All of your points have a lot of validity and insight to them. However, I would differ on the root causes of why you won't see Linux or Mac ports for a while. It's simply a matter of numbers. Cider and Cedega, while not perfect, overcome a majority of the hurdles to providing a "native" (close enough) version of the executables for either Linux or Mac, with a minimal amount of additional code work (Again, with the caveat that not all software is built the same. Some projects I've seen recently use DirectX, but build their own custom abstraction layer to access the hardware far more efficiently).
Back to the numbers. Sorry, got sidetracked. Why would a software project, which classically is payed on an advance basis anyway, go through the exorbitant expense of generating an entierly new SKU if they're 1. not being paid for it by their publisher, 2. Are only going to hit a percentage of the small percentage of Linux/Mac users? They're not. Mac, however, is starting to come back, if only marginally. With Intel based systems now, doing a Mac specific build becomes much more viable. As both a game player and maker, I've been a PC/Win user for 23 years. For the first time in my life, Mac is an option (Between Crossover and BootCamp). Once more people make this realization, and the opportunity presents itself, you may finally see Mac ports. I wouldn't wager a guess on Linux, just because it's still a long way from the mainstream. Give Ubuntu, Freespire, or any of the really good, really user friendly Linux builds another few years, and as you said, decent driver support, and they may be ready as well.
Simply put: Once the consumers build a market, the developers will come. Because this particular fork in the road.. is all about consumer choice finally.
Being a martyr is all fine and dandy. But, honestly. If every white collar worker in America stopped working for corprorations that did one or more things that the individual dissaproves of, we'd have a nation of corporations with only exectuive management left working for them, and an unemployment rate of 99.9%.
I left Microsoft a number of years ago. Not for any moral or ethical reasons. They do stuff I think is great (still), and do stuff I think is horrible (still). How is this any different from IBM, Oracle, Intel, AMD, Sony, the rest of corporate america?
Experience has taught most people that, the way to make something better, is not to quit on ethical grounds and send yourself and your family to the poor house. Work on making things better, and if at the end of it, you no longer can handle it any more, then make that decision to leave. But, that's a pretty santimonious attitude you have there, no matter how you look at it, Moofie.
Humans are highly visual creatures. Now, they're also highly silly creatures, always attracted by bright shiny gadgets and what not. But to play devils advocate (I'm totally with you on the "one more point of failure" issue).
A camera on a GPS unit helps people like my wife who don't remember street names, but sights at the location they're going to. An address is often not shown or placed in such a way that you can't see it till you're well past, and if it's a place you only go a few times a year, and you get lost regularly (Again, like my wife), this kind of thing could come in very handy. Is it somewhat silly and frivolous? Yes, of course it is, but that doesn't make it less useful. And I would argue that a GPS navigation system (most of them anyway), are much easier for most people to follow than a paper map, which others have pointed out is bulky, impossible to use while driving, or even stopped at a light, as well as often being so small that it's hard to make out any detail.
As for the fridge? Well.. There's enough people who spend a lot of time in their kitchen, hell, some people use their kitchen table as a home office. This could come in handy? This pretty much tips the silly scale, but, if someone wants to give LG an extra $300 for a silly extra in their fridge, well.. I'm sure LG is happy to take their money.
Someone who's sole goal is pure photography will always go with an SLR, digital or film, or even a really good PHD (Push Here Dummy). Because, they do what they do better. It doesn't make all these other, arguably somewhat silly, devices completely useless.
Most, or possibly every quarter Microsoft has ever posted has shown small to large year to year earnings growth. A stock price going down has little to do with reality, and far more to do with what, as someone already mentioned, analysts say and how whacked out on oxycontin the day traders that day are. Microsoft stock has seen a 16% decline this year, almost ALL of that since the last quarterly reports, because Ballmer told them that Microsoft was going to spend a lot more money over the next 8 quarters (I think it was) investing in new technologies and in a huge marketing push for Vista.
Microsoft is hardly going in the wrong direction. It just doesn't happen to be a direction that has Wall Street fawning over them at the moment. The main thing Microsoft hasn't done that has pissed off Wall Street in recent years is not raise their dividend to what would, ultimately, be an unsustainable level, and instead, has grown it very conservatively, so that when they do increase it, they can maintain it. That's just smart business. But it doesn't make your average "Where's the money" investor happy.
What people seem to forget is that this is not just in the past few years. Over 50 years of positioning and power-brokering have made the situation we see in American politics today. A steady growing of the power of the intelligence branches, even if during most of that time it was pretty quiet.
Someone made a post yesterday in the Supreme Court Limits Whistleblowing newsitem detailing out the top 13 or so signs of a facist regime (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=187044&th reshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=15433843/) . If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. Try not to go all conspiracy crazy, but analyze each of the items and see how many examples you can find for each one. For some, there's little to no correlation to be found in America (At least not easily or without getting branded Unibomber level crazy). But for others? Examples abound. Just keep this in mind: American Flags and Yellow Ribbons.
