Friday, May 09, 2008
KEEPING UP? (May E-News from 2SS.Com)
[[Contact:26]]
[[Company:25]]
Dear [[Salutation:40]],
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‘ E – N E W S from ‘
‘ 2SS.Com ‘
‘ Compiled and Edited by ‘
‘ Mailed on: 05/01/1999 7:20 PM Number 10 ‘
‘ Int’l Standard Serial No. - ISSN: 1523-3537‘
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‘ THIS is the ‘SAMPLE’ issue you requested. If ‘
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‘ read, update on technology that will make a ‘
‘ difference for your organization. ‘
‘ In this issue (4 Items): ‘
‘ ================ ‘
‘ 1--KEEPING UP?
‘ 2--QUESTIONS (Strategic Systems & more ‘
‘ Rules of Thumb) ‘
‘ 3--PRODUCT WATCH (MS Office 2,000) ‘
‘ 4--FIVE STRATEGIC / USEFUL / ‘
‘ INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ 5--WHY SUBSCRIBE?, 2SS.Com and YOUR ‘
‘ SUBSCRIPTION. ‘
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‘ --------------Item One----------- ‘
‘ KEEPING UP? ‘
‘ THE CHALLENGE?
‘ -------------------------
‘ The strategic systems planning focus of 2SS.Com ‘
‘ makes KEEPING UP necessary in order to apply ‘
‘ technologies that work, to client business ‘
‘ problems. We’re forced by clients with new PCs ‘
‘ and thus new software. But much more important ‘
‘ is knowing where to turn for hardware and ‘
‘ software that can both WORK…. ‘
‘ and offer a STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE! ‘
‘ Similarly if you ran a computer training business ‘
‘ the question of how to keep up would be one ‘
‘ you had to answer continually. So E-News ‘
‘ asked Who? What? Why? and How? as you’ll ‘
‘ see in a minute! ‘
‘ WHAT WE DO ‘
‘ ------------------- ‘
‘ At 2SS.Com we continually review several ‘
‘ key publications including: ‘
‘ 1. PC Week or InfoWorld (Weekly) ‘
‘ 2. PC World or PC Magazine (Monthly/Semi- ‘
‘ Monthly)
‘ 3. Windows Magazine(Monthly) ‘
‘ To maintain technological currency you might add ‘
‘ to this list a magazine in your technical area of ‘
‘ specialty or interest (Windows NT, Unix Review, ‘
‘ BackOffice, Delphi Informant, Visual Basic, ‘
‘ NetWare VAR, Service News, WebWeek, etc.). ‘
‘ In addition to publications that relate directly to ‘
‘ your primary discipline (e.g. Accounting, Human ‘
‘ Resources, etc.). ‘
‘ Another tool that we think highly of is PointCast ‘
‘ www.pointcast.com or one of its competitors. ‘
‘ They allow you to adjust settings for your interests ‘
‘ and industry and provide a good overview of ‘
‘ technology on a daily update basis. ‘
‘ While focusing on a handful of primary sources ‘
‘ at 2SS.Com we also glean from over 150 other ‘
‘ weekly and monthly hard-copy publications as ‘
‘ well as 35+ E-Mail based newsletters in the ‘
‘ interest of keeping up. ‘
‘ So one answer to the ‘Keeping Up?’ we hope you ‘
‘ will use with confidence is… “I read E-News”. ‘
‘ WHAT DOES A COMPUTER TRAINER DO?
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------
‘ E-News asked its Strategic Technology Advisory ‘
‘ Advisory Panel member and Training Company ‘
‘ owner ANN MCCANDLESS, How do you keep ‘
’ up? She responded with: ‘
‘ “I’m a Computer Trainer. It’s a profession. ‘
‘ that I occasionally consider abandoning due ‘
‘ to feeling overwhelmed when new versions ‘
‘ of software are released. I’m talking about ‘
‘ the major ones—“ ‘
‘ “Microsoft Suite, Symantec ACT, Novell ‘
‘ GroupWise, Lotus Notes, and Corel Word- ‘
‘ Perfect. I ignore the new version until one of my ‘
‘ clients asks if we can provide training on the ‘
‘ product. Then I bite the bullet, load the new ‘
‘ software and am generally impressed with the ‘
‘ changes.” ‘
‘ “Typically, most of my clients don’t upgrade each ‘
‘ time an opportunity is offered. They recognize ‘
‘ that a new version will mean adjusting the way ‘
‘ they do things. What usually pushes me into ‘
‘ learning the new software are the clients who ‘
‘ purchase new computers. They either come with ‘
‘ the newest version or it was purchased to install ‘
‘ on a new machine.” ‘
‘ “That is what drives the timing when I upgrade; ‘
‘ when my clients needs help with the software.” ‘
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‘ --------------Item Two----------- ‘
‘ QUESTIONS ‘
‘ 1. What’s coming up in E-News? ‘
‘ We’re very pleased that Strategic Technology ‘
‘ Advisory Panel member PETER MICHAEL has ‘
‘ agreed to author a piece on the systems needed ‘
‘ to help manage your business toward gaining ‘
‘ and sustaining a strategic advantage. ‘
‘ This promises to be some of the E-News inter- ‘
‘ disciplinary approach at its best so watch for it in ‘
‘ the coming months.
