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Welcome to the 1999 holiday season. You probably have computer stuff on your list to give or receive, and there's plenty of computer stuff to choose from this year. So, let's take a moment away from our computers to see what's going on in the computer world and talk about how you can take advantage of the latest products and trends.
First of all, you should consider buying a gift SPCUG membership for someone, or ask someone to give you a gift membership, no matter if you want to be a new or renewing member. (Getting people to buy me gift memberships is a strategy that's worked for the past seven years.) We've added more educational offerings for our members in the past year, and more is in store; for example, we're already looking forward to our next PC Jamboree early next year. Last month I formed a public relations committee comprised of current and past officers to plan out activities and community involvement during the next two years. When you read the final report in Sacra Blue in a couple of months, I think you'll be excited.
Here's another exciting fact that you may have missed: our group is growing. Our membership numbers have gone up every month since July as of this writing. That's something our group hasn't done since late 1993- the last time Bill Gates was here. For you doubters, take a look at the membership numbers in the inside front cover of this newsletter from July through October. As of July 1, we had 1,182 members, and on October 1 we had 1,219 members, so on average we've added about 12 members per month from July to October.
Other exciting developments abound. Thanks to Treasurer Don Frieze, our books are in order and we're squared away with federal and state agencies. And thanks to Milt Hull and Ken Hopkins, we have plenty of interesting meeting speakers in the next few months. Our beginners SIG and Internet/ Windows tutorials are popular. Our software library has expanded its options and is now on our Web site. We're getting more contributions for our newsletter. A lot more is in store for members, so this is a great time to join a growing group that can help you broaden your computing skills, whether you're a novice or a guru. Membership is a great gift for you or that certain someone who can benefit from the SPCUG all year round.
About Microsoft
Microsoft has a lot of goodies to choose from this year, but when you talk about Microsoft you always have to start with operating systems. If you don't have Windows 98, you should get it now that the second edition of Windows 98 (Windows 98B) is available. I've installed this edition on my old Northgate Cyrix 586 hybrid and my dad's 133-MHz Pentium and it runs without any trouble. If you think you should get more memory to run Windows 98B, then you should do so as quickly as possible since memory prices are rising. Another alternative is to get a new computer becaue they're cheap, and I suspect memory prices are keeping computer prices from falling even lower.
Microsoft has delayed the release of Windows 2000 Professional (WIN2K) until February (at least), but if you're thinking of moving to it, I think you should get at least a fast Pentium II with 128 MB of RAM. I've been running Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on my primary Dell PC for the past two years, and personally I'm in no hurry to install Win2K. I've only upgraded NT twice in two years, and both times it was to install service packs. I started out with Service Pack 3, and I would occasionally encounter the blue screen of death when I ran Internet browsers, be it Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. I don't get that with Service Pack 5, and I've found that NT with Service Pack 5 is nice and stable on my 266-MHz Pentium II with 64 MB RAM. It's nice that Microsoft is holding back on releasing Win2K to make sure it's bug-proof, but I don't want to rock the boat until I hear from my user group colleagues on Win2K's performance.
Will we see any of Microsoft's recent offerings at one of our meetings anytime soon? Don't count on it. Microsoft seems content with holding eXtreme Events every six months-there was one earlier this month, and I'm sure their next one in the spring will focus on WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL. The good news is that Microsoft lets us come to the UA Theaters in Citrus Heights to promote the group before and after the presentation (though we've had mixed results getting an announcement on stage). The bad news is that there isn't very much real-time interaction as you would get at a user group meeting, and though we get to distribute flyers, we can't give eXtreme Event attendees the full user group experience that we could at a meeting. With high turnover in Microsoft's user group relations department, I don't think Microsoft will be all that involved with user groups for the foreseeable future, sadly.
Other Considerations
I've had an opportunity to install Red Hat Linux on my older Northgate system. Red Hat Linux is not as easy to install as Windows- not by a long shot. Once you do get Red Hat Linux installed, it's an interesting system that even gives you a choice of GUI interfaces to use. If you do use it and want to use a graphical interface, run it on a fast Pentium at least- the Northgate's speed is equivalent to a 90-MHz Pentium and the GUI's performance is sluggish.
