Well, I finally decide what I want this blog to be about and it takes me forever to actually write something. Dave was just getting way too far ahead of me with the posts. Well, enough is enough Dave! So here we go:

I’m a big believer in open-source software (I’d like to say I’m a “huge proponent” but since I don’t support any open-source projects, either financially or otherwise, I can’t really say I’m one). I use and spread open-source software (oss, from now on) as much as I can. There are several reasons I love and use oss:

• 34% b/c it offers features I want, need or love
• 22% b/c it’s free
• 18% b/c it’s community driven, meaning I can have some say in what features go into it
• 17% b/c it’s free, it means I’m sticking it to all those big software companies
• 9% b/c I can

Herein lies the problem: I can’t completely rip myself away from the paid software. And lately, I’ve been going back to M$ software. (Jennifer Love Hewitt scream from “I Know What You Did Last Summer” here).

I had lunch today with some friends and one of the friends’ coworkers and the topic of computers came up, naturally (it’s not really an organized group, but our friends are calling us the ‘Nerd Herd’). The coworker mentioned he uses Linux on his main computer at home. It got me thinking about what it would take for me to drop Windows and go full-fledged open-source. Currently, I don’t think it’s possible. My network at home is completely wireless. I know that Linux has gotten better with wireless drivers, but I’m not ready to take the chance that it’s covered mine. Also, I’ve installed, specifically, two programs that would be considered a regression into the oss world.

I recently bought a PocketPC from AT&T to use as a cell phone. Since it syncs (and syncs well) with Windows, I recently dumped Mozilla’s Thunderbird (which is a GREAT email client) for Microsoft Outlook. It keeps my contacts in order, my calender up-to-date, and emails organized. Ever since I bought my first smartphone a few years back, I’ve been searching for a way to keep my computer and cell phone synced. I finally had to resort back to Outlook. I had been using Thunderbird/Gmail for email, GCal for my calendar, and nothing for contacts (Thunderbird occasionally). Unfortunately, none of those synced with my smartphone or PocketPC. I did without for a while, but since I got the new phone, I wanted to get all my stuff in one place.

Apparently I just am rambling on and on, so I’m breaking this into two parts.