Corel Ventura 8.0, Than Ever That the NTPCUG News- Story

Online Edition

May 2000 VOLUME 19 • NUMBER 5 Of Interest In This Issue...

Articles and Announcements: Special Items: Published monthly by members of President’s Message ...... 2 - 4 North Texas Personal Computer Users Vendor Presentations . 1 Group for their use. Send all editorial Timothy Carmichael correspondence to: Editor, North Texas !!!Mark Your Calendar!!! ...... 4 PC NEWS at: [email protected] SIG Meetings . . . . 1 Connie Andrews Rooms & Times Send address changes to: Membership Entering SIG Notes Through the Web 5 - 6 Director,NTPCUG, P.O. Box 703449, Bill Parker SIG Reports . . 11-20 Dallas, TX 75370-3449. The Variety Store ...... 7 - 10 Reagan Andrews Managing Editor Reagan Andrews Officers & People You (214) 828-0699 should know . 21 Copy Editor Connie Andrews (214) 828-0699 Newsletter Exchange Lewis Graber

The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not neces- sarily reflect those of the Group or its members. Copyright ©2000 by North Texas PC NEWS. (Articles without specific copyright notices may be repro- duced unchanged by other not-for- profit User Groups if credit is given to Submit Newsletter articles to: [email protected] the author and the publication.) Visit the North Texas PC Users Group Web page: http://www.ntpcug.org Circulation:

Member distribution was 835 Submitting Articles and Stories to the Newsletter The editors of North Texas PC NEWS use Microsoft Word for Windows 97. The North Texas PC NEWS is going particularly if the editors have This issue of North Texas PC NEWS online—and it’s more important questions or suggestions about the was composed using Corel Ventura 8.0, than ever that the NTPCUG news- story. letter contain timely and informative Corel Draw 9.0, Arts & Letters Express Please don’t submit the article or 6.01, Adobe Photoshop 4.01, Microsoft content of interest to our members. We will welcome pertinent “How to story in HTM or .PDF format. It Publisher 2000 and Adobe Acrobat 4.01 can make editing and formatting Principal typefaces include: Times, do it” articles, book reviews, software reviews and other materials quite time consuming and difficult. Palatino, Helvetica, A&L Cafe, French that would be helpful and interest- Vogue, and Lithos. We can accept MS Word 97, most ing to NTPCUG members. WordPerfect files and ASCII .TXT D E A D L I N E For prospective authors, there are a files. The absolutely latest version Copy deadline for June few, but very important, “Do’s and of any word processor may not Don’ts” involved in article submis- convert gracefully to our format North Texas PC NEWS: and may have to be rejected as a re- June, 2, 2000 sion to the newsletter, first of which is accuracy. Be sure of your facts sult. Meeting Dates: (unless you report them as “ru- Graphics should be submitted in mors”) and always remember to re- one of the “standard” formats, i.e., port the source(s) as well. .TIF, .EPS, .GIF, .PCX or .JPG files. May 20 - 3rd Saturday Please don’t submit articles that are While “native” CorelDraw (CDR) July 15 – 3rd Saturday taken from another source without files are also OK, other graphics August 19 – 3rd Saturday crediting the source in your article, editor native formats may not be i.e., if you excerpt something from convertible. the Microsoft (or other) Web site, Again, we want your articles and please state that in the article. thank you in advance for your in- Remember to “sign” your article/ put and cooperation. story at the bottom. A simple “by Your Name” will be quite helpful, Reagan Andrews May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

Auditorium Presentations for May 20 10:00 A.M. Macromedia Dreamweaver & Fireworks Macromedia Our main presentation for May will be Macromedia. They are the makers of the Dreamweaver and Fireworks software that Mary told us about in April at Big town. Both of these software packages are well known to Web site developers, now we the curious and uninitiated will get to see what all the excitement is about. Come join us for an informative session on the software that makes some web sites look sooo cool!

12:00 P.M. NTPCUG Main Business Meeting

12:30 P.M. NTPCUG New Member Orientation

Time SIG 11:00 Internet - Advanced SIG meetings are listed by time for the 8:00 Microsoft Networking AppleCorps May 20 meeting. Times may change, AppleCorps Professional MIDI & Audio and members are advised to check the Hardware Solutions (continued) NTPCUG Web site for latest listings. Lotus Notes & Domino Introduction to the PC Room locations will be posted at LHFC Excel/Spreadsheets Quicken on the day of the meeting. 9:00 Communications Macromedia Flash The following SIGs are meeting at AppleCorps 12:00 NTPCUG Business separate locations, and are not in- DOS/Disk Operating Systems Meeting cluded in the schedule above. Check Introduction to the PC AppleCorps/FileMaker the SIG notes for time and location. Alpha Five Investors Dallas Corel JAVA Programming Meets on 5-13 10:00 Internet - Beginning ACT! AppleCorps WordPerfect for Windows Access Professional MIDI & Audio 12:30 Visitors Orientation Application Developers Issues Main Presentation - Macromedia 1:00 FrontPage Visual BASIC - Advanced Introduction to the PC AppleCorps/ClarisWorks Visual BASIC - Beginning Word for Windows Web Content Committee Dallas Corel (continued) AppleCorps/Beginners Meets on 5-27 Games Genealogy - The Master WordPerfect for Windows Genealogist (continued)

1 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

Come Visit Our New Meeting Location! On May 20, we will meet for the first time at the Lake Highlands Freshman Center, part of the Richardson Independent School District (RISD), where we have contracted to meet on the third Saturday of each month for the rest of this year (and probably for years to come). This building is new and stylish, is conveniently located for a majority of our members, and gives us room to grow as a community service re- aways for everyone attending, and special source. free drawing prizes will be given away at the Main Meetings. Come join us to share I encourage all members to attend this meet- our knowledge and greet the newcomers. ing and see the facilities. Since we expect new visitors (and new members) from the NTPCUG Web Site school students, parents, and faculty, we The NTPCUG Web Site at is rapidly becom- want to make this a fun and rewarding ex- ing an essential resource of timely news and perience for all. There will be free give- communication for all our members. Our Webmaster, Mary McWilliams Johnson, is working conscientiously to improve the site in conjunction with our Web Content Team. Soon we will add Web-based discussion groups for general member discussions and specific topic areas, including the SIGs. We are seeking ideas and volunteers for expand- ing this valuable online resource, and your contributions will be an important part of the development process. Check the Web site often and give us your feedback, suggestions, and contributions so we can better address your needs. Volunteers Rewarded The NTPCUG members who volunteered to help us with the Microsoft eXtreme event on April 8 received a special bonus from Mi- crosoft. They will be awarded one free Mi- crosoft product of their choice at the Busi- ness Meeting on May 20. The products include FrontPage 2000, Windows 2000, Office 2000 Professional, and Office 2000 Develop- ers. Some of the volunteers graciously do- nated their prizes for use by the User Group. This is only one example of the

2 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

to use it for your business? If you have Prez Sez... Continued some accounting experience and can spare a couple hours a week, we need your help. benefits of being an active NTPCUG mem- Our current Treasurer, Eb Foerster, has ber volunteer! given us several years of commendable as- sistance in managing NTPCUG finances, Those of you who can donate some time but the long drive from his home to Dallas to help out with the NTPCUG are needed has become impractical. As Treasurer, you more than ever. We are in the process of will manage our checking and savings ac- assessing and improving services for our counts, write a few checks and make a de- members, and your suggestions are an in- posit each month, provide Quicken-gener- tegral part of this process. Making those ated monthly financial reports, and partici- suggestions actually result in improve- pate in the officer meeting (with a free ments also requires additional volunteer meal) on the Tuesday evening following time and effort. Your contribution of only each monthly User Group meeting. Your ac- one or more hours a month will help all counting experience could help our group members, and you can benefit from being grow and improve, so call me if you can an active part of NTPCUG. Additional help fill this important position. help is needed for projects that are on hold until we have the manpower to start Anyone willing to participate as a monthly them. volunteer should contact Claude McClure Seeking A New Treasurer... (Volunteer Coordinator) or myself. Claude has diligently manned our NTPCUG Infor- Do you have experience with Quicken? mation Booth and coordinated volunteers at Would you like to learn more about how our meetings for many years, and volun-

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!!! Mark Your Calendar !!!

