At What Cost

One of the things that I teach people as Denver DataMan is how to be more efficient in the ways they use the computer. This means finding software within one’s means that will help them do a task better than they could do before. This does not mean doing a task quicker, so it does not come out as well or so that you annoy others who will have to interact with the software.

Recently I have been asked to schedule meetings twice on a website called TIMEBRIDGE . It is a great idea. You send people times they might be able to meet and get back what times work and send out a link for the meeting. This is similar to an Outlook meeting request, without having to know that everyone is using Outlook. In theory this is wonderful but when the system does not let the recipient propose a new time. Also when the sender moves the time and the recipient gets three emails back this cannot be efficient for either party.

Evaluating software is like evaluating any tool. What does it do? What does it do well? What does it not do so well? What is the net gain? What is the cost?

With all of the great tools on the Internet we can’t use them all nor do we want to. Find tools that work and make you more productive. If you’re not sure what will work for you then ask a friend or a consultant to help you evaluate a product.

Just because an Internet product is free today does not mean it will be free tomorrow. Lots of products run very long public betas (test cycles) and the software is free at this time. Take Jott.com, this service was free for a long time and then they scaled back what was free and then started charging for everything. This is something else to consider when choosing services and software.

Remember efficiency needs to show a net gain.

10-7 Ask the DataMan

On Tuesday 10-7 Denver DataMan celebrated joining the South Metro Chamber of Commerce. As part of this event Steve Kessler of Denver DataMan answered questions from the floor. Here are some the of the questions we addressed and the resources that were given to solve problems

· What is Firefox? Firefox is an alternative browser for accessing the Internet. Firefox is free and open source and does some things better than Internet Explorer and Denver DataMan believes Firefox to be more secure. You can download it at www.firefox.org

· What antispyware program should I use? Denver DataMan recommends AVAST! It appears to work very well and it is fast.

·Is it more important to use antispyware or antivirus? They are both critical to keeping your computer and your information safe in today’s world.

·How large can my Outlook file be? Your Outlook file can be larger than you would ever want it to be. When Outlook starts to get slow it usually is the size of the Outlook data file. You can create another data file and move older information into that email store. I would not worry about the number of contacts (including small pictures attached to them), calendar events, appointments, and tasks that you have.

· How do I know how much RAM I have? For Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista right click on My Computer or Computer and go to Properties. You can also go to your Control Panel and go the system icon. You will find at the bottom of this screen it will tell you how much RAM you have (generally measured in either MB or GB) and the speed of your processor.

· Should I be using Microsoft Project for single person management of many tasks? Microsoft Project is designed primarily for many people to use at once. It is also a very costly program. One of my partners, recommends GantProject which is an open source application that does many of the same things. You will need to look at this solution and others to find what may be best for you.

· Is it a good idea to use open Source software? Open source software is freely available and that makes it attractive. It is often of a higher quality than some commercial solutions but it also sometimes has an overall feature set that is not as rich as the commercial solutions. Like all other software it should be evaluated and tested for your needs.

Other questions were asked as well but they are to specific to show on this page. For example how do I find information about a contact while I am currently speaking on my Motorola Q. Thank you for all who attended and made it a great event. A special thanks to Wendy Woods of Nexus Financial Services, Inc. for her help in arranging and promoting this event.