The digital era, where changing the bedrock of belief is as easy as [insert programmer joke here].

(Is it just me, or does grep seem like a dirty word?)

- My mind is in the gutter, but it keeps out the bad weather.

...at my parents several years ago when they came home with an HP computer they'd bought from Wal-mart.

(A laughter which has been justified, although more because it's running Windows Medieval than anything else. And don't jump on this as anti-Windows propaganda, I run XP Pro, and I've never had any serious problems with it. Heck, only infrequently have I even had minor problems. But I've never seen anybody who's run WinMe and had a fully working computer after a few years.)

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

I went to a Microsoft 'Tech Net' seminar (basically an all day pep talk, sales talk, seminar for tech nerds) and that was the big laugh line from the MS guy - "Was this seminar as bad as Windows ME?" Thus even MS makes fun of it.
It's Amino world without Chemists

ParU's comment seems funny, in the light of recent Windows news... where Vista is pushed out *another* few weeks.

The Register has a nice timeline of the delays that Longhorn/Vista/NextDarnOS (I made up NextDarnOS, unless someone else has already.) has had.Can't find the article right now, though, darn it.

- My mind is in the gutter, but it keeps out the bad weather.

I bought my ex an HP from Wal-Mart last year, because her surfing habits--and long list of friends and family that would send any fwd forward--brought home a lot of spyware and a couple viruses that I really didn't want on my machine. Hers had XP on it, not ME, and it's still (so far as I know) running fine, and sufficient to her needs (Unlike my custom-ordered Dell, it didn't crash 6 times in as many months). If you don't need anything heavy-duty, they're fine. My parents have a computer that, since they've retired, is used only once a year, to type up the Christmas letter; and when she uses it, my mom never fails to mention how much she preferred her very first word processor. Er...I think I had a point...oh! yes! My point is, while the Wal-Mart HP special is certainly a joke for any computer geek or even big gaming geek, for most people who just surf the web, email their friends, or type Christmas letters, it's a better deal than paying $1500+ to have something that mostly sits on the desk looking pretty. YMMV.

(And why haven't you been kind enough to switch your parents over to XP, if ME is the problem? What kind of cruel son are you? ;D)

--I am powerless over my addiction to parenthesis.--

The problem is, actually, problems are, that first of all, the equipment isn't really good enough to run XP. Yes, you CAN run XP on a P2 500MHz with 256MB RAM and a 10GB harddrive (as my POS office machine proves), but it's really not doctor-recommended.

Besides, that thing's so messed up, I don't particularly want to mess with it. And anyway, as soon as I get the time to take some of the stuff off my old Win98 machine (*cough* porn *cough* mp3s *cough*), I've already said I'll let my little brothers use that instead of our old converted Win95 box... (although I intend to look into moving the harddrive from the 95 box into the 98 machine, so we don't lose anything) - especially since they're already using my old monitor (and keyboard?).

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

del *.mp3? and why get rid of all of the mp3's? don't you want to share?

I was thinking of using the regular Windows interface, as opposed to command line, but still. Actually, I'd probably delete the IM programs (well, actually, maybe just my accounts on same, since my dad just signed up for DSL), my internet favorites, extra documents, programs they won't need, stuff like that. And they don't really need the mp3s, they're only in 5th and 7th grade, and there's a few songs that are inappropriate for them (not to mention will cause my mom to have a spaz and kick their AND my asses). And deleting the mp3s will help significantly with space on the drive. (Not to mention I'll see about doing what I need to move the harddrive from the old '95 machine I'll be replacing into the "new" machine.)

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

It could have been the 9th--the last quote she gave us is dated December 16, so clearly she does go by when she heard them--but either way, this quote should have been at the top.... Weird.

--I am powerless over my addiction to parenthesis.--