Certain mods like Auctioneer (which does an AH scan) or Outfitter (which changes entire sets of gear with a single click) are definitely communicating with the server. How else would they function?

I don't know where you're getting this from but it's been said that while the original Xbox may have its roots in Windows 2000, it's now so heavily stripped and altered that it is its own OS. Likewise, the 360 is again a complete custom rebuild of the OS and is also independent.

I realise you were just being facetious, but I really would argue that Lara Croft's breasts don't significantly change her appeal. As a testosterone-fuelled male approaching the Average Gamer Age I enjoy the Lara Croft character for her strength, beauty and personality. This might sound cliché or downright cheesy and I don't pretend that I stand for the rest of the gaming population, but if one person buys Tomb Raider for the interesting locations, intricate puzzles, engaging story, and to waste time in front of a screen for many hours then I would assume I'm not alone.

I also happen to enjoy boobs, so I count it as a bonus.

I agree. Since this is all firmly in the Rumour Camp there's no evidence of what content was actually removed. What's to say the content was not blatantly infringing on copyrighted material? Let's say the user was providing links to torrents or explaining how/where to obtain illegal copies of music/movies. Who's right in that case? Is Google necessarily "evil" for protecting it's own arse and enforcing the studios and artists legal rights?

Certainly proper attrition is required but if they can remove content why not contact the user to either remove the post entirely (the issue of The Mysterious Disappearing Post is resolved) or simply add a byline within the post something to the effect of "** Some content reproduced here is (c) Example Studio and is not affiliated with the user in any way **" (another legally gray area but more clearly defined than no attrition at all)

Did anyone else happen to notice that the organisation's initials is an anagram for PITA?

Coincidence? I think not!

Too bloody right. Unless the brat was using a full wheel/pedals/transmission peripheral (where the hell do I buy these from? I could totally hit'n'run hookers in style!), there is no way he could learn to drive - or at least learn to crash in this case - from GTA.

Why shouldn't XP be the benchmark? Windows still holds almost 90% of the market and the majority of Vista users upgaded from XP (myself included). For most of them I imagine XP is all they've ever known. As far as they're concerned, what other benchmark is there?

I've got nothing against the RIAA enforcing copyright for illegally shared media. This is their duty and the artists are the legal copyright holders. What I do have a problem with is their methods such as MediaSentry's dirty little tricks like this, and the targeting of young teenagers and grandparents - which sets no real precedent and doesn't send a message to the real pirates except to say "we're a bunch of arseholes so go ahead and pirate some more."

If this switch to DtecNet can usher in an age of ethical copyright enforcement then go for it. Then at least their ego-fuelled air of self-rightousness might provide enough power to pay for the waste of legal fees they keep dumping into this pointless battle.

Well to be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing what Microsoft can do with Win7. The "modular" approach they've taken with Windows Live services is a great start. There's nothing wrong with taking a little inspiration from Linux or OS X for certain features if they can turn around Vista's shortcomings. I say bring it on!

My mantra regarding betas is always: let's wait and see...

I'm sorry, I have a problem with this. If anyone honestly expects this to happen then you are frighteningly mistaken. I really hate to point out that Linux needs Windows. It wouldn't be the same beast without Windows, none of this "free and open source" alternative ideal that Linux inspires. Without Windows, the allure isn't there - "the grass is greener" so-to-speak.

There are some god-awful Linux programs out there, don't preach about "better software" - each platform has their good and bad code. How many Linux programs would be crippled or rendered completely incompatitble with a kernel update. It happens with Windows too and automatic updates but you don't see "Requires Windows XP SP2 w/ KB###### and libX" in ReadMe.txt...

More competition, why? What's stopping me from picking up Visual Studio and banging out a Windows program for free and releasing the source code? If anything, there's should be more competition on Windows due to market saturation. I can't argue with lower prices, but what happens when a company decides to release Linux Office 2010 boasting 101% compatitbility with MS Office and then charge $200 for it? We'll be no better off than we are now.

How many of us are going to receive phone calls from family when they can't get printer or wireless drivers? What about a lot of programs distributed only as source? Do you really trust your grandma to be able to compile anything? Even the most noob-friendly distros require a shell prompt and that's where why there's never going to be a "Year of Linux on the Desktop." Though I would love to be proved wrong.

IANAL but it's hard to deny there's plenty of prior art that's for certain. Though the patent clearly states (paraphrased) "a three-dimensional graphical, multi-user world where each user executes a client to view a virtual world from the perspective of that user."

This suggests that text-based MUDs are excluded because they're not three-dimensional (although certainly graphical and multi-user in nature) and don't display the virtual world from the perspective of the user.

From TFA:

So the Firefox extension lacks the "Share" or "Publish" ability, right?

It doesn't. I've always disabled programs from pre-loading at bootup (for ongoing performance issues, not just initial boot times) and Word 2007 opens a fresh document in 3 seconds (no previously opened documents or Office apps). After closing Word and re-opening, it loads a fresh document in 1 second.

Comparing this to OOo 3 and it takes 7 seconds for initial launch and 4 seconds for subsequent launches. To me, this is pretty conclusive that Quick Load isn't the reason MS Office loads faster but probably speaks for the MS Office team doing a better job writing optimised, modular code. These test results are of course subjective depending on the hardware you have but it's the kind of thing people notice when trying to convert them away from MS Office.

It's been said before but OO's problem is the monolithic and legacy nature of the code causing it to bloat. I imagine if OO developers completely rewrote the code, stripped out all the shit and didn't use Java then they could compete with MS Office for performance. Maybe, just maybe...

TPG was bought out by iiNet a few years ago but has retained the brand name and the control to operate independently of iiNet. This is great because I like TPGs plans after being with iiNet some time ago.

Though TPG did outsource its support lines to an Indian/Asian/Whatever company I've still got very good support from them. Only very occasionally do they had some DNS issues but it's easy enough to use iiNet's instead :)

This is NOT a network upgrade. A network upgrade would suggest we get faster, more reliable ADSL. This probably won't do that.