Future Newsletter Deadlines and Meeting Dates Our main meeting [presentation(s) and most SIGs] will be at Lake Highlands Fresh- man Center on the third Saturday of each month for the rest of this year. The newsletter deadline each month will be fifteen days before the main meeting. See the schedule below for a listing of those dates. Newsletter Deadline Meeting Date June 2 June 17 June 30 July 15 Prez Sez... Continued August 4 August 19 September 1 September 16 teers like him keep the User Group function- October 6 October 21 ing for the entire membership. With a little November 3 November 18 more help from more members, the individ- December 1 December 16 ual workloads will be reduced. User-to-User Program Off-Site SIGs In past years we have tried to build up a The North Texas Microsoft Developers SIGs User-to-User contact program with the goal (Beginning Visual Basic, Advanced Visual of providing our members quick access to Basic, Access, and Application Developers Is- experts in specific topic areas. We want to sues SIGs) will meet the second Saturday of revive this program, and need help from each month at Microsoft Corporation’s you to make it work. Many times I have South Central District office at 5080 Spec- run into a computer problem that was trum Drive, Suite 115E in Dallas. quickly solved by talking for a few minutes with an expert in that area who had encoun- Check at http://www.pioneerinfo.com/tmg for tered a similar problem and could offer po- information about when and where the Mas- tential solutions. Developing and trou- ter Genealogist SIG will meet each month. bleshooting software and hardware systems Check with [email protected] or at can be much quicker and easier if you have [email protected] for information about access to the specific information you need. when and where the Micrografx SIG will Between all our members we have an out- meet each month. standing knowledge base, and members who join this program will find it an excel- Up-to-date Information lent way to learn more from others. Look Make it a habit to check our Web page at for details on our Web site soon. ntpcug.org for any last minute changes.

Timothy Connie Andrews

4 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

Entering SIG Notes through the Web

by Bill Parker, NTPCUG SIG Coordinator

As of May, 2000, SIGs should update their web page, enter notes for the newsletter, and maintain the SIG leader list through a web interface. These changes should not be sent to Webmaster, Sig Coordinator, or Newsletter. SIGs now directly control the timing, and frequency, of updates that are 3. The SIG Edit Page gives you a great available to the public through the web site. amount of flexibility in how the ultimate Any changes made are immediately shown web page displays. All SIGs are on the web site. The monthly notes section strongly encouraged to enter monthly of each web page is used in the newsletter. notes. If current month notes are avail- These are the procedures for using this new able by the second Friday before a meeting, they will be published in the capability. newsletter. Current notes can be added after that time, but they will only be available on the web site. The next sev- 1. Access the new system by going to eral items refer to sections of the SIG http://mail.ntpcug.org/asp/signotes/de- Edit Page. fault.asp. Later, there will be a link on the SIG schedule page to this address, 4. HTML Tips and Editing Standards - but there are some security issues to ad- These two links open a new window, so dress first. it can be kept open for reference while entering current notes and background 2. Select your SIG from the drop down list, text. and enter your password. Initially, all passwords are "leader", without the 5. Month - Select the month for the current quotes. (Soon, you will have the ability note from the drop down list. This will to set your own password.) Press Sub- show on your web page, so make sure it mit to go to the SIG Edit Page. is correct!

6. Current Notes - Enter notes to be shown on the web site, and in the newsletter, using HTML formatting. This formatting is simple, and samples are shown at the HTML Tips link. For the most part, only para- graph , bold , and italic tags will be needed.

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Type the text directly into the edit box, or compose it in a word processor, and paste it into the edit box. There is also a link to Editing Standards.

7. Background Info Title - The default name for the background section is "Background", but this can be changed. Each SIG must have a background section to let web visitors know the purpose of the SIG. thing here that should not go into the monthly newsletter. 8. Background Info - Enter background information here, with HTML formatting. 9. Contact Info - The first line, labeled Con- Some SIGs maintain a list of previous tact, will be inserted at the bottom of the meeting topics. That would also be ap- SIG’s web page. The line reads "E-mail propriate for this section. Include any- to SIG Leader: act name". Contact name is hyperlinked to the e-mail ad- The Perfect Gift! dress. This will be the main e-mail contact for the group. The contact name can Looking for a last-minute gift that’s quick, even be generic, such as Investors SIG. easy and keeps on giving for the entire The additional contact lines are for the list of leaders that is to be shown in the year? Take a tip from Doug Gorrie and newsletter. So Leader1 should be the consider giving a one-year membership in SIG leader, and Leader2-6 can be assis- the North Texas PC Users Group. This is tant leaders. The Contact line, and the an especially appropriate gift for a friend Leader1 line will generally be the same or relative who is new to computing and person. Remember, Contact name is for interested in learning how to use and en- the web page, Leader names are for the joy the PC. newsletter. If a leader has multiple phone or e-mail addresses to list, leave Point out the Genealogy SIGs to people the next name field blank, and enter the who are collecting information about their second phone number, etc. families, tell friends how much the In- ternet SIGs can help in easing their way 10. When all desired changes have been into really using the Web, and the benefits made, press the Submit button at the bot- of friendly, early computer lessons in the tom of the page to update the database. Introduction to the PC SIG. 11. The SIG Review page is displayed. Make More experienced users would appreciate sure all changes are correct, and you are value of vendor presentations in making done. If there are corrections to be important software and hardware deci- made, press the Back button to go to sions during the year. edit mode again. To see how the SIG page is actually displayed, press the link If you have a friend or relative who con- to SIG Page. stantly “borrows” your copy of the latest Bill

6 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

DOJ v. Microsoft Grinds To A Close As Judge on either ignorance or misinforma- Declares a ’Monopoly’ And Considers Remedies tion (is there really any difference?). Including A Breakup of the Software Giant — If I were to ask (I won’t) Larry El- Cisco Case Claims ’Extortion & Death Threats’ lison (Oracle) or Scott McNealy (Sun Microsystems) for their opinions—af- As VIA Technologies Continues Acquisitions ter they get over their chortles and peals of laughter—I suspect their A ’Hurricane’ Ain’t a ’Spitfire’... suggestions would parallel the Well, the other shoe dropped. Judge Jackson French desire at the end of WW-2. says something to the effect that Microsoft is a That is, to partition Microsoft (Germany) into nasty old monopoly and should be punished many, many, very little Microsoft’s (Germany’s), for their sins/success. That was fun and ex- none of which could ever pose/be a threat pected given the judge’s decisions/behaviors again. They aren’t alone in this feeling and I during the trial. read a number parallels with the earlier AT&T breakup. What nobody expected was a third shoe. Shortly Microsoft Isn’t AT&T after Jackson’s decision, the market tanked big time. Everybody scrambled in the wake of Jack- There’s a very basic difference, though, between son’s announcement to get Microsoft and (then) AT&T. It out of the tech stocks and cre- was relatively easy to partition ated several, negative, AT&T into a number of regional NASDAQ records in the Bells, all basically in the same process. Even the industrial business, and separate the long- blue chips took a beating. distance business. Microsoft is However, I don’t think it a whole ‘nother beast. was all the Microsoft decision, but was more likely ser- Suggestions range from separat- endipity, i.e., two unrelated ing the operating systems (OS) events occur simultaneously part from the application soft- that appear causal as a re- ware (Office) portion and apply- sult. In my business, this is ing very rigid operational con- called “superstitious learn- straints on both. ing.” Lets look at the OS issues first. ‘Suggested Remedies’ Look Hear a lot of voices saying that Like Wishfull Thinking this would “level the playing From Microsoft field” and promote the fortunes Competitors of LINUX (and other UNIX clones), bring OS/2 Warp back, Even more fun for me are all make the BeOS look more attrac- the “suggested” remedies be- tive, etc., etc., etc. Haven’t ing zipped around the me- heard anyone suggest it might dia. Seems nobody is “neu- prompt Apple to port the Mac tral” in the DOJ v. Microsoft OS to the x86 platform, though. antitrust case. I’ve seen liter- ally hundreds of suggestions PC Market Trends Defy for “appropriate” remedies Anything But a ‘TV in both industry and non-in- Experience’ dustry venues, many of Isn’t anybody watching the PC which are very clearly based market trends? Bulk of current

7 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

there are any resources left after the ravening hordes of states’ attorneys get through.)

