Wait a minute... You think these publicly funded scientists aren't getting money from corporations? They are saying exactly whatever they are getting paid to say on either side of the aisle. My opinion is to experience global warming we have to have data that says we're warmer than we have been in in our past, and we aren't and never have been. The Minoans didn't have cars or pollution on the scale that we do -- so what gives? That's the only question I ask, and that is the question neither these scientists will answer nor acknowledge! All we are seeing is a "warming" trend for the last two-hundred years, and we just came off a mini-ice age nearly 400 years back - it is to be expected that we trend upward. For that entire time temperatures are basically 0.5 max hotter than they were previous globally. Can you even notice that?
I find it suspicious that these "scientists" filter the information to exclude the Minoan warming period that occurred around 2600 BC since they are clipping the data at 2000 years in most cases. It's not what they tell you it's what they omit. What are they trying to make you think, and why?
Climate change deniers are scientists too. The earth is not nor has it ever been outside of its normal range of possible temperatures -- we are still not even close to the "The Great Minoan Warm-up" -- and, the most polluted place on the planet -- Linfen, China has only raised 2 degrees F in 50 years. (You can confirm that with wolfram alpha if you like... You can chew Linfen's air -- that's how nasty it is... Anyway, our whole planet would have to look like Linfen to have this global impact and it just isn't going to happen since we don't actually live on most of the planet -- it's water. Does that mean we shouldn't control emissions? No, we definitely should -- there are health considerations to this, but it doesn't matter what we do... The planet will warm or cool as it pleases like it always has. Mostly, this is coming off to meas an NOAA funding scam -- because no one cares what the do so they have no money without a climate change media scare... And, consensus reality doesn't presume truth -- truth is from data and analysis.... These opinions are not congruent with the data...
We're facing normal warming patterns so far -- we've had times in history where the Arctic ice completely melted off before -- this is nothing new. We are also in an El Nino pattern in the USA and historically that has lead to warmer wetter winters and cool summers -- they are projecting that it will last 2-5 years. Early in the 1900s and earlier the Arctic was experiencing and abnormally cold period and we're just going back to normal. In 2007 there was a "great rapid decline" that was probably climate related, but by the next year or so the ice had grown right back to where it was. We're not losing ice so much as the ice there is "new". Most of the melt is old ice -- that could be due to contaminates or just the fact that older ice reflects solar energy differently... either way it is still there...
I have links.. But, I don't want to cream every related site with slashdotters... Mostly, I am not concerned that was should do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint -- I am concerned that we shouldn't emit chemicals for health considerations. The heat won't kill us quickly, but a floating airborne cancer soup will. Do _NOT_ trust the US media at all with these issues -- they have been telling lies about other things as well... Try to get data from overseas sources who aren't influenced from the corporate world.... The EPA for example used to have air quality charts for years in the past for most of the world -- they took them off their site.
Search:
"Iceland 10000 year climate study"
"Arctic Ice Cap Growing" (it has since 2012!)
Actually, if they are circumventing anything they're hacking your machine are arguable breaking the law. Installing an ad blocker certainly makes it clear what the machine owners intent is.:) I hope they get sued to hell and back.
Yes, and the same people freaking out about the data Microsoft collects are the same ones using Google Chrome which reports even more useful information than anything Microsoft collects. So much FUD here. Anyway, running Tails through a VM + VPN is probably enough.
Yes, a ton of jobs get created when you decide to move all the factories overseas. They just leave eventually and don't come back. Job growth since Clinton left has been flat or arguably just barely positive for both succeeding Presidents. Barack Obama's new jobs are flipping burgers because he loves the H1-B visas so much.
All the Republicans have to do is field a reasonably liberal candidate.. Aka their left wing... They'll still be more conservative appearing than Dems but won't appear as religious nutters. The Republicans aren't stupid... they know The Bible thumpers vote... They just have to get that vote without leaving the balanced people behind. Hillary has been involved in scandals -- she's not clean... I would say there are many other better candidates that aren't tainted like she is. There are legit criticisms of her: lying for one, not knowing who is banging your husband always makes you look the fool, and several diplomatic snafus under her tenure.
