Walk up and say, "Hi".

They say wintertime has that affect on folks.

And stingy :)

At one time, many years ago, I had two cats from
the same litter: Porsche and Smokey. Porsche was
a trip; he actually would fetch a ball and return
it, just as a dog would - and he would gallop back
holding his head proud.

I also "inherited" a cat named "Jemima" from a woman
who was getting married and her 'hubby to be' was
"allergic to cats". Anyway, Jemima was a jet-black
Maine Coon borne on Juneteenth ... he looked like:
http://www.mainecoon.cz/album/black_maine_coon10.jpg

but the size of this one (he weighed almost 20 lbs)
http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/blog/ny-maine-coon3.jpg

If you're talking about a "native" Windows app,
many can, run under WINE.

http://www.winehq.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)

Here's the "app list": http://appdb.winehq.org/

Also, you can install a Virtual Machine, such as
http://www.virtualbox.org/ (what I use on Linux
and OSx) to "install" a Windows OS and run it in
a window under Linux (or OSx).

Sounds like a little of both :)

@SunnyMcleod:
Ever have cod tongue or flipper?

Agreed. The last book I worked on (800+ pages), I broke up the
creative flow into two activities: 1, jotting down notes (outline form)
in one of those spiral-bound pocket notebooks, 2, transforming
those terse thoughts into sentences/paragraphs/chapters.

The most difficult part was the first paragraph of a chapter - that
could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Once that first
paragraph was finalized, the rest of the chapter flowed. For me,
that first paragraph is what sets the tone, direction, and so on.

BTW - the notes I wrote in the pocket notebook - those were
jotted down while sitting at the [Friday's] bar, after work,
sipping Long Island Ice teas :)

Why won't you share? I mean, isn't that what writing to a public audience is all about?

Before authorship, I was a technical editor for a publishing company. After editing a
couple of books, they asked if I was interested in writing (technical writing, that is),
so I responded, "sure". Chapter work led to co-authorship, which led to lead author.

The advantage I had starting as a technical editor is I got to learn the ropes in the
publishing world and it gave me a sort of "foot in the door" ... as a technical editor,
I had established a relationship for the publisher and had the connections.

I have factual statistics to back up my opinion.

Yep - my opinion and the opinion of many others, mostly in the
corporate world, where it really counts. One of the best things
about GNU/Linux is freedom of choice - this also includes
freedom from LICENSING (i.e. *cost*).

Yes, the majority of the work I do is under Linux or targeted to
the Linux platform, so I have some bias.

Of the top 10 most reliable hosting companies, 6 run a Linux distro,
2 run FreeBSD (another Unix clone), 1 runs WinServer 2003.

Apache owns 67% of the server market, while M$ has 17% (this is for
the top servers for the million busiest sites - obviously Apache is
not Linux, but most Apache implements are on a *Nix platform).

Of the top 500 supercomputers, 458 run Linux, 37 run a form of Unix,
and *5* run Windows HPC Server (1%). What does that say?

Every meaningful project I've worked on in the corporate and
government worlds, in the last 10 years, uses a mainframe,
running a Linux distro.

The list goes on. Yes, I agree, anyone can choose any OS they
feel is the best for their needs, but if you want reliability, higher
performance, more uptime, less virus fiddling, less crashes,
ad nauseum, it makes sense to do as corporations do.

(I play Duke Nukem, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty 2, Half Life 2,
Quake 4, Soldier of Fortune 4, Unreal, among others, on GNU/Linux. )

Try this with WIndows :) ...

guser@ren $ uptime
11:20 up 693 days, 13:36,

@unsure
That's a tough one - sorry to hear about your loss. My Dad passed on
back in 1988 and I lost my Mom to cancer 3 years ago. It's not always
easy, even after all these years. Best wishes to you in the future !

I'm very involved in the sport of surfing, so spend a lot of time watching
"Fuel TV" (sports channel dedicated to water sports, snow sports, skateboarding)
and love to listen to the Aussie women talk (surfing is a national sport in Australia)
... I simply melt into my couch hearing them!

I see it all the time, mostly within the corporate world. 100's-1000's of
PCs having their M$ OS replaced with corporate editions of a Linux distro.

And I continually asked by individuals about the merits of a Linux distro
and what the expected learning curve to be.

Your argument that the user must learn "command line interface and commands"
is nonsensical - 95% of Windows users have probably never seen a CLI. Besides,
the Desktop Environments (i.e. KDE and GNOME, etc ) and Window Mangers
(i.e. IceWM, Enlightenment, WindowMaker, Blackbox, etc) are all sophisticated
enough to keep the user from a CLI. Some, I would say, surpass the Windows UI.

This also speaks to another advantage of using a Linux distro: choice. Heck, take
a look at http://xwinman.org/ ... lot's of choices for a GUI. Some would argue
that too many choices can be confusing - fooy!

Your argument about "difficulty in installing" is easily disputable. I've installed
some Linux distros in as little as 5 "clicks" ... I've watched as pre-teens have
installed a Linux distro with no coaching.

I see Linux running (I've been involved in transitioning schools to Linux) at
elementary, middle (Jr) and High (Senior) schools. I've seen Linux running
at local libraries.



Actually, it is fixing the problem. It will also enhance their computing experience,
because of the switch. No more worrying about which virus detector is the best
or having to ensure it's up to date, no more worrying about having to do a hard
disk defrag (to increase disk performance), no more blue screens, no more worries
about registry errors, no more "automatic updates" without your permission, no
more browser vulnerabilities, no more annoying "Are You Sure.." pop ups, no more
reboots after installing software (never understood that one), NO MORE PRODUCT
ACTIVATION, no more *spending money* on upgrades ... the list goes on and on.

The best part is that it's freedom in software.

Flirting depends upon the situation - the setting, the atmosphere,
and the reactions by the woman of interest. Obviously it starts with
"looks" ... maybe buying a drink for the lady or a scoop of ice cream,
asking for a dance, or sending over a desert - it really depends upon
the situation.

It's all opinion, of course ... each person has their own way of
dealing with anomalies. I've done it both ways and for me, staying
inside provides no incentive. Getting out and interacting with the
world is invigorating and provides a renewed sense of being

The only real languages being used in the enterprise are those
that you've mentioned: Java, C++, and C#. But we need to go
beyond those ... IOW, beyond the language itself and off to
some "platform".

For example, you really need to be well-versed in a platform
and not just a language - for example, J2EE or .NET.

I've been doing this programming thing (consultant) for over
30 years and the trend really is about platforms. Go out to
Careerbuilder and/or Monster and see for yourself.

Use a GNU/Linux system.

Probably because GNU/Linux is a far better system overall (I'm
comparing to any M$ OS). But I'm not strictly a Linux fan, my
laptops are Mac's, desktops are running GNU/Linux - both far
better than what is offered by M$.

My car isn't running quite right, what's wrong?

There are so many variables involved and you've not
provided *ANY* information about your system or
the particular instance when the system freezes.

If you're running a M$ OS, it may behoove you to
back up everything and do a reinstall. After you
do this and re-install all the software, execute a
partition backup ... then in the future, when your
system is sluggish again, simply back up the data
and then restore the partition image.

Can't complain ... heck, I'm the one who got me here!