Also, consider that there are several competing office suites already out there that haven’t been PC buyers simply don’t care about the OS as able to penetrate the market for a variety of rea- long as the PC approaches/becomes a TV Expe- sons, not all of which are a result of a Microsoft rience. Average user today is much less techni- monopoly. Consider WordPerfect. It’s a reason- cally sophisticated than 10 years ago and sug- ably good suite and has a lot of appeal for Mi- gestion that they would embrace OS/2 or any crosoft haters. It’s also very inexpensive and is of the UNIX clones is clearly absurd. Neither of being ported to LINUX by Corel. these is anywhere close to ready for the “aver- WordPerfect a good Example age” desktop. For new users and those of us with faulty mem- Before the LINUX/ OS/2 faithful begin gather- ory recall, WordPerfect (WP) had a “lock” on ing for a lynch party with me as a target, I’m the commercial DOS platform until 1989 when not knocking either OS for highly skilled users it made a disastrous decision that Windows with the knowledge to install and maintain would be a passing fad. (See TV Experience, them. I’m simply stating that both are far be- above.) When WP finally realized their error, yond the capabilities of the new user at this they compounded it by releasing a Windows point. I do have a question for LINUX folks, version that was essentially non-compliant in however. Once one of the proposed GUI shells too many areas to succeed. Several generations becomes “standard,” will LINUX lose its reputa- of quirky, buggy software coupled with tion for stability? Novell’s inability to market the product when it Applications Software Questions was working well made WP an also-ran on the Windows platform. Looking from the application software perspective, I hear some voices saying (wishing?) Mi- Couple the above with fact that SUN is giving crosoft would be tempted to port Office to the away an office suite for Solaris/ UNIX/ competing OS platforms. Sure. Microsoft is a LINUX, and several other UNIX clone vendors mass market company and would see scant rea- have announced similar office suites at very son to invest the $millions/ $billions such pro- low pricing levels, and probability that MS jects would demand in resources. (That’s if would consider a port to this platform quite un- appealing until the numbers swell dramatically.

That doesn’t even take the development software and games software into consideration Back to the Past Poses My Major Concern About All This If Microsoft is splintered—and a number of the contenders for the OS on the desktop are even mod- erately successful—where does that leave the PC user community? I’m mostly concerned with viable standards in terms of OS and applications compatibility.

8 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

I don’t want to have to go back to carrying cop- ies of software around while shopping for a new computer or operating system. Been there, done that. Remember it well during the “wild & wooly” days of the original IBM-PC and its clones (1982) when I would carry disks with Lo- raised in the DOJ v. Microsoft case, or at least tus 1-2-3 and MS Flight Simulator to test for true add some humor to the matter. Just can’t imag- compatibility when shopping for a PC. (Hint: ine Bill Gates waving a 9mm around making every PC vendor advertised ‘100% compatibil- threats. Hmmmmm, Steve Ballmer, though, ity, but users were wise to test anyway, since may be another matter many failed.) Andy Grove was Right! We are even starting to hear about problems in Intel ‘Looking over its this area in the LINUX camp. That’s a shame, Shoulders’ at VIA Now and I hope the LINUX group can avoid the in- Andy Grove, former Intel CEO and one of the compatibilities between vendors/ versions that more colorful people in the industry wrote a made UNIX so impractical for the casual user. book about the CPU/semiconducto business ti- Shades of the ‘Untouchables’ tled Only the Paranoid Survive. It was aptly ti- Extortion and Death Threats tled and I hope Intel is attending to the rise of Claimed in Cisco Case VIA Technologies. Talk about sales and marketing, a recent Wall Can you say “VIA Technologies” is taking over Street Journal article makes the supposedly the world in/from Taiwan? Seems strange, but predatory Microsoft practices seem tame in com- VIA is acquiring a lot of technology that may parison. Cisco Systems is the subject and a cou- give Intel a run for its money. VIA purchased ple of run-away salesmen/sales persons’ behav- Cyrix last year (the Web site, www.cyrix.com, is ior the target of a lawsuit. (I am a fan of Cisco still worth a visit) and recently forayed into the Systems and the following is not suggestive graphics chip business with purchase of S3’s that Cisco’s marketing practices follow this as a chip business. VIA was already one of the ma- model.) jor competitors with Intel in the support chip business and was in several respects, offering a Reported by Glen R. Simpson in the April 27 is- superior product at the “Super Socket 7” level. sue of the WSJ, the story makes MS look like softies. Seems that a couple of former Cisco cus- So what’s the big deal? Memory management, tomers claim that two Cisco salesmen extorted that’s the answer. The VIA chips could cache money from them and made death threats 256+MB of SDRAM while the competing Intel against them if they complained. Amounts of offerings fell flat after 64MB of SDRAM. (Al- up to $2,500,000 were mentioned in the article most any of the x86 support chips can handle as being extorted from at least two Cisco cus- more than 64MB of SDRAM, but users took a tomers. Story originally made me wonder if speed hit if the cache was 512KB or below.) somehow the Mafia had taken over the premier VIA based mainboards (mother boards) usually Internetworking company. After reading Simp- sported 1 - 2 MB of L2 cache s and sub- son’s article it became apparent that Cisco was sequently could cache 256MB - 512MB of primarily “guilty” of poor supervision—if any- SDRAM. Although AMD (Advanced Micro De- thing. vices) produced a line of support chips with similar capabilities, they were really VIA chips I won’t go into all the details because of space in disguise. (Other non-Intel vendors are SIS considerations. Just thought it would be a good and ALi.) follow-up to lend perspective to the Microsoft story above. I would suggest that the article is a VIA wants to be a major competitor to Intel in “good read” and may clarify some of the issues every respect of the word “competitor.” Acqui-

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as the fighter aircraft most seen (and feared by Luftwaffen fighter pilots) during the Battle of Britian. Since there’s been a resurgence in WW- 2 attention after release of the movie Saving Pri- vate Ryan, this may explain the ad content. sition of Cyrix CPU design capabilities gave them a low-cost entry into the CPU business At any rate, it does defy the popular notion that while incorporation of the S3 FAB may provide there was only one fighter on the British side VIA with similar (or better) capabilities at the during the Battle of Britain, the “Spitfire.” May graphics chip level. Currently, Intel’s graphics be that Supermarine had better PR folks at the offerings haven’t been stellar performers, taking time. Just as the 8th Air Force, Navy and Ma- a distant back seat to Diamond Multimedia, Ma- rines had better coverage in the newsreels (re- trox, 3dfx and nVIDIA-powered cards that have member those?) during WW-2. become the darlings of the gaming community. Most Americans today don’t realize that many A ‘Blast from the Past’ In Ads of the Marine beach assaults in the South Pacific From ITradar.com Shows were accompanied by Army Infantry Divisions, Stellar WW-2 Fighter just as the 8th Air Force wasn’t alone in the day- light bombing raids over Germany, Austria and I’m not sure who “ITradar.com” is. Recent ads Romania and relied heavily on participation of seen in various IT/IS media are headed by a re- the 15th Air Force flying out of North Africa ally terrific photo of one of the best British fight- (and later) Italy. ers in WW-2—the Hawker “Hurricane” which was an extremely capable machine during the On a similar note, the Boeing B-17 didn’t make Battle of Britain in 1939-40. It’s a nice photo these bombing raids alone—there were more showing both the aircraft and an “Alert” crew Consolidated-Vultee B-24’s produced during obviously enjoying themselves during a lull in WW-2 than B-17’s and this remarkable heavy the fighting. bomber made the initial, and disastrous, raids over Ploesti, Romania, and not the B-17. What makes this ad/picture so interesting (to me) is the fighter aircraft. Americans are much Reagan A ndrews more familiar with the Supermarine “Spitfire”

The Hawker "Hurricane" is shown below in British insignia and is on display at the USAF Museum. At right is the B-24 and the crew in the picture, 10 US airmen, is typical for WW-2 and includes a number of POW’s since this aircraft was shot down over Germany.

