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| The Granite Newsletter |
If you're interested in preserving this great country of ours, check out http://www.earthday.ca/. Read about Canada's Creation produced by the National Library of Canada. Celebrate Canada with the Department of Heritage. Check out more patriotism, maple leaf backgrounds and fireworks tips at http://www.canoe.ca/CanadaDay/home.html. Check out the origins of Canada Day. Okay, that s enough. Time to log off and go enjoy Canada for real.
The millennium bug is a problem with the way the date was coded in many computer chips and the software that you run. To save memory, which we all know used to cost a lot more than it does now, programmers coded the year using only two numbers instead of four (98 instead of 1998). What this means is that on January 1, 2000 - software and computers will think its actually January 1, 1900. This will cause all sorts of problems with scheduling software, billing software and will likely bring down the hardiest systems - unless the bug is fixed.
This will affect virtually every system using a microchip, so its not only computers that will suffer. Security systems, phone systems, elevators, electrical power can all be affected.
This problem is not going to hit just the large businesses. Anyone with a PC may experience problems. The very best fix is to run out and buy a Year 2000 compliant machine and all Year 2000 compliant software. Convert everything you do to the new system and then hope that everyone you do business with does the same thing.
This may not be the best solution for you if money isn't burning a whole in your pocket. In order to help companies prepare for this, the Canadian Government, in conjunction with Industry Canada, has set up a program called Year 2000 First Step to help business prepare for the Year 2000. They have a toll-free line as well, so you can call 1-888-807-7777 for more information. The Year 2000 First Step program will ensure your business gets a hands-on evaluation including:
Remember that email scam about the send a story to win a military surplus store in the US? Well an email list I belong to had someone who lived nearby the town and store, and he was nice enough to go down and check it out for me. The following is the email he sent back to me:
I had occasion to stop by the Surplus store that you had wrote to the 9C1 Server group @cloud9. I stopped in the store and spoke with pubescent kid behind the counter wearing a kevlar BDU camo covered combat helmet. We looked around I even bought a pair of black BDU pants. I asked him if he was aware of the spam letter sent out on the net. He had no clue. He then called the President/Owner Robert Moreland to ask if this was for real.
It is in fact real, at least according to the clerk. However I think I will keep my cash for something I really want. Maybe like a center console for my radio equipment. Or a real nice trauma bag (first aid kit) for my 9C1. Well the list goes on.
So there you go. If you really want a Military Store some where in the U. S., maybe this one is for real????
And the world just gets smaller and smaller....
Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in our Customer Service Survey. We got a lot of response (almost 20% of all our members) and are currently evaluating all your comments to improve the service. A few people are currently experiencing busy signals during our busiest time (from 9 to 11 pm). Three new lines have been ordered and will relieve that problem. We are evaluating our account types to see if we can't fit in some lower use types. An account of 30 hours per month seemed to be quite popular. We'll announce any changes on the Granite homepage. Unfortunately, we will not be offering Unlimited Access, as some of you have requested. Unlimited Access creates problems with busy signals on virtually every service that offers it. We have increased the 90 hour account to 100 hours per month with no extra charge. If you require more time than this, we offer dedicated access as well as the option of combining more than one account.
One of the more surprising results of the survey was the number of customers who were experiencing small, annoying difficulties and yet never called our technical help-line. Most of these respondents filled in the personal portion of the survey so we were able to contact them to solve the problem quickly. If you have a problem, please don't hesitate to call or e-mail. We haven't exactly seen it all, but chances are good we can help you out.
Of all our respondents, satisfaction with the service seemed to be the common thread. That's a great pat on the back that we're doing it right. We did, however, get a some constructive criticism that we can now act on to provide the best service possible. If you haven't responded yet, we've left the survey up for you.
1) Smash forehead on keyboard to continue.
2) Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue.
3) Press any key to continue or any other key to quit.
4) Press any key except... no, No, NO, NOT THAT ONE!
5) Press Ctrl-Alt-Del now for IQ test.
6) Close your eyes and press escape three times.
7) Bad command or file name! Go stand in the corner.
8) This will end your Windows session. Do you want to play another
game?
9) Windows message: "Error saving file! Format drive now? (Y/Y)"
10) This is a message from God Gates: "Rebooting the world.
