Plus I can use my computer and all its hardware for just about anything I want without having to worry about support for any of my devices. In addition, I do not have to debug the problems that occur. BTW - I can guarantee that the NSA is thoroughly familiar with open source operating systems and can get them to do anything they want.

It is difficult to underestimate the Greed of the entertainment industry. These people replace the energy industry as the poster child for robber barons.

In addition, it is very easy to justify bringing in workers using H1b visas for existing employees from an offshore company site in say Asia. Thus a company can hire someone in another country then send them to the US to work then keep them in a company apartment and pay them very little. The employee is either very willing to come or has no choice in the matter. It is my feeling that H1b visas are not necessary. As to a decline in quality; people seem to be accepting that decline. I can think of many cases over the last few years where there have been gaping holes in quality control showing that testing was not performed with the same care and attention to detail as it had in the past.

Referring to Orbiter as a 3D Game (especially at 1280x1024x16) is like going to Maxim's and bringing your own happy meal. Call me when you can play Bioshock Infinite on, at least, medium at no less than 30fps in HD resolutions.

"A Connecticut policeman told Lupica 'it sounded like a doctoral thesis, that was the quality of the research', and added, '[Mass killers such as Lanza] don't believe this was just a spreadsheet. They believe it was a score sheet. This was the work of a video gamer'." A great many middle Americans distrust and fear computers. They don't understand them, they don't want to work with them, and they distrust people who do. We all know and have worked with people who have this type of attitude. Then we couple that attitude to middle America's dislike of games. Many Americans feel games are for children, adults shouldn't play games they have to work. The fact that these same people spend their leisure time vegetating in front of a TV watching a paid entertainer play a game does not count. You see that is not playing because "playing" is not an adult activity and they are adults. In these people's mind playing computer games are not only irresponsible it is somehow wrong and abnormal. So here we have a cop investigating a mass murder in which the suspect used a computer, this cop sees a spreadsheet which reminds him of a game he connects computer, abnormal evil, and something game like and comes to the conclusion that the suspect must be a computer gamer. What is ironic about the whole thing is that the countries with the highest percentage of games tend to have the lowest murder rates.

The drone pilots are just as much a target, it is just that the combatants have no way to reach them. Believe me if the people we are fighting had a way to reach the remote pilots they would not hesitate to kill them, their families, and anyone who happens to be near them at the time. Armed drones are one of our weapons and they do cause collateral damage and when we are especially careless we also kill people who are on our side. IUDs. Suicide bombs, and car and truck bombs are weapons of the other side and they are mostly designed to kill the innocent. Whereas we try to limit civilian casualties the other side tries to maximize them as part of their war of terror. As to "extra-judicial" executions and assassinations - we have never needed a warrant to kill an enemy soldier fighting in a war against us why should we need a warrant to kill an enemy combatant in the same role?

Now if it just wouldn't crash the computer. To be completely fair it is seems like a known bug that will be fixed in a future patch. However, that is little consolation to those who can not play it.

There seems to be a lot of crazy in Science Fiction authors. There are some who seem to think global warming is a hoax, many are strident libertarians that make Robert Heinlein seem like a new dealer, and some buy into the idea that the Civil War was the war of northern aggression.. You would think that those with vision would be able to analyze situations better.