There is also the issue that our Muslim Allah loving enemies do not consider women as equals as a rule and while we may be ready for a woman the rest of the world probably isn't.
That's really all I have to say... At the hands of Bill Clinton more American jobs were single-handedly destroyed in one swipe of the pen than at any other point in history. If you think Hillary had no part of that you be crazy -- I am sure Hillary was part of that decision. Hillary is going to try to get Obama to set up a deal with Cuba to get the same arrangement probably which after all the hemming and hawing will probably actually be signed in when she gets a chance to be in office.
This administration has been one of the most corrupt and dishonest I've seen in years... I've never seen a group of people be so crass about it that like they're practically flaunting it. Screw these people... vote ANYTHING but Hillary... even the worst Republican is probably better for the USA as a whole than her.
If they used pro-audio grade components... A portable device using those isn't available... I prefer listening on my studio monitors to most things because I can actually hear them. The lack of "actuation" in the weaker components is drastic and noticeable. I'd pay for a crystal clear strong headphone amp with a player... I realize these components are pretty cheap on a larger form-factor. But, getting them in a small box would be marvelous -- it hasn't really been done. Most of these devices are consumer rather than prosumer oriented and the quality suffers as a result. I guarantee until you listen to your music through a true amp/studio speaker setup you have no clue what you've been missing from your tunes (like entire parts of them..).
I think the point is that these type of people are generally NOT interested in fitness. If that's the requirement you eliminate 99% of the technical people and are left with a relatively small pool who don't fit the profile of a good hacker-type because they make time for fitness and generally don't spend as much time on the tech. Only so much time in the day.. if you're pumping iron you're not pumping code.. Doctors, nurses, and chaplains are already on such a modified program and do not have to fitness qualify nor do they often have to attend boot camp at all. Most of those people walk in with degrees with 2nd Lt. or better rank..
I am a long-bearded and long-haired tech and I only never signed up because I had to become something I completely wasn't to join up... If I could do my tech, keep the hair, and help the country I am others would probably be interested.
Same here. I tried college, but I was already too advanced when I enrolled and I literally bored myself out of the place. I've never had a college degree or needed one and I've worked solo, my own company, and even with fortune 500s. Generally, I never was stopped at any point due to not having that paper but I have lost to others on experience on a particular platform or whatever. Fine, I can deal. =)
More like they build the job posting to fit one foreign amateurs resume and then act like there is no one in the USA that could do it.
The H1-B is complete fucking slavery. No raises likely and as many hours as the employer wants to put you through OR you get fired and lose your ability to stay here -- then have to buy your own ticket home. That's why our corporatacracy allows this -- employment is slavery too, but not nearly as bad. As long as you work for money you're basically in debt, so the wage slave is only slightly better off.
We should be against this process not only because it costs US workers jobs, but because it is a violation of the human rights of the individuals as well. The problem is that we need government reform that represents the people not the fictious entities known as companies. Until that happens the money is the most important thing.
501(c) is used by a lot of social or policy based groups. Since I don't think their purpose is gathering money to profit, but rather to feed campaigns they believe in it is no different than passing a hat among your friends. I don't really want government to get into policing this type of thing because it limits our ability to effect the political process for good. Since money is the only thing candidates think about that is the only way to control them and keep them honest. Going after 501(c) is basically just going after you and me in the long haul through the organizations and groups that we can use to influence politics now and in the future.
Since the US government is not protected by itself branches of itself can invade the privacy of the other branches. Check and Mate. I think we found out how to destroy the NSA and IRS in one swoop.
