Info Manager for June 10, 2002

[*]  MacSlash moves;   [*]  More on UMAX;   [*]  eMac now for everyone;   [*]  Not just corporations dislike MS Licensing Policy;   [*]  FileMaker Developer Conference 2002;   [*]  Independents getting into online music;   [*]  Apple delivers stand-alone installers ;   [*]  Rage On: We Told You Petitions (and Lawsuits) Work;   [*]  PCs in Apple Stores;   [*]  More cheap eats in NYC;   [*]  MUG Site of the Week: JHMI MUG;   [*]  Useless Information Web Site;   [*]  Virex - Opps!;   [*]  Quote of the Week;  
.

The UG Academy AWARDS packs for New York

Announced last week were the finalists in the User Group Academy Web Site Awards. The voting page has been posted and all User Group members and officers are invited to visit the top UG sites and then rank them for AWARD positioning. http://www.UGAcademy.org/Awards/

      Also, the 12th Annual User Group Soiree is planned for New York on July 17 where the winners of the 6th Annual UG Academy Awards will be announced. Included this year is a very special milestone in User Group history: the inauguration of the User Group Hall of Fame. Two individuals have been nominated by the User Group Community at large for induction to this, the highest honor in the community. The User Group Academy is in partnership with the Association of Apple Computer Users & Groups

.

MacSlash moves

Many Mac users were surprised to find that MacSlash's .com address no longer worked. Somehow, that address was hijacked. So MacSlash is now using http://www.macslash.org for its web site. Insanely Great Mac has the full story at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=495

.

More on UMAX

Now the Register has picked up on the UMAX story. Saying "UMAX pioneers new price gouge." From reading the story, it sounds like UMAX is almost abandoning the North American market. Really strange when a market leader can drop so quickly. They even got a reply from UMAX, but it wasn't very satisfactory. Full story at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/25548.html

.

eMac now for everyone

An Apple Press Release announced the eMac being available at Apple retailers for everyone, not just for the educational market. The price will be just $1,099 (US) for the 17 inch flat CRT, a 7000 MHz G4 and a CD-RW with a modem. Really sounds great. May hurt sales of the G4 iMac though. Full story at: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020604/sftu061_1.html Also info at: http://www.apple.com/emac/

.

Not just corporations dislike MS Licensing Policy

In a story called "Schools cry bully over Microsoft licensing fees", Computer World tells of schools in Washington and Oregon that are upset because Microsoft asked them to audit all their computers in 60 days for 261 different MS products. The letter was received in March and also included a pamphlet on a new site licensing agreement. This caused many schools to say they are looking at using Star Office in their schools. Once again MS shows that they don't understand public relations. Perhaps this will help keep Apple in the schools as well. The Apple license agrreement of unlimited clients for its new servers can't hurt. Full story at: http://computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/windows/story/0%2C10801%2C71690%2C00.html?nlid=PM

.

FileMaker Developer Conference 2002

I got notice this week that the FM Developer Conference will be held August 12 - 14 this year in Palm Desert, California. From everything I have heard, if you do Filemaker development this is the place to go. A don't miss program.
FileMaker Developer Conference Highlights
+ More than 50 sessions
+ One-on-one with expert speakers
+ Product Showcase
+ Tech Support Central
+ Meet the FileMaker engineers
+ Network with your colleagues
+ and much, much more!
Register by June 28 and save $200. Call 800-336-6060 or 858-278-5600, write to DevCon@Advisor.com or fax to 858-279-4728 to register. Go to: http://www.Advisor.com/FileMakerDevCon/

.

Independents getting into online music

Well Napster is pretty well dead. Although Bertlsman may bring in back in some form. The record lables are finally getting some of their own web sites up and running, but there are also a couple of independent services.
There is FullAudio's MusicNow at http://www.fullaudio.com/
and Listen.com's rhapsody at www.listen.com.
The label sites are www.musicnet.com and www.pressplay.com.
All of these sites are legal and charge for downloads. Check them out at: http://www.musicnet.com/

.

