It's about the way in which the program works with documents. WordPerfect has always looked at documents differently than Word and its knock-offs (OpenOffice included). For me, a stubborn hold over from the days of WP5.1, it's all about Reveal Codes and the way in which codes work in WordPerfect.
Now, if someone would finally come up with one standard document format, preferably one like html (code based) but with a better system for printing, then life would be good.
Anyway, for now, there is a standard format and it's called plain text. If that doesn't work, PDF is pretty much universal in the Windows world. Not sure about PDF under Linux.
I've been talking up the problems of extended copyright for a few years now, without much success. My problem? I haven't used the argument that extending copyright law works against creativity and the authors. Copyright law, today, works for the corporation. Corporations, in turn, work hard to control congress which, in turn, controls copyright law. Is it any wonder that most of the complaints about sharing, copying, and otherwise circumventing copyright come not from authors but from corporations?
As for me, I'm a teacher. I break copyright every day. I hand out copies of poems, I photocopy sections of books, I encourage students to read books out of libraries instead of buying them. (I use libraries as an example of defeating copyright because they do what p2p does in a system that is legitimate only because it has been around for a long time.) At the end of last week I saw that kids had been downloading Kazaa and Bearshare to the school computers in order to get music. Good for them.
I like that the author likens this battle to the drug wars. The government has illegalized pot. The kids have no trouble getting it. They get in trouble when they are caught, so they do it surreptitiously. This puts them in more danger than the drug itself--by far. The over-reaching copyright laws, outrageous price-fixing by the music industry, and the control of the radio airwaves have brought about an underground system that works very well, will not likely be stopped, and will, eventually, be legitimate even if it's not legal.
Chalk this up to the short-sightedness of business, the reactionary nature of current politics, and the creative drive of people. The saying goes that information wants to be free. I'm not sure if that means that information wants to be free of charge, but I'm willing to bet that if a major music label started a Napster-style server through which we could download the new Peter Gabriel album for one dollar, there would be a line at the server for quite some time. That they have not done this means that many of us have either copied a friend's disc or downloaded the songs over GNUtella. And exactly how is the copyright law benefiting Gabriel and his label?
If need be, can't the bride and groom scan the photos, post them on the web and send friends and family there to view them? Sure the prints aren't great, but the pictures can be scanned well enough for viewing on the computer.
So, in the short term, people get to see the pictures without paying ridiculous reprint fees (yes, that's my opinion of the payment system) and the photographer gets zero business for it.
In the medium run, wouldn't it make more sense for photographers to offer to pricing plans: the traditional one where their services are very cheap and prints are expensive, and a second where the service is very expensive (as it should be for any professional or artist) and the prints are provided on CD for the customer to duplicate?
In the long run, I agree with the article, consumers will demand and get open source photos much in the same way we are currently demanding cheaper music and software. If the market does not respond, the consumers will work around them just as they do now with Bearshare for downloading music and software. Right now, people go along with the photographers' system because they haven't imagined the alternative. All it takes is a Napster to come along and change the way people view a system. Then things start changing.
The real danger here is that teachers, administrators, and parents fear that students know more (they do on this and other subjects) about things and so what happens is that the technology is limited through firewalls etc.
That students hack through some of these things is a matter of course, but often gets kids in trouble.
Me, I'm a teacher who knows at least a few of my limitations and enjoys watching kids take apart the network.
I disagree that everything done while at a company is "their business". That someone has the right to search my desk, locker, hard drive, etc seems to me something that should be printed in large letters and mentioned to everyone from employees to customers to media outlets. It is invasive and unnecessary.
AS for what I'm doing in the bathroom, that's my business and that's my point here. Why should you know what I am or am not doing? How does that affect your life or the life of the company? As for the pens, yes, I am stealing them and you can't stop me. Someday, all pens will be mine. Mine, all mine, I say.