‘ 2. Any other technology ‘Rules of Thumb?’
‘ Of course. Just after our March issue
‘ highlighted rules-of-thumb, Windows Magazine ‘
‘ showed up with several including: ‘
‘ * Forget screensavers and let power control take ‘
‘ your monitor to standby. ‘
‘ * Choosing between FAT32 and FAT16 with disk ‘
‘ compression? Choose FAT32 if you can. ‘
; * Skip rather than pay much for a 10% ‘
‘ performance improvement. You won’t notice it! ‘
‘ * Never download the release No. 1 of anything. ‘
‘ * Never download demos. ‘
‘ * Half-screen compressed digital video (an ‘
‘ AVI file) requires around 30MB of disk per ‘
‘ run-time minute ‘
‘ * If your current driver works well DON’T ‘
‘ install a new one unless it adds functionality ‘
‘ you really need. ‘
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‘ -----------Item Three---------- ‘
‘ PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ MICROSOFT OFFICE 2000 ‘
‘ Here are the contents of the Office 2000 Premium ‘
‘ edition. It will wear you out just to read the list ‘
‘ not to mention just learning, using and effectively ‘
‘ applying just one or two of these ‘rich’ application ‘
‘ primary programs. Included are: ‘
‘ 1 Microsoft Word ‘
‘ 2 Microsoft Excel ‘
‘ 3 Microsoft PowerPoint “
‘ 4 Microsoft Access
‘ 5 Microsoft Outlook
‘ 6 Office Server Extensions and Microsoft ‘
‘ Office Web Componets ‘
‘ 7 Microsoft FrontPage ‘
‘ 8 Microsoft Publisher 2000 ‘
‘ 9 Microsoft PhotoDraw ‘
‘ Of course this does not include Internet ‘
‘ Explorer 5.0 or Windows 2000 which will offer ‘
‘ still more opportunities to learn new tools, and ‘
‘ dare we say… “KEEP UP!” ‘
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‘ ------------Item Four----------- ‘
‘ FIVE STRATEGIC / USEFUL / INTERESTING ‘
‘ LINKS ‘
‘ 1. Smart Frog Pay I-Net Visitors ‘
‘ What could be more strategic than ‘
‘ making your surfing pay off? ‘
‘ www.SmartFrog.Com like frequent-flyer and ‘
‘ credit card rebate programs gives you points ‘
‘ for the purchases you make on-line. Just stop ‘
‘ at SmartFrog first and then wherever you go ‘
‘ you can spend, and earn too! ‘
‘ PS Sign-up and tell them [email protected] ‘
‘ sent you and I’ll earn $1.00 in frog dollars that I’ll ‘
‘ promise to apply to the benefit of E-News. ‘
‘ 2. www.eFax.Com will give you a personal ‘
‘ Fax number and fax viewer that allows you to ‘
‘ receive faxes in your E-Mail box. It’s free and ‘
‘ pretty handy. Try faxing 2SS.Com with your ‘
‘ E-Mail address at (707) 371-4980 and we’ll ‘
‘ forward the E-Mail we receive for you to see ‘
‘ too! Another puzzle-piece aimed at making ‘
‘ UNIFIED MESSAGING A REALITY. ‘
‘ 3. On-Line personal info. manager. (Like ACT or ‘
‘ Outlook) but available anywhere you can get ‘
‘ onto the Internet. Try it at www.jump.com. ‘
‘ 4. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ is the ‘
‘ Internet’s source for detailed Satellite photos ‘
‘ for virtually any location world-wide. ‘
5. http://www.refdesk.com is a ‘link-rich’ ‘
‘ site full of places to find and go for information. ‘
‘ It’s a favorite that you may want to keep on your ‘
‘ list to help you find something unique. ‘
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‘ ------------Item Five------------ ‘
‘ 2SS.Com and YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ‘
‘ Maybe the best reason to subscribe is ‘
‘ the ‘E-News Strategic Technology ‘
‘ Advisory Panel’, a growing list of ‘
‘ professionals in a variety of disciplines ‘
‘ who have agreed to: ‘
‘ 1--Review each month’s issue in ‘
‘ advance of its release. ‘
‘ 2--Contribute year-round from their ‘
‘ respective areas of specialization. ‘
‘ 3--Accept your strategic systems ‘
‘ technology questions. (This is a free ‘
‘ EXTRAORDINARILY CONVENIENT, ‘
‘ multi-discipline resource available to you.) ‘
‘ Computer Hardware and Software ‘
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‘ ding Audit, Tax and General Business ‘
‘ Consulting by David Ljung, Principal at ‘
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‘ Managing Director of 2SS.Com. ‘
‘ Computer and printer rentals of all ‘
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‘ Corporate and professional skill training ‘
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‘ Michael, President of The Michael Consulting ‘
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