Apr / May

Transcription

Apr / May

Amy Iverson
Micrografx Evangelist
“The Webtricity Tour”
Her First Canadian UG!
Tid Bits N Bytes
from the
Read Controlled Esc
and find out about CDDB!
April 16th, MBCI
Be there!
WINNIPEG PC USER GROUP, INC.
APCUG)
A Charter Member of the Association of PC User Groups (
VOLUME 16
NUMBER 8/9
APR/MAY, 1998
80XXX
1. Elections at the April General Meeting brought a DRAMATIC change to the executive of this User Group. Changes to the executive include: President — George
Bowman, Vice-President — Jon Phillips, Treasurer — Perry Exley, Group Buyer —
Greg McClure, Forum Coordinator — John Kesson, Advertising and Marketing Manager — Bert Gutzmann and Newsletter Co-editor — Shawn Zayac.
2. In April, we will have our FIRST visit from Micrografx. Their User Group “evangelist”, Amy Iverson, will be here to show us Webtricity 2.0, a new web page authoring
package. Please attend. Amy has come all the way from Texas and our User Group
is the only Canadian UG currently on her itinerary!
3. The April General Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 16th at 7 p.m. at the
Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, Jubilee Auditorium, 181 Riverton. The facility is wheelchair accessible.
4. The May General Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 21st at 7 p.m. at MBCI. At
press time, no definite presentation has been scheduled. Check the BBS or our
Website for this information.
5. The newsletter will be returning to HARD COPY in JUNE! (if all goes well...)
Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc.
Volume 16, Number 8/9, Page 2
April/May 1998
T
he Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed to provide those with an interest in
the IBM Personal Computer or compatible computer,
with an opportunity to come together and otherwise assist
one another in the use and understanding of these computers.
The group serves as a forum to exchange ideas, to discuss the
latest developments, and share information.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
This periodical is published monthly for the purpose of advising members of the various group activities and sharing of
information between other similar User Groups around the
world. It is mailed by bulk mail to all members of the group
and to all other User Groups who reciprocate with a copy of
their newsletter.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
The group is not affiliated with any commercial organization
and receives no financial support other than through membership dues and paid advertising in the periodical. The officers
are volunteers and only receive the following benefits: they
learn more about their computer; gain satisfaction from having helped others and meet many people with common interests and problems.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Group By-Laws describing the purpose of the group, can be
obtained from the Executive Secretary at no cost.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Membership Information can be obtained from the Membership Secretary, explaining the various benefits of membership.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Monthly Meetings are on the 3rd Thursday of each month.
The Executive meets on the 4th Thursday. Volunteers for
many activities are always needed.
WPCUG ONLINE sERVICES
Winnipeg PCUG BBS
Elected Officers for the election year ending Oct. 1998:
Home Phone
President
George Bowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 2658
Past President
Darryl Draeger?? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 7163
Vice Pres.
Jon Phillips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 9180
Treasurer
Perry Exley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Membership
Art Cavenagh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Exec. Sec.
Brian Lowe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 3561
Online Serv. Mgr.
Position Vacant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Newsletter
Paul Stephen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 2810
Shawn Zayac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Group-Buyer
Greg McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Advertising Mgr.
Bert Gutzmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 3357
Forum Coordinator John Kesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
(Please do not call executive members after 9 P.M.)
Home Phone
George Bowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 2658
Program
BBS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958-7280 (28.8 kbps)
Resource Centre “Voice Line” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 7228
Resource Centre “FAX Line” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 7229
*** N E W S L E T T E R ***
Editor
Co-editor
Home Phone
Paul Stephen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 2810
Shawn Zayac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
Res. Centre Mgr.
Bert Gutzmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 3357
Contributors To This Issue:
Neil Longmuir, Greg McClure, George Bowman, Steve Vincze,
Brian Lowe and Paul Stephen.
Deadline & Ad Sizes
All copy and all advertising MUST reach the newsletter editor no later
than the third Thursday of each month. A cheque or Money Order
MUST accompany ad copy. Classified ads MUST be submitted in typed
form and must not exceed four 42 character lines.
Ad copy MUST be ready to offset print and MUST fit:
Width
Full Page
Half Page
958-7280 28.8 kbps
Winnipeg PCUG Internet Service
Quarter Page
Eighth Page
958-7220 USR 33.6 kbps
-
Length
7.5"
7.5"
3.5"
3.5"
7.5"
3.5"
7.5"
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
10"
5"
10"
5"
2.5"
2.5"
1.25"
Advertising Rates
No of times(x)/12 issues
(Dollars)
COPYRIGHT POLICY & LIABILITY WAIVER
This
publication
is
(C)opyright,
Winnipeg
PC
User
Group,
Inc.,
Ad. Size
1998. The reprinting in another publication, of original material appearing in this newsletter must give credit to the Winnipeg PC User
Group Inc. and to any author indicated. Such material may be reprinted at no cost, but a copy of the publication in which it has
been reprinted must be provided at no cost to the Winnipeg. PC
User Group Inc. Some images copyright www.arttoday.com.
Full Page
Half Page
Business Card
Flyer Inserts
1x
50.00
25.00
10.00
225.00
3x
135.00
67.50
30.00
6x
240.00
120.00
60.00
12x
420.00
210.00
120.00
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author indicated (or
the
editor)
and
not
necessarily
of
the
group
or
Executive.
The
group, contributors, and the editor of this newsletter do not assume any liability for damages arising out of the publication or
non-publication of any advertisement article, or other item herein.
Classified
Members entitled to one FREE Ads 4 (42 Char.)
line ad. - non-commercial - per issue,
others $3.75 per 4 line ad. Extra lines $0.90
each.
April/May 1998
Contents Of This Issue
Mailing Addresses
General Correspondence:
Membership:
Attn: Exec. Sec.
Attn: Membership Secretary
Page
Advertisers
—
—
Winnipeg PC User Group Inc.
P.O.Box 3149
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 4E6
Items This Month
Periodical Exchange & Review Software:
Paul Stephen
401-1025 Grant Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3M 1Y4
Yearly Membership Dues:
Junior Membership(under age 18)
Adult Membership . . . . . . .
Associate Membership . . . . . .
Corporate Membershp . . . . . .
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Healey Visual Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pembina Village Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Winnipeg PC User Group ISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
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$49.95
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. $125
With an adult membership you may receive one copy of The
Computer Post and any member of your family (age 12 and
under) may attend the UG meetings. After an adult membership has been purchased, additional associate memberships
may be purchased which include a BBS ID and draw ticket..
A corporate membership entitles any member(s) of your organization to attend our general meetings. Ask Brian Lowe
for further details. (The benefits of each membership are my
“best guess”. All benefits are subject to executive approval.)
Periodical Submissions
The editor will accept almost anything you wish to contribute. Short
submissions may be in any form whatsoever.
Longer submissions should be made on 5.25/3.5" floppy disks or
uploaded to our BBS. Files must be zipped before uploaded. If you
use the BBS, send a message to Paul Stephen, and use the SA
(save attachment command) to attach the file to the message.
Other acceptable formats include: WordStar 3.x—5.0, WordPerfect
4.x—5.1, Word 4.0, XyWrite and ASCII. If you use one of the above
wordprocessors, DO NOT put blank lines between paragraphs or attempt to “format” your text!
Controlled Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Generic Internet Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The President’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Group Meeting Schedule/Coming Attractions . . . . . .
Adobe Photoshop 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Book Review of
Adobe Photoshop 4 Interactive Course . . . .
A Book Review of Photoshop 4 Artistry . . . . . . . . .
Internet Subscription Information . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Micrografx Launches “The Mind-Blowing Webtricity 2
Sneak Preview Tour ’98” . . . . . . . . . . .
Play’s New Internet Video Technology Enthusiastically
Received at SMPTE Conference . . . . . . . . . . .
Accessing the WPCUG Newsgroups . . . . . . . . . . .
Survey Pro for Windows and Net.collect . . . . . . . . .
Participate in the WPCUG Survey! . . . . . . . . . . .
Exclusive! Corel Corporation Announces
the PropanePC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Best of Tucows CD (Volume 2) . . . . . . . . . . .
The BUG Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Report on the February 1998 General Meeting . . . . . .
Minutes of the General Meeting Held on March 19, 1998
Want to Speed Along the Internet? “Catch the Wave ”
Winnipeg PCUG Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Minutes of the Board Meeting Held on March 26, 1998 .
The House That Bill Built . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Expiring Memberships for April and May, 1998 . . . . .
Internet Application Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Membership Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The Periodical
Toolbox
Who is this person?
Clue: Oprah wont eat
This periodical is produced using the following software and
hardware tools:
WordPerfect 5.1 (donated by the WordPerfect Corporation),
WordStar 4.0, Corel Publisher, HiJaak (donated by Inset Systems), Adobe PostScript Cartridge (donated by Adobe Systems), HP Series 4M LaserJet.
A special friend of this User Group is Corel Systems which
has provided us with CorelDRAW! and and an entire CDROM system. Thanks to its CEO, Dr. Michael Cowpland!
what hes selling......
April/May 1998
April/May 1998
Controlled Esc ape
✍ by Paul Stephen
[email protected]
A
programs. They are literally offering the complete Adobe prodUser Group’s success can usually be measured by the
uct line for $US99 (see Figure 1). I hope customs officers nail
degree of participation of its members. Have Y O U
anybody attempting to import such product.
done anything to assist our User Group?
There’s another site on the internet called musicmaker.com. The
There are lots of members with ideas, but these mean nothidea here is for you to create your own customized music CD.
ing if they are not turned into action.
You can hear a portion of an album cut and then add it to your
Take a look at our Forums — most are run by executive memown CD if you like it. The layout of the site is extremely well
bers, or by members who aldone. Unfortunately, the selecready are doing other club dution of titles isn’t that large,
ties.
but if these folks can get the
That $50 (OK, $49.95 — it
rights to more hit songs (and
seems somebody thought you
get the price down to about
might not renew if you had to
$9 a CD) they just might have
pay a nickel more) shouldn’t
a winner on their hands.
be thought of as your sole
If you “struck out” on guessc on trib ution to this User
ing the name of the boy on
Group.
Page 3 of the newsletter, well
I realize many of you are too
it’s Dave Thomas, founder of
busy to take on executive duWendy’s. I f y ou ’d like to
ties, but gosh, you certainly
know the full nutritional comcould bring a friend out to exposition of all the menu items
Figure 1. “Crooks” on the WWW!
perience a monthly meeting or
at his fast food restaurants,
even a Forum. And couldn’t a
head off to wendys.com and
few of you “retirees” band together and dispense the coffee at
enter the “kitchen” door.
meetings just once a month? I’m tired of asking for this sort of
Fitness guru, Richard Simmons, has a website at richardsimhelp — as a member of this User Group it should be your duty
mons.com (what else?). Believe it or not he has a new message
to pitch in and help with various events — be it at General
each day for his “followers”. He’s got a set of newsgroups for
Meetings, Forums or special events such as Computer Expo.
you folks wanting support to lose those extra pounds too.
You will discover that by actively participating in at least one
Being an entrepreneur, he has just added a “premium” service
User Group activity you will double the value of your memberwhich costs a whopping $US9.95/month and features 24 hour
ship.
chat areas, the ability to create web pages at his site, and the
Web Entrepreneurs
ability to have an “@richardsimmons.com” e-mail address. I
don’t know about you but I think I’ve got better ways of
One of my favorite pastimes is just entering names into the my
spending US$120 each year. Mr. Simmons gives the impression
browser’s location box. The other day I plunked in “mervgrifthat he’ll be joining in web chats, so basically you are paying
fin” with no result. I then reduced that to “merv” and found
the “dough” to “in theory” get closer to him. When he implethat indeed Merv Griffin has his own web page that lists the
mented his new “clubhouse”, there were a number of nasty
hotels he owns and a description of his latest game show creamessages posted on his newsgroups. The next day Richard intion, “Click”. There’s a feedback form on the website asking
formed his “following” that setting up his website cost in exfor feedback about this gameshow and the site in general. So I
cess of $US300,000!
commented it would be nice to be able to send mail to “Merv”.
Normally I get no answer at all from filling out these forms,
Browser Compatability?
but this time a reply came within several hours. All I had to do
Lately, I’ve filled in a few forms on websites, submitted my
was e-mail this individual (Merv’s webmaster) and he’d foranswer and gotten back a message like “Your browser has sent
ward the message to Merv.
a message this server could not understand”. On other occaI decided to do a search for “Merv Griffin” and ended up at a
sions, I never get “acceptance” of the form I’ve sent off. These
website called “Vannawhite”. It appears some Canuck has regproblems seem to occur with Netscape Navigator but not with
istered the name “vannawhite.com” and “mervgriffin.com” and
Internet Explorer. Is this sort of thing going to force users to
is offering them up for sale for just $US2500! Bill Gates reswitch to the Microsoft product?
ports that billgates.com is available for sale for just $US
Music CDs and the Net
1,000,000!
Quite a few issues ago I wondered “out loud” in this column if
And the pirates are getting really bold. There’s one site (located
there might be a way to get textual track information on music
in Russia) that offers CD ROMs of various pirated software
April/May 1998
standard! If you are planning
CDs from the Internet. As
to purchase one of these
usual in this user group, I
higher speed modems, buy a
got ZERO replies.
brand name! If your ISP
Never mind, super sleuth
now supports 56K, find out
Paul has solved the problem
when they will be upgrading
and presents it here for those
their modem pool to the v.90
who don’t already know that
standard. If that might be deall this info is available on
layed, make sure you purthe Internet — isn’t everychase a modem that supports
thing? Ya just gotta find it!
both the v.90 standard and
First off, there is a database
the protocol currently used
at cddb.com that contains
by your ISP [x2 (US Robotmountains of track info on
ics — 3com.com) o r kf le x
CDs. The best way to access
(Hayes — hayes.com)]. More
that data is through a “front
inf or mation on the v.90
end” program that will autostandard can be obtained at
matically search the CDDB
v90.com. If you want to read
d atabase. If you’ve got
an interesting article on
Figure 2. MyCDplayer and CDDB.COM -- WOW!
Win31, there are two proKflex vs x2 technology, head
grams you can download.
off to:
One is Catraxx. A link to this program can be found on the
http://www.boardwatch.com/mag/98/mar/bwm24.html.
CDDB website. It’s got a many more “bells and whistles” than
On Telephone Solicitations
I need, and I found its interface to be confusing — and for
some reason I had problems “linking” its database to my CD
I must get 5 telephone calls a week from some organization or
player. Electronic registration is $US39. So I hunted around
another needing money. The other day I got a call from a resome more and found a program with the same CDDB access
search firm conducting a survey — the caller informed me they
and that worked more to my liking. This one is called
weren’t selling me anything either. So I agreed to participate.
MyCDplayer (16 and 32 bit versions are available). It is a
“Are you between 18 and 24, 25 and 35....etc.” She finally
GEM! Not only do you get a CD player, but also a calendar
reached my age range. “Oh, sorry Sir, we aren’t polling that
and world time clock program. An alarm can be set to trigger a
group”. It’s nice to know when you aren’t needed! <VVBG>
message or start up your CD too. You can download it from
WPCUG Newsgroups
http://www.fix.net/~wjohn. Registration is just $US12.95! Tell
For some reason I wasn’t able to read the WPCUG newsgroups
Wolfgang I sent you! [Tip: If you use ZipMagic, add
(even though I have a WPCUG account). Currently only
MYCD.EXE to the list of apps that ZM sees as files.]
WPCUG ISP members can read and write to them. I can asIf you’ve got Win95, a program out there called Audiograbber
sure you I’ve been kicking up some dust to open them up to
will allow you to easily create disk-based copies of your music
ALL of you, so if you don’t subscribe to the User Group ISP
CDs. Hike off to: http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ to get
and want access to these newsgroups, stand up at a General
that. All the programs I have mentioned support access to
Meeting and ASK for rights to this area!
cddb.com.
For those of you who are members of the WPCUG ISP service
Now the magic begins. The program reads header info off your
and still haven’t figured out how to access these local newsCD, sends it to the CDDB database and almost instantly you
groups read the article on Page 17.
are sent back all the tracks (track title and sometimes the artist
In any event, from some newsgroup posts it appears some of
if you’ve got a hit compilation of various artists) of the CD in
you got a chuckle out of the way the Copperfield’s ad is (was)
your drive.
displayed. It is a bit weird isn’t it? I created it — so what do
I didn’t really believe this would work — I had Volume 2 of a
you expect? <VVBG> It got me thinking that Adobe should
2 disk CD compilation called “Growin’ Up Too Fast” in my
allow for “animated” PDF pages, similar to animated GIFs on
drive which features all the gal singers of the 60’s — ShangriHTML web pages. I’ve submitted my “idea” to the research
Las, Dusty Springfield, Diane Renay, etc. Did the lookup
department at Adobe.
work? You betcha!
ADSL vs Cable
Now this beats having to type all that info in! I knew there had
I’ve been looking at these two new methods of Internet access
to be a better way. So if you’ve got an extensive CD collection,
and it seem to me that cable is going to win unless MTS drops
start cataloging it the easy way! I think this tip is worth your
its prices substantially.
$50 membership fee! If your “friend” doesn’t know about this
Let’s look at the numbers. First cable. Videon charges $100 for
nifty Internet feature, what an excellent “bar bet”! Wager that
setup (that includes an Ethernet adapter for your computer),
you can tell him/her what’s on a music CD of his/her choice
and $49.95/month (based on a yearly contract) or $54.95 on a
without looking at it or playing it! Then, of course, “pray” that
month-by-month basis. No ISP is needed with cable, and your
it’s in the CDDB database! <VVBG>
phone is free for voice calls.