10 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

New s and meeting notes of Special Interest Groups Sig Leader Listings (Material for this column should be sent to Bill Parker at Sig_coordina- SIG Coordinator [email protected] before the PC News monthly deadline listed on the inside cover .) Bill Parker at: [email protected] 12:00 Noon -- Microsoft Access Access Access Database Larry Linson...... (817) 481-2350 hM We will be meeting at 12:00 noon on Sat- [email protected] urday, May 13, with the North Texas Mi- For more information, visit Tom Browning .... (214) 692-9784 h crosoft Developers SIGs (of the North http://www.ntmsdevsigs.home- [email protected] Texas PC User Group) at Microsoft’s Ad- stead.com. You’ll find a schedule, be Neel Cotten...... (214) 904-0011 dison facility at 5080 Spectrum Drive, able to click-through to a zoomable Jack Atkinson...... (817) 481-6623 h Suite 115E, Dallas, TX 75248. We’ll be map, get driving directions, and link to Dianna DeCicco.. (972) 446-0639 h meeting along with Beginning Visual Ba- separate sites for each of the four SIGs sic SIG, Advanced Visual Basic SIG, and (which will be completed as time per- ACT ! Jim Thompson .... (817) 261-6159 h the newly renamed Application Devel- mits). You must have script execution ...... (214) 665-9442 w oper Issues SIG (formerly ActiveX Appli- enabled in your browser. cation Developers). [email protected] North Texas Mi- Deborah Bean..... (972) 475-7463 h crosoft Developer SIGs will meet on the In May: Perennial favorite presenter ...... (972) 475-3124 w second Saturday to avoid conflict with and Assistant SIG Leader Jack Atkin- [email protected] the date of NTPCUG’s other SIG meet- son will tell us about "Useful routines ings. Meeting times are: that assist in editing, validating, and ma- Alpha 5 nipulating of text data." He said he was Bill Parker ...... (214) 369-5889 h 09:00 AM -- Beginning Visual Basic going to "fill in some blanks", building [email protected] 10:00 AM -- Advanced Visual Basic on the starter application presented last Ron Jackson...... (972) 276-3661 h 11:00 AM -- Application Developer month. You can bet he will most likely Issues have a bag full of tips, hints, and tricks ActiveX Developers Larry Linson...... (817) 481-2350 h [email protected] From Bill Parker, SIG Coordinator Dan Ogden ...... (972) 417-1916 w [email protected] The following are changes/additions/needs that the NTPCUG has made to the SIG’s. Linda Moore...... (214) 342-8833 Please notify me of any changes in contact information for existing SIG Leaders. Communications New SIGs: Alan Brosz ...... 1 (972) 548-7928 h —Macromedia Flash will hold a formative session...... (972) 729-1237 w [email protected] —Application Development Issues was formerly ActiveX Developers. Birl Smith ...... (972) 960-8227 h New meeting location: ...... 1 (888) 740-6730 w [email protected] The following SIGs are meeting at a location different from the main NTPCUG site. Check SIG notes for details: Access, Visual Basic – Beginning, Visual Basic – Ad- Dallas Corel vanced, Application Development Issues (formerly ActiveX). Marsha Drebelbis (214) 951-0266 Groups Looking for Help in Leading their SIGs: [email protected] Susan Biggs...... (214) 340-7794 — Excel/Spreadsheets SIG [Contact Eb Foerster (214) 357-7602 H]. DOS/Operating Systems The requirements for forming a SIG are: Reagan Andrews (214) 828-0699 h Leadership — at least one individual willing to lead the SIG, and an assistant. [email protected]

Membership — at least eight individuals willing to attend the SIG fairly consistently. Excel/Spreadsheet Eb Foerster...... (214) 357-7602 h If you have a group that meets these qualifications or would like help in finding others who might share your interests, please contact me at (214) 369-5889 (H), or e-mail to [email protected] [email protected]. Michael Bodner

11 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

FrontPage Sam Lugo (972) 253-0230 [email protected] Pamela Lugo (972) 253-0230 SIGs . . . . [email protected] for rapid and efficient application devel- features shown were: error logging, us- Games opment. Here’s what Jack says about age logging, a data-modifiable title or Chris Carmichael.(214)331-6303 h the presentation: splash screen, a main switchboard, [email protected] code to re-link data tables in a separate Timothy Carmichael ...... (972) 566-4626 database, people-handling features, and “From time to time we all encounter [email protected] data from another application, user, or information storage. Your own samples legacy system. Often the data is not of things you find yourself doing regu- Genealogist - The Master formatted as we would like; so we larly but infrequently, right in your ap- Jeri Steele ...... (972) 927-6289 w struggle to convert, format, and import plication, can help you save time by pioneerinfo.com/tmg/ (or read directly) into our "new" Access not having to go to the documentation based application. Even as you de- or Help. Hardware Solutions velop and deploy your "new" applica- Charles Miller ...... (903) 938-4220 h tion you will probably find that you We had an Access SIG-only drawing [email protected] need some ‘code’ to help in the editing, for a double handful of diskettes which Ralph Beaver ...... (817) 624-9530 h validating, and manipulation of text- included a starter database that Larry Gary Johnson...... (972) 938-0344 h based data entered through forms. In warned was only to the ‘clean-compile’ this presentation we will take a look at stage of development. Plan, as usual, Internet–Beginning several routines which can form a base on a drawing for valuable prizes again Tom O’Keefe...... (972) 247-8812 h for working with commonly found in May. (Just remember that value, like [email protected] fields, such as Social Security Num- beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.) Doug Gorrie...... (972) 618-8002 h bers, phone numbers, order / account ...(214) 464-4568 w numbers, and person names. [email protected] Larry Linson Internet–Advanced “Handouts and a small MS Access data- Act! Tom O’Keefe...... (972) 247-8812 h base containing sample tables, queries, [email protected] and source code will be available. Af- In May, we will look at using Act to handle e-mail activities. While this may Doug Gorrie...... (972) 618-8002 h ter the presentation you should be able ...... (214) 464-4568 w not be important for individuals, Act’s to exercise the samples and try your [email protected] hand at modifying and improving the ability to automatically maintain his- Pat Hykkonen...... (972) 939-9872 source code to meet you own needs. If tory files associated with each contact [email protected] you have some of your own samples to helps to coordinate your sales activi- share or if you improve these routines - ties. Introduction to the PC please share them with us at some fu- Harold (Spike) Smith ture MS Access SIG meeting.“ We will connect to the Internet then ...... (972) 231-0730 h send and receive some e-mails. We will [email protected] Jack’s presentations always play to rave look at the history files which are re- John Randall reviews, so be sure you don’t miss it. corded and we will check the ability to [email protected] Come early for the other meetings and revisit past correspondence. Investors get a full morning of great Microsoft Dick Richtman.....(972) 437-0322 h developer information. If you have some specific questions about Act please bring them and we [email protected] will discuss as many as we can at the Kathryn (Kathy) Kirby In April: SIG Leader Larry Linson ...... (972) 907-2705 h end of the meeting. described an approach to providing ex- [email protected] tra value to your employer or clients by using what has been variously called a Check the schedule when you arrive at JAVA “starter application” or a “base applica- the Freshman Center. I am not sure of Don Benish...... (972) 705-9512 tion” that you can create to provide a the meeting room or time at present. [email protected] number of features that you commonly use in most or all of your Access appli- Jim Thomps on Lotus Notes & Domino cations. The starter application is cop- B.J. Shultz ied for new application, unburdened by [email protected] all the application-specific parts of applications you’ve done before. Some

