It's actually directly says the copy needed to use the program is okay so you're fine::
" 117. Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer programs54
(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy. — Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:
(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or"
I agree with CDs and this has been the copyright law for a while. streaming/digital downloads are a new media and the RIAA wants it treated differently. I have a Kindle the rights I have to the books I "buy" are much less than I'd have for a paper book (can't photocopy a page (at least not easily), can't loan, etc. But in exchange I get nice things like all my books fitting in one device, the ability to buy a book while waiting in line, searching, automatic bookmarks etc. It works for me, but not for everyone. CDs don't come with an agreement so they are sold outright, but digital tracks do come with an agreement so you are stuck with the terms of that agreement. You could challenge them in court if you have a few million to spare trying in hopes of overturning the iTunes EULA but since you probably don't than you're stuck with the rights that the contract grants.
I have both: Win 7 Ultimate and OS X lion on my iMac. I found that Lion was hugely slower compared to Snow Leopard (Firefox was taking ~1min to open on my quad core box, I'd click on mail afterwards and wait about 20 seconds for the already open but minimized window to open). Anyways I got a copy of Win 7 Ultimate and haven't gone back for more than 20 min in the last couple months.
Office is king + I love Visual Studio and.Net. Don't kid yourself about iWork. It is great for a home user that is not very technical. Fine for most people for home use. There is no plugin support. There is s scripting now but still a huge difference both in peoples familiarity with the language (VB vs apple script) and the number of tools available already. Even simple things like linear regressions and analysis of variance are not built in so you have to call a bunch of functions, create lines manually, call another one to get the variance, another for the F value etc etc. Several free programs for linear programing exist that plugin to Excel (by far the most popular would be Excel Solver I think), Numbers? No plugins so I know which one is the most popular;-)
Anyways going back to the original post:.Net and VS keeps me going back to windows as a developer. Productivity I'd say they are about even but I think windows is pulling ahead (only to have Win 8 potentially screw that up). Drag to side for half window is genius. I have a 27" screen so I can view essentially two sheets of "paper" side by side with two quick drag and drops. Mac OS is going backwards here: want the widgets? Go to a completely different space. Oh you don't want that, well there is an option buried somewhere that will give you back the functionality you used to have. As for the Resume feature: probably useful on a work computer but on a home computer? Not so much. I'll be honest here: I may have had porn running when I shutdown last. I might have my torrent client running downloading Glee and don't want to admit to people I watch it (I don't but just a "super" example I thought of). Who knows. But long story short I end up having to look around and see if there is anything embarrassing open that I need to close before shutting down so that when I turn my computer back on and my kid/wife/pastor/dominatrix is with me things I don't want them to see doesn't start up automatically.
As for linux: for me not prime time. I'll run it on server boxes where I'm willing to fiddle around with things for a few hours since I don't have to use it all day everyday it just sits on a shelf working for ~6months other than for updates between uses. Linux to me though is a truly second rate development experience in my opinion (though I consider anything not VS second rate I've been spoiled), tooling sucks (I've tried most of them, no Eclipse isn't that great, sorry Java heads), things are just slightly non standard between distros that you spend a lot of time just figuring out where things are or installing the packages that the other distro had because you're used to how they work, 9 times out of 10 you download a package and try to compile (this is where apt is great though, got to give Debian flavored stuff its due) you end up with cryptic error messages, end up pouring through code to find out that there is a newer version of a libcrypto in the distro, more time pouring through chatgroups to confirm that they are backwards compatible and you can just replace 1.04 with 1.05 in the includes and everything should work, etc. Windows: usually a supplied installer, run installer and your done. Next: Linux low potential for commercializing anything you make on the platform because the assumption is from the vast majority of people on the platform is that if you try to make money from your code you are evil and you are just an apt-get away from a free alternative (why people will settle for 60% of the functionality and a crap load of bugs and crappy UI design rather than pay a reasonable amount for a product that does
No they are completely different things. The "license" to use is whatever the rights holder says it is (and you agreed to when buying). If they say you can only sell it to smurfs than if you can find a smurf you can sell it. The CD is often just the way that people distribute the licensed material. For example MS Visual studio's EULA (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdocuments%2Fuseterms%2Fvisual%2520studio%2520.net%2520professional_2003_english_be8aa149-b0fd-494d-a902-07fdb2007b90.pdf&ei=DyHDToDwE6rc0QGWt5SHDw&usg=AFQjCNESb8eBXaBNf9tsrcKdi1C7oH8dew&sig2=lCqY9UiclECMN0O6agJhuA) specifically grants you the right to use the software provided only you use it, and specifically reserves ownership of the program (section 5) it is licensed not sold. You own a shiny disk, congratulations you still can't sell it. It even goes so far as to say that you'll pay for the lawyers to defend MS in case you get sued because of code you redistribute has a problem (3.1a vii). Yep "our code doesn't have bugs and if it does its your problem including the lawyers bills, oh and by the way you still don't own the program just the law suits:-)".
