January 2000 Meeting Report
by Howard L. Bonar
Secretary, Alaska Computer Society
The January 13, 2000 meeting of the Alaska Computer Society was held at the Anchorage Museum of Art starting at 7:10 pm.
Questions & Answers
The question of Windows refusing to shut-down came up again. It's worth repeating the basics covered last month Q & A and the month before in the presentation. Go into Control Panel, select "System", then select "Device Manager" tab. Shut off all of the suspected device drivers and reboot in safe mode (press F8 when "Starting Windows" is displayed) then turn them back on one at a time to find the bad one. (See November's meeting report.)
Further discussion pointed out several other solutions and possible sources of the problem. Using msconfig.exe and regedit.exe, one can go in and modify the configuration files. Be advised that you must carefully back up the files before you touch them and there are lots of ways to really mess things up.
Since the meeting, we have had additional input on the problem. It seems to be more widespread than we thought. Dawn Scott talked about her shut-down problem to Jim Kerr, the computer guy at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at UAA. He suggested turning off the Fast Shutdown option by running C:\Windows\system\msconfig.exe and then clicking the Advanced tab to display the setting. It worked for her. I checked the setting in Win98 2nd Edition on my Compaq at home. Fast shut down was already off. When I turned it on, Windows refused to shut down until I turned it back off. I think this is telling us something.
According to Dawn, additional information on many such subjects is available at www.NoWonder.com site, where she posed the question and requested an e-mail response. She got back a LONG response within about an hour, with references to all kinds of gawd-awful solutions, but it included the following info...
"...The Microsoft System Configuration utility includes an option to disable Fast Shutdown. If this option is unchecked in Windows 98 Second Edition, your system may reboot instead of shutting down. To resolve this issue, change the FastReboot value data from 1 to 0 in the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Shutdown. NOTE: When you apply the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement, which addresses shutdown issues, the Disable Fast Shutdown option is no longer listed on the Advanced tab in MSConfig. ...."
Dawn says to try the www.NoWonder.com site some time, it's pretty interesting and being supported closely by Microsoft. Log on and create your own account - it's free.
Howard reported that he ran out of memory in Windows 98 with 96MB installed with only one program running. Rebooting fixed the problem. This may be another undocumented feature of Win98. There are software add-ins available that will take control of the memory management and do a much better job than windows is doing. One such program mentioned was MemTurbo found at www.MemTurbo.com. Log on and down-load a trial copy for free.
Main Meeting
The regular meeting called to order at 7:15 pm. President Gene White opened the meeting by introducing the board members, SIG leaders, and new volunteers, Greg Smith our new publicity coordinator, and Tim Gelvin who will be taking over the newsletter editing job.
Mike Jacquot, SIG leader of the Clipper SIG and our new Webmaster, described the latest features on the ACS web site. The past year's meeting reports are now available plus a meeting calendar giving all the local computer related events. There is now a forum section where we can have up to four active forums on various topics. Also, he has activated a message board where questions and their answers can be posted.
Dawn Scott reported that the February 10th meeting will be at the Northern Lights Hotel located, of course, on Northern Lights Blvd. The presentation will be the convergence of Digital TV and Consumer Electronics products by Terry Shimek of Shimek's Audio and Video. It should be interesting and informative. Be sure and come as we are finally giving the copy of Microsoft Office 2000 premium edition as the door prize for members.
The March 9th meeting will be at the BP Building on Benson and Seward. Bill Matson of Memory Time, will speak to us about Computer Memory Issues, the types of memory and upgrading your computer memory.
The April 13th meeting presentation will be on Internet and E-Mail Policy Issues. It will be held at the BP Building, Benson and Seward. This could be very important for anyone doing company business on the Internet.
Ed Caldwell reported on the membership cards.
The door prize for the evening was a copy of Design Express provided by Micro Vision Development. The winner was determined by a birth date elimination process devised by Gene White. The winner was Keith Russell.
The Presentation
Hjalmar Syversen's philosophical look at the Internet. The power of the people and the Internet - what's happened, how it's happening, who's doing it, where it's going, and what it means to you.
Hjalmar started his professional career working on Wall Street in advertising. About ten years ago he got into business networking. He came to Alaska a few years ago and has been actively involved in networking. At Internet Alaska he served as Director of Consumer Markets. He left I.E. about one a year ago and worked as a consultant in Internet portal development. Recently he went to work for Alaska Communications Systems, (ACS) in their Internet Service Division, PTINet. His responsibilities are focused on network business development.
ACS, is a full-service, statewide telecommunications company. The ACS family includes ATU Telecommunications, PTI Communications, ATU Long Distance, MACtel, and PTI Net.
PTI Net offers a wide range of advanced services for its customers that range from dedicated connections, to domain hosting, and messaging services.
ACS/PTI-Net is in the process of re-engineering and rebuilding their entire state-wide Internet system. They are designing for high speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) with up to 1 meg capacities available at all their local exchanges. By November they should be operational with the new capabilities at most of their major centers.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
For several millenniums, business was conducted at the point of sale. Buyer and seller would meet and establish the conditions of the sale. Recently, this process has become much less personal as more and more business is conducted by mail-order from catalogs. A new movement is reversing that trend taking us back to a one-on-one interaction between the buyer and seller using the Internet. It will be interesting to watch how this progresses and what impact it will have overall in the way business is conducted.