The v.90 56K Standard
From the info posted on Escape’s website, you really get hit
Finally the modem manufacturers have agreed on the 56K
April/May 1998
and removing the flyers. After the strike was settled, the flyers
with charges, both from the telephone company and the ISP if
always seemed to be “stay put”.
you go the ADSL route. You pay MTS $100 for setup, you pay
an ISP $95 for a card, cable and “vizit”,
Anyway, when I opened up my Sunday
then you pay MTS $22.95 for the ADSL
paper on March 8th of this year — no
line per month, $22 per month for the
flyer. I get up late on Sunday, so it was too
ADSL modem lease, and an additional
late to phone for delivery of a replacement
$34.95 a month to an ISP for the 1500K
paper.
connection — which has a 1 GB download
I decided to find out “once and for all” if
cap. Add all these up and you’ll see ADSL
somebody was “stealing” my flyers. I
is not cheap!
stayed up till 5 a.m. on March 15th waitSo from this info, cable Internet access aping for the paper to “arrive”. I replaced the
pears to be a bit more affordable than
NEW Superstore flyers with OLD ones.
ADSL. The only way ADSL will compete
And... just as a check I placed a tiny piece
with cable is if a flat $30/month charge covof paper on top of the newspaper.
ering both MTS and ISP charges can be imWhen I opened my apartment door on
plemented. Otherwise, it’s a dead duck.
Sunday afternoon, that little piece of paper
Steve Vincze is currently using Videon’s
wasn’t where I put it! But the OLD flyers
service. See his article in this issue on his
were still inside. I guess the “thief” must
experiences with cable Internet access.
have really been boggled! Now if only I
had a video camera monitoring the activity
You can find out if your area is “Internetcable ready” by going to videonwave.com.
Videonwave and Postal Code R3M in front of my apartment door.....
Quote of the Month
(Green is Internet Ready)
Free Tax Preparation Software
Kim Komando: “The way things look
Just in case some of you don’t read the
now, your biggest concern with the Year 2000 won’t be how
Free Press’s Computer page, you can get free Windows 95 tax
your computer handles the dates. It will be which high-speed
preparation software from: cooltax.com.
Internet access provider you want to use.”
It’s a SMALL World
Do YOU Read This Newsletter?
You may recall that last year I wrote about the Warner BrothIf you read our electronic newsletter, I would
ers Studio Tour. Well, in February, Rosie O’Donnell did her
very much appreciate knowing so. Please e-mail
show from Los Angeles in a studio on the WB lot. At the top of
me at: [email protected].
her show, an audience member always announces the list of
guests.
One day I happened to be watching the program and the individual in charge of the introductions looked very familiar. I’ve
seen this fellow before, I thought. I then noticed he was wearing a shirt with the “WB” logo. Now the only person I ever met
at WB was the fellow who took us around on a tour of the
studio. As I mentioned previously, the WB tour is not like the
These addresses will always put you in touch with the curUniversal Studios Tour — on the WB tour a small group of
rent person in charge of various UG activities.
about 15 people is taken throughout the entire studio!
In any event, Rosie came out and asked him what he did at
Internet Address
Current Recipient
WB. He stated that he was in charge of studio tours and had
[email protected]
George Bowman
been in that position since 1966 or so. He had given Barbara
[email protected]
Darryl Draeger
Streisand a personal tour of the lot when she made her first
[email protected]
Jon Phillips
picture there. Like I said — it’s a SMALL world and I guess I
[email protected]
Brian Lowe
have a good memory (I took the tour in the mid 70’s)!
[email protected]
Perry Exley
And Now For Something COMPLETELY Different!
[email protected] Art Cavenagh
[email protected] Bert Gutzmann
Yours truly “shops” (well a nice lady called Kathy does it for
[email protected] Greg McClure
me) at Superstore. Naturally I want to read their advertising
[email protected]
Paul Stephen
flyers in Sunday’s Free Press for the weekly specials. A year or
[email protected]
Shawn Zayac
so ago, I opened up the paper and there was no advertising
[email protected]
VACANT
supplement from my food store. Hmm. Did they stop [email protected]
John Kesson
ing? A week later, again — no flyer.
[email protected]
Greg McClure
Out of curiousity, I phoned the Free Press and had them deliver
[email protected]
Bert Gutzmann
me another paper. Of course, the Superstore flyer was inside.
These events occured during the strike at the grocery chain so I
thought there might be a disgruntled employee going around
Paul
Generic Internet Exec Addresses
April/May 1998
The President’s Report
W
✍ by George Bowman, Winnipeg PC User Group
to show up. More importantly go out and recruit
ell this first report is not a report, because
for the Group. We need more people — more peonothing has happened between my elecple equals more money for the Group to get things
tion at the monthly meeting on March
done with, more people from which volunteers for
26th and today. Other than the fact that I came
Group activities can be found. So do your part.
down with a severe cold on my chest the following morning and have spent all of Friday and SatI was approached by a member whom I will be
urday in bed. However one of the first e-mails I
contacting today or tomorrow concerning a differreceived was from Paul Stephen reminding me in
ent venue for our monthly meetings. I hope that
no uncertain terms [EN: <HAR>] that he exarrangements can be made soonest as any reducpected a report from the President, sooner rather
tion in our monthly costs, of which the meeting
than later.
hall and the Resource Centre are biggest monthly
expenses, will only be to the good.
Again, let me thank the membership for placing
their confidence in me. I will, to the best of my
The Group sponsors Forums at which members,
ability, do everything that I can to ensure that this
whether new to computing or experienced users
confidence has not been misplaced. As I have
and meets with other like-minded individuals to
publicly stated I intend that every member in
learn, discuss ramifications of
good standing receive a copy
computers generally from simof each monthly financial
ple to complex software and
statement, plus a copy of each
hardware. One of the major
monthly general meeting’s
“..let me thank the membership for
Forums is the Drop In, Hang
minutes, and also, and probplacing their confidence in me. I will, to Out Forum where members
ably more importantly, a copy
can bring in their hardware
of the minutes of each monthly the best of my ability, do everything that and software and receive help,
Board of Director’s meeting.
I can to ensure that this confidence has aid and assistance in getting
their hardware and software to
I’m assuming that the rumours
not been misplaced.”
cooperate so that the user is in
that seemed to abound on the
control of his machine rather
BBS on my return from vacathan the other way about. A
tion on March 2nd was due to
very popular forum, it takes
the fact that none of this inforplace on every Saturday of the
mation was being made availmonth except the second one.
able to the membership at
“One of my first priorities will be to
It has become custom to break
large.
for lunch at the Pembina Vilhave brought before the Board at its
One of my first priorities will
lage Restaurant (just back up
be to have brought before the
first meeting (March 26th) is a
the lane on Pembina), where
Board at its first meeting
o n p re sen tatio n o f y our
resumption of a printed,
(March 26th) is a resumption
WPCUG membership card
of a printed, mailed-out-tomailed-out-to-members newsletter.”
one receives a 10% discount
members newsletter. If you are
on one’s bill.
reading this in the first copy of
In closing of this brief and
the newsletter then I guess this
preliminary report I congratuproposal has been a success.
late all the successful board
I realize that a number of you
position candidates as well as
consider the monthly meetings
to be boring, meaning I take it, “Remember there is the Annual General those who were not successful
Meeting in October at which time ALL this time around.
that you expect to see major
vendors such as IBM, Mithe Board positions will again be open Remember there is the Annual
General Meeting in October at
crosoft, etc. to be in attenfor nominations.”
which time all the Board posidance. If you’d like to see this
tions will again be open for
change, then it’s really up to
nominations.
you. The major vendors have
told all PC User Groups that they need to have a guaranteed
minimum attendance at any meeting of 125 at any meeting at
which a vendor will make a presentation. So contact those people who have been lax about attending meetings and urge them
April/May 1998
Group Meeting Schedule
Regular meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday (2nd Thursday
is charged for non-members which includes a copy of our lat-
in December!) of each month. Mark your calendar now so you
est newsletter (while supplies last).
dont miss any of the great sessions that will be happening
through all of 1997-1998.
The General Meeting format is as follows:
Meetings are held in the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Insti-
6:30 p.m.
Doors open get acquainted
tute Jubilee Auditorium located at 181 Riverton Avenue.
7:15 p.m.
MAIN PRESENTATION!!!
8:30 p.m.
Break
8:50 p.m.
Questions/Answers, Mini-SIGs
9:30 p.m.
Adjourn
Free parking for 150 cars and lots of on street parking.
Ramp access for wheelchairs. Call any member of the executive for more information.
Members attend general meetings at no cost, while a $5 fee
COMING ATTRACTIONS
May/June: Member demos of Mijenix products, etc.
July: The PowerQuest Corporation — Partition Magic, etc.!
Use our group’s main telephone number at 958-7228 to confirm meeting presentations. (You need a touch-tone phone as
there are now 3 separate message areas.)
Attending meetings can pay big dividends as you never know
when a vendor will offer a hot deal on a piece of software
that is good for “that night only”.
Send e-mail to [email protected] for suggestions on
vendor presentations.
Have you always wanted to see a certain piece of software or
hardware? Maybe you’d like the rep of a hard disk company to
explain the “inards” ot that disk drive you’re using.. or how
does that inkjet printer work?
For those of you that missed out on the REAL DEALS offered by Corel, Intuit and Cantax at recent meetings, CRY!
April/May 1998
Adobe Photoshop 4.0
“ The Photographer’s Dream Darkroom”
✍ by Neil Longmuir, Winnipeg PCUG
Introduction
dobe Photoshop
is without reservation the best
program to design and
edit continuous tone
photographic images.
I t is the ph oto grapher ’s dream darkroom without all the
chemicals and environmental concerns of
a conventional darkr oo m. With Adobe
Photoshop, yo u can
add someone else’s
head to another person’s body, change the
shoes on someone’s
feet, change the colors, place yourself in
f ro nt of the Eiffel
Tower, even though
you have never visited
Paris, etc.
Hardware Requirements
A
The Adobe
• An Intel 80486, Pentium, Pentium Pro or higher processor
• Microsoft Windows 3.1 with MS-DOS 5 or higher, Windows 95, or Windows NT 3.5.1 or higher
• At least 16 MB of RAM
• A hard disk with at least 25 MB of free disk space
• An 8-bit (256-color) video card
• A mouse or other compatible pointing device
• A CD-ROM drive and a sound card (required to use the
Adobe Photoshop CD-ROM set)
For the best performance, Adobe Systems recommends the following hardware and software:
• A Pentium or Pentium Pro processor
• Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.5.1 or later
• At least 32 MB of RAM
• A 24-bit (millions of color) video card
• A PostScript printer
• Acceleration products bearing the Adobe charged logo
Like any Windows program, Adobe Photoshop performance improves with more RAM, faster CPUs and faster and larger hard
disks.
The Adobe Photoshop Package Contents
The Adobe Photoshop software package includes the following
software and documentation:
The Adobe Photoshop
CD-ROM set consisting of the application
and the tutorial CDROM discs.
The Adobe Photoshop
Getting Started manual
The Adobe Photoshop
User Guide
The Adobe Photoshop
quick reference card
The application CDROM contains not
only the Adobe Photoshop 4 application
but also a number of
plug-in modules, the
Adobe Photoshop tutorial files, Adobe
Type Manager and
Acrobat Tools
numerous sample
files. Also included
are many third party demonstration filters and plug-ins; Apple’s
QuickTime software; the Adobe Technical Library in Acrobat
PDF format; some stock art images; demo versions of other
Adobe applications; the Adobe Acrobat reader; and an overview of Adobe Photoshop.
The tutorial CD-ROM contains a series of QuickTime movies
showing you how to use the different features of Adobe Photoshop. The topics covered in the tutorial are: What’s new in
Adobe Photoshop 4; A tour of Adobe Photoshop 4; Exporting
files; Graphic files; How to use Masks; Paint; How to retouch
photographs; How to select elements of an image; Creating
shadows; and the shutter.
The Test Hardware System
Adobe Photoshop 4 was run on the following hardware configuration: A Pentium 133 MHz processor with 32 MB of
RAM; a 1.6 gig hard drive; A ZIP drive; An ATI Graphics Pro
video card with 2 MB of Video RAM; a 1X Creative Labs
CD-ROM; and a UMAX Astra 1200S scanner.
Key Features
The key features of Adobe Photoshop 4 can be broken down
into the following categories: User Interface enhancements;
Layers; Automation; Painting Tools; Selection Tools; Filters;
Transformations; Advanced color-correction tools; Professional
color separations; On-screen CMYK editing; Color support;
Advanced PostScript support; Digital watermarking; and file-
format and cross-platform compatibility.
Adobe Photoshop 4 has a great toolbox that includes brush,
pencil and airbrush that come in a variety of sizes. Add to these
basic tools add the professional photography tools to dodge and
burn in an area of a image, add or remove color saturation, add
type or other elements, or do sophisticated retouching with
tools that let you smudge, sharpen and blur. I will discuss these
tools in more detail later on.
Introduction
After installing the software, I went directly to the Adobe Photoshop 4 tutorial CD and played each of the movies. I have not
used any previous version of Photoshop, so this was a new and
challenging product. The old 1X Creative Labs CD worked
remarkably well with the movies. Only the tutorial on Masks
showed signs of dropping words here and there. Not to shabby
for an 8 year old 1x CD-ROM. I watched the tutorials several
times to get a feel for how the various features worked. However, I would recommend one of the faster modern CD-ROMs.
The concept of the movies is good, but if you have not used the
software before, you really have to concentrate and get into the
manual.
The Adobe Photoshop 4.0 User Guide is very good. Adobe has
learned from the mistakes others have made before them. They
have not assumed that the user knows how to use a feature.
The first chapter of the User manual is A Quick Tour of Adobe
Photoshop. For anyone using Photoshop for the first time, reading and doing the hands-on tutorial is a must. The material is
well written and the step-by-step instructions are easy to follow.
This chapter makes use of three images which are used to build
a final image using may of the basic features of Adobe Photoshop; and gets the user into using Photoshop right away. It
also gives you a indication of the power of Adobe Photoshop.
The second chapter takes you the meat and potatoes of Adobe
Photoshop 4, the work area and basic parts of Photoshop; the
menu bar; the toolbox; the floating palettes; and the document
window. The Adobe Photoshop screen is shown on the previous
page.
Using Adobe Photoshop
After working on and off with the software for several weeks, I
started to get the hang of doing things. My biggest problem was
remembering where and exactly what tools I wanted to use.
One of the first projects I tackled was to add some names to a
group photo I had taken earlier. First, I will tell you how it is
done without the benefit of a digital darkroom. If you happen to
have visited a restaurant like Applebee’s, you will notice there
are various sport team photos on the walls. These photos have
the team name, the player’s names, and possibly the sponsor’s
name etc. on the photo. In most cases these pictures would be
taken with either a 2 1/4" camera such as a Hassleblad or a 4x5
camera. You may ask, why not do this on 35 mm. Negative size
is the reason. It is much easier to see and work with a larger
negative. While you can do it with 35mm, the results of using a
larger negative are generally better. I say generally better because it can be done with 35mm, but it requires a lot of skill
and a dust free environment. More on this later.
Then all the names and other information would be put on
April/May 1998
standard paper leaving the middle area clear for the photo. This
text page would then be photographed on to what is called a
“line” negative. A line negative can only be one of two colors
clear or black. The text is black so that it will print white when
it is “sandwiched” together with the team photo negative. This
“sandwiched” negative is then sent to your favorite photo lab
for processing. The end result is a high quality print that is a
great keepsake.
The same process can be accomplished easily in Adobe Photoshop and the resulting prints rival prints done by a custom
photo lab. Digital images can be taken with a digital camera, or
they can be taken with a conventional film camera and the converted to a digital image using a scanner. Adobe Photoshop can
import images directly from your scanner. There are three types
of scanners; a drum scanner, the best and very expensive; the
flatbed reflective scanner; and the slide/negative scanner.
There are three steps in digital photography: importing (scanning) the image into the computer either from a print, slide or a
negative; working with the image in Adobe Photoshop; and finally, sending the manipulated image to a output device such as
a printer or a film recorder to make a new negative. The task
here was to get this team photo into the computer, add the
names and produce 24 5" x 7" prints. First, I scanned the image
from a high quality print at 300 dpi with a final image size of
5" x 7". The resulting file was 24.5 megabytes. Be sure to
check out the March/April 1998 PC Photo (Your Guide to Better Photography Using Computers) for the ABC’s of resolution
and scanning. It’s very informative and helpful.
Just like in the conventional method of “sandwiching” two
negatives together, we do exactly the same thing in Adobe Photoshop. The only difference is that the “line” negative is a separate transparent layer over top of the original image. It is on
this layer that we type in our text selecting the font, font size
and color. Thus, the only part of this transparent layer that covers the original image is the text we typed in. However, Adobe
Photoshop has one huge advantage over doing things with the
conventional original negative and the text line negative. Adobe
Photoshop lets you move, size and place the text exactly where
you want it, the text can even be rotated. When you have everything exactly where you want, you can “combine or flatten” all
the layers on to the original image. The following example
shows that text can be placed anywhere on the screen and that
the text can be rotated.
A second problem that generally occurs when photographing
teams or family gatherings, is that there will be at least one
person who will be looking away from the camera, have their
eyes closed, or will not look very faltering. With Adobe Photoshop you can combine parts of another image with another
image giving to create an outstanding resulting image. While
this can be done using conventional film methods, it requires a
very skilled technician and because the technician is working
on the original negative, and any mistakes are permanent.
What other problems does the photographer want to fix? Some
of the problems that photographers run into are: flecks of dust
on the final print; the color balance just isn’t right; there is redeye in one person; there’s a scratch on a negative; or during
processing one roll of negatives touches another roll. With
Adobe Photoshop you can correct all of these problems and still
deliver very nice prints.
Now getting back to that 24.5 megabyte team photo; how do
you get the final prints? Can I just print it on my Inkjet printer
or do I need to do something else? The answer is yes you can
print it on your Inkjet printer if you use photo quality paper.
