These are the people I like Sadly there are plenty of people who claim they are sharing and capable of learning, but really they aren't. it kind of makes other's dubious of those that claim they can learn, which makes it hard for those that can actually learn. sigh

My wife, Mila is a Catholic, and I'm Agnostic. It works because she doesn't force anything on me, and I don't force anything on her.

For all of the people that want to be running GNU (+Linux), but are holding off because they want to game:

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Note that the icons on the desktop are native applications, except for the SteamWine. SteamWine is Steam running on Wine, which exists mainly for Skyrim, and that too works (thanks to Elias for tipping me off a year or more ago). Note the "notification icon" for Steam running in my tray. That is the native port. I predominantly play Counter-Strike: Source with that.

The point is, I have overwritten Windows entirely with a mostly free software system and I don't miss it. I can still game thanks to Valve (and Wine). I have a perfectly valid Windows 7 license sitting on a shelf. I have no interest in using it.

My system is "mostly" free[dom] software because unfortunately much "multimedia" (i.e., audio/video) still requires patented software to consume. I have no choice other than to use non-free software to consume it. And that is something that can be changed. Free formats exist that are at least good enough.

Perhaps the best New Years resolution that you can make is to use only free (libre) software (or at least, go out of your way to avoid non-free software and never pay for the non-free software that you do use).

That includes Web services as well. Don't use Web sites like Facebook that use proprietary software and are definitely spying on you and sharing^Wselling your information. I think that Google (including YouTube, et. al.) are also falling into the evil category so avoid using those services as much as possible too.

The way has been paved. Take advantage and jump ship before things revert.

I can't say much for consumer sound cards, but for professional sound cards it's all about lock-in. They want you to use their devices and you can only use them with their proprietary hardware. Lower-end devices are more cross-functional, but the most expensive audio production setups come pretty much as a set. I'm talking about Pro Tools here, really.

Pretty much most sound cards offer the same capabilities, but it's the external hardware that these companies want you in for, and they can get you with a sound card.