Internet commentary
Keywords: Newsletters, Design, Web sites, Operating systems
AbstractThe Internet Tourbus and four other free Internet newsletters are described and shown to be well worth having. There are indications that the Internet may come to have less to offer without charge. One newsletter deals specifically with economical Web site design and maintenance,and topics from the others include news and comment on viruses and virus hoaxes as well as the desirability of considering operating systems other than Windows.
Internet newsletters
The Internet Tourbus has frequently received honourable mention in these Commentaries, and it continues to be a valuable source of information and entertainment. There are other free regular newsletters that serve a similar function of conveying information and discussion of topics related to the Internet. The others are a little more focused on the strictly computational aspects, though they also include light-hearted items. The Tourbuscovers the computational matters too but is rather more ready to range widely over sites providing news and commentary and entertainment.
In one issue of the Tourbus, for example, there was a report of a hurricane in Alabama which came very close to eliminating one of the Tourbusauthors. For that and other serious news items the newsletter has given pointers to reliable Internet sources of information as well as to channels through which help could be donated. Computational aspects are certainly not neglected and in the Web site associated with the newsletter, at <http://www.tourbus.com> a phrase from the Wizard of Oz is modified to read: “Viruses, Cookies and Spam– Oh My!”
Other newsletters
A number of other useful newsletters apparently operate on good terms with the Tourbus authors. When I changed my e-mail address I had to renew my subscription to the Tourbus using the new address, after unsubscribing under the old one. In the course of the exchanges involved in this, four other newsletters were brought to my attention, all of them extremely useful. The rate at which useful and interesting information arrives when all of these possibilities have been activated is overwhelming, but it is all worthy of attention.
The most prolific of the others is the LangaList, produced by Fred Langa of the firm Langa Consulting, and details can be found on the site <http://www.langa.com/help.htm>. To subscribe, an e-mail message should be sent to <subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net>.
Another list is called The Naked PC Newsletter, with details available from <http://www.TheNakedPC.com>,and said to provide: “What You Need to Know about All Things PC”. It is produced by the PRIME consulting group and has an editor-in-chief as well as a publishing arrangement attributed to two named individuals. Another is called Neat Net Tricks and information on how to subscribe can be obtained by sending an e-mail to: <info-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net>. A bulletin board is associated with this facility, reached at: <http://www.escribe.com/computing/neatnettricks/bb/>and a very useful feature is a source of reviews of software, by a panel of experts, at: <http://www.NeatNetTricks.com/SoftwareReviews>.
Poor Richard
The fourth site recommended by the Tourbus duo is focused on the economic production and maintenance of Web sites, and goes by the name of: Poor Richard’s Web Site News. The intention is to produce a newsletter every fortnight, but for some reason my attempt to subscribe to this service has failed to initiate deliveries. However, this is not serious since archives can be consulted at <http://www.PoorRichard.com/newsltr/>. The way to subscribe is to send a blank message to <subscribe-prwebnews@lists.dundee.net>. The main Web site, at <http://www.PoorRichard.com>supports a bulletin board and has links to over 700 useful web resources.
The site is run by the company Top Floor Publishing and is associated with a book by Peter Kent called: Poor Richard’s Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site. On the main Web site a series of eight books on particular aspects of web design and implementation,available from this publisher, are listed.
Where a Web site is intended to be purely informative the requirement of low cost is easily met. A site can be set up at practically zero cost, since most Internet Service Providers, including those that are free of charge, allow their subscribers this possibility. The WOSC Web site at <http://pages.britishlibrary.net/alexandrew/wosc.htm>is one such. At present, this site might be said to be rather drab, consisting mainly of text and simple pictures, but there are possibilities of enhancement without serious expenditure, and some will be explored. A scan of some of the 700 links to special resources may prove well worth while.
The focus of the Poor Richard site seems to be on Web sites with more advanced facilities, as required in commercial applications. Apart from the requirement for striking presentations, various kinds of user interactions are needed, so that customers can make enquiries about, for example, stock availability, and can have their details recorded, and can make purchases online with arrangements for secure money transactions. The Poor Richard site appears to allow for all these, though always with an emphasis on economy.
The process of subscribing to any of these newsletters has two stages. At one time this was not considered necessary, but presumably the schemes have been abused. The original request to subscribe brings an e-mail request from the publishers of the newsletter for confirmation that a subscription is wanted at the e-mail address used.
Free stuff
The Internet has so much available free that it encourages users to adopt a distinctly parsimonious, even miserly, attitude. The free newsletters are examples of extremely valuable resources offered freely. There are signs,however, that the situation may be changing. The collapse of certain Internet-related companies has demonstrated that the Internet is not inevitably profitable, and has dampened enthusiasm for bread-on-the-waters investment.
The changing situation is discussed in a special edition of Neat Net Tricks for 15, June 2002. It is acknowledged that the publishers of this newsletter are having problems in maintaining it. They have decided to fulfil their commitment to producing a free service, without obtrusive advertising, but they have reduced the newsletter in size and are offering an enhanced “PLUS”version for which payment is required.
The writers in the special edition observe that what they term the “Old Internet” is evolving into what they term the “New Internet”,where, as so often in current politics, the word “new” denotes something less liberal. As these authors put it, in the “Old Internet”:
Just about everything was free for the clicking, and costs were either written off in the hopes of bigger and better things to come; or, the expenses of maintaining an Internet presence were underwritten by abundant advertisers who felt that this infant media would provide a very good return on their investment.
The stratagem of running a parallel “PLUS” version, for payment, has also been adopted by the Tourbus and by the LangaList. Subscribers to the “PLUS” version of the LangaList are also able to download complete archives. Archives of the Tourbus can be seen on the Web site, with a search facility, but only for two or three months back. For a payment, the complete archives, again with a search facility, can be purchased on CD. This covers more than 600 issues, over more than six years.
Content
The newsletters have been introduced without saying much in detail about their content. There is, as might be expected, a great deal about viruses, and virus hoaxes. A novel twist to the latter, referred to in an issue of LangaList,is a hoax to the effect that a file of a particular name, if found in a computer, should be promptly deleted because it would be the embodiment of a virus. In fact the file in question is a normal part of the operating system,though not one whose removal causes an immediate crash, and users who deleted it would have considerable trouble in reinstalling a fresh copy.
A great deal of software is reviewed, much of it available for (ethical and legal) free download, despite the trend toward a “New Internet”. The alleged inadequacies and iniquities of Microsoft have received a fair amount of attention. It is difficult to know how harshly most of these should be judged,since the position of the company as the foremost source of software automatically makes it the prime target of hackers and devisers of viruses and the like. Even so, there have apparently been inexcusable failings as well as high-handed treatment of users, and there is felt to be good reason to consider moving to software other than that from Microsoft, and in particular to consider operating systems other than Windows. A favoured alternative is the Linux operating system. The situation is discussed in issues of the LangaListfor March 18 and 21, 2002, where there is mention of an operating system,unfortunately somewhat expensive, that will run software written for either of these alternatives.
More will be said about topics from these valuable information sources in a later Commentary.
Alex M. Andrew
