Telephone and postal services were created in times, when governments heavily regulated all aspects of business. Thats why you can call even today from anywhere to anywhere else. Computer messaging is OTOH left unregulated to free market competition, therefore soon everyone will have his/her own messaging app incompatible with everyone else. You will have as many messaging apps installed as people you need to talk to.

Except that almost anyone could afford new advanced manufacturing machines (tractors) back then. At this time however, advanced machines producing valuable products (electronics, food, clothes) are owned by couple of huge enterprises and there is really small (ever smaller) chance for you or me to become credible competition to them. It seems that most jobs currently is focused on servicing people locally placed around you, with services that for some reason cannot be (yet) provided remotely by Google et al. Some of those services are shrinking (like newspapers), some are likely soon to disappear altogether (taxi, truck drivers, ...) and there is really limited spectrum of services that you can provide to your local community, prostitutes and artists being only certain irreplaceable job for humans I can think about, at least for time being, so serious concern about this topic is justified.

With Lightning it is so true, Apple is repeating situation with early Windows OS days: their incompatible stuff doesn't bring anything substantial to the table, just incompatibility itself. There is nothing wrong with USB-C standard. Audio jack situation is laughable. You often don't have headphones or earbuds around when you need it, so you go to nearby shop and buy one for few $. Whats wrong with that?

Hey Americans, welcome to capitalism! Your politicians, backed by large companies and army, are pushing it globally down everyone's throat for 50 years now, at least. Now it is coming back home. Prepare soon to find out that there is guy in China or India capable of doing anything you can do for 1/3 money you need only to keep food on the table and pay bills. And forget about Sanders, capitalism will crush any Sanders standing in his way.

Obviously, it is always difficult to opose white male people, but this is right thing to do. Es an European, I can't see any contribution of hate speech to our societies. Perhaps European Commision could form protected rooms ("hate clubs") where those people (white male uneducated + "fachidiots" angry mob) can express their frustrations towards various minorities, while not disturbing normal people.

They probably evaluated that SSD are large enough already, large files on Macs are usually compressed on application level (video), and adding another level of compression would only needlessly drain batteries.

And then some "Fachidiot", closed somewhere in server room with no windows for 5 years, always points out that everything is connected with "refugees", someway or another.

H. Clinton: "Google, Facebook and Apple are lying to you about your "enhanced privacy". Again. And I like it!".

According to your name, you are Eastern-European. Don't get me wrong, but sometimes Iranian culturally way more European then east-Europeans. Way that you poor nations from the east of Europe care about immigration while no immigrant would even go there is sort of funny. And you say "WE" Europeans, like immigrants care about Balkans, Czech or Romania. You are not "WE", you are poor, try to change that first before you start helping Germany, France, Britain, Netherlands... with immigration problems. Calm down, in the next 50 years at least Eastern Europe is completely safe from any immigration. Actually, there is lot of emigrants FROM Eastern Europe.

From European perspective, this discussion is clearly frightening as hell. You guys sound like bunch of cowboys from Wild West saloon (tm). I am already tired of news about mass shootings in US, and I am not living there. Perhaps, just perhaps, owning so many weapons has something to do with it? One guy is even calling Donald Trump do the rescue (of his "rights")! With president Trump You are moving from current "country with two almost same parties" into "country run by crazy person" game, with Russia, North Korea or Cuba. Not that I care, just 2c.

I wonder what legal reasons prevent including VLC as default media player in Android, ChromeOS, Windows. It certainly is way above anything these systems provide in video department.

In German language these is actually word for all you slashdot-nerds-turned-political-and-teology-analysts wondering how poblishing of hate speech is bad for society, The word is "Fachidiot".

Main problem for HDD is that SSD only needs to get below $50 for 256GB drive and nobody (except data centers, database servers and several professional applications) will ever ask about HDD again.

I thought these "assistants" are officially tested to be useless, beyond "Call Mom" commands and carefully prepared sales demos. Anything changed lately?

As an employer, I would pick best of these guys over college grads every time.