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Maki & Brian
DeLaet
EduCyber founders
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December 2004 EduNotes
EduCyber is pleased to present the December edition of EduNotes. This month we look back at how technology has changed over the years, give you some great places to finish your Christmas shopping and provide tips on keeping your shopping experience safe and worry free. Enjoy and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com .
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Winter Special
Brrrr, it's freezing outside. But if your computer is freezing you've got a real problem. Give us a call whether it's your office or home computer that is giving you fits. For only $100 we'll spend up to three hours getting your computer running smoothly and helping to diagnose hardware problems.
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Technological Changes
As 2005 rapidly approaches, we decided to take a look back at how computers have changed. I remember investing an arm and a leg in an IBM laptop in 1994 that came with DOS 3.11 pre-installed. That was soo cool. I even managed to upgrade it to that super great operating system called Windows 95. Those were the days. It seems like eons ago but was really only 10 years ago.
In those pre-pentium days, a 286 processor in computer was in fashion and the 386's were just starting to roll out. Then along came the 486's and the Pentiums. At about the same time Windows 95 made its debut and took the world by storm. Whether you considered a low-end rip off of Apple's operating system or a computing innovation, Microsoft was rapidly conquering the computer world.
Many of my colleagues back then referred to one of the new technologies in Windows 95 as “Plug and Pray” because you prayed that your hardware would actually work when you plugged it in. Though in retrospect it had its faults, '95 was such a huge step forward that many companies were still using it five or six years later in the early part of this millennium.
Then in 1998 and 1999 came Windows 98 and 98 Second Edition. With an interface similar to 95, there were several improvements as well. One pre-installed bit of technology that was obsolete almost as soon as the first copies came off the presses (or however the CD's were made) was channels. Of course in '95 Al Gore hadn't finished inventing the Internet so computers were designed to communicate on intranets (inside the company). Channels were one of the first Microsoft innovations taking into account the Internet and were a kind of newsfeed to your desktop. It was also a huge bandwidth hog that quickly gave way to newer technologies using less bandwidth.
Remember the hysteria surrounding Y2K? “What if all of our computers stop functioning?” we worried. Granted, some of the concerns were valid but most were not. If you still have food and water stocks in your basement, I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know that we made it through with very few problems.
Then came Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition. The latter was designed for business uses and was a real indication that the technologies Microsoft had been working to perfect were finally starting to work. The first time I plugged a printer into a Windows 2000 computer, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it correctly identified and installed the driver. The former, Windows ME, was quite possibly the worst operating system that Microsoft ever made. When a client comes to us with a problem with ME, the first thing we do is upgrade the computer to a newer operating system as that resolves problems in most cases. Windows 2000 brought the stability of the NT versions of Microsoft OS's together with the interface and plug and play technologies of the Windows 95/98 line of operating systems.
Now, for desktop operating systems, our friends at Microsoft offer Windows XP in the Professonal and Home Edition flavors. Both of these are the nearest they've come to really getting it right – having easy to use systems that are easy to set up and do things that people really want.
Some other notes – we've gone from sub-gigabyte hard drives such as 300 or 500 Megabyte drives to desktops coming with 250 GB drives. It was only a few years ago that a hard drive of 1 gigabyte seemed huge and now it is not unusual to find computers with 1 GB of RAM!
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Shopping Online?
Did you join the ranks of shoppers shopping online (and from work) on Blue Monday? No, not every Monday is blue at least not like Blue Monday. For years now we've known that the Friday after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. In fact it has become known as Black Friday because it can bring a business out of red ink and into black.
Well with the rise of online shopping, it turns out that the Monday after Thanksgiving is the busiest day for online retailers. Whether you didn't find what you wanted at the mall or were just planning to buy it online, an awful lot of us sat down at the keyboard on Monday and clicked one of those blue-colored hyperlinks (thus the name, Blue Monday) and made our holiday purchases.
If you haven't made your purchases yet, it's not too late. Just like “the rest of us” who don't go shopping on Black Friday, there are plenty of us who wait to do our Blue – online shopping until the crowds die down a bit. And while we have our favorite places to shop, there are several sites that help you locate the item you want from whomever sells it.
Yahoo: http://shopping.yahoo.com/
Lots of shops here and the main page has handy links to top 10 gifts in several categories as well as links to gifts for Mom, Dad, and kids. The stores are all different but Yahoo provides seamless links to each item shown.
Froogle: http://froogle.google.com
You need to know what you want when using this site but Google helps you find the best prices for the item(s) you're looking for. As a bit of a twist, they also show 25 of the most recent items searched for at Froogle – this can provide you with some interesting ideas for that hard-to-buy-for person in your life. You can also create your own wish list to share your holiday hopes with friends and family.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com
While you're only paying Amazon, they pull in items from all over – food, electronics, tools, clothing, books, you name it, they can get their hands on it for you.
CNet.com: http://shopper.cnet.com
Specializing in all things computer and electronic. One point in CNet's favor is all the reviews and feedback you can read about the merchandise before deciding which one to purchase.
Other Sites of Shopping Interest:
E-bay: http://www.ebay.com/
ZD-net: http://shopper-zdnet.com.com/
Overstock.com: http://www.overstock.com/
Walmart.com: http://www.walmart.com/
Victoria 's Secret: http://www.victoriassecret.com/
Cabela's: http://www.cabelas.com/
L.L. Bean: http://www.llbean.com/
Buy.com: http://www.buy.com/
CDW.com: http://www.cdw.com/
EToys: http://www.etoys.com/
KB Toys: http://www.kbtoys.com/
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Online Shopping Tips:
- Don't enter credit card information unless you're on a secure site (look for https instead of http)
- If you're buying from a store you've never heard of, look for a physical address.
- If you're concerned about the store or whether your item is in stock, find a phone number and call.
- Don't wait until the last minute or your purchase may arrive after Christmas.
- Note carefully when creating an account whether you want to receive email from merchant – nearly everybody has a checkbox but for some you have to check the box to not receive email and for others you have to check the box.
- Shop around. As online retailing grows, the competition grows as well and there are some very good deals out there.
- For bigger items, make sure you understand the returns policy BEFORE you purchase anything. Sometimes returning an item purchased online is too much of a hassle.
- Check the shipping and handling charges. Sometimes shipping can nearly double the cost of a gift.
- Print and keep copies of receipts.
- When creating online passwords, make them REAL passwords instead of “mydog”, or “briandelaet”, or some other easy-to-guess phrase.
- Read the fine print.
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Like what you just read? Send your friends a copy or direct them to our site so they can get it, too!
© 2004 EduCyber, Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. EduNotes can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://www.educyber.com/edunotes/ . Visit us on the web at http://www.educyber.com or call us at (720) 275-4646. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute all or part of this newsletter as long as this entire copyright message is included.
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