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| newsletter@quarkit.com.au | www.quarkit.com.au | issue 12 | september 2005 |
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Update Zone |
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The Latest Malware Information |
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Microsoft Licensing: Introduction |
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Software Licensing Every single piece of software that has been written and distributed is covered by at least one License. A license can give almost complete freedom to the user of the software (in the case of the BSD License), a slightly more limited set of rights (such as GPL licensed software) or more restrictive rights (such as with Microsoft Licensing or Apple Software Licensing). It is not commonly known that no-one actually owns a copy of Windows XP, Windows Small Business Server 2003, Microsoft Office 2003 or a great many other software products written by Microsoft (and a number of other vendors). What you actually buy when you purchase "Windows XP Professional" is a license to use Windows XP Professional according to the Terms and Conditions (T&C) as specified in the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) as well as a copy of the software that you can install according to this EULA. The common misconception that you own any Microsoft software is exactly that - a common misconception. Three main licensing types Microsoft offers three main types of Licensing Agreements:
Full Packaged Product (FPP) Full Packaged Product is basically software that is sold "off the shelf" including boxed product, upgrades and shrink-wrapped products. To have a valid FPP License you must retain the receipt for the software as well as the Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) which is usually fixed to a page of the accompanying documentation and EULA booklet. Any "Upgrade" licenses are only valid if the full chain of pre-qualifying products (and receipts) is retained. We will cover this in more detail in a future article. |
Own Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Any OEM license is only valid if the qualifying hardware is included on the same receipt (or Tax Invoice). All of the OEM licensed operating systems require the Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) to be affixed to the case in which the computer was sold, and the License is valid only for that computer. As soon as the motherboard is replaced or repaired outside of the original system Warranty, the OEM License is invalidated and another License must be purchased if the same operating system is used on this new computer. These restrictions may seem rather aggressive, but if you consider that the cost of OEM licensed software is significantly lower than that of the equivalent FPP License, then you should understand why these restrictions have been imposed. Again, we will cover OEM Licensing in a future article. Volume Licensing Programs Microsoft has a number of different Volume Licensing Programs that apply to different types of users. For example, Select Licensing is available to Corporate, Government and Academic customers with 250 or more desktops and Open License is available to anyone with a need for as few as five licenses (or one server license). Purchasing multiple Microsoft software Licenses through a Volume Licensing Plan is always cheaper than buying FPP Licenses and the usage conditions are far less restrictive than OEM Licensed software. Summary Microsoft licenses their software for you to use in a number of ways. The EULA defines how the software can be installed, how it can be used, if it can be accessed remotely and especially how many users are able to use (or install) the software. It is quite possible, in fact quite probable, that you will have software that has been acquired under different License Agreements. If you have any concerns about the number or type of Software Licenses that you have purchased, please contact Quark IT and we can assist you to determine if you are correctly and adequately licensed. |
10 Tips For A Successful Website |
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Quark IT Presents: Refresh Internet Consulting We at Quark IT would like to introduce you to Refresh Internet Consulting, a local business specialising in Internet strategy, web page design, website development, Internet marketing and electronic publishing. Quark IT is partnering with Refresh Internet Consulting to enable us to provide an all-in-one service to your business. We know that there is no way that we, ourselves, can provide every technology need that your business has, so partnering with select businesses allows us to be able to deliver a holistic service to you - we can provide the overall management of your IT needs, and it is our responsibility to see that our partners deliver the results that you expect. You no longer need to be tossed around from IT supplier to IT supplier like a hot potato. This newsletter column is only an excerpt of the complete article that can be can be found here. This is an overview of how you need to view your own website to ensure that it provides you the best return on investment - most websites cost real money to develop, and if they are not returning that investment then it was wasted expenditure. 10 Tips for a successful website You’ve spent thousands of dollars on a website only to find a year later that it’s underperforming, you're not getting enquiries and you’re not generating sales. In this month's issue we’ll discuss some simple strategies to get your website back on track. 1. Your web site has to be informative with plenty of content The main thing people are looking for on the Internet is information. At a minimum your customers will want you to explain who you are, what you do and how to contact you. If you give your web site visitors what they want, they will return again and again and recommend your web site to others. If you don’t know what they want then ask them! It’s that simple. 2. Your web site has to load quickly By this I mean the web site has to appear in your visitor's web browser quickly. The aim is to display your website in less than 10 seconds on a 56k modem. You need to find the balance between looking good and loading fast. This will make your site faster, more accessible and friendlier to search engines. 