My understanding is the copyright holder is pretty much able to limit the use that they "sell" you as much as they want. They own the rights and can license, reassign, ignore infringment (yeah that will happen), sell with no restrictions (the first sale doctrine) etc. If I make something and say "you pay me $20 and then give it back in an hour" and you agree then you have no right to it after that time. I own the rights to the product, if you don't like the terms of "sale' than don't buy it.
I think the RIAA is just arguing that iTunes and the like license the song to you where as a CD is a purchase. That said the EULA doesn't say it is a license (at least from what was posted earlier in the thread) but the Verrnor v AutoTool also used a criteria of substantive restrictions on use in the EULA as making it a license versus purchase so if Apple or whoever you bought the track from limits its use (ie. mentions no copying, no resale, no use outside of a geographical region etc0 it is defacto a license agreement not a sale and so you don't own the song to be able to resell it. Similarly I don't own my eBooks so I can't "loan" them to a friend.
I think the RIAA will argue that iTunes, CDs etc are the distribution mechanisms for licensed products. Just because a licensed product exists in physical form doesn't mean that you don't need a license to use it. So sure sell the CD/iTune file but the caveat is that the buyer doesn't have a right to use it since they haven't purchased a license.
Perhaps. The thing is as an admin you often are changing multiple variables. Eg. the choice is usually between an x86/64 based linux and a Sparc Solaris box. Single threaded, might not be the case anymore haven't touched sparc since T2, x86/linux was faster than Sparc/Solaris. I'm yet to see someone install linux on a sparc box, I don't doubt it can be done it's just I've never seen the case where an IT department I've worked for bought Sparc hardware to run a Linux load. Eg. dual socket T2 server for I fileserver running 30+ disk arrays and a 5 drive 2000 tape LTO4 library, but whenever anyone came for linux it was because they had something free that they wanted to run, and pretty much by definition they were trying to save money so went with the cheapest server that they could find to run it.
Really than why don't they hate linux? After all as a linux admin my life was made hard by linux much more often than windows or Solaris. Tech is like choosing a car and saying I don't drive trucks trucks suck. Well it depends. Solaris/SPARC might be slow on single threaded apps but high concurrency they kick butt. They are a tractor trailer where as linux might be a Porche. Both are worth about the same but have different features and limitations. Best to use the right tool for the job rather than get all religious on means of delivery, techinical implementation, or one area of performance. I realize other vendors equipment might have it now but I seem to recall back in the day (not dinosaur era but maybe 1995) finding out that you could hot swap CPUs on a Sun box. That's crazy. Maybe other people can do that but it is typical of Solaris as a whole, it is very very rare that you need to restart a Solaris box usually if you do it is a 3rd party device manufacturer that causes the reboot (a FC card that just insists on restart because so crazy reason it doesn't work properly after being bounced in the OS for example). That is pretty cool stuff. Whether it is worth the money and relatively small user base/app base is up to the usage scenario.
until you give us a backdoor to everyone's bank account so we can take the money that is ours without the inconvenience of proving that something was stolen or that there was a loss.":-)
Size does matter because it churns the CPU cache and registers. Also if you are caching the crap then you have all the fun with cache coherency across instances of the app. So if you are dumb with your granularity you end up hitting all the data to find what has changed whenever you have a cache invalidation message or update.