I do the same (though I have to get my own site because the school system won't buy one and, even if they did, I'm sure I wouldn't have access). However, I would like to be able to send emails to students, have them file writing with me electronically and the rest. For now, because of this blocking, I can't.
Can you think of a reason beyond virus problems that would warrant this blocking? I've been told because free email systems open the system to attacks on the network (not viruses, but malicious attacks by people on the network).
I just wonder if all phone conversations are monitored as well, if there are video cameras in the bathrooms (to keep people from doing illicit things), if cars parked in the lot are searched, and if employees are regularly checked for clean and sexy underwear. I most certainly hope so. It is the company's right to do these things. After all, they pay those employees and that gives them all the rights anyone could ever ask for.
Okay, sure, but what about at a school that won't provide accounts for students to use? I teach at just such a school and would like to communicate with students using yahoo, netscape, hotmail or some other such thing. I could send out assignments, handouts, etc on email and not have to print the damn things on dead trees. Having free email at work would be a huge bonus to us, be much cheaper than getting each kid a hosted account, and be safe considering the machines are all set up with pretty good antivirus software that is updated all the time.
As for lusers (sic) downloading virus files, well, that's going to happen regardless and we ought to be proactive (plan for these things) than reactive (ooo, no more email for you!).
I teach in the public schools in NY state and we have had all free email sites (yahoo, netscape, etc) blocked by the damn firewall. The reason given is that such things allow for malicious attacks on the network. Is there any truth to this? I imagine that there are better ways to attack out school system's network than My Yahoo (not that I'm looking for those ways). I just want to use my Yahoo account to read mail on my free period and communicate with students.
Can anyone give a compelling reason why this should be firewalled or, better for me, a compelling argument as to why it need not be?
My guess is that 80% or more of the word processing public doesn't care what they type in so long as it prints. As for students and the like, I have always found that it is trivial to work in any word processor no matter that the college or institution "demands" Word. Most documents at these places are simple, there is always WordPad or another viewer, and the conversions in the latest versions of WordPerfect are pretty good.
I admit, I've never liked Word because I came into word processing on a weird little local text editor which featured strange embedded commands for formatting (PC Galahad at Clarkson University) and then went to WordPerfect 5.1. I got used to working with codes and being able to see those codes in my documents. WordPerfect feels like HTML for the desktop publishing sector to me. It just works really well. If this got a thousand more people to use WP, great.
One last thing about college use: most students have no idea how to really work with a word processor. They just know how to type. It's not going to take much to please them.
E.B. White was a physics major? And what do you base this on? White went to Cornell to learn to be a writer. He didn't go there to learn physics. And where do you get the Turing connection. I've studied E.B. White for many years and have never come across it.
I doubt that E.B. White had much to do with technology beyone his typewriter. He used to keep the telephone in a closet because it bothered him so much. He missed the days of an operator. He hated having his kitchen modernized, he preferred a sail to an engine.
Probably his one love in the technological world was his Model T. Everyone should read three short books by E.B. White. _Welcome to New York_ was great already, but after September 11 is just gorgeous. _Farewell, My Lovely_ is his love story with the Model T, and _Stuart Little_ is still the funniest and most wonderful of his children's books. That it was largely banned on its release is still funny.
But White and physics...well, that's a bit more than I can get behind.
If skipping the commercials is bad, then skipping the whole show must be even worse. I figure that the networks are broadcasting, the cable is still sending stuff out, and I'm choosing not to watch it. Breach of contract in the extreme.
So, in good faith, I now leave all televisions in the house on at all times, carefully watch the commercials and buy all of the products advertised.
What a load of crap.
I've started keeping track of what I watch, forcing myself to write it down. It's so embarrassing to write down half of the shows on television, that's I've just stopped watching. I have three hours of television left on the list for each week and I tape those three. Turns out, three hours of television, on tape, is only two hours of viewing time.
I feel awful though about missing the commercials.
