Linux has been my primary Desktop for about 13 years now. As such I rarely have to pay for software. Open source is just awesome that way. Yet when I thought about it I have paid for Codeweavers Crossover Linux,  despite the fact that its available for free as wine. I've also paid for Zend's  Studio for Eclipse  even though much of the functionally is available in the PDT plugin for Eclipse. While I don't do so currently, I've been known to pay for SuSE Linux  and StarOffice.

Okay so I just created a new twitter personality (@cparrish817) Some of you may have been following my other more anonymous personality and be wondering why I created a new one. Others may have been long time readers of cp.com and wondering what this twitter business is about I'll try to address both groups.

Have you ever wanted to loan money to a family member or friend, but thought out how often you were probably going to have to pester them about it and decided against it. Or wondered what would be a fair interest rate to charge and how would you calculate it. Or have you ever borrowed money from a family member and wished they could see just how much you've paid back over time. Or wondered what your monthly payment to them should be. The answer to all these problems and more can be found at www.virginmoneyus.com.