Apple delivers stand-alone installers

You can now download installers for Quicktime as well as an uninstaller for Quicktime 6 Preview. Also, the installer for OS X v. 10.1.5 is available. The full story with more detail on the installers is at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=517

.

Rage On: We Told You Petitions (and Lawsuits) Work

Remy Davison of Insanely Great Mac in a story with the above title, is also reporting that Apple has released drivers for Rage II/Pro graphic cards to speed up the use of OSX on older Macs that have those graphic cards. His full story is at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=516

.

PCs in Apple Stores

A number of people have stories on Apple putting PCs into their stores for comparison purposes. That is to show how well Macs with Virtual PC can run PC software as compared to "natural" PCs. A couple of those stories are: Zdnet at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-933442.html Insanely Great Mac http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=519

.

More cheap eats in NYC

In response to my earlier writings on eating inexpensively in New York during Expo, Joan Selin recommended Chinatown. She recommends the area for its many Indian as well as Chinese restaurants. This is in the area of First and Second Avenues. Many of these restaurants have early bird specials good until 6 or sometimes 6:30. Great for grabbing a bite before the show parties. She says: "I've eaten a 5 course dinner for under $6.00." Hope you are keeping notes. If you're not on the "InfoManager" list... you looze! http://www.user-groups.net/submit.html

.

MUG Site of the Week: JHMI MUG

I thought this week we should look at a MUG that isn't a community group. Johns Hopkins Medical MUG (JHMI MUG), in Baltimore is of course, affiliated with the hospital, but is aimed at the educational group associated with the medical school students. They are making effective use of the Internet not only with the web site, but also with a discussion list and access to the Apple Educational price lists for the John Hopkins community. The discussion list is the primary focus of the group, although they also have meetings on the campus. Check out the site for good ideas for your group. The site is at: http://www.mug.jhmi.edu/

.

Useless Information Web Site

This web site was pointed out to me by the Tourbus. (Mentioned many times before). An example of the useless info: "* What's the highest price ever paid for a PEZ candy dispenser? How would you like to try some Chlorophyll or Eucalyptus flavored PEZ? Learn more than you ought to know about this candy phenomenon." Many other topics. See it at: http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless

.

Virex - Opps!

Well, it appears that the report I had last week on Virex was wrong. NAI has NOT stopped development of updaters to Virex 6.1. The June file was posted on the site on May 30th. My apologies to NAI and to you for not checking up more thoroughly. Roy Atkinson sent us an e-mail on the Talk mail list to let us know. I then went to the web site and found the file that was posted after I had looked last week. So I take back what I said and will continue to recommend Virex as it does work. Thanks again Roy!

.

Quote of the Week

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
- Douglas Adams

"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you've told a child a thousand times and they still haven't learned, then who's the slow learner."
Anonymous

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."
- Ambrose Redmoon

"Stubbornness does have its helpful features. You always know what you are going to be thinking tomorrow."
- Glen Beaman

"Why do so many people dread adversity, when it is only through adversity that we grow stronger? There's not great fun, satisfaction or joy derived from doing something that's easy. Failure is never fatal, but failure to change might be."
- John Wooden~ Former head basketball coach at UCLA.

.

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.

Subscribe to Info@lists.user-groups.net
send a "simple" email to: Subscribe to MUG InfoManager, or go to
http://www.user-groups.net/UGCommunity/subscribe.html for full details!

Article Reprints -- User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit is given. Other Non-profit or non-commercial publications should contact us. The UGNN cannot guarantee accuracy or timeliness of articles. Many have been forwarded to us by field correspondents, or press release services. All care is taken to assure the accuracy of URLs and email addresses. Some items may be 30 to 60 days old. The User Group Network is an affiliate of the News-Serve Network - All commercial names herein, including publication, product, and company names are assumed to be the registered trademarks of their companies. UGN, UGNN, UGNet News, UG Idea Exchange, are all trademarks for The User Group Network, copyright 2002, all rights reserved. Copyright 2002, The User Group Network, http://www.user-groups.net/News-Service.