> No where did you say why Apple has to force
> iTunes to be compatible with third party
> devices. Anti trust is not a reason because
> Apple is not a monopoly.

That sounds a lot like the arguments Microsoft used to use. Nobody believed them either. Apple seems to be determined to illustrate the consequences of a failure to benefit from the lessons of history.

Ok, think of Windows Mobile like SE Linux. The operator is the administrator and you don't get the password. Don't think of it removing the app as "uninstall", just that the admin restricted the ability to execute the code or access resources. The operator makes decisions based on what results in most profit, the principle which makes capitalism thrive. They go for what most users would like (majority forces the minority, otherwise known as democracy) and most users prefer no hassles. For every user like you who gets ticked, they gain many users who don't leave or spread bad impressions because they blame it on the phone. If you want a box with admin password, build it yourself. If you want to use the operator's network, you have to follow their rules. You're free to build or buy a device, install linux on it and hook it up to one of the broadband modems from the mobile operators for connectivity (modems available via USB, PCMCIA, even WiFi). And as far as blaming the OS, I don't think even SElinux has the ability to peek into connections and determine that your p2p file-sharing app is now relaying things for the netbot instead. I know, you still blame the OS for allowing the app to do that. RELATED: I do understand your frustration though. Working in the mobile handset industry I have seen a number of decisions which didn't even make sense to me, but were based on general user preferences. Here is one good example: when your phone syncs up with your mail/calendar server, it would be useful to know whether the sync succeeded or had errors, or even when the last successful sync occured. WinMobile had that feature but Blackberry did not. Turns out not having this feature wins with the general public. In a study users were given same phones, but one group had the error/status reporting removed completely, overall on average, the users with the feature removed reported much better sync experience. Were they fooled, you bet, BUT the one who makes the phone which hides this info wins, people like the phone more, better word of mouth, they sell more phones! You would complain about the lack of the feature, so would I, but I understand why from the phone maker point of view you want it gone - to make the phones more successful.

It's said that a lot of the undergraduate girls at college in the US are "gay until graduation" because it's supposed to be so hard to find a decent boyfriend (one figure I heard quoted is that there are on average 1.3 girls to every guy in undergraduate college in the US).

First of all, I didn't state that the fact that people don't write software for Linux is a disadvantage, though it is true.

Second, the lack of malware is only a current advantage, just like the lack of commercial software which you mentioned is a current disadvantage. If the ads succeed in converting people to Linux, the same advantage mentioned in the ad will cease to exist, because Linux will become more popular, and thus become a target for malware writers. Aren't /.ers typically supposed to be opponents of security through obscurity?

<quote>
<p>Funny, my survival plan involves following somebody like you to his survival house and killing him once he shows me where everything is hidden. :)</p></quote>

Good luck finding someone smart enough to have a good contingency plan, yet dumb enough to show all his secret holdouts to a stranger. That's a fine line. :)

Not too thick a forest. You need to be able to see people approaching, and not provide assailants with cover within range. As ultranova points out, a typical residential house in an urban or suburban area is not defensible over the long term. My emergency plan involves a little place in the North Ga. mountains - limited approaches, fresh water, good hunting and arable land adjacent, and you can't find it unless you know how. Google Maps and Mapquest will both get you totally lost.

You're calling me authoritarian? I laugh. And so would anyone who knows me. Here's another well-worn talking point: Your right to swing your fist about ends at the tip of my nose. Similarly, your right to speak ends where it begins to infringe on my right to make a free and uninfluenced choice in exercising my franchise.

Your post inspires some questions:
1. Do you think that allowing active campaigning at the polls would enhance the democratic process?
2. Do you feel that a 250' radius bubble of enforced neutrality is inhibiting the free exchange of ideas and public dialogue?
3. Do you favor removing other restrictions on "free" speech, as described in my previous post?