you'll see fanatics on both sides.

microsoft have for years been villainized as an evil cooperation bent on world domination and apple is trying to save the world. now, the image of apple has slightly changed.

i personally like microsoft as a company. they employed about 49,000 american employees and export more than they import, money-wises. not sure about apple. also, mr. gates is pretty socially responsible through his foundations.

oh.. and windows 7 is pretty good also.

I'm not entirely sure I understand the logic behind Edmound's stats and I'm not arguing either way, but someone explain to me how:

When I traded in my cluncker for 4.5K for a 20K new car... and paid 15.5K plus tax, my purchase is costing tax payers 24K. That's more than what my new car's worth and where did the 15.5K + tax I put in for the car go despite whether I'm going to purchase a new car or not with the next year?

Again... I'm pleading ignorance, not bias. I've read the article but it doesn't add up for me. Tax payers are paying 24K(which also means me) for my car that I took 4.5K from and paid the rest?

what's up with sony's quality control these days? first batteries, now this?

LazyLittleBoy, I agree. I hope Lenovo don't go in the way of Asus (with eee) and dilute the Thinkpad line.

i've owned a t60 but now own a ideapad (went cheap). the difference between lenovo's thinkpad(business) models and ideapads are apparent. the keyboard on the thinkpad are known to be the best on any laptop. they have a much sturdier feel. some of the newer ones even include titianium roll cages. the matted covering makes keeps it fingerprint free and professional looking. video cards includes with thinkpads are usually spartan with money spent on other areas... like modular bays and docking station ready.

i think the main reason for the business moniker is because for the price, you actually get a pretty sturdy no-nonsense laptop. of course, you can use any laptop for business, but the thinkpad just makes it more convient in certain areas.

opps, i reread my post and i can see how it can be miss understood. i mean to say:

"my understanding is that ms got rid of some of the layers. this is necessary for a more direct access to devices."

anyways, it's been a long time since i took my last computer science class and alot longer since i messed with the minix kernel. i do know that even i reaaalllly don't know which is more advanced since Window's is propriatory. unless you work for MS it's all speculation.

@david,

actually windows NT is also based on the Mach microkernel. apple changed from a monolithic kernel with os X.

my understanding is that ms got rid of some of the layers necessary for a more direct access to devices (hence more towards a monolithic system you were talking about) after windows 2000. this doesn't make it less advanced as long as the OS manages the space effectively. in fact, my understanding is that windows xp consistently beats osx in servers where multi-threading (thus at a kernel level) is important.

Yes, I do realize I don't have the best grammar, but you get the general idea.

I think this is one of the better spending ideas. I've posted this before but the people mostly paying for this is the long run are the people trading in the new cars.

They do have to pay taxes on the new cars right? In California, it's 9.75 percent, so on an average $20K car they're giving back nearly 2K. Then registration and licensing fee which is around 300-400 dollars going back to government. Then new cars have higher yearly registration fee; over $100 or more dollars. These are just taxes going back directly back to the government. not including tax on higher 2 way insurance rates, tax on the sales commission etc...

So before people start complaining again....Dccapen, how much tax, admin fees and licensing did it take for you to get your Prius out the door???


*This is of course, this comes with some assumptions:

1.) that most clunker owners would otherwise either keep their cars or buy used cars.And nearly everyone lies on the purchase price of a use car to the DMV.

2.) you don't live in Oregon where there's no sales tax

you guys do realize you have to pay taxes on the new car you buy right? say you buy new car that cost 20,000. tax on that is near 2000 dollars (they tax you the pre-refund price) in California. then you have to pay for licensing fees which is around another 400 dollars going to the government. of course this is just the direct taxes. indirectly, insurance will go up because they're usually higher for new cars hence, more taxes. people are paid at the dealership, loan banks, and car factories... more taxes.

yes, people still have to pay for this program, but at least it's people who bought the new cars.