...are probably one of the few devices that most Slashdotters would agree should definitely be running proprietary, private software.

I had no idea there were ATMs out there running Windows. Given access to the software/a machine running it, I can't see how this would have been difficult to pull off. This is a serious WTF? moment.

While I'm not myself, a good number of my friends are activly producing music.

This actually looks brilliant, I will definintly recommending.

what happened to my fucking mod points...

DAMN YOU SLASHDOT 2.0

Insightful?

So as to keep hardware costs down, make the systems easily scalable, and speed up development and upgrade timescales?

...is this really needed at a time when we should be making real an effort to cut spending.

I love the idea, but we need to prioritize a little, could this 250m be better spent elsewhere? Or not at all?

This is the price you pay for "push" e-mail on most mobile devices.

Instead of having the phone constantly connected, polling and costing money in data bills, the network does it at their end, and can then notify the phone using some GSM jiggerypokery.

FUD.

...a butterfly flapping its wings MAY trigger a tornado on the other side of the world.

We don't know that it does though...

Stand back! It's alright, I'm a webmaster...

...now when they come for us, we'll be ready.

"We want their guys to die."

I think his primary objection is that "their guys" often turn out to be women and children.

I used to be the same, but VLC now supports Last.fm, and Media Player Classic is written in MFC which hurts my eyes when I have to code with it.

"Both sides are being petty children."

Such a departure from the US and Russia of old...

1. Conficker updates

2. Security researchers scrabble to understand latest Conficker code.

3. Success!

4. Researchers release the info, in detail.

5. Researchers warm themselves in the radiant heat of their own brilliance. Community applauds.

5. Conficker authors read this publically available infomation, learn from their mistakes and fix the problems.

6. Go to 1.

And this circlejerk of will continue until the researchers involved learn put their egos aside and actually do something useful with the information.

I'm actually a Last.fm subscriber, and am more than happy to pay the meagre 3 euros, but being forced into it? Personally I don't use the paid features much at all, it's as much wanting to support the (excellent) service as it is trying to get value for money.

I wonder if they'll lose that sort of support when they move their business toward a more corporate stance.

Good, David wins again.