Editor’s note: After nearly a decade of answering readers’ tech questions in the “Ask Jim” column (and our questions in the office), computer whiz Jim Coates has retired. We sent him one final query.
Q. We loved your column and hate to say farewell. Did you enjoy writing “Ask Jim”?
A. Nothing ain’t forever, as we used to say back home in Wyoming, and so as my beard got whiter and my burdens as a bread-winner got lighter, the time came for this old cyber cowboy to mosey on down the road.
I leave with sweet regrets and I want to express huge appreciation for all of the Ask Jim column’s readers across the country over the past 8 1/2 years (appearing in Tempo for the first time on June 28, 2005). Special thanks to the uncounted thousands who took time to e-mail or snail mail questions to me.
Those questions touched every corner of the tech scene, and answering them kept the column alive and relevant since it started late in 1998. Readers’ participation guaranteed that everybody — myself included — had a place to turn when our hardware and software ran amok. Nobody learned more or had more fun than I did.
Already I miss you far more than you’ll ever miss me, but this is my time to log off. God bless us every one. And God bless you, too, Mr. Gates.