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Other Linux distributions to watch are Corel Linux that comes with Wine, the Linux Windows emulator, and Caldera's Open Linux that we'll see at the General Meeting in March when Gene Barlow comes back to see us. I'm skeptical about the future of Linux as an end-user system, but as a bona-fide OS alternative I think it merits attention.
Should you consider one of the new Apple iMacs or PowerMacs? I can hear the mixed snickering and grumbling, but Apple is a player this holiday season. They've filled out their product line with the new iBook, they have a new version of the Mac OS out, and they've upgraded their iMac line, including an iMac model under $1,000. Apple has also announced its silver and graphite PowerMac G4 line with the impressive-looking Apple Cinema Display, a flat-panel 22" LCD monitor. The problem with the PowerMac G4s is that 150,000 computers are on backorder because Motorola can't make the G4 chips fast enough; Apple has enlisted IBM to resume making G4 chips for them to help relieve the backlog. Though I'd be interested in buying a PowerMac G4 if I had the money, Apple's handling of the backlog would give me pause.
Apple introduced the PowerMac G4 in three flavors-fast, faster and fastest. Originally the fast model was 400 MHz, the faster one was 450 MHz, and the fastest one was 500 MHz. However, the 500-MHz chip was slow in coming, so many PowerMac G4 buyers wouldn't see their computers until February at the earliest. So Apple decided to knock down the speeds of all three flavors by 50 MHz but charge the same prices for those three flavors. To top it off, Apple decided to cancel all existing PowerMac G4 orders, requiring everyone to re-order. So, if you originally ordered a 450-MHz PowerMac G4, you would have to re-order it and pay more since the 450-MHz model was the fastest flavor and commanded a higher price.
The furious reaction from Mac users to this policy caused Apple to backtrack in short order, but, even so, this predicament calls Apple's judgment into question. Last month, one BYTE writer recommended that Mac users abandon Apple as he had and buy a Windows PC, based largely on Apple's customer service gaffes. That's something I've never seen before. Though Apple has once again set new standards in computing, I have to wonder if the company has a future if it can't set new highs (instead of seemingly new lows) in customer service.
What Else?
There are several solutions to the 1.44 MB limitation on a standard floppy disk. The two most prevalent ones are the Zip drive and the rewriteable CD-ROM (or CD-RW) drive. Which one should you buy? CD-RW drives are getting cheaper, and they hold a lot more information-about 650 MB. Though nearly all computer users have a CD-ROM drive on their computer these days, a CD-RW may be overkill if all you want to do is transfer a few files that won't fit on a floppy disk. There are a growing number of CD-RW drive makers out there.
Iomega, the company that produces the Zip drive, is one of those CD-RW drive makers. Iomega recently added the ZipCD CD-RW drive to their offerings that include Zip, Clik, and Jaz drives. Clik drives hold 40 MB and are designed for laptop users. Jaz drives are an alternative to tape backup drives, and Jaz drives hold up to 2 GB. Iomega currently offers the 250 MB Zip drive, the 100 MB model has been discontinued, but the 250 MB drive reads and writes to both 100 MB and 250 MB Zip disks. Just be sure not to give a 250 MB Zip disk to someone with a 100 MB Zip drive- that someone won't get very far.
Zip drives and disks are fairly inexpensive and a good upgrade gift for your computer, largely because of their utility and near-ubiquity. There have been some problems with Zip disks in the past, but those reports have largely gone away. Symantec and Gibson Research offer diagnostic tools for your Zip disks. There have also been recent reports that Iomega has lost even more money, and I expect Iomega will be bought out by a larger company next year. That shouldn't be a cause for alarm since the popularity of the Zip drive should ensure its survival for some time to come.
As far as software and books, you'll find gift ideas from some of the other columnists in recent issues of this magazine, and there are too many software titles to talk about in one column. But there is one low-cost alternative that you may not have thought of: our software library. Our library contains dozens of high-quality, low-cost software products- many of them are as good as the commercial packages and some you won't find on the shelf but it may be exactly what you're looking for. And members get better prices at the software library- yet another reason to buy a gift SPCUG membership for you or someone else. Happy shopping.
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