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I've spent the last few weeks, unbelievably busy with our latest project, and we may need some help on that soon, but that's another discussion. I titled this article "It's About Time" for good reason.

It's time that I go.

In May of this year, I received a call from a teacher from the high school here in Taylor. She asked me if we could accommodate 189 new students. Could we provide these 189 kids their first-time computers. I did a quick inventory in my head of what we had and what was parojected and told her yes. I then began calling my Directors, telling them of the upcoming project.

So, were you asked what you wanted to be when you grew up? Bet ya were. I'll also bet that most never saw what was coming either. Neither did I. It took me 50 years to grow up. Linux made it all possible.

Giving a kid their very own first computer is one of the greatest feelings I can imagine. However, insuring that said recipient will use that computer productively is another whole line of code. Every machine we place is Linux-powered so that kid has an advantage from the beginning. How do we compete with the likes of Facebook and Instagram? Snapchat and Twitter? We've learned how to make STEM topics fun. Here's how we did it.

As promised in the first part of this "Ten Years After" series, I've went over all of the questionnaires and emails and there are only three real "issues" these kids could find to mention, and I mean mentioned in force. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of different types of complaints, but they were, to be honest, nit-picky at best. I don't think anyone will find any surprises here. So here they are.

I'm not afraid to admit it. When I first started getting flooded with these advertisements, it hacked me off. It was an advertisement for a "revolutionary new product" that will change the way you use your computer. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what this "revolutionary new product might be"?

There are still people in the technology field today that consider Linux a "hobbiest" toy. Can a serious student get through 6 years of college with just Linux? Some can, and some cannot. We'll take a look at the latter here.

When I first gathered the initial volunteers for HeliOS, there were many people, even some who have read this blog for years; that questioned the decision to put Linux on every computer that left our shop. I mean, let's face it. It's a Windows World out there. Business, for the most part, use Windows almost exclusively. Or at least they did when this was getting started. Some said that we'd be wasting our resources by putting a little-known and difficult operating system on our machines

The calendar page had recently flipped to the new century when I had my own Road To Damascus moment. It was, in the truest sense of the phrase, a profound revelation. It built up in me like an electrical charge. A moment I realized that the monitor in front of me reflected something that was going to not only change my life, but had the potential to change lives of millions.

But through it all, what I want you to know is that these kids, getting their first computer will have a new world opened to them. A world without restrictions, A world you built for them.

Freedom can have different meanings for different people at different times. Sometimes, it's the smallest freedoms that make the biggest difference.

The past 19 months have been brutal for us, equipment-wise. Between 2 floods-of-the-century less than a year apart, and an unprecedented demand for computers, our inventory has dipped lower than it has ever been. For the first time in our history, we are out of machines while 17 Taylor Texas kids are still in need of computers. It's not your money we need.....

A selfless act and a new Linux computer set some truly amazing life-changing wheels into motion. Fact is, something happened to Diane and me 2 months ago that can be described as no less than an "Oprah Moment"...a number of circumstances that accumulated into nothing less than a True Magic Moment. Stick around...Linux is a part of this.

Instead of seeing kids running through sprinklers in their front yards, you saw those same kids, along with their parents and family, digging through tons of snake, spider and disease-infested debris...trying to salvage anything from their destroyed lives. Highly venomous and aggressive water moccasins were a constant threat during flood clean up and recovery all over Central Texas.

Jason has a career in movies, television and the gaming industry, supplying voice talent for those mediums. Although Jason has a successful career in Hollywood, his true passion is using perfectly good computer components and combining those parts with his environmentally-friendly plastic cases and the Ubuntu operating system in order to produce an amazingly functional computer.

As I turned back to them before closing the door behind me, mother and child were weeping and embracing the blue flower on the computer screen. It was all I could do not to join them.?

"I'm sorry there kiddo. You can't watch a lot of videos or use your school's website because they depends on Flash. I'm also sorry that you can't play on miniclip.com or use some of your apps. Java doesn't work on your computer. But hey...ain't using Linux great anyway? Make sure to tell all your friends how great Linux is."

Google's act of stripping Java support from Chrome severely cripples that browser. What they intend to replace it with still remains to be seen. Is Chrome following Apples lead in refusing to include Flash? At first blush, it would certainly seem so.

Just a while back, we announced that I had an unusually good idea. I mean given the fact that most of my ideas can cause spontaneous fires and strange weather patterns it was good. So when I get a good idea, it's refreshing when no one reports any serious injuries.

As we enter into the holiday season, we at Reglue would like to start a tradition. Regardless of your preferred participation of the upcoming holiday season, we want to extend to you a chance to make a local child's life a bit brighter.

Since 2004, I've been known first as a Linux Advocate. Everything I do on a professional and sometimes personal level, substantiates that fact. There are some that consider their friend going to work for Microsoft akin to your brother joining the Confederacy while you and your other brothers are in the Union camp.

See...that's where personal and political dogma gets questionable.