Not every computer needs to be connected to the internet. I run XP on my audio workstation, because it works reliably. It's only connected when I need to use some online license activation method, but that's only for a short time, safely behind a firewall.

Every manager knows that quality needs time & resources. It's just that managers may have different priorities than developers: "give me 80% of functionality tomorrow, rather than 100% in 6 months".

Chickens don't have an ass, but a cloaca

The concept of original sin is restricted to man, and does not include boa constrictors. Immaculate conception of a boa is therefore nonsense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception

Why would ordinary users have to know the difference between a virus and a trojan? Teach them a few simple rules for safe computing that anyone can understand and that's it. I don't need to know how a Diesel engine works or how it differs from other engine types, as long as I put in the right kind of fuel (oblig. car analogy).

Buying and using are different things. I still had 50 empty floppies in 2002, but those were bought years before.

What, you mean people still believe that Zeus is throwing lightning bolts around and seducing young virgins?

That's only when you're talking about the median, you stupid! (Oh, I'm in a mean mode today...)

You obviously don't know much about learning and teaching. Having a student reread pages until they pass the test is a waste of time. If you don't understand the material after reading (maybe twice), you need a different explanation of the material; something that any competent teacher will recognize.

The 'haab' actually has 365 days, it's the 'tun' which only has 360 days. Depends on which of the two you want to call a 'year'.

Cats can be kept in house perfectly well. I live in a smallish apartment and our cat is used to living indoors. She can wander around on our small balcony if the weather permits (and she loves it), but living indoors is not a problem at all. Large dogs, on the other hand, will probably go crazy.

No, genetically speaking, we have evolved to cooperate as a tribe. Now we can crash the skulls of other, smaller tribes and take their bananas.

Better yet, our alpha males have learned how to frighten lesser tribe members into believing that other tribes are out to take our wives and kill our babies, in order to convince them to go crash some skulls and bring the bananas home.

How is it then, that everybody and their aunt complains about the fact that the Windows distributions have included a browser for ages? Aah, you mean because of the stable, maintainable and patched part of the requirement...

Nonsense. Software does not cease to function as it did by itself. As you say, it can become outdate and incompatible because people stop targeting it just as with peripherals. You really don't have a convincing argument to back up the statement that hardware remains fully functional when software does not.