November 2002 - Vol 18 - Issue 11

Newsletter - Internet Edition

The October meeting featured Microsoft and the new Tablet PC as well as a new version of Picture-It and several new games.

My wife has always complained that she can write faster than she can type and that she was waiting to learn to use a computer until she could write on a page and the computer would recognize her writing. Unfortunately Jocelyne was not able to be there, but those of us who were there saw the future as the Microsoft representative wrote messages on the tablet and her writing became text.

The Tablet PC can be used as a standard laptop, but it can be converted to a tablet. The new tablet PC's have a screen that can be twisted so the display is on the top of the device when the top is closed. The whole unit becomes a thick clipboard, making it easy to walk and work at the same time.

Using a stylus, like the ones used on Palm Top devices, you can make selections by pressing an icon. You can then write on the screen and convert it to text or save it as your handwriting.

The Tablet PC comes with a modified Windows XP operating system that has the interface built-in for the handwriting-to-text conversion. The operator can take notes, draw graphics, and doodle like using a piece of paper, then convert the handwriting to text, save the graphs, erase the doodles and save the information to any MS Office XP application, including e-mail.

The Tablet PC is the next evolution of the PC and can be equipped with wireless network cards that would allow you to carry the Tablet PC anywhere near a wireless access point and be connected to the Internet.

Microsoft also showed a new version of Picture-It called Photo Premium, and if you have not seen Picture-It in the last year or so, you are in for a big surprise. The new version has most of the wish list features the users have been asking for.

One of our members was almost salivating when Microsoft showed a little of the newest "Flight Simulator" Aerial Combat game with more WW II planes and more features. The game will not be out until January, and John will be there waiting when it comes out, I am very sure.

Also shown was a new Age of Empires that will be released just before Christmas. The beta version we saw had not been optimized yet, but the graphics from the game we saw are a vast improvement over those from previous versions. All in all Microsoft did an excellent job in only one hour. This was a meeting that needed a lot more time to show all the new features of the Tablet PC and the other software.

In the months of November and December, if EPCUG were to meet on our normal day of the month, we would be meeting on both the holiday evenings of Thanksgiving and Christmas. While some may welcome this break from the family, most feel that this is not appropriate. For that reason we combined the November and December meetings into something special.

The combined meeting started off as "Games Night" where members brought in their favorite games to show. Through 1995, Games Night was the biggest meeting of the year. In the early 1990's it was not uncommon for 15-20 computers to be on display with all kinds of games.

By 1996, the graphics of the games and the violence of the games had increased to a point where many of the games were separated into different areas to insure that younger attendees were not viewing adult computer games.

Starting in 1999, the combined meeting was changed to allow everyone to come to a "Showcase Spectacular" as well as a computer swap meet. ECPUG continues this new tradition this year on December 5, 2002 at the High Dive Park Pavilion, our normal meeting site, starting at 7:00. Some proposed Showcase topics are as follows:

Combat Simulator (Game)

Genealogy Programs

MS Access

Burning CDs

Computer Maintenance

There will also be a swap-meet for members, as well as selected items from the EPCUG stock of parts, and a hot dog supper.

I've received a few of these dumb alerts over the past week. You haven't received one? It's an e-mail hoax pretending to be a virus warning that tells people to delete their Java Debugger Manager file, called jdbgmgr.exe.

What really ticks me off is the open list of recipients, often 30 to 50 of them, that become fodder for all sorts of junk through the systems of others.

So I'm on a one-man crusade to get people to use Blind Ccs for all mail, unless there is a compelling reason (such as a work group, etc.) in which they need to know who else received the message. Heck, I even send out tutorials for most e-mail programs to eliminate any excuses they may have.

Here's what I tell people whenever they forward me an ALERT!! ALERT!! About any virus:

Hey, Klez?

Learn and Use Blind CC

Seventeen members of the GENSIG Group attended a regular meeting held at the American Mortgage and Financial Services Building in Goshen on Saturday, November 9.

Our group was fortunate to have Bruce Von Deylen, EPCUG Public Relations Director, Recycling SIG leader, assistant janitor and head bottle washer, attend our meeting and take charge of the Q&A Session that we begin our meeting with. Everyone learned something from this session. Bruce fielded a wide variety of questions, and followed up with e-mail answers to questions that could not be answered on the spot. Everyone was pleased with the Q&A session! Thank-you Bruce!!!

At a previous meeting the members were surveyed for meeting subject suggestions and Leon Morris presented an edited list of subjects for the group's consideration. The plan is to use the skills of our members as we can, and invite guest speakers for other subjects. Leon has been spearheading this plan! We ask the members to volunteer to speak at a meeting. If it's a 15-minute subject, then we'll fill in with on-line research! For December Jim Mathias has agreed to repeat his Power Point Presentation on "Creating Your Own Genealogy Web Page."

A coffee break with refreshments furnished by the members gave us a chance to share stories about our own work, and then we finished off the meeting with Gloria Savill leading us with on-line research using the high-speed satellite system.

For the month of December our meeting will start off with a Q&A Session on Computers and Genealogy Programs. The meeting presentation will be Jim Mathias' "Creating Your Own Genealogy Web Page." (This presentation is much more than just creating a Web Page. He talks about how to incorporate your Genealogy information into your page, and then how to promote or "register" your Web Page so other Genealogists searching for your relatives can find your information. Jim says people from around the world who are doing research on his family members have contacted him.) Be there, it is a great presentation. Also, Sy Pell says he will show us his "genealogy photo exchange" Web Page. The final part of the meeting will be an on-line session on how to locate and use "Passenger Lists" to find your ancestors, led by Gloria Savill.

The December meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 14, at the American Mortgage and Financial Services Building, 216 North Main St. Goshen, IN. Please come and bring a friend! The coffee pot will be on!