Volume 21.04 April 2004
The Official Journal of the
1 Meeting Details
WELLINGTON MACINTOSH SOCIETY INC.
Special General Meeting 2004
A Special General Meeting of the Wellington Macintosh Society Inc. will be held on Monday 26 April, 2004, at (e)-vision,2 Blair Street, Wellington, commencing at 7:15 P.M.
BUSINESS
To recieve and accept the 2003 Financial Report
Graeme Moffatt, SECRETARY
Following the SGM, Ian Telfar, the manager of MagnumMac Wellington, will demonstrate some of the latest software and hardware offerings from Apple Computer Inc.
Basics/OSX 7–9pm, Monday 3rd May 2004 (separate groups for basics and OSX)
Digital Media Users Group (web and publishing) 7–9pm, Monday 10th May 2004
Digital Video Users Group 7–9pm,Monday 17th May 2004
Cover Photo: The front cover of the first issue 1.1 in May 1984 of what was later to become Capital Apple.
2 3 President’s Report
Hi folks. choose the “Download Link to Disk” Electronic option from the pop-up menu. After the magazine has been downloaded, Magazine the PDF can be opened using Acrobat/ We’re into our Adobe Reader or the Mac OS X Preview second month of application, depending on how your the electronic dis- system is configured. tribution of Capital For those running Mac OS X and us- Apple, and it seems ing the Safari web browser, this appears to be going well so to be the normal behaviour, so no special far. I’m pleased to report that we are action is required. getting a high proportion of “electronic only” membership renewals, which will Macintosh Workshops reduce the workload of the committee at A workshop was held at (e)-vision the magazine labelling session. on Saturday 3rd April, and those who I’m aware of one member who was attended were able to get lots of help not able to access the electronic maga- from the experts on hand. zine last month due to a web browser We intend to run a workshop every configuration problem which prevented two months for the rest of year, with the accessing any PDF documents. next one being held in June. More details This also raised the issue that for will be provided next month once we’ve anyone using the “PDFViewer” web set a date. browser plug-in, the default behaviour The workshops are reasonably flex- of older web browsers is to view a PDF ible in content, covering any topics on document as if it is a web page (inside the which the attendee needs help, assuming web browser), and it is difficult to save we can find a suitable helper. Registra- a copy of the document for future refer- tion is essential - we need to know what ence (without downloading it again). you want to cover so we can plan ahead. In order to avoid similar problems in Please use the form on the web site or future, we are doing things slightly dif- contact a committee member if you want ferently this month: instead of providing to attend a workshop. a direct link to the magazine, we will give The workshops run from 10 am to 2:30 you a link to a web page which contains pm including a lunch break (a light lunch a link to the PDF. is provided). We are charging a fee of $75 If you want to download and save a per person. Non-members must also join copy of the magazine, you can go to the WelMac in order to attend, which raises web page, then click-and-hold or Ctrl- the cost to $105 or $115 depending on click on the link to the magazine, and whether you want a magazine. 2 3 Macintosh Basics Meeting collected by automated software used For those who need help on basic by spammers to build lists of targets. Macintosh operation, or on some spe- My address was also published on web cific area, don’t forget about the “ba- sites, from which it was also collected. sics” meeting which is held on the first In recent years, we’ve had several ad- Monday of each month (a week after the dresses in the welmac.org.nz domain main meeting). We can usually break up published on our web site, many of into small groups and deal with specific which go to me. areas of interest, so this meeting can be The current state of play is that I regarded as a shorter version of the consistently receive over 200 items of workshop, and attendance is free for junk E-Mail every day. A quick scan any WelMac members. through my “Junk” mailbox reveals The Junk E-Mail Problem 686 messages sent between Monday and Wednesday, including the usual mix of It is interesting to note that April 12 adult web sites, male potency enhance- marked the tenth anniversary of the first ments, Russian and Korean messages widely distributed “spam” message which I can’t even read, etc. There are (unsolicited commercial advertising), about 30 copies of various worms, and the now infamous advertisement from at least 10 “bounced mail” reports from the legal firm of Canter & Siegel. misguided anti-virus software which The problem of spam and other thinks I tried to send a worm to some- forms of junk E-Mail has now reached one else (actually a third computer sent such a scale that it may only be a mat- it, with the headers changed to make it ter of time before changes are forced look like it came from me). on way that the Internet E-mail system This completely swamps the real E- operates. Mail messages I’m receiving (typically In addition to spam (unsolicited com- 10 or fewer), so I’m very reliant on soft- mercial messages) there is also the prob- ware which can filter out the junk and lem of E-Mail worms, which at times can leave me with the real messages. send out large volumes of messages. At The main lines of defence at the mo- one point I was getting over 100 copies ment are ISPs and/or E-mail software of one particular worm per day, and the which offer filtering techniques, with total volume was sufficient to overflow “Bayesian Filtering” being quite com- my ISP’s limit on the total amount of E- mon. Unfortunately, the spam authors Mail I could receive, possibly preventing have figured out ways of poisoning this real messages from arriving. system. My E-Mail software is now in a I have had my personal E-Mail ad- state where almost every message I re- dress ([email protected]) since ceive is regarded as junk mail, unless it I got my first Internet account around comes from an address which is already 1992. For many years, I posted mes- in my address book. sages to Usenet news groups, which means that my address was able to be continued at bottom of next page 4 5 WelMac Web Watch www.welmac.org.nz
