Unconventional

I had the great fortune of being sent to OSCON by my employer (we're hiring!) this year.  On top of getting to hear from lots of like-minded developers and learning about technology I might not have otherwise considered, I also managed to score some loot!  The most notable of which being a Surface Pro 3 which I had been coveting since their release, but had lost interest due to very steep prices. Getting it was actually an interesting process that I was perfectly okay with playing into because we're all at OSCON to have fun and learn. Being their main source of revenue, it's important that Microsoft fend off the impression that Windows is developer unfriendly.  So, the overall gist of Microsoft's booth at OSCON this year was to remind people that you can in fact develop using free and open source tools on Windows, a non-unix.  ( Curiously, I have been saying since the 90s that FOSS would be the norm and Microsoft's 180 on it of late is just more writing on the wa