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Creating Start-Up Floppies for Your PC
Check Symantec and Sophos for virus definitions updates and diagnostics utilties. Run diagnostics and update virus protection monthly.
When grading your operating system remember to check the system version for compatibility with these and all your other important programs.
MagicalDesk offer internet-accessible calendar, to-do list, email, address book, and file sharing for individuals and small groups.
WEB CONFERENCING
PlaceWare Web Conferencing , like WebEx, Centra and HelpMeeting.Com, makes it possible for two or more people to view the same computer screen via the Internet even if they're a world apart. (PlaceWare upports the outlining feature in Microsoft Word.)
Files are transferred over the Internet in compressed formats. Before you download files from the Net you should make sure you have a utility that can decompress them. Stuffit Expander is a good file expander for Windows or Mac. Use your system's "Find" feature to see if you already have it. If not, go to Aladdin Systems and get a free copy.
Windows Client
WS_FTP is a file transfer for Windows that's almost as graphic and easy to use as Fetch for the Mac (but without the dog, alas). (Before downloading any program in Windows, first create a directory to receive installation files and contain their expansion.)
Download an evaluation copy of WS_FTP from ipswitch.com.
Mac Client
Download Sites:
Fetch A popular file transfer program for the Macintosh.
Telnet Client (Mac)
NCSA Telnet 2.6 Use this program to talk to a server. For example, telnet into your email server to forward mail, change your password, or post a vacation message. (Many Internet Providers (IPs) now allow you to perform these same functions using your web browser instead of a separate telnet program.)
Secure Telnet Servers
Secure Shell Telnet, SSH, which uses RSA public-key encryption, is another secure, multi-platform implementation of telnet See Nifty Telnet for information about ports to the Macintosh. For information about Windows, see Part II of the SSH FAQ
Content servers provide collaborative environments where content providers and webmasters can work simultaneously without stepping on each others toes. Frontier 8 and Vignette StoryServer provide interesting solutions at prices ranging from $250.00 to $25,000 and up.
Update (April, 2000) In the last year various protocols have been developed to exchange MG3 (a sound format) files between personal computers via the Internet. These protocols may be the basis of a fundamental shift in the way the Internet works, making possible resilient, efficient, distributed sharing between ordinary PC's that serve each other as both client and server. For an overview, see Freenet's SourceForge.
Overview (Spring, 1999)
MP3 is a file format that's revolutionizing the music distribution industry.
MP3 compresses digitally recorded music into CD-quality files that can be downloaded quickly over the Internet. Portable MG3 players are now available for under $200. Since MP3 files are as easy to copy as digital tape, it is now possible to create and transfer CD-quality "mixes" over the Net. Purchase a CD-ROM burner, and you can pass those selections around by hand as well.
Recording companies are upset. Universal Studios Music Entertainment (a unit of Seagram) and the BMG label (owned by the giant Bertelsmann publishing comglomerate ) are leading the way in trying to negotiate a set of standards to restrict piracy that both they and major hardware manufacturers can agree upon.
But is it already too late? MP3 has become so popular so fast that it's unlikely the major music companies, or the artists, will be able to enforce copyright as they once did.
But artists may find more advantage in the unsecure standard than distributors. Major artists are offering free MP3 downloads as a promotional tool. Lesser known artists are distributing their own music, both for free and for fees. Any artist who can claim Internet fame has leverage with the recording companies. Certainly the terms of their contracts will be more favorable in the future, just because the Internet provides an alternative distribution model.
As in other areas of commerce, the Internet is forcing the music industry, artists and distributors alike, to redefine "middleman", and to reconsider what it is they can profitably own.
Created 8/28/98. Last Updated
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