OK, so you download movies for free, gotcha...

Wait, what? Doesn't pirating a movie require an internet connection? And posting on Slashdot, for that matter?

Uh yeah, I doubt that.

Only T-Mobile gives you discounts. And they have the worst coverage of the big four providers. So that's why it's not really productive to compare unsubsidized prices. Pretty much everyone gets their phone with a subsidy and two year commitment.

And yes, you have to lock yourself in for two years to get that price. But so what? There really isn't much ability to jump around from provider to provider anyway. Only T-Mobile and AT&T use GSM, so from a technological standpoint you're effectively locked in to one provider or another. So again, that's why talking about two year contracts isn't that important either...

Assuming you're on the one and only US carrier that gives you a discount for bringing your own phone, yes, the Nexus 4 is cheaper overall than a new iPhone 5S. However... if you're on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, your iPhone 5S costs that same $199.

Part of this has to do with the subsidies they add to tuition. I remember when I was in school, tuition was about $2000 per semester. One semester, they decided to jack up tuition by $400. Most of that $400 was earmarked for subsidies for lower-income students. I found out during a meeting where the chancellor announced the change that 40% of our overall tuition went to subsidies. 40%! At which point I asked:

"So you're increasing tuition to help students who can't afford tuition, because we keep raising tuition to help students who can't afford tuition?"

They just kind of shrugged that question off.

At least you're an honest pirate. Usually there's lots of hemming and hawing about "oh I wish there was some way I could pay for this content, but it's not available in my country/available right this instant/etc. so reluctantly I must pirate it."

Are you being serious? Being available 12 hours after the original broadcast is pretty quick, especially considering that it's the middle of the night in Finland when the show airs in the US. Don't you have to work on Mondays? You get home and the episode is available on Netflix right away.

Seriously, stop moving the goalposts.

"can't use hulu or netflix where I live"

"which costs 45 pounds"

Do you live in the UK? Netflix is not only available there, but has every episode of BB. The new ones are even being added immediately after they air in the US.

I don't think it's change for the sake of change necessarily. You've got to remember that this stuff is created by a young generation that's just entering the workforce. They see existing technologies as old and crufty. Declaring types? Get with the times grandpa!

Plus, there seems to be a fascination with making code as terse as possible...

I'd take Outlook in a second over Notes.

Because the people who bought the bundle on Linux are overpaying to send a message?

At this point, why does it matter? Clearly they've convinced some VC folks that this is a good investment. That's my whole point. They basically funded this entire thing (to the tune of several million I'm sure) and then feel compelled to ask regular people for a measly $1 million because...?

I get the idea of "advertising" but still find it funny that asking people for money is the same thing as advertising in this day and age. Couldn't they have announced details of this thing to the major tech sites, I dunno, months ago?

Um, did you watch their video? Clearly they have already secured tons of VC money. Which is my entire point, why do projects like this, that clearly have rich investors behind them, feel compelled to go to the masses for money?

It's way late for that. Obviously some investor has determined that the idea will attract enough users to make this thing a good investment. It's not like they're trying to attract VC, they've already got it (unless the video is all smoke and mirrors, of course).

And they're doing the same thing that so many other Kickstarter projects do, they're painting the fundraising as the only way this amazing, 99.9% complete project will ever see the light of day.

My point is, unless the pitch video is all BS, these guys already have secured millions from investors given that they have prototypes, dozens of employees, slick office space, etc.