Agreed. People are so used to their being an API for everything and automatic garbage collection that they create a lot of garbage in their code and don't even realize it. Then they say something like: Java is really slow, or.Net... pick the tech. Meanwhile it is no you are recursively creating copies of a large data structure on the heap every time you look up a new value:-) RAM/CPU is a cost people should measure to make sure that they are getting something out of the invested RAM in their app if it is anything other than a trivial app.
Yes. What about when someone gets the bright idea to run 20 of these apps at the same time? Or someone wants to virtualize the host? RAM is fast but it isn't infinitely fast and if 4GB of data has to fly back and forth to the CPU that will add a lot of latency. It all depends on how critical the app is but then again if it isn't that critical you could probably find a random goon on rentacoder for $4/hr.
I like some of their mice and their comfort curve keyboard too. They do some hardware right. I have the apple full keyboard on my Mac and while it looks cool it feels kind of weird to type on since the keystrokes are so short.
I get the not wanting to make a big deal about it. It depends I think. Bill Gates is running his charity so he has to talk about it. Some of the causes he is working on he deemed ignored so with someone high profile like him talking about it he gets some time in TED etc to bring it up. Product Red isn't exactly immune to tooting their own horn since pretty much by definition they label everything around the product with the charity they are supporting, use Bono etc.
I agree offtopic but I do find it interesting that Apple kept all the liberal cool without a whole lot of liberal policies like charities, work life balance perks (at least in their early days not sure about now), etc. where as MS probably the closest to "big corp" you get in tech had its founder quite his day job, give away half his net worth and go work feeding/curing sick kids full time. I guess it shows people/orgs can't be easily pigeonholed.
What I find funny is Apple is usually associated with liberals and the stereotype is liberals are all about charity and causes. Anyways Apple is notoriously stingy when it comes to charity meanwhile Bill Gates has given away the majority of his wealth.
Agreed let it go to trial. I hope people don't get bribed into a settlement and Facebook get off "without accepting any guilt". I think being able to settle without accepting guilt in general is silly. You settle to save the cost of court and the risk of losing more money then the settlement is going to cost you. You shouldn't be able to get away without admitting that you did something wrong that is why you needed to pay. Somehow only individuals are expected to apologize when wrong and corporations are supposed to protect their "brand image".
Perhaps a catch all "I know it when I see it" clause is needed for tech. Tech is going to change quicker than legislation can. Streaming video okay? What about streaming from one persons iTunes library to another persons, isn't that just sharing something you own? Who knows. Courts should be able to weigh the case without having to wait 10 years for both houses to figure it out, especially since what they come up with will likely be hugely lobbied by special interests and likely not reflect common sense.
In this case as the judge I'd probably have to agree that the wiretappnig laws apply. Sure technically it is your browser talking to Facebook and telling it who you are but the thing is you've logged out, as far as a "reasonable person" would think you are no longer on Facebook but on company Xs website. You didn't chose the banner ad that was presented but if it happens to be one from Facebook they get your info, but if another companies ad happened to be shown your browser won't have "chosen" to send info to Facebook? It doesn't pass the "reasonable person" test since if I really wanted Facebook to know my browsing habits I would have installed something willingly that would talk to Facebook regardless of the ad (we don't go to sites usually because we want to look at their ads but for the content on the page).
