mountainhiker

True, however, they made a choice to be hardware+software seller and the OS is locked into the hardware at this point. For that reason, as you point out, they will never be a bigger player in the market place. Which may well be the reason they are expanding into other areas.

Sadly, Apple some times is worse that M/soft. Apple has always had a problem with marketing. Graphics techs love it but they have not figured out how to market to the average user.. M/soft has, and does a good job to the majority of the commercial customers. You can have the best mouse trap in the world, but, if you don't if you don't understand the potential and you don't know how to tell anyone its pretty much wasted... Company called Convergent had an OS that had network printing long before M/soft. They had zero vision as to how to market it, fell by the wayside when another company bought them that had even less vision... M/soft is smart when it comes to marketing, look for them to come out with a "green" laptop, bamboo case and huge reduction in power requirements. Lots of politically correct "green" people will rush out and buy one .

Waste of time! The reason that OS/2 failed in the marketplace was that IBM failed to court the desktop software providers and it was never marketed or promoted as a "delux" version of windows. IE., an OS is worthless to the average person if most of the current software will not run on it. The current verson of Windows and Linux have both advanced far beyond where OS/2 is. OS/2 is so far behind Linux as an "open" platform that it can never catch up. Will IBM release it? No, it is not in their current interest to release their rights to the software. The have a heavy commitment to Microsoft Windows and Linux at a time when they cannot afford to switch horses. They see this as competition, they have trained people in Windows and Linux. The "open" community has endorsed Linux they are not going to change either.

People are always looking for something better and it looks like they found something here. Better alternative to corn based ethanol Ethanol made from the stalk's juice has four times the energy yield of the corn-based ethanol, which is already in the marketplace unlike sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum produces about eight units of energy for every unit of energy used in its production Sweet sorghum also spares the environment. Less fertilizer is needed than with corn and as a result there is less water contamination.

However, It has been a long time since I have ever seen one of those pumps. Almost all stations have gone digital and totally computerized. Not quite the doom and gloom that it sounds like.

Hey 300 page views is not bad, at least the looked! However, I did rate you just because I know how much hard work you put into changing the look and feel of the site and moving it to the new software platform. Maybe the fact that I am a computer geek like you pushed you up the scale a little.... :thoughtful:

Well, sad to agree, it clearly is not an enlightened age. Part of the problem is the scientists don't agree/trust each other so not sure I can fault the politicians on that score. Not sure how it is where you are but here that have a publish or perish mind set in many of the universities so the scientist and professors are way to quick to publish "research" that is shaky. Remember several times research being withdrawn after a splash in the news with a big "we made a minor mistake". Translated, the first person who read the report caught a major mistake..

Wasted Food British consumers throw out a third of all food bought, worth some 10 billion pounds (12.7 million euros, 19.5 million dollars), a study showed Thursday. The average household throws food worth 420 pounds each year into the waste bin, rising to 610 pounds for those with children, said the study by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap). This includes 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots, 5,500 whole chickens and 440,000 ready meals, it said. "These findings are staggering in their own right, but at a time when global food shortages are in the headlines this kind of wastefulness becomes even more shocking," said Environment Minister Joan Ruddock. Great article, but, you have to wonder just how big a sample of the population that they used and how that would compare to say France on the other side of the channel... not really that far away...

Whoa, impressed that it costs 2-3 times what it costs in the US.

Clear cutting is always bad! They never replace the undergrowth that is so important for the wildlife.

Now that will be worth looking into, 80% smaller is ok but 71% less energy is a MAJOR factor....

Bingo! You win the prize..... The did have a "creative" excuse for doing it though!

It sure seems that way. :thoughtful:

and this is different from the normal in what way? the traders always figure a way to make a profit...

From what I hear, that is not true. The local businesses have NO pollution controls at all and never have had any. The major polluters in China are, and always have been "home grown", clearly we over rate ourselves if we really think that we could have moved into a country the size of China and taken it over. What it really means it that other countries are buying goods from the major polluters in the country. This is an issue that ONLY the local government can clean up as the "civilized" countries have no means to force the same environmental standards on local factories as they have in Europe.

Not my problem! Suspect you will see some of that wind down in the next year, regardless of who wins the election. Of course if its the little "o", who knows. He has no track record, and is promising to solve all the worlds problems. You call free health care, free education free by (someone) paying higher taxes FREE? You must be on welfare! :thumbup:

Simon, You and I are in agreement on that issue! :D

Higher taxes means better welfare. Oh no! California, home of fruits and nuts in the US, has the largest welfare program, and spends $3 for every $1 that gets paid to the people on the bottom. Higher taxes means more people in the middle, sitting on their ass shuffling paper. Although, many may see that as a good thing since you have more jobs(shuffling paper) being filled. :thumbup:

Yes, what could be worse! :thoughtful:

Sounds good, but the minute all the fat ass liberals that own stock in those companys realize what it means, some excuse will be made as to why import taxes are a bad thing for the poor! Life is never as simple as it should be....

Must be hard to be a true left winger these days. NONE of this grap came out until someone started making money from biofuels, wonder why???? :thoughtful:

So does China, letting them off the hook may the the politically correct answer, but not the answer to the problems. :sceptical:

Because, you cannot hold one country accountable while giving China a free ride! This is one of those areas where EVERYONE is going to have to work together. It is totally irresponsible to say that developing countries can continue to pollute, especially on the scale of China, while you ask others to cut back. :info: The scale of pollution that it is going on in China will be seen worldwide during the upcoming "games".

A scary thing about that, is that the people who stole the horn will not care that it was preserved with arsenic and DDT. They will sell it on the black market to some one who will not ask any questions.

I think they are pushing it, some of the words are only found in certain dictionary's. clearly not a problem on your part. Maybe the cost of the rice is exceeding the money they have! :sceptical: