I have no doubt that you are right, but take solice in the fact that every so often, when the air in the board room is just right, the results of a cold heartless corporate cost/benefit analysis will line up perfectly with the desires (or rights!) of the customer.

*...a trip to a beautiful Hawaiian Golf Resort with some high dollar "companions" for a week...

You're talking about that white one, arent you??

When you are talking about what is, in essence, a series of regional monopolies, no sir, government intervention is not a bad thing. I mean, when you were writing that last big paragraph, did you even remember you wrote the first?

First off, I'm a man...

See my response to miss matched...

"(and permanent crush of all straight ladydom)"

No, I knew what you meant. I was just hoping that Verizon doesn't use them, because if they do, then when i update to the new iOS, I'm going to get the same annoying directions from Siri's (often too bitchy) mouth - er, speaker? - instead of the Verizon personalityless robot.

Christ, tell me that's not who Verizon uses! I was looking forward to having turn by turns that don't tell me to pull a u-turn every 5 minutes...

I'm with you. I'd rather they just updated the look. Or even just made the experience consistent from device to device/menu to menu.

I'd rather they not have this and give the damn thing a face lift already. Make all their UIs easier to navigate, and ditch the stale Web 2.0 look.

This is American Capitalism at its best!

Actually that sounds so simple, it is probably the most secure way ever. Think about it, someone breaks into your office and obsconds with your desktop. Will they really take the mousepad? Or hell, even realize it is there?

Or beat them to death.

Yes! Good point! (And "skeumorphic Web 2.0" made choke on my coffee..)

Haha, I like the joke, but agree with Ortiz...

Okay, I'm going to respond to your post backwards...

I don't know that I would say that, exactly. I mean I get your point, but other tech companies are different.

It is starting to look increasingly cobbled together. From device to device, but now even moreso from menu to menu.

Agreed, and feel that way about the hardware and company as well.