Number 256 - September 2004

UPDATE
Preaching To The Choir?    A couple of idioms in the English language talk about gaining experience in life namely attending "the school of hard knocks" and "paying one's dues". Both allude to making a contribution to society for the wealth of experience gained.    We also have to "pay our dues" to keep this newsletter coming to you each month. In this case, through mutual agreement amongst you and me and the rest of our membership, when we joined the club we agreed to pay annual dues to support newsletter printing and mailing as well as other club activities. We consider it well worth it for the experience and knowledge gained.    Most of you keep track and, without further reminders, pay your dues on time. There a few members however, who ignore the Overdue notice on their mailing label, even when it is highlighted in color. This requires extra effort by our Secretary to write letters to remind them that they are overdue, and these letters too are often ignored; indeed, some delinquent members are even offended by them!    Some user groups drop members immediately if their dues are not paid on time. We give you three month's grace!    Not only that, our meetings are open to the public and we provide extra newsletters--free--at each meeting intended for prospective members	and guests. Some have "taken advantage" of this generosity in the past to, in effect, extend their "membership" without paying into the membership fund.    Come on folks. Be fair! We put a lot of effort into preparing the newsletter and monthly meeting programs. Please do your part. Pay your dues on time. Waiting For Godot? No! Waiting for XP SP2!    In mid-August yet another delay in the automated distribution of Windows XP Service Pack 2 Pro has been announced. It was delayed until at least August 25th. Distribution of XP Home Edition upgrade was not delayed. XP SP2 had been issued to several large corporate clients and apparently their feedback on the unfriendliness of SP2 to installed second-party software has caused Microsoft to take another look on how to handle this issue. Apparently provision will be provided to allow SP2 to "recognize" software identified by the user as valid. VoIP Coming of Age?    Perhaps most of our members have no interest in this but those who regularly make long distance calls to relatives or business partners surely will. The technology to use your computer to make telephone calls has been developing over the past few years. In the Communcations section we include a few articles discussing the current state of VoIP. Is it for you? Take a look.
Number 256 - September 2004