With unlimited minutes and free long distance to just about anywhere, I dont think your argument makes any sense....

Yes, buggy. Slow, and often WRONG. Analysis using their product is sketchy at best. Better watch your data types, they play fast and loose with conversions in the internal code (INT to FLOAT for example).
Worst part is that they sell you a viewer, then charge to edit, then charge more to analyze. Please, between PostGIS, Sextante, R, Geoserver, and QGIS I really cant see the point of using ESRI at all.

Thats because you don't need all of that. PostGIS --> Geoserver --> Web page. Need a GUI? Qgis. Analysis happens at the database level, just like any other query.

Yes, but being a GIS expert means you can use projects, datums, etc. PostGIS has over 700 functions, and the database is more than simple features. Planer systems are not that complicated, you can do it without ESRI. ESRI uses GDAL and PROJ4 in their own systems, yet this is open to you.
The difference is that most GIS folks dont understand that a update to a record is nothing more than just that. The spatial column isnt special, analysis is available through functions, and the output is available via a GUI (Qgis) or a Web presentation (geoserver).
Its a situation where any data person can deal with this information, its not as specialized as ESRI wants you to believe.

Dont you find it odd that Microsoft has a bolt on product to protect the parent product? Why wouldnt that protection be there already? Of course it is free, it should be free, a computer vendor should take security seriously.

When I have to make a recommendation to someone unfortunante enough to be running Windows wont bother to move to a secure environment, I do reccomend MS Windows essentials or MS End Point. It is the least obnoxious of all the system protection.

I too like linux format. Great monthly magazine. I really enjoy finding out about new software or techniques that I may not have heard about or tried before. Beats the other linux mags hands down too.

So you are saying Linux had a desktop you liked at one time, but no longer? At least Linux had a decent desktop at one time, unlike Windows.

Strange, given that the site recommends OpenOffice and Gnumeric as alternative spreadsheet applications.

Such as?

Except Libre office has much better functionality, even though its less on price. Better integration with Calc, better formatting, better large document handling, the ability to extend it through the language of your choice, the ability to use scripts to update presentations without ever opening them, etc. I had both Microsoft and OpenOffice years ago, and when working on large (3000 + page documents) that I didnt want to use Latex for (mostly due to sharing with my editor), I prefered OpenOffice. In the end, we all use these "office" suites for purposes that are better served in another application. How many of us fought with layout in a word processor, when we all know Illustrator or Inkscape would have been a better choice? In the end LibreOffice has functionality, particularly today, that rivals or exceeds the suites you pay for.

To address your father, he really should not be sending documents to his clients in a processing format, but rather a PDF or use an online tool for collaboration. In the business I worked for, you could get fired for sharing a document in its raw format: too great a risk of sharing redacted or edited information.

I wish I had mod points. Nice work.

Yes, it will all lead up to some non-sensical ending that unravels everything before and makes you wish you had never bothered seeing it in the first place.

Really? It does feel a bit heavy sometimes (for what its delivering anyway) but its not particualary intrusive or bad to use. Certainly not spawn of the devil, like for instance iTunes.
Steam on linux is better (except for the lack of games of course). Alt-tab is perfection, smooth and slick, and etras such as steam folder locations can be anywhere and you can have multiple destinations too.

Had to use Calc the other day due to an office 2010 bug in Excel that caused it to crash (doing a simple find and replace no less). Calc has always been there for me when excel wont work. Integration with Writer is better then in MS office.

Powerpoint, is way over used, and very limiting.

I have been using HTML online presentations, and I have been very intrigued by the way some people are delivering presentations using live web papge updates. You go to a web page at the beginning of the presentation and the content on the page changes with the presentor. Additional links and information are contained within, and to review in the future you just go to the web page. Additionally, if the content changes, if the presenter adds more information at a later time, you will see that when you return.

However, if you do choose to write a powerpoint like document in Libre, a simple script can update the title, date, and other information so you dont have to open it again if you are presenting in different venues or for different groups.

Yes. Itunes on Windows is the spawn of satan. I do own an iphone but I have never connected it to itunes and never will.