I have been looking for something like this. An unnecessary, electric device to help keep me from walking, biking or getting around under my own power. Thank God for the Segway.
Really, I can't see a single advantage over my bike. The bike is far cheaper (even if I go with an Eddy Merckx Team SC racing bike---mmmmm), it goes much faster, is not subject to a whole new set of laws, runs no risk of crashing software, does not need electricity, and helps to get me into shape. And why would I ever want/need a Segway?
How is my taking a book out of the library, or a cd or a dvd for that matter, different from sharing music on the web? My wife and I have bought exactly four books since September while in that same time we have read over 60 books. So, basically, we have denied the publishing houses of about $600 or more. Should we be looking to be arrested for this subversive behavior?
I can take WP going out. I just wish that someone else would create a word processor that has the functionality of Reveal Codes. I think that Macromedia is actually headed that way with the latest version of Dreamweaver--I know, that's a web development program not a word processor, but the idea is there.
If there were a free program with reveal codes and the tag system WP uses, I would start using it now.
Before going out to look for a new method of saving things, why not use what's available? Floppies are still the best bet for the money and, if they are handled properly, work just fine. (I do miss the old 5-1/4" floppies simply because I just popped one in from 1986 and it works perfectly even though I used to "transport" it over to my friends room across the hall frisbee style almost daily.)
Beyond this, students should save everything to the network as well. I'm no longer in school and so I save everything up to a stupid Yahoo account or something like it (depending on how secretive I'm feeling at the moment). Between the two, I'm pretty much set.
Last thing about floppies. I said above that they should be handled properly. My proper handling is to toss it into a stuff sack, bungee it to my bicycle and ride the three and a half miles from home to work and back. The only failure I have had in three years came when a bungee snapped, the bag slipped and caught between the tire and the rack of my bike. The friction burnt a hole in my bag and melted the plastic casing of my floppy. Just for fun I took the floppy apart, put it in a new case and had all the data back again.
I dropped about fifty dollars into a pinball game called Earthshaker during my junior year of college. It was on the first floor of our dorm and provided a reasonably good study break. Trouble is, most of these breaks ended up taking about an hour. Great game. Anybody ever play it?
I'm a teacher and LK has things right. Here in Rhode Island, we have a program called Teachers and Technology and, even though this program provided each teacher who participated with a laptop and two weeks of training, most teachers shun any thought of technology. I work in a middle school running a network of imacs and powermacs. The network has no log in, no security, no nothing. Turn on the machine and, if you like, reformat the hard drive! Easy. Getting people at school to think about anything new (let alone new technology) is near impossible. Of the listserv of 3000+ RITTI participants, only one member will talk about Linux with me. It's frightening that I'm a member of this group and that these are the people responsible for helping our children grow. Ugh. Just nutty.
I've used WordPerfect since WP5.1 for DOS and have just installed COLOS with WP for Linux. As a member of the newsgroups at Corel I have seen firsthand the loyalty of WP customers. It seems to me that this loyalty synergizes perfectly with the Open Source movement and yet, thus far, Corel has had some stumbles regarding open source community relations. What is Corel doing to expand the open source nature of their business and to embrace the willing support offered to it by its loyal users? Beta programs would be one thing we could examine here.
The problem with a pen is picking it up and putting it down. How about a pen that floats perpendicularly to the desk. Or maybe I could just hang it on a string from the ceiling. Yeah, that would work.
When is someone going to create the true Mom interface (the one my mother thinks already exists)? That's the one where she just keeps saying, "but I want it to be over there" or "I meant to double click" and the mouse will be over there and will double click. Is the Media Lab working on this yet?
Shopper has really lost it. I subscribed just to get at the ads and the one or two articles. Now, suddenly it's half the size and not of much use to me. They seem to be trying to tie into the web, but it's tough to see how this works. They put in hyperlinks, but it's so tough to get my mouse to click on them. It's one subscription I won't be renewing.
