nice response supernova_hq - agreed on the music. I was lead on a massive rush job (Y2K potential disaster management app) and did the whole thing while listening to The Crystal Method - Vegas - some vocals, but they just fall to the background.

wow. I own a software company and we have a mixed use cube area as well. If anyone tried to remove music from our team I would remove them from the company. It's been a while since I developed but I certainly did my best work listening to music, even when it wasn't to drown out others. It's impossible for developers to operate in a distracting environment - the minute a person nearby is on the phone, they are pooched without some way to muffle sound. We tried earmuffs even for some sensitive folks, but music was the solution.

I agree that this capability could allow programmers to deduct 20% of the expenses that they incur for hardware and software - but I certainly don't see this as abuse. North American governments (I am from Canada) haven't been putting enough effort into R&D at all. By allowing someone to write off some equipment (h/w and s/w) they are encouraging more R&D - and it is these fledgling R&D efforts that creates the technologies of tomorrow. All I want to know is how do I get the Canadian government to do the same!