Why WinAce?
Last updated August 17, 2003
Many have asked what my username refers to, whether it's an intentional rip-off of a certain file utility, etc. This section is meant to put to rest those questions once and for all.
The story of my username is a bit long and unusual, but I'll try to compress it into the space of a few paragraphs.
Many years ago, I was one of the best players at the real time strategy game Urban Assault. Back then, I was known as Allan_Glenn (my real name) on the MSN Gaming Zone.
The game wasn't too popular, however, so I created UAHQ, a combination forum/website devoted to it. It attracted many new players and rejuvenated the multiplayer aspect of UA for a surprisingly long while.
I perfected strategies involving lightning-fast attacks ala the German Blitzkrieg. My personal favorite involved coordinated helicopter and medium tank strikes immediately directed at the enemy's base to weaken their resource intake, an intimidating and highly successful course of action, but I digress...
I rose in the ranks and eventually learned how to consistently defeat all the others to vie for top honors. Once I had achieved complete world domination, so to speak, I decided I needed a new handle.
What better username than a silly takeoff on every last tired cliché from awful 1950s B sci-fi movies? My new online identity was born. Ever since I adopted it, I use it for literally everything--from forums to documents I author.
Later, I found out that WinAce is also an alternative file compression utility that competes with WinZip and WinRAR. Although the programmers may vehemently deny it, 99.999% of its users appear to be webmasters of illicit "warez" pages that offer commercial software for illegal download; they use the program to package large disk images and files into conveniently downloadable individual portions.
Therefore, I'm not particularly impressed with the copyright issues involved in my inadvertent borrowing of their trademark for personal use, especially since the company is located in Germany and international lawsuits are almost unheard of in such matters :)