Next, you ask, how good is the print? Surprisingly, prints from
Inkjet printers are very good, especially if the print size is 5" x
7" or smaller. The real problem is not the inkjet printer itself,
but cost. The cost of 15 sheets of Epson Photo Quality glossy
film is $39.00. So what are the choices? The photographer has
several choices: save the file to Zip disk and take it to his photolab and have prints made; or have the photolab sent the file to
a film recorder and have a negative made. Then the photolab
would make the prints in their lab. What I did with this team
photo was send it to a film recorder that had a 35 mm digital
back and got a new negative. The end result was spectacular.
Retouching, To Alter or Not to Alter, That is the Question?
The altering of photos no doubt has raised an eyebrow or two.
You say, I don’t like it than an image has been altered? Think
about the issue, because I going to ask you how you would feel
if you were accused in a court of law of lying and then have it
come out 3 years later that you were not! I said earlier that one
of the problems photographers run into is dust marks. Have you
looked at any of your old black and white photos? Have they
been retouched? My guess the answer to that question is yes,
but without examining the print under magnification the naked
eye can not see it. This was the case in with some of my old
family black and white photos, they all had been “spotted.”
Ansel Adams was one of the greatest landscape photographers
ever. Were his prints altered? Your first reaction is to say no.
The truth of the matter is that they were. How? When you
dodge or burn in an area of a print, the original image is altered. Adobe Photoshop provides the photographer with the
tools to burn in areas of a photo, dodge areas of a photo, intensify the colors of a photo, remove something from a photo that
the photographer did not see when the original image was
taken. For example, take the wild life photographer who has a
fabulous image of a rare humming bird taken in Manitoba, except that there is a part of a twig in front of the humming bird.
Does he remove the twig or not; if he does remove the twig,
April/May 1998
does he have to say so? These are some of the issues facing the
photographer of today. When a photo is manipulated, it gives
the creator a chance to show some alternative ways of showing
that image.
Photoshop Advantages
During the process of scanning in an image, the photographer
can crop it exactly the same way he could in the conventional
darkroom. However, Adobe Photoshop gives the photographer
some additional tools (i.e. the lasso, sponge, the rubber stamp
cloning tool, etc.) that are easier to work with. After doing the
initial cropping while scanning in the photo, the photographer
can examine it carefully and alter the over all color correction
and tone or correct only certain areas of the image. Think of an
example of restoring an old family photo: there could be cracks
in the print; it may be starting to fade; how about dust marks on
the original print. All of these problems can be handled by
Adobe Photoshop. Using the clone tools, the lasso and various
filters, all of these problems can be corrected. Entire chapters
have been written in books describing in detail how to do this.
For further information on this subject see Adobe Photoshop 4
Interactive Course by Shelly London, Chapter 10, Photo Retouching. Restoration photography is an art all by itself. So far,
I have talked mostly about black and white photos, but the
same corrections can be made to color images. Adobe Photoshop allows the photographer to apply sepia-tones to a black
and white image. Sepia tones is the process used to colorize
gray scale images. These tools are very powerful for retouching
images.
Recently, I did a portrait of a young lady who wears glasses.
While we made every effort to avoid glare on the glasses we
got a reflection we didn’t want. This was easily corrected, a
new negative was made. The only change made to the original
image was to remove the glare where the flash hit the glasses.
Before “Touchup”
After “Touchup”
Conclusion — Beyond Photoshop
So far I have only discussed Adobe Photoshop from the view
point of a photographer. Adobe Photoshop is a powerful tool
for the graphic artist. However, I will be honest with you, I’m
not a graphic artist, but I have seen work that graphic artists
have done with Adobe Photoshop and the work was outstand-
April/May 1998
ing. The graphic artist can combine elements from vector files
created by Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. These resulting
files can be used on the web or layout, depending on what the
original intent of the image was. One thing is for sure, there are
many ways to accomplish changes in an image in Adobe Photoshop, but practice is the only sure way to learn this product.
It’s a great product! There is no doubt that more I use and read
books, take courses and workshops on Adobe Photoshop, the
more proficient I will be with the program. If you don’t need
the full version of Adobe Photoshop, be sure to check out
Adobe Photoshop LE (Lite) or Adobe Photo Deluxe Version 2.0.
Both products are excellent and every user will eventually find
a use for one of them. Regardless of the Adobe product you
purchase, you won’t be disappointed. Your dream digital
darkroom is a reality now, go for it with Adobe Photoshop
4.0!
Digital Photography — The Future
Well, here we are in the year 2007. I’m now taking pictures
with my infamous Nikon F10.1b digital/film camera. Remember, I’m using F10.1b and not F10.0. We all know that *.0 releases are contain “bugs.” What are the camera features? A
great lightweight and fast 20-400mm f2 lens; a 250 watt second
SBF10.1b electronic flash unit; digital camera resolution of
3600 dpi both vertically and horizontally; both film and digital
capability built in; a built-in data satellite link to upload and
download information in the field without any cables either to
your home computer or to your editor’s desk; 250 high quality
images per disk; a special cable that can be connect directly to
your super PrintMaster F10.1b color printer; prints up to 16" x
20" can be printed on your super PrintMaster F10.1b printer in
15 minutes; for large quantities of prints, you will be able to
upload your image directly to your favorite photolab which has
a super high speed version of your PrintMaster F10.1b and all
billing will be done directly like pre-authorized cheques. When
you get home, you will be able to first edit and retouch the
images in Adobe Photoshop 10 and then transfer the images to
a Photo CD directly. For the photographer on assignment in the
wilds of the Amazon, his images can be sent directly to his
editor’s desk without missing a beat; or while the newspaper is
in final preparation for printing, your staff photographer is out
on the streets and see an exciting story unfolding. He takes
some great images; uploads them directly to the editor’s desk
and they make the morning paper with an exclusive story. The
possibilities are endless, now its up to your imagination and
creativity. One can only dream, but one thing is for sure, the
best has yet to come! Digital imaging will only get better!
Product:
Company:
Adobe Photoshop 4.01
Adobe Systems Inc.
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704-USA
WWW:
http://www.adobe.com
Rating:
★★★★★
Street Price: $CAN819.99, Future Shop, Winnipeg, MB
A Book Review of
Adobe Photoshop 4 Interactive Course
Introduction
he Waite Group Press have done it again. If you want
to learn how to use the basics of Adobe Photoshop 4,
then this is the book! To put it simply, it is an outstanding teaching tool. The book is written by Sherry London, a
graphic artist who has used Adobe Photoshop since version 1
appeared in 1989. This book sets a whole new standard in
teaching and training. Its thorough and provides hands-on exercises. The material covered in the book is from beginner to
intermediate level.
Currently I’m learning to use Adobe Photoshop 4 and I really
recommend this book if you want to learn Photoshop. The instructions are clear and the hands-on, step by step instructions
are showing me the power of the Adobe product.
The book comes with a CD-ROM which contains a limited
function version of Photoshop 4 and all the files to be used in
the hands-on exercises. Thus you will be able to learn the basics of the program before you buy. Both the Mac and Windows versions of the software are included. As well as the limited version of Photoshop 4, demo versions of a number of
add-in products are included too. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer
3 is included as well.
T
The limited function version of Photoshop will give you an
idea what the program can do, but you will not be able to
everything. Remember it’s only a limited function version, but
it is sufficient to teach you the basics.
The eZone
I said the book set a new standard in teaching in training. The
book uses a unique book/Web course approach. It’s new, different and best of all, it works.
Set your favorite browser to http://www.waite.com/ezone. This
will take you to the eZone which is a service that will provide
you help with you through out the book. If you’re having problems with any particular lesson or subject, “all you have to do
is ask an online mentor, a live expert in the subject your studying. A mailing list lets you exchange ideas and hints with others
taking the same course. A resource page links you to the hottest
related Web sites and a monthly newsletter keeps you up to
date with eZone enhancements and industry developments.”
But this is not all. You can take quizzes on each of the lessons
online, receive a grade immediately and know you overall
grade in the course. When you’re finished and passed the
course (70%), you will be able to print a personalized certifi-
April/May 1998
cate of completion. If you don’t like the minimum passing grade
default of 70%, you can set your own level. The quizzes are
multiple-choice. In some cases, the answers have only one correct answer while in other cases, there may me be more one or
more correct answers. Just like any other course, there will a
midterm exam and a final exam. The midterm exam covers the
first half of the book while the final exam is comprehensive
covering the entire book. The eZone is a terrific site for learning.
Book Contents
The book has 15 comprehensive chapters and five appendixes.
The book assumes that the user has not used Adobe Photoshop 4
before and guides the user through basic parts of Photoshop; the
menu bar; the toolbox; the floating palettes; and the document
window. I said the book teaches: here’s an example how. Taken
from Quiz 1 Question 4.
4. A photo has many pixels and every pixel
a. Can have its own color
b. Can be a different shape
c. Can be moved, copied, or deleted
d. Is the smallest part of the an image.
Read the question and the answer will be given at the end of the
article. Hint: there could be more than one correct answer.
Just to refresh Windows users’ memories, a to the right of a
menu choice means? Answer, there is another menu below the
one that is currently showing. While … (three dots called ellipses) to the right of a menu choice means a dialog box will be
displayed when you click on this menu choice. These are basics,
but book really wants you to know the material and even more
important understand it. The understanding of the material is
what the eZone is really all about. It gives you access to a mentor who can help when you need it. Each chapter has a quiz and
a hands-on session. The hands-on sessions guide you through
the exercise step by step.
To learn you have to do the exercises you just cannot read the
book and expect to know how to use the software. For example,
did you know, that the toolbox tools are grouped together by
function. The selection tools are: Marquee, Lasso, Magic Wand,
Pen and Move while the utility tools are: Crop, Hand, Zoom
and Eyedropper.
The table of contents are: Introduction to Photoshop; Making
selections; Layers and channels; Filters; Working with paint and
text tools; Color and file formats; Color correction, scanning
and Photo CD; Advanced selection techniques; Photo retouching; Photo-montage; Using spot color; Beyond Photoshop; Configuring and optimizing Photoshop; and Photoshop output. The
appendixes contents are: Third-Party Filters and Companion
Products; Bibliography; Labs; Quiz Answers; and Internet Explorer 3.0: A Field Guide.
Conclusion
I could go on and on with the virtues of this book, but even if
you are not planning on using Adobe Photoshop 4, this book is
really worth having for the explanations on file formats, e.g.
GIFs vs JPEGs. If that’s not enough, do you have a scanner?
The chapter on scanning will help you get the best scanned images your scanner is capable of.
Still not satisfied with putting out real dollars for the book. Well
you can apply for Continuing Education Credits from Marquette University or for transferable Advanced Placement Units
from Moore College of Art and Design. If you’re looking to
eventually obtain a degree in graphic arts, or if you just want to
learn more about the graphic arts, this book could be the starting
place.
The answer to the question 4 quiz is: a,c,d.
Title:
Adobe Photoshop
Interactive Course
Publisher:
The Waite Group Press
Author:
Sherry London
ISBN:
1-57169-036-0
Suggested Price:
$CAN70.95
Street Price Costco: $CAN40.95
Rating: ★★★★★
A Book Review of Photoshop 4 Artistry
Introduction
hotoshop 4 Artistry is a “Master Class for Photographers,
Artists and Production Artists.” The book, written by
Barry Haynes and Wendy Crumpler, is an “in depth
course in digital imaging for intermediate and advanced users
who want to make the best photographic images.” This 300
page book assumes that the user knows the basics of Adobe
Photoshop. There are 30 tutorials in the book and the CD-ROM
that comes with the book has all the before and after images as
well as the mask and tool settings that were used to create the
after images.
The Master Class
Adobe Photoshop is the photographer’s darkroom, without all
P
the chemicals and environment concerns. It’s easy to scan in a
photo and have it show up on the screen. However, many of us
just do that, scan in the image, view it on the screen and probably place it on a Web page. Photographers, artists and production artists, on the other hand, want something better. If you
know the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams, then you
know the type of control he wanted over the final image. Adobe
Photoshop 4 gives you all the tools you have in your chemical
darkroom and some new tools that you just cannot do in the
chemical darkroom. This book will show you how to really take
advantage of Photoshop 4.
The course material covered in this book has been taught to
thousands of students over the past seven years. Some of the
topics covered in this book are: Taking Advantage of Photoshop
4; An Overview of Digital Photography; Navigating in Photoshop; Automating with Actions; Setting System and Photoshop preferences; File Formats and Image Compression; Photography and overall color correction; Improving color and
mood with selections, layers, adjustment layers and layer
masks; Calculations, patterns, filters and effects; and Images for
the Web and Multimedia.
There are complete step-by-step instructions for doing each of
the 30 hands-on exercises. Through out the margins of the book
are some great tips on using a particular feature, tool or trick.
Take for example, using the Kodak acquire module to bring
Photo CD into Adobe Photoshop 4. A lot of users were not
happy with the quality of the images they were bringing in,
especially if the image had a lot of contrast. The problem with
images with a lot of contrast was that highlights were lost. This
book has several pages on using the Kodak acquire module.
The Kodak acquire module can be downloaded free by going to
http://www.kodak.com, and then selecting digital imaging and
then Photo CD.
Have you ever taken a great family picture say at a wedding?
However, Aunt Ruthie has her head turned or is not smiling.
Well, one of the tutorials shows you how to add that smiling
face or the missing person to the picture. When this tutorial is
finished, you would not even know that it was altered. Doing
this type of thing in the “conventional chemical darkroom”
would be very difficult. It can be done, but is very time consuming. Using Adobe Photoshop 4, this is easier and can be
repeated, especially if the photographer has a digital output de-
April/May 1998
vice which can produce a new negative.
This book is full of tricks and tips. Each lesson has something
new to teach. Although the books primary audience is the photographer, artist or production artist, there is a lot of information the average user can use. You can’t replace 10, 20 or 30
years experience in the graphic art field, but this book can teach
you a great deal about how all that experience was gained. This
is a fun book to read and do the hands on tutorials. If you want
to learn more about advanced features of Adobe Photoshop 4,
then you can’t go wrong by buying this book. Its tutorials are
challenging and fun to do. I tried replacing the face on the sample photo with the one they did. I did it without following the
book, but the book had a better way of accomplishing the same
thing. The resulting image was also much better than the way I
did it. Experience teaches! The quality of the images and the
book itself deserves special mentioning. Check this book out,
you won’t be disappointed. If you are a photographer, artist or
production artist, then this book should be on your shelf.
Title:
Authors:
ISBN:
WWW:
SRP:
Street Price:
Rating: ★★★★★
Photoshop 4 Artistry
by Barry Haynes &
Wendy Crumpler
1-56205-759-6
http://www.newriders.com
CAN$77.95
Costco $CAN40.95
Internet Subscription Information
Subscription Rules
1. All subscribers must be active members of the Winnipeg PC
User Group.
2. Subscribers must provide the club with a VISA or MasterCard account number and expiry date, or permission to direct withdrawal from a bank account or a $150 deposit.
3. Subscribers must be 18 years of age or have permission
from a legal guardian.
Fee Schedule
1. A one time $25.00 setup fee is applied to all new accounts.
2. A monthly fee of $15.00 includes your first 30 hours. Any
additional hours are billed at $0.25 per hour. The maximum
amount billed per month will be $25.00.
3. T1 line to the Internet.
4. Full Internet access to the WWW, Electronic Internet Mail,
Gopher, FTP and over 5000 newsgroups.
5. Shareware Windows suite of clients with scripted Winsock
dialer and/or Mosaic in a Box for an additional fee.
6. 24 hour Bulletin Board Service, callback support and
monthly special interest group meetings.
Disclaimer
The Winnipeg PC User Group is not responsible for the
content of material available on the World Wide Computer
Network (Internet).
How to Subscribe
1. BBS via Membership Door
What We Provide
2. Resource Centre — 337C Pembina Highway
1. A 15:1 ratio of subscribers to modems or 7 modems per
hundred subscribers.
3. Mail in the form on Page 40.
2. All dial lines are 33,600 bps
April/May 1998
Micrografx Launches
“The Mind-Blowing Webtricity 2
Sneak Preview Tour ’98”
R
Amy Iverson to Electrify Audiences Across the U.S. and in Canada
ichardson, Texas (March 3, 1998) — Micrografx, Inc.
(Nasdaq: MGXI), a global leader in graphics software,
today announced its continuing support for user groups
throughout the United States and in Canada with a preview tour
of Webtricity 2, a comprehensive software solution for all
Web design graphics needs.
Amy Iverson, Micrografx evangelist/software application specialist, will electrify user group audiences everywhere with
lively demonstrations of the latest updates to this award-winning product suite. Attendees can receive free software and
other giveaways as well as $50 rebate when purchasing Webtricity 2.
Webtricity 2 is a suite of four professional level applications for
photo editing and image creation; three-dimensional effects and
animation’s; drawing, illustration and publishing combined with
leading Internet functionality and tons of clip art.
About Micrografx
Founded in 1982, Micrografx (NASDAQ: MGXI) is the global
leader in enterprise graphics and personal creativity software
and is the acknowledged pioneer of Windows business and consumer graphics software. Award-winning graphics software titles include American Greetings® CreataCard® Gold and
CreataCard® Plus , Micrografx FlowCharter , Micrografx
Graphics Suite , Simply 3D , Optima , Webtricity , Micrografx Designer , Picture Publisher®, and Windows
Draw®. Celebrating its 15th year anniversary, the company’s
U.S. operations are based in Richardson, Texas, with development offices located in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. International subsidiaries are located in Australia, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Representative agent offices are located in Denmark, Poland, Spain
and Switzerland. For trial downloads and more information
about Micrografx’s exciting graphics software, visit www.micrografx.com.
