"About us..."

Well, "us" is a bit of a misnomer, really. There's just me, Frann Leach, currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland, though I was born in London.

I'm a geek. Well, I think that's what you would call me, anyway.

Just to give you some background, I'm a single mother (although both my children are grown up) and I have been addicted to computers, and worked with them, for well over 20 years.

I have a range of sites which at first glance appear to have little in common, but they (and I) are driven by an early vision of the 'world computer system of the future' (which is now with us - in its early stages, at least). My aim on all my sites is to provide genuinely useful information, presented in a usable form.

When I was a kid, I read science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov, E.E. 'Doc' Smith and Robert Heinlein, amongst others, and these wakened in me a taste for all things tech, and a thirst for knowledge which has stayed with me.

In those novels, computers were an ever-present and universally accessible resource, providing instant access to information of all types. Our search engines still fall short of those I loved all those years ago. Still, it's true to say that we are now entering that world, and Google for one is working hard to bring this about.

It was just a dream then, but my love for 'electronic brains' (as they called them in the 1960s) was nurtured when as a 12-year old I found a 'programmed learning' course in Assembly language, and completed it, just for fun. It was no use to me, of course. Children didn't have access to computers in those days, and computer programs were still input using punch cards!! But I had fun, anyway, and it taught me to think logically and set me on the path to my eventual career, though I didn't realise it at the time.

By the early eighties I was working as a computer consultant/trainer in London, and moved on to become freelance. Those were the days when you had a choice of CP/M or MS-DOS, Windows were for staring out of, and Bill Gates was just an unknown nerd instead of the multi-millionaire he is today.

In the mid-eighties I was a sub-contractor, writing code for Crosland Filters, Coopers Payen, Lucas and Volkswagen Audi Group, amongst others. I also wrote bespoke software for my own clients in other sectors.

I have (and want) very little expertise with the hardware side of things, though I know what I like. The software aspect - providing workable ways to access information - is my passion.

I still use my pc every day. And I still love it after all these years. Without the internet, I'm a lost soul.

See? I told you I was a geek!