Yes, but it's easier to worry about one library (the VM) than 5000. Also the need for "compiling" is caused by the limitation that your OS cannot directly digest the bytecode. If it could there is nearly no need for a C++ glue layer other than a very minimal one that can easily be secured. If it can read that code then the C++ dependency goes away outside of the small bit riding right on the hardware. Put C where it belongs -- touching the hardware -- move the standard libraries into the virtual sandbox. No more problems.
Bottom line, if a game runs poorly on a graphic device AMD and NVIDIA directly get blamed. This program is merely NVIDIA's tack towards improving user perception. They know if you have a problem running software on one of their cards you will probably go buy a Radeon. The computing hardware in each card is far beyond the privy of any single developer to understand at this point. You need a glue layer and technical resources to properly expose the interfaces. The problem is when one vendor is specifically excluded from the glue layer. Both of these vendors have been cheating benchmarks by analyzing what game is attempting to access the features and then dumbing them down selectively in barely perceivable ways to artificially pump benchmark results. The problem I have with NVIDIA doing this is mostly that they typically have their own black box code (that is closed) and you have no idea how that is interacting. If it interacts poorly with your application you are just screwed. There is nothing to fix you must patch around it. Ergo, the state of the current NVIDIA drivers in Linux. =)
I'd even go far as to say the problem creeps into larger issues. All the libraries you require are based in C/C++. QT, etc. These code bases are completely massive and even if you run some small "shows a box on screen" app you are calling 3000 lines of possibly broken an insecure code. The solution is move the core libraries away from C to C#, Java, or some other viable candidate that prevents software from "doing bad things". Essentially what the open source community has been saying is "trust us", but who exactly do you trust to carry your wallet? I only trust myself... How about you? Community developed software is great provided it is implemented on a framework that is invulnerable to input errors. I rather have my app crash than get hacked.
The S-corp is a newbie way... Really you need to fully incorporate in a state that doesn't have state or personal income tax (Wyoming, Nevada -- do Delaware if you want to IPO and get big) (yes you'll never get away from the fed..) Standard corporations can take a TON more exemptions than you can personally so any "pass-thru" is just false savings and you're leaving money on the table. Any decent corp is paying exactly $0 federal tax most of the time so there is no reason to take the S election and lose money.
Mostly how much you can charge is how you can "come off" there are businesses willing to pay any unreasonable rate. Just remember if you ask for $300/hr you are expected to pick up lunch, dinner, and buy the drinks -- it just goes with the territory.
Due to mono and wine I am able to view any content via streaming. This just means it'll be even simpler since I won't need the sluggish mono/silverlight layer.
COBOL is one of the few languages that is completely standardized. IO, formatting, everything works the same EVERYWHERE. Certainly, the column nature of coding in the language is annoying, but not much more than BASIC was with it's numbering scheme. As far as the programs that chug through industrial-sized databases go few touch as many records as COBOL does.
I used to work at Bank of America and NSA had a black door closet in our office that I couldn't get into. Now mind you I had a security key card that could open any door in the establishment due to me being in the network security team. I could get in any VIP office, the trade floor, any secured area and any BofA server room on the premises but no one in our company could open that one door. So it's not just Internet dotcoms it's all your financial transactions and anything else as well. They are snarfing everything.
Half the players of these games are non-internet connected teenagers at least in terms of their bedrooms. They can't buy $70+ games either as a rule. Microsoft just hasn't had enough strikeouts yet eh? Well they'll learn the hard way. All the next gen PlayStation has to do is be less draconian because the hardware is absolutely the fucking same.
Actually the.Net philosophy to me seems the polar opposite of Java..Net releases seem further apart but seem to work better and have more integrated functionality. Personally... after using both for a long time C# +.net wins.... The portability comment isn't even an issue anymore really... Mono is working well in most cases (the gap is mostly in the latest incarnations of asp.net and MVC) and is fast enough to run games so it is fast enough for any business use at least in my mind.
Personally, I dislike Microsoft and Oracle but I dislike Oracle way more.