About the Micrografx Chili For
Children Cook-Off
For more information about the Micrografx Chili For Children Cook-Off,
the technology industry’s premier
fund-raising event benefiting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
Visit http://www.micrografx.com/chili.
Play’s New Internet Video Technology
Enthusiastically Received at SMPTE Conference
✍ by Play Inc.
[This press release was posted on the PLAY.COM website in
late February. It mysteriously vanished a few days after I visited their site. The actual file is still on their system, but the
link to it on their site has vanished. It’s in my bookmark,
though!]
ebruary 25, 1998, Toronto, Canada Over the years, audiences at Play Incorporated presentations have become accustomed to being dazzled by the
company’s offerings, and this year ’s
SMPTE Advanced Motion Imaging Conference was no exception. On the eve of
shipping its eagerly awaited Trinity video
production system, Play Incorporated surprised industry observers with the first public demonstration of a formerly top-secret research project at its Bermuda software laboratories, codenamed “Infinity Engine.”
Using Infinity Engine technology, Play Vice President of Soft-
F
ware Development, Steve Hartford, demonstrated a one megabyte web- based presentation which looked identical to a network television program. Play has coined the term “Low-Bandwidth Television”, or “LBTV”, to describe these web-based
television shows.
Mr. Hartford said, “This was a massive undertaking. Our goal is for the Internet to
truly become a new kind of television experience. Everyone is familiar with the
look and feel of traditional broadcast television. In order for the web be viewed as
an alternative to television, it must conform to these very high standards which
evolved over the last fifty years — today viewers demand nothing less. Yet, every attempt thus far to produce a television experience over the web has yielded small, postage stamp sized
blocky video imagery with poor quality audio.” Hartford described. “Play worked since its founding to solve the problems
April/May 1998
The Society of Motion
Picture and Television
Engineers, or SMPTE
for short, is a professional organization
which has defined the
technical standards for
television and feature
film production and
distribution in use today worldwide. New
technological innovations, such as LBTV,
are often demonstrated
at its annual conferences to major media industry executives, engineers, and producers.
LBTV allows for a wide variety of television
programming over the Internet, including
educational, entertainment, music videos,
documentaries, and news shows. LBTV programs can be viewed on a standard Windows
PC, or on an LBTV-compatible set top box.
Play is currently in discussions with other
companies to bring LBTV technology to market in various forms. Play expects the first
LBTV products be available to consumers in
the fourth quarter of this year. While Play is
known in the PC industry for creating breakthrough products, this marks the first time the
company has brought its advanced video
technologies to the web.
of distributing television-quality productions over a low bandwidth medium.”
In order to meet its
mission of a rich, fullscreen TV experience
over the Internet, using nothing more than
a standard 56K baud
modem and existing
personal computers,
Play engineers created
a portable, robust, real-time media engine
which can fully reproduce the myriad of traditional television production equipment, as
well as accomplish real-time media creation
inside of the viewer’s set top box or PC. The
resulting shows are suitable for passive as
well as active web television experiences.
After the presentation, Hartford and other
Play representatives, including Kiki Stockhammer and Bermuda Scientist Michael
Helmke, met with industry executives to discuss the possibilities of their new invention.
“We’re really excited to show this technology
for the first time in public,” Stockhammer explained. “We feel that Infinity Engine technology, and the LBTV experience it allows, will
change the Internet as much as Trinity will
change video production.”
Photo of co-founders/co-CEOs of Play. From left to right:
Paul Montgomery, Kiki Stockhammer and Mike Moore.
Accessing the WPCUG Newsgroups
A
✍ by Paul Stephen
t least one member has asked
about how you access the
WPCUG newsgroups. Currently (I hope this changes VERY
SOON) o nly members of the
WPCUG ISP can access them because a “firewall” has been erected
around them.
If you are using Netscape, click on
the Window command, and select
“Newsgroups” from the pull down
menu.
Now click on File|Add New Host. In
the entry field, type in: news.wpcusrgrp.org. You should then
get a list of all the major newsgroups on our server. Click on
the “+” icon to display all the subgroups that are present.
I use Netscape 3.x so there might be slight variations on the
above if you’re using Netscape 4.x.
If you’re using Internet Explorer 3.x, select from the top menu,
View|Options and select the “Programs” tab. From this dialog box, select “News”, and fill in your news
server as “news.wpcusrgrp.org”. (For
some reason with my ATI Ultra
card, only the first “tab” is visible after selecting “Options”. I had to
“blindly” click on invisible tab areas
to “find” the Programs tab.) Now go
back to the main menu and Select
Go|Read Newsgroups.
You can also use Free Agent to access the newsgroups by defining
“news.wpcusrgrp.org” as the name of your news server (Options|General Preferences). Once you’ve done that, Select “Online” from the menu and choose Refresh Groups List. (Get New
Groups should also work, but I “think” it didn’t for me.) Then
just use Free Agent to retrieve the messages you want from the
user group news server. If any of you are still “stuck” after
reading this, send e-mail to [email protected].
April/May 1998
SurveyPro for Windows 2.0 and Net.collect
Surveying Made EASY!
B
✍ by Paul Stephen, Winnipeg PC User Group
ack in 1991, thanks to the good folks at Apian Software,
I conducted a survey of the membership using the DOS
version of SurveyPro. In the interim, the company developed a Windows version of
the program with lots more
bells and whistles that makes
conducting surveys even easier! Within 4 days of requesting the software, it arrived —
does that tell you something
about Apian Software and
its CEO, Bill Ray?
Installation
The basic SurveyPro software
came on 5 disks and installed
without any hitches. The
“add on” module, Net.collect
(which allows the survey to
be published on the WWW
by generating HTML code),
was shipped on just 3 disks
— again, installation went
flawlessly. The installation
Figure 1. The Main Editing
package of Net.collect automatically updates the user’s
version of SurveyPro if required. No upgrade was required in my case, so only 2 of the 3
shipped Net.collect disks were used in the installation process.
Documentation
The documentation that accompanies SurveyPro is excellent.
Many people who want to conduct a survey have never really
designed a survey. To accommodate this audience, a manual
entitled “Tips, Tricks & Pitfalls — A Guide to the Survey Process” helps users design their first questionnaire. You all know
that GIGO (garbage in = garbage out), so construction of the
survey form is extremely important if any meaningful results
are to be obtained. Users are given tips on the construction of
questions right through to analytical reports. Many users will
rush to construct that first survey, but skipping reading this
book is a big mistake. [As an aside, I see Statistics Canada is
offering a two day survey design course on April 29th and 30th.
Registration is $450 (before April 15th). Call 983-7218 for
more info.]
Two other manuals, “Getting Started — Installation & First
Steps” and “User Guide — Tutorials, How Tos & Reference”
give excellent instructions on how to use the program itself.
Program Design
The program is essentially composed of three seamlessly integrated modules — one to create the questionnaire, one to allow
direct or imported data entry and another to analyze the data
that has been collected. The main screen of the program is
shown in Figure 1.
Questionnaire Creation
Question Tile Mode
Graphic Tile Mode
Locked (View) Tile Mode
Screen for SurveyPro
The software engineers at
Apian have used a “pencil”
metaphor to allow users to
create, modify or delete questions. To create a question
you simply click on the “pencil point” icon or press the Insert key. To modify a question, you click on the “middle
of the pencil”, and to delete a
question you click on the
pencil’s eraser or press the
delete key. Now that’s making software really user
friendly!
Each question is stored in its
own “box” called a “Tile”.
When you create or edit a
tile, the screen shown in Figure 2 is displayed. When entering a question the text also
fills the Report Label and
Name field which you can
edit for brevity.
Figure 2. Editing a “Tile” in SurveyPro
Now comes the nifty part. Many surveys consist of a question
followed by a series of checkboxes. Imagine the work it would
take to evenly space out all these entries and put a graphical
box beside each response. No problem at all for SurveyPro!
In the drop down box there are 21 “pre-defined” scales. You
can also define your own custom scales. Pre-defined scales include:
unscaled (for text entry), written/open (single or multiple answers), Yes/No (No best or Yes best), Yes/Uncertain/No (Yes
best), Excellence (4 or 6 levels), 1 “High” - 5 “Low”, 1 “Low”
- 5 “High”, -3 to +3 Rating (3 best), and Agree/Disagree
(4/5/6/7 levels).
Figure 3. Defining a Scale in “SurveyPro”
Creation of your own scale is easy. You simply click on the
pencil point (for some reason you cannot use the Insert key in
this menu) and choose the scale type (Checkbox, Rating, Number or Date/Time). Most of the scales used in the User Group
survey are of the checkbox variety. Once Checkbox has been
chosen, you can then simply start adding all the possible answers that might be given to a question. The scale can be setup
to allow for single or multiple answers with an optional “other”
field.
The other scale types have multiple format options. A Rating
Scale can have a minimum/maximum value defined and labels.
A Numeric scale can be defined with a fixed, scientific, currency, percent or comma notation. Date/Time scales can be defined as date, time or date and time with a myriad of notations
as to how the data should be entered — d/m/y or m/d/y are just
two of the formats for date notation.
If you’re using a written scale such as date/time, the program
allows you to position the entry point on the page. The scale
might be placed to the right of the question or below the question. The space allocated could be a short line, a full single line,
multiple lines, or even a box.
Users can also define “text styles” for the question and survey
portion of a question tile. You might define the question portion
of a tile to have a bold Times Roman font and the survey portion to use a 10 point Arial font. Users can bold, italicize or
underscore selective portions of text in a tile’s question text
stanza.
Checkbox scales are automatically positioned by the program,
although you can increase or decrease the width or length of a
tile to adjust the number of checkbox queries displayed on a
given line.
If a series of contiguous questions (tiles) use an ordered scale,
the program will automatically put the scale labels only on the
first tile to eliminate waste space on your questionnaire. The
scale labels may be placed to the right of the checkboxes, over
each checkbox, at a 45 degree angle above each checkbox, or
vertically above each checkbox.
The program allows you to directly edit your scales, rather
than having to edit them via your tiles. This direct edit mode is
April/May 1998
also available for editing “text styles” as well.
If you want to re-arrange tiles, just grab the corner of a tile and
drag and drop it wherever you’d like it. One option in the program allows for “auto numbering” of each question. After moving tiles, all questions are automatically renumbered in a flash!
Dressing Up Your Survey
So far we’ve discussed creation of tiles. But with the advent of
graphics laser and ink jet printers, you just might want to make
that questionnaire of yours more appealing! You can do that.
There are two modes of entry in SurveyPro. We’ve been using
the “Question Edit Mode” to create the “question tiles”. But the
other mode is the “Graphic Edit Mode”. In this mode, you can
place text, lines, pictures or boxes anywhere on your form!
There are many options for each of these graphic elements. For
example, if you enter a text string it can have a “plain” box
around it with solid or dashed lines, or for a fancier effect a
“shadow box”!
Each of these graphic elements is also a “tile” and creation of
them is identical to the way you created your “question tiles”.
Nice! Nice! Nice!
I did run into some problems with “picture” tiles, however. The
program supposedly supports the importation of BMP, PCX,
DIB, TIF and WMF files. When I tried to import PCX files, I
got an “Incorrect Revision or File Type or damaged file” error
message. I thought my capture program might be to blame, so I
imported the offending file(s) into PaintShop Pro and re-saved
them. The problem continued. I then saved them as Level 2
PCX files, and although the error message disappeared, the images were a mess. When I saved the files in WMF or BMP
format all was well. However, in TIF format I got the same
error message as I did with the PCX files. If you’ve got a
graphics file conversion program you can easily convert to the
readable formats, but hopefully this anomaly will be fixed in
the next revision.
These elements can be inserted on any page of your form. But
what if you wanted repeating graphics elements to appear on
all your pages? No problem. In SurveyPro you simply go to the
“Master Page” and create all your graphic tiles there. Anything
created on that page automatically appears on all your other
pages. And... there are a number of “&” tokens that can be put
in headers or footers for automated text insertion. For example,
“Page &p of &n for File &f” would print on page 1 of your
form as “Page 1 of 7 for File SURVEY.SVA” (assuming your
file was called SURVEY and you had a total of 7 pages in your
questionnaire). Date and times can also be automatically
printed.
There is one major problem when you create graphic tiles on
either the master page or other pages of your questionnaire. The
program’s “question tiles” do not “know” that headers or
footers (graphic tiles) are present on your physical page. Therefore they overwrite each other. To correct this problem you
have to edit a “colliding” question tile’s dialog box changing a
spacing parameter from “Auto” to a value that will move that
tile down the page. You can see that if you do considerable
editing of your survey you likely will have to manually adjust
spacing on certain tiles each time you add, delete or move tiles.
Hopefully this “tile collision” problem will be resolved in a
future release.
Paper or Electronic Input?
Once you’ve created your basic questionnaire, you’ve got more
options. The program will automatically create an HTML version (Version 2 or 3 of HTML source code) of your paper
form. It will also create a version that can be used with specialized forms (Scantron) for gathering the data.
All questionnaires and reports (we’ll get to those later) are
stored in the SurveyPro file in an area called “Documents”.
From this menu you simply tell the program you’d like to copy
your paper questionnaire into an HTML form and boom, it’s
done.
I wish I could say that no further fine tuning was required, but
alas, your beautiful paper displays do look a bit “sad” in
HTML. You lose all your graphic tiles and your questions are
no longer “auto numbered”.
Some checkboxes may look fine in the SurveyPro pseudo
HTML displays but may be spread across the screen when
viewed in your browser. Usually you can correct this sort of
problem by shrinking the width of the offending “tiles” before
exporting the HTML form out of SurveyPro. In one instance I
accidentally increased the width of a tile beyond the physical
boundaries of the page. I went back and tried to decrease the
width of the tile but found I could no longer adjust the width
using the mouse (the program’s “cross hairs” no longer appeared). Fortunately, you can edit a tile and input the width of
the tile into a data box. This corrected the problem.
If you are thinking of importing data from both paper and the
web, you should start off with the paper questionnaire and only
when you are completely satisfied with your hard copy survey
form begin to generate your HTML code.
Getting Your Survey to the Web
Apian Software has provided users with not one, but two
Net.collect User Guides. One no doubt is meant to go to your
Webmaster who may need the information contained therein to
get your survey’s script — “working”.
Yours truly is a “self starter”, so I read the documentation from
my ISP provider, and it gave me most of the answers.
Apian provides you with several pre-written Perl scripts that
can be used with most forms. To get a script working you need
to do the following:
• FTP to your ISP using your userid and password
• Upload your HTML form to your public_html directory
• Create the subdirectory cgi-bin under public_html
• Upload (USING ASCII mode) your script to the cgi-bin subdirectory
• Telnet to your ISP using your userid and password
• Issue the following commands:
cd public_html/cgi-bin
chmod 755 *
exit
To test if your script “works”, you can enter perl xxx, where
“xxx” is the name of your script file. The SurveyPro documentation did not tell me about putting “perl” on the Unix command line — like a dummy I just put in the name of the script
April/May 1998
and kept getting a “command not found” error!
One thing appeared to be critical. I used CuteFTP to upload my
script and left it in “auto” upload mode. When I tested the
script, it didn’t work and left me with a message complaining
about “line feeds”. When I uploaded the script in ASCII mode,
the problem disappeared.
I must confess that without the scripts supplied by Apian, I
wouldn’t have had a clue on how to write them from scratch. If
you are conducting a survey and have more demanding requirements from a script, you can go to surveyhost.com (a subsidiary of Apian) and, for a fee, get custom-written scripts.
Data Input
Figure 4. Import Options
Figure 5. Data Entry via the Keyboard
As you can see from the above, there are a myriad of ways you
can conduct your survey. Paper forms can be collected and answers manually inputted into the program. Your web-based survey produces a database file (SDH) which can be imported into
the program. This would be my preferred choice as users do
the “work” for you. Scantron forms (like those forms you used
to answer multiple choice questions in examinations) can be
used with OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) software to create
another database that may be imported into the program. If you
have a large number of paper surveys from which you must
manually input data, Apian offers a standalone module called
Key.collect which reads your survey file and allows you to
have multiple individuals at various sites inputting answers via
SDE datasets. This optional program could also be used to
gather “live” data in telephone surveys. You may use a combination of all of these methods. And again, note that the program keeps an “audit trail” of each form which makes tracing
and correcting “keying” errors much easier.
On top of all these methods of data input, you possibly might
have written your own data entry module rather than purchasing
multiple copies of Key.collect. The program allows for data input from Comma-Delimited ASCII and Fixed Field ASCII as
well as from files in Apian’s Survey Tag Language (STL). If
two separate SVA files have an identical questionnaire, SurveyPro can do a merge operation on your data.
During data import, SurveyPro can automatically be configured
to ensure answers are given for specific questions, to pause and
check answers for specific questions, or even check a defined
password field on your survey (to ensure responses are coming
only from authorized participants). The latter option could be
coded in the Perl script, but as most of us have little or no
experience with this language the ability to do it within the
form is a nice option!
The program can automatically remove duplicate questionnaires
(ALL answers in a form have to be identical). On a 90+ question survey, the chances of this happening “naturally” are very
slim. Duplicate questionnaires could be received if participants
in your poll hit the “Submit” button more than once on an
HTML version of your questionnaire.
Analyzing and Reporting Your Data
April/May 1998
figures” of course do not convey information to an audience as
dramatically as do “graphic figures”.
Besides the “bland” (but rapid) text analysis, you’ve got a
whole slew of other Figure “types”. These include bar, pie and
stacked bar charts (2D and 3D) each having a myriad of customizable options. You can make table tiles which allow for cross
tab analysis. Cross tabs are great for seeing how a specific subset of your respondents replied to various questions. For example, in the User Group questionnaire, the program “in a flash”
could show how respondents ranked a UG service based on
age. If you’d prefer to see this data as a set of graphic images,
the program can do that too — and in an “animation” mode as
well!