12 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

Alpha Five In May, we are continuing the series of sessions on building a contact management application. Even though many exist, this type of application demon- . . . . SIGs strates many of the concepts that you posting invoice detail amounts to an in- also of the opinion that having our SIG will want to build into other applica- voice header, and cross file validation. meet on a different Saturday than the tions. This month we will look at busi- rest of the NTPCUG SIGs also is a ma- ness rules (field rules). These can be as Alpha Five is by far the most sophisti- jor plus as it now enables our members simple as capitalization, for example, cated desktop database in providing ex- to attend other SIG meetings if they so capitalizing the first letter of each word tensive active rules processing at the da- desire that they otherwise would have in a string, except for a, an, the, etc. Or tabase engine level. That means these been unable to attend. Finally, the mam- the rules can be more complex as in rules are specified once, and then they moth drawing we had at the end of the Micrografx (Graphics) are carried out regardless of what func- day for all the SIGs ensured that nearly Neal Berkowitz.... (972) 475-7463 h tion you perform in the database, with- every attendee who stayed to the very ...... (972) 475-3124 w out having to do additional coding. We end walked home with something valu- [email protected] will use these rules to do transforma- able of a tangible nature. While we can- [email protected] tions, lookups - including adding new not guarantee that you will always records to the lookup source, posting, leave with a tangible valuable prize, Microsoft Networking and show some interesting data entry nevertheless by attending one or more Gil Brand...... (214) 508-8370 w rules. (and in particular all four) of the North ...... (214) 341-7182 h Texas Microsoft Developers SIGs you [email protected] Come see the new facility, and enjoy are guaranteed to leave with something Paul Sloane ...... (214) 328-3234 w&h some coffee in our atrium ’café’ before valuable every single time. [email protected] the meeting. As always, we will have Last month we enjoyed viewing the Professional MIDI & Audio some time for questions and answers to Alan Lummus problems you might be experiencing. video of Steve Ballmer’s keynote pres- ...... (972)733-4141 w&h entation to the February 2000 Vbits [email protected] Next month we will delve into form Conference on the next version of Vis- Timothy Carmichael and event scripts that give the applica- ual Studio (version 7.0) to be released ...... (972) 566-4626 tion some of the power and ease of use by Microsoft. While Dan had a few [email protected] that users really appreciate. technical issues to overcome and had to lug his not-very-mobile desktop com- Quicken puter to the meeting to play the video W. L. Harris ...... (972) 291-7616 h Bill Parker. (in asf format), the attendees all agreed [email protected] that the 120 MB file that Dan down- Phil Faulkner...... (972) 239-0561 h Application Developers Issues loaded from Microsoft’s Web site (over [email protected] Our next meeting, May 13 at 11:00 the course of 12 hours overnight) actu- PM, will be the second meeting since ally displayed very well on Microsoft’s Visual Basic — Beginning the North Texas Microsoft Develop- display equipment and was well worth Jim Carter ...... (972) 235-5968 h ers SIGs (consisting of the NTPCUG the effort. In addition to getting a [email protected] Beginning VB, Advanced VB, Applica- chance to listen to and view one of Mi- tions Developer Issues and Access crosoft’s most dynamic speakers in Visual Basic — Advanced SIGs) moved into our new digs at Mi- Steve Ballmer, we also learned quite a Stephen Johnson (214) 532-9788 crosoft Corporation’s South Central bit about the changes that are coming [email protected] District office (5080 Spectrum Drive, Suite 115E, Dallas). Last month’s de- Word for Windows but was a as we had Michele Wood smashing success Notice to SIG Leaders [email protected] over 35 attendees attend one or more of the individual SIG meetings. The unani- We would like to be sure the informa- Sherry Covert tion we list for you in the SIG [email protected] mous opinion of all was that the move was an extremely positive develop- Leader listing is current. Please take WordPerfect / Windows ment, one that will sustain and advance a minute to review your listing/s and Cindy Adams ...... (817) 481-1300 wM our SIGs. In particular, the attendees let us know if there are any correc- ...... Fx: 817-481-1303 were impressed by Microsoft’s facili- tions or additions that need to be [email protected] ties and the benefits to be gained from made. Please send changes to Bill Diane Bentley developing a closer relationship with Parker: Microsoft. In addition, everyone was [email protected].

13 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

format. You are invited to bring and share your favorite artwork created using any Corel product. Bring printed samples to pass around or computer SIGs . . . . files that we can see projected on- to Microsoft’s premier development 1. Development of applications using screen. Give us tips on how it was cre- suite. The positive experience in view- Microsoft tools and technologies- ated or why you consider it a special ing this video has encouraged co-SIG while the software tools and technolo- success. leaders Dan Ogden and Larry Linson gies we cover originate from Microsoft to scout out other worthwhile similar (such as Office, VBA, Visual Basic, Ac- April in Review videos for future presentations. tiveX, ODBC, XML, DCOM, etc.), we also cover the use of these technologies Our April meeting, “Presentations that For our May meeting of the Applica- in other products such as the use of Perform,” was presented by Rose Anne tions Developer Issues SIG we will be VBA in non-Microsoft products (Word- Ellison of WorldLink Solutions. She privileged to have as our speaker the Perfect 9.0, for example) or the use of specializes in designing corporate on- former leader of the Advanced VB various Microsoft products (such as Of- screen multimedia presentations and SIG, Thomas Lewis of Microsoft. In fice and VB) in the development of ver- Web sites. As a longtime CorelDRAW keeping with our theme from last tical industry applications; user and professional Presentations de- month, Thomas will talk further about signer, Rose Anne brought us fascinat- Microsoft’s plans for Visual Studio 7.0. 2. Discussion of generic methodologies ing new tips and demonstrated how to While Thomas will not be able to dis- and architectures for development- this make our on-screen presentations more play an actual demo of VS 7.0, as was area focuses on such matters as docu- effective. Her use of Corel software in- done during last month’s video presen- menting system specifications, and cluded DRAW, PHOTO-PAINT, and tation, he will via slides delve more structured analysis and system specifi- PRESENTATIONS 9. You will recall fully into the core of what VS 7.0 is all cation that assist developers in planning that Presentations 9 is a module found about, and in particular, the new fea- and evaluating their applications; in the Corel WordPerfect 2000 Suite. tures that will be in Visual Basic 7.0, in- We loved her many lively samples of cluding its XML capabilities. Thomas 3. Discussion of non-software issues of projects for the family too. Why not fol- will also talk briefly about Visual Inter- interest such as industry news and legal low her example and create a multime- Dev 7.0 and in general Microsoft’s matters that are important to developers- dia presentation on CD for a new overall philosophy behind VS 7.0. If we recognize that developers do not op- daughter-in-law, a special birthday you do any kind of development with erate in a software vacuum and thus the party, or a new baby? They are sure to Microsoft tools and technologies, you SIG raises awareness of issues such as be well received. Rose Anne gave us a will want for sure to be at our May contract specifications and intellectual great incentive, with her generous hand- meeting for Thomas Lewis’ presenta- property developments that are very out guide, to start presentation projects tion. pertinent to the software developer. of our own today. To learn more about WorldLink Solutions, visit . The Applications Developer Issues While most of our attendees are devel- SIG is a new name for our SIG, which opers, we also welcome and encourage Corel Rep Visited Dallas Corel SIG was formerly the ActiveX Applica- users, would-be developers and anyone April 12 tions Developers SIG. While we have else interested in application develop- not abandoned by any means our cover- ment, particularly with Microsoft tools Lots of Dallas Corel SIG members at- age of the use of ActiveX (formerly and technologies, to attend. tended a special FREE learning ses- OLE) technologies in application devel- sion, held Wednesday, April 12. It was opment, we felt that this name change presented by Jill Perry, who is a Corel more accurately reflects what our SIG Dan Ogden Corp. Product Specialist. We in Dallas is all about. This SIG is the only were lucky beneficiaries on her tour of NTPCUG SIG for developers (as well Dallas Corel as users) that focuses not on a particu- May 2000 lar product or vendor but rather exists Member Showcase to assist developers (and users as well) in their development of applications for Help inaugurate our new either business of their own personal NTPCUG meeting place at the use. Freshman Center on May 20 by actively contributing to our Dallas There are three primary areas that the Corel SIG’s annual “Member Applications Developer Issues SIG fo- Showcase.” Each year this popu- cuses on: lar meeting topic features our own SIG members in a show-and-tell