Moreover, you win nothing but a higher cost with that middleman. The further you are removed from the supply chain the more something is marked up. Understand that most items in the USA that you can buy are marked up on each phase of the distribution. The manufacturer sells to a distributor who doubles it, and that guy goes to someone who represents a retailer or a group of them and they do the same thing. So something that costs $5 to make (with profit mind you) ends up being $20-30. Cars are no different -- the manufacturer price is much less than the 'invoice' cost which is just a number these dealers cook up but they are marked up less than other items due to the smaller supply chain -- usually being manufacturer to dealer vs there being another couple of parties -- if you add importers and such into the pile you can see why foreign cars with dealerships cannot compete with Tesla. Tesla can sell a car for the exact same price as these guys and make way more money doing it. Bravo -- you are winning at business!
Microsoft - One big version number. One little one..Net Framework 2.0, 3.5, etc... easy to know where you are. Security patches don't alter the name unless they're a service pack. Then it would be.Net 3.5 sp 1 whatever. You at least know that as long as you have the update service running you are fully patched up and manually running it will make sure.
7u45 is freaking Chinese - it sounds like something that should be on the side of a submarine. Imagine trying to say one of these numbers on a phone to someone you're trying to help through a problem. You can't overload CPU either; too damn confusing even for me. I won't know whether you will talking about your computer or the software. Especially if it is like 2am and something broken.
Java is becoming more and more aggravating the longer Oracle has anything to do with it.
Honestly, Microsoft is placing the product for the people like me who won't buy a tablet because I already have a laptop and the iPad keyboard is complete shit for anything I want to do. For typing a complete keyboard (not some crappy slow screen thing) is necessary and I type a lot, and I type fast... I can't stand the interface. Thus, it is a more hybrid device close to what I want that will do a little more than iPad but much much lighter and more portable than said laptop. They made a product for a market that isn't being addressed, and honestly.. I think it was the best place to put it out -- right between androids & iPads, and laptops. If you can give me a full blown laptop with the portability of an iPad I no longer care about iPad.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait a minute... You think these publicly funded scientists aren't getting money from corporations? They are saying exactly whatever they are getting paid to say on either side of the aisle. My opinion is to experience global warming we have to have data that says we're warmer than we have been in in our past, and we aren't and never have been. The Minoans didn't have cars or pollution on the scale that we do -- so what gives? That's the only question I ask, and that is the question neither these scientists will answer nor acknowledge! All we are seeing is a "warming" trend for the last two-hundred years, and we just came off a mini-ice age nearly 400 years back - it is to be expected that we trend upward. For that entire time temperatures are basically 0.5 max hotter than they were previous globally. Can you even notice that?
I find it suspicious that these "scientists" filter the information to exclude the Minoan warming period that occurred around 2600 BC since they are clipping the data at 2000 years in most cases. It's not what they tell you it's what they omit. What are they trying to make you think, and why?
Climate change deniers are scientists too. The earth is not nor has it ever been outside of its normal range of possible temperatures -- we are still not even close to the "The Great Minoan Warm-up" -- and, the most polluted place on the planet -- Linfen, China has only raised 2 degrees F in 50 years. (You can confirm that with wolfram alpha if you like... You can chew Linfen's air -- that's how nasty it is... Anyway, our whole planet would have to look like Linfen to have this global impact and it just isn't going to happen since we don't actually live on most of the planet -- it's water. Does that mean we shouldn't control emissions? No, we definitely should -- there are health considerations to this, but it doesn't matter what we do... The planet will warm or cool as it pleases like it always has. Mostly, this is coming off to meas an NOAA funding scam -- because no one cares what the do so they have no money without a climate change media scare... And, consensus reality doesn't presume truth -- truth is from data and analysis.... These opinions are not congruent with the data... We're facing normal warming patterns so far -- we've had times in history where the Arctic ice completely melted off before -- this is nothing new. We are also in an El Nino pattern in the USA and historically that has lead to warmer wetter winters and cool summers -- they are projecting that it will last 2-5 years. Early in the 1900s and earlier the Arctic was experiencing and abnormally cold period and we're just going back to normal. In 2007 there was a "great rapid decline" that was probably climate related, but by the next year or so the ice had grown right back to where it was. We're not losing ice so much as the ice there is "new". Most of the melt is old ice -- that could be due to contaminates or just the fact that older ice reflects solar energy differently... either way it is still there... I have links.. But, I don't want to cream every related site with slashdotters... Mostly, I am not concerned that was should do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint -- I am concerned that we shouldn't emit chemicals for health considerations. The heat won't kill us quickly, but a floating airborne cancer soup will. Do _NOT_ trust the US media at all with these issues -- they have been telling lies about other things as well... Try to get data from overseas sources who aren't influenced from the corporate world.... The EPA for example used to have air quality charts for years in the past for most of the world -- they took them off their site. Search: "Iceland 10000 year climate study" "Arctic Ice Cap Growing" (it has since 2012!)