Figure 7. Breakfast Quality vs State (Exc. Response)
Figure 6. Status Report of Your Survey
Whew, all these features and we’re just now going to talk about
analyzing all that data. This quote comes from SurveyPro’s
“Online Help”: “Reporting is the most complex section of Survey Pro. We strongly recommend you run the reporting tutorial
in Chapter 10 of your User Guide at the absolute minimum.
This investment will not only acquaint you with the basic tools,
but also introduce you to some advanced features which may be
of interest to you.” They couldn’t have said it better. There is
no way that I can tell you about all the options in this module,
but I’ll give you some of the highlights!
If you want a “quick and dirty” look at your data, you simply
create a Report, select “Summary Text” and check off the
“whole questionnaire” option. The program will go out and “instantly” give you percentage values of responses given to all
your questions. The entire text figure is, guess what, one tile.
Now you can add additional “tiles” to the same report. “Text
I didn’t have any user group data to demonstrate “cross tabs” so
I used the data in one of the sample files that was shipped with
the program. One question in that file asked respondents to rate
the quality of breakfast at an inn — the scale used was Excellent, Good, OK and Poor. The respondents were also asked to
just “write in” their home state in another question on the form.
In the analysis portion of the program, you can print cross tab
graphics on Breakfast Quality vs State (or vice-versa). Using
cross tabs on Breakfast Quality vs State, I have shown the
graph generated for the “Excellent” response. Three other
graphs (not shown) are also generated for the Good, OK and
Poor reponses. Note that as an option you can print the percentage value and numeric number above each bar chart. Keep in
mind that the state info was just “written in”. SurveyPro automatically generates the “coding” that allows the state response
to be analyzed.
If you’d like to include a graphic not generated by SurveyPro
(an unlikely hypothesis for most of us), you can import images
into your report and anchor them to a special “blank tile” — or
give your report a customized look with your company’s logo.
All questionnaires, reports and Library Lists [graphics, questions, figures and components] are kept within a single SurveyPro document file. When you open any one of these components it goes into its own “window”, so you can move around
various areas of your program quite rapidly. When you re-open
a file, your SurveyPro environment is in the same “state” as
when you saved it — all the opened “windows” are still open
ready for you to continue your work.
A great tutorial leads you through many of your “Figure Op-
tions”. When you are learning a program such as SurveyPro
you need sample forms complete with data. You get such data
files with the program, and as a bonus when you attempt to
load them, you are told you are working with a “protected”
sample file and are asked if you want to make a copy to “experiment” with. This sort of “care” given to a new user is much
appreciated!
April/May 1998
your database obey your rule.
Of course, for more “in depth” analysis, and to correct certain
problems that may arise, the program allows the user to rescale
data. Apian Software, can explain rescaling better than I: The
idea behind a rescale is to take the answers in the database
and modify the structure or format of how the data is organized. Unlike postcoding where you do this by entering the raw
data of a special question into a different scale type, rescales
apply a filter on top of the scale so the original questionnaire’s
scale structure can also be used. Rescales have a number of
uses including:
• Taking lengthy checkbox labels and trimming them down to
something more suitable for labels and figures.
• Combining similar answers into a few category bins, such as
grouping all the spreadsheet products into one spreadsheet
bin and all the word processors into one word processor bin.
Figure 8. A set of “windows” in SurveyPro
If you want to print out a report, you’ve got more options! You
can define the way graphs are presented on screen or sent to
your printer (black & white, color). So if you’ve got a color
monitor and a B&W laser printer you can see the graphs in
color on your screen, but when they get sent to your printer
they’ll be optimized for black and white printing. All permutations are available to you. Plus you can define your own color
and B&W “fills” for your graphs. And, if you plan to present
your report using an overhead projector, the program will automatically put a border around your “tiles” with a Slide caption
nicely embedded on the bottom.
Figure 9. A “filter” in SurveyPro
Post Survey Features
If you wish to look at subsets of your data, or to deliberately
exclude some of your form responses the program contains a
feature called Form Selects (Filters). If a question in your survey asked for the respondent’s State, and you wished to eliminate any responses from IL (Illinois) all you have to do is pull
up the Form Select menu and create the filter shown in Figure
9. When you test the filter, you are shown how many forms in
Figure 10. Rescaling Data in SurveyPro
Intellicruncher Technology
The technology used “behind the scenes”
in SurveyPro is called Intellicruncher —
and this moniker really describes its capabilities to a tee! Make a change in a scale
and the program automatically ripples this
change throughout all your documents
making the appropriate alterations! I tried
to delete a filter and the program just
wouldn’t let me do it. The reason? A tile
in a report used that filter and so it wasn’t
The
about to let me disturb it! <VBG>
“Intellicruncher” Metrics and Page Layout
There was one problem (at least for me) with the current version of SurveyPro. When you bring up the Page Setup dialog
box for my questionnaire, I found that the default setting for
the page was the European A4 page size. I changed this to the
“Canadian/US” setting of 8.5" * 11", but the margin settings
remained in millimetres. I was told by Tech Support that the
program looks at the settings chosen when DOS/Windows was
installed to automatically determine whether or not metric
measurements should be used. These cannot be overridden.
After some “meditation” and “medication” — three months
worth, I discovered the [Intl] stanza in WINDOWS.INI where
one parameter, iMeasure was set to 0. I made the line read
iMeasure=1 and bingo, no more metric when SurveyPro created
a new survey. (Previously created forms could not be changed.)
Figure 11. Page Definition
Some Final Thoughts
I was very impressed with the overall design of the program,
but hope the developers will address the header (or footer)
problem mentioned earlier, and will allow HTML exported
forms to have tiles be “auto numbered” as they are in the paper
version of the survey form. As well, the “picture” import problem should be fixed as well. (More on that below.)
“Program-generated” graphic tiles (figure tiles) have the same
properties as question tiles — that is, they are “auto positioned”. I’d like to be able to have figures centred on the page
without having to go in and make manual adjustments by tossing offsets into a dialog box.
The programming team at Apian has a sense of humor! When
certain operations occur that might take up a “tiny bit” of time
(and I do mean tiny — this program is a speed demon) you get
cute little notices appearing in dialog boxes such as “Zipping
Along”, “I’m At Your Command” or “My Turn to Work”.
There are many more features that I haven’t discussed such as
a spelling checker that will check all documents you create.
SurveyPro for Windows isn’t for everyone — but if you conduct lengthy surveys for an organization it sure will make your
life easier. I think that if you used it for even just ONE major
survey you’d more than pay for its cost. I’d hate to think how
long it’d take me to position all those “checkboxes” manually!
And the reporting part of the program — well it’s just plain
miraculous!
At this point I should mention that I ran SurveyPro for Windows under Windows for Workgroups (3.11). My computer only
has 8 megs of RAM. For some unexplicable reason, I could not
get reports to print if any figure tile contained a graphic
(piechart/barchart) created by the program. If I attempted to
print such a report, the program “crashed”. Any time such an
event happens an error box pops up with an “error code” and a
file is logged with instruction code that might assist Apian’s
technical support team in diagnosing the problem.
I tried every printer driver I have (HP Laserjet 4M [PostScript
and PCL], HP Series II PCL, Adobe PDF Writer) and each time
the program crashed with the same error code.
April/May 1998
The program is also supposed to be able to export figure tiles
to BMP files. Again, the program crashed.
I was given access to Revision “E” of the program (in beta),
but still the problem persisted. Perhaps the problem is because
of my limited memory, but I doubt it. I created a blank report
and imported a BMP image into it. That report printed perfectly
fine — as did all questionnaires containing graphic images. It
appears that only when a graphic was generated by the SurveyPro program itself, the problem occurred.
The program was not able to import PCX or TIF files without
errors. Tech support told me that these file formats are becoming “obsolete” and won’t be supported in future revisions of the
program — so this problem will “disappear”.
The company allowed me to test the program on Neil Longmuir’s Win95 system. He installed Revision “D”, and printed
and exported the graphs PERFECTLY. So there must be
something awry in my system — somewhere! This glitch gives
me a very good excuse to go out and purchase a new computer! Thanks, Apian!!! <VBG>
Apian offers this guarantee on its software: “If for any reason
our software does not suit your application, just send it back
within 30 days and we will refund the purchase price and
standard domestic shipping charges. The only thing we hate
to see on a return are unopened packages and users who
never called with questions.” Can you beat that? That kind of
“legalese” is kind of refreshing to see in the software industry,
isn’t it! The company now offers competitive upgrade pricing
as well (check their website). Apian Software provides the
purchaser with UNLIMITED, free technical support! You
just pay for the price of the phone call. E-mail support is, of
course, available as well.
If you’d like to take a test drive of the
program (limit of 25 forms), and view
an excellent running demo that clearly
details many of the program’s features, download it from the Apian
website.
In conclusion, if you are asked to do a survey at your workplace, get down on your knees and ask your boss to purchase
SurveyPro for Windows. You won’t regret it!
Products:
Publisher:
Voice:
FAX:
Web:
SurveyPro for Windows 2.0D(US$795)
Net.collect Add On (US$495)
Apian Software
400 N. 34th Street, Suite 310
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 547-5321
(206) 547-8493
http://www.apian.com
April/May 1998
OK Gang!
Apian Software provided us with SurveyPro for Windows not only for
Evaluation Purposes But to Conduct an ACTUAL Survey!
Survey Forms Will Be Distributed at
the April and May General Meetings
or alternatively,
Fill Out the Survey On LIne at our WPCUG Website.
Make sure you answer ALL Questions
and include your Winnipeg PCUG Membership Number
A draw for software prizes (for Survey Particpants)
will be conducted in June. (The survey closes May 31st)
Your Answers Will Help Shape the WPCUG Please Participate!
Prizes will include: Claris FileMaker 4.0, Mijenix FreeSpace, Mijenix ZipMagic. Tucows CDs, etc.
April 1, 1998 7:55:25 PM
Also included is a 24X CD-ROM. The display is a huge 17" active
OSSTF_CBE Item
matrix screen. Weve had to make it a bit bigger to fit the new power
From: Terry Taller
converter in so we decided to go with a bigger display area! The
Subject: Corel
new notebook costs $12,500 and weighs in at a hefty 20 pounds.
To: OSSTF_CBE
But you have to understand that this is a completely new technology.
Within
Corel Computer Announces the PropanePC
a year well
get it down to under 10 pounds. 15 tops, re-
sponded chief engineer Robert Johnston. The notebook allows the
In
a
surprise
announcement Corel
Computer stated
that
it
has
dropped all efforts on its line of network computers (NC). Instead its
user to attach small canisters for ultimate portability. A small battery is
included to provide a charge while changing canisters.
focus is on a new line of propane powered personal computers codeBoth models come with adapters to hook up to a gas line. Addition-
named PropPC (pronounced Prop-See).
ally, electricity may be used when available. A warning has been isWhen asked about the change of direction the spokesperson, Sarah
McCaulin, stated When the ice storm hit Eastern Canada at the beginning of the year a lot of people and businesses lost power. Without
sued to not combine the methods of powering the computers. Unfortunately, we lost a beta tester when he plugged the notebook in while
it was powered with a gas hook-up, said Mr. Johnston.
electricity they couldnt run their computers. I lost power at my house
for a week. Even at the office we had to live with the power going off
for
short
periods
of time.
But no
matter what was
wrong
with the
electricity, the gas was always on. We dont want to see people without access to a working computer. Who cares what operating system
is on the computer if you cant turn it on. This is a market that not
even Microsoft has tapped into!"
Two models are being introduced. The first is a desktop system with
an Intel Pentium-II processor running at 333-MHz. It has 64 MB RAM
and a 8.4 GB hard drive. It comes with either Windows95 or Windows
NT 4.0. Of course WordPerfect Suite 8 is included along with Corel
Draw 8.
Prices begin at $7,500.00 without monitor. DVD-ROM is ex-
tra.
The second model is their version of a notebook. It features an Intel
Pentium 233-MHz processor, 32 MB RAM, and a 4.0 GB hard drive.
An engineer with Corel Computer, talking on the condition of anonymity, states Michael has been looking for something that doesnt
compete with Microsoft since buying WordPerfect. But I dont get it ...
propane powered PCs! Youll have to excuse me Ive got to get working on my resume.
Both models will be manufactured in Kanata (just outside of Ottawa)
at the old Digital plant. After Compaq purchased Digital they were
planning to close the plant. We talked with Compaq and were able to
get a great deal. The people there are great team players and we
welcome the chance to work with them," Ms. McCaulin states.
We are at the beginning of a new era of personal computers. People
are no
longer dependant on the electric companies for all of their
business. Only the largest corporations can afford to purchase generators to keep going.
April/May 1998
The Best of Tucows CD (Volume 2)
A 70 KBS+ “Download”
I
✍ by Paul Stephen, Winnipeg PCUG
f you have spent any time at all on
the Internet you probably have visited
the Tucows website. Most applications these days are megabytes in size
and if you’ve got a 14.4 modem (or even
a 56K line), downloads can be slow. The
end result — you only look at a few of
the many files that are available to you.
Fortunately the folks at Tucows (a Canadian company) have assembled a CD
that contains a collection of their top
Winsock Internet software for both
Win31 and Win95. You simply plunk their
CD in your system and run the Install
program. Your default browser loads,
you hear the sound of a cow and the
next thing you know you think you are
looking at the Tucows website!
You can simply select which OS you’d
like to “browse” for programs and you
get an index of the major program
categories — FTP, e-mail, spelling
checkers, etc. etc.! Click on one of
these categories and you get a display
of all the programs for that category. If
you are in the Win31 area and a version of the program exits for Win95
you just click on the hypertext link and
move to see a description of that version of the program.
To get the application on your computer, all you do is click on the name of
the program, your browser displays the
“Save As..” command and boom, the
file on the CD is “downloaded” to your
hard disk — have you ever seen a
transfer rate of 70+Kbps? You will
when the file comes off the CD! (Have
some fun with friends and tell them
you’ve got the new ModemX Internet
Protocol that allows for high speed
downloads over regular telephone lines.
<HAR>)
If you haven’t installed a browser, the
install program will automatically setup
Internet Explorer on your system if you select “Install” from
the main menu. If you don’t have a zipping/unzipping utility
another option allows for the installation of WinZip.
Of course, for those of you who want to
bypass the menu system, you could just
install programs directly from the CD, but
the simulation of the Tucows website
makes it just like a regular Internet session so you might prefer to “download”
files to your hard disk for installation.
Each program comes listed with the familiar “Cow” rating system, 5 cows being
the TOPS! As well, you can link via a
real Internet connection to the originating
website of the software developer if you
need the very latest version.
I received Volume 2 of their CD for this
review, but a Volume 3 CD compilation (now a 2 CD set) is available for
$US29.95 which includes shipping.
You can also purchase a subscription
for a series of three CD sets (2 CDs
per set) that are released every few
months. The cost for a subscription is
$US69.95 and they throw in a free Tucows baseball hat.
If you want to go directly to the “order” section of the Tucows website,
hea d
off
to: http://idirect.tucows.com/cdrom/index.html.
Pangea is the local mirror site for Tucows software. Head off to that site for
faster “online” downloads.
Brandi Jasmine (you’ll see her name
on the weekly Tucows electronic newsletter) provided me with a number of
copies of their Volume 2 CD. If you
participate in the UG Survey, you’ll
have a chance to win one of them!
All
33.6
modems!
WPCUG
April/May 1998
Internet Service
“Let us connect you to the world!”
People helping people
þ 30 hours/month FREE
þ PPP dial up access
þ Guaranteed user/modem
þ
þ
þ
þ
þ
ratio of 15:1
T1 to the Internet
Preconfigured software
to get you connected
2 MB of disk space
for your own home page
Full Telnet shell access to
maintain your home page
Unlimited technical support
via e-mail, phone, BBS
and the clubhouse
þ Your own e-mail address
þ No disconnection policy
no matter how long you
are on
use computers
Need help getting set up?
Call ahead and bring
your PC down to the
Clubhouse for “hands on”
help.
$15/Month
$0.25/hr after 30 hours
Maximum billing of
$25/month
$25 setup fee
There is just one thing needed
to make this
service to our membership
better -- YOU!
We run on a cost recovery
basis. Every dollar goes to
improve, not just the Internet
Service, but all the other
services the User Group
provides as well.
Please remember that the Internet Service is a
cooperative effort. Give others a chance to
connect. Hang up when you are not actively using
the Internet! Thanks!!!
Make the RIGHT connection so YOU
don’t end up like this!
April/May 1998
The BUG Report
W
✍ by Greg McClure, Winnipeg PCUG
ell once again it is time for me to report on software
bugs. I am very happy to report that an upstart company called Bug Squashers Inc. have released a new
product for end users that eradicates all software bugs off your
hard disk, guaranteed! The program is called TAMROF.COM
and is available for free from Microsoft. A side benefit from
the program is that it also frees up considerable disk space as it
cleans the bugs off the drive. If you believe that then I have
some swamp land that I would like to sell you <vbg>.
The first bug concerns Symantec’s Norton Utilities for Win95,
Norton AntiVirus for Win95, or Norton Navigator that causes a
problem if you attempt to remove one of these packages. You
may receive receive the following error message when you restart Windows 95:
“Error loading C:\Windows\System\Setup.exe. You must reinstall Windows.”
Symantec’s installation program creates this error if it cannot
switch from the Win95 shell to Windows Explorer after removing or installing a program and it finds the file System.in_ in
the Windows subdirectory. Here’s the solution: Restart the computer and when you see the “Starting Windows 95" message,
press the F8 key and select the Command Prompt Only option.
