winextra

history

I’ll keep this part very short because really – it’s pretty boring crap. WinExtra first came about somewhere around 12 to 15 years ago. It started out as a private NNTP news server made up of the rejects of the Lockergnome NNTP newsgroups which later closed down.

At some point I figured that NNTP wasn’t going to cut it anymore and decided to build a website to help promote the newsgroups and my software. What actually followed was many years of confusion and not knowing where exactly I wanted to take WinExtra.

During that time I experimented with many different kinds of CMS and blogging platforms including dasBlog and DotNetNuke. I’m not sure at which point I actually settled down with the WordPress platform but according the the archives my first post as the WinExtra blog was in November 2006.

I have a bad habit of getting sidetracked and unfortunately WinExtra has taken much of the brunt of my not having any real direction. The biggest distraction has been the whole social media nonsense that has totally captivated much of the Web these days.

During my time of concentrating on social media the one good thing that came out is that I found myself with an identity of sorts – that being the cranky old fart. This came about basically because I didn’t get sucked in to the hype but instead tried my best to poke holes when needed into the hot air balloon that the movement has become.

But as with all things built on the shaky foundation of hype my interest in social media became extremely tainted and tiresome. It was then that I realized that my real tech interest lay where it always had been – around Windows and Microsoft.

My goal with WinExtra is to provide the best news and helpful information I, and the other writers here at WinExtra, can when it comes to Microsoft and Windows. We might not be a TechCrunch or a Mashable but then neither do we want to be. They do a great job of finding and reporting on things like Social Media, start-ups, and Apple.

It is our feeling here at WinExtra that Microsoft more often than not gets the short end of the news cycle when it comes to being reported on and we aim to help fix that.

So if you are interested in Microsoft and Windows then hopefully you will find WinExtra right up your alley.

Right now there are two other writers besides myself trying hard to keep you informed and they are.

Pierre:

Pierre is our man in France and while he doesn’t post as often as he might like to he does do his best to keep us informed of the goings-on of Microsoft in France and the rest of Europe.

Paul O’Flaherty:

Paul is the most recent addition to WinExtra and brings a flavor of writing all his own to the blog. He is also my partner in crime on our podcast WinExtra on Windows.

Steven Hodson (in other words – me.)

Me, well, I’m just a cranky old fart who has been around the computer industry for more years than I can count ( but definitely more than 20). I don’t like PR spin and fanboi-ism irritates me to no end. As with our other writers I am not a Microsoft fanboi but when I am not giving them their credit where is it do I also have no qualms about giving them a smack-down if needed.

I am a firm believer in telling it like it is, as are the other writers here, and that is exactly what you will find here. If we feel that Microsoft has messed up we’ll say so but in the same breath if they are doing something right they deserve the kudos.

We won’t play favorites with anyone regardless of whether they are an advertiser or company looking for a product, software or hardware, review. Our principal purpose here is to bring you the reader the unvarnished facts when it comes to Microsoft and any of its products.