Actually, if they are circumventing anything they're hacking your machine are arguable breaking the law. Installing an ad blocker certainly makes it clear what the machine owners intent is. :) I hope they get sued to hell and back.
Yes, and the same people freaking out about the data Microsoft collects are the same ones using Google Chrome which reports even more useful information than anything Microsoft collects. So much FUD here. Anyway, running Tails through a VM + VPN is probably enough.
Yes, a ton of jobs get created when you decide to move all the factories overseas. They just leave eventually and don't come back. Job growth since Clinton left has been flat or arguably just barely positive for both succeeding Presidents. Barack Obama's new jobs are flipping burgers because he loves the H1-B visas so much.
All the Republicans have to do is field a reasonably liberal candidate.. Aka their left wing... They'll still be more conservative appearing than Dems but won't appear as religious nutters. The Republicans aren't stupid... they know The Bible thumpers vote... They just have to get that vote without leaving the balanced people behind. Hillary has been involved in scandals -- she's not clean... I would say there are many other better candidates that aren't tainted like she is. There are legit criticisms of her: lying for one, not knowing who is banging your husband always makes you look the fool, and several diplomatic snafus under her tenure. There is also the issue that our Muslim Allah loving enemies do not consider women as equals as a rule and while we may be ready for a woman the rest of the world probably isn't.
That's really all I have to say... At the hands of Bill Clinton more American jobs were single-handedly destroyed in one swipe of the pen than at any other point in history. If you think Hillary had no part of that you be crazy -- I am sure Hillary was part of that decision. Hillary is going to try to get Obama to set up a deal with Cuba to get the same arrangement probably which after all the hemming and hawing will probably actually be signed in when she gets a chance to be in office. This administration has been one of the most corrupt and dishonest I've seen in years... I've never seen a group of people be so crass about it that like they're practically flaunting it. Screw these people... vote ANYTHING but Hillary... even the worst Republican is probably better for the USA as a whole than her.
If they used pro-audio grade components... A portable device using those isn't available... I prefer listening on my studio monitors to most things because I can actually hear them. The lack of "actuation" in the weaker components is drastic and noticeable. I'd pay for a crystal clear strong headphone amp with a player... I realize these components are pretty cheap on a larger form-factor. But, getting them in a small box would be marvelous -- it hasn't really been done. Most of these devices are consumer rather than prosumer oriented and the quality suffers as a result. I guarantee until you listen to your music through a true amp/studio speaker setup you have no clue what you've been missing from your tunes (like entire parts of them..).
I think the point is that these type of people are generally NOT interested in fitness. If that's the requirement you eliminate 99% of the technical people and are left with a relatively small pool who don't fit the profile of a good hacker-type because they make time for fitness and generally don't spend as much time on the tech. Only so much time in the day.. if you're pumping iron you're not pumping code.. Doctors, nurses, and chaplains are already on such a modified program and do not have to fitness qualify nor do they often have to attend boot camp at all. Most of those people walk in with degrees with 2nd Lt. or better rank.. I am a long-bearded and long-haired tech and I only never signed up because I had to become something I completely wasn't to join up... If I could do my tech, keep the hair, and help the country I am others would probably be interested.
