I see your point, but I respectfully disagree. These aren't just simple consumer electronics. They are mini computers that store a lot of personal information in many cases. There are a lot of security holes that Google has been either slow to patch, or not at all in earlier versions. If these vendors don't release updated versions of the software, they're leaving their customers at a risk. It's not just about features. Not only that, but Apple has been fairly decent about giving a fair life to its devices. My 1st gen iPod touch went through three major OSes and several point releases. My iPad is already on its second. Imagine if you bought a computer because "you were happy with it when you bought it" but couldn't upgrade past the current OS. You may think that's not a fair comparison, but as these devices get more advanced, it's definitely becoming a fair comparison. That being said, Apple is certainly not perfect either. I had to jailbreak my iPod touch because Apple not only refused to allow me to update to 4.0, they didn't patch 3.1.3 which contained a fairly serious PDF vulnerability. Luckily with the jailbreak, I could patch that, and it continues to be a great device 3.5 years after buying it.

I agree. Android is great, but Samsung is definitely not the company you want to pick for devices. Will the Galaxy Tab ever get the 3.0 update? Probably not. Will it even get 2.3? Probably not. Nice $600 device.

Somebody mod this guy up. Walken as the Architect? Doesn't. Get. Any. Better.

Thank you for your anecdotal evidence containing a sob story. It's been noted. Signed, The IT Staff

Oh, my opinion is BS, but yours is valid? LOL typical Slashdotter mentality. The godawful ribbon makes far more sense to the several hundred users I support than 2003 or 2007 ever did, and some of these people struggle with remembering how to tie their shoes. As for good luck reading it outside Outlook, I must be a lucky man, because mail from it read in Apple Mail, iPad, iPhone, Android mail client, GMail web client, Evolution, and Thunderbird all look fine. Maybe your interwebz is broken?

Linux+XenApp is amazing, provided the user has continual connectivity.

GMail is great for personal use, but you need a real client for calendaring, contacts, and e-mail. For that, GMail is a joke. Outlook 2010 is significantly better than 2003 and 2007, and Outlook 2011 for Mac is light-years ahead of Entourage (though that's pretty much a given).

GMail was more expensive over 5 years than Exchange was, so we kept with Exchange (2010, in our case). Our spam filter is quite effective, and barely needs to be touched. Exchange 2003 was extremely hands off, and now having implemented 2010 I don't see how it's going to be any different. It works well with Windows and OS X via Office 2010/2011, and the Linux users (Ubuntu, Debian) are all content with Outlook 2010 via Citrix XenApp. As for pushing Linux on people; right tool for the right job. Trying to get CS to run in WINE is borderline incompetent if you're using it for business to facilitate the money-making process. Sure, it may be good fun at home, but there's no place for that shit in a business. Windows does the general office crap fine, so we use it. Linux does the engineering/compute stuff fine, which is why we use it. OS X does the marketing/sales/creative crap just great, so we use it. They all integrate into Active Directory easily, so I don't see why giving employees choice is a problem, provided you have a competent IT staff.

I don't get what is so difficult. If you don't want a $999 11" machine, then don't buy it. Who cares? This machine isn't for you, any more than a Porsche 911 is for me. I don't spend too much time going in depth about cars I'll never own. So why spend time bitching about a computer you'll never own? For the specs, and in comparison to the Sony 11" machines (of which the Air is the closest to) the price is very much on par. it's not a 1.4" thick plastic laptop with a cheap Atom processor and slow hard drive.

The engineers got tired of hearing how "the place wouldn't run without the salesmen, and the salesmen are the bread and butter of the organization, they deserve the big money, blah blah blah"

I love seeing this reasoning; always amusing. Yes, it took Apple until version 3 for c&p, release June 17th, 2009. So how is that an excuse for Google, having released 3 versions of Android so far this year? Just because it took Apple until v3 to get it right doesn't mean Google should wait until v3 as well, especially when they're competing with a device that does do it properly. It's as if Google's Android engineers had never used an iPhone. HTC obviously thought it was a problem, because they went and implemented proper c&p as apart of Sense. Obviously Motorola thought the keyboard sucked, so they put Swype on the X as standard. My point is why is Google relying upon 3rd party companies to fix their oversights? Even the Nokia N900 does a better job of it.

That is 100% correct. It was an All Things D interview with Mossberg and Swisher; I think it might have even been D8 this year. iOS (even before it was called that) was always designed to go on both a tablet and phone. Android, on the other hand, wasn't, at least until v3.0. Seeing as how rudimentary features like the virtual keyboard and copy/paste suck on Android, I hope they fix that before going headstrong into tablets. Sure, HTC has fixed the C&P issue in Sense, and Swype is really cool, but those sorts of things need to be good right out of the box, and not necessitate a 3rd party to come in and fix them.

Right, because Linux servers with CC info on them aren't being hacked on a daily basis, and then loaded with redirects to malware sites. Oh wait......they are. My viewpoint still stands. Any OS can be hacked provided the target is worthwhile.

I don't disagree with you at all. They should have reported exactly what version of Windows was used. Tech "reporting" is pretty bad these days overall. However I do find it amusing that one guy says my "logic is wrong" and that Linux is used for CC transactions and it's secure, etc. Apparently he hasn't seen any of the thousands of compromised Linux-run sites that are hosting today's flavor of Antivirus Pro/2010/etc malware. Again, it doesn't matter what the OS is. Any of the major three can be hacked if the target is worth the time.

As much as I'm not a fan of Windows, it's the target, not the OS that's the problem. OS X and Linux can be circumvented too, if the prize is worth it. Anyone who doesn't realize that is a fool.