This months WelMac Web Watch is are being posted to the website regularly shorter due to the length of the two articles so keep checking back. contained in this issue. New Articles added to Web Site Ar- A note to new members and a reminder chives to those members who have not recently One additional article detailing the re- accessed the group’s web site. The site can lease of the latest version and changes to the be found at
continued from previous page This means that I have to browse address (which will be a major under- through my junk mail folder every day taking) and don’t publish the new one to check for “false positives”. It is a major electronically. waste of time, and it is likely that a few Signing off real messages slip by unnoticed, so my If you wish to contact me for any apologies if I’ve lost a message anyone reason, you can do so at (04)475-9755 has tried to send me. (home), E-Mail to
4 5 Mac OS X Trojan Technique: Beware Geeks by Adam C. Engst
6 7 nical claims, and queried security experts, FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) tac- whereas many others merely reprinted or tics by advertising that the same technique pointed to Intego’s press release. The mas- could be used with GIF and JPEG files, and sive coverage instantly generated a ton of QuickTime movies (true, but irrelevant). confusion and misunderstandings. Many
— For Legal Advice, Service, and Results —
Court cases •Mac Users Since 1983 Business Matters Tribunal cases •Member of MacLaw Property Law Employment Contracts Criminal Taxation Traffic JOHN DEAN Insolvency Family Law Family Trusts Wills & Estates LAW OFFICE Resource Law Negotiations & ADR Tel: 04-472-9369 Commercial Law 7/114 Lambton Quay P.O. Box 10-107 • Fax: 04-473-0784 E-mail: [email protected] LAWLINE Wellington, New Zealand 0900-5-8887
6 7 executable code that that can’t stand alone, In essence, the proof-of-concept was more but must be inserted into and operate deceptive after the fact, which, had it been within a “host file,” usually an application. an actual Trojan horse, might have made it Most importantly, viruses self-replicate, in- somewhat harder to detect. But as it was serting their code into other files as a way neither malicious nor deceptive, the proof- of moving from one file to another, and one of-concept simply was not a Trojan horse. computer to another. Although worms also That said, it was a questionable move to replicate themselves, they don’t require a post such a proof-of- concept in public. host file and exist as standalone files. Think Like Intego
8 9 use of this technique, users can no longer and Intego’s followup Q&A document safely double-click MP3 files in Mac OS X. about MP3Concept significantly lowers This same technique could be used with the bar for creating Trojan horses using JPEG and GIF files, though no such cases of the MP3Concept approach. I would be infected graphic files have yet been seen.” surprised if actual MP3Concept Trojans That’s classic FUD aimed at scaring less- hadn’t been released into the wild now, sophisticated users into believing that they given that most people writing malicious cannot so much as double-click an MP3, software generally just modify techniques JPEG, or GIF file without risking untold and code from others. So by providing digital horrors. Unless, that is, they’re run- details about how MP3Concept works, ning Intego’s VirusBarrier. how it could affect GIF and JPEG files, So Intego gains massive press coverage, and more, Intego almost ensured that and even if it turned negative, there’s al- some disaffected programmer would ways the aphorism, “I don’t care what you implement it. Do you feel that Intego’s say about me as long you spell my name announcement has helped protect your right.” Intego also sees increased sales of Mac from security threats? VirusBarrier, lending a direct financial bo-
8 9 I have nothing against Intego using this see many implementations, which means information to improve its products. that most people won’t have to worry However, Intego should next have about anything most of the time. Also re- verified that the right people at Apple assuring is the fact that downloading a raw had received the information, assuming MP3, JPEG, or GIF file from an FTP or Web that a Macintosh developer like Intego site (or one of the file sharing networks) is would have better contacts within Apple unlikely to expose you to an MP3Concept than a random user. Intego said the report- Trojan horse because Macintosh resource ing user had also alerted Apple, but we all forks aren’t transmitted when such files are know that Apple is a very large company, downloaded unless the file is first encoded and sending an email message to a gen- in a StuffIt archive, MacBinary file, BinHex eral feedback address is a lot different from file, or on a disk image. making sure Apple’s security team was That said, I encourage you to be cau- aware of the problem. The Apple Product tious about files you receive in email, since Security page provides a email address to email programs will use the AppleDouble which such security vulnerabilities should or BinHex encodings to ensure that a file’s be reported. resource fork is protected. Luckily, good
