I think this falls into the "Cry me a river" category.
Until Microsoft starts charging people to download IE7, I think people really need to shut the fuck up about the default search engine. Really now. So, now I guess they have to put in a disclaimer "This product will use it's parent company's search technology when a term is entered into the search box". Oh, really? Can't have that. Count yourselves lucky it CAN be changed. Anybody who cares about this for more than just a few fleeting seconds really has far too much time on their hands.
Just do what I did, set up some firewall rules on your local network that sends people to google when they enter any of the popular search URL's. It's dirty, but sure to satisfy even the most dyed-in-the-wool OS / Browser / Search engine zealots.
Ever heard the "if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." statement?
I think some of these performace artist "advocates" need to get a fucking clue. A life would also help. These guys are the modern day makealottamoneyofsombodyelsesshit asshole ambulance chasers. I swear, it's going to get to the point where music lovers who download music (and buy the good stuff) won't take it anymore. Maybe we should create something that spreads the music so far and wide for download, and makes it so easy that these fuckers don't have the legal resources to counter attack it all.
We should do a hands across america or something. Fuck these assholes.
Face it, mobile technology trails regular stuff. It's just a symptom of technology.
While it is nice to have fancy shmancy specd laptops to tote around, you can only put faster (read: more power / heat) devices in a laptop to a certain extent. There is a curve that follows along with an opposite one, which refers to efficiency / portability and the other to power / speed.
The other end of this discussion that I've not seen discussed yet is being mobile also presents real dangers to physical disks. Perhaps having a slower spindle speed is slightly less risky for those individuals who insist on slinging around a computer while it's powered on.
Gyroscopic forces probably hit those drives harder too, with thinner platters. Anybody who has held a bicycle tire in their hands while sombody else spun it, then tried to tilt it one way or the other knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Strange, Apple releases a dual boot "facilitator" in the same breath as Microsoft announces a dual boot "restrictor"
Conspiracy theorists! Start your engines!
But really, I still don't understand why anybody would purposly take something like dual booting, that people like to do, and put limits on it. I don't understand why Microsoft and Apple both don't build their products to be able to be installed on anything. Sure, you can spout the usual stuff about Microsoft's deals with OEM's and Apple's "our hardware is pwnage" defense..It's like making cars that don't drive on some roads...
Im suprised he didnt intraject some wonderful tid bit about ubuntu using gnome. We all know how much Linus loves KDE. kubuntu you say? psh, that's second page nonsence!
Oh, and then there is that article a while back about "linux users being snobs" or some such.. I think maybe the longer you spend around *nix the more introverted and judgemental you get.
It would be neat if everything ran on everything that runs on everything. Then, and only then, users could make a decision about OS / Hardware / Software from a pure perspective of usability, cost and performance.
Man, I will be so glad when this argument is over (lol). Well, I'll at least be glad when Vista comes out, so people actually have something physical to bitch about rather than these beta versions that are seeming to draw such negativity.
It's ok though. Ive started browsing these discussions at -1 so I'm sure to get the good comments. Browse at +2 or 3 and all you'll get is "im glad to be a mac user" and "windows sucks"
Truth of the matter is, I think alot of this stems from jealousy, that even with a mediocre product the company is still successful. Go ahead, mod me crappy, you know it's true.
Take it from sombody who has been fighting with a certain linux distro for a few days about support for a wireless nic. Linux might be great, secure, easy to use, come with great software, give you head, do your laundry, or whatever dumbass thing it does better than windows. Thats a given. Open source is a great idea.
Here lies the problem: Linux is shit without hardware. People arent going to want to use it "widely" without having to open a box at wal-mart to check the revision number of a peice of hardware to see if some barely-working craptastic peiced together, workaround, hacked, repackaged, 2 year old driver is going to work. Poorly.
The people that make computers useable are: Software developers, and hardware developers. If those 2 entities can't agree then useability goes out the window. Don't get me wrong, I love linux. But at the same time, the 500 bucks I just spent on a new video card and sound card are out the fucking window if I run anything but windows XP. I'm not waiting for some guy, or some group of guys (girls) to accidentally find some way to make my hardware "work" and by that, they usually mean it works electronically, but there is no real software to change any settings or use any advanced features. When the day comes that I don't have to act like a racoon going through the trash in my old hardware bin trying to find a video card (with more than 32 megs of vram) or a soundcard (with a signal to noise ratio of more than 60db, and better fidelity than a ghetto blaster) then I would be more than happy...scratch that, extatic to install Linux and get away from microsoft. GPL really needs to learn to swing a little bit from "idealist" to "realist"
Useability = hardware+software. Hardware limitations are useability limitations. Stop protecting your ideals and think about the end user for a change.