Same here. I tried college, but I was already too advanced when I enrolled and I literally bored myself out of the place. I've never had a college degree or needed one and I've worked solo, my own company, and even with fortune 500s. Generally, I never was stopped at any point due to not having that paper but I have lost to others on experience on a particular platform or whatever. Fine, I can deal. =)
More like they build the job posting to fit one foreign amateurs resume and then act like there is no one in the USA that could do it. The H1-B is complete fucking slavery. No raises likely and as many hours as the employer wants to put you through OR you get fired and lose your ability to stay here -- then have to buy your own ticket home. That's why our corporatacracy allows this -- employment is slavery too, but not nearly as bad. As long as you work for money you're basically in debt, so the wage slave is only slightly better off. We should be against this process not only because it costs US workers jobs, but because it is a violation of the human rights of the individuals as well. The problem is that we need government reform that represents the people not the fictious entities known as companies. Until that happens the money is the most important thing.
501(c) is used by a lot of social or policy based groups. Since I don't think their purpose is gathering money to profit, but rather to feed campaigns they believe in it is no different than passing a hat among your friends. I don't really want government to get into policing this type of thing because it limits our ability to effect the political process for good. Since money is the only thing candidates think about that is the only way to control them and keep them honest. Going after 501(c) is basically just going after you and me in the long haul through the organizations and groups that we can use to influence politics now and in the future.
Since the US government is not protected by itself branches of itself can invade the privacy of the other branches. Check and Mate. I think we found out how to destroy the NSA and IRS in one swoop.
Yes, but it's easier to worry about one library (the VM) than 5000. Also the need for "compiling" is caused by the limitation that your OS cannot directly digest the bytecode. If it could there is nearly no need for a C++ glue layer other than a very minimal one that can easily be secured. If it can read that code then the C++ dependency goes away outside of the small bit riding right on the hardware. Put C where it belongs -- touching the hardware -- move the standard libraries into the virtual sandbox. No more problems.
Bottom line, if a game runs poorly on a graphic device AMD and NVIDIA directly get blamed. This program is merely NVIDIA's tack towards improving user perception. They know if you have a problem running software on one of their cards you will probably go buy a Radeon. The computing hardware in each card is far beyond the privy of any single developer to understand at this point. You need a glue layer and technical resources to properly expose the interfaces. The problem is when one vendor is specifically excluded from the glue layer. Both of these vendors have been cheating benchmarks by analyzing what game is attempting to access the features and then dumbing them down selectively in barely perceivable ways to artificially pump benchmark results. The problem I have with NVIDIA doing this is mostly that they typically have their own black box code (that is closed) and you have no idea how that is interacting. If it interacts poorly with your application you are just screwed. There is nothing to fix you must patch around it. Ergo, the state of the current NVIDIA drivers in Linux. =)
I'd even go far as to say the problem creeps into larger issues. All the libraries you require are based in C/C++. QT, etc. These code bases are completely massive and even if you run some small "shows a box on screen" app you are calling 3000 lines of possibly broken an insecure code. The solution is move the core libraries away from C to C#, Java, or some other viable candidate that prevents software from "doing bad things". Essentially what the open source community has been saying is "trust us", but who exactly do you trust to carry your wallet? I only trust myself... How about you? Community developed software is great provided it is implemented on a framework that is invulnerable to input errors. I rather have my app crash than get hacked.