14 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

User Groups in the Southwest region. This session was held in addition to our regular April 15 NTPCUG SIG meeting and we expected an hour and a half presentation. But Jill tantalized us with . . . . SIGs special tips and in-depth instruction until 10 p.m., at the New Horizons Com- Marsha Drebelbis Another question concerning the Corel puter Learning Center. In PHOTO- purchase is what, if any, of the PAINT she covered Quicktime VR, Corel Acquires Professional Graphics MetaCreations code will find its way brushes, movies, and many of 9’s new Products from MetaCreations into DRAW 10, which is rumored to be “effects.” She went into DRAW’s color released before the end of the year. For palettes, basics and multi-functionality Recently, it seems everything that example, I would love to see some of of tools, power clip, interactive fills, could happen in our graphics commu- the Painter tools moved into PHOTO- converting outlines to objects, the mesh nity occurred in less than a day. Here is PAINT’s already robust tool set. An- fill tool, the mini print preview, and the summary of where each of the other area that is unique, is the fact that guidelines. Most fascinating was her MetaCreations products went. Adobe Corel will be shipping KPT Vector Ef- demo of the new mask software utility bought the two 3D products, Canoma fects (for Adobe Illustrator) but the that Corel recently purchased, called and Carrara. Corel has purchased KPT plug-ins don’t work with KnockOut. Anyone who uses masks in Painter 6, all of the KPT tools, and CorelDRAW. I believe that Corel will PHOTO-PAINT extensively will love it Bryce, while Poser returned to its crea- do some re-engineering so that the Vec- and want it. To learn more, buy and tor agi.sys in Germany. tor Plug-Ins work with DRAW 10. download it, go to http://www.corel.com/corelknockout/in- The deal cut with Corel Corporation Check out these products at dex. Some of us took advantage of the was letter perfect. First, and most im- http://www.corel.com/products/in- evening’s special User Group pricing portantly, is the fact that Painter’s crea- dex.htm. on software. Lucky Richard Blair tor, Mark Zimmer, and several other took home the big door prize, which key people involved with the products Poser has returned to Germany for the was CorelDRAW 9. Corel bought, have left MetaCreations moment, but according to the , its par- and are forming a company called . Ob- ent company, egi.sys AG, is setting up viously, they like the name fractal since a US corporation to handle the current Important Corel Addresses Fractal Designs was the original name version of Poser and Office Advantage & Phone Numbers of the company Mark created to pro- (which they also bought). duce Painter in the beginning. Frac- Corel Corporation tal.com is under contract to Corel to 1600 Carling A venue, create the next generation of the prod- David Huss Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ucts Corel bought from MetaCreations. Apply to Beta Test CorelDRAW 10 K1Z 8R7 This could turn out to be the best solu- Corel is looking for beta testers for the ❖Technical Support Repre- tion possible. Corel is committed to upcoming release of CorelDRAW 10. sentativ es ...... 888-267-3548 graphics and has an excellent distribu- Testers of all experience levels and sys- tion channel, including an international tem specifications are encouraged to ap- ❖G1 Release, CD-Rom only(latest channel (local translations) that ply. You don’t have to be a guru or “fixes” and patches for Corel prod- MetaCreations did not enjoy. This also graphics professional to provide valu- ucts) gives Corel some serious graphic tools able feedback and testing, so apply ...... 800-772-6735 on the Mac platform, something that now before the selection process ends. has been an on-again, off-again issue To learn more about being a beta tester ❖ Customer Service Representatives for its flagship product CorelDRAW. of CorelDRAW 10, go to http:/www...... 800-772-6735 Add to this, the original talent that is corel.com/betaprogram/ index.htm . very passionately committed to these ❖ IVAN (Interactive Voice Answer- products will be developing the next CorelWORLD 2000 ing Netw ork) ...... 613-728-1990 version. In fact, I have been told to expect Painter 7 before the end of the CorelWORLD 2000 Conference is ❖ 24 Hour A utomated Fax System year. The name of the existing scheduled for September 10-15, 2000 ...... 613-728-0826 Ext.3080 MetaCreations products will not in San Diego, CA. Rick Altman and change to Corel until the next genera- many additional Corel graphics lumi- ❖Technical Support hours are 4AM tion of the products is released. So, the naries will be featured presenters. This to 8PM (EST) excluding holidays big question is, will Corel continue to conference offers the Corel graphics ship Painter in a paint can? Stay tuned. software user a full course of learning ❖ To obtain our catalogue please re- options. Find details at : http:// quest document #2000 www.altman.com/corelworld.

15 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

will give me a chance to work on the problem ahead of time and make for a smoother presentation. SIGs . . . . Because of a need to cut back my activities with the NTPCUG, I am look- Recent Programs at Dallas Corel SIG becoming more concerned with all the ing for someone to take over the leader- worms/virii that seem to be arriving via ship of the Excel/Spreadsheet SIG. ❖ Jul/99 – Virtual Corel Training E-mail. Please call me or e-mail me at if you on CD are interested. I will still be around and May brings us Spring and all its glory. am willing to be the assistant leader. ❖ Aug/99 – Corel Large-Output at Will also bring us back to the basics in Service Bureaus the DOS/Operating Systems SIG. ❖ Sep/99 – Corel and the Entrepre- We’ll begin a series looking at installa- neur tion problems users are experiencing in ❖ Oct/99 – Filters and Plugins, Part Win9x and Win2000 on the desktop. I Bet we’ll hear a lot about Win98 and users’ unfortunate experiences with the ❖ Nov/99 – Photographic editing Microsoft OS, including the mystery of Plugins the “disappearing “ drivers for various ❖ Dec/99 – Filters and Plugins, hardware and software. Eb Foerster Part III Again, I’ll ask for Win2000 users to ex- Games SIG ❖ Jan/00 – Masks in PHOTO- pand on their experiences with the new, SIG Leader: Chris Carmichael, , H PAINT more-stable (according to all the media 214-331-6303 ❖ Feb/00 – Web Site Design/Devel- hoopla) Microsoft OS. Hopefully, opment Tips some of you-all will have forsaken SIG Asst. Leader: Timothy Car- Win95 - Win98 for the newest Mi- michael, , W 972-566-4626 ❖ Mar/00 - Paper for Inkjet Printer crosoft offering and can expand on Output your impressions/experiences. This SIG will focuses on computer ❖ Apr/00 – Presentations 9 games and how to play them, whether Since we’ll be in a new venue in May, Marsha Drebelbis role-playing games (RPG), action perhaps the CP/M, LINUX and OS/2 games, or educational games. We re- DOS/Operating Systems crazies won’t be able to find the SIG view current and upcoming games, dis- meeting and stage their usual inane and cuss strategies for specific games, and “I love you” took on a whole new psychotic protests against rational share opinions and learning experi- meaning last week for computer users. thought and Microsoft OS’s ences. Bring games to swap with oth- Hope you members of the DOS/ Oper- ers, and bring PC game magazines to ating Systems SIG didn’t get bitten by add to the library. If you want to learn the title, even if there was a little wish- Reagan A ndrews more about what games you and your ful thinking involved Excel / Spreadsheet SIG parents would like to buy, come join us. Brings us back to the basics of “safe Check our Web site for the latest up- computing.” If you don’t recognize the date. sender, any E-mail message can be dan- Chris Carmichael gerous. To thwart most of these low- If you have an interesting application level worms in Microsoft Outlook Ex- that you want to share with the group, Genealogist - The Master press, the user can turn off the script- give me a call and I will schedule you The next meeting of the TMG SIG will ing. Saw at least one security expert at a future meeting. be May 27th at the Bill Priest Institute. wonder why “Scripting Off” was not See our Web pages at http://www.pion- the “default” when Outlook Express Whether you are a beginning or experi- eerinfo.com/tmg for directions. This was installed with IE Explorer. Makes enced user, bring your problems to the group meets to explore The Master Ge- me wonder as well, since everybody is next meeting and we will try to find a nealogist Software and how to use it in solution to your problem. I your genealogy research. April’s Meet- say ’we’ because SIG atten- ing was on the various genealogy re- dees answer most questions. ports in TMG. (1) Reports to use for If your problem is not easy reunions and family meetings: The kin- to explain in words at the ship report (all the relatives of a per- meeting send me an exam- son), Blank family group sheets, and ple of your .xls file to . This Relationship between 2 people. (2)

16 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS

Verification reports to generate include: (a) Individual Narrative to verify the look of sentences, (b) List of All Places, (c) Audit All People, and (d) Data Set Info. In May, we will discuss . . . . SIGs how to generate Indexes for your reports and some of the choices that will send e-mail to [email protected] might be a good time to ensure that change those Indexes. and we will try to cover it. your anti-virus software is up to date.

