I should probably tell you right up front that I am a huge fan of John Stewart. I rarely watch it live, but have a long term committed relationship with my DVR, so do watch them all eventually. I just caught the January 25th episode with Bill Gates. It  was a good interview, and reminded me of all the things in my life that I have to thank Bill Gates for. (you can see the full Daily Show episode here:  http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-january-25-2010-bill-gates).

The two greatest professional accomplishments of my career have been becomng a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (and earning those coveted letters after my name – “MCSE”) and becoming a Microsoft Certified Trainer, achieving one of the very few certifications that can trump the MCSE – the “MCT”. While these things may not mean much to most people, believe me – they are actually pretty cool amongst us pocket-protector types.

And so I thought I would just take a moment to thank Mr. Gates. You may hate him, and think there has never been a product produced by Microsoft worth the powder to blow it to hell, or you may love him and believe he is one of the greatest innovators that this country has ever produced. Lover or Hater though, you have to admit that he made a profound contribution to the technical landscape of the world. The simple fact that 90+% of all desktop computers on the planet are running some version of Windows is proof enough of this statement – with my apologies to you Apple lovers out there, but facts are facts people.

And so I thank you Mr. Gates. You may just be a computer geek  billionaire to some, but to me you’ll always be B-Giddy, the rock-star hero of millions of geeks around the world.