You're right about 2000. But it was never positioned as a consumer OS, and that's the line of reasoning. 98 -> ME -> XP -> Vista -> 7 -> 8. It breaks down if you include 95 or 98 SE, because neither of those truly sucked.

And yes, 7 is only decent compared to Vista. Not that I've used it much; I no longer own a Windows box (and my intention is never to have another one), and at work we use Server 2008. It is possible to turn off a lot of the nasty UI stuff, at least in the server OS.

That Windows 7 was pretty good, so Windows 8 will suck, in the tradition of Vista and ME.

I still read. I hardly ever post. There's some poetry I've been meaning to put up here, but I never seem to get around to it.

I do like seeing your JEs. And the occasional funny back-and-forth of people who take this all so seriously.

I read Multiply from time to time, but I have trouble remembering who is who, outside of the core people. Most of my interaction is on Plurk.com these days. Think of it as threaded Twitter - the minimalism appeals to me. Also much busier in real life, but I have started writing a blog. No one reads it, though. :-)

Tabhair aire daoibh féin!

I am sorry to hear about the earthquake, and about your father. Please accept my condolences. My father is undergoing cancer treatment, and the outcome is uncertain. I am struggling a bit myself these days, but things will get better. Thank you, and best wishes and hopes for the coming year.

I hope that the past year was a good one. Best wishes for the next one.

I have a bluetooth keyboard that is pretty much identical to my laptop keyboard. With a stand for the tablet, it is quite usable as a netbook-class machine, at less than half the weight of my 15" laptop. I've done quite a bit of writing on it, as well as watching movies. It works for reading, too, though not so well in full daylight.

It's all about expectations, though. I never expected the tablet to replace my laptop completely, and it hasn't. But it has done for about 80% of what I want to do, and is significantly more portable.

But I think that the trolling possibilities for a "tablet enthusiast" could be quite funny.

I'd like to be able to get back to some of the earlier ones - but there are literally thousands or them. Hate to see them all go, but there's not much that I can do. I suppose that I could just delete them all.

Second this. It works much better.

Good to see you around again.

I used to have a grandma like that. When she was young, she had fiery red hair. She lived a block from us when I was growing up. She died back in 1994, and I still think about her often.

        The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
        It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
        Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
        It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
        'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
        The throned monarch better than his crown;
        His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
        The attribute to awe and majesty,
        Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
        But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
        It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
        It is an attribute to God himself;
        And earthly power doth then show likest God's
        When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
        Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
        That, in the course of justice, none of us
        Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
        And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
        The deeds of mercy.

                                        -- The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1

And, speaking of what is deserved...

        God's bodykins, man, much better: use every man
        after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?
        Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less
        they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.

                                        -- Hamlet, Scene II, Act 2

That looks odd. The entire poem, for context:

        Ozymandias

        I met a traveller from an antique land
        Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
        Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
        Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
        And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
        Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
        Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
        The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
        And on the pedestal these words appear:
        "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
        Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
        Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
        Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
        The lone and level sands stretch far away.

                                -- Percy Bysshe Shelley

It really shows what can be done with the sonnet form.