Well, it IS Micro$oft, which is a very big company (understatement) which LOTS of people love to hate. You're not alone in that, Duaine. We have options... we can struggle with Linux, or we can take care to back up our data, as we would likewise need to do with Linux or any of the multitude of other OS's I've told you I've used over my 25 years in that career.  If it was an oil company, we have options... most of which do not entail being able to turn our backs on the company, but we CAN (and most assuredly SHOULD) do our utmost to not waste the product that they (and their shareholders, which may very well include a large number of people who love to hate them) are getting obscenely wealthy on. This afternoon it went from $2.51 to $2.79... are you spewing hate about Exxon and Hummers? No. Guess what? Those and other companies like them are responsible, as is the US Gov't. Not us who have driven fuel-efficient vehicles for, well, forever. If it was an electric utility, same thing... except we can go an ADDITIONAL step further and buy from an electric co-operative that provides electricity generated by wind and/or solar... or we can generate our own power that way. These aren't secrets, Duaine. You're not informing anyone anything. They are well-known facts. Furthermore, you completely ignore the OTHER well-known facts about companies like Micro$oft... that SOME of their products (including XP/SP2 and Service-Pack'd-to-be Vista) are indeed high quality, powerful, enjoyable to use tools that happen to have a few bugs here and there. Service Packs and Windows Updates are a lot like a recall on your vehicle. My 2000 VW Passat has had two (minor) recalls. That doesn't make it a danger to drive... I've put 135,000 miles on it without vehicle-induced problem. I've put three or four years on Windows XP Pro... innumerable hours of operation. Have I had problems? Sure. Have I irrecoverably lost important data? Absolutely N-O-T. Why? I take obvious precautions. The same precautions I took with the other seventeen OS's. Do I love XP? No. Do I Hate it? No. Do I love Mac OS-X? Certainly not. Ditto SuSE, RedHat, oh-yeah... I forgot Ubuntu. They all have their strengths and their own set of weaknesses. Be ever vigilant of the real villains (spammers, phishers, virus-writers, etc.) and your worries will cease to annoy the pants off the rest of us. We're not offended... just annoyed. Please cease. Paul <div>On 4/5/07, Hechler Family <<a href="mailto:dahechler@charter.net">dahechler@charter.net</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Alan, et all, This may have started out to be a personal vendetta, as you say, however, I felt the public has the right to know what is going on around them. And if you choose to act, that is your business. Now, I'm just trying to educate to public and keep them informed. I humbly apologize to anyone that has been offended by these posts. In closing, just let me say this - if this was NOT Microsoft and it was the Government, Congress, gas company, electric company, an Oil Company or any other organization that will have a direct effect on you - won't you like to know - or - would you prefer to have them keep the information a secret. Respectfully, Duaine </blockquote></div>