Written By: Patrick Grote
Date: July 17, 2003 (Previously published)
Section: Viewpoints

As you all know, I am huge fan of eBay. I have been using eBay for buying and selling since they first came on-line. By the way, if you are studying for your MCSE or are a movie fan, you should see the auctions I have going on now.

Anyway, there are big changes happening on eBay! They are coming out with a new interface in the next week or so. You should check out their changes at: http://pages.ebay.com/aw/ebay-life-ui-pA1.html

I'd be the first to admit I was bleary eyed that night. Being up way too late has become a habit of mine since I have started working 50% of the time from home. Constantly finding work things to do is a good thing for the company I work for, but sometimes is a bad thing for my eyes.

"One more e-mail message," I mumbled to myself.

The e-mail message in question was the cNet Shareware Dispatch for the week.

"Why do I get this?"

I hardly ever read it. I mostly open it, glance at it and delete it. This night was no exception except something caught my eye. You know the kind of things you scan in e-mail quickly, but your brain is delayed in a couple of seconds in putting the pieces together.

Written By: Patrick Grote
Date: July 17, 2003 (Previously published)
Section: Viewpoints

You knew that one day the computer gods would have their own film. TNT debuted Pirates of the Silicon Valley tonight. The film features Noah Wyle (ER fame) playing Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall (16 Candles, Weird Science fame) as Bill Gates. The film covers the beginning and formative years of Apple and Microsoft.

To get this out of the way -- I have always used IBM compatible computers. I have always used Microsoft operating systems. I have never owned a computer created by Apple.

Written By: Patrick Grote
Date: July 17, 2003 (Previously published)
Section: Viewpoints

It comes as no surprise that I impart to you that I browse the web a lot When I say a lot I mean many hours a week. I have unique browsing methods and it is shocking to know I keep no bookmarks. I keep all the links I consider important on my My Excite page. Other miscellaneous links, less than 10, I keep in a folder on my Windows NT Workstation desktop.

I see many, many, many websites. I am by no means a website design expert. When it comes to websites I prefer a clean, fast loading site with a minimum of flash and an abundance of function. The sites I prefer such as cNet's News Site, CNN, NewsHub and Broadcast.com demonstrate my leanings.