Since Tux Paint is basically the only thing I ever talk about... yeah... Tux Paint was first designed on a napkin at lunch. And I've also heard it's been used as a "quick, virtual 'back of a napkin'" for some engineering designs, since most other drawing programs are too clunky for quick sketches. :)

Someone released a package of Tux Paint for Windows labeled "Tux Paint Plus", suggesting that it was somehow better. Upon further investigation, we discovered the "Plus" was simply a browser toolbar it injected without asking.

OTOH, I'm now utilizing OpenCandy to help "monetize" the project (read: pay for my coffee addiction and business cards to hand random parents at the park). At least it's (1) optional, and (2) I control which apps it suggests to users when they invoke the Tux Paint installer. (And no, there are no ads in Tux Paint itself -- it's not "adware"... I've come up with the term "adverstaller" in my attempt to describe it.)

I went to Vintage Computer Festival a few times, and when it stopped happening on the west coast, I started running my own, much smaller, very Atari-oriented Atari Party out near Sacramento.

Last weekend I took the train down to California Extreme to play some old video games (and my 4yo likes the older pinball games a lot). I wish Classic Gaming Expo weren't back in Las Vegas, or I'd go to it.

Plus, I still read comp.sys.atari.8bit on Usenet over an SSH connection to my ISP's shell server. :)

http://search.dilbert.com/search?day1=14&mth1=11&yr1=2004&day2=14&mth2=11&yr2=2004&x=29&y=11

Look at my ID, whipper-snapper. I have it to point to for all the success I have in life.

It should be noted that CodeWeavers employs both Jeremy White and Alexandre Julliard.

Being its creator, I'm a bit biased, but Tux Paint is geared towards younger kids (and it's also fun to help them play with it, if my wife and our nearly-4yo are any gauge). Run it fullscreen, and check the options to make it safer (disable or limit printing, turn off sound to keep parents sane, even an option to disable the quit button).

And yes, despite the penguin, it runs on Windows (and Mac).

I just used copy-n-paste three times while composing a TXT msg to a friend yesterday. (1) Restaurant's hours that day, (2) Restaurant's street address, (3) Restaurant's website's address (in case she wanted more info). I admit, it was tedious to switch back and forth between browser and message system, and copying text is a bit annoying (though a trackball cursor control helps a lot, since otherwise I'd have to use the touchscreen... I miss styluses :^( ) But I cannot imagine trying to "TYPING" all that crap manually, using the on-screen keyboard!

As much as my Android phone pisses me off (early dev model w/ old OS and slow hardware), I can't imagine the hoops iPhone or Windows users have to go through. (And my old phone was a 'high-tech' BREW handset, which is just a complete joke compared to any of these 'smartphones.' My web browsing and navigation was done the old way: call up someone who was at home in front of their computer and ask them to read stuff to me. :) )

Ramblingly,

-bill!

Such an example is an honest one, and is extremely frequent in the real world. Progress is messy.

Shameless self promotion, but whatever you build, be sure to put Tux Paint on it. (Especially if you've got some cool art-friendly interface like a touch screen.) :)

Oh wait! I've spent over 7 years doing just that, IN MY SPARE TIME: http://www.tuxpaint.org/

Now, if someone would hire me to do it full-time, so I can keep putting food on my family [sic], I _might_ stop working on it in my spare time. (No guarantee, though.) I guess even more important is: who is this Ted person, and why do I give a crap? I've got literally millions of children to worry about. :^P

"a little caricature of Carter that is placed throughout the book"

Man, just like "Atari BASIC: XL Edition" that I learned a ton of BASIC with as a kid. It had "Kilroy" (as in "... was here") throughout it.

I vividly remember reading some of that book while on a trip to the department store with my mom. In fact, not only do I still HAVE that book (surprised? don't be... I was the "Atari vs Dell" guy on Slashdot the other day), it's on the shelf next to me, and just yesterday I happened to grab it when I responded to one of those dumb chainlettery things on Facebook ("grab the closest book, open page X, type sentence Y as your facebook status").

This is starting to freak me out. ;)

About 5 years ago, I was lamenting the apparent lack of programming books aimed at children. I posed the question "what would be a good modern language for kids to learn?" and almost every response I got was "Python." So this is perfect! Too bad I didn't get the chance to (1) learn Python, (2) write a book, (3) get it published. ;)