Falseprobably. Unisys did raise a bit of a fuss with CompuServe back in 1999 over its use of GIFs created using LZW. And that has given rise to a wealth of geek mythology about the whole thing. But if you post a GIF created with a reputable piece of software, chances are the manufacturer of that software has paid Unisys its just rewards. This issue has created much controversy in the free software community.

3. What will this expression return <PRINT PEEK(1400)>?

The numeric value (0-254) of the memory at memory location 1400. You can change that value by using the POKE command. <POKE 1400, 100>. Surely you have spent some time honing your skills on an Apple IIC or similar device?

4. What does the acronym HIPAA stand for?

HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. OK, it has nothing to do with technology, but you do work for an insurance company, dont you?

5. What major software vendor is forcing corporate America to violate the if it works, dont fix it rule?

Microsoftby discontinuing support for NT4 Server, it is forcing users to migrate to Windows 2000 Server (or .NET, as 2000 support will be next to fall). Not good.

6. What is Smalltalk?

a. A modem handshaking protocol.
b. An object-oriented programming language.
c. A scripting language not unlike Perl.
d. What Oprah excels at.

Smalltalk is a programming language that was designed from the ground up for object programming. When it was developed (in the 1970s by Alan Kay at Xerox), existing computer languages were syntactically procedural.

7. When you set your computer screen to a resolution of 800 X 600, what property are you setting? What does it mean?

a. Dots per inch
b. Pixels
c. Dot pitch
d. Bitmaps per inch

Pixels, but its not that easy. A pixel (from picture element) is a logical unit of programmable color. The dot pitch is a physical measurement (in millimeters) and the smallest physical unit available for a given monitor. If you set the resolution to the maximum supported by a particular monitor, then you will have a one-to-one mapping between pixels and dot pitch.

8. What was the Heathkit EC-1?

The EC-1 was an analog home computer sold as a kit in 1959 for less than $200. If you built Heathkits, you were way ahead of your time in geekness. Even cooler was only buying the manual from Heathkit, then scavenging radio and television repair shops for discarded chassis and building your own from recovered parts.