"it's not hurting anyone"
Unless you work on those ships.

"but who's it going to hurt in the middle of the Pacific's vast nutrient-devoid dead zones"
The people working on those ships, and the formerly nutrient-rich zones that died off because of shipping pollution.

Actually, there IS a corporate income tax -- the B&O tax, which is paid out of GROSS, not NET income. As a former self-employed contractor I used to have to pay it quarterly.

Also, there's little wonder that Bill Gates Sr. is supporting this bull. He doesn't have a job, per se, and doesn't generate "income" the way the rest of us yahoos do.

So you're saying it's perfectly reasonable to make an assumption based on data collected from the last 150 (out of 4.5 BILLION) years. A sample size of 0.0000033%

Or even if you were to limit the scope to earliest known homo sapiens (in order to prove "man-made" glboal warming) from 195,000 years ago, you're still talking about a sample size of less than 0.077%.

Hardly "undeniable," or even conclusive.

It's amazing how many times that this is considered a Microsoft problem when in reality its an organizational problem. Most companies are unwilling to invest in proper training and implementing solid security practices until an attack occurs. While its easy to pick Windows-based malware as a prime example of why organizations should shift from closed-source to open-source technology, the fact of the matter is that the problem is with how the network environments are managed. By locking down user desktops, implementing anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-spam solutions, in addition to inline IDS or IPS technologies, there is no reason something like this should be infecting any organization. I run multiple Windows PCs, and I don't have viruses running around rampant on my networks.

The real joke is that in Comrade Obama's Socialist Amerika, the government will be looking to Microsoft for a bailout.

Seriously, though. Anything you share with third parties, even to a limited audience, can no longer be considered private. And somehow I doubt that his "close friends" were only his doctors, his lawyers, and his clergy. The privacy argument is a bullshit argument.

What a load of crap. Can you actually prove what you just stated? Here are some facts for you to digest.

Any operating system / browser environment is just as secure as the users allow it to be. You can run Firefox with NoScript all day long, but how many of us have seen web pages that state "You must have JavaScript enabled to view these pages." A more savvy user would simply decide to either not use that website, or find an alternate way of doing what they need to without lowering the security on their system. However, less informed users might simply decide to create either a permanent or temporary exception for that site without considering the consequences. The same is true with Active X controls. I don't install any I don't trust, and most of the time, even if an application I installed adds an Active X control, I manually go into IE and disable any ActiveX controls I don't trust.

Secondly, anyone who runs their applications, or OS as either root or administrator opens him or herself up to attack regardless of the platform. The fact that there are many more Windows based attacks is because of two reasons. 1) Windows is easy to use, and therefore easier to manipulate, and 2) Windows still owns the lion's share of the desktop market, therefore attacks will have a broader impact. It is foolhardy and ignorant to suggest that any platform is inherently more secure than another. Each has their vulnerabilities, and each will have inexperienced users making bad decisions.

I'm generally a Microsoft booster, but I found your post almost as funny as the VCR comment. I think the AC who called you a troll is the real troll.

I think you and I are in the same camp. I dropped out after my first year of college in 1994 and started working in the tech bench at a big box retailer. Eventually, I moved through a few different positions, computer operator at a bank, then the data processing center at another company, until I got hired on to do phone support for our data products.

Eventually I moved into tech support, which led to a sysadmin career and then technical training. During that time, I pursued both the MCSE and CCNA certifications. Some of my certs were sponsored by my employer, others were not. After doing sysadmin work for a number of years, I moved into a more soft-skills focused role.

I've been more of a process management / performance management / business intelligence specialist the last couple of years. I just finished the first draft of my second book, and I will probably gross six figures this year. Not bad for an English major who dropped out after Freshman Year.

The bottom line is this. Whether or not you have a degree, expect to start at the bottom, and work your way up. If you advance too soon, you may be in over your head. If your career stagnates, it's because you haven't put enough initiative in moving forward.

Never be afraid of a challenge. My specialty is in Microsoft SysAdmin, but I can configure Cisco routers and switches with the best of them. I've installed a few Linux testbeds, and while it's not my OS of choice, I can manage my way through it.

I will say this; if you're not going to get a degree, at least pursue a basic cert like A+ or Network+ to start.