I can get all of the information that I want about computers, the net, and geek culture on the web. No problem...when I'm connected to a computer. Still, there are places where I'm not able to get to a computer or where I don't want to bring one. Such a place exists in my home--it is primarily covered with ceramic tile and has at least one large ceramic fixture.
The solution, and the final death knell for print magazines in my home, will be the web pad. I've been dreaming of one of these since 2001: A Space Oddyssey. I know that I could get mail on a PalmPilot or some other palm-top computer, but I want a bigger screen. I'm thinking of something like a CrossPad but with a screen instead of a paper pad.
As for magazines--do you think that there is any way for magazines do do what Slashdot does? This is the excitement of the new media--it's more about discussion and exchange of ideas than it is aobut simply reading content. A web pad would allow that and it would allow for me to be anywhere I want, near or far from an outlet, and without the pain of having to boot up.
So, all this stuff will be around by 2001, right? And I'll be able to take a PanAm flight up to the orbiting space station whenever I feel like it, right?
...I've found that almost all junk mail comes with a business reply envelope. That envelope guarantees that the company sending you the mail will pay postage on any mail sent back to them using the envelope. (That's step one.)
The USPS will send any package that weighs up to or under 70 pounds. (Step two)
Any brand of tape or glue will allow you to stick the business reply envelope to a large cardboard box which can then be filled with rubbish--my personal favorite is scraps of sheetrock--just keep it under 70 pounds. (Step three)
Remember to make sure that you name appears prominently on the package. This lets them know to whom they should send the next invitation for pounds of rubbish. Sadly, most of the folks I've done this to have neglected to send me a second invitation. (Step four)
Try this at home, but be sure to ask for Mom's and Dad's permission.
(A slighly less arduous version has me ripping up whatever was sent and mailing that back inside the envelope. It's easier but nowhere near as fun.)
Slashdot Mirror
It's about the way in which the program works with documents. WordPerfect has always looked at documents differently than Word and its knock-offs (OpenOffice included). For me, a stubborn hold over from the days of WP5.1, it's all about Reveal Codes and the way in which codes work in WordPerfect.
Now, if someone would finally come up with one standard document format, preferably one like html (code based) but with a better system for printing, then life would be good.
Anyway, for now, there is a standard format and it's called plain text. If that doesn't work, PDF is pretty much universal in the Windows world. Not sure about PDF under Linux.
I've been talking up the problems of extended copyright for a few years now, without much success. My problem? I haven't used the argument that extending copyright law works against creativity and the authors. Copyright law, today, works for the corporation. Corporations, in turn, work hard to control congress which, in turn, controls copyright law. Is it any wonder that most of the complaints about sharing, copying, and otherwise circumventing copyright come not from authors but from corporations?
As for me, I'm a teacher. I break copyright every day. I hand out copies of poems, I photocopy sections of books, I encourage students to read books out of libraries instead of buying them. (I use libraries as an example of defeating copyright because they do what p2p does in a system that is legitimate only because it has been around for a long time.) At the end of last week I saw that kids had been downloading Kazaa and Bearshare to the school computers in order to get music. Good for them.
I like that the author likens this battle to the drug wars. The government has illegalized pot. The kids have no trouble getting it. They get in trouble when they are caught, so they do it surreptitiously. This puts them in more danger than the drug itself--by far. The over-reaching copyright laws, outrageous price-fixing by the music industry, and the control of the radio airwaves have brought about an underground system that works very well, will not likely be stopped, and will, eventually, be legitimate even if it's not legal.
Chalk this up to the short-sightedness of business, the reactionary nature of current politics, and the creative drive of people. The saying goes that information wants to be free. I'm not sure if that means that information wants to be free of charge, but I'm willing to bet that if a major music label started a Napster-style server through which we could download the new Peter Gabriel album for one dollar, there would be a line at the server for quite some time. That they have not done this means that many of us have either copied a friend's disc or downloaded the songs over GNUtella. And exactly how is the copyright law benefiting Gabriel and his label?
