>>Also bear in mind that unsigned types are not CLS compliant .....
>
>http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2003/09/02/50285.aspx
>
>Too many of my early years as a coder were filled with manipulating bit patterns and dealing with memory constraints to view that decision as anything but crazy talk.

But an interesting insight into why it is that way......thx.