Oh NO! I was going to post about Patty on the Microsoft MVP Reconnect system and found that Robear Dyer (PA Bear) died last November. No one here except, possibly, for Steve and Brian Boston would have any idea who I mean but he was another good person.

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I know that Joan, Doddie and myself knew Robear from Auhma forums

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To all current duty personnel and veterans
of the American armed forces.
Thank You

Patty, You will always be my HERO! I learned so much from you and will always be thankful for our long computer relationship over the years. Carmen Tonne

I'm sorry that I didn't share that sad news previously, Jay. His passing was quite unexpected. He was such an active member of the Microsoft Community and I posted the news there when I learned of it through the MVP groups.

-steve

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Jay, you will do just fine here, and I know that under your stewardship, CH will continue to be the haven that Patty so clearly envisioned.

Like the rest, I have felt a deep sadness at the loss of my Internet friend. I first met Patty when I joined her Windows 98 beta listserv group some 20 years ago; Steve Boots is also a member. Via Skype, several of us meet every Sunday for a "Chat" about computing and other sundry topics. Patty was a regular participant and was very open about what she was going through. We missed her the past three weeks, and now I know why. I am grateful that her pain is now over, and I'll bet that she is already looking for someone to help in her new place.

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Gerry

So sorry you didn't know, I never thought to post the news here as I didn't think he was a member, it was very unexpected and there are just too many we're losing just lately.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

I just wanted to add my remembrances of Patty to this forum that I was quite active in until my illness some time ago. I still have my computerhaven.com sweatshirt that she gave me at my first MVP conference in Seattle. I know many problems were solved between the two of us, she was always looking for the software solution and I was always looking for the hardware solution. I was fortunate to participate in a Chat on Sundays, something she organized, with participants of the early beta test group after MS closed down the newsgroup there. I know I will miss her suggestions and recommendations. She was the ultimate tech junkie.
Peace to all who knew her and she will never be forgotten by me.

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I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

Nice to see you again Bill we've missed seeing you around, hope your health is improved.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Thanks for posting Bill. If you ever are able to be active here again the forums WILL remain. I've been hosting the site for ages and pretty much running it for a while now. A month or so back Patty gave me her log in for the domain name registrar so I could switch everything over to me. Phew, personally that was another difficult task. The site will be kept and maintained for at least as long as I'm around.

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If any are interested here is a link to an Office PowerPoint presentation I put together after the 2008 Microsoft Global Summit. It contains several pictures of Patty. Office Powerpoint or the free viewer are needed to view.

Here is a link to the presentation...
http://jaylach.com/downloads/2008_micro ... summit.zip
The file is in a .zip format so will need to be extracted although, if you chose to 'open' on the download, it will open file explorer to the zip file allowing you to just double-click the PowerPoint file. It is just a slide show timed to Pat Benatar's 'We Belong'.

This presentation also includes photos of Garry Woodruff, BillG, Manny and myself. I'm the guy that is wearing the blue and red (sort of) print shirt with the bad front tooth. I SO much wish that Garry, BillG and Manny could still be involved in these forums but situations have prevented this. (BTW... since the summit my bad front tooth HAS been fixed. )

If any wish a specific photo of Patty from this presentation PM me and I will attempt to extract the image from the presentation. Actually pulling out an image is not hard.

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Thanks Jay, I'll have a look at that tomorrow as I'll be closing down for the night soon.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Wow! Has it really been 10 years? I haven't attended Summit since 2012.
Great set of photos, Jay. That's the Patty I will always remember.
-steve

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Nice slideshow & music, Jay. I could recognize you, Patty, and Garry from the name badges, but not BillG & Manny. What were they wearing?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Thanks Jay, just watched it, I remember the photos as I saw them before, I think it may have been Patty who showed them to us. I remember being in touch with a lot of them in the photos, I see Robear was there and of course Steve, was it, Green ?

Manny and Bill plus you and Stephen, it seems such a long time ago now but I so miss the Microsoft Newsgroups it's where I made so many friends in the computer world when I was just starting to use one.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Shoot, Jay, thank you for that, it was priceless. But you should have stuck with drums, you could have been a rock star with those looks.

