I seem to recall a fair amount of noise over, for example, Unity. But many users just picked some other fork and got on with their work. Windows users don't quite have that luxury. The major *nix players have long term support (LTS) releases which provide firm dates that facilitate planning. Let's not forget: "free."

It could also be due to the proportionality of use: so many more winboxes out there, so many more voices to be heard.

Mac users are, well, special. I don't have one (yet) so aren't fully qualified to speak here but it seems Apple does a better job of not releasing total cruft.

Wish I could say the same. I found XP Pro x64 the most neglected version of any Windows OS w.r.t. drivers (printer, spare NIC, ...) and most of the FOSS software I use. Of course I haven't used Win8...

Give me the 32 bit version or even Win7 any day. Except today--that machine is finally working and I'm not messing with it.

It doesn't have to be "old" hardware! We spent 5 figures just two years ago on a laser-based spectroscopic instrument for measuring trace gases and guess what? IT RUNS XP!

The manufacturer sent out a notice last month to the effect they were "finding a solution." This announcement comes as a genuine relief for them, I'm sure.

10 minute boot time?
4 hours lost due to virus scan?
Cryptolocker randsoms (sic)?
IE6?
Lost moniez from not upgrading?

This is way past mellodrama. This is FUD. Paging & swap algorithms? Seriously?

Oh, wait -- I just read your username. I get it now! Ha ha.

If you weren't on the list already you sure as hell are now.

And still entirely different things to rocket surgeons.

Excuse me, I think you're in the wrong class. Remedial trigonometry is down the hall.

No, there is always 16 ounces in a pound regardless of what you are "weighing" (measuring the mass of). Perhaps you've conflated ounce with fluid ounce -- a distinct, though confusingly named, unit.

And yes, a mile is 5280 ft = 63360 inches. I don't know where you pulled "3mm shy of" from but if you're measuring in miles and worrying about being 3mm shy, you're doing it wrong.

I'm really not sure about this idea but if their pensions could be raided like my social security currently is, I might be in.

While I'm not qualified to comment on the legitimacy or not of attacks on Romney, I must point out that search phrase has some inherent bias.

And I wouldn't defer to the IRS as some absolute arbiter. These are the folks who decided to spend time investigating neighborhood groups applying for 501c4 status while declining requests to investigate juggernauts like Crossroads GPS, Priorities USA and Americans for Prosperity. Again, I'm not accusing or absolving Romney but the IRS seems to prefer path of least resistance.

The political affiliation of who makes the argument doesn't really matter. GGGP's argument isn't really the same as Washington Monument Syndrome anyway.

If you cut past the hyperbole, it seems to say: politicians are more willing to enact broad cuts to 'social services' and other non-"defense" spending than to take the time to carefully evalute the effectiveness of all program spending and trim the (lobbyist-protected) fat. The joint strike fighter comes to mind though I'm sure some better examples could be found.

This would be a superb priority #1. If competition was restored to congressional races, candidates would be forced to actually engage those with opposing views and the partisan chasm would stop expanding--maybe even begin narrowing.

Careful, I heard RMS sleeps with a katana. No, seriously.

I think the interwebz is kind of like radio, at least in a few ways. You could operate a paywalled website (XM, Sirius) but you won't have much market share. Or you could operate a neutral, informative, original website (NPR, BBC) but only weirdos will visit. Or you could broadcast whatever "popular" cruft the people are clamoring for (any station playing Miley Cirus) and be wildly successful but selling advertising time/space.

We all seem to agree this article highlights the same issue we've had with virtually all technological advances: increased efficiency putting people out of a job. I fail to see how the micropayments idea would work at all; it would just be interpreted (probably rightly so) as holding back "progress."

Ugh, forgot /. strips carets. That last sentence wasn't very clear. Here:

Oops premature submit. I meant to mention I wholly support the idea of labeling not because I believe GMOs are evil or the make me "feel bad" but because of those other, demonstrated harms I mentioned:

* Unfair patent litigation against farmers who crops were contaminated
* Inevitable dilution of adjacent non-GMO crops
* Acceleration of pesticide resistance

Since the jury is, at least in my opinion, still out on the ultimate safety of these crops I don't bother claiming food safety as a primary reason for my supporting labels. It's not like adding that information would cause the economy to collapse; 60+ nations already require labeling.

And though it's not related, I'd also support additional labeling for things like potassium, phosphorous, etc when there's a valid reason. Yes, even if it's only important for some minority of the population. It could even be compromised like, 'consumers can assume 0.5% of constituent X but higher levels must be on the label'.