Brett W. Smith is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. He studied math and government at the University of Texas at Austin, and political science, accounting, and German at Brigham Young University. After graduating from law school at BYU, he became an attorney, working both in private practice and in corporate legal departments. He has also worked as computer network administrator and database administrator. He has been fascinated by computers and software since getting his first computer in college, an IBM PC-XT. Its 10 MB hard disk seemed to be immense. Although he is an attorney, he dislikes legalese and prefers plain English. He focuses on making complex topics more understandable. He now resides in Spokane, Washington.