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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Esteban who wrote (20210)	6/2/2001 9:26:29 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 110652

Everyone else who uses the Internet should take note. Friday June 1 12:24 AM ET dailynews.yahoo.com By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Business Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - People across the country who sell things on eBay are furious with the auction site because of its recent move to charge subscription fees for a popular piece of software that makes it easier to list items. In irate notes on message boards and e-mails to the company, sellers accuse eBay of getting greedy and belying its warm and fuzzy community-focused image. Some are threatening a class-action suit because older versions of the software, which cost as much as $200, stopped working. Everyone else who uses the Internet should take note. An increasing number of companies, including giant Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), are expected to embrace subscription models and move away from selling software for a one-time fee. The companies say they simply can't afford to keep giving away free upgrades. ``The trend is undeniable - it's just a question of how long it's going to take,'' said Rob Enderle, a research fellow with Giga Information Group. ``The existing model isn't working. You can certainly try to live in the past, but whether you're a Microsoft or an eBay, you're probably going to get bypassed.'' Microsoft has introduced subscription-based options for business software, including the new Office XP, and called the move a ``first step toward offering software as a service'' - meaning subscription plans for all users. Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) gives away sales force management software for now, but has indicated it eventually will charge a subscription. The eBay software was known as Auction Assistant, and now is called Seller's Assistant. Because it helps eBay users post attractive presentations of their products and manage the transactions, it is popular among people who list several items at once. It was created by Pennsylvania-based Blackthorne Software, which eBay acquired in 1999. Users say they bought Auction Assistant and its supercharged version, Auction Assistant Pro, for $50 to $200 over the years with the understanding that Blackthorne would upgrade the software for free when improvements were available, or when needed because of technical changes in the massive eBay site. In February, Blackthorne informed users Auction Assistant was being upgraded, taking on the new Seller's Assistant name and switching to a subscription model - $4.99 a month for the basic version, $15.99 for Pro. Existing Auction Assistant users were told they could get a year's subscription to the new software for free. On April 1, Blackthorne's president, John Slocum, wrote on the company's online discussion board that almost two-thirds of Auction Assistant users had switched to Seller's Assistant. He added that, after April 30, Blackthorne ``cannot assure users that Auction Assistant will continue to be fully functional or compatible with the eBay site.'' Despite the warning, many users were caught off guard when their Auction Assistant programs stopped working last week. They accused eBay of intentionally making Auction Assistant useless to force them to buy the new software. ``Why weren't we just grandfathered in, since we already owned the same program?'' said Cindy Izon of Tulsa, Okla., who sells decorative dolls on eBay. ``It makes me so mad.'' Dan Rushing of Albuquerque, N.M., lamented what he called eBay's ``extreme arrogance.'' Collectibles seller Carol Hudson of Chattanooga, Tenn., wrote in an e-mail interview: ``Most of us have been angry with them for two or three years because of their `do it our way or get lost' attitude. But this time, they have really gone too far and shown their true colors.'' EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said nothing was done intentionally to disable older versions of Auction Assistant. He said what occurred is most likely ``the natural obsolescence that's going to be developing any time a piece of software ages.'' He also said the subscription model is necessary to finance continued improvements to the Blackthorne software, and disputed suggestions the company was taking unfair advantage of its dominating position in the online auction business. ``I realize that's a fairly common remark when any customer has a certain level of frustration, but it doesn't do the business any good to `bleed people dry,''' Pursglove said. ``We want users to continually come to eBay, to continually use the Blackthorne programs to sell on eBay.'' Arthur Newman, head of Internet research at ABN Amro Inc., supported eBay's stance and said it is part of the new economics of the Web. ``I think the Internet over the last few years has spawned a whole generation of people who expect to get everything for free and forget you have to pay for services,'' he said. ``If people can't make money providing them, they're going to stop providing them. There's a limit to good will. EBay is hardly alone in starting to charge for things.''

