This one comes from 1996 or so and features a take on how to use the internet without being too commercial.

What if there was a guaranteed method of developing qualified prospects to your business? OK. What if there was a guaranteed method of developing qualified prospects to your business without costing your marketing budget its annual slice of revenue?

This was originally published on August 12, 1995. It's funny how quickly we moved from an analog to digital world. It's funnier that people still call their DSL routers a modem.

Affordable Speed .. Oh, Sweet Speed ..

Photo Credit: Cliph
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cliph/454796520/

This was originally published on August 5, 1995 

Teach Yourself UNIX in a Week is the daunting title of a recent book I read. The book is authored by the legendary Dave Taylor, the programmer behind the ELM electronic mail utility, so you know the content is at least technically correct. But can it really teach you UNIX in a week?

The answers is a qualified yes. Yes if you have enough time in each day to achieve your goal. The book weighs in at a hefty 710 pages of which 624 are part of your weekly lesson. That's almost 90 pages of text to read each day. Hmmm. If you need to learn UNIX in a week you can, but typically it will take about two weeks to go through the book. The subject matter is exhaustive and includes, but is not limited to, moving around the file system, ownership's and permissions, filters and piping, vi tutor, using your shell, job control, printing functions and even how to program in C with UNIX. Yes, there is a section on the Internet.

My original interest in the book spawned from the fact I am an MSDOS expert, but put me in front of my shell account's % sign and I turn to mush. After reading the book and spending a considerable amount of time in front of my shell I can truly say I have learned to master thy force called UNIX!

Dave Taylor spells out your course on the inside cover of the book. He breaks down each day and explains what you'll be working on. For the most part this outline is logical, but after reading through the book I would argue that the VI section should have been 300 pages <grin>.

The book is written for people who are comfortable around computers and have experience with MSDOS. I found it very reassuring that when demonstrating commands such as MV the author comments that UNIX doesn't have a RENAME command like MSDOS. The comparisons and contrasts to MSDOS helped me perceive the differences between the operating systems. Kudos!

Another neat tip of Dave's is to phonetically demonstrate how to say a command. You know a neophyte if they say M-K DIR instead of MakeDir. I found this to be particularly helpful in resolving technical issues with my service provider. I knew the lingo, so I could follow along!

At the end of each chapter the author provides a Lesson Summary where key terms are discussed and defined. This helps reinforce the previous chapter's terms. As well, there is also a set of questions testing your knowledge of what you have learned. Unlike other books that limit these questions to what was learned in the chapter, several of these test your accumulative knowledge! Super feature!

I must admit I was very biased when I first received the book for review. Many of these "in a week" books don't teach the subject material very well or even cover enough to warrant your attention. In this case Dave Taylor has hit the bullseye not only in content and presentation, but in delivery as well!

Teach Yourself UNIX in a Week by Dave Taylor Sams Publishing A Division of Prentice Hall 201 West 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 CompuServe: GO PHCP URL: http://mcp.com/sams/

This was originally published on August 5, 1995.

Anyone who has owned their own business understands that the devil is in the details. If you don't have a competent, detailed accounting package you are in trouble. When you look at accounting packages on the market most are overblown and tough to use. QuickBooks Deluxe on CD-ROM is the answer to this problem!

You may think that shipping an accounting package on CD- ROM is overblown, but QuickBooks Deluxe is, well, deluxe . . . In addition to the main application, QuickBooks for Windows, the CD-ROM includes QuickPay, onscreen documentation, workbooks to help your business, a complete set of IRS publications, a national ZIP code directory, inside tips from the experts and sound clips that walk you through some of the more advanced functions of QuickBooks for Windows. Super additions!

When you install QuickBooks for Windows you are in for a treat! The program assumes you know next to nothing about proper accounting procedures, which is super considering most of us don't know a debit from a voucher! As the installation winds down you are asked what type of business you have. QuickBooks presents a very thorough list of businesses to choose from. My business, computer consulting and freelance writing, were both on the list! If yours isn't on the list you can easily modify one of the standard business types.

As you move through the installation process you'll be prompted for information about your company; QuickBooks uses this information to create your company profile. Once your company profile has been generated you'll be able to move onto the five main areas of QuickBooks: 1) Invoicing, 2) Accounts Receivable, 3) Accounts Payable, 4) Inventory and Purchase Orders and 5) Reports and Graphing.

Invoicing your customers is the bloodline of the business. You need that cash flow to keep your business up and running. Invoicing under QuickBooks is very easy. The first items you need to accomplish is the addition of invoice items. QuickBooks is very generous in the amount of space you can use to describe a part number or service. The second is your list of customers and vendors. This list has enough fields to support addresses, phone and fax numbers.

When you are ready to invoice, QuickBooks lets you choose from three different invoice types based on your business. This is an excellent feature. Many accounting packages only offer one style of invoice. After you choose your style you are ready to complete the invoice information. Every invoice needs to know where it is going and QuickBooks obliges with a field for which customer this invoice is for. Whoa, when you start to type SMITH AND BROTHERS, you notice that QuickBooks fills in the field as soon as you type SMI. Neat feature. You notice that this feature is consistent through out the invoice form including when you detail invoice items.

The Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable sections of QuickBooks are rock solid. Not only are the fields consistently displayed where needed, but the graphical reports you can generate with the information really let you see what areas need attention. What if a customer is late paying? What of you are late paying? QuickBooks will sport a nifty little notice when you start up.

Inventory is one of the worst nightmares a small business can face when selecting an accounting package. QuickBooks uses the invoicing and Purchase Order systems to verify, store and accurately process your inventory. QuickBooks uses the information from all other modules to track inventory. Of course, you can make adjustments on non- sales, etc.

The next part of QuickBooks you'll enjoy using is the reporting feature. Not only does QuickBooks offer ready to run reports on all aspects of your business, but you can easily customize any of these reports for your or your accountant's needs! The graphically reporting function is a little disappointing in that you cannot modify the functionality.

If you are looking for a complete, easy to use accounting package for your small business Look no further than QuickBooks for Windows Deluxe.

QuickBooks for Windows Deluxe Intuit 64 Willow Place POB 3014 Menlo Park, CA  94026 CompuServe: GO INTUIT URL: http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/inuit/
 

Photo Credit: Benjamin Earwicker

Rather than labor over these technical details, it is probably more relevant to evaluate how an operating system addresses customer requirements such as: Performance on mainstream hardware; the number of native applications developed for the operating system; compatibility with the applications, and hardware customers already own; ease of use (beyond the few technical details IBM discusses here), and the future prospects of the operating system.  See "Key customer requirements for a PC Operating System" at the end of this document for a more thorough discussion of these issues.

This was originally published on August 5, 1995. This is a fascinating response to IBM's Windows 95 Hype Article. IBM did a good job knocking Windows 95 down in the technical game, but look at how Microsoft handles it.