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============== Internet Explorer 7
IE7 beta 2 is out (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx). The final version is supposed to be out in August, but they might not make that deadline. Still, it's getting close. IE7 is Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista only. If you have a secondary computer you might want to play with, go ahead. It works -- mostly. But do NOT install on your only computer.
Basically, IE7 is pretty much a clone of Firefox and Opera. It has the tabbed interface, print to fit so that text doesn't run off the edge of the paper, native RSS and a bunch of security fixes. Too bad they didn't get page rendering up to Firefox/Opera standards. There are still quirks in the way IE7 displays pages, but it is much closer to International Standards than before. Since it is a free download, there is no reason for Microsoft to support IE5 or 6 any more. IE7 has built-in security that is lacking in the other versions. More importantly, there are compelling reasons for Microsoft to abandon support for IE5/6. Now that Microsoft has changed the way they authenticate Windows, they will catch a lot of pirated copies of Windows when users try to upgrade IE.
All Microsoft has to do is stop fixing security problems in IE5/6 and wait for hackers to make them unusable. If you want to upgrade to IE7 you're going to need a legal copy of Windows. You can get one through Microsoft or through a Microsoft dealer, such as Ventura County Computers. Either way, the utility value of pirated copies of Windows is also rapidly diminishing.
============== More on Windows 98/Me
It didn't take long. There is already one vulnerability in Windows 98/Me that Microsoft says they have no intention of fixing, even though the vulnerability hit before their official July 1 cutoff date for end-of-life for those systems.
You will be able to remove the virus (and any future ones that exploit the vulnerability), but it will keep coming back. You will be able to hide behind a firewall, install ZoneAlarm or other to keep from constantly getting hit, but you won't be able to go onto the Internet (dialup or dsl) without protection. Constant removal would be your only other remedy.
Alternatively, you could take all your Win 98/Me machines off the Internet. But no matter how you slice it, the utility value of Win 98/Me has pretty much reached zero. Don't spend any money trying to patch it. It'll just be good money after bad. It's OK to buy a router as that's a good idea for any version of Windows (or even Linux).
============== Video Card Madness
NVidia and ATI have new, competing 3-D video standards. Selecting components for a new computer system just got a lot more complicated. Where before you just had to make sure you had compatible processor and motherboard with the latest AGP video slot, you now have a lot more things to consider. ATI has created the CrossFire technology while NVidia has SLI. Both require dual PCI Express x16 video slots, but not all dual PCI Express motherboards will run both systems. Be very careful with motherboard/cpu/video combinations if you need 3D rendering (mostly extreme gaming).
Even if you don't need extreme gaming, you may well want to invest in a motherboard that can do both CrossFire and SLI. Vista will be out in not too long and developers are already hard at work creating new and exciting things for the OS. You can put a regular PCI Express card in one of the PCI Express slots for the nonce and see if anything develops that makes you want to fork out for dual adaptors later. But if something really spiffy is developed for Vista and your new, expensive system can't handle it, you'll be singing the blues.
Even if you don't think you'll ever need or want dual video or 3D, do spend the money on a single PCI Express slot rather than the older AGP. Yes, there are some excellent close-out deals on AGP motherboards. But unless all you do is plain text, you will probably regret your frugality before the computer has outlived its usefulness. It is unclear if Vista will have any tools to make use of 3D (other than games and 3D rendering), but for sure it will have far greater video capabilities and can make use of the greater speed of PCI Express over AGP. Be sure you are in position to take advantage.
============== Rick's Rant: What's The Right Thing To Do?
One of the things that I don't like to do is to talk badly about individuals. Well, except mainly for Toby. But with that said I do have my standards, well, maybe that's debatable too but nonetheless I don't like to hurt people's feelings. I talk in generalities and about companies but this time is an exception. I helped get someone fired and hurt her feelings, too. I don't feel good about this but I think it's for the best and I'll explain why.
We buy most of our products from a multinational distributor that sells mostly to north & south America. We could buy our products from more vendors but our prices decrease with volume so we try not to split it up too much. I ranted last year how our vendor switched our sales team to Canada to save money. I fought it as much as one person could but alas there are not enough people in the world like me so not enough people complained and it stuck. Needless to say, the quality of the sales staff decreased as well as my ability to banter about things United States. I say that because we forget that we are not the only "Americans." The sales team changes occasionally as all businesses do our team got a young lady of Indian descent. We shall call her Marigold for the purposes of this article. MARIGOLD was, in our opinion, either incompetent or not trained properly for the position. Occasionally even I don't have all the information I need to order the proper item for a customer and need help finding it. I called our sales team and if they don't have the information we can get someone from pre-sales support to assist us. Years ago they allowed us to get to them directly but because so many customers would use the service and then buy the product cheaper online or such they discontinued the service except for their biggest clients. Well, MARIGOLD told me that she does not look up items for which I do not have the part number. Perplexed I asked a few questions and immediately came to the conclusion that she really wasn't very knowledgeable about the products they sell. I realize that the Computer Technology field is so large and diverse that anyone with lots of knowledge will not be sitting there waiting for me to call to show me what they know, except maybe for TOBY. Our team is composed of five people and you would think that we would get each person about 20% of the time. Not so, we seemed to always be getting MARIGOLD and things just got worse. You would think that someone would improve over time but this was not the case. Upon getting price quotes we would call back and get lower prices from another salesperson and upon asking her about it as always she didn't have a clue. I called and complained to customer service a few times but nothing changed and the pricing issue was the last straw so the only thing left for TOBY and me was to hang up! We had politely and respectfully asked her to be transferred to another salesperson she said that was not possible and we would have to call back. Well, guess who answered the phone again? I refuse to settle for second best for my customers and I have been a good customer for over 10 years and refuse to accept such poor service. So we regularly would hang up the phone when MARIGOLD answered. It was all we could do as every other angle was exhausted, including us. Toby recently ordered a custom file server for a client and had a crucial Email with the specifications to the salesperson. MARIGOLD received the email and told Toby she would forward it to the correct person who was off that day. It never arrived because she deleted it and lied to Toby.
Incompetence is one thing but lying about it is inexcusable. Upon placing an order with a new team member I asked who she replaced and she said Marigold! I asked why and she said that she not only quit the company but went back to India. I had to tell her that I wish no ill on anyone but I was frankly quite relived to hear she was gone and mentioned all our troubles and how we finally had to deal with the situation. She said "OH YOU WERE THE ONES WHO WOULD HANG UP ON HER." She said it bothered her tremendously and really hurt her feelings and subsequently caused her to discuss the situation with her supervisor and everyone agreed that the job was "not the right fit" for her.
So almost single handedly TOBY and I caused this young lady to return home from an unfriendly and uncaring western world. For this we are regretful and wish things could have been different but we had to do what was right for our business and our customers. We wish the situation could have resolved itself with her feeling getting hurt. But she created this and we just finished it.
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