Then edit the SYSTEM.INI file in the WINDOWS subdirectory by using a text editor. You can use EDIT.COM to do this
by typing
edit c:\windows\system.ini
This assumes that Windows95 was installed in a directory
called WINDOWS. You then have to look for a line in the
SYSTEM.INI that says:
Shell=C:\Windows\System\Setup.exe
and change it to
Shell=Explorer.exe.
Save the SYSTEM.INI file, close your editor, and restart your
computer. You should also delete or rename the System.in_ file
in the Windows folder to prevent the problem from reoccurring.
WordPerfect
This bug will be of interest to WordPerfect users. If you ever
ran WordPerfect 8 for Windows and got the error message
“WPWIN8 caused an Internal Page Fault in Module
WTLI80.DLL @ 0137:36a540d8" then prepare to reinstall
WordPerfect using the COPYVERIFY switch :(. This option
does a byte by byte verification of all files and notes any differences to a WPI80.log file.
Intuit
Are you having problems installing Quicken 98 for Windows?
One installation problem that may occur is the error message
“Setup requires the following DLL ISRES.DLL”.
This problem is a result of Windows95 not deleting items properly from the Startup group.
You can correct the problem by doing the following. On the
Start menu, click Settings and select Taskbar. Then click on
the Start Menu Programs tab in the Taskbar Properties window
and then click the Remove button. Scroll down until you see
StartUp and click the plus sign to the left. Click once on the
Nploader to highlight it and then click the Remove button to
remove Nploader. Restart your computer.
If Nploader is not in your StartUp group, you will need to run
NPINST.EXE from the QUICKEN directory.
Netscape
Netscape 4.04 users should make a note of the following problem. Apparently if you enter a nonexistent URL into Netscape
Navigator 4.04, you should NOT click the Stop button until
you get the error message from the browser saying that no
DNS entry has been found. If you do not wait but instead click
on the Stop button, then Navigator will find no more URLs. If
this happens, you will have to relaunch Communicator before
you can find additional pages. I guess the beta tester was sick
that day. <g>
Microsoft
This could come as quite a shock to new computer users, but
Microsoft has been known to produce one or two bugs itself.
When you use Microsoft Bookshelf 98, and press the Application key on the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, the program may
not respond to the keystroke. Microsoft’s work-around is to
right mouse click rather than using the Application key. Now
aren’t you glad you didn’t spend the extra money on the MS
keyboard?
The following is a “have to live with” problem if you are using
Microsoft’s FrontPage Express which is included in Internet
Explorer 4.0. You may receive the following error message
when you try to perform a dragging operation, such as cutting
and pasting text:
“FPEXPRESS This program has performed an illegal operation
and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.” (I’ve often wondered, if the operation is really
illegal, shouldn’t you really be contacting the police?)
Currently there is no fix or workaround.
Also the full blown commercial version, FrontPage98, has a
quite a few bugs roaming its corridors. The first glitch occurs
when creating a “discussion Web” in FrontPage98. The product
provides the option of sorting postings in a discussion group
from oldest to newest and vice versa. The problem is the actual
runtime code for the Discussion Wizard does not support the
setting and future versions of the software will not include the
option. So the chance of this getting fixed is zip.
The second “buglet” in FrontPage98 also concerns the discussion web. If the hosting web server upgrades the server extensions from the 97 to the 98 version then the posting order is
inconsistent.
The third FrontPage “we can do without bug” is what’s called
a “nortbot” (no runtime bot) bug which embeds unwanted Java
code that sends users to nonexistent pages. Gee something like
the old TV series “Lost in Space”. I wonder if they used
FrontPage back then too?
The final bug causes the FrontPage98 search function to fail
when inside of a discussion group.
Most of these FrontPage bugs are covered by a fix for the web
server running these extensions and can be found at:
www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wpp/default.htm
The following is a terrific “feature” in Microsoft Fax and is of
special interest to businesses who receive a lot of faxes. Microsoft Fax can crash with a fatal exception error if it is still
processing a fax when a new fax is received! So much for preemptive multi-tasking. A workaround for this is to increase the
number of rings before Microsoft Fax picks up the line. To do
this, select Start, Settings and double-click Mail and Fax.
Choose Microsoft Fax, click the Properties button, select t he
Modem tab, and choose the modem that is used for answering
faxes. Choose Properties and increase the number of rings to
allow Microsoft Fax more time to complete the previous fax.
Accept changes. One has to be careful since setting the number
of rings too high may cause the calling fax machine to hang up
:(.
A serious problem exists with Word 97 for Windows (aka Word
8) that can cause data loss when users attempt to use the Save
As command. According to Microsoft, a bug in two files (winword.exe and wwintl32.dll) causes Word to look for a drawing
object whenever the Save As command is used. If such an object is not found in the document, then Word doesn’t close the
document correctly before saving it with a different name.
In a network environment, users may get an error such as:
“[Original document] is being used by another user: do you
want to make a copy?” where [original document] is the name
of the file the user is trying to save with the Save As command.
This error may occur even though the original user no longer
has the document open.
In a Novell GroupWise environment, users may get an error
such as: “GroupWise Error 8201—cannot return document to
library”
Worst of all, if you are using a document management system
like PCDocs, “you may experience data loss in the original
document” says Microsoft.
Microsoft has updated the winword.exe and wwintl32.dll files
to fix the problem, but it has not finished testing the fix. If you
must have a fix for this problem immediately, contact Microsoft technical support at (425) 462-9673 and request the
files associated with Knowledge Base article Q179435. Microsoft technical support will provide you with a file called
odmaupd.exe, which contains the updated versions of winword.exe (5199K, dated January 14, 1998) and wwintl32.dll
(1131K, dated January 14, 1998).
The next bug applies to both Office95 as well as Office97. The
problem, which was known for some time, prevents the user
from printing Excel worksheets that are in a Binder, an application which is included in the Office product. Instead of just the
selected worksheets being printed, all of the sheets that contain
data are printed. Also, hidden sheets in the Microsoft Excel sec-
April/May 1998
tion are printed. The Binder Print Preview option will show
only the selected sheets, yet all of the sheets will print. A fix is
planned for the next version of Office, due to go into beta testing next quarter.
To work around this behavior, do the following to print the
Microsoft Excel section separately from the other sections in
the binder:
1. Activate the Microsoft Excel section by clicking the Microsoft Excel icon in the left pane.
2. To select the sheets that need to be printed, hold down the
CTRL key and select the sheets.
3. Click Print on the Section menu, and then choose the Selected Sheets option in the Print dialog box. Click OK.
4. In the left pane of the binder, click one of the other sections.
5. Hold down the CTRL key and click on the other sections
that need to be printed. On the File menu, click Print
Binder and choose Selected Sections in the Print dialog
box.
6. Click OK to print the selected sections.
Cybermedia Drops the Ball
If you have installed First Aid 98 from Cybermedia and use
Netscape’s browser this bug is for you. Apparently the installation program for First Aid98 automatically changes some users’
default browser from Netscape to Internet Explorer. The problem was caused by the fact that First Aid98 requires certain
parts of Internet Explorer 3.2 or higher to be installed in order
to use Microsoft’s ActiveX and HTML controls. A free update
to First Aid 98 can be downloaded from http://www.cybermedia.com.
Hardware Problems
A small percentage of Iomega’s Zip Drive users have reported
drive failures. The problem has been nicknamed “The Click of
Death” and is characterized by the zip drive repeatedly making
a clicking sound which results in the drive becoming unusable.
To make matters worse, some users have even reported that
placing a cartridge that was in an affected drive, into another
Zip drive will cause that drive to fail also, permanently! According to Iomega, this problem affects only a few percent of
the drives. But if you’re using Zip drives to archive important
data, be warned the “click of death” may render your data useless.
Iomega has informed users to call their toll free customer service line (888) 446-6342. However the call is then routed to
technical support and you will incur at least a $14.95 cost.
However this charge will be waived if the product proves to be
defective.
[EN: What a great column, Greg! Am I ever glad I asked you
to write it. You had me fooled for a few seconds on TAMROF!
As I have always said, “Anything that gets done in this User
Group is because somebody volunteered (read — sacrificed
some of their time) to do it!]
April/May 1998
Report On the February 1998 General Meeting
L
✍ by Brian Lowe, Winnipeg PCUG
be friendly and easy to use, leads the
en Thornton, Vice-President
user through the process of preparing
of the group, called the meeta tax return. After displaying inforing to order at 7:05 p.m., with
mation about major changes from
a couple of announcements.
last year, the program picks up any
First, effective April 1998, board
information from last year’s return
meetings have been moved from the
(if you used QuickTax for your 1996
fourth Thursday of the month to the
tax return.) It then builds the return
second, so business arising from the
step-by-step using a question and anboard meetings can be presented at
swer technique, such as “Do you
the general meeting the following
have any T-slips?” The slips display
week. Due to this, the Linux Forum
on the screen in the same format as
moves from the second Thursday to
the forms from Revenue Canada.
the fourth. [EN: The Linux Forum is
When
complete, QuickTax scans
now cancelled.]
through the information to see if
Also, Mike Ficzere, has resigned
anything else should be included,
from his board position of online
such as missing personal informaservices manager due to an intion, deductions you may have
creased workload at his job. We will
Intuit’s Rob Lacroix Demos QuickTax
missed, etc.
be holding an election for the posiIntuit was offering QuickTax to the
tion in April. Members interesting in
members present for $20.00 for the
taking the position please send ebasic package or $25 for the deluxe
mail to Len Thornton.
CD, a discount from the shelf prices
A question and answer session folof $29.95 and $39.95 respectively.
lowed. One member noted the
QuickTax allows a maxim um of
monthly telephone rates are rising
eighteen returns to be produced. A
from $40 per line to $90 and asked
password that allows an additional
if we were doing anything about
eighteen returns is available for
this. Len replied a committee is
$29.95, and for $60 you can produce
looking into this issue.
an unlimited number.
Another person as if we have anyAfter Rob’s presentation was comthing on the BBS to help determine
plete, Len introduced Lorri
if one’s home PC is ready for the
McReady fr om CanTax. Lorri
year 2000. Responses from the audiopened her presentation with a brief
ence indicated there are sites on the
history of CanTax, saying the comWorld Wide Web that may be able
pany has been around since 1985 and
to give you help, and the BBS has a
boasts an expanding and broadening
program called Y2L that apparently
product line, with products for the
Lorri McReady Answers
tests the PC’s BIOS.
ho me mark et, pr of essio nal tax
Questions About CanTax
Next Len introduced Rob Lacroix
preparers, and incorporated busifrom Intuit. Rob showed Intuit’s
nesses.
QuickTax product, which, he said, has been selected as the best
New to CanTax this year is Interview Plus, a series of videos of
tax preparation program by the Computer Paper three years
Winnipeg-based tax expert Evelyn Jacks giving directions on
running. New this year to QuickTax is an enhanced interface
income tax preparation and asking questions. The CanTax CD
with their EasyStep system, all new videos and books in the
includes a section called Using CanTax 98, a multimedia presDeluxe version, powerful planning tools, RRSP loan planners,
entation on the CanTax program. The CD also features Video
and retirement planners. Online RRSP information and shopTax Tips, a library of tips by Evelyn Jacks, arranged by topic.
pin g ar e av ailable th ro ug h Quicken’s web site at
A
useful feature in the user interface is a tree-structured index
www.quicken.ca.
of forms in a pane to the left of the tax return that can be
Unfortunately, problems interfacing his laptop computer to the
toggled on or off. Other useful features include a tool bar, a
video projector prevented Rob from giving a presentation of the
status bar, a diagnostic window, and a floating tax summary
software, so for the most part he could only talk about the feabox. As each form is opened, its name appears in a tab at the
tures instead of demonstrating them.
bottom of the screen in a manner similar to tabbed spreadsheets
EasyStep, which from the little he was able to show appears to
in Lotus 1-2-3.
April/May 1998
The T1 jacket form has magnifying glass icons beside each expandable field, typically fields that contain the results of calculations on other forms. Help on each “cell” or line is available
at any time by pressing F1, along with hot links to accompanying topics and slips/forms.
Once complete, CanTax does a review, displaying diagnostics
and a comparative tax summary (if you used CanTax for last
year’s return.) The printer takes care of the rest.
CanTax takes the approach that planning is an essential strategy
in reducing the amount of income tax you pay, so the program
includes several tools to assist the user with this. There is a new
checkup form for retirement palnning, a marginal tax rate planner that displays taxes on $100 of income derived from straight
interest, capital gains, and Canadian dividends; a rate of return
planner; and RRSP and other investment planners. There is even
a form to help with the big question of the 90s, “Should I contribute to my RRSP or pay down my mortgage?” A retirement
planner is included for those who are contemplating retirement
or have recently done so.
Lorri noted that Revenue Canada seems to be committed to
allow Canadians to e-file their income tax returns from home,
but not just yet. Until then, their product has a list of registered
e- filers in your area to whom you can take a diskette created
by the program. The cost to e-file a return is between $10.00
and $20.00.
CanTax offered the members present the opportunity to purchase the CanTax CD for $26.95, which includes versions that
run on Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and even DOS (although this
is the last year they will be producing the DOS version.) Their
offer included a second CD called FundsMaster, a database of
information on Canadian mutual funds. The CanTax software
allows a maximum of fifteen returns to be produced, while a
password that allows an additional fifteen returns is available
for $26.95.
After the presentations were complete, members were given to
opportunity to ask questions of both presenters. In response to
one question, both presenters said their program can read information from their rival’s files for the 1996 tax year.
Another person asked if the program can run from CD. QuickTax can, but CanTax still has to be installed to your hard disk;
maybe next year it will run from CD.
Both presenters mentioned the primary advantages to tax software were accuracy and the ability to perform scenario planning: what if I contribute more to my RRSP? How will having
another child affect my tax status? Would I save a substantial
amount by moving to another province? The labour involved in
answering these questions is almost prohibitive when done
manually, but trivial on a computer.
Finally, here’s a local tax tip: if you work in Winnipeg’s downtown area, you can drop off your return at the Revenue Canada building on Broadway Avenue between Hargrave and Donald streets and save yourself the cost of postage. They have a
drop box in the lobby and a slot in the wall at the west end of
the building on Hargrave.
Following the presentations, tickets were drawn for the prizes.
“Buck for Your Butt” Prize Winners:
Visual J++ for Dummies Book,
Interspace keyholder,
WildCards game CD,
Connectix Agent 97 software: Norm Leach
Connectix VideoPhone software,
Connectix PhotoMate software,
“Globe” hand exerciser,
Marilyn Monroe CD: Mike Kotyk
MGI PhotoSuite software,
toy semi-trailer truck: Dennis Brown
Lynx 66 mouse:
Gary Sward
Xerox Soft CD holder,
StockVue 2.0 software,
The Inside Tracks by Kurzwiel CD
,spiral puzzle,
Comdex Spring 1997 T-Shirt: Brian Lowe
Door Prizes:
QuickTax Deluxe:
Quicken T-Shirts:
CanTax CD:
Reinhard Schilling, Don Carlson
Harvey Zimberg, Percy Thomas
Bill Jenkins, Art Kaebe,
Gerard Soens
Minutes of the General Meeting
Held On March 19, 1998
P
✍ by Brian Lowe, Winnipeg PCUG
ast President Steve Vincze called the meeting to order at
7:02 p.m.
Introductory remarks: Since the previous general meeting, most
of the board has resigned, and as a result the group is short on
signing officers.
Following receipt of the letter sent to him by the President,
Vice President, and Treasurer, Steve Vincze along with Jon
Phillips and remainder of the executive consulted with Raymond Hall, legal counsel for the User Group, who reviewed
the bylaws to see if he could recommend a path to take so we
could continue functioning. We then held an emergency board
meeting on Tuesday, March 17, 1998. Three items emerged
from the meeting:
1. The board recognized Steve’s authority as president due to
his being the Past President.
2. The board passed a motion to appoint Fred as Treasurer
with signing authority.
3. In order to function we have to fill the positions, but our
bylaw prevents us from doing so. Therefore, the board decided to amend the bylaws, subject to ratification by the
membership, so we could hold the election.
Motion to amend the General Bylaw: Moved by the board of
directors, seconded by Terry Ward, that the general bylaw of
the Winnipeg PC User Group be amended as follows:
Section 29 is amended by adding the following paragraph, “In
the event of the resignation of fifty percent or more of the current board of directors between general meetings, or the resignation of fifty percent or more of the executive council between
general meetings, the requirement to provide written notice of
motion to the Executive Secretary, and the requirement for the
Executive Secretary to distribute a written Notice of Motion to
all members in good standing, shall be waived, to facilitate the
election of replacement directors in a timely manner,” and,
Section 11 is amended by adding the following paragraph, “In
the event of the resignation of fifty percent or more of the current board of directors between general meetings, or the resignation of fifty percent or more of the executive council between
general meetings, notice of such vacancies shall be given at the
first meeting following the time the resignations are tendered,
and elections to fill the vacant positions may be held that same
meeting, or as directed by the membership. Positions that become vacant as a result of such elections may be filled by elections at the same meeting,” and,
Section 25 is amended by replacing the words in the first paragraph that read, “A majority of the Board” with the words “A
majority of the non-vacant positions of the Board”.
The chair noted that although the General Bylaw allows the
board to pass such an amendment itself, the board has chosen
instead to make the amendments subject to ratification by the
general membership.
Moved by Terry Ward, seconded by Neil Longmuir, that the
motion be amended by inserting the words “before the next
meeting or” immediately preceding the words “at the next
meeting.” After a brief debate on the motion to amend, the
chair called for a vote by the raising of hands. The motion to
amend was carried.
Question from the floor (Rick Singbeil): Why was there no
formal notice of elections at this meeting? Is it not unfair to
those who may not be able to attend? The chair answered by
noting in the letter sent by the resigned officers (the President,
the Vice-President, and the Treasurer) it was suggested we
should hold such an election. Since the letter was sent a week
in advance of the meeting, that constituted notice, albeit informal.