Jeri Steele See you on May 20th !! If you have a specific issue you wish presented in our Internet SIGs, please Internet - Advanced send e-mail to [email protected] Tom O’Keefe, Pat Hykkonen and we will try to cover it. As everyone should be aware by now, & Doug Gorrie we have a new meeting location begin- See you on May 20th !! ning in May. We have left Big Town Internet - Beginning for more suitable quarters, so be sure to May meeting notes review our Web site for an updated Tom O’Keefe, Pat Hykkonen map to Lake Highlands Freshman Cen- As everyone should be aware by now, & Doug Gorrie ter (LHFC). we have a new meeting location beginning in May. We have left Big Town Introduction to the PC Although everything is subject to for more suitable quarters, so be sure to The April meeting ended the current se- change, we anticipate that the Begin- review our Web site for an updated ries of fifteen one-hour introductory ning and Advanced Internet SIGs will map to Lake Highlands Freshman Cen- classes for the PC with Multimedia meet at 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, re- ter (LHFC). Software and Hardware, Virus Protec- spectively. This is one hour earlier than tion/Utilities, and PCs Through the our past schedule, and allows us to Although everything is subject to Next Century. combine our meeting times with the change, we anticipate that the Begin- Communications and MS Networking ning and Advanced Internet SIGs will We are looking forward to our May SIGs, as needed, when special presenta- meet at 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, re- meeting that will be held in new and tions are scheduled. spectively. This is one hour earlier than modern facilities at the Freshman Cen- our past schedule, and allows us to ter at Lake Highlands High School. We anticipate meeting in the Physical combine our meeting times with the Please note that the class hours are ten- Education room, located on the ground Communications and MS Networking tatively 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00. level immediately to the left of the SIGs, as needed, when special presenta- lobby. This room appears to be quite a tions are scheduled. Of course we will have our learning bit larger than our Big Town meeting curve while getting used to new room, so should allow us to expand We anticipate meeting in the Physical audio/visual tools that will be available. back toward the numbers we had at In- Education room, located on the ground Sorry, we did not have time to make a fomart. LHFC provides Internet con- level immediately to the left of the dry run for our advance learning. It nectivity in all rooms, just as we had at lobby. This room appears to be quite a may, however, be entertaining and edu- Big Town, so we can continue to dem- bit larger than our Big Town meeting cational for the classes to participate in onstrate all facets of the Internet. room, so should allow us to expand troubleshooting this unfamiliar terri- back toward the numbers we had at In- tory. Since everyone will be in a state of fomart. LHFC provides Internet con- flux, we will continue to have a Ques- nectivity in all rooms, just as we had at The following subject material is in- tion & Answer session for both Internet Big Town, so we can continue to dem- cluded in these prepared classes: SIGs. One topic that will no doubt onstrate all facets of the Internet. come up is the ILoveYou virus. Need- less to say, if you receive an e-mail Class 1 Since everyone will be in a state of Intro to the PC with this subject, or are asked to open flux, we will continue to have a Ques- an attachment with a similar name, tion & Answer session for both Internet Class 1 provides an introduction to this DON’T !! Delete it immediately. More SIGs. One topic that will no doubt series of fifteen classes. A brief history on this at the meeting, but now might come up is the ILOVEYOU virus. of computers, the PC, and other small be a good time to ensure that your anti- Needless to say, if you receive an e- computers is presented with an over- virus software is up to date. mail with this subject, or are asked to view of their operation. open an attachment with a similar If you have a specific issue you wish name, DON’T !! Delete it immediately. The PC. What is it? Turning it on. presented in our Internet SIGs, please More on this at the meeting, but now What is ’boot up?’ There are disks and

17 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

2. Investors Business Daily article

“You’re Short of Cash as Tax Deadline SIGs . . . . Nears?” 3. WHY???? An explanation of what there are diskettes. There is main mem- To give you an idea of what we do at is going on with this market (from ory and mass storage memory. What is the Investors SIG, the April 15, 2000 AOL market news). a database? A database generator? NTPCUG topics were: We would like more input on topics Peripherals do not fit inside. CPUs 1. Sites anyone would like to hear about! have: ALU, control, memory, and I/O. Half of a word is a nibble and that is If you want these sites e-mailed to you Dick Richtman and Kathryn worth 4 bits. – send a request to Infoin- (Kathy) Kirby [email protected]. I can make them an at- Class 2 tached file and they would be hot- Java Files, Directories, Batches, and Path linked within the file. These 2 sites are education sites about technical invest- We had another good turnout again for You need to start somewhere and with ing. These were found by Ray, one of my presentation of the swing Java calculator I created last year. I had pre- the PC we start with the root. There are the members of the Investors SIG who ways to keep track of files and such attends regularly. sented the initial 1.0 and 1.1 versions at things and this is usually called the our previous meeting in March. I showed off the new swing features, in- FAT. We use analogies to pretend these http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rpe- cluding the tooltip and quick key fea- are all understandable. When we are terso/graphing.htm finished with baskets, drawers, cabi- tures. I also showed how the structure nets, funnels, highways and such, we of the new calculator presentation was http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rpe- different from the structure of the pre- will then manage our files rather well. terso/stockmkt.htm We often use words like integration and vious versions. I broke the various parts into separate classes, with each interface and inte- and inter- prefixes This is the Meta Stock (a charting pro- key becoming a separate class instance. for whatevers. gram) site, but has a lot of information This allowed a simpler mechanism for free along with offering you products. We also look after our environment! setting the attributes of each key. Click here: Introduction, Indicators - Next month will be our first at the Lake Technical Analysis from A to Z Class 3 Highlands High School in North Dal- Disk Operating Systems (DOS) las. I plan to do something different. I http://www.equis.com/free/taaz/intindi- will show the guts of how this SIG Our personal computer has very limited cators.html notes ASP application works. It will be intelligence -- that is, until we add useful for anyone needing to work with more tools to smarten it up. Disk oper- So if you ever wanted to know what this application, including all SIG lead- ating systems supplement that primitive MACD stands for (’Moving Average ers, and anyone interested in general da- instinct that the bare bones computer Convergence/Divergence”) or what tabase and content management pro- has. After DOS, the machine can be- Bollinger bands are : Bollinger Bands gramming. If there is time, I will also have well and be prepared to support are similar to moving average enve- show a previous version that had been applications programs. Several familiar lopes. The difference between Bollin- converted to JSP and utilized Java code DOS commands are used with Win- ger Bands and envelopes is envelopes instead of vbscript. dows 95 and Windows 98 and these are plotted at a fixed percentage above need to be understood and memorized. and below a moving average, whereas Bollinger Bands are plotted at standard Don Benish Harold (Spike) Smith deviation levels above and below a moving average. Since standard devia- Macromedia Flash SIG Investors tion is a measure of volatility, the bands Have you been ’FLASH’ed on the Web are self-adjusting: widening during lately? We are inviting everyone to the volatile markets and contracting during NTPCUG May 20th Investors SIG. calmer periods. Bollinger Bands were Macromedia ’FLASH’ed, that is We will be at our new location at The created by John Bollinger. There is a Freshman Center at Lake Highlands book you can buy, but the definitions Come and see why FLASH is consid- High School. Our meeting time is 12 of terms are available at this site with- Noon. ered by all who have experienced it to out charge. be the best interactive and the most dy-

