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Computers Bite Back - Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments
A dissertation is a form of wizardry. You spend months and months reading, writing, thinking, sometimes sleeping, waiting hopefully for the final day when it is finished. And when it is done, all of your efforts, your months and months of effort, are all compressed into a tome barely thick enough for a doorstop. But this joyful madness, this magical creation would not have been possible without the support that I received from so many people.

Firstly I would like to thank Dr. Stephen MacDonell, a man who knows more about possessive apostrophes and English grammar than most English professors. Steve was a source of perpetual assistance and inspiration whenever I saw him.

I pay special tribute to Edwina Sinclair who walked with me to the river's mouth and did not fear the storm. Edwina always listened, always cared, and most importantly she reminded me that the world was much more than a stuffy computer lab.

Of course, I must make mention of the two stalwarts who did battle with screeds of cover letters, mountains of surveys and boxes of envelopes, and won. To the greatest envelope stuffers I have ever known: Michael Danusantoso and Jeremy Pearson, I thank you.

And then there are the countless people who put up with me while I worked, John Smedley, Sean Pollard, Geoff Woodcock, Rebecca Kelly, Deborah Kelly, Gwen Miller, Kate Purton, Rose Luxford, Jo Collins, Simon Harger, Rick Ng, Kerry Frame, Andrew Gray (a meticulous and supportive editor) my fellow 480'ers, my flatmates, my friends, my family. I thank you all.

Finally I would like to acknowledge all of those who have experienced the vicious bite of OOS. Thank you for sharing your stories with me. May the world see sense and take action against OOS, so that, one day, OOS will only be found in dusty tomes such as this, and not in the lives of computer users.

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