August 2008 Newsletterwww.954pc.com
Rob Alfonso, President 954pc Inc. Hello my fellow PC users, so here is issue number two of the newsletter. I am continuing to bring small helpful tips and interesting articles I find to you. I love PC Magazine. Every month, John Dvorak writes something new about something he can't stand. This month is no exception, enjoy his take on Microsoft. A reminder, last month I gave you some information on protecting your computers from power surges. I sincerely hope many of you acted on the tips. Here in Florida we get a ton of lightning and I see surge related damage every week. So go out and get a UPS power supply if you have not done so already.  This month's feature pick is Foremost Plumbing, located in Margate, Foremost Plumbing has been a client of ours for four years. I have worked in their operations many times and I personally know Mike the owner and I have used his services in my home. Their pricing is competitive, they do all work by the job, not by the hour and they have a large fleet of trucks that are fully stocked for any emergency. So give Foremost Plumbing a call at (954) 721-7828, or write the number on a sticky and put it on you fridge at home. You can also take a look at their website here. In case you don't know, we offer FREE computer repair estimates on desktops if you bring the Desktop PC into our shop and pick it up. We have three drop off locations in Broward county, get directions here. We also offer comprehensive Web Design, Web Development, and Web Hosting services. So if you need a new web site, or you need to give your existing site a face lift, give us a call so we can go over it with you. Rob Tip of the Month
Roger Field, Technician
If you're making insertions in a largish Word document and move the insertion point (the line cursor that you see when you click in an editable area) from one location to a distant spot in the document, there's an easy way to have Word move the insertion point back to where it was. Press Shift-F5 and the insertion point moves to the position of that last insertion. Repeated presses of that key combination will cycle the insertion point back to the previous four or so locations it was in before returning to where you first used the key combo.
Microsoft, the Spandex Granny PC Magazine September 2008 
John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine Early on, I was amused when Microsoft would tease the public about its next big thing. The company would describe the product as the coolest thing ever, and the public and the media would lap it up like kittens discovering cream. Microsoft was pretty good at controlling the media, controlling public relations controlling the public itself. It was the company's heyday. That game is over. Microsoft is no longer the cute high-school debutante adored by all the boys. Microsoft has turned middle-aged and can't face reality. It's in denial. And it's becoming obvious to everyone, considering the direction in which the company is headed, that the next step in its evolution will be the corporate equivalent of a Spandex granny. It won't be pretty. Even Bill Gates's boyish charms have worn thin. He still has the well-timed, out-of-the-blue smile, often appearing for no apparent reason. He still has the brain power that we all must respect. And, of course, he has the money. But he is trending more toward John D. Rockefeller in his waning years. His nemesis, Steve Jobs, will supplant him as an icon if not as the rich kid. Jobs will fail, too, once Bill is out of the picture, as Steve will have nobody to chide and needle. The public needs a leader for an industry now supporting billions of computers, but Microsoft is not that leader. It's a gigantic and often grotesque follower. This despite the fact that it has the most potential as a leader if someone there can actually lead. The downturn began when AOL made a fuss over Microsoft's attempt to put the MSN link on the start-up page of Windows and thus leave AOL in the lurch. AOL screamed bloody murder. Exactly what right did AOL have to assert itself like this on someone else's property? In the end, Microsoft relented and put an AOL link on the installation of Windows. Was Microsoft paid the kind of money Dell was paid to promote AOL ($40 per installation, I am told)? I doubt it. All I know is that Microsoft should have told AOL to shove off and do its own operating system. Historically, Microsoft has acted tough, intimidated the weak, then knuckled under to anyone who would stand up to it. In the 1980s, the company was notorious for keeping Nixonian lists regarding journalists on a whiteboard showing which were "Okay," "Sketchy," or "Needs work." Some believed that those in the last category would be the target of the company in an effort to get them fired. Nice try. I myself was on a Microsoft blacklist for some totally unknown reason and was not allowed any information about an early version of Windows, apparently because I was considered uncooperative. I only found out about this because of documents unearthed during the discovery process of the Comes v. Microsoft lawsuit in Iowa. Who knew? In fact, it made no difference in my approach. And I didn't get fired, in case you haven't noticed. I should note that threats from the company did manage to get me removed as a licensed columnist in PC Magazine Italy. In short, Microsoft has been a dirty player over the years, and this reputation has finally caught up with it. Playing dirty isn't necessarily ineffective or a bad idea. The point is that the effort should have been spent on making a better product rather than discrediting critics. This has been the problem ever since Windows 98, when Microsoft probably peaked as the company to be feared. After that it got arrogant and sloppy and dropped the ball. With Windows 98 and then the blockbuster follow-up Windows 2000, the company was on a roll with stunning advancements. XP is just a pretty Windows 2000. Vista is essentially the old hooker with a bad facelift and too much makeup. She also can't remember her customers. Microsoft cannot seem to arrive at this self-realization, and, instead, hopes to be the debutante forever. The situation is beginning to take on the feeling of a Tales from the Crypt story—both sad and creepy. So along comes Windows 7 to save the day. Let's hope the company doesn't actually call it Windows 7. If it does, we'll have a progression that goes more or less like this: Windows 3, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.5, Windows 95/98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7. What kind of progression is this? It starts with Windows 3, then wanders aimlessly, and ends up as Windows 7? How about Windows 2010? Ugh, no way. I suggest that Microsoft call it Windows Galaxy, and gets it over with. The next code base after that has to be called something other than Windows, please. Microsoft has seen better days, like an athlete at the end of a career. Some endings are good, some are bad. I hope Microsoft will find one of the good ways. Pretending to be a small, agile company after 20 years isn't working. 954pc Inc. |