Toledo PC Users’ Group
A Forum for Personal-Computer Users — February, 2010
February Program:
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 7:30 PM, UAW-Local-14 Hall, Jackman & Northover (between Laskey & Alexis Rd), Toledo, Ohio.
In
This Issue ...
TPCUG Data
From the Prez
Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Membership Expirations
(APCUG) Phoenix Regional
TOLTBBS Information
TPCUG’s
Website:
http://www.toledopcug.net
The Toledo PC Users’ Group
P.O. Box 13085
Toledo, OH 43613
Officers
President: Floyd Miller
Vice-President: Lester Miller
Treasurer: Steve Tryc
Secretary: Sándor Halász
Standing Committees
Computer Shows: Steve
Tryc
Librarian: Open
Membership: Sándor Halász
Programs: Lester Miller
Public Relations:
LaVerne & Eugene Curtis
Complaint Dept.: Helen Waite
SIG Leaders
Internet SIG: Jim Bell ............ 419-877-1109
Statement of Intent: The Toledo PC Users’ Group is a not-for-profit corporation, formed to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information regarding the use and enjoyment of personal computers.
Affiliations: TPCUG is a member of APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups), which provided the APCUG logo.
Meetings:
Meetings are generally held the first Monday of each month, at
UAW-Local-14-Hall, 5411 Jackman Rd., Toledo, OH. In the event of
emergency, members may be reached during meetings at a pay phone in
the hall, 419-473-9571.
Visitors are always welcome at monthly
meetings!
Executive-Board meetings are generally held
after the regular monthly meetings.
Membership: Dues are $25. per year. To obtain an application, call any officer or member.
Moving? Notify the Membership Chair to redirect your newsletters.
Copyright 2010: The Toledo PC Users’ Group, the publisher of this newsletter, is a not-for-profit organization. Although it asserts a copyright for the newsletter, permission is granted to reprint this publication in whole or in part for any noncommercial use, with credits acknowledged.
Newsletter Deadline is the 15th of each month. All members are encouraged to contribute articles and reviews for this newsletter. Submissions may be made by email to the editor.
Advertizing: Business cards (2”×3½”) will be run in three issues for $5. Commercial ads: $10 for ¼ page; $20 for ½ page; $30 for ¾ page; $40 for full page. Larger ads are run in two issues from a graphics format, JPEG or GIF or … Members may place free ads for the sale of computer-related personal items on a space-available basis. Contact editor for details.
Production Notes: This newsletter was compiled with Microsoft Word 6 for Windows, Open Office 1.1.5, Brief, and Notepad.
TPCUG Mailing List: If you have e-mail, keep in touch with club doings by subscribing to the TPCUG mailing list.
From the President
By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld; Infoworld Why Microsoft's IE no longer rules the Web
The future for Microsoft's browser doesn't look good—experts say Internet Explorer will lose even more ground in 2010There was a time when Microsoft ruled the Web, when its browser, Internet Explorer (IE), enjoyed a supremacy exceeded only by its operating system, Windows.
That was no coincidence, of course: IE has been bundled with Windows since 1995.
But the days of IE owning a 95% share of the browser market are long gone, assaulted first by the appearance, and then success, of Mozilla's open-source Firefox, followed by a resurgence of Apple's Safari on the back of gains in Mac share, the efforts of a small Norwegian developer, and the entry last year by Google into the fray.
Now IE seems to be on the ropes. In the last five years, it's lost nearly a third of its market share as the once-dead browser space has been reinvigorated with faster, smaller, and more flexible rivals.
It looks like the trend will be tough, very tough for Microsoft to turn around.
How tough? Computerworld asked a pair of browser experts, including an executive from Net Applications, the California-based Web metrics company most often cited for browser standings, to explain why IE will lose even more ground in 2010.
That's what the numbers say
The erosion in IE's share of the browser usage pie shows no sign of abating, and in fact is accelerating, according to data from Net Applications.
IE lost 7.8 percentage points during 2009, ending the year at a new low of 62.7%, an annual loss rate of about 11%. In 2008, IE lost 8.3 points, for an annual loss rate of 10.5%. That's a pretty clear trend line.
More troubling for Microsoft is evidence of a quickening in IE's decline. IE lost an average of 0.94 of a percentage point in each of the last six months of 2009, nearly triple the 0.36 of a point average decline during the first six months. (The difference in 2008 between first half and second half was less dramatic: IE lost an average of 0.6 percentage point each of the first six months of 2008, dropped 0.8 point each of the six months in the second half of the year.)
In fact, if the loss rate of the last three months of 2009 continues—IE fell by more than 3 points from October through December—IE will become a minority browser about a year from now, sometime in January 2011.
The EU makes Microsoft go to the polls
After a one-year-long battle, antitrust regulators in the European Union last month approved a deal with Microsoft that requires the company to add a browser ballot screen to Windows. The ballot, which appears on any PC that has IE set as the default browser, lets users pick one or more rival browsers to download and install.
The ballot screen will add to IE's troubles, argued Sheri McLeish, an analyst with Forrester Research.
Certainly another reason [for IE's continued decline] that you can point to is the EU's browser menu, said McLeish.
Minutes
At 20:51 the meeting was called to order by F. Miller, pres.
(Hallelujah! 9 seats filled
)
There were no minutes to read: in the secretary s absence noöne recorded them.
Lately up until now there was very little action in the treasury, now up to $787.14. There is rent to spend it on, and $50 on APCUG, on website, but Jim Bell waives it for membership and advertizing. The report was accepted, subject to audit.
There are eleven members with Sherman and Summers. Larry Martin once more paid dues.
L. Miller said OS7 is for him not working, and instead he will show a Video on PC, Apple and Windows history. There are for $350 PCs with Win7 and no monitor ($50) at ABC warehouse.
Old bizness
Tryc asks whether to pay $50 for APCUG. It is mentioned that at APCUG the TPCUG on-line officer list is yet out of date. L. Miller moves and Curtis seconds, and it is carried, that $50 paid for APCUG.
Halász mentions Sanger for meeting, but Tryc says the library is not steady; the meetings will jump around. F. Miller speaks of the Church of the Cross on Cass Road, which has WiFi. Houmuch for that? Less than the union hall s monthly $25? (Tryc twice a year pays $150.)
New bizness
Curtis says that it be advertized that there is a PC club, but Tryc says that the Blade no longer prints club information. Curtis proposes at the library to ask about computer club, whether TPCUG is known. Tryc and Curtis talked of the library s policy that flyers given the main branch are passed on to the other branches, but not always. Tenney often goes to library, and is willind to leave flyers at the main branch. Curtis talked of making something up for Tenney, and Tryc said that on Linux website there is a flyer to dounload & print. Halász is willind to turn something in MSWord into HTML for the club website.
Tryc asks whether to raise dues.
Halász says he will attend no more meetings. Lavern Curtis is named secretary.
At 21:30 the meeting was adjourned
Respectfully submitted by Sándor Halász, secretary.
Treasurer’s Report
Balance Ending 11/15/09
Balance Ending 12/15/09
Balance Ending 1/15/10
Steve Tryc, treasurer
Expired & Expiring Memberships
March
1653 Lavern Curtis
June
1545 Bob Burr