Post didn't seem to make it last time, so here goes again. This might come off as rude to some, so let me be frank.
Nobody in an MMORPG really, honestly cares wether or not you like to stick your dick in another man's ass at night when the lights are out. Nobody really, honestly cares if you like to don a rubber phallus and have a go at another woman. See, the fact that you do / don't do those things have absolute fuck all to do with the game at hand.
Making a GLBT "friendly" guild is fucking dumb. Mind-numbingly idiotic. You are supposed to be in a game making guilds about game-ish things. Once they add the ability to suck another man's cock into WOW, only THEN would a gay guild be justified. Failing that, it's simply a fasion / personal statement.
Again, keep your choices about flesh and sex out of the god damn game. If sombody uses the word "gay" and it offends you, then we're all terribly sorry that a word that describes your sexual orientation has also come to be synonymous with something bad. Maybe you should see a phsychiatrist about that and leave players alone.
What's next, you show sombody a weapon, and they like it, so they say "Oh! thats phat!" then next day you see a dozen guilds pop up like "BBW Big Beautiful Warcraft" or any other made-to-glorify-fat-hog-syndrome-caused-by-your-mc -diet bullshit.
How much do you want to bet that the groups of people responsible for creating the hacks and workarounds for windows XP broke a grin and started looking forward to having something new to get past? All microsoft does is give these people cracking their software and developing workarounds excersize.
$5 says the day following it's release, a cracked / oem / VLK licenced copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (crackers don't usually bother with second rate versions FYI Microsoft) is available for download, installs just as easy / easier than the officially released version, and has no incumbrences with any of their craptastic crippling maneuvers.
Remember how halflife 2 and the whole steam thing was supposed to end piracy of that game? It took TWELVE HOURS for sombody to write a steam server emulator and trick the game so it could be copied and played.
The only people that are thwarted by microsoft's anti-piracy measures are people that don't know any better.
Windows! Anti-piracy features now in effect for grandmother's e-mail only machine! All you guys that have been at this for more than 12 seconds, microsoft has news for you all in 2014 when the new version is released, better watch out!
[REQ! Vista Aero Enabler part 05-08/25. Parts missing on my server!]
Suck it M$. And thats from sombody who actually pays for legit copies of Windows XP.
Maybe some of the people who create viruses designed to attack average users should instead write the viruses designed to attack more annoying net presences...
Stop DDOS-ing root name servers and start DDOS-ing some of these shyte sites.
Im forced to agree with the previous comment, I don't know where the vast majority of people are getting their information, bit I'm a big fan of:
"Tis better to remain silent and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
I know, I've read on several sites now that the fanciest of the UI effects will only be available if the machine meets the requirements, and that the effects and general UI look and feel has many many steps down it can take in the event that the hardware of the current machine doesnt meet the specifications needed.
Chances are the server OS is based on most of the same technologies, would these people assume that you need a GeForce 7800 GTX in your server just because it runs Vista Server?
I can see it now, a Terminal Server with a Athlon FX-60, 500 gig hard drive, SLI GeForce 7800 GTX's...
Come on you GUI Nazi's get over it, technology evolves, plain moves to pretty, it's been happening for decades now. If your hardware doesn't support it, make it look like windows 95 (or redhat 6 if that floats your boat instead). Not everybody uses their computer with bread and water type work nessesity only. Some of us are into computers because we're enthusiasts, and we like to have lots of UI candy, and we don't give a shit if it takes 24 pixel pipelines to get there, cause we've got em.
Isnt is funny how the people who want and will enjoy a fancy accelerated UI are the same people who will have hardware to run it, and all the folks bashing it and saying it't not nessesary are the ones that are going to get the "windows is laughing at you message" during install that probably will verbatim say ""Microsoft Windows has detected that you are using a legacy video accelerator device. Enhanced display options will not be available at this time.""
You guys all assuming this comparison between the super-muscled folks and us is happening on their planet or ours?
If its on theirs, then their muscles mean shit as far as reflexes and speed. If your talking about bringing one of them to earth, then, this is a valid discussion.
