My introduction to computers was as a hobby. My first computer had Microsoft Works for MS-DOS version 1.05 installed on it. Among other things, I decided to use the computer to keep a journal. It was perfect. I could do all my writing on the computer and even edit the text without wasting paper.

What was even better, I could store my journal on floppy disks, which are more durable than paper.

Several years later I decided to open and read the journal I wrote on that...

Is anyone really surprised by this? I'm not. For a good read about this, go to "Update on ODF Spreadsheet Interoperability" at An Antic Disposition.

I dove head first into Linux without a life jacket in 2001. I was a transit bus driver at the time and left myself no option for returning to Windows, so I had to succeed, or fail trying. I started with SuSE 7.1 Professional and moved through Red Hat 7.1/7.2 and Mandrake 8, 9, and 10 before returning to SuSE 9.something. I ditched SuSE when they did their deal with Microsoft and moved to Slackware 10. Later I switched to Kubuntu. Now I use Ubuntu 8.10.

I never had formal computer...