You're absolutely correct, but hypocrisy has never stood in the way of politics

There's this thing called Plex Media Server.

Plex accesses locally defined content libraries, scrapes them for metadata and makes them available both locally for clients smart enough to play back the raw data or transcodes them for access by dumb (DLNA, like Playstations or the like) or reduced-capability clients like iFruits. Furthermore, it negotiates authentication-based access and sharing with the Plex Web Service, meaning that you can expose your media collection over the internet, for access outside your home or use the service to share with others. Plex isn't supported by as large a collection of consumer electronics as Netflix, but it is on a lot of smart TV systems and runs on most mobile and desktop platforms.

If you already have a respectable collection of local media and a half-decent computer you're willing to leave on, you more or less have a streaming media service that is entirely under your control. If you're enough of a nerd to be reading this deep in a Slashdot comment thread, you're also enough of a nerd to figure out how to leverage Plex or something like it to make a content service that is satisfactory for your needs.

8 at a time Netflix costs about the same amount as purchasing three new Blu-Ray releases or taking myself and my SO to the theater three times. Do you judge me more or less harshly for watching more than three movies a month?

I've had an 8-at-a-time Netflix subscription since 2000 and I've been copying discs for that entire time. My goal is to touch a disc one time and Netflix facilitates that - I rip the disc and send it back. I don't mind doing it (at this point it's automated). My local copies tend to be better than the pirated product and it's not like my ISP is going to rat me out for doing it.
In theory I can download faster than Netflix can mail me discs, but dealing with physical discs more or less eliminates the risk factors from piracy. I'm willing to accept the slight inconvenience of having to put a disc in a drive for that.

1. people who are not americans, and hated the invasion of iraq, are not happy with what kgb thug putin has done

2. morality does not mean "that guy over there did something bad so it's ok that this guy does something bad"

3. the world doesn't actually revolve around the usa. the usa is not the standard you use to determine right and wrong in this world

that putin did something wrong is not automatically made ok because the usa did something wrong. different entities. if i murder your neighbor is it ok because some other guy murdered someone else once? does that make any sense to you? then why does putin doing something wrong mean we can't judge because the usa did something wrong once? why do you have a need to start babbling about the usa?

again, in case you missed it: the world does not actually revolve around the usa

it's actually possible to be angry at putin and condemn his invasion of crimea without thinking about or referencing the usa

amazing concept, huh?

I would strongly prefer tabs and basic controls to remain on-screen in the first place.

I actually kind of like the Surface2 for some tasks, since it's thin and light for a 10" tablet and has a nice keyboard and a really nice screen. I often use it as a second or tertiary screen while I'm working since it's pretty easy to drop in to an RDP session or open Office documents and it can deal with printers and scanners just as well as any Windows 8 PC. It's a genuine workplace tablet.

But web browsing on it BLOWS. Metro-IE has to be switched to desktop mode to make any configuration changes (say, changing your default search engine or adding a TPL), but desktop-IE's controls are too damned small to be used with a finger and switching back and forth is PITA as well. Tabs and favorites are a hassle in Metro mode. It's just too much an ugly duckling. Windows RT has another general purpose browser, UC Browser, but that doesn't really improve the user experience over Metro-IE.

I actually find myself using the Metro-based NewsBento for about 75% of the web browsing I do on my Surface2. NewsBento is an RSS reader, which takes care of most of my normal sort of reading, but that doesn't really help for quick searches. I otherwise get a better web browsing experience with Firefox on my 5" phone than on a 10" tablet with IE.

So anyway, I want a decent arm's length, touch interface browsing experience for the devices I have. Microsoft doesn't give it to me, and I've been holding out hope for Firefox (or to a lesser extent Google) to make something decent. Honestly, if the Surface2 had a decent web browser (and a better Metro-based local media player, though VLC was just released for Metro a couple days ago), it would be a vastly more credible general-purpose mobile device.

go home Sean Young, you're drunk

fly a gun inside

The replacement for tape is different tape. Optical media isn't going to catch up to the data densities or transfer rates that tape has to offer any time soon. The (kinda old) LTO4 changer I use for my personal stuff handles 800GB/tape and only needs about three hours per tape. This new disc format isn't even going to be competitive with an eight year old tape spec.

the preceding post is an example of posturing

(facepalm)

the problem is you idiots have an effect on the rest of society. we have to bail your ignorant asses out when you inevitably fuck up. so grow a brain

payment processors getting together and colluding is an example of no regulation

your example supports govt control, it doesn't dispute it

you call yourself realistic and you persist with a naive simplistic belief that the basics of economic history disprove?

dealing with you free market fundamentalists is like dealing with creationists

no logic or reason, just irrational faith in a really bad idea

resulting in exactly the kind of story we are commenting under