To: Esteban who wrote (20210)	6/2/2001 9:36:58 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 110652

Esteban, To share files between W2K and an older Windows OS you have to use a FAT file system. NTFS offers better security and more efficient use of space. I duel boot W2K and ME. The petition W2K is on is using NTFS and the petition ME is on is using FAT 32. W2K can access the FAT32 files but ME can't access NTFS files. IMO the the more efficient use of space and better security is worth having to have 2 copies of programs and maybe a few files.

To: Esteban who wrote (20210)	6/4/2001 11:03:36 AM
From: mr.mark	Respond to of 110652

"one more dual operating system question, if you don't mind: One must run only one operating system at time, correct?" Mixing operating systems Virtual PC allows OS multitasking Lawrence J. Magid San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, June 3, 2001 I've long been a big fan of multitasking. These days, though, I find myself running not only several programs at a time but multiple operating systems as well. Admittedly, as a technology reviewer I'm not your typical PC user, but my needs aren't as out of the ordinary as some might think. Anyone who does tech support or develops software needs to be able to run different operating systems. So do schools that teach students how to use or write software. But even regular end-users sometimes need access to more than one operating system. Windows 2000, for example, is a superior operating system in most ways to Windows Me or Windows 98, but there are some programs and hardware that require Windows Me or Windows 98. Windows XP, scheduled for release this fall, is likely to be a big improvement over Windows Me, but even it won't be 100 percent compatible with existing software and hardware. Connectix has a new solution that lets you run multiple operating systems on the same machine at the same time. The company is now letting users download a free "preview" copy of Virtual PC for Windows that allows you to run "guest" operating systems inside your Windows host operating system. The fully functional preview edition -- available at www.connectix.com -- will expire July 1. The final version will cost $199. Unlike solutions that allow you to dual boot one operating system or another, Virtual PC lets you run them at the same time so, for example, you can instantly switch between Windows 2000 and Windows Me. Your host, or native, operating system -- the one actually installed on your PC -- can be Windows 2000 or Windows Me. Guest operating systems include Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows Me, MS-DOS and Linux. It doesn't yet work with the beta copy of Windows XP, but I've been assured that it will by the time Windows XP is released in October. This will allow people to upgrade to Windows XP without having to worry about losing use of any programs or hardware that XP might not support. Microsoft says it expects XP to support most but not all Windows Me and Windows 98 products. I tested Virtual PC by installing a guest copy of Windows Me to run inside my Windows 2000 machine. Once I installed the Virtual PC software, I inserted the Windows Me CD and installed it as usual. Now, if I want to run a program under Windows Me that won't run under Windows 2000, I just fire up Virtual PC software and run the program just as if Windows Me were my native operating system. The programs run on the virtual machine at about 90 percent to 95 percent of their normal speed, but the video is somewhat sluggish. This isn't much of a problem for most business applications, but it will put a damper on anyone trying to run some games on a virtual PC. Running Virtual PC doesn't slow down applications you run on your host operating system, but Virtual PC does take up a considerable amount of memory, depending on what guest operating systems you're using. Connectix recommends 384 MB of RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space to run Windows 98 or Windows Me on a Windows 2000 machine. When the software isn't running, it takes up no resources except disk space. When you install a new operating system, Virtual PC creates a single file on your hard disk that becomes the virtual drive that contains that operating system and all its software and programs. When you're running the guest operating system, that file drive appears as your C drive. You also have access to floppy and CD-ROM drives, printers, network computers and other resources attached to your PC. By default, the virtual machine is an isolated island inside your machine. It's hard to accidentally copy data from that "machine" to the areas of your hard drive used to store data for your host operating system. But if you want to share data between the two operating systems, you can drag and drop folders or create shared folders that you can access from either operating system. Unfortunately, having two operating systems on one machine doesn't help me get my work done twice as fast. Now all I need is a virtual me. E-mail Lawrence J. Magid at larry.magid@latimes.com. sfgate.com