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Apple locks down the user experience and rejects apps that change it or threaten it in any way, like widgets and alternate browsers etc.
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Just so you are up to date with your FUD, there are a lot of alternate browsers for iOS now. Additionally, not long ago Apple changed their app policy to be much more liberal with the allowed apps. The big example app that everyone used to point to was Google Voice which is now available.

Actually no one is more equal than another. An enterprise or private user can pay the fee and write all the code they want for their own device(s). Only when they want to distribute to the app store do any rules come into play. What enterprise is going to put their apps for internal use on the app store anyway?

The 9th amendment doesn't need to say anything about planes or spaceships for that matter. The genius of the US constitution is that the founders crafted it in such a way that said the government can and cannot do x,y,z and everything else is an inherent right of being human. There is a large and interesting discussion between the writers about enumerating any rights at all because they were afraid they could be construed as you have done - that they are listed out and finite.

Also, at this point there will NEVER be another plane turned missile. That was a one time chance that Al Queda used effectively, but going forward they will have to kill every single person on the plane to do it again and I just don't see that happening. If you think about it further you'll see that 9/11 nearly put a halt to all plane hijackings. From now on if any hijacking starts to occur there will be a huge fight on the plane whereas before people were taught to go with it and they would eventually be let off.

I did Turbo Pascal way back in the day :)

I think you hit the nail on the head though. Most of the time should not be spent learning Delphi, but learning your particular code base. I know when I hire someone I expect around 6 months before they'll be productive in the main code base because there is just so many interconnections to learn and understand.

In your case I would rather hire a great programmer who doesn't yet know Delphi than a mediocre programmer who already knows Delphi. The great programmer will likely be able to pick up Delphi and be productive with your codebase faster than the mediocre one.

First off, I wouldn't consider the 'best ADA programmer ever' a very good programmer if he had only used ADA his entire career. The first thing a good programmer does is start looking at other tools, ie, languages, that may meet their requirements better than their current tool. Good programmers also look to other languages to help expand their knowledge of their current language.

If you don't have experience in a certain language then go get some. Again, a good programmer should able to pick up a new language pretty quickly. When it comes to interviews most of what I have encounter are algorithm based with very few being API quizzes. A list is alway a list and a sort a sort no matter what language you implement it in.

And sure there is some age discrimination out there, but I have friends in the late 40s-50s who have no problem finding jobs. They actually have companies chasing them because they have a proven track record of delivering quality software that solves problems.

I take the general view that if you keep yourself *good* at whatever language you choose, you will have a job.

I agree with this, but in an even more general sense. If you are a good programmer then you'll always have a job. Language is largely irrelevant once you get into the larger groupings of languages. A good programmer is a good programmer regardless of the current tool they happen to be using at the time.

There are more and more jobs available for skilled .NET coders.

I would add if you want pure job marketability then .net + sharepoint is probably the most bang for you buck right now.

I am by no means an expert at C++, but I have used it for a couple production projects that needed the speed. Reading your rant has put to words oddities that I have noticed but was never sure if they were real problems or things that I would come to understand with more experience. Thanks!

MS can likely make up the ground, but they are a little late. Businesses that I have seen have already started the migration to support iOS so the CxOs can all check their email on their iPhones and iPads.

Apple already lagged behind Java releases, especially large ones like going from Java 5 -> 6. If Oracle picks up the slack and develops an OSX JVM Java on the Mac could end up being in a better situation.

I do agree that if Java is left to whither on the Mac it's going to hurt Apple in some way, although it's still hard to quantify how much.

They are already selling cocaine. It has been said that pot is their cash cow funding all their other operations. Most people in the US look at pot as no different than alcohol, and such it doesn't have the same stigma as cocaine or it's derivatives. I wouldn't be surprised if more people in the US use pot than all of the other illegal drugs combined.

Legalizing pot will not destroy the cartels, but it will deal a huge blow to their revenue stream.

Bingo! Legalization would instantly defund the Mexican cartels. As it stands today their is a huge war going on just south of our border and we're doing very little about it. Pirates (yes real ones) kill a man jet skiing on a border lake just a couple weeks ago. Then yesterday a US citizen was killed riding a bus in Mexico on his way to see some family members. It's been reported that the Mexican police are saying they only maybe protect busses from sun up to 2pm. WTF? It's getting to the point where Iraq is going to be a safer place.

This also ignores all the kidnappings that happen in Mexico and are spilling out into Phoenix. Last I checked, Phoenix was only 2nd in kidnappings in the WORLD right behind Mexico city.

I have no idea why more Americans are not outraged by this and the USs overall non-response. If we even think we see a Taliban over in Iraq/Afghanistan we rain hell down on them, but we have citizens getting killed and kidnapped right here and we don't even bat an eye.

You basically have none. A lot of republicans are in the same boat with respect to the religious fundamentalist who have taken over the party. My republican friends are thinking about jumping ship simply because they can't stand that fundamentalist have taken over. Keep in mind that someone can be spiritual without rejecting science, and rejecting science is what a lot of the fundamentalist are now doing.

Personally, I'm fiscally conservative (the GOP hasn't been this in years btw), and socially liberal (even the Dems seem to be backing away from this). If you're aren't hurting anyone else and I don't have to take care of you, I don't care what you do in private.

Exactly. I think what the people who are complaining about money fail to realize is that BOTH sides are swimming in tons of cash. Every night I see one ad followed by a completely contradictory ad. At this point they could simply be canceling each other out and we're once again left with the unwashed masses voting based on whatever reason they pick is important.

Well, in all fairness, nuking it from orbit is really the only way to be safe.