You can customize the Start menu quite a bit -- I've removed all the tiles, for example, so I have a menu that's quite clean and usable. Cortana is gone too. Simple and easy.

All true. That does not excuse companies from being misleading for PR reasons. If companies were up-front about WHY they have the demographics they do -- society does provide female and minority candidates -- it might provide impetuous for change. Hiding reality rarely, if ever, improves anything.

Yes, but in 20 years, we'll have graphics cards that can run 8k monitors at reasonable speed, and software that scales properly. The screen doesn't exist in a vacuum, and right now, even 4k screens at 15.6 inches are performance dogs. And think how ridiculous the price for an 8k monitor will be...

Slashdot has fallen far in credibility if it promotes sloppy research like the referenced article.

A spinal injury rendered my primary right hand useless. So I write (250k words this year) and code (30k lines C++/C#/Python) using a Logitech Wireless Touchpad and a compact tablet-style keyboard on my PC.

The question is silly. Which language to choose depends on the task at hand, not arbitrary religion. I was using C++ when it was "C with classes", wrote books and articles about it -- and my answer is to use the tool best suited to a given task and target platform. I've used Objective C when it fits my goal. I dislike questions asked only to invent false reasons for making a choice.

Well "duh". And water is wet.

What, no "None of the above"? I equate clickbait with jailbait -- no touchy!

Make it so. Make it so. Don't hold back anymore...

You're not alone. I like the ribbon.

It's a helluva lot better than a thousand menu layers.

Correction acknowledged and accepted.

Perusing this thread will tell anyone why Linux is not a significant player in the OS universe. Too much chaos, to many sharp opinions, jingoism... in the end, all that keeps Linux from being a serious contender beyond cell phones (where it is invisible) and scientists (who have certain needs).

There will never *be* a "Year of Linux".

Yet I'll keep on using customized versions of Linux for my own development needs, just like my wife uses odd and exotic materials media for her artwork. Linux/GNU/etc is an artist's tool, but it will never be mainstream or popular. Deal with it, be glad you have it, and quit bashing each other over the head.

Fascinating. I'm chagrined to have been ignorant of this. Thanks!

Like most protest movements, anti-Apple activism is likely unproductive and too focused.

HP, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle... do you really think all the other tech companies are innocent in such matters? Given that the problem extends beyond the tech sector -- are you willing to boycott your refrigerator, or your car, or your shirt? Picking on Apple is targeting an easy mark, one that probably has more to do with disliking Apple's image than it does with any real desire to help people.

I don't own or buy Apple products for a lot of reasons. Their use of asian semi-slave factories will not be solved by a boycott, simply because most people don't give a rat's rump. Consumers want their cheap toys, and the "don't give a shitters" outnumber indignant Slashdotters by hundreds of thousands to one.

If you feel that boycotting Apple is some sort of stand against naughtiness, knock yourself out. Delude yourself that buying an Android phone or a Samsung computer makes you holier the Jobs' army..

However, if you want to make a difference, get involved in the political process, as people did with SOPA/PIPA. Make a stink on the broader issue of companies selling product created by near-slave labor in dangerous facilities.Anything less is playing at activism, as if it were a shiney toy, puffing your ego because "I'm doign something" that costs you little and helps the problem even less.

Congratulations on codifying reality succinctly. Hell, this is how most projects work, political or otherwise: Shoot for the moon, settle for what you need.

Which makes me wonder -- why doesn;t the opposition do this? We need to demand freedom, push for flory, and expect to get bits back incrementally. Hell, we aren't goign to repeal the Federal Code, but we might just take a few bites out of it and start something positive.

Often, the best way to defeat someone is to use their own tactics against them. Vote, demonstrate, get involved, fight. Anythign else is just posturing.