Technology is one of the rewards of a developped country. let these people go on how they have gone on for centuries. Stop trying to inflict American values on third world countries. This country seems completely infatuated with pushing our lifestyle on other people, and, not to say that thats a bad thing for them, but fuck -let them make the move to technology if they want. If it means THAT much to them, let them move closer to an infrastructure capable area, let them develop and economy, businesses, telecom, and everything else they need to be technologically un-challenged as we are.
Giving them all see-n-say units that run some conveluted stripped-down version of linux (anybody else in the world would be nervous to run it as an internet gateway, nevermind a user environment..) is not the answer.
I think most of what Gates' is trying to say basically makes sence. Give the man some credit, you might all not like the products, but he DOES know how to make a dollar.
How many of you using Windows right now paid for it? Be honest. If you didn't, you have no right to use cost as a basis for comparison.
I would really love to see some comparisons between systems of all types, where cost and (the holy open source crusaders) don't get an opinion, but the systems are judged simply on usability in their respective environments.
We should whip the grandmother test on some of these systems. Call it what you will, but take the person you know who has the least knowledge about computers, even sombody who doesn't use them casually, and whip both types of system on them and ask them to do something simple like google a receipe for biscuits, or send an e-mail or buy a pair of jeans online or write a letter and save it- and be able to find it again. Remember, were talking un-prepped systems here. Install the OS and however it lands is it. No installing any drivers or packages or what-have-you.
I dunno, just an idea. I'd like to see some perceptions and ideas from anybody who might be willing to conduct such an experament. Arguing which system is better when only experts are arguing is stupid, it's all a matter of taste at that point.
No, seriously, I've often wanted to live in a place like that disused military underground deal they have in europe, you know the one that was for sale for a while for like $5 million euro or something.
A technology that I saw in the movie "The Island" that I think was neat is the toilet that detects imbalances in your..whatever it is you put in the toilet at that moment.
Let's try this by attacking things that annoy us or make life more difficult.
I don't know if I'd go as far as bubble baths that run for you, but I would like to see something like a fingerprint reader that hooks to a computer that controls the bath / shower, and can automatically set the temperature of the water to your personal taste. Beats fighting with the knobs when you're half asleep, and it's completely possible with today's technology.
How about beds that make themselves? Come on! completely possible with today's technology.
How about a phone system / answering machine that only answers the phone when you are not in the house, or when you are asleep, answers in 1 ring if you are gone, doesn't ring at all if you are asleep (or it smells your dinner cooking), unless the caller is on a pre-determined list. Think of all the assinine calls you could avoid.
Ok, were done with shit that CAN be done, now lets move onto something a little more esoteric.
How about having wall colors that run electronically, tied to a computer that can sense the thoughts of the person who enters the room, and automatically changes the wall color to that person's favorite color. Furniture as well.
How about a sophisticated stove that uses smell to determine a food type, quantity, etc that automatically cooks it perfectly, with predetermined heat and time. Hey, this one is just about possible with current tech, only we would have to use x-rays for density..unless we used MRI, which would make it impossible to use metal cookery...anyway, you get the idea. The stove says "10 inch skillet detected, 3 medium eggs. Setting appropriate 160 degree temperature for 4 minutes."
I dunno, I can't give away all my good ideas, lmao.
I suppose, if they come up with a knocker that knocks so fast it's really just generating a resonance frequency against the door, that might work, provided some key features are met:
1.) The code is long enough for there to be billions of combinations.
2.) The device that knocks is as small or smaller than a finger.
3.) The device that knocks can be copied easily with the right equipment, or make it so that the code is stored on a chip which can be moved among different knocking devices.
4.) The device that knocks must not cost more than $20. Optimally, $4.99 would be a good price to compete with the key.
Why can't people just stay off the phones anymore? There is a story on Slashdot just a few back that talks about nanotube paint so people can flick a switch and deprive the lemmings of their phones. It's like...just hang the fucking thing up sometimes and we won't have to worry about it. Personally there are not enough people I know that I would want bothering me...AND bothering me ENOUGH to warrant carrying a phone around all the time. Especially if it bothers others too (Commercial Pilots, people watching a movie, etc. etc.)