If need be, can't the bride and groom scan the photos, post them on the web and send friends and family there to view them? Sure the prints aren't great, but the pictures can be scanned well enough for viewing on the computer.
So, in the short term, people get to see the pictures without paying ridiculous reprint fees (yes, that's my opinion of the payment system) and the photographer gets zero business for it.
In the medium run, wouldn't it make more sense for photographers to offer to pricing plans: the traditional one where their services are very cheap and prints are expensive, and a second where the service is very expensive (as it should be for any professional or artist) and the prints are provided on CD for the customer to duplicate?
In the long run, I agree with the article, consumers will demand and get open source photos much in the same way we are currently demanding cheaper music and software. If the market does not respond, the consumers will work around them just as they do now with Bearshare for downloading music and software. Right now, people go along with the photographers' system because they haven't imagined the alternative. All it takes is a Napster to come along and change the way people view a system. Then things start changing.
The real danger here is that teachers, administrators, and parents fear that students know more (they do on this and other subjects) about things and so what happens is that the technology is limited through firewalls etc.
That students hack through some of these things is a matter of course, but often gets kids in trouble.
Me, I'm a teacher who knows at least a few of my limitations and enjoys watching kids take apart the network.
I disagree that everything done while at a company is "their business". That someone has the right to search my desk, locker, hard drive, etc seems to me something that should be printed in large letters and mentioned to everyone from employees to customers to media outlets. It is invasive and unnecessary.
AS for what I'm doing in the bathroom, that's my business and that's my point here. Why should you know what I am or am not doing? How does that affect your life or the life of the company? As for the pens, yes, I am stealing them and you can't stop me. Someday, all pens will be mine. Mine, all mine, I say.
I do the same (though I have to get my own site because the school system won't buy one and, even if they did, I'm sure I wouldn't have access). However, I would like to be able to send emails to students, have them file writing with me electronically and the rest. For now, because of this blocking, I can't.
Can you think of a reason beyond virus problems that would warrant this blocking? I've been told because free email systems open the system to attacks on the network (not viruses, but malicious attacks by people on the network).
I just wonder if all phone conversations are monitored as well, if there are video cameras in the bathrooms (to keep people from doing illicit things), if cars parked in the lot are searched, and if employees are regularly checked for clean and sexy underwear. I most certainly hope so. It is the company's right to do these things. After all, they pay those employees and that gives them all the rights anyone could ever ask for.
Okay, sure, but what about at a school that won't provide accounts for students to use? I teach at just such a school and would like to communicate with students using yahoo, netscape, hotmail or some other such thing. I could send out assignments, handouts, etc on email and not have to print the damn things on dead trees. Having free email at work would be a huge bonus to us, be much cheaper than getting each kid a hosted account, and be safe considering the machines are all set up with pretty good antivirus software that is updated all the time.
As for lusers (sic) downloading virus files, well, that's going to happen regardless and we ought to be proactive (plan for these things) than reactive (ooo, no more email for you!).
I teach in the public schools in NY state and we have had all free email sites (yahoo, netscape, etc) blocked by the damn firewall. The reason given is that such things allow for malicious attacks on the network. Is there any truth to this? I imagine that there are better ways to attack out school system's network than My Yahoo (not that I'm looking for those ways). I just want to use my Yahoo account to read mail on my free period and communicate with students.
Can anyone give a compelling reason why this should be firewalled or, better for me, a compelling argument as to why it need not be?
My guess is that 80% or more of the word processing public doesn't care what they type in so long as it prints. As for students and the like, I have always found that it is trivial to work in any word processor no matter that the college or institution "demands" Word. Most documents at these places are simple, there is always WordPad or another viewer, and the conversions in the latest versions of WordPerfect are pretty good.