The S-corp is a newbie way... Really you need to fully incorporate in a state that doesn't have state or personal income tax (Wyoming, Nevada -- do Delaware if you want to IPO and get big) (yes you'll never get away from the fed..) Standard corporations can take a TON more exemptions than you can personally so any "pass-thru" is just false savings and you're leaving money on the table. Any decent corp is paying exactly $0 federal tax most of the time so there is no reason to take the S election and lose money. Mostly how much you can charge is how you can "come off" there are businesses willing to pay any unreasonable rate. Just remember if you ask for $300/hr you are expected to pick up lunch, dinner, and buy the drinks -- it just goes with the territory.
Due to mono and wine I am able to view any content via streaming. This just means it'll be even simpler since I won't need the sluggish mono/silverlight layer.
COBOL is one of the few languages that is completely standardized. IO, formatting, everything works the same EVERYWHERE. Certainly, the column nature of coding in the language is annoying, but not much more than BASIC was with it's numbering scheme. As far as the programs that chug through industrial-sized databases go few touch as many records as COBOL does.
I used to work at Bank of America and NSA had a black door closet in our office that I couldn't get into. Now mind you I had a security key card that could open any door in the establishment due to me being in the network security team. I could get in any VIP office, the trade floor, any secured area and any BofA server room on the premises but no one in our company could open that one door. So it's not just Internet dotcoms it's all your financial transactions and anything else as well. They are snarfing everything.
Half the players of these games are non-internet connected teenagers at least in terms of their bedrooms. They can't buy $70+ games either as a rule. Microsoft just hasn't had enough strikeouts yet eh? Well they'll learn the hard way. All the next gen PlayStation has to do is be less draconian because the hardware is absolutely the fucking same.
Actually the .Net philosophy to me seems the polar opposite of Java. .Net releases seem further apart but seem to work better and have more integrated functionality. Personally... after using both for a long time C# + .net wins.... The portability comment isn't even an issue anymore really... Mono is working well in most cases (the gap is mostly in the latest incarnations of asp.net and MVC) and is fast enough to run games so it is fast enough for any business use at least in my mind.
Personally, I dislike Microsoft and Oracle but I dislike Oracle way more.
Moreover, you win nothing but a higher cost with that middleman. The further you are removed from the supply chain the more something is marked up. Understand that most items in the USA that you can buy are marked up on each phase of the distribution. The manufacturer sells to a distributor who doubles it, and that guy goes to someone who represents a retailer or a group of them and they do the same thing. So something that costs $5 to make (with profit mind you) ends up being $20-30. Cars are no different -- the manufacturer price is much less than the 'invoice' cost which is just a number these dealers cook up but they are marked up less than other items due to the smaller supply chain -- usually being manufacturer to dealer vs there being another couple of parties -- if you add importers and such into the pile you can see why foreign cars with dealerships cannot compete with Tesla. Tesla can sell a car for the exact same price as these guys and make way more money doing it. Bravo -- you are winning at business!
Microsoft - One big version number. One little one. .Net Framework 2.0, 3.5, etc... easy to know where you are. Security patches don't alter the name unless they're a service pack. Then it would be .Net 3.5 sp 1 whatever. You at least know that as long as you have the update service running you are fully patched up and manually running it will make sure.
7u45 is freaking Chinese - it sounds like something that should be on the side of a submarine. Imagine trying to say one of these numbers on a phone to someone you're trying to help through a problem. You can't overload CPU either; too damn confusing even for me. I won't know whether you will talking about your computer or the software. Especially if it is like 2am and something broken.
Java is becoming more and more aggravating the longer Oracle has anything to do with it.
Honestly, Microsoft is placing the product for the people like me who won't buy a tablet because I already have a laptop and the iPad keyboard is complete shit for anything I want to do. For typing a complete keyboard (not some crappy slow screen thing) is necessary and I type a lot, and I type fast... I can't stand the interface. Thus, it is a more hybrid device close to what I want that will do a little more than iPad but much much lighter and more portable than said laptop. They made a product for a market that isn't being addressed, and honestly.. I think it was the best place to put it out -- right between androids & iPads, and laptops. If you can give me a full blown laptop with the portability of an iPad I no longer care about iPad.