I have to say, being one of those closet users who has always admired the OSX Dock (and chosen to emulate it as close as possible whenever using Linux), I have to say after using Win7 for a couple of months I love the new start-bar! Finally almost 15 years (roughly since Win95) of pretty poor UI design when you consider the the Start-Menu and task bar, finally Windows has a task bar that *works*!

All it needs in the next version is to cut off the unused part (up to the sys-tray) then it will truely be a Dock! Seriously for those of you who have tested Win7, how many of you have found that your applications almost never fill up the entire bar? With everything stacked (properly stacked that is not like in previous Windows's) even with my usual 5-10 apps running the icons at most take 2/3 of the task bar, it's great.

Although it has to be said it is a personal thing, some people will of course choose to ungroup their start bar icons, and make it all more like the old versions, those are probably the same people who have 50+ program icons (not documents) on their desktops. :)

One little tidbit that you may find interesting is that all MS employees are required by the terms of their employment contracts to disclose their employer whenever posting anywhere online! The terms are actually quite specific too, mentioning newsgroups, blogs and all..

Not sure how that fits in your theory but hey, I'll throw it in there.

Ps, I am not an MS employee, but on this topic I'm happy to say I like Win7! :)

Try spending a week driving in Italy with a broken sat-nav with a van full of in-laws flown in from all corners of the world, in particular try it when your *not* italian like me! The funny thing was that I never needed the thing, I mean seriously how many signs pointing to Rome do you need to see on the Motorway to know your on the right track?

Well having said that, on my previous trips to Italy when using a sat-nav on no less than two occasions the sat nav directed us onto a half constructed road! And I kid you not, one of those occasions the sat nav insisted that my fiancee and I drive off the edge of a half constructed bridge!!! It was the on-ramp to the motorway under construction!

This was Italy so that kind of thing apparently happens often, oh and before you ask there were none of the usually expected signs indicating that the road you are turning onto doesn't actually expect prior to the half built bridge!

The moral of the story is the usual rule of thumb with any system - garbage in garbage out, don't put all your faith in a machine!

I don't know what both you and the original question asker are talking about.

I just went onto Dell's website and looked at the first range of laptops that I would ever consider for myself and NONE of the models have webcams? Why?

Because I selected 'Enterprise / Corporate' on the first page and not 'Home - give-me-all-your-crap-that-only-the-children-would-use'. :)

Come to think of it, I've only ever owned one laptop with a webcam, that that was back in the day (>5 years ago) when the only way to get a decent 3d card in a laptop was to go for the home models, since then none of my laptops have them simply because when I buy a laptop I want one designed to work, not look good, etc.

See:
Dell Examples

HP Examples

BTW, pretty much any business model laptop will include a model without webcam, for the exact reason raised by the original questioner.

Wow, 2 months? I bought my Logitech wireless mouse for my new laptop last year in July (one of these: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/5484&cl=au,en), I had to change the battery just two weeks ago! And that is for my primary laptop that I use 2-8 hours every day!

I was actually very surprised the very first time I bought one of those Logitech (non-bluetooth) RF mice for my other pc (media centre box so only used on the TV), it occurred to me about 18 months after buying it that I had NEVER changed it's 2xAA batteries, so I did anyway just incase they decided to spring a little acid leak!

Have a look at something like this:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/5484&cl=au,en

The USB dongle extends from the USB port approximately 3mm, so in my experience it is not noticeable.

Oh and no special drivers are required for it either.

(Hmm, warning unpopular idea coming up!)

As someone who has designed SAAS services based both on commercial custom applications and off the shelf applications, I would say that the way to do it "ethically" would be to use known quantities.

E.g. Want a SAAS mail solution? Don't use Gmail because you don't know where it came from, instead sign up with a provider running Exchange Hosted Services, you can then be sure that what you are working with firstly is used by millions of other people around the world (security through obscurity, we love it), but more importantly if something goes really badly wrong, you have the good old fashion business favourite option to SUE someone!

What better steps or clever ideas can you take to ensure that "someone else" is creating this software as a service with your security first and foremost in mind?

Yep I know it's an unpopular idea, but when taking about businesses the best way to make a manager comfortable with something is a clear and undeniable chain of blame. :)

If we are talking about home users trying to hide their private data from the big bad world then your point may be right. Certainly if your a terrorist, you'd probably be best not using LiveMesh to store your TakeOverTheWorld.MPP files!

BUT, if we are being serious here and talking about small to medium sized business (one to a couple of hundred users) then this whole software as a service thing just "Makes Sense(TM)".

Your point that you cannot trust anyone else with your data is moot as all typical businesses do it all the time, they have to. How else can you contract in 3rd parties to install those servers holding the data? How else can they engage a mob based out of Seattle / London / Bangalore to do remote desktop support?

Ask a typical manager or director of a company who they would trust more; a 3rd party company with a tight SLA, or a typical employee on a 1 month notice period? Hopefully the answer is neither, as both hopefully will perform within the letter of their contract and nothing more.

So can you really argue that there is a difference in trust between having your own managed servers located in your basement (managed by a nice cosy SLA), or having those same servers 'virtualised' and hosted offsite with a different 3rd party with their own SLA?

Gmail is sold with an SLA, so when "almighty Google" decides to do that they will have to face the mother of all class-action lawsuits!
 

What about the backup? Come on you do have a diversely routed backup connection using an alternate connection technology don't you?

Anyway in the case when all Internet connections to a company go down you can pretty much guarantee that work will at least slow down, depending on the company, heck for a typical technology company no Google access means NO WORK full stop. Take a typical office worker and take away his/her email and I bet regardless of the fact that most other systems are working fine he/she will assume 'the networks down' and proceed to go for one of those rather long coffee breaks until it sorts itself out.

I'm actually rather surprised by the proportion of the /. crowd who DON'T seem to share this sentiment! After all when you look at technologies such as cryogenics, it is often said that the main group who believe in the possibility of such a thing are typically technology workers, etc..

I personally believe in the coming singularity, if we are the generation to survive that then it will be as "immortals", in other words once we are uploads!

Failing that if we are not the generation to survive that event then I am at least glad that it will be our offspring who do, be they human or artificial offspring.

Err, I believe the original poster was referring to the cost of purchasing a movie on DVD vs. cost from any other service.

He's right, paying £15 for a DVD or £10 on iTunes means nothing if you can't do either until 6 months after it is available on a Torrent.

Read the article..

It is actually extremely interesting as it details exactly why iTunes has such a limited selection. Something that I often wondered..

Try this one:

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

I've played with one that a friend bought, not bad, if web browsing in a small-medium size is what you want.

Ever heard of a NetBook?

Circles I tell ya, it all goes around in circles.