lunarscape

His argument seems to boil down to 'give us all your data because any concerns you have are just insane!'. It really irks me to see someone dismiss privacy and security concerns with such derision. It's also not just companies who should be concerned. I think the growing unease in the EU about US access to cloud service data is only going to get more serious.

" such decisions reflect the desktop Linux market."

Agreed. Such decisions reflect Microsoft's unrivaled power to strongarm cash-strapped and desperate vendors into whatever schemes they choose. I hope the EU is watching.

oops.. linked to first pics I could find. Another review stated the battery was easily removable but iFixIt is probably the better source.

If games consoles do well in the next few years AMD will do okay. The Wii U has AMD graphics, the PS4 will and the XBOX successor is rumored to have AMD too.

"Linux support manages to get them the sort of user who is least concerned with intellectual property laws"

How so? In my personal experience it's Windows users who pirate the most software by far. Linux users choose an OS with far fewer commercial desktop apps and generally make do with open-source applications. Linux users have also been shown to pay more for indie games and apps and have been vocal in wanting Steam on Linux so they can throw money at Valve. Given how easy it is to rile up many Linux users with accusations of GPL infringement, I'd say that they generally understand and care more about IP laws than the average Windows user.

I don't understand this reasoning. No one forces you to compile from source or even use the terminal. Likewise no one needs to touch the Windows registry or firewall settings if they don't want to.

There's a distro for almost everything and there's certainly one for the unassuming family PC - Ubuntu. It passes the "Mom test" for me and keeps my technology hesitant mother very happy. Email, web browsing, online banking, photo sharing, printing/scanning just works. If anything it's easier than "that Windows thing" (as she describes it). The Dash in Unity and the Launcher 'just work' and have made computing a much more pleasant experience for her. With the exception of very occasional hardware support issues (I change printers maybe every 2 years) it's more than convinced me Ubuntu is a very viable family OS.

Not exactly the same. Samsung's loss against Apple in the US was devastating. It wasn't a clear cut loss for Apple in South Korea. The South Korean court also found against Samsung and banned some of their products.

Ubuntu + PPAs is another solution.

"and the UK's main religion is a Atheism"

What? The last census (2001, since 2011 results are pending) put Christianity at 72% and "no religion" at 15%. Surveys in 2011 by other groups put Christianity consistently above 60%. Considering the UK has an official state religion, a monarchy and unelected bishops in political office.. I can't see how anyone can claim the UK is "atheist".

I agree. I think they're completely underestimating how strong a first impression that stock photo leaves. I'd wager that in a few months they'll be scratching their heads and wondering why they have so few female members.

There's also the hardware to consider. They posted a PDF of the schematics but no files or layout. They've promised to eventually but I haven't seen it yet.