Hey little kiddies get on my App guess who's back with a brand new Shrink Rap?:-) People tend to group things/themselves together based on what makes them different from the norm That is way the early Nazi movement happened in bars of like minded crazies, if a city has 100 Jamaicans there will be a little Caribbean etc. Apple has the advantage here because they are the "others". Which really isn't true now because I'd suspect the majority of households in the west have at least one Apple product. But it is still perceived as different. MS is perceived as normal, "I already understand this", or even worse "that is the stuff I work on all day why would I care about it when I go home?" Apple except in some niches, mainly the cool ones creatives, science, etc, has stayed away from the office. It makes it a lot easier to convince people they are cool gadgets you go spend your own time and money on. Very few people get wood for a spreadsheet:-)
I don't know.Net has some pretty cool stuff in it. Most of it lived in labs beforehand but there is a lot of lab projects moving into the mainstream via.Net, generics, LINQ, lamdas, Task Parrallel Library etc. Do other languages have this stuff, probably. Who was first? Not sure but if not quite cutting edge innovation it is at least a quick pace of incorporating innovation into products. Similar to Win Vista/7 "cloning of OS X who cares, can you OS do what I want it to for a price I'm willing to pay (even if it is as a MS tax on the purchase of new hardware)? Yep. Okay you get my money.Visual Studio IMHO is the best IDE hands down, and the whole package (TFS) seems like it would be really useful for large dev teams though I'm usually a sole or very small number of developers kind of projects so never used it. I'm yet to see anything that comes close.
P.S. I actually really like the snap to side and snap to top GUI feature in Win 7. That to me made Win 7 beat Snow Leopard in usability IMHO and I'm running a 27" iMac. Drives me nuts when developing in Mac OS that I constantly have to fidget with windows to look at things side by side. Windows? Drag left drag right done. Maybe not "wow" technology but MS rarely does that. It usually does things either very productive or at least productive enough to keep people coming back. Since the Lion upgrade I find my computer runs half as fast as it did under Snow Leopard and much slower than under Win 7. I haven't been back to OS X since other than occasionally to run updates and see if it works better for a few hours. So Apple screws up too but they are always trying to be the second coming. MS is just trying to push out okay to great, Mac tries to always push "wow this is new" (which usually means wait till service pack 2 just like a MS product:-)).
For MS it might not be so much a store but a means to get mind share. Apple has lots of cool gadgets. Microsoft: Xbox 360 and... no that's it. The rest is productivity stuff, and large corporate software. Sure there are games, there are phones running WinPhone etc.but it won't be nearly the same experience as an Apple store where you go in and see one companies shinny products I think. Where it could help Microsoft is give the brand a "face". "I like Office better than LibreOffice because that nice guy in the store spent an hour showing me how to use it" kind of thing.
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A node failed and all the comments who's keys hashed to it were lost.
" 117. Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer programs54 (a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy. — Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: (1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or"
I agree with CDs and this has been the copyright law for a while. streaming/digital downloads are a new media and the RIAA wants it treated differently. I have a Kindle the rights I have to the books I "buy" are much less than I'd have for a paper book (can't photocopy a page (at least not easily), can't loan, etc. But in exchange I get nice things like all my books fitting in one device, the ability to buy a book while waiting in line, searching, automatic bookmarks etc. It works for me, but not for everyone. CDs don't come with an agreement so they are sold outright, but digital tracks do come with an agreement so you are stuck with the terms of that agreement. You could challenge them in court if you have a few million to spare trying in hopes of overturning the iTunes EULA but since you probably don't than you're stuck with the rights that the contract grants.
Office is king + I love Visual Studio and .Net. Don't kid yourself about iWork. It is great for a home user that is not very technical. Fine for most people for home use. There is no plugin support. There is s scripting now but still a huge difference both in peoples familiarity with the language (VB vs apple script) and the number of tools available already. Even simple things like linear regressions and analysis of variance are not built in so you have to call a bunch of functions, create lines manually, call another one to get the variance, another for the F value etc etc. Several free programs for linear programing exist that plugin to Excel (by far the most popular would be Excel Solver I think), Numbers? No plugins so I know which one is the most popular ;-)
Anyways going back to the original post: .Net and VS keeps me going back to windows as a developer. Productivity I'd say they are about even but I think windows is pulling ahead (only to have Win 8 potentially screw that up). Drag to side for half window is genius. I have a 27" screen so I can view essentially two sheets of "paper" side by side with two quick drag and drops. Mac OS is going backwards here: want the widgets? Go to a completely different space. Oh you don't want that, well there is an option buried somewhere that will give you back the functionality you used to have. As for the Resume feature: probably useful on a work computer but on a home computer? Not so much. I'll be honest here: I may have had porn running when I shutdown last. I might have my torrent client running downloading Glee and don't want to admit to people I watch it (I don't but just a "super" example I thought of). Who knows. But long story short I end up having to look around and see if there is anything embarrassing open that I need to close before shutting down so that when I turn my computer back on and my kid/wife/pastor/dominatrix is with me things I don't want them to see doesn't start up automatically.