10 11 rus, but remember that you get it for free recting potential vulnerabilities.” with a $100 .Mac membership, which is a I’d be a little surprised if Apple actu- good deal. ally had been working on this issue before
10 11 Its Been Twenty Years! As most will be aware, this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the introduc- tion of the Macintosh Computer which was announced at the Superbowl on January 24, 1984. Later in this year on a Saturday morning at the Wellington High School , a number of local Apple computer owners met to start a club that was initially called the Wellington Apple Users Club. At that inaugural general meeting, Bob Hamlett was elected as President and a draft constitution that was prepared by the interim committee was adopted. The subscriptions were set at $10 for students, $15 for individuals, $20 for families and $100 for corporate members. A magazine editor was elected and it was decided to hold monthly meetings on Saturday An Apple IIc computer similar to the one gifted mornings at the Wellington High School to WelMac by Steve Wozniak. commencing at 10:40am. The first magazine printed by a dot unable to keep up with demand. matrix printer in May detailed that the The name of the group was changed to meeting then heard a brief description of the Wellington Apple Users Group some- the new Apple IIc computer that had been time later and in 1993 was again altered as released in Australia and the US earlier the group became an incorporated society that week. This computer was released that year and the word Incorporated was on Tuesday April 24, 1984, at the Apple added. Forever Conference held in San Diego and In 1985, a highlight for the group was this places the date of this first meeting on taht the invitation to steve Wozniak, one Saturday 28 April, 1984. of the founders of Apple Compter, to come Rex McIntosh, an early user of com- to wellington was accepted and a break- puters in broadcasting, demonstrated an fast meeting at Pizza Hut was arranged. Apple III that he was using for producing Steve graciously donated his Apple IIc television graphics. The magazine also computer to the club and signed his name indicated that Apple was very pleased on the bootom with a felt tipped pen. This with the first 100 days of sales of the new computer has been carefully looked after Macintosh computer. It stated that 70,000 over the years and will be on show at this units had been sold and production was months meeting. 12 13 The Apple IIc was the compact (the facilities and the group moved to the Royal “c” means compact) version of the Apple Society rooms in Thorndons Turnbull IIe. It had the same characteristics but lot Street. The shift to these rooms caused a of features which were optional on the IIe reduction in the number of members at- were provided on the IIc (floppy disk drive, tending meetings and owing to the reason- 80 columns display, color display, 128 KB ably high price we were paying for the use RAM), but unlike the Apple 2e, it had no of them, we decided to move meetings to expansion slots, so it was hard to add fea- the new Johnsonville Community Centre. tures to this computer. It ran either with At first, meetings were held in the main DOS 3.3 either with ProDos and had the hall when numbers attending were aver- first version of QuickDraw in ROM. aging between 40 and 80 members. Over The number of people attending the the next few years owing to a number first meeting was around 100 and the of factors, the membership of the group groups membership grew to close to 400 continued to diminish and the hall becam by 1992. Meetings were changed to night much too large for the numbers attending. time during this period and had shifted to We then moved to meeting room one of St Marys Girls School in Hill Street. These the centre and continued to meet there meetings were well attended by around 80 until moving to (e)-vision in November to 100 members and seats in the school staff last year. room were at a premium during the early The committee carefully assessed the part of the meeting. A separate Macintosh reasons for the reducing membership and section was then held in the schools audi- concluded that it was due to two main torium and the Apple IIe users met in one factors. The first was the effect that the in- of the classrooms. ternet was having on the use of computers In 1994 we were advised that the school as well as the increasing age and reduction no longer wanted outside groups using its in the numbers of new computer users. We decided to address these factors and made significant changes to the group. The most obvious was the change of name and logo and these were backed by an alteration to the meeting structure. The experience of members was become more diverse and holding one meeting was not in the best interests of those at either end of the spectrum. We instituted a three part meeting strategy to better assist those at the least and more experienced ends. This meeting structure was adopted for around three years when we further refined it by setting up special The first Macintosh 128K released in 1984 with groups to address the needs of advanced extra 400k disk drive and numeric keypad.
