 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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The Lotus Position
To balance the coverage of the Lotus-versus-Borland case, we obtained a transcript of a telephone conference between senior Lotus staff and some US user group officers. Unfortunately, the 64 kB file would have consumed over 12 pages here and after making several attempts to edit it, I decided against it.
The Power of CompuServe
If you value your time and need a reliable answer, you would do well to try the CompuServe Information Service (CIS). It does not attract many crazy people, as is common on free services such as Usenet or a local BBS. Crazy people are smart enough not to pay for their electronic rantings.
CIS message areas are called Forums, which are managed by Sysops, which is a CIS term for a moderator. Many forums are sponsored by computer vendors so you can rely on getting a reliable, prompt response.
Case in point: I asked in the Ventura forum why parts of previous issues of this magazine had such tight kerning in the articles I set using VP Windows 4.1.1, when this did not occur in articles set using VP GEM 3.0. Within hours I got the comment that I had probably been using the GEM font width table. This was indeed the case. Problem solved.
Don't Phone Some of Us
Some months ago I mentioned that someone reached my boss when I was away from my desk and asked if he could solve their problem. Sadly, readers of my Age column and PC Update continue to phone me outside the published guidelines, so I will now hide behind my fax number. My job is more important to me than your problem. Sorry.
If you phone any listed volunteer at a place of business and do not reach them, please do not leave a message mentioning this magazine or this group. Co-workers that take the message might complain to their superior and we'll lose one more volunteer.
How to Reach Us
If you need to reach Peter Smith or me on some magazine-related matter, send a fax to our listed numbers or leave a message at the user group office stating the reason. The same principle applies to our other volunteers who have requested a specific means of contact.
Please do not contact me to solve your computer-related problem, for I have little spare time. I do not consult on a paid basis either.
How to Reach an Author
If you need to contact an author, do so through the office. Someone recently wanted to reach Peter Ward, a recent author, but this group has three members by that name. Could Peter Ward, author, please contact the office and claim his shareware voucher?
Vouchers?
We "pay" our authors one voucher (good for one shareware disk from our library) for a single-page article or two vouchers for more pages. For what it is worth, the authors who have not received all their vouchers include myself, which is no consolation to others in a similar position. Please write to the Secretary (on paper) at the user group address and state the facts. This is an office function and a letter from you to the committee will have more effect than a comment by me at a committee meeting on your behalf.
Q&A for Windows
A couple of people took me to task for mentioning Q&A for Windows in the previous issue. One asked if someone was "behind it." No such luck.
I have been a fan of Q&A for several reasons. Q&A version 1.0 was a product that I bought with my first XT clone and upgraded at great expense over the years. It is a simple, flat-file database and it comes with a simple word processor, which I use only for mail merge tasks. The Windows version has added little niceties and it continues to be my preferred database product. Our user group database is also maintained with Q&A. (It is destined to be subjected to every other database known to mankind, but that's another story.)
Watch out for a forthcoming review from Q&A SIG convener Ian Garth. Until 3 December, Symantec has a user group member special price of $199 plus $12 P&H. The Network Pack, which adds three additional users, has a special price of $759 plus $12 P&H until that date. Ring 008 810 101 to order.
The Norton Range
I used to be a PC Tools user until a few minor problems with version 7 were overcome (for me) by the arrival of The Norton Desktop for DOS. The truth is that I don't seem to need such a tool most of the time. I copy, rename, move, and delete single files with List (now at version 78A; see the shareware listings in this issue); I move multiple files with DOS 6's Move command; I delete directories and their contents with the DelTree command. Sometimes the accompanying applets (little programs) are of greater use. I often use the Norton Desktop View applet to look at a file from a program that I don't have or simply when I don't want to load the parent program. My version is over a year old and it cannot handle newer formats such as Excel 4. For backups I now use a Colorado Trakker 250 MB tape unit, which can be connected to any PC through the parallel (printer) port.
A program I can recommend is The Norton Utilities which is at version 7. It fixes my DOS 6, DoubleSpaced hard disk automatically at least once a month, sometimes more often. Its Disk Doctor module is my favourite program.
Reprinted from the November 1993 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
