Ahh, as it is going to be another year, in just a few (twenty or so) hours, I have a New Year's Resolution...

1st. I refuse to stop ranting on subjects or topics I feel very dear about.
2nd. I refuse to give in to power tactics, or bullying, that Mico$oft, or other companies force on people.
3rd. I plan to exercise more, and take my high cholesterol medicine (if I can afford it).
4th. I plan to look more aggressively for a better job, and one in my IT Field (get me the heck out of the Deli !).

As to the purchase of at least one more PC this year, I'd like to buy two more; one more "heavy duty" desktop PC to use as a torrent seed box, and the second PC, a nice "high end" laptop to go "walk-about" with. I realize that if I do buy a new computer, it will probably come with a form of Winblows OS on it, and if it does, I will "play" with the OS for a couple of days, and then blow away the installed OS, and install a nice Debian Linux OS. Possibly a Debian Testing minimum, or go with a nice Stable instead (I am getting tired of the volatile Sid at the moment).

I am tired of the "Windows" OS's, and having seen the work being done on Linux, I can't give in to what the run-of-the-mill sheep are being provided, even on purchased computers, from what "M$" is handing out. I also don't like the whole thing that Microsoft is doing with their OS. If I buy an OS, off the shelf, or on a purchased PC, I _own_ the OS, I don't rent it, I don't lease it, I own it. To force people to continually pay for something that they already purchased, is, lame, in my words.

I should not have to continue to pay a registration fee, monthly, yearly, etc... for something that I purchased. This whole thinking is like buying a house, or a car, out right, paid-in-full, and having to continue to pay a usage fee just to keep it working. More likely, if I bought a pair of pants, or a nice dress, paid-in-full, and not on a lease or rental plan, and being forced to continue to pay for it. You don't rent a PC OS, you buy it. Just because Microsoft is getting pist off that some people are _stealing_ illegal copies of their OS, doesn't give them the right to make something people purchase, into something that they should now be renting or leasing. Just deal with it guys, make your OS more secure, make your OS more bullet proof, etc... but don't force people to buy something, and then turn around and make them rent it from you.

This is not the same as what McAffee or Norton AV (Anti-Virus) software does. You buy the "engine" or install the engine, and then buy, or rent, lease, the ability to download signature files. When the engine becomes out-of-date, you buy, rent, lease, a contract to upgrade the engine, and usually get a few months of signature downloads along with the price. This is not the same as an OS. I used to use both of the above AV software, until I found "free" versions, which was just before I found the open sourced world of Linux, and being able to do the same thing with my operating system.

I guess that a few Linux distributions have realized they can make money, just like Microsoft has found, in selling your operating system, instead of just giving it away, and so, you can't say (anymore) that Linux is a (generally speaking) free and open source OS anymore, which is a shame, because I think Linux as a whole has been one big thorn in the side of Microsoft from the start. I think the whole "Microsoft is pist off because they are loosing profits from illegal copies" is a bunch of bollocks. I think the real reason, though I am sure M$ will never admit to this, is, they are loosing more and more customers due to other sources of alternate operating systems on the market. I am sure M$ has lost a little profit from the early forms of them, like OS2/Warp, X/Windows, etc... not to mention bringing in the whole world of Linux into this.

Amazing really, thinking back over the years, all the forms of operating systems that have come, and gone, since I started in the computer field back in 1973. I remember working on DOS 1.12, and a few versions of Mac OS. In my years, I have dealt with mini, micro, mainframe, etc... systems... workstation and server versions, and it really can be daunting the list. As you might guess, my resume lists like a computer history journal of the whos-who of past stuff... wonder what the new year will bring?

LC