As for linux: for me not prime time. I'll run it on server boxes where I'm willing to fiddle around with things for a few hours since I don't have to use it all day everyday it just sits on a shelf working for ~6months other than for updates between uses. Linux to me though is a truly second rate development experience in my opinion (though I consider anything not VS second rate I've been spoiled), tooling sucks (I've tried most of them, no Eclipse isn't that great, sorry Java heads), things are just slightly non standard between distros that you spend a lot of time just figuring out where things are or installing the packages that the other distro had because you're used to how they work, 9 times out of 10 you download a package and try to compile (this is where apt is great though, got to give Debian flavored stuff its due) you end up with cryptic error messages, end up pouring through code to find out that there is a newer version of a libcrypto in the distro, more time pouring through chatgroups to confirm that they are backwards compatible and you can just replace 1.04 with 1.05 in the includes and everything should work, etc. Windows: usually a supplied installer, run installer and your done. Next: Linux low potential for commercializing anything you make on the platform because the assumption is from the vast majority of people on the platform is that if you try to make money from your code you are evil and you are just an apt-get away from a free alternative (why people will settle for 60% of the functionality and a crap load of bugs and crappy UI design rather than pay a reasonable amount for a product that does
No they are completely different things. The "license" to use is whatever the rights holder says it is (and you agreed to when buying). If they say you can only sell it to smurfs than if you can find a smurf you can sell it. The CD is often just the way that people distribute the licensed material. For example MS Visual studio's EULA (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdocuments%2Fuseterms%2Fvisual%2520studio%2520.net%2520professional_2003_english_be8aa149-b0fd-494d-a902-07fdb2007b90.pdf&ei=DyHDToDwE6rc0QGWt5SHDw&usg=AFQjCNESb8eBXaBNf9tsrcKdi1C7oH8dew&sig2=lCqY9UiclECMN0O6agJhuA) specifically grants you the right to use the software provided only you use it, and specifically reserves ownership of the program (section 5) it is licensed not sold. You own a shiny disk, congratulations you still can't sell it. It even goes so far as to say that you'll pay for the lawyers to defend MS in case you get sued because of code you redistribute has a problem (3.1a vii). Yep "our code doesn't have bugs and if it does its your problem including the lawyers bills, oh and by the way you still don't own the program just the law suits :-)".
My understanding is the copyright holder is pretty much able to limit the use that they "sell" you as much as they want. They own the rights and can license, reassign, ignore infringment (yeah that will happen), sell with no restrictions (the first sale doctrine) etc. If I make something and say "you pay me $20 and then give it back in an hour" and you agree then you have no right to it after that time. I own the rights to the product, if you don't like the terms of "sale' than don't buy it.
I think the RIAA is just arguing that iTunes and the like license the song to you where as a CD is a purchase. That said the EULA doesn't say it is a license (at least from what was posted earlier in the thread) but the Verrnor v AutoTool also used a criteria of substantive restrictions on use in the EULA as making it a license versus purchase so if Apple or whoever you bought the track from limits its use (ie. mentions no copying, no resale, no use outside of a geographical region etc0 it is defacto a license agreement not a sale and so you don't own the song to be able to resell it. Similarly I don't own my eBooks so I can't "loan" them to a friend.
