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Virtual and Mac worlds turn fiery wrath on El Reg

Careful, we're armed with doughnuts

BT's Vision launch is not winning hearts and minds among El Reg's readership:

Am I right in thnking that BT wants us to pay £90 to install a freeview recorder/receiver that costs about £80?

Sorry, it can also connect to BT's version of iTunes so that we can pay to download "other" content, and also requires you to pay for BT's unlimited broadband connection service.

They're off their rockers! I can get Sky basic installed, in time for christmas too, and have a load more channels available, or even go with the dreaded NTL.

In my view it would appear that they want to charge us maximum price for a Comet digital recorder, maximum proce for a broadband connection, and then charge us again to download crap content. Sad...

- Damian


When did health and security get so mixed up? Doughnuts might be bad for your waistline, but that doesn't mean that they are likely to be the next weapon of choice wielded in the War on the War on Terror (TM). Does it?

The War on Terror claims doughnuts

In addition to this I live in Amsterdam and popped over to London for the weekend. Am having a Christmas dinner soon so I purchased some Bon-Bons for the festive spirit as you can't get them easily in Holland.

Sadly, I was not allowed to have them in even my checked luggage as they apparently contain small amounts of explosives. So the guy at London City Airport kept them - £30 worth. :( Sadly, no Bon-Bons this year...

Keep up the good work,

Giuseppe.


Last weekend, my son, transiting Miami from UK to meet us in Central America, was refused by the security man in Miami to carry-on a mature cheddar cheese he had bought airside at Heathrow. The excuse? It was a 'gel'. The restrictions are bad enough, but who trained this 'security expert' to recognise cheese as 'a gel'? Small wonder these foolish restrictions are adversely affecting tourism.

Dennis


It's not just doughnuts, but cheese as well.

It has not yet been confirmed whether the White House said: "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support cheese will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

Hugo


Next, your thoughts on our slightly satirical take on news that the average Mac user is probably your dad. Or 55, at any rate:

This scurrilous attack on Apple is typical of the young Applesnappers of today. You can see them in groups peering into the windows of PCWorld trying to catch a glimpse of Windows Vista working and just waiting to be guided to the latest Compaqell 32Ghz, 55in screen, 14 foot tower in Glitzocolor running AutoBeheader III. Well, I for one am sick of them!

Bring back the stocks and the cane!

Lt. Col. (ret) Cupertino-Jobbs Apple Cottage 1 Infinite Loopy


Hang on a minute. The reason more than half of Apple's customers are over 55 is because Baby Boomers are the only ones with (i) enough money to buy Apple gear and (ii) enough desperation to rely on product as an indicator of cool (cf. Jeremy Clarkson still in jeans, etc.). Better start discreetly sticking those Saga membership forms in Mac Pro boxes...

- Gary


I enjoyed your take on Apple users average age. Another take might be:

A. Proof that Apple has the loyalist fans. (I've used them since '88 and am 66 yrs.)

B. Proof that Apple's hardware has a longer useful life. (with upgrades 1st Mac 8 yrs.)

C. Apple's Mac are easier to use. (Our MUG expanded with "over 65" members of late)

D. PCs dominate the Game market attracting the next generation of kids. (Apple may be (able to change this over time if they're interested. The iPod certainly has attracted them)

As I go to Macworld every year I see the "Berkeley Radical Geeks" are still in attendence.

Robert Boylin


And finally, Symantec is not coping well with requests for corporate anti-virus license renewals:

"So last Century"? Bah Humbug!........a couple of days ago my Norton IS 2005 install on living room MCE box started barfing at Symantec/Norton "Liveupdates" claiming my subscription had expired.... rubbish thinks I, it's not due to die until well into Q1 07.....further investigation shows something amiss as it claims my subscription ran out in 1899! Dare I say "beat that"? (a challenge to El Reg readers if ever there was one ;-)

Cheers Tony

Indeed. Can anyone "beat that"?

We'll leave it there for today. But come back on Friday and we'll have another slice of the malted loaf that is the Register mailbag. ®

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