Re: [tlug] Buying a Blackberry in Japan (OT)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Raedwolf Summoner writes:

 > 1. First and foremost: her father is technologically illiterate in
 > the area of cell phones. I got my first one 2 years ago at her
 > insistence. (Me: I hate the idea of having a chain around my neck
 > handy for anyone to yank 24 hrs a day. If someone wants to talk to
 > me they can leave a message. Her: Dad, you can turn the damn thing
 > off, or just not answer when you see who it is.

She's right.  That's exactly what I do, and it works. :-)

 > 2. Her Japanese cell phone is in the process of dying right now and really
 > needs to be replaced. It is 4 yrs old and starting to exhibit irrational 
 > behaviour (for a cell phone).

Ooh, irrational for a cell phone, that's scary.  Something like me on
crack in a faculty meeting, then.

 > 3. I don't like Microsoft and don't want to see Google become the
 >    next one.

The GPL kinda makes that difficult.  I don't exactly what the license
terms on the entire stack are (many of the important codecs, such as
MPEG, are patent-encumbered and can't be GPLed without giving away the
store), but the OS, Dalvik (the VM that runs the apps), and most app
support libraries are GPL or Apache license.