I think the RIAA will argue that iTunes, CDs etc are the distribution mechanisms for licensed products. Just because a licensed product exists in physical form doesn't mean that you don't need a license to use it. So sure sell the CD/iTune file but the caveat is that the buyer doesn't have a right to use it since they haven't purchased a license.
Perhaps. The thing is as an admin you often are changing multiple variables. Eg. the choice is usually between an x86/64 based linux and a Sparc Solaris box. Single threaded, might not be the case anymore haven't touched sparc since T2, x86/linux was faster than Sparc/Solaris. I'm yet to see someone install linux on a sparc box, I don't doubt it can be done it's just I've never seen the case where an IT department I've worked for bought Sparc hardware to run a Linux load. Eg. dual socket T2 server for I fileserver running 30+ disk arrays and a 5 drive 2000 tape LTO4 library, but whenever anyone came for linux it was because they had something free that they wanted to run, and pretty much by definition they were trying to save money so went with the cheapest server that they could find to run it.
Do you prefer fruit or is that a touchy subject for you too?
Really than why don't they hate linux? After all as a linux admin my life was made hard by linux much more often than windows or Solaris. Tech is like choosing a car and saying I don't drive trucks trucks suck. Well it depends. Solaris/SPARC might be slow on single threaded apps but high concurrency they kick butt. They are a tractor trailer where as linux might be a Porche. Both are worth about the same but have different features and limitations. Best to use the right tool for the job rather than get all religious on means of delivery, techinical implementation, or one area of performance. I realize other vendors equipment might have it now but I seem to recall back in the day (not dinosaur era but maybe 1995) finding out that you could hot swap CPUs on a Sun box. That's crazy. Maybe other people can do that but it is typical of Solaris as a whole, it is very very rare that you need to restart a Solaris box usually if you do it is a 3rd party device manufacturer that causes the reboot (a FC card that just insists on restart because so crazy reason it doesn't work properly after being bounced in the OS for example). That is pretty cool stuff. Whether it is worth the money and relatively small user base/app base is up to the usage scenario.
until you give us a backdoor to everyone's bank account so we can take the money that is ours without the inconvenience of proving that something was stolen or that there was a loss." :-)
Size does matter because it churns the CPU cache and registers. Also if you are caching the crap then you have all the fun with cache coherency across instances of the app. So if you are dumb with your granularity you end up hitting all the data to find what has changed whenever you have a cache invalidation message or update.
Agreed. People are so used to their being an API for everything and automatic garbage collection that they create a lot of garbage in their code and don't even realize it. Then they say something like: Java is really slow, or .Net ... pick the tech. Meanwhile it is no you are recursively creating copies of a large data structure on the heap every time you look up a new value :-) RAM/CPU is a cost people should measure to make sure that they are getting something out of the invested RAM in their app if it is anything other than a trivial app.
Yes. What about when someone gets the bright idea to run 20 of these apps at the same time? Or someone wants to virtualize the host? RAM is fast but it isn't infinitely fast and if 4GB of data has to fly back and forth to the CPU that will add a lot of latency. It all depends on how critical the app is but then again if it isn't that critical you could probably find a random goon on rentacoder for $4/hr.
Well the post can't get any mod points if the people that like it post and make it so they can't mod up anything in the thread can he/she ;-)
Sorry enunciate reading too much Twain. Starting to use odd words and confusing them :-)
Worse is the want-to-be Tupacs: "Man, yo you suck dog", "Man yo' po' yo''. Seriously, annunciate when you communicate otherwise yo' a fo' dog :-)
I like some of their mice and their comfort curve keyboard too. They do some hardware right. I have the apple full keyboard on my Mac and while it looks cool it feels kind of weird to type on since the keystrokes are so short.
I agree offtopic but I do find it interesting that Apple kept all the liberal cool without a whole lot of liberal policies like charities, work life balance perks (at least in their early days not sure about now), etc. where as MS probably the closest to "big corp" you get in tech had its founder quite his day job, give away half his net worth and go work feeding/curing sick kids full time. I guess it shows people/orgs can't be easily pigeonholed.
