.. since he actually invented the internet. (The lawsuit involves 300 patents Allen claims were pivotal to the development of the internet).

Ogg is unrestricted by software patents.

If Android phones don't step up to the plate app-wise, AND touch-wise, accelerometer-wise, GPS-wise, compass-wise, iTunes-wise... then you're just going to have a lot of companies betting on the wrong horse.

Huh? Android phones have a capacitive touch screen, gps, and an accelerometer. A "compass" is an application that uses an accelerometer. And I'm surprised anyone would list iTunes as a strength. Android devices allow you to mount the sd card as a drive. And finally, I think we've determined in this case that the chicken comes before the egg. The apps will follow after the platform becomes popular. iPhone has lots of apps, because lots of people have an iPhone. Anyway, in a nutshell, I think you're completely wrong. :)

Hmm. Where's the all of the above option? I'm usually doing more than one of those simultaneously. (Haha employer, take that)

The only reason I would move to Windows 7 (or 8 or 9) if the current version of application XYZ I'm using is no longer supported under XP, and for whatever reason I *must* upgrade.

Well, really, the reason you'd switch is when it's obsoleted by Microsoft. Once that happens, you won't find much in the way of new drivers, application fixes, or windows updates. That day is coming.

I'm fine with XP and I use it as my main OS. I have Ubuntu on another HD but compatibility issues keep me from using it most the time. Silly stuff that's not under the control of anyone working on Linux, like not being able to watch Lost on ABC's site and Google Talk not having a Linux version. I'm well-aware that Pidgen can login to it too, but I like Gtalk.

Linux has come a long long way, especially in the past few years. It detects almost all of my hardware now and in this way it's easier to setup than Windows, but Linux's momentum is slowed just by the fact that it's not Windows and doesn't enjoy near-universal support.

By the way, Slashdot is a particularly unfortunate example, since people not reading the original article is a running joke and "Slashdot Effect" is not a term used to describe an abundance of ad revenue giving your business a huge boost.

Agreed with everything you said except this last sentence. If people didn't really read the article then there would be no slashdot effect. Most of the urls linked from Slashdot don't go down and I'm sure -do- gain an enormous amount of traffic from the link.

Agreed on the 16 bit code in Win 95.

As to Win2k vs WinXP, I didn't have compatibility issues with games. It was a timely release from Microsoft, as I was considering moving to linux at home. I have a feeling alot of people were as we were all getting fed up with the limitations of Win 9.x. :)

I can't agree with that at all, Dave. Windows 95 was fantastic at it's release. In converted many diehard DOS users when they had turned their nose to Windows 3.x. Windows 98 on the other hand was nothing but a bloated Windows 95. They just added enough "needed features" in 98, that you had to upgrade. I mostly upgraded for the USB support. Win2k was an absolute masterpiece at it's release. It just never caught on outside of enterprise, which was really a great shame. It was bad marketing on Microsoft's part. They worked out the kinks in their marketing with Windows XP, which again was just a bloated Win2k. Most companies transitioned from Win2k only because Microsoft stopped supporting it. (And many still haven't)