Some people go out of their way to let people know they're not offended by things that are obviously inappropriate because they think it makes them appear enlightened and impressively independent-minded to others.

You are one of those people.

"Gimp" is a stupid name for what is supposed to be a flagship open source project. Period.

Well, according to some of the early posts, this is somehow Apple's fault, and they should be fined! Seriously. It's like, at what point do you hold Google accountable for anything? Because according to supporters, the Street View thing was okay, Google Search Plus Your World excluding other more popular social networks was okay, the bypassing of Safari privacy controls was okay...and so on. The constant defense of their actions is getting really silly.

Google really needs to do some soul-searching. 2012 has just been a year of controversy after controversy, and we're not even halfway through. Larry Page's attempt to force social networking throughout Google products, as well other initiatives that it's hard to imagine the old Google embarking on, have put a sour image on the company lately.

Posts like yours are why people think Slashdot's readers are biased in favor of Google.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is arguing that requiring warrants for cellphone records "cripples" investigators. No malware needed here in the U.S. Just fearmongering.

No, you won't have to pay for "every damned little thing in the OS". Windows 8 is targeted at tablets and PCs without optical drives, which are increasingly common because movies are in digital download formats today, so it makes sense to not have to include that functionality in the shipping OS. You're not going to be paying for every little feature, and there won't be a window popping up telling you that you need to pay for expansion packs--you're falling for the baiting headline hook, line, and sinker.

Slippery slope arguments are almost always bogus because you can turn practically anything into a "what's next" statement that exaggerates the original situation and makes it seem worse than it actually is.

The headline is trying to incite a backlash, but this is a reflection of the decline of optical drives and the rise of tablets. Apple has also gone down this path by not including optical drives in the MacBook Air. I don't find myself that concerned since it's literally been years since I watched a DVD, and all my movies are digital.

Presumably, the expense that was previously included in the cost of Windows will not be in Windows 8. I say "presumably" because I'm sure Windows 8 will still inexplicably cost over $100 or whatever.

Hello, yog. Yes, you implied that a filter should be put in place on lawsuits by complaining that "in America, you can sue anybody for anything".

You make a rational, well-thought point, but ranting about lawsuits in America gets the mod points, sorry.

Not to worry. They're far too busy feeling up 3-year olds and grannies to do anything about deadly weapons of any sort.

After reading the snarky comments in the previous story about "holding it wrong", "it's an iPhone so it's a feature", and "ban all phones without removable batteries", it's interesting to see what happens if you wait for investigative facts to come out. But where would be the fun in that? Slashdot's comment section is more about cathartic bashing than insightful commentary. Of course, now we'll see accusations that Apple bribed the ATSB or fake-posts from pretend-battery-engineers telling us how the story is wrong or some other similar silliness...

Not to come off as a defender of Microsoft, but Ballmer said that over 11 years ago, and it was in reference to the GPL's viral nature. Ribbing of Microsoft on Slashdot has to do with us-versus-them platform fanboyism more than anything.

To gloat over the irony of Microsoft using cheap UNIX boxes for P2P infrastructure. Even in 2012, Microsoft is still the bogeyman here.