Thank you for being a such a good, loyal Microsoft customer for all these years.
I hope you’re also using Office 2007.
Are you in need of any Microsoft chochkas? T-shirts?
Thank you for that laugh. Really truly, I laughed out loud.
Now please read this: http://www.freerepublic.com/~dayglored/, specifically the part at the bottom labeled: "Computer-tech Full Disclosure Section"
Oh, hell, here it is:
I participate in a number of tech (computer) threads, so to save the effort of posting a "Full Disclosure" comment in each one when somebody wonders where my comments or opinions are coming from, here's a summary of my tech background and creds:Really? ME??? A loyal Microsoft customer? Hardly. I've just run Windows for a long time. But I've run Unix and Macs for considerably longer.I started as an audio electronics hobbyist in 1964, and was designing and building tube amplifiers by 1968 (for my elec. guitar). I entered college in 1970, learned Fortran and PDP8 assembler, earned a BS in Physics, and started working as an engineer designing microcomputers (hardware and software). I've never stopped since (that's 38 years of programming and 34 years of hardware engineering as of 2008).
During my engineering career, I've designed, built, programmed, and delivered spacecraft attitude control electronics, high-power multi-phase inverters, industrial process controllers, home computers and peripherals, and embedded controllers. Mostly I've worked for small companies, but I spent half a dozen years as an independent consultant and still do some consulting on the side.
Computer-wise, I used (and hacked) IBM-PCs starting in 1982; Macintoshes in 1984; got my first Unix system in 1985, learned C, and it's still my favorite language. Both BSD and Sys5 are like family. **I've used every version of Windows from 2.0 onward.** Built a network of Unix workstations in the early 90's. Started playing with Linux in the late 90's, built my first Linux workstation in 2001. Windows systems have provided my income more than any other. Had a break though -- designed and programmed peripherals for Mac OS-X systems starting in 2001.
I'm currently Director of System Administration for a software company with offices networked around the globe, and have learned a few things about security, though I don't consider myself an expert in that field.
I work every day -- and play at home every night -- in OS-X, Windows, Linux, NetBSD. I love 'em all, and I hate 'em all. I have them all running at home (mostly in VMware VMs) as well as in the network I administer professionally.
I don't take sides in religious tech arguments. OSes and hardware architectures all have their strengths and weaknesses. That said, OS-wise I'm more of a "Unix-head" than anything else. Hardware-wise, I prefer Apple's products (currently have MacBooks and Minis). That's subject to change, of course...