End of an era

I just read that Woodford Aerospace will be closing down in 2012. I have found memories of the Woodford Air-show as a child, I remember getting so excited watching all the plains, I remember one year there were two soviet pilots in the village shop buying chocolate, they were flying the rather awesome Beriev Mermaid. The last air-show took place in 2000, repeated years of bad weather and the increasing cost of using the site, such a shame.

My Great uncle worked for Avro / BA for years, if he were alive I am sure he would be much saddened by the news.

BAe have spent the last few years busily relocating to the United States in order to get more of the US defence spending, I guess it was inevitable that Woodford days were numbered.

"free" is not always the primary selling point

IT World have an interesting discussion about why users choose paid for propritary software over free. I must say I agree with the points about features and polish being major turn off especially for people who just want to get things done not spend hours tnkering with configuration options. Not sure I agree about the Gimp though, for the last few years its seems more and more of a credible alternative to the ruinously expensive photoshop.