 isn't compelling like Win7 was (IMHO - for security and reliability reasons), but there is truly nothing wrong with it, and in time it'll probably be pretty darned neat. While I was playing with it, I drew a small crowd from the office and everyone was pretty much blown away. No argument the touch screen is the secret sauce here, though.

I also just got a new Dell XPS 14, that came with Windows 8. Because my office is packed with legacy software that will barely run under 7, keeping 8 was not an option. UEFI is a HUGE PITA. I had to go into the BIOS, disable UEFI and SecureBoot, then REBOOT THE MACHINE. What would have taken ten seconds without these technologies took at least twenty seconds. It was crazy - I kept crying "WHEN WILL IT END?????"

I recall back in the day when Microsoft replaced Windows Executive with Program Manager and people lost their minds. Then they replaced Program Manager with the Start Menu and people lost their minds. Now they are replacing the Start Menu with live tiles or whatever they are called, and people are losing their minds. Again. If you don't like your UI ever changing, buy a Mac. The MacOS UI peaked in like '86 and hasn't changed since. iOS peaked in '08 and hasn't changed since. Microsoft is trying out something new - again - and chances are in five or six years they'll try something else new and everyone will whine about the loss of live tiles.

In the short term - my first hand experience with a bunch of non-technical office people - Windows 8 is positively not harder to use nor more confusing than any other OS. Everyone that has used this Inspiron sitting here has gotten Office and IE and Acrobat loaded quickly and easily, no problems nor drama. No, they can't find Control Panel but it's no great loss as they couldn't use it for anything if they could find it. Frankly, if I could deploy 8 tomorrow I would... for 99% of what people do (which is run four or five programs) it works *great*, and the touch features are intuitive in a way that Windows Key+Tab never was. Sadly, like I said, we've got legacy apps.

At several points in my PC building careers there have been price or manufacturing considerations which have caused "enthusiasts" to buy pinless CPUs. In every case, 3rd parties have supplied "adapter" boards with pre-soldered CPUs with PGAs or whatever to go into standard sockets. What may be missing this time is an official Intel CPU socket to plug into, but I highly doubt companies like ASUS are just going to shrug and abandon the market. They'll either give us a common socket to work from, or just sell boards with pre-soldered CPUs. Whatever. Not worth getting ones panties in a bunch over.

Unemployment amongst recent law school graduates is the worst it's been in history, and there is no sign of that changing. I've worked in the legal industry for a long time now, and it's ugly. I wouldn't wanna be someone with a law school loan right now. http://chronicle.com/article/Unemployment-Among-Recent-Law/132189/ etc.

Samsung could have used up all their dismissals prior to ending up with this guy, OR it could be they viewed a self-proclaimed patent expert (my words) as an asset in their clear-cut case centering around prior art. Tough to say.

> You can't just transfer the assets to another company and then walk away from the liabilities. Of course it's not quite that simple, but in essence you can in fact do just that. Joyent could absolutely buy all of textdrive's "stuff" without buying textdrive itself. As long as the price paid was reasonable, nothing about that sale would be fraudulent. textdrive would be then left incapable of servicing its customers, but assuming all of their other bills are paid off, who is going to be the one to push them into bankruptcy? If you are totally insolvent but nobody comes asking for anything, there is no requirement for a BK. The only people who could have pushed textdrive into BK would be its customers, but maybe Joyent, in good will, offers to continue to service textdrive customers. They haven't assumed any contracts or obligations, they are just giving free stuff away. And now they aren't doing it anymore. If you're angry, you can certainly go file a lawsuit against textdrive, but you have no claim against Joyent. I am not saying this is what happened, but this is a mechanism by which is could have happened. I have been on both sides of these types of acquisitions, and it's pretty standard. My experience is with CLECs, but I feel safe in saying the concepts there would apply here as well. But, as you said, I'm not a lawyer either.

But as you demonstrated there are numerous ways for Company A to acquire Company B, in part or in whole. Without knowledge of the textdrive->Joyent acquisition, we can't even guess as to what obligations might have been passed along. Assuming even *one* lawyer sat at the table, I think it's safe to say Joyent didn't end up committing to servicing contracts that would be unprofitable in the long term. Regardless, if the User/textdrive agreement was "lifetime as long as we/textdrive exist" and Joyent no longer employs the textdrive name/trademark/corporate structure, it is highly unlikely they would be obligated to service that agreement. Purchase of the textdrive infrastructure and customer base would not constitute the continued existence of textdrive by any measure I am aware of.

Do they actually still exist? I was under the impression the agreement was with textdrive, and textdrive no longer exists (having been bought by Joyent).

