I just realized that I have 648,967 files on my computer, according to my online back up service.

[hunter]

2. Hoarding documents, photos, music, and other files on computers is so damned easy.

I've got files I first saved in the 'seventies. Whenever I build a new computer I simply transfer ALL the files from the old computer to the new one. I also install whatever emulators or virtual machines I might need to run my old software or open my old files.

I have an Atari 800 icon on my desktop. I can click it, load a Pengo cartridge, and play like it's 1984. I have my actual Atari hardware and cartridges stored away in my garage, but why bother? I've also got our old family DRDOS/Geoworks machines emulated. That's the machine our children first used, for schoolwork and games. I've still got their old Sim Towns and digital "refrigerator" art.

My favorite thing about Linux (which I started using after a brief spell with Windows) was that it was so much like BSD. BSD was the first modern operating system I ever used. Most of my BSD documents were written in vi, a few in TeX. Linux opened those files without any fuss. It was like coming home.