Your mom is a classy lady! Or at least that's what this decision reminds me of.

Have fun clicking that link in print. :P

No, the problem is you literally can't install some software on Macs running a few minor versions behind. I have a 10.3 Mac and I can't update Java. That, in turn, limits a lot of cross-platform Java apps. That makes them not very 'cross platform.' On the other hand I had an old Win98 desktop that ran Firefox 2.x fine right up until the drive failed -- and plenty of other modern apps.

Then you and I want totally different things. I want the story. I like how there's bits of dialog you can stick around and listen to, or old newspaper clippings to read to get more of the backstory. I'd rather have the immersive experience. I believe there was an interview with the Valve devs where they stated they left Gordon mute to allow the players to mentally view themselves as him, and they figured a voice would jar them out of that.

It seems to me, you'd prefer more of a run and gun, DOOM style game. And that's fine. But I don't see that as an argument for a reboot.

Half Life 2 is "open world?" I love the game, but it's totally linear. There's a series of arenas connected by narrow passages. Episode 2 had slightly more space, what with the driving sequence at the end, but even that was still an arena. And Gordon was mute all through the first game, so I don't understand why you feel it "works" in that one and not in the sequels.

That's what I would do, sure. But if they're dropping more than a million dollars, they must be trying to attract some business customers, I'd assume.

That's what I'm thinking. I thought the whole point of the cloud was that it was still controlled servers, but a big ol' chunk of them, with Google style redundancy, so that it's not "My powerpoint is on Server A-436-Z," it's "My powerpoint is hosted with $DOMAIN." This sounds like you're gonna trust some 13-year old kid to never turn his PC off (or slow down the bandwidth when he plays WoW for 7 hours just when I need my files.) What happens when one of your users has an AOL style dynamic IP that changes every time they log in? What happens when there's a brownout in CA and that takes out 200 of your users? Can someone explain how they avoid what appears to be technical and reliability hurdles here?

I agree. Pandora tried to avoid the fees, and failed. I see this as not an endorsement but a backhanded rebuttal -- "Well, industry, time to put your money where your mouth is! Is radio good because it generates buzz, and it being free is the acceptable tradeoff, or not?"

Ooooh man you have no idea. I'm working with another guy here at university, maintaining this application started back in 99. It's terrible.

Aha, misread GWT as AWT -- that explains a lot. Obviously I need more caffeine before I should be allowed to comment on /.

Wait, how are you going from Java source, to Java bytecode, and then magically to JavaScript? I think I missed something here, because despite the names, those are two very different languages in implementation. (Scope in Java versus "every variable is global" in JS just for starters)

Let me introduce you to a technology known as RSS.

That's totally why Apple allows you to install OSX on any platform, and why no one cares about the shiny brushed aluminum cases or paying extra for getting a black MacBook instead of a white one -- because dammit, no one cares about the hardware! Seriously, though, my bad attempt at snark aside, isn't the Apple philosophy high-quality hardware that you never have to muck around with? Isn't that their justification for the somewhat higher prices?

If your education puts you in debt that lasts a lifetime, you did it wrong. Yes, not everyone can afford even a public university, but most of the state unis around here have far, far lower tuition than anywhere else. And you can go to a community college for the first two years to knock out those damn Gen Eds for even cheaper than that. Yeah, there's a lot less scholarship money to go around now, but there's still some federal aid money that you can get your hands on too. The problem that I observed from my graduating class was that no one wanted to 'lower' themselves to a public university. Cutting off their nose to spite their face, and all.

Why did such an obvious troll get +4 Informative? Because obviously the justice system with checks and balances is inferior to beating the snot out of someone on what amounts to hearsay.