12 13 users and holding one main meeting each We will also be inviting all other Ma- month supplemented by occasional basic cintosh user groups from around New workshops. Zealand and will be arranging a special We are now in an ideal situation with area where will will be displaying a large the satisfying position of holding meet- a range of Apple computers as we can ings at (e)-vision with their suite of emac assemble. This area in the TelstraClear computers and ideally sized premises for Centre of Te Papa will include a lounge our meetings. As reported recently, (e)-vi- and will be available for user group mem- sion has been acquired by TUANZ and an bers to get together to meet each other and ongoing agreement with them are well on discuss common issues. There will also be the way to reaching a conclusion. a number of seminars and workshops be- To celebrate our twentieth year, the ing held in adjacent rooms and we have committee has decided to combine the invited TUANZ to assist us in the running commemoration with the Digital Solu- of these. tions Expo and MovieFest 2004 being held Further news of these events will be in late September. We have again invited made over the coming months as thede- Steve Wozniak, who is also our patron, to tails are released and will be reported in return to Wellington for the occasion and this magazine. hope he is able to make the journey.
14 15 Trade Directory
Amber Technology Ltd NP Solutions 4th Floor, 7 Vivian St, Wellington 236 Middleton Road, Johnsonville Phone: 64-4-801 8797 Telephone: (04) 477-6851 Web: http://www.amber.co.nz Email: [email protected] Catch 22 Protel Ltd (Mac support, Web/Filemaker 15 Walter St, Wellington development) Phone: 64-4-801 9494 Telephone: (04) 939 0840 Web: http://www.protel.co.nz Email: [email protected] Second Image Ltd Econet 16 Ihakara Street. Paraparaumu Level 5, 265 Wakefield St, Wellington Telephone: (04) 902-3735 Telephone: (04) 801-6958 Facsimile: (04) 902-6734 Facsimile: (04) 801-6319 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] The CBD-IT Centre Ltd Educational Computers NZ 4 Panama Street, Wellington Ltd Telephone: (04) 4714150 (Victoria University) email [email protected] Cotton Building, Victoria University Telephone (04) 499-1911 Palmerston North Email: [email protected] Sideline Systems Ltd MacTips.Info (From Old Macs to iMacs) (Mac Support and Training) PO Box 876, Palmerston North Telephone: (021) 630-687 Telephone: (06) 353-0050 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] MagnumMac Wellington 5-7 Vivian St, Wellington Taupo Telephone: (04) 384-1155 MacCOM Facsimile: (04) 384-1166 26 MacDonell St, Taupo Email: [email protected] Phone (06) 378-0232, Fax 06) 378-0236 Email: [email protected]
14 15 PO Box 6642, Marion Square Wellington, New Zealand
Meetings held 7.10 pm last Monday every month January - November (e)-vision Learning Centre, 2 Blair Street, Wellington
The Wellington Macintosh Society Incorporated is a non- The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily profit organisation formed in April 1984 with the following the same as the Editor or those of the Wellington objectives: Macintosh Society Inc. as a whole. Various trademarks • To exchange and disseminate information among and tradenames used in this magazine are the property the members concerning the computer arts and of someone else. They know who they are. Copyright sciences. remains with the owner at all times. • To publish books, newsletters, magazines and Advertising rates are (members): $35 per full page; periodicals for the benefit and education of the $20 half (non-members): $50 per full page; $35 per members and the general public. half full page (Vert). For more details, please contact • To conduct and sponsor seminars, lectures and the Editor courses relating to the computer arts and sciences. Executive Members Home Ph No. • To provide technical assistance to members of the Patron Steve Wozniak group. President David Empson 475-9755 • To seek privileges and discounts for members. Vice-President Hayden Barker 971-5748 Subscriptions Secretary Graeme Moffatt (04) 298-6323 Subscriptions are $30 per year from date of joining. Treasurer David Denton 499-1827 Website: http://www.welmac.org.nz Magazine Editor Graeme Moffatt (04) 298-6323 Email: [email protected] WelMac Info Jim Adams 232-4270 (email addresses for committee members are available on the website) Membership Secretary David Empson 475-9755 Please contact the WelMac Information Officer for all Committee Shane Gordine 977-1460 WelMac enquiries, such as meeting information and Joseph Booth 971-3413 other society activities. Membership enquiries should be Ed Hintz 233-9759 directed to Membership Secretary. Mike Welsh
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