Microsoft have a long history of ignoring everybody else's standards and implementing their own - trying to define computing. I think it's a good thing really, they have proven that they can play on the bleeding edge and they're not held back in terms of innovation But it gets really annoying when they refuse to even use the same line endings as everybody else ;) Seriously though fair play MS, you *can* write good software, just leave it open and pure and don't try and tie it in with everything else. If I see a One-drive button you're dead! (disclaimer : not a real death threat)

Totally agree. I got so fed up of having to give estimates on things that can't be estimated that I just started giving ludicrously large ones to get them off my back. Turns out they just accept whatever I tell them and my life is now really easy. They don't complain if I deliver early either so it's a win-win. It's not like they can say "It shouldn't take you that long" - I'm a programmer and the one doing the work and even I don't know how long it'll take so bugger knows how they're supposed to know. Just tell them "well if you want it done right..." And then if they say they don't care, ship the rushed buggy pile of crap. You told them so and they'll accept any estimate you give in future.

On earth are you asking me?

I've been using Syncplay for quite a while, lets you use your own media player, works on the big three. Handles pausing, seeking etc. It's a joy to watch things with people in other countries, especially when used along side voice communication - especially if it's your sweetheart (sigh) So the same functionality on mobile platforms? pretty awesome! I expect such functionality will be part of social media sites in the near future.

Yes because a closed source propitiatory encryption system from one of the largest American companies couldn't possibly have any back-doors.

Speaking as an NSA back-door, I can promise you faithfully that I am not present in any firmware. Nor did I have sex with that woman and I'm certainly not a crook.

Surely spite is a human construct rather than an (biologically) evolved trait? are there examples that could be said to be spite in other creatures?

Squirrel orgy? one of natures rare treats my friend, sorely missing from many a wildlife documentary and indeed many special interest websites.

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head it seems. Succinct and I can't fault your assessment. It troubles me that I saw so little regarding an issue that is very much at the heart of our next election. You've given me much to think about - good day to you also.

Survival of the fittest for the individual. Survival of the fittest for the species.

The last two squirrels in the tree, one single nut. The selfish squirrel eats, the other starves. Selfish squirrel doesn't get to breed, tree becomes free of squirrels.

There's probably a point during a co-operative species evolution at a given geographical locale where the factors of population density, predators, resources, brood size etc results in negative growth without cooperation.

Meanwhile in the next tree, there's lots of nuts, all the squirrels are selfish. A few years later there's a squirrel orgy and both traits are mixed into the next generation.

Just like heat shock proteins - it's not hot now but it clearly was at some point. So the population density of a cooperative species might seem fine now but perhaps it was once squeezed and gave rise to cooperation traits in that species and we now can't see the reason because the pressure that gave rise to the behaviour is no longer present.

Or maybe Richard Dawkins is responsible somehow.

I see, well you clearly have a much better grasp of the issues than I do. Much of what I know about tax evasion in this country is from political debates and (biased?) media stories.
It does seem unfair especially given far more money was used to bail out private banks than could be clawed back by forcing companies to adhere to UK law and other countries seem to do just fine without needing such additional taxes.
I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this and explain your stance but I'd be doing you a disservice without learning more. I'll do some more research before venturing the topic again :) thanks!

Summing up another comment I made on this post, it seems very difficult to quantify the (developmental) efficiency gains of one language over another without long term use in a business/team environment. 5% was of course a guess but I strongly feel that any gains are closer to my estimate than to the estimate of 50% to 70% reduction in time. (and no I'm not 'rather ignorant' can we please keep things civil? you wouldn't speak to a client like that) Is anybody aware of any methodologies to quantify such things? So many factors, error rates due to syntax possibilities/restrictions, learning curves, the libraries available for development. For such a new language I seriously doubt that anybody can give an accurate estimate. But such a large margin? I doubt it's much more than 10% for a strongly typed object orientated language (such as newer Object Pascal dialects) over older functional languages (like C)

You raise very good points, I was referring to the scandal of companies like Amazon and Google using loopholes here in the United Kingdom to avoid paying the majority of what they owe in tax by shifting profits made in this country to other countries. But that said, I do see the importance of keeping business tax low especially given the points you raise (although the UK has one of the most favourable tax systems in the world for businesses and many companies and rich individuals are still choosing to cheat the system) Our western economy being based on the concept of continual growth it's reasonable to accept government claims that a higher tax on business would have a knock on effect that would harm individual households in the long term. It would be nice to see more transparency in such things and less closed door deals with our freely elected officials. Anyway I digress - Nim doesn't look bad but it's very hard to quantify the development efficiency of languages compared to others without long term use in business and for that to happen some early adopters have to take risks. It seems like a big ask. Are you yourself or anybody else aware of methodologies that can be used to quantify the (developmental) efficiency of a language? With so many factors - learning curve, error rates related to syntax possibilities/restrictions etc it seems very difficult to cast anything other than a 'gut feeling'

Agree, I'm not particularly proud but I suspect that such 'tactics' are commonplace and I think it's kinda sad that honest and noble people engaged in business often fail or end up at the bottom of the pile simply because they do the right thing. I've been 'pushed out' of businesses in the past for standing my ground when it comes to issues of morality and even law - and that was fine at the time because nobody depended on me. Now I'm left with little choice but to go with the flow unless I want those that rely on me to pay the price for the sake of my pride. From covering up data breeches to knowingly shipping faulty products - I and I suspect many people here have seen everything from the questionable to the downright illegal happen frequently. Not even giants like Google pay their tax, don't be evil? more like don't get caught being evil.

I'll say! and here's me being impressed with 32k ray-tracers written in assembly. I've not lived.