That's almost $30 an acre. Today, you can still buy range land in New Mexico for $40 an acre. And that is with Earth's atmosphere included, and substantially lower transportation and energy costs. So, Martian land is less expensive than New Mexico land? And it is located in an isolated, relatively secluded place that even the US government has difficulty getting to? The Scientologists and Davidians will be crawling all over it now that the cat is out of the bag!
I'd advise against the Linux-powered flamethrower, as I almost melted my face off trying to recompile its kernel. I am an ice cube, you insensitive clod! I have melted my face off!
Not afraid of taking risks? It's about:config, not instructions for making a Linux-powered flamethrower, which I think would be a much better article for Slashdot. Have you seen the "I'll be careful, I promise" disclaimer that Firefox 3 now throws when you first type about:config? Instead of the lean, quick browser that was developed as Phoenix, Firefox is becoming bloated, hiding options, and assumes that the user is making bad decisions as default behavior. I still like the browser, but the philosophy behind it has changed completely.
I'd say hold off on FF3 until it is released if you can't live without your plugins. While I planned on waiting until Firefox 3 is released before switching, I found it preinstalled in Ubuntu 8.04. So I'm using it. I do think that Ubuntu made a bad decision by including a beta web browser, I understand why they did that.
The problem is not that the Firefox betas and RCs are buggy. The problem is that misuse of the term beta has led people to expect no less from a beta than from a full release. Gmail has been in beta for years, and it is [arguably] the most complete, feature-rich webmail available. How long was ethereal beta? 10 years? It was pretty stable for at least the past five years, at least, no less than any other full release software. Beta has become a marketing term for "new".
Winamp3 was rushed out so that they could have the string mp3 in the name. There was no other reason for it being released. Nullsoft wanted a version bump for marketing purposes, and had the devs rush out a new version for no other reason. Winamp4 was skipped for some other silly reason, I forget why, but it was marketing as well.
I don't understand the interest in this. It's just some code a person came up with. Why is decoding it so interesting? For that matter, DNA is just code. All the 'noise' that SETI records may be just noise or may be code. We won't know unless someone tries to decode it.
Oy vey. Talk about a solution in search of a problem. WINE exists because there is a huge amount of Windows applications that would be ideal to run on Linux. What on earth is the point of this? Am I just missing something completely obvious? At the university I _have_ to use Windows. I even have a hard time booting LiveCDs. So I depend a lot on portableapps.com and my USB flash drive. If I could get a whole Linux environment up, running at near-native performance (not like qmeu that barely runs) then I'd be set.
But don't expect them to come with apologies. Astroturfing Microsoft shills never apologise. They'l call this story FUD, too. It's how they've always done business. What keeps them so loyal to MS? I know people who pay for Windows who are as loyal to the company as Ballmer himself. I also know people who pirate Windows and prefer their known-malware ridden XP over free Ubuntu, installed and supported by me. Why are they so willing - no, wanting - to give their money and business to MS, not matter how many times MS screws them? What is their attraction?
I agree with all your points. So why do people resist when I give them Ubuntu and offer to install it for them? Even after using it, and finding that it does all they need, people flock back to pirated XP that they know contains malware right there on the install disc. Why?
If Microsoft doesn't disclose what is going on, customers will be angry that they can't do what they thought they paid to be able to do, and in the future, will not give them anymore money If they do disclose upfront, many customers will not give them money in the first place. Damned if you do, damned if you don't when it comes to our friend DRM. yawn... so use open source... yawn... who didn't expect this...
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Winamp3 was rushed out so that they could have the string mp3 in the name. There was no other reason for it being released. Nullsoft wanted a version bump for marketing purposes, and had the devs rush out a new version for no other reason. Winamp4 was skipped for some other silly reason, I forget why, but it was marketing as well.
Amarok? Kate? Konqueror? It's really only the KDE applications that I miss when I have to use Windows. I'd love to hear about others.
I agree with all your points. So why do people resist when I give them Ubuntu and offer to install it for them? Even after using it, and finding that it does all they need, people flock back to pirated XP that they know contains malware right there on the install disc. Why?