While he uses them daily, Mr. Burrow is not a particularly big fan of computers. He sees them as a necessary tool to get things done, but he does not see a need to have the latest state-of-the-art technology. For fifteen years he did most of his work on an Apple II-e he bought in 1984 (and also a Laser 128, a clone of the "compact" Apple II-c). He really liked this dinosaur of a machine (and particularly the "Appleworks" word processor) because it was NOT mouse driven; all the commands were entered simply and easily via the keyboard. For better or worse, in 1999 he replaced the old II-e with a Windows-based Gateway computer. The Gateway also became obsolete, and in 2005 he became the latest dude to get a Dell, a Windows XP machine. In 2009 he supplemented that with an Acer netbook (also Windows XP), which he loves. The Acer is now connected to a new Smartboard in his classroom. At work he uses a variety of computers: an ancient Compaq Windows 98 desktop computer, a new HP laptop, his own Acer netbook, and the school's Windows Vista lab (with mostly Dell equipment).
For several years Mr. Burrow accessed the internet through Web TV. He was one of the first subscribers to the WebTV service, and he maintained his account, and he kept his "classic" web box until May, 2000, when a theoretical "upgrade" from WebTV Networks completely ruined the electronics. He now uses Yahoo! as his primary internet portal, and he searches the web almost exclusively via Google. He has both Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Google Chrome browser installed on his home computer, and he finds both useful for different purposes. He visits sights like fivethirtyeight.com and Snopes.com daily, he does a large part of his shopping through Amazon, and whenever he needs an answer he goes to Wikipedia.
He prefers words like "explore" to the ubiquitous "surf" to describe his usage of the Internet. He dislikes sites that are graphics intensive and especially those that make unnecessary use of "Flash" and other rich media formats, because they take forever to load and rarely have much content to them. Moreover, he absolutely detests sites that restrict access to only those people who have the latest browsers and plug-ins. He fought hard against changing the school website (which he maintains) to a service that would have been Flash-based.
Mr. Burrow learned how to program in traditional BASIC when he was in high school. In college he continued his work in BASIC, he learned Fortran (the language from which most recent versions of BASIC appear to derive), and he did a small amount of work in elementary Pascal. As an undergraduate assistant, he helped author and de-bug numerous educational software programs, most of which seem absurdly primitive by today's standards. While he enjoyed programming in these now archaic languages, he never seriously considered a career in software design.
As an adult, Mr. Burrow has enjoyed teaching himself HTML. He likes the language, and it amuses him that many HTML commands are analogous to the commands used in the "Appleworks" word processor he liked so much. He believes that most web authors spend far too much time on needless "bells and whistles" of presentation, at the expense of useful content.
Mr. Burrow tends to prefer language and menu-based interfaces. Having become very adept at using older versions of Microsoft Office, he was extremely upset at the Office 2007 "upgrade" and its bizarre "ribbon" interface. He will continue to use the toolbar-based Office 2003 for as long as he possibly can. (Interestingly, most people who are longtime Office users seem to prefer the old interface; Office 2007 seems to appeal mostly to less experienced users.)
This website began in 1998 on the free server at Geocities. The original URL was http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/3224/ (a URL that is still supported today as a re-direct to the current site, though that version of addresses hasn't existed on Geocities for years). Eventually Yahoo took over the Geocities service. As the site expanded and Mr. Burrow began storing information for his colleges classes on it, he began to pay for an ad-free service. In 2008 he moved to the davidmburrow.com domain (still served by Yahoo), mostly because doing so cost less than continuing at a Geocities "premium" address. Geocities permanently closed in 2009, since like most ad-supported web services, it failed to generate significant money. Hopefully davidmburrow.com will remain on the web well into the future.
Although he believes all authors should exhibit responsibility, Mr. Burrow strongly defends the right of free speech--both on the Internet and in the physical world. He believes, however, that government, citizens, and web publishers must work together to solve the problem of youth access to adult sites.
Advice on computers
(from Dixie (Julie London) on the '70s TV show Emergency)
Picture from the webcam on Mr. Burrow's Acer Aspire netbook
David Burrow's now-defunct WebTV inernet terminal
Links to other sites on the Web
Stupid Internet Surveys (and How David Burrow Scored on Them)
The Electronic Magic 8-Ball
Northwest Internet (ncn.net)
Apple II Computers
MSN-TV (formerly WebTV)
Gateway Computers
Epson Corporation
"Flash is Evil"
HOME
THANK-YOU FOR VISITING THE DAVID MICHAEL BURROW WEBSITE!
© 2010 davidmburrow@yahoo.com
The background music on this page is "Keep Yourself Alive," originally by Queen. It was chosen to honor the long life of his faithful old the Apple II computer. (...Too bad the WebTV box was unable to keep itself alive.)
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