Perhaps, it's not something thats in the basic code of FF that is causing leaks, but rather a perticular function (site code, if you will) that the browser parses a perticular way, which causes it to choke. I've seen a ton of people post about how it eats up memory for them when they leave it overnight, and alot of other people that say that it doesn't do that when they leave it on for the same time period. The only variable that we don't know about is what happens to be LOADED on the "simple html page".
Ok, so if we're going to do this right, lets take all these people that violently say "It leaks!" and put them in one group and all the folks who say "It doesn't leak, you guys are on crack!" and put them in another. Have them keep a log, every so once in a while, write down a note that says what page you have open, whats going on in said page, and how much memory the browser happens to be using.
Sounds like a simple idea, but I think we've left the debate too closed to science and reasoning, and everybody has used it as a forum to debate which browsers are better than others, which is usually not based on anything more than how the user feels about the parent company, and not really on technology.
Slashdot Mirror
Until Microsoft starts charging people to download IE7, I think people really need to shut the fuck up about the default search engine. Really now. So, now I guess they have to put in a disclaimer "This product will use it's parent company's search technology when a term is entered into the search box". Oh, really? Can't have that. Count yourselves lucky it CAN be changed. Anybody who cares about this for more than just a few fleeting seconds really has far too much time on their hands.
Just do what I did, set up some firewall rules on your local network that sends people to google when they enter any of the popular search URL's. It's dirty, but sure to satisfy even the most dyed-in-the-wool OS / Browser / Search engine zealots.
I think some of these performace artist "advocates" need to get a fucking clue. A life would also help. These guys are the modern day makealottamoneyofsombodyelsesshit asshole ambulance chasers. I swear, it's going to get to the point where music lovers who download music (and buy the good stuff) won't take it anymore. Maybe we should create something that spreads the music so far and wide for download, and makes it so easy that these fuckers don't have the legal resources to counter attack it all.
We should do a hands across america or something. Fuck these assholes.
While it is nice to have fancy shmancy specd laptops to tote around, you can only put faster (read: more power / heat) devices in a laptop to a certain extent. There is a curve that follows along with an opposite one, which refers to efficiency / portability and the other to power / speed.
The other end of this discussion that I've not seen discussed yet is being mobile also presents real dangers to physical disks. Perhaps having a slower spindle speed is slightly less risky for those individuals who insist on slinging around a computer while it's powered on.
Gyroscopic forces probably hit those drives harder too, with thinner platters. Anybody who has held a bicycle tire in their hands while sombody else spun it, then tried to tilt it one way or the other knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Conspiracy theorists! Start your engines!
But really, I still don't understand why anybody would purposly take something like dual booting, that people like to do, and put limits on it. I don't understand why Microsoft and Apple both don't build their products to be able to be installed on anything. Sure, you can spout the usual stuff about Microsoft's deals with OEM's and Apple's "our hardware is pwnage" defense..It's like making cars that don't drive on some roads...
Face recognition anybody?
Right?
*goes home to make sure XP machine is using the right serial...*
Oh, and then there is that article a while back about "linux users being snobs" or some such.. I think maybe the longer you spend around *nix the more introverted and judgemental you get.
just a theory.
It would be neat if everything ran on everything that runs on everything. Then, and only then, users could make a decision about OS / Hardware / Software from a pure perspective of usability, cost and performance.
It's ok though. Ive started browsing these discussions at -1 so I'm sure to get the good comments. Browse at +2 or 3 and all you'll get is "im glad to be a mac user" and "windows sucks"
Truth of the matter is, I think alot of this stems from jealousy, that even with a mediocre product the company is still successful. Go ahead, mod me crappy, you know it's true.
Here lies the problem: Linux is shit without hardware. People arent going to want to use it "widely" without having to open a box at wal-mart to check the revision number of a peice of hardware to see if some barely-working craptastic peiced together, workaround, hacked, repackaged, 2 year old driver is going to work. Poorly.
The people that make computers useable are: Software developers, and hardware developers. If those 2 entities can't agree then useability goes out the window. Don't get me wrong, I love linux. But at the same time, the 500 bucks I just spent on a new video card and sound card are out the fucking window if I run anything but windows XP. I'm not waiting for some guy, or some group of guys (girls) to accidentally find some way to make my hardware "work" and by that, they usually mean it works electronically, but there is no real software to change any settings or use any advanced features. When the day comes that I don't have to act like a racoon going through the trash in my old hardware bin trying to find a video card (with more than 32 megs of vram) or a soundcard (with a signal to noise ratio of more than 60db, and better fidelity than a ghetto blaster) then I would be more than happy...scratch that, extatic to install Linux and get away from microsoft. GPL really needs to learn to swing a little bit from "idealist" to "realist"
Useability = hardware+software. Hardware limitations are useability limitations. Stop protecting your ideals and think about the end user for a change.