Please log off."
11) To "shut down" your system, type "WIN."
12) BREAKFAST.SYS halted... Cereal port not responding.
13) COFFEE.SYS missing... Insert cup in cup holder and press any
key.
14) CONGRESS.SYS corrupted... Re-boot Washington D.C? (Y/N)
15) File not found. Should I fake it? (Y/N)
16) Bad or missing mouse. Spank the cat? (Y/N)
17) Runtime Error 6D at 417A:32CF: Incompetent User.
18) Error reading FAT record: Try the SKINNY one? (Y/N)
19) WinErr 16547: LPT1 not found. Use backup. (PENCIL & PAPER.SYS)
20) User Error: Replace user.
21) Windows VirusScan 1.0 - "Windows found: Remove it? (Y/N)"
22) Welcome to Microsoft's World - Your Mortgage is Past Due...
23) If you are an artist, you should know that Bill Gates owns you
and all your future creations. Doesn't it feel nice to have
security?
24) Required Government Warning: After we got caught in cahoots
with the hardware manufacturers for trying to needlessly fill
your hard drives, the following message is now required as you
save your files in Word.
"Word has detected that you don't wish to save your text file
as a lumpy and space wasting .doc format filled with potential
viruses. Would you like to save your old outdated ascii file
as a Word file anyway?"
25) Your hard drive has been scanned and all stolen software titles
have been deleted. The police are on the way.
We know you're on the net, but have you wondered who else is out there? What are those millions of people actually doing while they fly through cyberspace. There is a group of people who have made it there business to gather these kinds of statistics and then give them away - for free. For more on this, check out the GVU Center.
The average age of netizens is about 35 years old and the younger the user, the more experience they have. About half of these users indicate that they feel more connected with people of similar interest now than they did before they came on the Internet. Not quite half of Internet users have a post secondary education of some kind. There are still more men than women out there, but the gap is closing with almost 40% of all respondents being female. The average household income was reported to be $53,000 (US) with 80 % of the respondents coming from the US. Only 20% of net users are in a Computer related field of work, with 23% in Education, 21% Professional, 11% Management and 23% in other occupations.Almost 40% of the users were single.
What are they doing out there? Almost 40% of respondents to the latest survey indicate that they have falsified information when providing it through the net, so caution is the word here. 40% of respondents to this survey sited privacy as the number one issue on the net today. Only 2% of the respondents reported a bad experience while shopping on the net and almost 70% of the respondents had purchased merchandise through the Internet. About half of all respondents were not simply lurkers, but had in fact created a web page.
If you were planning to try out some Internet business, these results will show you how lucrative that can be. Cyberspace commerce has come of age now that the average user is ready and willing to purchase on the net. The audience now covers a wide range of people with a wide range of interests. For all you single females, this seems to be the place where the single guys are hanging out. Maybe that's why they're so hard to find these days. Check out the site for a lot more information on who's out there and what they are doing.
Now available - classified advertising. We've been asked routinely for rates on advertising your site in the Granite Business Directory, or methods to place a simple ad on the internet. This is our newsletter so it makes sense to put those ads here. Advertising rates for the first 2 months will be very reasonable - free! Starting April 1 the rate will be $5.00 per ad. The ad will remain on-line. The Granite Newsletter is published monthly, but previous months newsletters remain available for viewing. Hypertext links and e-mail links will not only be available, but encouraged. Load up a picture in your user area and we will link to the picture for ad purposes. To place an ad in the Granite Newsletter, send information to webmistress@granite.mb.ca. The ad must be submitted electronically. Ads via snail mail will be charged an extra $10.00 processing fee.
If you've got your business site ready for viewing and want a little more exposure, place a link along with your logo and Site Description in the Granite Business Directory for $10.00 per month or $100.00 per year. Granite offers a Site Marketing Program that includes submittal to 100 search engines and suggestions for meta tag inclusions on your page for only $75.00. The meta tags help push your site to the top of the search engines. If you're doing this yourself, remember to repeat the submittals at least once a year to keep your site fresh in the search engines.
Network Manager’s Report
There is no Network Managers Report available this month. The month was quiet
with only a few short periods of disruption of Internet Access due to scheduled
MTS maintenance. Only the night owls would have noticed it.
Check out our previous newsletters: