E – N E W S from 2SS.Com

Int’l Standard Serial No. - ISSN: 1523-3537  2009-No. 19

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Acquisition Services for Hardware and Software.

Capabilities

Network and PC Tune-Up, Maintenance and Repair 
Getting lots of life out of old computers is something of a specialty at 2SS.Com.  We're aided by years of experience, and extensive company library of software dating from Windows 3.1 not to mention substantial pro-bono experience at salvaging old computers for re-use.  2SS.Com maintains what we call a 'Standard Install (*)' for every version of windows from Windows 95 forward.

(*) A 2SS.Com Standard install includes the operating system, relevant version of office, various other software (ACT, Quicken®, Acrobat®,  PDF reDirect, Symantec SystemWorks, etc.) as well as 20 to 50 custom-izations carefully selected and assembled to optimize our client's use the PC it's implemented on.

As a cost-effective maintenance strategy for several clients, we occasionally use disk imaging technology to maintain on our server or theirs,  'standard install' images of complete installations
 

SEDUCTIVELY CHEAP ELECTRONICS

Do you agree with us that there's something seductive about CHEAP ELECTRONICS?  Apparently more and more of us do! Recent articles in the New York Times (Titled 'Why Cheap may really be expensive") and on ZDNet (Titled 'Culture of Cheap') caught our eye, and made 'more real' what we intuitively already knew!  CHEAP ELECTRONICS come with a price that you often get to pay for later, and they make PREMIUM ELECTRONICS more expensive!

A longtime friend and recent client asked us to help acquire and configure a notebook PC like the 'Great Deal' he recently saw on an HP notebook.  Except the HP came with software (Windows Vista) and other stuff he didn't really want.  (Like many of us he'd prefer the instant productivity of Windows XP.)  But he couldn't get the HP at CostCo or similar stores configured the way he prefer.

As we often do for clients we laid out side-by-side the HP with a comparable Dell notebook and found that we could easily beat the discount store price ($130 LESS), but ending up with a not-so-desirable notebook PC.  

Subtracting a bit of un-needed fluff (A 250GB, rather than 500GB, drive is sufficient if your graduating from 80GB) and we added back Windows XP along with Microsoft's downgrade 'penalty fee', more battery life, and a good warranty that brought the price up to  $1,300 or about 40+% more than the original $900 bargain price.  But that 40% more PC arrives ready to be immediately productive, and with next business day service it will likely stay that way for at least three (3) years.

“I thought I would get a lot of anger,” she said. “I feared that the book might get misrepresented as an elitist argument that people should buy only high-end, expensive stuff, but that’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m arguing that the discount culture has created a false dichotomy between quality and price that has made quality goods unnecessarily expensive.”

by...Ms. Ruppel Shell who is a correspondent
 for The Atlantic and a contributor to
The New York Times.  She is the author of:
 “America’s Dangerous Liaison with Cheap'

So if we focus more-and-more on CHEAP, what's the impact?  We believe that it's making what we buy more expensive to use in generating the productivity that we need.  And, worse it's also very likely driving up the cost of 'good quality' and 'premium' items that are increasingly subject to the economics of a declining demand from folks who bought CHEAP and then invested time and add-ons to get caught back up.  Do you have a 'great deal' or 'too cheap' story to share, or maybe a differing opinion.  We'd be pleased to receive it... ([email protected].)

***FOR SALE & More*** at 2SS.Com

  1. FOR SALE a NEW Dell FLAT PANEL? - We have an extra  Dell 22" widescreen that lists with Dell for $199 and that was acquired by accident (See monitor details at: http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfo/peripherals/monitor-dell-e2209wfp/pd.aspx?refid=monitor-dell-e2209wfp&s=dfo) . We'd be pleased to sell it for $149.00 (OBO) and will deliver and even set-it-up FREE in the Sacramento area.
     
  2. NORTON ANTIVIRUS  UPDATE?  CALL US! - We try to keep several copies around to help clients update for about $35, rather than using the Symantec automated renewal website with pricing of at least $49.99   If your virus subscription is running out we can often help you renew it in just a couple minutes via remote support.
  1. WHAT 'CALL ME" BUTTON?  - In our last issue we featured Google Voice capabilities that included a me 'Call ME' buttons like the one at right.  Some folks may have had their E-mail  prevent display of this 'Active-X" component, but it is still visible on the Internet. So this time here's the image only with a link to our website where it should work every time! Just click the logo at right, or on this link http://www.2SS.Com/GetHelpNow.htm.
     
  2. UTILITIES for TWITTER?  - Here are some tools that business users may find helpful in taking full advantage of Twitter and it's increasing popularity.  You can read more on Bit.ly, Twitpic, Tweetscan, Twitterfed, Twinbos, Cotweet, TweetStats, Twuffer,  Twtpoll and Twendz in recent a ZDNet article titled 'Ten Valuable Business Utilities for Twitter'.
     
  3. FREE WEB E-MAIL Scorecard - G-Mail Becomes #3!
Provider Millions of Users
Yahoo E-mail 106.0
Microsoft Windows Live HotMail 47.0
Google G-Mail 37.0
AOL (Free E-mail) 36.4

Read more about G-Mail's unbelievable growth in a ZDNet article titled 'G-Mail moves past AOL as No. 3 Web E-mails service in the U.S'.

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2SS.Com is proud to be certified with leading IT vendors that include APC (Authorized Reliability Provider), Dell (Registered Partner), Intuit (Certified Pro Advisor), Microsoft (Small Business Specialist), OnTrack and Symantec (PartnerNet) to name a few.

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Last modified: September 01, 2009