I admit, I've never liked Word because I came into word processing on a weird little local text editor which featured strange embedded commands for formatting (PC Galahad at Clarkson University) and then went to WordPerfect 5.1. I got used to working with codes and being able to see those codes in my documents. WordPerfect feels like HTML for the desktop publishing sector to me. It just works really well. If this got a thousand more people to use WP, great.
One last thing about college use: most students have no idea how to really work with a word processor. They just know how to type. It's not going to take much to please them.
E.B. White was a physics major? And what do you base this on? White went to Cornell to learn to be a writer. He didn't go there to learn physics. And where do you get the Turing connection. I've studied E.B. White for many years and have never come across it.
I doubt that E.B. White had much to do with technology beyone his typewriter. He used to keep the telephone in a closet because it bothered him so much. He missed the days of an operator. He hated having his kitchen modernized, he preferred a sail to an engine.
Probably his one love in the technological world was his Model T. Everyone should read three short books by E.B. White. _Welcome to New York_ was great already, but after September 11 is just gorgeous. _Farewell, My Lovely_ is his love story with the Model T, and _Stuart Little_ is still the funniest and most wonderful of his children's books. That it was largely banned on its release is still funny.
But White and physics...well, that's a bit more than I can get behind.
If skipping the commercials is bad, then skipping the whole show must be even worse. I figure that the networks are broadcasting, the cable is still sending stuff out, and I'm choosing not to watch it. Breach of contract in the extreme.
So, in good faith, I now leave all televisions in the house on at all times, carefully watch the commercials and buy all of the products advertised.
What a load of crap.
I've started keeping track of what I watch, forcing myself to write it down. It's so embarrassing to write down half of the shows on television, that's I've just stopped watching. I have three hours of television left on the list for each week and I tape those three. Turns out, three hours of television, on tape, is only two hours of viewing time.
I feel awful though about missing the commercials.
I have been looking for something like this. An unnecessary, electric device to help keep me from walking, biking or getting around under my own power. Thank God for the Segway.
Really, I can't see a single advantage over my bike. The bike is far cheaper (even if I go with an Eddy Merckx Team SC racing bike---mmmmm), it goes much faster, is not subject to a whole new set of laws, runs no risk of crashing software, does not need electricity, and helps to get me into shape. And why would I ever want/need a Segway?
Geek toy. Waste of money.
Nah. That new one, no matter what it cost is the ugliest logo I've ever seen. Resemblance to a toilet, I think so.
Nothing more than that. Congratulations. Marriage is just a great thing. Enjoy.
--
bgfay
How is my taking a book out of the library, or a cd or a dvd for that matter, different from sharing music on the web? My wife and I have bought exactly four books since September while in that same time we have read over 60 books. So, basically, we have denied the publishing houses of about $600 or more. Should we be looking to be arrested for this subversive behavior?
I can take WP going out. I just wish that someone else would create a word processor that has the functionality of Reveal Codes. I think that Macromedia is actually headed that way with the latest version of Dreamweaver--I know, that's a web development program not a word processor, but the idea is there.
If there were a free program with reveal codes and the tag system WP uses, I would start using it now.
Before going out to look for a new method of saving things, why not use what's available? Floppies are still the best bet for the money and, if they are handled properly, work just fine. (I do miss the old 5-1/4" floppies simply because I just popped one in from 1986 and it works perfectly even though I used to "transport" it over to my friends room across the hall frisbee style almost daily.)
Beyond this, students should save everything to the network as well. I'm no longer in school and so I save everything up to a stupid Yahoo account or something like it (depending on how secretive I'm feeling at the moment). Between the two, I'm pretty much set.
Last thing about floppies. I said above that they should be handled properly. My proper handling is to toss it into a stuff sack, bungee it to my bicycle and ride the three and a half miles from home to work and back. The only failure I have had in three years came when a bungee snapped, the bag slipped and caught between the tire and the rack of my bike. The friction burnt a hole in my bag and melted the plastic casing of my floppy. Just for fun I took the floppy apart, put it in a new case and had all the data back again.
