I, for one, don't mind - and indeed look forward to - upgrading my components every couple of years at 1k+ a pop. It's like people with DSLRs vs people with point-and-shoots. If the latter works fine for you, great - however for others, it's just not good enough.

Hmm. Maybe I don't fully understand this system but from what I gather, it still seems pretty convoluted to me; even if it implemented that spot number thing.

I'm from Singapore. Here, every vehicle has an electronic device with a stored value card in it. On the way in, a wireless scanner logs you in, and on the way out the same system clocks you out, calculates the total time you spent in the lot (minus 5 minutes goodwill to allow you to find a spot) and deducts the appropriate amount from the card.

Both the entrance and exit are gated and the gates won't open if 1) all the lots are full or 2) you don't have enough value in your card to pay. Top up stations exist within walking distance so you never end up being unable to leave.

Imagine a company sold 4 copies of some software last year, with 3 copies for desktops and 1 copy for netbooks. This year, they managed 1 desktop copy and 2 netbook copies. Overall sales are down 25%, but netbook penetration is up 100%. I think this kinda answers the question. Right? Or did I miss something? Dammit. Need coffee. Brane daid.

You don't need your code to still be running in 2100 to reference dates in 2100. Simulation software, for one, might easily need those dates for predictions.

you're missing the point. there usually are other factors in play in any investigation. having only the camera make to go by is useless, but not so if you've managed to narrow - through other criteria - your suspect list down to 10.