Comment from the floor (Jack Binkley): These proposals are
for extraordinary situations only and do not apply to the normal
course of business. He commended the work done by the remaining members of the board and called for the motion’s passage.
Comment from the floor (Hart Macklin): Although Hart
agrees with motion, he noted the short notice could allow some
people present to take advantage of the situation if they knew
of it in advance.
April/May 1998
The chair then called for a vote by the raising of hands. The
motion was carried.
In response to a question from the floor, the chair said the
question of who is now Past President, in view of the fact the
current President did not complete his term of office, is yet to
be resolved. Steve Vincze indicated he would not be willing to
continue in the office of Past President, but will continue to
work on getting a monthly printed newsletter into the hands of
members.
Motion to hold elections: Moved by Art Jonasson, seconded
by Lorin Berard, that the members present proceed immediately hold elections to fill the vacant positions. There was no
discussion on the motion, and the chair called for a vote by the
raising of hands. The motion was carried.
Motion to hold elections by secret ballot: Moved by Barbara
Randall, seconded by Mike Kendrick, that the elections be
held by secret ballot. Comment from the floor (Hartmut
Sager): It would be highly appropriate for the elections to be
conducted by secret ballot. There being no further discussion
on the motion, the chair called for a vote by the raising of
hands. The motion was carried.
The chair then asked for three volunteers to count ballots, and
three people — two members who have previously held the
position of President, and one non-member — stepped forward
to do so: Grant Ubell, Hart Macklin, and Tim Antonio.
Mike Kendrick also volunteered, but indicated he would let
his name stand for a position if he was nominated for one, and
so declined the task of counting ballots.
The chair said people running for election could act as their
own scrutineers, or appoint others to as scrutineers for them.
Steve instructed the scrutineers were not to touch the ballots for
any reason, then instructed the people counting the ballots on
procedures.
The chair then opened the floor to nominations for the position
of President. Mike Kendrick was nominated by Earl Zabenski, seconded by Bob Chochinov. Greg McClure was nominated by Barbara Randall, seconded by Kim Zayac. George
Bowman was nominated by Hartmut Sager, seconded by Len
Thornton. Dave Clark was nominated by Lise Dupuis, seconded by Jim Jaworski. There being no further nominations,
the chair closed the floor, then asked each nominee in turn if he
would agree to let his name stand. Dave and Greg respectfully
declined, while George and Mike let their names stand. Following brief speeches from the candidates, a vote by secret ballot
was conducted. The results of the balloting: George Bowman
received 51 votes, Mike Kendrick received 34; four ballots
were spoiled. The chair declared George Bowman elected as
President.
of Vice President. Mike Kendrick was nominated by Art
Kaebe, seconded by Denis Beaulieu. Jon Phillips was nominated by Bert Gutzmann, seconded by Kim Zayac. Neil
Longmuir was nominated by Cathy Dewar, seconded by Kim
Zayac. Jack Binkley was nominated by Lise Dupuis, seconded by Bob Chochinov. There being no further nominations,
would agree to let his name stand. Neil, Jack, and Mike each
respectfully declined, while Jon Phillips allowed his name to
stand. The chair declared Jon Phillips elected to the position of
Vice President by acclamation.
of Treasurer. Perry Exley was nominated by Jon Phillips, seconded by George Bowman. There being no further nominations, the chair closed the floor, then asked Perry if he would
agree to let his name stand. He agreed, and the chair declared
Perry Exley elected to the position of treasurer by acclamation.
of Group Buyer. Shawn Zayac was nominated by Mike Kendrick, seconded by George Bowman. Greg McClure was
nominated by Bert Gutzmann, seconded by Lorin Berard.
There being no further nominations, the chair closed the floor,
then asked each nominee in turn if he would agree to let his
name stand. Both Shawn and Greg agreed, and after brief
speeches by the candidates, a vote by secret ballot was conducted. The results of the balloting: Greg McClure received 49
votes, Shawn Zayac 38; one ballot was spoiled. The chair declared Greg McClure elected to the position of Group Buyer.
of Newsletter Co-Editor. Shawn Zayac was nominated by Bert
Gutzmann, seconded by Jon Phillips. Roger Buchanan was
nominated by Lise Dupuis, seconded by Kim Zayac. There being no further nominations, the chair closed the floor, then
asked each nominee in turn if he would agree to let his name
stand. Roger Buchanan respectfully declined, while Shawn
Zayac agreed. The chair declared Shawn Zayac elected to the
position of Newsletter Co-Editor by acclamation.
of Online Services Manager. Mike Kendrick was nominated by
Art Kaebe, seconded by Kim Zayac. Kim Zayac was nominated by Kevin Mason, seconded by Jon Phillips. Hartmut
Sager was nominated by Jim Jaworski, seconded by George
Bowman. There being no further nominations, the chair closed
the floor, then asked each nominee in turn if he would agree to
let his name stand. Hartmut Sager respectfully declined. The
chair then informed the members present that the remaining
candidates, Mike Kendrick and Kim Zayac, are principals in a
company called IBS — Internet Business Systems, which currently has a contract with the Winnipeg PC User Group to
maintain the group’s Internet Service Provider system in exchange for bandwidth and other considerations. The chair then
asked Mike and Kim in turn if they would agree to let their
name stand. Both declined. The chair declared the position of
Online Services Manager to be vacant.
of Advertising and Marketing Manager. Bert Gutzmann was
nominated by Shawn Zayac, seconded by Greg McClure. Lise
Dupuis was nominated by Brian Lowe, seconded by George
Bowman. Jack Binkley was nominated by Barbara Randall,
seconded by Lise Dupuis. There being no further nominations,
would agree to let his name stand. Both Lise and Jack respectfully declined, while Bert agreed. The chair declared Bert
Gutzmann elected to the position of Advertising and Marketing
Manager by acclamation.
April/May 1998
of Forum Coordinator. John Kesson was nominated by Lorin
Berard, seconded by Lucien Loh. Greg McClure was nominated by Kim Zayac, seconded by Barb Randall. Barb Randall was nominated by George Bowman, seconded by Lise
Dupuis. There being no further nominations, the chair closed
the floor, then asked each nominee in turn if he would agree to
let his name stand. Both Barbara and Greg respectfully declined, while John agreed. The chair declared John Kesson
elected to the position of Forum Coordinator by acclamation.
There being no further positions to fill, the chair declared the
elections ended.
Motion to hold an election for Online Services Manager:
Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Art Kaebe, that in the
event the board is not able to fill the position of Online Services Manager by appointment, an election for the position be
held at the next scheduled general meeting. Carried.
Motion to destroy ballots: Moved by Minke Stornel, seconded
by Mike Kendrick, that the ballots used in voting be destroyed. Carried.
There was a round of applause for Steve Vincze for filling in
during this time. The chair then called for a round of applause
for the past presidents and the one non-member who had taken
the time to count the ballots.
Following the business portion of the meeting, Jon Phillips
gave a presentation on installing a new second hard drive into a
computer, including a demonstration of Partition Magic 3.
Winners of the “Buck for Your Butt” Draw:
T-Shirt from i Publish,
Inside Moves book,
and Marilyn Monroe CD: Raymond Guenette
Connectix Video Phone software,
Connectix Photomate software,
QuickTax Deluxe CD,
Shoelace and clip from Simply Samsung: Arnold Zatser
Instant Netscape Dynamic HTML book,
CD for Desktop Designer, CD holder from Xerox,
and Wild Cards game CD: Gail Cumming
April/May 1998
Want to Speed Along the Internet?
“Catch the Wave !”
I
✍ by Steve Vincze, Winnipeg PCUG
don’t know about you but I get frustrated using the Internet
for more than just e-mail. The variances in
performance by the numerous Internet Service
Providers (ISP’s) in Winnipeg and Nationally
leave me wanting a better way.
Speed is now available to those home users willing to pay the price and of course living on the
right side of the river. Videon Cable should have
rolled out their Wavetm service by the time you
read this and you could be in for a treat. Note the
word “could” and read on to find out what I
mean.
In the September 1997 time frame, Videon Cable was seeking “Beta testers” for a technical
trial of their up and coming Cable Modem Service. I volunteered, but of course was in the
wrong part of town for the October startup. Fortunately, my area was ready in December and I
was online by mid December. The promise of up to T1 download speeds to the desktop is appealing. Is this real and what are
the speed bumps?
The installation of this service was straightforward and simple.
Wave uses your standard coax cable as one connection to a cable modem and an Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cable to a
network card in your PC. The UTP cable already has a crossover build in to handle the send/receive crossover required in a
hub free installation. Videon will provide a network card (NIC)
if you don’t already have one as part of their full installation
service. I already had a network card installed so had already
ensured I had the necessary slot, interrupts within the PC (IRQ)
and drivers installed. Otherwise the installation requires the
setup of a network since Wave is actually putting your PC on
the Videon network. We have reached our first possible speed
bump! With our systems becoming more and more loaded with
controllers and options like sound cards, DVD, and SCSI, you
may experience a shortage of IRQ’s. The solution may end up
trading off one device or feature to provide the IRQ required by
the network card. As an example, some sound cards require 2
IRQ’s as does the newer EIDE controller used in many PCs for
hard drives. (I won’t go any deeper into topic since this is a
topic worthy of its own article.)
Once the hardware components are installed it become a matter
of configuring the TCP/IP and network card with the appropriate values. The Cable modem Wave setup uses a static IP address provided by Videon. This means that to the network you
are always at the same IP location. (In comparison, when you
use a dial up connection with an Internet Service Provider
(ISP), you are assigned a dynamic IP (changes each time you
connect) address.) Configuring the TCP/IP protocol is simple
and involves filling in the Local Static IP address as well as the
IP addresses you are connecting to/through. It was this static IP
issue that created speed bump number Two. If you intend to
download any software with security issues tied
to it, your IP address must be registered. As an
example when I tried to download the 128 bit
version of either IE or Netscape it was denied.
This was brought on by the fact that the host site
could not validate my location. Videon, I must
admit was responsive to this problem and corrected it for me in a few days by arranging the
necessary IP registrations.
The last part of the installation involves telling
your Internet software the type of connection you
are using. Both Netscape and Internet Explorer
support a network connection as well as the usual
dial up connection. Don’t forget to change your
e-mail software as well if you are using something other than the ones included with your
browser of choice.
Now you’re ready to surf!
If you’re like me, then you will have your browser ready to
launch from your desktop. Using the Internet with a Cable Modem is as simple as clicking on your browser! No dial up procedure, no busy signals just the starting of your browser. Not even
a login procedure! But then again one would have to be in your
house to get on your connection. This is due to the fact that the
Cable Modem itself also has an IP address! I just wonder how
many IP addresses Videon will have to have in order to support
all the possible users in Winnipeg?
By now you are probably asking is it worth it? Here is Speed
Bump number three. No matter how you are connecting, it is
still the Internet with its inconsistencies. No matter how fast
your connection, the path traveled by your connection, the traffic on the various segments and the bandwidth the host you are
connecting to, will impact on your downloads. However, as
with dial up services, you can improve your odds by being selective in your download time and sites.
In order to give you a feel for what can be accomplished using
a cable modem I offer you these samples of download times.
• Worst download performance was in the 100’s of bytes per
second
• Reasonable expectations for a single file download is about
30 Kbytes/sec
• Best single file download I achieved was 72 Kbytes/sec
• Best aggregate download 172 Kbytes/sec downloading 4 files
at once.
• Downloading one of our newsletters (a little over 2 MB) took
15 seconds to 60 seconds with various tries
• Downloading a McAfee Win95 scan program (just under
5MB) took just under 2 minutes.
April/May 1998
The reality is that if your download is slow, click on stop, wait
a few seconds and try the download again. This seems to have
helped most of the time.
Would I recommend this to all users? You decide. If all you
want is e-mail and an occasional download you could probably
get by very well with a 33.6 or 56K modem and a dial up
provider. If you do lots of surfing and downloads then this is a
great option. At $49.95 per month with a one-year agreement
the pricing may be a little high. Based on what has already
happened in some other markets, the pricing will come down in
the future. Maybe the 1 GB download/month limit (without
surcharging) will never be implemented.
Am I going to keep the service? If I tell you I love it then
you’ll buy the service and my performance may go down. If I
told you I didn’t like it them I can keep the bandwidth for
myself. So what should my answer be?
Winnipeg PC User Group Forums
✍ by John Kesson, Forum Coordinator
Meet at the Resource Centre
A forum is a group of members who meet to share information
on topics of mutual interest, i.e. Beginner’s Forum, Hardware
Forum. Members can help, and learn from, each other. Each
forum has one or two leaders.
Meeting Place
Unless otherwise stated all Forums meet at the WPCUG Resource Centre (The Clubhouse) at 337C Fleet Street (Pembina
Highway at Fleet Street).
And Now....Here are the Forums
(listed alphabetically)
Beginner’s FORUM
Meets the second Saturday of the month.
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Leader: Barb Randle
“Drop In — Hang Out” FORUM
Meets the first, third and fifth (if there is one) Saturday of the
month. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Leaders: Jon Phillips and Greg McClure
Contact John Kesson for more details.
Hardware FORUM
Meets the fourth Tuesday of the month. 7:00 p.m. - 9: p.m.
except for the months of July and August.
Leader: Jon Phillips
HTML — Hyper Text Markup Language
Meets first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Shawn Zayac
Investment Forum
Meets first Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Art Cavenagh
WordPerfect Forum
Meets the second Wednesday of the month. 7:00 p.m. - 9:00
p.m. EXCEPT for the months of June, July and August, annually.
Leader: Neil Longmuir
KEEP ME POSTED!!!
FORUM Leaders, please keep me updated on your FORUM
happenings and I’ll get the information to these pages.
[EN: Note that several Forums have been cancelled — namely
the Internet Forum, the Linux Forum and the Windows Forum. If any member would like to reactivate these Forums,
please let John Kesson kn ow. E-mail him at: [email protected]. I did not produce “calendars” this
month, because of so few “events”.]
Our New President Hard at Work!!!
Now if he only would have dropped in to our
Saturday Forum he might not have gone berserk!
April/May 1998
Minutes of the Board Meeting
Held on March 26, 1998
Darryl had in the office. This is now in the hands of the Executive Secretary (where it properly belongs) and I will be visiting
Brian from time to time in order to attend to necessary paperwork.
Brian has agreed to pick up
Present:
Regrets:
Guests:
Pau l Steph en asked to
the mail from our post box
change the phrase “One of George Bowman
Paul Stephen
Steve Vincze
and prepare same for filing,
the board members” in the Jon Phillips
Darryl Draeger
Neil Longmuir
Secretary’s Report in the Brian Lowe
Carroll Longmuir distribution etc. This means
probably a lot closer workFebruary minutes to read Art Cavenagh
Barb Randall
ing relationship between the
“Darryl Draeger.”
Perry Exley
Enid Freese
president and the executive
Arnold Zatser
Jon Phillips asked to include Shawn Zayac
secretary than in the past.
Mike Kendrick
the following lines in the Bert Gutzmann
I have viewed the various
John
Kesson
Kim
Zayac
paragraph concerning his
meeting facilities at the DisGreg
McClure
challenge to the chair:
ciples United Church, corner
That the Board did not have
BOD Meeting Attendees
of Kennedy and Broadway.
the authority to authorize
The main facility is wheelothers to sign a document
chair accessible and has an
that the board had not yet approved, that no minutes from the
elevator connecting the main floor and the basement. Two
Executive Council meetings on the topic had been presented.
meeting areas each capable of holding at least 200 people, one
on the main floor, the other in the basement. Both meeting arRoutine Motion: Moved by Brian Lowe, seconded by Jon Phillips, that the minutes of the February board meeting and the
eas have projection screens available. On the main floor adjarecent emergency meetcent to the proposed
meeting area is a very
ing be accepted as
posted to the exec conlarge galley-type kitchen
ference, with corrections
where coffee could be
“Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips,
prepared. There are at
as noted. Carried.
seconded by Art Cavenagh, that the group
least a half-dozen coffee
Administrative Motion:
cancel
our
current
“space
and
distribution”
urns of varying sizes,
Moved by Brian Lowe,
plus four wheel serving
seconded by John Kescontract with the Computer Post and begin
son, that the board adopt distributing a printed newsletter every second carts for dollying urns
of coffee and food from
as a standing rule that
the kitchen to where
month,
starting
with
the
June/July
issue.
bo ar d meetin gs end
ever coff ee is being
promptly at 9:00 PM,
Carried.”
served.
unless otherwise changed
by motion during the
There is a rough unfinished area in the basemeeting. Carried.
ment
large
enough
to
contain
roughly
the
number of classroom
Reports of the officers
positions contained in current Resource Centre, plus space for
George Bowman, President:
our BBS and IS equipment. Making the area secure raises the
Although I would lIke to be able to say that since I’m new on
question of large expenditures I would think.
the job nothing to report, unfortunately that’s not true.
Charge for meeting facility rental is $50 for from 40 to 100
I have been in contact with Mr. Marc Caron of Escape re their
meeting participants. For numbers over 100 the charge is .50
proposal, negotiated by our former Executive Council, and I’ve
cents a head.
directed Mr Caron that if he wants his proposal considered by
I hope that by report time for our 2nd Thursday of the Month
the user group he is to present it to us in writing on their lettermeeting in April that I will have a better grip on those things
head over the signature of an officer of their corporation
which are within the President’s province.
authorized to sign the deal.
Although Darryl Draeger technically holds the office of Past
I have e-mailed Micrografx concerning Amy Iverson’s April
President, the board has not received a confirmation he will
16th. 1998 appearance before our group, pointing out that all
hold the office. Darryl was not present at the meeting, so there
the information a visiting presenter needs can be found on our
was no report.
