dacs.doc electric

AT RECENT DACS meetings, John Patrick and Ed Heere have shown us how the e-way of life is developing. The message is clear. We adapt our lifestyles to play the game, or we get left behind. We get the message. The problem is, Just what should we be doing? Where do we start and what do we do to move beyond our current e-mail traffic and site surfing? We know we have to be doing more to become actual players.

Our April DACS General Meeting answered exactly that question. John Stroiney, Channel Marketing Rep from Microsoft’s Farmington, Conn., office, was our presenter. He took us through the MS products that are currently available to help us take full advantage of the Web. The significance of what John presented to us is that these are the tools we can use to make the Web a functional part of our everyday life.

The evening’s presentation was a carefully designed structure combining audio-visual displays customized for the DACS audience, a live demo creating a Web page, and a professionally produced video on DVD. Throughout the presentation John kept asking for a show of hands from the audience on who were current users of the various products he was talking about. He managed to get a little market survey work done as he went along.

The first category of the presentation was what John labeled the “Everyday Web.” This includes e-mail and communication among family and friends, searching the Web for information, shopping, and managing personal finances.

The first part of the DVD video was displayed to introduce this segment. It showed an inclusively correct group of people moving into a house that was completely empty except for a computer running a Web page. The rest of the video was shown in six additional segments throughout the presentation. Each segment was supposed to introduce or illustrate something or other, but it was mostly fast-moving TV sit-com flashes of the usual cast of sharp, superior women and bungling, vapid men trying very hard to be outrageous. The video snippets did punctuate the various topics of the presentation and didn’t do any harm.

The point of John’s Everyday Web material was to show how the MSN.com screen provides ways for the user to use the full capabilities of what is available out there and to customize it to the user’s individual needs, interests, and peccadillo’s.

Next on Everyday Web was “e-Shop.” Here John showed us how to access multiple sources, do comparison-shopping, use decision tools, and check out the major retailers. He painted an effective picture of a bargain hunter and an educated consumer’s paradise.

Another videoclip move us into Money Central. Very few hands went up from current users of this product, but perhaps John made a few converts. He showed how Money Central can help us build a personalized system that ties in with MS Money to track finances and investments. Using the full capabilities of Money Central, we can get comparison quotes on insurance and other vital aspects of our fortune.

How do we get on the Everyday Web? We just sign up for MSN Internet Access as our Internet service provider. John also described various promotional savings for doing so, including a substantial credit at Radio Shack for a long-term commitment.

The evening’s presentation then moved on to other MS products. John demonstrated Front Page 2000 by creating a Web page customized for Jeff Setaro. The “Jeff Family Page” included pages for vinaigrette salad dressing, but somehow I missed the connection here. Anyone who needs that information should ask Jeff at the next meeting.

The final segment of John’s presentation covered WebTV. Since this product is for people who don’t want to buy a computer, it probably did not excite very many in the DACS audience. John did not spend much time on it.

In the Q and A wrapup, the questions from the audience were primarily about security and encryption.

Microsoft, as always, was generous in providing raffle prizes. More than half a dozen software packages as well as briefcases, hats, and T-shirts went home with the lucky ones.

John Stroiney is getting to be a familiar face to DACS. He was the speaker at our November 1999 meeting when he presented the consumer apps that Microsoft had ready for the holiday gift-giving season. His presentations are well practiced and well prepared. He concentrates on getting the message across and accomplishes just that. We can look forward to seeing him again when Microsoft has its next major rollout.