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November 2005 EduNotes
Inside this edition of EduNotes: Get the low-down on laptops, learn about the next version of Windows, and find out what you need for ecommerce this holiday season. Send feedback or questions to edunotes@educyber.com .
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EduCyber is your technology partner. We partner with businesses that have technology needs. Whether you need a web site, a web host, help with the search engines, or some kind of computer or network help, we partner with you to maximize your technology investment. Call EduCyber today at 720-275-4646.
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Duly Noted
Not using a laptop yet? With the ease and relative security provided by wireless networks and a proliferation of hot spots around the world, having a laptop is becoming attractive from a connectivity point of view.
But there's another reason to consider a laptop as your main computer. Think about telecommunications have changed and the focus is on having one number that follows you anywhere. Why not have a single computer that follows you everywhere? With vastly improved processing capability, extended battery life and extra batteries to boot, and with far better ability to quickly and easily connect your laptop to peripherals such as printers, the reasons for not having a laptop are beginning to outweigh the reasons for having a laptop.
I meet a friend in downtown Denver for lunch two or three times a month. Of the myriad of places we've been, there hasn't been one where he hasn't been able to connect to an open internet connection and be able to surf the internet.
Some laptops have a monitor that swivels around to become a tablet – they're actually called Tablets – and can recognize your scribbles with a stylus as letters and convert it to editable text.
The cost difference between laptops and desktops continues to shrink while the prices of both continue to go down. This means that you can now get a laptop for the price you paid for your two year old PC.
If you're not doing business in downtown Denver and are concerned about not having internet connectivity when you need it most, wireless services like Sprint and Verizon Wireless now have broadband modems for your laptop so you can literally connect from almost anywhere (next thing I know, my son and his friends will be surfing the internet from their tents on campouts).
So if you're thinking about a new computer, give extra consideration as to whether a laptop might be the best fit for you.
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Windows?
Windows 95 was first released in 1995 followed by Windows 98 in 1998 and then again in 1999. Windows 2000 followed in February of 2000 and in 2002 came Windows XP. Now we've had a long dry spell and it's not quite over. Microsoft plans to release Windows Vista (what has been called Longhorn during its development) towards the end of next year.
While many in the technology world are saying it's about time, Microsoft has not had, in my opinion, the need to get something better out there as Windows XP is the closest Microsoft has ever come to getting it right. XP is easy to use and easy for network technicians to maintain. In any case, Microsoft is getting ready for the next generation of Windows and trying to make it enough of an upgrade that we'll all want it..
As you can well imagine, security will be vastly improved in Vista . Most of the new security features will focus on protection from the Internet. Something known as Windows Services will be much more secure, protecting you while you're on the Internet by not letting abnormal things happen on your computer such as having changes made to your registry while you're just surfing the web.
Other security features will protect your laptop so that even if it is lost or stolen, others will not be able to access your data by putting your hard drive in a different computer. This security is the result of greater encryption and will also make it more difficult to retrieve data if your password is lost or forgotten.
Another promising new feature is faster startup. Every once in a great while I find an old DOS machine and am amazed by how quickly it starts up. I've also been quite impressed by the way new Apple computers are ready to go in just a second or two instead of the 30 seconds to a minute of most PC's. Learning from the competition, Microsoft is working on several fronts to make sure your computer starts quickly and lets you actually start working even while it is doing some of the other stuff it needs to do at startup.
Probably the biggest issue for most users will be the GUI (Graphic User Interface). Will it look the same? Will “my” icons and programs still look like they do now? These issues are still being worked on. Don't expect major changes but do expect Microsoft to make things more intuitive. You shouldn't reach a point where you don't know what to do in any given task. The next step should be obvious and that is where a lot of work is being focused right now. While a beta version of Vista is out, most of the new GUI won't be available until the second beta version is released.
Each iteration of Windows has been a step forward but there have been some major gaffes along the way (such as the channels that were a major part of Windows 98 and obsolete by the time it was released). Each new version has also been closer to what works and the increased competition from the likes of Apple and Linux mean that Microsoft will have to make Vista a great product to continue their success.
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Business on the Internet
What are you selling on your web site? If you aren't selling your products (and services, too) online this holiday season, you ought to be. While some estimate the growth in online sales this year to be ONLY 25%, that's a chunk of the buying public that you are missing if you don't have an online shop.
Setting up ecommerce is getting easier every year. PayPal is bending over backwards to make it easy for small businesses to get started. We recommend for those just starting out to test the waters with PayPal as there are no startup fees. As your online presence grows, it is relatively easily to add a complete ecommerce package whether you have just a couple of things to sell or hundreds.
If you are ready to dive in to online selling with a full blown ecommerce site, you have several options available to you. Of course, if you are hosting your web site with EduCyber, we will help you choose the best option for your budget and needs. If you are determined to do it yourself however, there are a few essentials that every site should have.
A Secure Certificate. This gives you the little gold lock at the bottom of your browser that shows the data your customers submit is secure (secure in this case means that it is nearly impossible for a hacker to monitor the data stream and extract the customer's data from it). Without a secure certificate, people won't (and shouldn't) be buying things from your site.
A Shopping Cart. Shopping carts come in all sizes, shapes and flavors. The shopping cart enables the customer to add multiple items to their list before “checking out” and paying. They range from free, open-source carts to quite expensive carts that do just about everything you could possible think of.
Credit Card Processing. Whether you already take cards or not, there is some work required to get your site set up with a gateway and to work out the details for getting money into your account.
With those three essentials, you should be ready to take your store online and capture some of the holiday shopping. If you're not quite ready this year, start now so you'll be ready for next year.
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© 2005 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 (303) 268-2245. 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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