Microsoft Free Website
From Dustin
Although the name of one of the websites is rather crude,
<http://www.fuckmicrosoft.com> and
<http://msbc.simplenet.com/super/>
are dedicated to promoting alternatives to Microsoft's products (free
and commercial). They have great explanations on why Microsoft is so
bad and a list of anti-Microsoft sites. Enjoy.
-Dustin D
Experts & Gatekeepers
From Steve Mansfield
Hi
Truly the Internet is a wondrous place. I came across this page while looking for MCSE Brain Dumps!
Anyway, I thought I would ask if in the US you have the same culture of
academic teaching being superior to all other forms of teaching and
learning. What I mean by this is that I have had many jobs, and the
ability of the individual to perform them was not really linked to
one's academic ability.
There are some obvious examples: sportspeople, TV presenter, fighter
pilot.
Here in the UK, the educational system seems to be going the way of
'one size fits all'. I would say that we need at least 2 types of
school and maybe 3, in order to allow people to fulfill their
potential. Also, the only measure of whether a school or other
educational establishment is any good is taken from its exam results.
The result of this is that kids are examined like never before, and the
schools get more money / less money depending on their results. The
teachers likewise get assessed on the exam results.
So we are teaching our kids to pass exams, which is oddly how I
found your page. The subject is deathly boring, but success will be
beneficial! Hopefully I will get the piece of paper, but I won't have
any more ability or wisdom. My problem solving (what real world IT is
all about IMO) will be unchanged, I'll just have a piece of paper that
ignorant potential employers and customers will find reassuring.
Regards
Steve
Hi Steve,
Certainly here in North America (I'm actually in
Canada), academic teaching holds the highest prestige.
However, my daughter, who was homeschooled through
middle school, and is just completing what would normally be three
years of high school in two years at age 17, with the highest grade
average in the school, winning a major scholarship to one of our best
universities, says that she has learned nothing, and indeed gotten
stupider since entering the formal academic stream.
Food for thought.
Charles
POPmonitor
From: Steve Watkins
Hi Charles,
Great article! I have used POPmonitor 1.1.1
for OS X for a couple of months now and have had the same great
experience as you. I am often accessing my email through a dialup connection
(and occasionally it is even a long-distance call) and have found this
to be a real asset. Like you, I get around 50 junk emails a day. From
some of the examples you gave in the article, we appear to have found
our way to some of the same mailing lists :(
I previously used a program called Musashi. While it served the
purpose, I have found POPmonitor to be more stable and easier to use. I
am looking forward to the OS X native version 2 in May.
Steve Watkins
G4 Freezes
From Bruce Mc Gowan
Hi, every time I start up my Power Mac G4, a bus error appears at
startup. And when I use my software, it sometimes freezes. What's the
problem? I use Mac OS 9.2...
Please help me, I'm just a Graphic Designer, not a technician!
Thanx.
Bruce Mc Gowan
Hi Bruce,
The bus error thing is not normal. You should try
running some diagnostic software like Norton Utilities/SystemWorks,
Alsoft DiskWarrior, or TechTool Pro to see if they turn up
anything.
A clean system reinstall might be a good idea too.
As for freezeups, they are not uncommon with certain
software in the Classic Mac OS. OS X is reportedly a lot more
stable for high end graphics use, and a crashed application won;t take
the system down.
Hope this helps,
Charles
OCR for Macs
From: Eric Aborjaily
I saw your info and wonder what is the best OCR software for Macs
that will output in an Excel or Excel readable format retaining
columns, etc.
Thanks,
Eric
Hi Eric,
Please check out these recent articles on Low End
Mac
• OCR Software
for the Mac
• Browser Wars, OCR, and
More
Charles
Redux 2.6.2
From Michael
Hi Charles,
I accidentally came across Redux on Version Tracker while looking
for some other utility.
It seemed a great little product, so I downloaded it.
In its "Read Me" file, it talks about scheduled backups, filtering,
and so on, but I can't seem to do that with what I have downloaded.
I have a 20 GB HD, and I need to be able to selectively indicate
which files to update for the first run. When I run Redux 2.6.2, it
attempts to read all my files but then stops when about 8,000 files
have been read. How do I overcome this problem?
It also talked about the scripting language "BackTalk", but when I
go to the site it suggests, it fails.
I came across your site using Sherlock 2, and the site you recommend
to find out more also fails.
Could you help me out?
Michael.
Hi Michael,
Sorry, I can't be much help. I haven't a clue what the
problem is.
However, perhaps one of our readers can shed some
light.
Best,
Charles
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