We are traveling full circle in computer technology. It all started with main frames providing service to dumb terminals. As desktop computer power increased, more and more of the processes were downloaded to the desktop. But as hardware and software upgrade and support costs have skyrocketed, the trend is back to what is called "Thin Client" computing. The applications and critical files will again reside on a central server. The clients on the desktop will need minimum power and storage capacity.
With the increase in Internet connection speeds using Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) or cable modems, it is now entirely feasible for the ISPs to offer many new services. Among them is maintaining a mirror image of a client's server for a secure backup of his operating systems and files. PTI-Net is planning on offering networked Office 2000 suite for lease at about $4.00 per month. This service is expected to be available in all the major centers in the state within the year. This mode of operation will enable cyclic rental of applications. You can rent them when you need them. Upgrades will be automatic and instantaneous for all clients at the same time. Support costs for the clients will be minimized.
More and more companies are turning to the Internet to manage their business processes to increase efficiency and leverage their investment in technology. With the use of "Virtual Private Networks" it is possible to set up work group collaboration via computer portals. Message boards will speed the process of delivering company-wide messages in a timely fashion.
Check out these sites: www.SeattleLabs.com for web-based groupware, connectivity, and messaging software; www.MilleniumOffice.com for web-based E-mail software and communications tools for business
NEW SERVICES ON THE NET
It may not be necessary to charge for many of the new services being offered or planned as advertising could provide enough revenue to the provider to cover the costs.
Calendars
Yahoo Corp. group at www.Yahoo.com is now offering calendaring. Subscribers can establish a central calendar where their company's activities can be coordinated with ready access from anywhere in the world. (We assume a password protected access system.) Whenever a change is made to the calendar, clients would be notified by E-mail.
You can set up your own private calendar - you could include all of the special days in you family. You could be alerted by E-mail of any pending important event. You might even set up a plan where your wife would automatically be sent flowers on her birthday and your anniversary. Think of the peace of mind possible with that duty taken care of. This service could be sponsored by a company such as www.FlowersWhenYouNeedThem.com.
See www.eCal.com for another web-based calendaring, scheduling, project management site.
Secure Storage
Do you need secure storage of your important files? There are a number of servers online that will, for a small fee or for free, store them for you. If you want to save more MP3 files, Web pages, or other downloads, and are running out of disk space, you can now save as many as you want at www.i-drive.com. Sites like www.ZDNet.com, www.Epitonic.com or any web page that uses i-drive's Sideload™ or Clip, make it possible for you to save an unlimited amount of files straight to your i-drive. You can then access these files from anywhere.
E-commerce
Want to start up your own business on the Internet? www.iServe.com server offers from 25 to 45 mb of file storage where you can create your own Internet store front. A great opportunity to get into the business without having to invest in your own portal.
With the availability of secure servers such as that provided by www.DocSpace.com and secure virtual private networks, the need for elaborate encryption is eliminated. Certified E-mail can provide a fast secure alternative to snail mail.
Conferencing over the Internet
A number of sites are offering video and chat conferencing. www.PlaceWare.com offers free Internet conferencing and seminars conducted by experts. Intervu offers conferencing for from 20 to 20,000 at www.NetPodium.com. It can deliver your message live using streaming audio and video along with multimedia content. Real-time messaging and polling capabilities offer instant interactions with the audience. This same technology can and is being used for home schooling.
Music over the Net
There are now sites available specializing in providing centralized access to vast collections of recorded music of all types. Software such as Napster offer a new way of dealing with music online. You can locate and download your favorite music in MP3 format from one easy-to-use interface. If you are an artist who wants get your music published, it is now only a click away. If you want to know more, log on to www.Napster.com and get involved with the new world of music distribution.
Napster claims to support the rights of artists and copyright holders and seeks to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing copyright.
Pay Your Bills
It gets easier all the time - log on to www.PayPal.com and handle all kinds of money transactions on the Internet. You can pay bills, dun for past due accounts, etc.
Another site is www.PayMyBills.com. It offers risk free service with all transactions insured up to $100,000. You can set up programmed payment schedules. Take a long trip and be sure the bills get paid while you are gone. (By the way, you have to supply the money.)
RANDOM COMMENTS
Getting smart: On-line classes are being offered at Internet Alaska (http://home.alaska.net). Check it out - it may be useful. One series covers computer basics. The second covers programming in a number of the more common languages. Some classes are Microsoft Certified Professional Approved Study Guides that will help you prepare for Microsoft Certified Professional certification exams and the Microsoft Office User Specialist certification exams.
In answer to the question about any potential conflict of interest between PTI Net with ACS owning a share of Internet Alaska. ACS owns 29.5% of Internet Alaska and gets no preferential treatment.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) is expected to become the connection of choice for serious users. It offers the advantage of full time on-line connections with up to one meg bandwidth service. Charges vary for different speeds and it is priced for broad market acceptance. Check out www.xDSL.com. This may be more than you may really want to now about DSL technology.
A word of caution: If you have a direct full-time connection, having "Sharing" activated on folders is dangerous. Unless you have other protections in place, hackers could access your data and do mischief if not actual harm.
Some miscellaneous sites of interest:
| End of January 2000 Meeting Report | Page last updated 2000-08-21 |