But wasn't Patty precious?
Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Thanks for posting that Jay, i had no idea

It was thanks to people like Robear and Patty along with countless others who were active in the MS newsgroups back in the Win95/98 days that i was able to learn to live with PC's, the learning continues...

Your PP presentation seems very familiar, I'm sure I've seen it before, if not in it's entirety then certainly stills from it
Stills 7 & 13 I've definitely seen before, accompanied with a list of who's who.
The scenic stills i don't remember but that doesn't surprise me.
Still 22, the Mel Gibson lookalike is also familiar, if only he had a Scottish Saltire face-painted on him!

Re: the CH logo/crest... i didn't mean to suggest you change anything, i was thinking aloud and typed when i probably shouldn't have.

Same here Doddie with regards the Newsgroup days, it's where I started to learn and the helpers were brilliant about sharing their knowledge to us newbies. I lost touch with quite a few of them when the newsgroups finished but did hold on to a few of them, I think it was last year when we lost Randy (Silj) as well as Robear.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

I had posted the PP presentation quite a while back when Patty was looking for a copy.

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Silj, i didn't know his name was Randy (or if i did, i forget)... we conversed in Aumha via PM on more than one occasion... this week is going from bad to worse.

This is not a good week for losing people who have been huge influences on my life.

Those influences on my life can't be underestimated.

<sigh>

I forget who the MS CEO was when that decision was made but it was the worst decision Microsoft ever made.... I've said that before and it won't be the last time i say it.

To be honest Doddie I can't actually remember you from the Newsgroups, it could be we were in different ones so didn't come across each other or did you go by a different name when you were on them ?

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

You wouldn't remember me from the Newsgroups, i never posted to the Microsoft hierarchy of groups thanks to trolls and script kiddies in other text based groups... being flamed simply for asking a question that no other thread subject appeared to address, yet they felt it had been because it was buried deep in another thread didn't do anything for my confidence that i would get anywhere on Usenet by asking questions.

For that reason i decided that Usenet would be a lurk and learn area, to this day i still haven't posted on Usenet since i came across those idiots.

That said, back then i didn't really need to post into the MS groups because the MVP's and others were usually one step ahead of me in finding issues, and when they didn't have an immediate answer it was usually only a week or two before someone came up with a workaround.

Coupled with at that time i went through a period of unemployment that lasted nearly two years... i had plenty of time to read and try things that i wouldn't have the time to do today, back then it nearly always meant i trashed my PC and had to re-install but i was cool with that as long as i was learning what i was doing wrong... again, i didn't need to ask because others had mostly made the same mistake i made... not paying attention to the spacing in command lines was a favourite

With nearly two years of daily lurking in up to eight MS newsgroups i probably read hundreds if not thousands of posts by many individual MVP's and that certainly allowed me to build a picture of what i thought they were like even if they didn't know who i was... that sounds a bit creepy! LOL

Anyways, when MS shut down their newsgroups i was at a complete loss to understand why... their reasoning made no sense to me especially when you look at MS Answers and try to find an answer for anything
[Perhaps the tactic was/is burying issues in a place where there is no single source where you can find any issues?]

In a nutshell, i turned to third party Forums for somewhere to find answers in future... and we are where we are, I've come across and feel like i know many more people than i actually do yet they have no idea who i am.

The digital age is, can, and will continue to be, a very strange place.

Right, that's why I didn't recognise you. I can't remember just how many of them I used to be in but the one I made most of my MVP friends in and it ended up more like a chat room between quite a few of us was the WinME groups, it was always so friendly and comfortable in that group and it was from there I ended up in the forums.

I still belong to several of the forums that I just don't have time to visit apart from once in a while.

As quite a few have sadly passed on and others have drifted away there are only 2 former MVPs and another friend from there that I'm still in touch with on a regular basis.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

I just learned of Patty's passing today from the DTS group. I'm so sorry she lost her fight with that insidious disease.

I'll remember this fine lady and all the things she did to help people. Nobody knows how long we have here. No matter how long it's never enough. Her's was life well lived.

Well done Patty! It was fine and gracious. Sorry it wasn't longer but you used your time well dear.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Missing you still Patty..... and always will!!

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“Don’t Underestimate The Power
Of Your Own Instinct.”
- Barbara Corcoran