No, they will react (late) and revert the decisions they made. Look at how they got their act together with 7. That said, from what I've seen, 7 is just Vista with a thin layer of veneer. If XP had a good 64 bit version, I'd consider it superior.

Obviously... That's why I said "and not touch WOA with a 10-feet pole."

If Vista is any indication, no, that won't happen. People will simply stick to an older version of Windows and not touch WOA with a 10-feet pole.

... as I prefer to organize stuff myself too, I'm not sure if it's really more efficient. Not about files, but about email.

Pretty hard to find. Microsofts tentacles are everywhere and even the shops that are as much open source as possible, get infected somehow. We're pretty much a Debian shop, but accounting needed a Windows 2008 server for their proprietary accounting package and left and right there were supporting servers for little tasks where it was best suited. However, now developers are requesting a MSSQL server for a real production platform. Why? I don't know... Doesn't make much sense.

Pure open source jobs are very very rare. It's the level of Microsoftism that you want to accept, that opens some jobs. It is, alas, reality. I'd say: suck it up. I have no choice either. Well, except for the choice of starving and not being able to pay the rent.

I want simple (straight, no fancy forms for me), cabled (wireless sucks), classic (no moving around home/insert/etc...) and the least possible "extra" keys and all that for cheap. Microsoft delivers. Best would be if it works on PS/2 with an adapter, but from what I've seen it rarely works, even if an adapter is included. It really is getting harder and harder to get a keyboard with my listed criteria.

Of course, that's not fun... It's my reply though. As for keyboards, I have a Model-M my wife has vetoed the use of it. It's attached to my parents server. That R.A.T. thing looks like a very uncomfortable mouse. El-cheapo Logitec for me, or -much to my shame- I found out that Microsoft mice and keyboards are cheap (if you don't go for the fancy ones) and work well. There is something awkward about using a desktop with a Microsoft keyboard and mouse (because that's what I have on my desktop) while using Linux exclusively....

That's the simplistic way bank works. They actually don't work that way. The Goldsmith Tale (Which is part of "Money as Debt - Fractional Reserve Banking", but it's enough to understand what's going on.

Is that Windows 7? It's interesting, but you should be able to get the trial version and then use the key on your machine. It works for Windows Server 2008 R2, I did so exactly yesterday (ok, the key was legit but non-OEM). Oddly enough, Microsoft doesn't seem to offer the download themselves, but I tried something like this, and it worked fine for my test-runs with 7 at home. From what I hear, any "edition" with of Windows 7 can be used to install any other. If true, that's a fresh breath of air compared to the XP days. If you need XP, I have XP Home OEM, XP Pro OEM and XP MCE 2007 (or was that 2005?) and the ISOs are small. They have all been tested to work fine on several dumpster-sourced machines. You surely know how to find me outside this communication channel obviously won't give you a key.

If it's Vista... I'm afraid I can't help much, but the situation might be similar to the Windows 7 situation.

As for the WPA Compatible USB stick... They are all nowadays. I have one of these. Works fine, but not on Linux last time I tested (which is a while ago)

Barbara is hard to convince and being married taught me one thing: Don't argue with a woman who thinks she is right.