Nobody in an MMORPG really, honestly cares wether or not you like to stick your dick in another man's ass at night when the lights are out. Nobody really, honestly cares if you like to don a rubber phallus and have a go at another woman. See, the fact that you do / don't do those things have absolute fuck all to do with the game at hand.
Making a GLBT "friendly" guild is fucking dumb. Mind-numbingly idiotic. You are supposed to be in a game making guilds about game-ish things. Once they add the ability to suck another man's cock into WOW, only THEN would a gay guild be justified. Failing that, it's simply a fasion / personal statement.
Again, keep your choices about flesh and sex out of the god damn game. If sombody uses the word "gay" and it offends you, then we're all terribly sorry that a word that describes your sexual orientation has also come to be synonymous with something bad. Maybe you should see a phsychiatrist about that and leave players alone.
What's next, you show sombody a weapon, and they like it, so they say "Oh! thats phat!" then next day you see a dozen guilds pop up like "BBW Big Beautiful Warcraft" or any other made-to-glorify-fat-hog-syndrome-caused-by-your-mc -diet bullshit.
I think it's a way for them to have a comback to the old "I'm not paying for that shit (feature)"
$5 says the day following it's release, a cracked / oem / VLK licenced copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (crackers don't usually bother with second rate versions FYI Microsoft) is available for download, installs just as easy / easier than the officially released version, and has no incumbrences with any of their craptastic crippling maneuvers.
Remember how halflife 2 and the whole steam thing was supposed to end piracy of that game? It took TWELVE HOURS for sombody to write a steam server emulator and trick the game so it could be copied and played.
The only people that are thwarted by microsoft's anti-piracy measures are people that don't know any better.
Windows! Anti-piracy features now in effect for grandmother's e-mail only machine! All you guys that have been at this for more than 12 seconds, microsoft has news for you all in 2014 when the new version is released, better watch out!
[REQ! Vista Aero Enabler part 05-08/25. Parts missing on my server!]
Suck it M$. And thats from sombody who actually pays for legit copies of Windows XP.
Did it specifically say that the machine had to overheat in order to take advantage of the exploit? or did they figure out how to trigger it remotely?
Stop DDOS-ing root name servers and start DDOS-ing some of these shyte sites.
"Tis better to remain silent and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
I know, I've read on several sites now that the fanciest of the UI effects will only be available if the machine meets the requirements, and that the effects and general UI look and feel has many many steps down it can take in the event that the hardware of the current machine doesnt meet the specifications needed.
Chances are the server OS is based on most of the same technologies, would these people assume that you need a GeForce 7800 GTX in your server just because it runs Vista Server?
I can see it now, a Terminal Server with a Athlon FX-60, 500 gig hard drive, SLI GeForce 7800 GTX's...
Come on you GUI Nazi's get over it, technology evolves, plain moves to pretty, it's been happening for decades now. If your hardware doesn't support it, make it look like windows 95 (or redhat 6 if that floats your boat instead). Not everybody uses their computer with bread and water type work nessesity only. Some of us are into computers because we're enthusiasts, and we like to have lots of UI candy, and we don't give a shit if it takes 24 pixel pipelines to get there, cause we've got em.
Isnt is funny how the people who want and will enjoy a fancy accelerated UI are the same people who will have hardware to run it, and all the folks bashing it and saying it't not nessesary are the ones that are going to get the "windows is laughing at you message" during install that probably will verbatim say ""Microsoft Windows has detected that you are using a legacy video accelerator device. Enhanced display options will not be available at this time.""
Queue the Simpsons bully laugh "Haa-ha!"
If its on theirs, then their muscles mean shit as far as reflexes and speed. If your talking about bringing one of them to earth, then, this is a valid discussion.
Giving them all see-n-say units that run some conveluted stripped-down version of linux (anybody else in the world would be nervous to run it as an internet gateway, nevermind a user environment..) is not the answer.
I think most of what Gates' is trying to say basically makes sence. Give the man some credit, you might all not like the products, but he DOES know how to make a dollar.
