First (?) call for Micro$oft to abandon Vista.

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AndrewBell wrote:
The majority of people using MS products are indifferent or clueless about any alternatives, and will continue to go with the herd.

Never subestimate gamers, there will be no home pc market without them. Maybe they will not install Linux, but I am sure there was a perturbation in the force, as if millions of vista installations suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced with XP. :-D

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adonay wrote:
Whats wrong with you people retarded?

Have you ever heard the joke about the guy that hears on his car radio the voice of the news guy on the helicopter "I cannot believe my eyes, there is a moron driving on the wrong side of main street" and the guy says "what do you mean one? there are lots of them!!!".

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-D- wrote:
XP is suddenly "fantastic" on the forum, when it's usually derided as the biggest piece of crap ever???

It is the same thing as oil prices. Back when they were at $60 per barrel it was "biggest piece of crap ever", but when it gets up to $100 per barrel, then $60 seems "fantastic"

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ShawnDude wrote:
Yeah, I don't like the "spying" issue, but that's a part of life now and in the future ... As long as your are not doing anything illegal, you don't have much to worry about.

"people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both"

- Benjamin Franklin

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@arkanoid

corporations are just playing by the rules, think of it as a game of monopoly. The problem is when we allow them to change the rules at the middle of the game, balance goes thru the window and you end having nowhere to run.

The situation is beyond scary, but last time I walked down this path I was kicked from a messageboard because people "... can't handle the truth".

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AndrewBell wrote:
How is a government or security agency supposed to stop the bad guys without intruding in the privacy of the masses?

Geee, how about this, by doing their work! The bad guys(TM) were not born yesterday, even the so called brand new type that are labeled "terrorists" have been roaming this earth since before anyone in this messageboard was even born. So we have some mediocre people at the head of law enforcement "Gee, how do I cover up for my lack of wits and at the same time continue with my agenda?" then said Karl "Easy, ask for superpowers, like x-ray vision, superhearing, etc. they will buy it in no time". The rest is history.

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AndrewBell wrote:
You're right, insurgents and terrorist have been around a very long time. And security agencies have been intercepting communications, eavesdropping, using informers and making people disappear since Moses was a boy. Now they use computers, because everyone else is using computers.

Imagine that in 1931 a zeppelin filled with hydrogen and loaded with dynamite hits the empire states building. Would that merit that the goverment taps without any control all telephone lines, telegraphs, teletypes and has a register of all short wave radio radio in the nation? It does not make sense, they would not need to go to such extremes to twart any organization capable of such feat. So, in short, the use by criminals of the new technological advances does not mean the goverment needs to have absolute control over such communication means to twart criminal organizations. BTW, in the times of Moses there were no democracies, so goverment controling every aspect of civilian life was common.

And security agencies have been making mistakes since Moses was a boy too. Again it's nothing new.

Yet even in the time of Moses when somebodies ineptitude creates a tragedy, they are fired (or even executed) and substituted by people capable of doing the job that no doubt correct the mistakes done by his predecesor. Yet here not only the same people are in charge and the mistakes that caused the tragedy are not addressed, they are given extraordinary powers. That is nothing new I know, but I expected better from nation of the first world.

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Back to the original post, you will know M$ has abandoned Vista when they release DirectX 10 for windows XP, that will be the nail that seals Vista in it's coffin.

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Conquest of oil supplies??? ... but don't be naive and think that the US is profiting from this war in any way other than attempting to bring stability to the region,

1. The region was stable before GDW invaded it. Maybe it was far from peaceful and there was a dictator controlling the country, but people seem to forget that said dictator was supported by the USA for decades and that there are dozens of regions in the world that are not peaceful with their own dictators, one of those has ruled unimpaired for decades and lives a few hunres miles south of florida, if GDW he had an itch to remove world dicators he could have started there, don't you think?

2. Many people seem to think that "conquesting oil supplies" is akin of "getting cheap oil", truth is never has and never will be about that. It is about securing supply. People have forgotten that the reason behind WWII in the pacific was because the US cut oil supplies to the japanese. People do not seem to undestand that the reason the chinese buy oil from sudan(darfur), venezuela and iran is because the best way to secure oil supplies is to buy from countries outside of the influence of the US. People have yet to grasp that in out lifetimes world oil reserves will dry up and decades before that happens there will be not be enough oil to meet world demand, so only the few that have secured some source of supply will not see their economies go downhill.

Education is the answer to World Peace.

Bah, humbug! Food is the answer to world peace, try to be enlightned with an empty stomach.