It might not be a problem as such, but if it's a significant improvement over what we have, that's fine. Progress is often incremental rather than revolutionary.

General Kenobi: Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars ... help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a big fucking laser and I'm just a tiny image.

I think the word you want is "ostensibly."

There have been many very bad "horror in space" movies, but that one was among the worst.

I bet some of it is a "diverted" shipment from the naquadah mines on P3X-4C3.

The only off-the-shelf machines I buy are laptops. I've been doing my own builds since the late '90s. I don't think I'm necessarily getting something better than an off-the-shelf machine, I just enjoy doing the build. I probably end up spending more money than I would have otherwise. That's all right too. If at some point the build-your-own market no longer exists, will I still be able to buy an off the-shelf machine? If not, will I be able to buy a laptop that I can plug a mouse and a full sized keyboard into? If yes to either of those, I'll be happy. The only scenario I really wouldn't like would be being stuck with some handheld thing and the only input device is a touch screen. I don't see that happening any time soon, if ever. So ... I know this change in the market is news, but I kind of don't care.

Though I enjoy reading books on my tablet very much, I've been buying fewer ebooks recently. This is mainly because many of the things I want to read are not available in any ebook format. So I've already bought many books as epubs (even things I already have in print version), but as I look for more obscure things, I'm not having as much luck. I can understand why a publisher wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of converting the complete short stories of W. Somerset Maugham, for example, to electronic format at high risk (few likely buyers). So I get the print version. Profits can be pretty slim in the publishing business, so I think electronic and print will coexist for some time. I have no desire for "digital detox" though.

They tell me I'm buying the book, but I do not actually own even the copy on my "device" in any meaningful sense. But ... if somebody obtains a copy without permission of the copyright holder, somehow that becomes theft of "intellectual property."

I know a few people who have Apple Watches. They like them all right, but at least one says that it's seriously overpriced for what you get. And at least the Series I can be painfully slow. I have no interest in owning a smart watch of any kind, but if I did, I would do what I did with Android phones. I would start off with the cheapest one I could buy that would do what I want it to do, then slowly work my way up to something more expensive that's a really good fit for me. You can't do that with Apple stuff. At any given time there's basically one of everything they sell. That has it's good points (potential at least for better quality control, and some people just don't want to spend the time figuring out what to buy). I imagine the Apple Watch will end up a niche item, which I think the iPod has been for some time.

If I had mod points right now, I would mod you up with "insightful." You make two excellent points. Let's take the first one. Until we get a sample size larger than 1, we're speculating. Some of that speculation may turn out to be useful in the future, so why not keep doing it? I can't imagine how it could hurt anyone. Thanks for your post.

Between the Missing Manual and some books Microsoft has announced (but not yet published), might find more-or-less what you're looking for.

Missing Manual:

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-...

Microsoft Books:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/micros...

Dear Mr. Stross,

Your little tirade there was only a little less annoying than an argument about whether an Imperial Star Destroyer could beat the Enterprise-D in battle. I imagine building a time machine into a DeLorean is impossible. I know that an X-Wing banking into a turn makes no sense in terms of real space flight. But these thing can be enormous fun. I've often found that books with similarly ridiculous scenarios are quite a bit of fun to read; that is to say, I enjoy them whether you do or not. Columns, articles, books, and documentaries about how the science in much science fiction is silly (e.g. your piece on science-fictional shibboleths) are a tedious waste of time.

Your books are quite good though

S.

Those Berserker novels were okay, but not great.

Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.

Okay, I'm going to assume that you mean Linux + GNU + X.org + GNOME/KDE/Xfce/LXDE or whatever. I do. It's all I use. I have Windows XP and Windows 7 in VirtualBox because occasionally a friend or family member will call me and ask me something like, "How do I ... whatever whatever."