3. Your web site has to look okay People judge books by their cover and web visitors will make an instant judgment on the quality of your business, your products and your service based on how you web site looks. If your web site looks like it has been tossed together by a 15 year-old boy in his back bedroom, then the site credibility will suffer. Have your web site look professional, with clear and simple navigation, and your business will appear highly credible and trustworthy. 4. Your web site information has to be ever-changing If you don't update and add information to your web site, then there is no reason whatsoever for the web visitor to return. They've seen what you have after all. They don't need to see it again. There’s a number of things you can do to keep your content looking fresh without making extensive changes to your website including adding a 'Latest News' section to the Home Page. This is the best page to update as it's the page that the visitor sees first. |
5. Your web site has to be interactive When people visit a web site they want something to do, such as downloading some free information, participating in a user form of chat room or signing up for an online course. 6. Your web site has to be search engine friendly Depending on what statistics you read, about 80% of an average web site's visitors will find the site through search engines. That can add up to an enormous number of visitors. Getting your web site to the top of search engines for competitive search engine terms requires a lot of skill, patience and hard work. Quark IT and Refresh Internet Consulting can help to improve your Search Engine results. 7. Your website has to be easy to use Don't make it hard for your visitors. Make your site as easy to use as possible by using simple navigation. Find someone who rarely uses the Internet. Bring your site up for them and then ask them to find various things. You'll learn more in 10 minutes of doing that than you will from a web developer trying to sell you the latest and greatest. 8. You need to market your web site "In cyberspace no-one can hear you scream". Once you have developed your highly informative and useful site, you must market it to attract visitors. One way is to have as many relevant sites link to your web site as possible. More methods can be found in the full article here. 9. Measure results To be successful you need to closely analyse the effects of the various strategies you employ to attract people to your site. When you set up your web site your webhost will give you free statistical software to analyse your traffic. Learning how to use this software is the key to analysing the use of your website. 10. Avoid the unnecessary What your web site doesn't have is as important as what your web site does have. Use of frames is a good way to lose visitors (and search engine ranking), overuse of large graphics, especially animation, and requiring special software to be downloaded to view your site will generally decrease your website's return on investment. Summary There is nothing more frustrating for us as web developers to see web sites that have been badly done. Poor web sites cost the owners thousands of dollars in many cases - and that's not taking into account the lost sales and opportunities that will never be recovered. With the right knowledge applied, along with hard work and perseverance, your web site can be successful. Contact www.refresh.net.au for a free consultation to discuss how we can make your website a success. For the full "10 Tips for a successful website" article: http://www.quarkit.com.au/content/view/42/1/ |
Next Month |
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Counterfeit Software In keeping with the Licensing theme, we'll discuss counterfeit or pirated software. Obviously both the possession and use of counterfeit or pirated software is a criminal offence and something that no business should want to subject themselves to. Although much of the publicity around counterfeit software is about Microsoft products, counterfeiters will target any manufacturer's software they think they can make a quick buck from. |
Quark Group As of next month, the Quark IT Newsletter will become the Quark Group Newsletter to better reflect the entire company, not just the IT division. We'll give a bit more of an introduction to what each division does and how they work together to provide an integrated solution. Again, if there is anything you'd like to see covered in future Newsletters, please email us with any suggestions or comments. |
Signing off |
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Well, that just about ends the September 2005 Quark IT Newsletter. After the comedy of errors that followed both August's and September's Microsoft Security patch releases, Quark IT is going to be taking an even harder look at the Security releases than we currently do. We trust Microsoft will decrease their response time to discovered vulnerabilities. Speaking of security issues, Symantec has once again come under the magnifying glass with a reported flaw in their Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition Version 9 that exposes sensitive username and password information. Please note that Quark IT has never recommended nor likely never will recommend running Symantec products on your network nor home computers. Apple has also released Java updates to address multiple security issues. Please ensure you are running Java version 1.4.2_09 or 1.3.1_16 if you are running Apple OSX 10.4.2 or 10.3.9. With the days starting to warm up again, it is time to think about the inside of your computers, amplifiers and other electronic equipment. Heat is second highest cause of damage to electrical components after power supply issues. The Quark Group can perform preventive physical maintenance on your sensitive electronic equipment to ensure that it is clean of excessive dust and able to handle the warmer months ahead. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. If you know anyone else who would like to receive this Newsletter, please feel free to forward this edition to them and also ask them to email us asking to subscribe. Please contact us if you would like Quark IT to assist you in ensuring that your home as well as your office computing environment is as functional as it can be. | |
