Anyone that provides the hardware and software from which you access the web can do this. My work does it. Your local library can do it. The internet access kiosks can do it. Any device manufacturer can do it. Those cheap Android computers-on-a-stick can do it. Your TV can do it. It's a real problem because people trust the devices they use. If you cannot trust the device, you are royally screwed.

I want to use their Python modules:

from Peer1 import ...

The question is "who is going to force them?" In this case (browser choice on smartphones), I think that market forces can do that just fine. There are enough choices available right now. That said, I can certainly see where Apple could be considered guilty of tying in this case since an argument could be made that the browser is a distinct program and that this is harming competition and innovation.

I'm sure they hire MBAs and accountants from the best business schools to figure this stuff out.

The screen resolution (1366x768) is ridiculously bad on these things. I have that on my 2 year old tablet. I don't consider it a useable resolution. Give me the same dot pitch as my phone.

... where Jimmy Hoffa is buried.

Maybe -- Intel chips too. The Intel thing was easy to explain with their staggered/overlapping development cycle.

Seriously --it is *always* an option. Anyone who thinks otherwise isn't thinking. Look -- failure is always an option. Trust me -- failure is something that will get an executive's attention faster than anything. Failure is such an option that quitting your position -- or sticking around just to witness the beautiful consequences -- are sometime exquisitely worth the price. I would pay money to work anywhere that still depends on Unixware just to watch that fail unfold.

c.f. Lehmann Bros, AIG, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, ... the list goes on. You can still have fraud (or incompetence as in AIG), just not at such a massive scale.

Unions and representative governments reflect the character and will of their constituents.

Supply -- meet Demand.

It's a rather surprising one, but the one I keep going back to, and which has influenced my career quite a bit is Journey of the Software Professional: The Sociology of Software Development by Luke Hohmann.

I thought we were talking about China here. Let's leave Wall Street out of this, OK?

Thanks for the tip. I was unaware of Straight Talk. Straight Talk is the only one of the lot that is GSM / SIM-based. The others are CDMA and non-SIM based. They all require that you buy one of their phones because CDMA phones are not really network portable. They are also mostly useless for non-US residents or us world travellers.

That said, I am now seriously thinking about ditching my T-Mobile contract for Straight Talk. Worst cast is I go back to T-Mobile monthly.