Web Page by clicking ENTER the clicking on Vendor InformaJon Phillips; Vice President:
tion. I have provided my various e-mail addresses, phone numForum Computer (no longer calling it SIG Box) has had the
bers etc.
hard drives cleaned, Win95 OSR2.1 (donated by Bert) reinI have to go over the files in the “milk box” filing cabinet that
Introductory Business
eorge Bowman called the meeting to order at 6:58 pm.
G
stalled. 8 megs of memory, donated by Art, have been added.
The computer has been reconnected to the Internet and the
scanner is working. There is a little more work to do on it; at
this point I estimate we are about 90% finished.
Have given letter to other tenants at 337 Pembina Hwy, re:
parking lot etc. Once they give me OK on wording it will be
mailed to Stevenson.
As Len was heading the Relocation Committee, I guess this
now falls in my lap. On Arnold Zatser’s recommendation, I
looked at the Asper Jewish Community Campus at 123 Doncaster. The facility has lots of parking and is wheelchair accessible.
It seats 205 and is a true theatre with a stage, projector screen,
miscellaneous lights, and a control area. There is projection
booth at top of room, but we no access to this unless we pay
for a projectionist. The campus will provide tables for Buck for
Your Butt, etc. The rental cost is $125 night and it closes at
10:00 PM sharp; we will be levied charges of $35.00 a hour
past 10:00PM. We can book use of the theatre for six months at
a time; Jewish organizations have first dibs on the six month
contracts. Food served must be kosher. The main drawback is
the anteroom is small; however we could spill out of it into the
surrounding, indoor, areas. The soonest we can have it is July.
George and I have been discussing how we can help each other
and have the offices of President and Vice President work
smoothly.
Perry Exley, Treasurer:
I was just elected on Thursday and I’m still trying to figure out
what’s going on. Expecting to meet with Fred on Saturday, and
by the April meeting hope to have a handle on the affairs of the
group.
Brian Lowe, Executive Secretary:
I am continuing to encourage board members to send in their
reports via e-mail prior to the meetings, so they can be included
in the minutes in a timely fashion. Also, it is good to see board
members now making motions in the exec conference.
Valerie Thornton has resigned from her position as chair of the
promotions committee. A copy of the note she sent me in email is attached as an appendix to the minutes. Len Thornton
has turned over to me his keys for the Resource Centre, and I
will give them to Bert.
Art Cavenagh, membership secretary:
Adult
386
Corporate
5
Junior
5
Associate
27
Total
423
This number is probably understated. I am awaiting the info on
new members from Fred that he collected at the last meeting
but this info has not been forwarded. The ISP list has been kept
up-to-date with the membership database.
In response to a question, Art said the database is up and running, and with help from Neil [Longmuir], updates from the
last meeting have been applied.
Art would like to know if the old MEMBERS file can be recreated for use at meetings. Brian Lowe, now the Executive
Secretary, said it could be, provided Art supplies him with a file
April/May 1998
in a predictable format that could be imported into MEMBERS.
In response to a question, Art said he has now received the
names on the e-mail lists from George.
Paul Stephen, Editor:
I am working on the April/May issue. If the BOD approves a
return to hardcopy, then June would be the month for this to
happen. I can do the June issue and then Shawn can do the July
issue, and so on.
This time frame will give our advertising manager some time to
“attempt” to round up advertisers, and time for Shawn to learn
Ventura Publisher (if he chooses to work with that package.)
I’ll “bundle up” files that went into creation of one of our
newsletters and give them to Shawn. This should assist him if
he chooses to use Ventura.
I posted a suggestion that we perhaps cut the number of BBS
lines to 1-2 (for every line we drop we’ll save $1100/year) and
allow access to the BBS from the Internet. Even one of my
strongest “critics” supported this idea. I know it’s possible to do
this using Mustang software — perhaps our ISP TEAM can tell
us if it could be done without changing the PCBoard software.
Shawn Zayac, Newsletter Co-Editor: No report.
John Kesson, Forum Co-ordinator: No report.
Greg McClure, Group Buyer:
I am still settling into the position of group buyer. However I
will be shortly contacting various suppliers regarding pricing
and products that are available to the user group. Since I am a
member of the ISP committee I see myself devoting more of
my time in the next couple of months towards the various options regarding the future of the ISP.
The On-line Services manager position is currently vacant.
Bert Gutzmann, Advertising and Marketing:
Advertising: I have just received the advertising file from Jon.
Marketing of the Group: still working on ideas; more to report
by April 9
Computer Expo: had a meeting with Jonathan Strauss on March
26/98. I will get together with the Expo committee next week;
more to report by April 9. Getting booth free, two tables, two
chairs; additional tables are $10 or $12
The following was reported by Jon Phillips, formerly the Advertising and Marketing Director)
Advertising — April/May Issue
Healey Visual Inc., 1 page, Ongoing; Charged back for services
WPCUG ISP, 1 page, Ongoing
Pembina Village Restaurant, 1/2 page, 1 year to Nov.98
$210.00
Total Pages: 2 1/2
Just a note: a printed newsletter would surely increase advertisers.
Old Business
There was no old business to be discussed.
Guests
Steve Vincze, former Past President:
Steve is no longer picking up mail for the group from our post
office box, and is turning the mailbox key over to George. He
mentioned to the Group Buyer there may be an EMJ catalogue
in the mailbox today. Steve is also giving keys to the Resource
Centre to Bert. Raymond Hall has indicated he would be happy
to answer questions from the board regarding possible changes
to the bylaws; he is of the opinion the bylaws could be loosed
up a bit.
Wish the board well.
Barb Randall:
Barb has a list of 8 Addresses and phone numbers for potential
clubhouses. She is also looking at Columbus Hall as a meeting
locations. George asked Jon to work with Barb on the Resource
Centre list.
New Business
Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Art
Cavenagh, that the group cancel our current “space and distribution” contract with the Computer Post and begin distributing
a printed newsletter every second month, starting with the
June/July issue. Carried.
Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Shawn
Zayac, that the group cancel four telephone lines currently in
use on the BBS. Withdrawn (with the stated intention to move
again at the April board meeting.)
Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Greg
McClure, that the motion passed at the November 1997 board
meeting to purchase an LCD panel and overhead projector be
rescinded. Carried.
Business motion: Moved by Greg McClure, seconded by Jon
Phillips, that the board by the 28th of March formulate a communique regarding events following the recent resignations
from the board and mail it to all members, and also post it to
our various electronic media. Carried.
Administrative motion: Moved by Art Cavenagh, seconded by
Jon Phillips, that we waive the ISP setup charge for people who
sign up at the upcoming Computer Expo. Withdrawn.
Administrative motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by
Bert Gutzmann, that the board appoint Mike Kendrick as interim Online Services Manager, with no vote on the board, for a
maximum period of ninety days, or shorter if a member is
elected to the position. Carried.
Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Bert
Gutzmann, that the ISP Committee investigate all ISP options
and report those options to the board by the next board meeting, both those that are feasible and those that are not. Carried.
Business motion: Moved by Jon Phillips, seconded by Art
Cavenagh, that the board present to the April general meeting
the courses of action regarding the ISP, with a recommendation
from the board of the preferred course, subject to ratification by
the members there present. Carried.
Bert Gutzmann, that the current meeting be extended to
9:20PM. Carried.
Business motion: Moved by Paul Stephen, seconded by Brian
Lowe, that 250 copies of the User Group survey prepared by
Paul be printed and distributed at the April and May general
meetings, and be made available on the Group’s web site. Carried.
April/May 1998
Bert Gutzmann, that the IP restriction on the news server
“news.wpcusrgrp.org be removed,” and users wishing to access
the news server instead supply a userid and password. Comment from Mike Kendrick: this is not technically feasible; our
firewall does the IP restriction, not the news server. Withdrawn.
There was a brief discussion on the committees to examine the
location of the monthly meeting and to examine the location of
the Resource Centre. Jon volunteered to be in charge of Resource Centre suggestions, and George the meeting.
Business motion: Moved by Greg McClure, seconded by Bert
Gutzmann, that the group’s General Bylaw be made available
on the BBS, on the internet via FTP, and on paper at the Resource Centre, and a copy be provided to each board member.
Carried.
Bert Gutzmann, that the BBS conferences “Main,” “Ask,” and
“Buy & Sell” be cross-posted with their counterparts in the
WPCUG newsgroups on the ISP, provided it is technically feasible, or can be done manually. Carried.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM.
APPENDIX: Makeup of the ISP Committee
Mike Kendrick, acting On-line Services Manager, chair
Appointed members: Shawn Zayac, Kim Zayac, Jon Phillips,
John Kesson, Greg McClure, Art Cavenagh.
After the board meeting adjourned, Mike announced he was
calling a meeting of the ISP Committee for Tuesday, March 31
at 7:00 PM. Meeting location is Suite 6, 709 Corydon Avenue.
APPENDIX: Valerie Thornton’s letter of resignation
Board of Directors
It was such a pleasure to see and hear that George Bowman
was elected as President. He, most of all the nominees put forward, has the background experience, dedication, and love
needed to get the User Group through this critical time.
In these next few months of getting the financial house in order
and building support structures, crucial to the short and long
term survival of the Winnipeg PC User Group. Working together, now more than ever before, is truly priority one.
I don’t envy anyone the work ahead of you in such a short
period of time. Supporting the work of the President and each
other is the only way to ensure a stable foundation. It is with
some regret that I cannot assist you as Promotion Chair at this
time. As my February report explained, the other problems of
the User Group are of a higher priority than growth. I cannot,
in good conscience, push ahead with promotion at this time
when the foundation of the group can barely support the existing membership. All energies must be focused on the improvement of our financial position and our volunteer base.
Therefore, I resign my position as Promotion Chair. Should you
have need of my services to support your current priorities, I
would be pleased to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Valerie Thornton
A
April/May 1998
The House That Bill Built /Joke of the Day
Mailing List Humor
s many people have probably heard by now, Bill Gates
built a new home, a VERY large home, 35 garages, several buildings and so on. However, the problems he’s had
with the house are much less known. The following is an excerpt from a conversation Bill had with his new home contractors:
Bill: There are a few issues we need to discuss.
Contractor: Ah, you have our basic support option. Calls are
free for the first 90 days and a $75 call thereafter. Okay?
Bill: Uh, yeah. The first issue is the living room. We think it’s a
little smaller than we anticipated.
Contractor: Yeah, some compromises were made to have it
out by the release date.
Bill: We won’t be able to fit. all our furniture in there.
Contractor: Well, you have two options. You can purchase a
new, larger living room. Or you can use a stacker.
Bill: Stacker?
Contractor: Yeah, it allows you to fit twice as much furniture
into the living room. By stacking it, of course, you put the entertainment center on the couch, the chairs on the table, etc.
You leave an empty spot, so that when you want to use some
furniture, you can unstack what you need and put it back when
you’re done.
Contractor: Nope, it’s the only way.
Bill: (Sighing) Well, I have one last problem. Sometimes when
I have guests, someone will flush the toilet and it won’t stop.
The water pressure drops so low that the showers don’t work.
Contractor: That’s a resource leakage problem. One fixture is
failing to terminate and is hogging the resource, preventing
other fixtures from accessing.
Bill: And how do I fix that?
Contractor: Well, after each flush, you all need to exit the
house, turn off the water at the street, turn it back on, reenter
the house. Then you can get back to work.
Bill: That’s the last straw! What kind of product are you selling
me?
Contractor: Hey, if you don’t like it, nobody made you buy it.
Bill: And when will it be fixed?
Contractor: Oh, in the next house, which we’ll be ready to
release next year. Actually it was due out this year, but we’ve
had some delays...
Sound familiar?
This is the ORIGINAL Joke of the Day! Millions of humorous e-mails sent around the globe since 1994!
To be ADDED: Send SUBSCRIBE JOKE to
Bill: Uh, I dunno... Issue two. The second issue is the light
fixtures. The light bulbs we brought with us from our old house
don’t fit. The threads run the wrong way.
[email protected]
Contractor: Oh, that’s a feature! The bulbs you have aren’t
plug and play. You’ll have to upgrade to new bulbs.
[email protected]
Bill: And the electrical outlets? The holes are round instead of
rectangular. how do I fix that?
Contractor: That’s another feature designed with the customer
in mind. Just uninstall and reinstall the electrical system.
To be REMOVED: send UNSUBSCRIBE JOKE to
[Editor’s note — St. Louis UG: The Joke of the Day mailing
list in recent months seems to send out about one joke each
week It is, however, a well moderated list, with most of the
jokes being quite good. Most would be quite appropriate for a
mixed audience.]
Bill:You’re kidding!?!
Help us pay our BILLS! Please renew your membership
ASAP when it comes due! Thanks!!!
April/May 1998
MEMBERSHIPS THAT EXPIRE AT THE END OF APRIL
Mr. Fred Bartlett
Mr. Richard D. Belanger
Mrs. Denise Bellmare
Ms. Susan Bewick
Mr. Bill Boyaniwsky
Mr. Alan Brolly
Mrs. Valerie S. Burch
Mr. Victor Burtnyk
Ms. Lorraine Cairns
Mr. Scott Cameron
Mr. Sid Chapnick
Mr. Daniel Christle
Mr. Kelly Clements
Mr. Bob Dacquay
Mr. Barrie Daniels
Mr. Drew Daniels
Mr. Ron E. Day
Mr. Steve Didyk
Mr. Robert Elias
Mr. Perry Exley
E. Freese
Mr. George Froese
Mr. Einar Hansen
Mr. H. Arthur Jonasson
Mr. Ivan Kaus
Barb Kelly
Mr. Gerry Race
Mrs. Judy Race
Mr. Dave Root
Mr. Narciso San Diego
Mr. Henry Sikora
Mr. Scott Stevens
Mr. Keith Strachan
Mr. Karl H. Strieby
Mr. Dan Tereck
Mr. Geoffrey Titcomb
Mr. David Traa
Mr. Bruce Vidler
Mr. Gunter Wenzel
Mr. Gord Klassen
Mr. Lucien Loh
Ms. Gloria Matskiw
Mr. Brian Millar
Mr. Frank Mitchell
Mr. Terry Moyer
Mrs. Eva Murphy
Mr. David Parker
Ms. Penny Paul
Mr. Ken Pearce
Mr. Brent Peterson
Mr. Steve Pouteau
Mr. Hugh Pritchard
MEMBERSHIPS THAT EXPIRE AT THE END OF MAY
Mr. Arthur Arkin
Mr. Steven Banman
Mr. Curtis Bars
Mr. Heinz V. Bergen
Mr. Matthew Bileski
Mr. David L. Bowles
Mr. Murray Bryson
Mr. Peter Chrunyk
Ms. Patricia Coates
Mrs. Lillian Colburn
Mr. Mitch Colburn
Mr. Donald Couch
Mr. Stuart Cuddy
Mr. Roy Dempster
Mr. Robert Derksen
Mr. Leonard Driscoll
Mr. Rob Duncan
Ms. Dorothy Froese
Mr. Bo Gajda
Mr. Archie Giesbrecht
Mr. Philip Guberman
Mr. Michael Hollingsworth
Mr. John Houde
Mr. Alex Jittu
Mr. Arthur Kaebe
Mr. Peter Kristensen
Mr. Al Learning
Mr. Kurt Lehmann
Mr. Edward G. Londer, Jr
Mr. Peter McDougall
Ms. Vera Moroz
Mr. Jack Morris
Mr. Seymour Opochinsky
Mr. Albert A. Owen
Mr. William Pitt
Mr. Stewart Pollins
Mr. Pundalik Prabhu
Ms. Jane Regehr
Ms. Joyce Regehr
Mrs. Bev Richmond
Mr. George Rodrigue
Ms. Donna Ryland
Mr. Reinhard Schilling
Mr. Sean Smith
Mr. Ron Snider
Mrs. Sheila Snider
Mr. Jim A. Sutton
Mr. Gerald Thiessen
Mr. Steve J. Vincze
Mr. Ron Wersch
If your name is on the above list, we hope that you’ll renew your membership
via the BBS (the JOINUG door VISA/Mastercard accepted),
by mail, or at the April/May General Meetings.
Your Business Card
Could Have Been Here!
With our return to hardcopy, please
consider placing advertisements
in our newsletter.
Contact Bert Gutzmann, our advertising manager,
at the e-mail address: [email protected].
Thanks!
“User Friendly” Voice Recognition Software.....
April/May 1998
Membership Form
Return to:
Membership Secretary
WPCUG, P.O. Box 3149,
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4E6
Internet Access Form
Complete and return with $40
($25 registration, $15 for your first month)
TO:
Winnipeg PC User Group
c/o Internet Subscriptions
P.O. Box 3149
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4E6
Name
Name: (last, First, Initial)
Home Address
City
Postal Code
Home Address:
Corporate Name
Postal Code
Corporate Address
City:Postal Code:
rHome
Send mail to which address?
rCorporate
Home Phone
Business Phone
Data Phone
Fax Phone
Home Phone:Business Phone:
r Adult $49.95 rJunior (under 18, proof req’d) $25
r Associate $20 (joined to Adult at same address — newsletter not sent)
r Corporate $125
Memberships run 12 months from date of joining.
PC User Group Membership Number
Cheques payable to: “Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc.”
Amount: $
Bill Method:
Payment:
rPre Pay
Signature
rVisa
Card #:
rDirect withdrawal from Bank Account
Branch
Date
May we list your name, address and phone number in our club directory?
r Yes
Expiry Date
/
Mo Year
(provide sample void cheque)
Signature:
Expiry Date
Card #:
r Mastercard
Bank
r Visa r Mastercard r Cheque
r No
Office use only
Payment
Receipt
Membership #
Account
Date:
I authorize the Winnipeg PC User Group to charge my
bank account monthly for my use of the
WPCUG Internet connection.
Parental/Guardian signature required for members under
18.
Rev
03/97

Apr / May

Transcription

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