I will say this and only this: What you are describing is a significant part of the downward spiral of humanity. There was a time when journalists challenged their readership because it was assumed the readership came to the journalist in search of knowledge. Over time it became apparent that you could sell more paper if you simplified the wording and phrasing, and made it more accessible to more people. That phenomenon has become a race - make things easier, sell more stuff. The goal of the journalist should be to inform, not sell papers As I said before, when the focus becomes understanding the words and not the meaning, you accomplish nothing (except selling paper). "Accessible" is the increasing problem with our society. The mentality that people should not have to work to improve themselves is totally and utterly flawed. Getting stronger requires working out your muscles. Getting smarter requires working out your brains. Reassuring people that they don't have to work - making the weights lighter and the words simpler doesn't make them stronger or smarter. It fills time. It sells weights and paper. My grandmother knows this, and that's why when I talk to her like a 7th grader she gets upset. If you don't get this, I'm sorry for you. I'm sure you'll enjoy your Twilight novels, your Oprah, and your Doritos. I will always be in the camp that the only way to improve one's lot in life is to be challenged. So I'll take my novels wordy, my TV off, and my journals rich with jargon that I barely understand but know that I have the tools to decipher them. Thanks.

What does "common language" have to do with anything? I'm a technical guy, but I don't use technical terms "commonly." I use them when they are appropriate, such as discussing technical things. And if I'm talking about a medical condition, even though I am not a doctor, I am going to use technical terms that I know, as best I know how to use them. If I use a term incorrectly, or the doctor uses a term I don't understand, I'm going to ask for an explanation or look it up later. It's not difficult. What's difficult is having a useful conversation or worse yet relaying useful information when people refuse to use the words best suited for the conversation. Your example of "meat vindaloo" below is exactly an example of that. Why would I use a vague or general term when a specific term exists that does the job better?

You are being obtuse and you know it. I was not suggesting people memorize the dictionary prior to picking up a news article, I was suggesting people have a dictionary handy when reading one. There is nothing new here - didn't they teach you that in English 101? Turns out not everyone knows the meaning of every word, and intentionally using the most simplistic terms possible to ensure people understand the words at the expense of the meaning is ridiculous. In 2012 when learning the definition of a word or phrase is a mouse click away, there is less a reason now than ever not to be specific.

You did say that, exactly. You said the average person reads at the 7th grade level, let's talk to them as such. I am proposing we talk to them at a 12th grade level, and let them get a little smarter than they were before. It sickens me to the core that anyone would accept the notion that dumbing down mass communication serves any other purpose than selling magazines and newspapers. It certainly doesn't actually made them smarter.

My Grandma would smack you for that remark, and so would everyone in my family save my drunken uncle. My grandmother may or may not know what those terms you used are, but she wouldn't look too kindly on me talking down to her. If she has a question about the terms I used or how I used them, she'll ask. Even at her advanced age, dismissing her with "I got you a faster internet connection and that's all you need to know" is nothing but condescension. She is old, not dumb. (She would also probably also ask why you you channelized a data connection, which is in fact dumb.)

So you are a publisher! Explains your bent. Get readers at all costs! How about this: We don't treat people like they're 7th graders for a while, and then find out once people are used to some hard to digest words now and again, we throw more at then, and eventually they are 12th graders! Kind of like when you teach a 7th grader algebra, and then later you teach a 12th grader calculus! Just a thought.

I have indeed. You are a 7th grader. No doubt about that. So, in the vein of my approach, here is some information to get you started on the way to 12th grade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-carrier: ""T1" now means any data circuit that runs at the original 1.544 Mbit/s line rate ... During the 80's companies such as RLH Industries, Inc. developed T1 over optical fiber." There is more, of course, but that's the gist.

The jargon of today is the plainspeak of tomorrow. The reason common people use words like hard drive and engine are because they realized the best way to talk about a technical device was to use the concise word or phrase that best describes it. The author's point was that journalists choosing to use "plain English" has created or is creating a sentiment amongst the masses that jargon is hard and should be avoided. That is a dangerous sentiment. When people decide it's easiest to stop learning new words, communication becomes slow and error-prone.

I would absolutely prefer he use the jargon. If I don't understand a term I can ask him to define it, or look it up later. In 2012 there is even less of a reason to not use jargon than ever before. If you don't understand a word, highlight it and look it up. It's not tough. It's not like reading a newspaper fifty years ago when understanding exactly what the difference between fusion and fission took a trip to the library. To use your own example, let me ask you this: Would you rather be told you have "a heart condition" or "cardiomyopathy?" Which of those is going to get you answers about your affliction more quickly?

Got it. So rather than educate people to the 12th grade, we will all communicate as 7th graders. In fact, we will go so far as to deprive people of the ability to be 12th graders by withholding "confusing jargon" and speaking complete in "plain English." Great solution. Go humanity.

Exactly, which is why we use dog, cat, snake, horse and not "meat," We are using the most specific term available to reduce confusion. That's why "we" went a step further and have ham and bacon, and not just pork.

By the way, your understanding of T1 is questionable. T1 is a signalling method used to produce a 1.544 Mbit/s line rate and has nothing to do with the line over which the signal travels. T1 can be optical or copper, and an optical line with T1 signalling equipment at each end that is not powered up is dark.