The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Update Notes Gary Taig |
 |
HTML and Plain Text
Some months ago, October 2003 to be precise, I set out to capture the actual status of deliveries by Australia Post. Some members will remember seeing my call for e-mail reports that were to be set out in a specific format so that a computer program could read the data contained within the message. This is mainly for the benefit of those who still report by e-mail every month. It will save me sending out dozens of separate e-mails.
There were major difficulties. When writing the program that read the messages I had failed to appreciate that a huge percentage of computer users send all their e-mail in HTML format (probably largely without knowing it). A big variety of HTML code made the job difficult and my program kept on growing until eventually other factors overtook and I gave up modifying it.
The biggest problem was that out of the 10,000 magazines delivered to individuals and families, just a few hundred members took part in the exercise. There was no way one could gather meaningful statistics out of such a small percentage response, especially given that the responses were from post codes spread in a pattern similar to the membership spread. Vast numbers of post codes went unreported because at 3% response rate, a suburb needed at least 30 members before I had the chance of one e-mail. Melb PC has members living under more than 550 individual post codes but of those, about 300 have five members or less. There are nearly 20 post codes where we have over 100 members, four with more than 150 and the highest post code has almost 300 members. One would hardly need Dial Help there, you could just as easily yell out over a back fence, and think of the Wireless LAN parties!
Anyway, from the many e-mails that still arrive each month I'm able to see how delivery is progressing. If you still send in your message and you're wondering whether it's needed, please continue because I browse through them all as they arrive and still get a good picture of where deliveries have commenced. If you send in a message a week later, that's a pure waste of time because by then, not only is the data out of date, it's difficult to remember precise days/dates and I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who send in late reports and obviously don't check their calendar.
Good feedback also continues from the news group melbpc.pcupdate where a number of members keep me abreast of their delivery situation. That and the e-mails received are all greatly appreciated.
One amazing thing is that quite often, deliveries to places like Queensland and New Zealand would occur before some of the local deliveries. I had occasion to test the postal service to New Zealand a month ago- the magazine in a manilla envelope was delivered on the third day. That's as good as some of the local deliveries.
Monthly CD
Have you bought a copy of the Monthly CD yet? For any month?
I've made a habit of buying one for every month since it began because often while working on these pages I see programs that sound really interesting and handy. I know that one day there will be an opportunity to go back and look over all of those discs. However, this month Ian Rankin has given us the latest release of OpenOffice.Org which is a free program and the little brother of StarOffice reviewed by Major Keary on page 24.
They are from the same stable. I've printed articles on OpenOffice in times past and if you're new to this free software, have a look at Rob Reilly's article in October 2003. There is a vast weight of evidence now that this program is well worth using and don't be put off by the fact that Rob Reilly uses Linux because Openoffice.Org runs on both Windows and Linux. See that article online at http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2310/2310article3.htm
Knoppix CD
Last month we had a little piece by Charlie Paschal on Knoppix and Charlie described just how handy Knoppix was for people experiencing problems with a crippled computer. Ian Rankin has obtained a copy and makes it available on this month's Special CD. If ever there was a time to get to the office or the monthly meeting and pick up a copy, it's now. Get a copy of both discs, you'll have lots of goodies plus OpenOffice and Knoppix. While this is probably not the first time those two names have been uttered with the same breath, what terrific value that is for just seven bucks!
Reprinted from the July 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
 |