A recipient of a free computer I gave away in October has petitioned me for help with a virus problem on a machine that is now, somehow, running Windows. I could’ve sworn I put Linux on that for her.

I did. She installed XP over it, from a copy she got from a friend’s laptop, or something.

Oops, sorry. You just invalidated your warranty. I don’t do Windows.

She’s a little frustrated, but my days of trying to fix the misadventures of my coworkers is over. I’m not keen on supporting someone else’s addiction to a faulty, substandard, error-prone product. If she had stuck with Linux, she wouldn’t have a virus.

And that’s the simple truth. Call me hard-hearted, but I won’t give in on this point. The end, sister.