Info Manager for March 26, 2002

[*]  Forbes;   [*]  Mouse;   [*]  How did I find that story?;   [*]  Up to 34;   [*]  Digital "bill of rights" proposed;   [*]  Digital "bill of rights" redux;   [*]  Lindows;   [*]  Ricoh;   [*]  ThinkFree;   [*]  Yahoo Mail;   [*]  UG Tips;   [*]  Web site of the Week;   [*]  User Group Site of the Week: RockMug;   [*]  Quotes of the week #1: Henry Ford;   [*]  Quotes of the week #2: Pablo Picasso
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Forbes

There have been a lot of press on Apple and the iMac lately. One that seems to be pretty good and accurate is from Forbes. See the story at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0401/099.html
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0401/099.html

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Mouse

Ever wonder how the computer mouse came to be? Stanford's alumni newsletter recently published an article about how two of its alumni developed Apple's mouse and then went on to do Microsoft's as well. This story is at:
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2002/marapr/features/mouse.html

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How did I find that story?

I was notified of this story by Geoff's Gems newsletter which is available at Guy Kawasaki's company web site at: http://www.garage.com/ to subscribe send any message to: geoffs_gems-on@lists.garage.com
http://www.garage.com/

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Up to 34

Well, MS thought they only had 9 maverick state district attorneys to worrry about. But now the number has grown to 34. All 34 want to increase sanctions against Microsoft over what are proposed by the Feds. See the story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-861566.html Or at: http://computerworld.com/nlt/1%2C3590%2CNAV47_STO69200_NLTAM%2C00.html
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-861566.html

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Digital "bill of rights" proposed

According to Ron Carlson of Insanely Great Mac, a newly formed digital rights group is trying to stop the Hollywood effort to force hardware makers to keep copies from being made on their machines. The Hollywood effort is to stop consumers from even making legal copies.
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=160

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Digital "bill of rights" redux

You can also learn more at the San Francisco Chronicle, where you can contact the DigitaComsumer.org at that address. To see what the group is proposing, see: http://www.digitalconsumer.org/bill.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ffile%3D/chronicle/archive/2002/03/15/BU177219.DTL%26type%3Dtech

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Lindows

The Internet News has an article about how the court has ruled in favor of Lindows in a trademark lawsuit filed by Microsoft. The court at least for now is letting Lindows use the name of LindowOS and the Lindows.com web site. Microsoft says they will continue the fight. Full story at:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article/0,,10_993621,00.html

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Ricoh

According to Remy Davison, at Insanely Great Mac, Ricoh has announced an Airport compatible Digital camera. It is the RDC-1700 which will work with any wireless network up to 300 feet away. It supports compact flash storage media, IP addressing and features 3.3 megapixel CCD. It does PAL and NTSC video at 320x240 resolution. However, not many families will be jumping on it at $1,299. Full story at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=161 ... Also more info at:
http://www.ricohzone.com/Product_RDCi700_ImageGallery.html

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ThinkFree

Despite its name, this Office suite is not free. Although for less than $50 for an Microsoft Office compatible program, it is almost. IT is now available at retail outlets around the country at that price.
ThinkFree Office is a powerful, yet easy-to-use suite of applications, including a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation graphics program, that seamlessly read and write Microsoft(R) Office file formats. The retail version of ThinkFree Office includes a non-expiring software license, CD-ROM media that installs in minutes, and a printed User's Guide. As an additional bonus, the retail version also includes a registration serial number, which can be redeemed for a one-year subscription to ThinkFree's Internet services.
Since I haven't upgraded from Office 4.2, I may have to give this program a try. Has anyone out there tried it? It would be really terrific if we could get a review to go with all the other reviews that UGN offers.

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Yahoo Mail

According to InfoWorld, Yahoo is starting to get away from its "free" model on its web site. Starting April 24, any one that hasn't signed up to pay $29.99 a year for its POP3 email service will be shut out. It is obvious that someone has to pay for these items and advertising isn't doing it. Full story at:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/03/21/020321hnyahoo.xml?0321theb

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UG Tips

On the Apple user group mailing list, we have been having quite a discussion about meeting sites. This is something that nearly all groups have as an issue at sometime during their life. There are a number of considerations to making a decision.

1. Location - How far from easy transportation access. Do you need public transportation. (Important in many big cities.) Near major highways? Perception of safety. Etc.

2. Size - How big a room do you need and how many rooms. How long. A few weekday evening hours or a full day on Saturday.

3. Cost - How much can the group afford. (There are various ways to pay for rooms.)

4. Equipment - Is Internet Access needed? What type? How about a PA System and a projector. Many small groups have found that a public library meeting room is sufficient and it is often at the best price. Free. Other possible sites that are inexpensive are schools, universities; medical schools; community/neighborhood centers and corporate/government buildings. More expensive, but still available are hotel rooms, civic center rooms and other "public" facilitates.

One group I was in met at corporate training location for free and now meets at a public library branch. But without access to Macs. They considered going to a near downtown community college campus for classes. (The only campus that had a Mac lab.) But turned it down as being too "dangerous". Although according to crime reports, the area where the library is located is the worst and the area of the college is the best. It is just that one is in a heavily traveled, popular area and the other is lightly traveled and lower income.

Other groups have had on site sales of computer equipment and supplies to pay for the rooms. (Apple Corp of Dallas with the North Texas PC UG, for a number of years had a flea market that paid for the space and even made a profit.

Some schools and libraries might give space in return for helping their students or doing support on their computers. The Boston Computer Society's Mac Group used to meet at MIT and as I recall gave MIT students membership in the group. Or at the very least let them attend meetings at no charge.

In any case, don't give up looking for what is available for you. You should be able to find a location that is "right" for your group. It is surprising what is available when you look. The Honolulu Apple Users Society meet in an auditorium at the Arizona Memorial.

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Web site of the Week

Want to put your children to work in the kitchen? Here is a site that show them how to cook. I couldn't find anywhere on the site where it shows them how to scrub a pan though.
http://www.kidchef.com/

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User Group Site of the Week: RockMug

I got this group's name from an article in the Tulsa World newspaper that reprinted the article "Passionate about PCs - User groups promote community among computer users at all experience levels". (Article at: www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/022402/24usergroupsweb.html ) This is one of the best article I have read in promoting user groups. The only compliant I have is that it doesn't mention UGN. When you get the chance to talk to a newspaper, be sure to promote the group and not mention things like "the Internet has taken members from the group." The more positive you can be the better for all groups. This particular article even came with an illustration showing people entering the door of a G4 tower. The truth is user groups are as effective as they have ever been. The just now address a different audience.

Check out their web site and see if you can pick up any tips. I really like the idea that you can go to a frameless web site.
http://www.rockmug.org/

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Quotes of the week #1: Henry Ford

"If you have an idea, that is good. If you also have ideas as to how to work it out, that is better."

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Quotes of the week #2: Pablo Picasso

"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money."

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News and Info you can use...

The Info Manager invites user groups to use his column in full or in pieces in their newsletter. He would appreciate word that you are doing so however and if you can, please send a pdf version of the newsletter for his perusal. Or just provide him with the link. Use this address: Infomanager@user-groups.net or... our online Information form

The Info Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. Post a lead Info Manager should follow up on.

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