Apparently Philo gives the secret of how to make plutonium from common household objects.

I'm in the same camp. Especially when doing a monthly backup, I don't really care how long it takes to write. I just want to make sure when it comes time to read it that it works. The only success I ever had was with DVD-RAM, especially the ones in the caddy cartridges. Of course, 4GB just won't cut it today. Off the shelf DVD-R was a joke. Sometimes the discs would work for a few weeks before developing errors, even if stored in a jewel case in a dark, cool room, with no humidity.

One of the MAIN reasons I gave up optical discs is because they were not reliable. Sure, the factory pressed discs were okay. But anything burned at home seemed to have a lifespan of 2 years tops before it started to degrade. At one point I was buying expensive DVD-RAM for backups because it was actually business-grade and would last for a long time. But the capacity soon became too low to use anymore, especially considering the cost of the discs. I have heard about the "archive quality" discs but have never put any to the test.

I get a call EVERY DAY from some automated message telling me "The FBI reports there is a break in every 15 minutes" I have tried asking them nicely to stop calling me, tried cursing at them, tried screaming at them, tried threatening them with bodily harm. They still call me EVERY DAY from a different phone number. I asked them yesterday "You have called me over 100 times and I have not been interested. Did you think maybe if you just called me one....more...time.... that I'd change my mind?" If I knew where these people operated out of, I'd burn their building down.

Back in the 1990's I was really excited about this project. I really hated how Microsoft had a strangle hold on the entire industry and there was no sign that it was going to change anytime soon. This project was promising in that it really offered a possible solution. But they're about 13 years too late. Far too little progress has been made. Microsoft has already been knocked off of its pedestal and now there are viable alternatives that consumers are embracing. Specifically, MacOS, IOS, and Android devices. Linux is still a niche for desktops. And the browser is really the thing that killed Microsoft more than anything else.

I'd like to see a guy out on the streets here in Texas try to stab people to death. He might get one, then he'll get shot by several people who were carrying concealed handguns. But unfortunately for the UK they have disarmed all of their citizens.

If I were poor (and yes, I was poor at one point) I would still much rather buy a good-quality, reliable used car for the same price as this brand-new eye-sore. So if this car is going to cost $10,000 in the USA, I could think of many used cars that I'd much prefer to own that can be purchased for less money.

Whoever wrote this is having a very imaginative time, but I don't see any of this stuff ever being a reality. Sorry.

That way at least my knowledge and experience will live on forever in the collective!

I plan on getting one as soon as possible. Check out this video for some common myths for all of you naysayers out there!

http://www.evtalk.org/95/evtalk-ev-myths/

There are actually quite a few PPC machines still in use out there. I am actually using a G4 Mac Mini to type this. True, they are obsolete and not particularly fast. At least the G4 Mac Mini is power-efficient. But, for geeks, these machines can still keep going for several years beyond their usual life-span. I also use a G4 Mac Mini hooked up to a daisy-chain of firewire hard drives for my file-server and it does very well.

Incidentally, I tried Ubuntu on a G4 Mac Mini recently and found it very lacking for a desktop PC. But it would probably be okay for a server.

This issue affected so many different manufacturers. For example, the Apple iMac G5 was a big problem with bad caps. Also lots of LCD monitor manufacturers have failing backlight inverters due to the same issue. Also plenty of motherboards manufactured by Intel that went into HP, Gateway, and others all had the same problem. Sure, Dell did what they had to do because they couldn't get any good caps anywhere and the only other choice would have been to just shut down the company. My company buys lots of Dell products and they are always very quick to get problems resolved, usually overnighting us a part.

In a way, this will probably HELP microsoft because this means less malware infections, which will make their O/S look more secure.

The main reason most users don't bother reading error messages is because they aren't used to having messages that are informative. PC LOAD LETTER is an excellent example, but in many cases with products the error messages may even be clear, but they aren't accurate. How many times have we seen a program give an error message about "insufficient memory" or something to that effect. So the user (if they read it) believes that they need a RAM upgrade in their computer. After you research the message, you find out that it really has nothing to do with memory and was in fact some totally unrelated problem. If programmers spent more time creating accurate error messages, maybe people would read them.

I'll be buying one. As soon as my local Chevrolet dealer has one on the lot and I can pick one up for around $30,000 or less (after any govt. incentives, obviously). True, I normally wouldn't pay more than $25 for any vehicle, but with the gas-savings it will make up the difference. And the volt beats the heck out of the Plug-in Prius that only goes around 12 miles on battery.