Why not use what's already there and almost free?
I dropped about fifty dollars into a pinball game called Earthshaker during my junior year of college. It was on the first floor of our dorm and provided a reasonably good study break. Trouble is, most of these breaks ended up taking about an hour. Great game. Anybody ever play it?
I'm a teacher and LK has things right. Here in Rhode Island, we have a program called Teachers and Technology and, even though this program provided each teacher who participated with a laptop and two weeks of training, most teachers shun any thought of technology. I work in a middle school running a network of imacs and powermacs. The network has no log in, no security, no nothing. Turn on the machine and, if you like, reformat the hard drive! Easy. Getting people at school to think about anything new (let alone new technology) is near impossible. Of the listserv of 3000+ RITTI participants, only one member will talk about Linux with me. It's frightening that I'm a member of this group and that these are the people responsible for helping our children grow. Ugh. Just nutty.
I've used WordPerfect since WP5.1 for DOS and have just installed COLOS with WP for Linux. As a member of the newsgroups at Corel I have seen firsthand the loyalty of WP customers. It seems to me that this loyalty synergizes perfectly with the Open Source movement and yet, thus far, Corel has had some stumbles regarding open source community relations. What is Corel doing to expand the open source nature of their business and to embrace the willing support offered to it by its loyal users? Beta programs would be one thing we could examine here.
The problem with a pen is picking it up and putting it down. How about a pen that floats perpendicularly to the desk. Or maybe I could just hang it on a string from the ceiling. Yeah, that would work.
When is someone going to create the true Mom interface (the one my mother thinks already exists)? That's the one where she just keeps saying, "but I want it to be over there" or "I meant to double click" and the mouse will be over there and will double click. Is the Media Lab working on this yet?
Shopper has really lost it. I subscribed just to get at the ads and the one or two articles. Now, suddenly it's half the size and not of much use to me. They seem to be trying to tie into the web, but it's tough to see how this works. They put in hyperlinks, but it's so tough to get my mouse to click on them. It's one subscription I won't be renewing.
I can get all of the information that I want about computers, the net, and geek culture on the web. No problem...when I'm connected to a computer. Still, there are places where I'm not able to get to a computer or where I don't want to bring one. Such a place exists in my home--it is primarily covered with ceramic tile and has at least one large ceramic fixture.
The solution, and the final death knell for print magazines in my home, will be the web pad. I've been dreaming of one of these since 2001: A Space Oddyssey. I know that I could get mail on a PalmPilot or some other palm-top computer, but I want a bigger screen. I'm thinking of something like a CrossPad but with a screen instead of a paper pad.
As for magazines--do you think that there is any way for magazines do do what Slashdot does? This is the excitement of the new media--it's more about discussion and exchange of ideas than it is aobut simply reading content. A web pad would allow that and it would allow for me to be anywhere I want, near or far from an outlet, and without the pain of having to boot up.
So, all this stuff will be around by 2001, right? And I'll be able to take a PanAm flight up to the orbiting space station whenever I feel like it, right?
Daisy, daisy....
...I've found that almost all junk mail comes with a business reply envelope. That envelope guarantees that the company sending you the mail will pay postage on any mail sent back to them using the envelope. (That's step one.)
The USPS will send any package that weighs up to or under 70 pounds. (Step two)
Any brand of tape or glue will allow you to stick the business reply envelope to a large cardboard box which can then be filled with rubbish--my personal favorite is scraps of sheetrock--just keep it under 70 pounds. (Step three)
Remember to make sure that you name appears prominently on the package. This lets them know to whom they should send the next invitation for pounds of rubbish. Sadly, most of the folks I've done this to have neglected to send me a second invitation. (Step four)
Try this at home, but be sure to ask for Mom's and Dad's permission.
(A slighly less arduous version has me ripping up whatever was sent and mailing that back inside the envelope. It's easier but nowhere near as fun.)