This newsletter has been designed to maintain links with customers and provide an information service for internet users generally.

Please visit us at http://www.engadineweb.com.au and signup for this monthly newsletter.

Review old articles in our Newsletter Archive

Editorial

Windows Vista is finally here as promised by Microsoft. It has taken about 5 years and more in billions of US dollars to produce, and it looks like a good product. If you are thinking of upgrading your current computer operating system to Vista then first make sure your computer is capable. You can do this by downloading and installing Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. This application is available from Microsoft.

It will take some time for all or most hardware drivers to become available so be prepared for a few problems on the way.

If you are looking at purchasing a new PC then I recommend you only go with a machine that has Vista installed.

Bruce Beresford, Manager & Editor

In this Issue:

• Featured Site - Girl Friday Hospitality Solutions
• A spanner in search engines
• ISPs will play ball on speeds
• Pirates quick to offer Vista
• Quotes of the day

Featured Site  

Girl Friday Hospitality Solutions

Girl Friday Hospitality Solutions has 12 years experience of sales management, marketing, promotions, business admin, gaming and print media, GFHS has been established to meet the need for a simple cost effective solutions for marketing, development and administrations. Inspired to offer continuity in all aspects of your organization GFHS offers professionalism in key areas for a cost effective and results driven outcome.

We can provide results and security with our professional approach, seeing us taking care of business from entertaining, sourcing products, advertising and more. There is so much more that GFHS can do for you. We have taken this to the next level by offering almost everything from staff training, mystery shopper, web design and promotions.

If it's in hospitality, Girl Friday has the solutions. Visit the Girl Friday Hospitality Solutions website...

A spanner in search engines  

SEARCH advertisers will need to quickly find a way around Microsoft's recently launched Vista if they don't want their messages being bypassed.

Vista's inbuilt search engine, with its ability to cut out the likes of Google and Yahoo, could be a serious problem, the head of internet search advertising specialist DoubleClick, Rick Bruner, told yesterday's ad:tech conference in Sydney.

Mr Bruner also said it was still difficult to read what impact the emergence of new operating systems, social networking and online videos would have on internet advertising.

"It is too early to say whether these things are going to be an interesting development for the future or if they are just a passing fad and are going to go away," he said.

"I think some aspects may be faddish, but for example consumer generated advertising is something some advertisers have reached out for in the last year, getting consumers to create ads for them. It was fun and funky, but I don't see it being around in five years."...AustralianIT >>> more

ISPs will play ball on speeds   

SOME of Australia's top internet providers say they will review their advertising practices after the competition regulator moved to stop them misleading consumers shopping around for broadband services.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it had given internet providers instructions for complying with trade practices laws when advertising broadband services.

The instructions were included in an information paper published by the ACCC and delivered to ISPs today.

Head of regulatory and legal with Australia's third largest ISP iiNet, Steve Dalby, said t the company would review its use of the terms 'up to 24Mbps' when advertising its ADSL2+ broadband products.

"It's prompted us to review with this set of guidelines on the table at the same time rather than trying to second-guess what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable which is where we were until we got these guidelines," Mr Dalby said.

South Australian ISP Internode also said that it would review its broadband advertising practices to ensure compliance with the ACCC's guidelines.

A Telstra spokesman said that the carrier supported the ACCC's position.

Telstra, which advertises speeds up to 20Mbps for its ADSL2+ service, said the carrier was "dismayed" that rivals were advertising the technology's theoretical maximum.

"We've only had time for a brief look, but fundamentally we welcome it because we absolutely agree with giving customers accurate, not misleading, information on likely performance of their service," the spokesman said.

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said the paper would prevent consumers being misled about internet speeds advertised by some ISPs. AustralianIT >>> more

Pirates quick to offer Vista  

AS MICROSOFT kicked off the global launch of its long-awaited Windows Vista, the software giant's new operating system also hit the streets of China - in pirated form.

In an electronic market in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, scores of sellers were offering the brand new software for as little as 10 yuan ($1.66), along with Microsoft Office, anti-virus software and others.

The sellers said Vista was available several weeks before its launch, although they would not say how they got hold of the version.

Described as the "official version of the new generation operating system" on its cover, the pirated copy offered an identification code at the back of the disk for downloading the software.

Microsoft could not be immediately reached for comment.

Vista, an operating system that took five years and $US6 billion to develop, hit the shops in 70 countries around the world Tuesday. AustralianIT >>> more

Quotes of the Day  

Politics is applesauce. Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

It is bad luck to be superstitious. Andrew W. Mathis

He talked with more claret than clarity. Susan Ertz

Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind. Evan Esar (1899 - 1995)

Brought to you by The Quotations Page

Have any questions relating to the internet or your computer? Let me know and I will research an answer and use this for future entries in our newsletter. Pass on your questions via the Enquiry Form on our Web-Site or send me an email.

If you have a friend or associate that you feel would benefit from receiving this newsletter please forward it to them for their review...

You have received this newsletter as you are an Engadine Web Services Customer or you have subscribed via our web-site.

To Unsubscribe from this newsletter 'click' the link and send an empty email...