What I find funny is Apple is usually associated with liberals and the stereotype is liberals are all about charity and causes. Anyways Apple is notoriously stingy when it comes to charity meanwhile Bill Gates has given away the majority of his wealth.
Perhaps a catch all "I know it when I see it" clause is needed for tech. Tech is going to change quicker than legislation can. Streaming video okay? What about streaming from one persons iTunes library to another persons, isn't that just sharing something you own? Who knows. Courts should be able to weigh the case without having to wait 10 years for both houses to figure it out, especially since what they come up with will likely be hugely lobbied by special interests and likely not reflect common sense.
In this case as the judge I'd probably have to agree that the wiretappnig laws apply. Sure technically it is your browser talking to Facebook and telling it who you are but the thing is you've logged out, as far as a "reasonable person" would think you are no longer on Facebook but on company Xs website. You didn't chose the banner ad that was presented but if it happens to be one from Facebook they get your info, but if another companies ad happened to be shown your browser won't have "chosen" to send info to Facebook? It doesn't pass the "reasonable person" test since if I really wanted Facebook to know my browsing habits I would have installed something willingly that would talk to Facebook regardless of the ad (we don't go to sites usually because we want to look at their ads but for the content on the page).
Hey little kiddies get on my App guess who's back with a brand new Shrink Rap? :-) People tend to group things/themselves together based on what makes them different from the norm That is way the early Nazi movement happened in bars of like minded crazies, if a city has 100 Jamaicans there will be a little Caribbean etc. Apple has the advantage here because they are the "others". Which really isn't true now because I'd suspect the majority of households in the west have at least one Apple product. But it is still perceived as different. MS is perceived as normal, "I already understand this", or even worse "that is the stuff I work on all day why would I care about it when I go home?" Apple except in some niches, mainly the cool ones creatives, science, etc, has stayed away from the office. It makes it a lot easier to convince people they are cool gadgets you go spend your own time and money on. Very few people get wood for a spreadsheet :-)
I don't know .Net has some pretty cool stuff in it. Most of it lived in labs beforehand but there is a lot of lab projects moving into the mainstream via .Net, generics, LINQ, lamdas, Task Parrallel Library etc. Do other languages have this stuff, probably. Who was first? Not sure but if not quite cutting edge innovation it is at least a quick pace of incorporating innovation into products. Similar to Win Vista/7 "cloning of OS X who cares, can you OS do what I want it to for a price I'm willing to pay (even if it is as a MS tax on the purchase of new hardware)? Yep. Okay you get my money.Visual Studio IMHO is the best IDE hands down, and the whole package (TFS) seems like it would be really useful for large dev teams though I'm usually a sole or very small number of developers kind of projects so never used it. I'm yet to see anything that comes close.
P.S. I actually really like the snap to side and snap to top GUI feature in Win 7. That to me made Win 7 beat Snow Leopard in usability IMHO and I'm running a 27" iMac. Drives me nuts when developing in Mac OS that I constantly have to fidget with windows to look at things side by side. Windows? Drag left drag right done. Maybe not "wow" technology but MS rarely does that. It usually does things either very productive or at least productive enough to keep people coming back. Since the Lion upgrade I find my computer runs half as fast as it did under Snow Leopard and much slower than under Win 7. I haven't been back to OS X since other than occasionally to run updates and see if it works better for a few hours. So Apple screws up too but they are always trying to be the second coming. MS is just trying to push out okay to great, Mac tries to always push "wow this is new" (which usually means wait till service pack 2 just like a MS product :-)).
For MS it might not be so much a store but a means to get mind share. Apple has lots of cool gadgets. Microsoft: Xbox 360 and ... no that's it. The rest is productivity stuff, and large corporate software. Sure there are games, there are phones running WinPhone etc.but it won't be nearly the same experience as an Apple store where you go in and see one companies shinny products I think. Where it could help Microsoft is give the brand a "face". "I like Office better than LibreOffice because that nice guy in the store spent an hour showing me how to use it" kind of thing.