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All of your points have a lot of validity and insight to them. However, I would differ on the root causes of why you won't see Linux or Mac ports for a while. It's simply a matter of numbers. Cider and Cedega, while not perfect, overcome a majority of the hurdles to providing a "native" (close enough) version of the executables for either Linux or Mac, with a minimal amount of additional code work (Again, with the caveat that not all software is built the same. Some projects I've seen recently use DirectX, but build their own custom abstraction layer to access the hardware far more efficiently). Back to the numbers. Sorry, got sidetracked. Why would a software project, which classically is payed on an advance basis anyway, go through the exorbitant expense of generating an entierly new SKU if they're 1. not being paid for it by their publisher, 2. Are only going to hit a percentage of the small percentage of Linux/Mac users? They're not. Mac, however, is starting to come back, if only marginally. With Intel based systems now, doing a Mac specific build becomes much more viable. As both a game player and maker, I've been a PC/Win user for 23 years. For the first time in my life, Mac is an option (Between Crossover and BootCamp). Once more people make this realization, and the opportunity presents itself, you may finally see Mac ports. I wouldn't wager a guess on Linux, just because it's still a long way from the mainstream. Give Ubuntu, Freespire, or any of the really good, really user friendly Linux builds another few years, and as you said, decent driver support, and they may be ready as well. Simply put: Once the consumers build a market, the developers will come. Because this particular fork in the road.. is all about consumer choice finally.
Being a martyr is all fine and dandy. But, honestly. If every white collar worker in America stopped working for corprorations that did one or more things that the individual dissaproves of, we'd have a nation of corporations with only exectuive management left working for them, and an unemployment rate of 99.9%. I left Microsoft a number of years ago. Not for any moral or ethical reasons. They do stuff I think is great (still), and do stuff I think is horrible (still). How is this any different from IBM, Oracle, Intel, AMD, Sony, the rest of corporate america? Experience has taught most people that, the way to make something better, is not to quit on ethical grounds and send yourself and your family to the poor house. Work on making things better, and if at the end of it, you no longer can handle it any more, then make that decision to leave. But, that's a pretty santimonious attitude you have there, no matter how you look at it, Moofie.
Humans are highly visual creatures. Now, they're also highly silly creatures, always attracted by bright shiny gadgets and what not. But to play devils advocate (I'm totally with you on the "one more point of failure" issue). A camera on a GPS unit helps people like my wife who don't remember street names, but sights at the location they're going to. An address is often not shown or placed in such a way that you can't see it till you're well past, and if it's a place you only go a few times a year, and you get lost regularly (Again, like my wife), this kind of thing could come in very handy. Is it somewhat silly and frivolous? Yes, of course it is, but that doesn't make it less useful. And I would argue that a GPS navigation system (most of them anyway), are much easier for most people to follow than a paper map, which others have pointed out is bulky, impossible to use while driving, or even stopped at a light, as well as often being so small that it's hard to make out any detail. As for the fridge? Well.. There's enough people who spend a lot of time in their kitchen, hell, some people use their kitchen table as a home office. This could come in handy? This pretty much tips the silly scale, but, if someone wants to give LG an extra $300 for a silly extra in their fridge, well.. I'm sure LG is happy to take their money. Someone who's sole goal is pure photography will always go with an SLR, digital or film, or even a really good PHD (Push Here Dummy). Because, they do what they do better. It doesn't make all these other, arguably somewhat silly, devices completely useless.
Most, or possibly every quarter Microsoft has ever posted has shown small to large year to year earnings growth. A stock price going down has little to do with reality, and far more to do with what, as someone already mentioned, analysts say and how whacked out on oxycontin the day traders that day are. Microsoft stock has seen a 16% decline this year, almost ALL of that since the last quarterly reports, because Ballmer told them that Microsoft was going to spend a lot more money over the next 8 quarters (I think it was) investing in new technologies and in a huge marketing push for Vista. Microsoft is hardly going in the wrong direction. It just doesn't happen to be a direction that has Wall Street fawning over them at the moment. The main thing Microsoft hasn't done that has pissed off Wall Street in recent years is not raise their dividend to what would, ultimately, be an unsustainable level, and instead, has grown it very conservatively, so that when they do increase it, they can maintain it. That's just smart business. But it doesn't make your average "Where's the money" investor happy.
What people seem to forget is that this is not just in the past few years. Over 50 years of positioning and power-brokering have made the situation we see in American politics today. A steady growing of the power of the intelligence branches, even if during most of that time it was pretty quiet. Someone made a post yesterday in the Supreme Court Limits Whistleblowing newsitem detailing out the top 13 or so signs of a facist regime (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=187044&th reshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=15433843/) . If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. Try not to go all conspiracy crazy, but analyze each of the items and see how many examples you can find for each one. For some, there's little to no correlation to be found in America (At least not easily or without getting branded Unibomber level crazy). But for others? Examples abound. Just keep this in mind: American Flags and Yellow Ribbons.