(Approx. 1,011 words)

The New, the Best, and the Worst 
February 2007
Collected by Pim Borman, Webmaster, SW Indiana PC Users Group, Inc.
http://swipcug.apcug.org/ 
swipcug(at)sigecom.net

Computer Globalization
University and industrial research laboratories in the United States can be proud of having spawned the computer revolution almost single-handedly. AT&T's Bell Laboratories invented the transistor and developed the Unix operating system that in turn formed the basis of DOS and Linux.  The C and C++ programming languages originated at Bell Labs also. The basic configuration of desktop computers originated with the IBM PC which in turn was the seed for the current Intel and Microsoft dominance in desktop computers. The Internet grew out of a collaboration of mostly American researchers, sponsored by universities and government labs. Microsoft's near-monopoly created de facto software standards, including the Windows operating system, Web browser, Office programs, and related software. Not surprisingly, even though computers have spread out all over the world, the standards governing their behavior are still strongly American-dominated.

Increasingly, foreign governments are objecting to some of the US-based standards. One bone of contention is ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a California non-profit corporation that manages the assignment of domain names and IP addresses on the Internet. There is widespread feeling that this task should be taken over by an international committee. Also, de facto standards imposed by the dominant MS Windows operating systems and the proprietary nature of its Office software are being challenged with a world-wide move towards Open Source software, including the Linux operating system and notable software such as the OpenOffice suite of office programs. 

The latest version of Microsoft Office, version 7,  uses a different proprietary format, based on the XML hypertext markup language. It is not only incompatible with earlier MS Word and Excel formats, but also with the internationally established standard Open Document Format, equally based on XML.  This is regrettable since much documentation generated since computers came in use is already inaccessible in electronic form because of obsolescence. General acceptance of the Open Document Format is an essential step to avoiding further loss of documentation due to changing technology. There is a growing trend amongst private and governmental organizations to abandon proprietary document formats in favor of international standards. Microsoft may be forced to accept the open Document Format for use with its Office programs sooner or later.

The computer revolution clearly originated in the USA, and we can be proud of that. But now that the technology has spread to the rest of the world, opposition is growing to the continuing domination of American companies and standards. Globalization may have to extend to the acceptance of internationally generated and approved standards.

Random Spam
Have you noticed that a lot of spam lately appears to be totally pointless? Instead of trying to sell pornography, get-rich-quick schemes or ED medication (aka Viagra), the subject lines and content appear to consist of random words and sentences. Its intent is to neutralize spam filters that depend on keywords such as Viagra to identify and intercept spam. Swamping the Web with these decoys makes it harder to distinguish spam carrying messages from random noise. Same trick as used by Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Most of these decoys are sent out by zombie computers, personal and institutional computers lacking adequate firewalls and virus protection, that have been hijacked by spammers and are transmitting spam unbeknownst to the owners. Are you sure yours is not one of them?

Free Software
 As long as it has been available, I have been using tax preparation software for the annual IRS ritual. Mostly, I have been using the plain version of Tax Cut, because it has been the cheapest and done the job.  Since my tax return is much the same from year to year I used to get irked by the roundabout way Tax Cut forces you to prepare your return. Last year Tax Cut sent free copies of its program around to previous users and as inserts in PC Magazines, so I just put up with it again. But this year I haven't seen any free copies and decided to try the free Tax Act. It has the reputation of being a solid program, but with less hand holding than Tax Cut and Turbo Tax provide – just what I wanted.

I downloaded the program from www.taxact.com and used it to prepare a provisional return. It worked just as I wanted, straightforward question-and-answer steps, or by directly filling in the forms as preferred. It told me about the tax credit for previously paid federal telephone taxes and otherwise took care of the calculations and printing the forms. It also offered to file electronically without charge, but I am still waiting for some 1099 forms, and the government still hasn't finalized some of the supporting forms for 2006. The only minor downside was that it didn't import my personal data from last year's Tax Cut-prepared return, but that was typed in quickly enough. If you really need more help (from J.K. Lasser) you can download the Deluxe version for 9.95, or for 15.95 if you also want it to do the state return. 

If you are interested in protecting your computer with a firewall and anti-virus software you might look at the Comodo Group. They offer a completely free firewall program, Comodo.firewall 2.4 that has received good reviews for effectiveness and ease-of-use. They also have Comodo.antivirus that is still in beta, but free for the downloading. Comodo Group is an organization providing commercial security software worldwide, making it likely that they know what they are doing. They provide this free software, as well as some other free security programs, to improve their name recognition. More power to them! Find out more at http://www.comodo.com/news/

This article may be published only by APCUG member user groups. All other uses are prohibited. When used, APCUG must be acknowledged as the source and the author credited. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.