18 May 2000 North Texas PC NEWS namic Web animation tool out on the market today! What is Flash, you ask . . . . SIGs Answer 1: (Techno Geek Version 1.0a) FLASH is a vector-based, time-sinked, Don’t forget to arrive early to be eligi- reel to reel, and wire recorders; com- self-calibrating, auto-scaling, music in- ble for the software freebies! pile and arrange different recordings, tegrating, auto-’tween’-ing, animation and record live or edited performances development tool geared toward pro- Here are the tentative topics for the and transcriptions onto CD, DAT, or ducing dynamic ’kick-ass’ Web content next few meetings. We are still looking DVD. We examine the entire range of that can be transmitted from server to for volunteers to assist with future pres- audio engineering from microphone se- ANY platform the end user may be us- entations. lection and placement through the en- ing, without bottle-necking the band- tire chain of recording to DAT or com- width on the Internet. Upcoming Schedule: puter hard drive, transcription to computer hard drive from other recording formats, digital editing, and CD or Answer 2: (Everyman[woman]’s Ver- June - Win2K demo and discus- DVD burning or mastering for commer- sion) sion cial production. FLASH is THE solution for producing July - Continuation of Win2K de- and delivering high-impact Web sites. mos and discussions We discuss hardware, software, inter- faces, interconnects, signal cabling, con- August - Open for suggestions (e- Who Uses Flash? trollers, instruments, synthesizers, and mail [email protected]): all related devices, from amateur to pro- NT Security, NT Monitoring, etc. fessional levels. Come and share your Answer 1: (Blunt and Straightup) experiences and learn more about these Professional Web developers and true two interrelated fields of MIDI and Pro- webmasters. Gil Brand fessional Audio. Answer2: (Truthfully) Professional MIDI & Audio Anyone who is not put off by an appli- SIG Leader: Alan Lummus, , W&H J. Alan Lummus cation tool with a learning curve as 972-733-4141 steep as a vertical cliff. If that scares Visual Basic - Advanced you, do not dispair... That is why this SIG Asst. Leader: Timothy Carmichael, May meeting notes SIG is developed to introduce to you , W 972-566-4626 the simplified steps of learning how to At the February meeting I passed out a use FLASH. So, you too can create Our SIG focuses on the variety of uses questionnaire asking what topics the butt-kicking, name-taking, “you-can- of computers by both professional and group wanted to know about. The top stop-drooling-on-my-browser” type of amateur musicians and recording engi- three subjects were DAO/ADO, DLL’s Web sites! neers. and Collections. (For the complete re- sults go to Therefore, if you are interested in learn- MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Inter- www.flash.net/~stephenj/ntpcug with ing about Macromedia FLASH, come face) has been around since before the your browser). join us for a formative meeting of the IBM PC started supporting it, and is group. We will discuss (in general) the used by many musicians to control and At the May meeting I will start a dis- expectations and what can be gained synchronize multi-instrument musical cussion on Database Applications; how- for creating this special SIG. performances. The PC can use MIDI, ever, I am not going to start with DAO connected to electronic keyboards, David Chien synthesizers and a host of other devices, to compose and play music, Microsoft Networking produce musical scores, and teach students how to play keyboards and Next Meeting: May 20, 2000, 8 AM other musical instruments. In May, SIG member will Dee Lersch Audio engineers use computers to give a demonstration of Black Ice, the record and edit live musical per- product she uses to protect her home of- formances, restore, clean up, and fice network. We also plan to have a improve the sonics of older record- demo on Zone Alarm, a similar product ing such as LPs, cassettes, 8-track, used by other members.

19 North Texas PC NEWS May 2000

in Addison, TX and it was very excit- ing. We made use of the built-in demonstration facilities with our laptop computers and everything worked perfectly. I gave a presentation on the use of SIGs . . . . Class Modules as a means of extending or ADO. I will start with Objects and 3-tier architecture application.). This common code amongst similar applica- Collections. What do Collections have will take several meetings to complete. tions (reusable code). to do with Database Applications, you ask? Everything, I answer. In order to Looking forward to seeing you at the Bring your questions about Beginning understand DAO, RDO, and ADO you meetings. Visual Basic to Suite 115E at 5080 must understand the database architec- Spectrum Drive in Addison, TX on Sat- ture. The Database architecture is made urday, May 13, 2000 at 9:00 AM. I up of many Objects and Collections of Stephen Johnson look forward to seeing you there. Objects. If you don’t understand Collec- Visual Basic - Beginning tions and how to use them, under- Jim Carter standing how to use the databases will The May meeting of the Beginning Vis- be much more difficult. ual Basic SIG will be on Saturday, May 13, 2000 at the Microsoft facili- Word for Windows Meeting time and place: 10:00 a.m. at In addition, I will be addressing the Ob- ties in Addison, TX. For further infor- Lake Highlands Freshman Center ject Browser (which was ranked 6th on mation on the facilities and a map to the list). Why the Object Browser? get to these facilities, please visit the The Object Browser is used to ‘See North Texas Microsoft Developer SIGs Whether your documents consist of a into the architecture’. With the Object Web site. few lines of text or they are complex Browser you can look at the Collec- productions with graphics and tables, tions and Objects contained in the data- The meeting will begin at 9:00 AM and you’re sure to learn some tips and skills base Libraries and be able to see the re- introduce members to four controls that in the Microsoft Word SIG. lationships between the Collections and are the most common of the controls objects. provided with Visual Basic 6.0. We will Although we’re an informal group, we examine the properties, events, and usually present a planned program with Teaching Database Applications with- methods of the (1) command buttons, handouts. We’re always happy to cover out building a good foundation is like (2) text boxes, (3) labels, and (4) image any questions and topics you want cov- teaching you how to build the roof of a controls. The command buttons initiate ered, as well as share your knowledge house without building the walls first. actions, the text boxes accept or display and good ideas. Word often provides The roof will have nothing to hold it data, labels identify controls and data, several methods of achieving the same up. No foundation. and image controls display pictures. Af- end result, and we’ll all discover differ- ter discussing the properties, events, ent ways of doing things in Word from each other. I will start at the beginning and build and methods of these four controls, I the foundation in May, then I will go will create a simple application using into how to use the database objects these four controls that will demon- We want this SIG to help you solve themselves at a subsequent meetings. I strate their more significant properties, your Word problems and discover how will show you how to build an applica- events, and methods. to do things you didn’t know you tion without having to modify the appli- wanted to do. cation is database structure or architec- Here is our plan for the June meeting ture changes. I’ll show ways to create of the Beginning Visual Basic SIG. Michele Wood & separate “User Interface”, “Business Sherry Covert Logic”, and “Database” components (a The June meeting of the Beginning Vis- ual Basic SIG will be on Saturday, June 10, 2000 at the Microsoft facilities in Addison TX. The meeting will begin at 9:00 AM and discuss the application “A Mortgage Calculator” from the book Visual Basic 6 from the Ground Up. The program is discussed beginning on page 182.

Last month, we had our initial meeting at the Microsoft facilities

20 North Texas PC Users Group, Inc.

P.O. Box 703449, Dallas, TX 75370-3449 Phone (214) 327-6455 for recorded information about the North Texas PC Users Group and scheduled meeting date times and locations. Please leave a message if you would like specific information about the Group. Or, visit our Web Page at: www.ntpcug.org The North Texas PC Users Group, Inc., is a non-profit, independent group, not associated with any corporation. Membership is open to owners and others interested in exchanging ideas, information, hardware, predictions, and other items related to personal and compatible computers. To join the Group, complete the application blank printed elsewhere in this newsletter, and send with $30 membership dues to the Membership Director — address shown below. Subscription to the newsletter is included with each membership. The Group meets once each month, usually on the third Saturday. See inside front cover for date, time and place of the next North Texas PC Users Group meeting.

North Texas PC Users Group, Inc. Password problems? Board of Directors Call Doug Gorrie at...... (214) 464-4568 Timothy Carmichael Chairman NTPCUG Web Addresses Marsha Drebelbis Vincent Gaines Gil Brand Bill Parker Home Page: ntpcug.org Michele Wood Click on: How to Contact Us and you will see a link to: m President NTPCUG Officers m Advertising m Newsletter President Timothy Carmichael (972) 566-4626 w m President-Elect (Open) Auditorium Presentations Program Chairman Vincent Gaines (972) 234-3231 h m Special Interest Group (SIG) Coorinator (972) 721-2770 w m Publicity Treasurer Eb Foerster (214) 357-7602 h m Webmaster Secretary Wade Emmert (214) 740-3164 w To e-mail officers and directors: [email protected] Membership Dir. Jim Hoisington (972) 416-3101h Publicity Rob Alschbach (214) 368-4979 b To e-mail the PC News and submit articles: newslet- SIG Coordinator Bill Parker (214) 379-5889 h [email protected] Volunteer Coord. Claude McClure (972) 867-0978 h To e-mail all members who have joined the Members mailing list: [email protected] DFW Xchange Information (214) 746-3365 To enroll in NTPCUG Newsgroups, send e-mail to: www.dfwxchange.com [email protected] Life Members Address Changes, etc... John Pribyl (1924 - 1993) Payment of dues, address changes, and Phil Chamberlain Jim Hoisington inquiries about membership should be David McGehee Stuart Yarus directed to: Tom Prickett Connie Andrews NTPCUG Membership Director Kathryn Loafman Reagan Andrews Fred Williams Timothy Carmichael P.O. Box 703449 Andy Oliver Mark Gruner Dallas, Texas 75370-3449 Alex Lilley Claude McClure (Check newsletter mailing label for your renewal date..)