I would really love to see some comparisons between systems of all types, where cost and (the holy open source crusaders) don't get an opinion, but the systems are judged simply on usability in their respective environments.
We should whip the grandmother test on some of these systems. Call it what you will, but take the person you know who has the least knowledge about computers, even sombody who doesn't use them casually, and whip both types of system on them and ask them to do something simple like google a receipe for biscuits, or send an e-mail or buy a pair of jeans online or write a letter and save it- and be able to find it again. Remember, were talking un-prepped systems here. Install the OS and however it lands is it. No installing any drivers or packages or what-have-you.
I dunno, just an idea. I'd like to see some perceptions and ideas from anybody who might be willing to conduct such an experament. Arguing which system is better when only experts are arguing is stupid, it's all a matter of taste at that point.
No, seriously, I've often wanted to live in a place like that disused military underground deal they have in europe, you know the one that was for sale for a while for like $5 million euro or something.
A technology that I saw in the movie "The Island" that I think was neat is the toilet that detects imbalances in your..whatever it is you put in the toilet at that moment.
Let's try this by attacking things that annoy us or make life more difficult.
I don't know if I'd go as far as bubble baths that run for you, but I would like to see something like a fingerprint reader that hooks to a computer that controls the bath / shower, and can automatically set the temperature of the water to your personal taste. Beats fighting with the knobs when you're half asleep, and it's completely possible with today's technology.
How about beds that make themselves? Come on! completely possible with today's technology.
How about a phone system / answering machine that only answers the phone when you are not in the house, or when you are asleep, answers in 1 ring if you are gone, doesn't ring at all if you are asleep (or it smells your dinner cooking), unless the caller is on a pre-determined list. Think of all the assinine calls you could avoid.
Ok, were done with shit that CAN be done, now lets move onto something a little more esoteric.
How about having wall colors that run electronically, tied to a computer that can sense the thoughts of the person who enters the room, and automatically changes the wall color to that person's favorite color. Furniture as well.
How about a sophisticated stove that uses smell to determine a food type, quantity, etc that automatically cooks it perfectly, with predetermined heat and time. Hey, this one is just about possible with current tech, only we would have to use x-rays for density..unless we used MRI, which would make it impossible to use metal cookery...anyway, you get the idea. The stove says "10 inch skillet detected, 3 medium eggs. Setting appropriate 160 degree temperature for 4 minutes."
I dunno, I can't give away all my good ideas, lmao.
Fuck! I hope nobody told bushey about this yet, thems some dead ass kids!
1.) The code is long enough for there to be billions of combinations.
2.) The device that knocks is as small or smaller than a finger.
3.) The device that knocks can be copied easily with the right equipment, or make it so that the code is stored on a chip which can be moved among different knocking devices.
4.) The device that knocks must not cost more than $20. Optimally, $4.99 would be a good price to compete with the key.
Why can't people just stay off the phones anymore? There is a story on Slashdot just a few back that talks about nanotube paint so people can flick a switch and deprive the lemmings of their phones. It's like...just hang the fucking thing up sometimes and we won't have to worry about it. Personally there are not enough people I know that I would want bothering me...AND bothering me ENOUGH to warrant carrying a phone around all the time. Especially if it bothers others too (Commercial Pilots, people watching a movie, etc. etc.)
Back room of the house is basically an office, which holds:
Old AMD 1.4 T-Bird running Server 2003, 3x 73GB U160 10 Seagates. One for misc files, one for some old mp3's and one my girlfriend uses for..whatever.
One workstation, P4 1.5 ghz (old dell I pillaged for working parts) Runs WinXP.
One laptop, PIII 1ghz, mostly for browsing the web when were too lazy to go to a real computer.
Livingroom: P4 2.4ghz, Windows Media Center, all teh gidgets.
Network stuff: several netgear gigabit switches, cat5,6 cabinet and an un-used single mode fiber patch panel (my next project)
Ok, so if we're going to do this right, lets take all these people that violently say "It leaks!" and put them in one group and all the folks who say "It doesn't leak, you guys are on crack!" and put them in another. Have them keep a log, every so once in a while, write down a note that says what page you have open, whats going on in said page, and how much memory the browser happens to be using.
Sounds like a simple idea, but I think we've left the debate too closed to science and reasoning, and everybody has used it as a forum to debate which browsers are better than others, which is usually not based on anything more than how the user feels about the parent company, and not really on technology.