Software Piracy

Software piracy is the unauthorized copying of software. Most retail programs are licensed for use at just one computer site or for use by only one user at any time. By buying the software, you become a licensed user rather than an owner. You are allowed to make copies of the program for backup purposes, but it is against the law to give copies to friends and colleagues.

Software piracy is all but impossible to stop, although software companies are launching more and more lawsuits against major infractors. Originally, software companies tried to stop software piracy by copy-protecting their software.

This strategy failed, however, because it was inconvenient for users and was not 100 percent foolproof. Most software now requires some sort of registration, which may discourage would-be pirates, but doesn’t really stop software piracy.

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SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)

It is the acronym for small computer system interface. Pronounce it skuzzy. SCSI is a parallel interface standard used by Apple Macintosh computers, PCs, and many UNIX systems for attaching peripheral devices to computers. Nearly all Apple Macintosh computers, excluding only the earliest Macs and the recent iMac, come with a SCSI port for attaching devices such as disk drives and printers.

SCSI interfaces provide for faster data transmission rates (up to 80 megabytes per second) than standard serial and parallel ports. In addition, you can attach many devices to a single SCSI port, so that SCSI is really an I/O bus rather than simply an interface. Although SCSI is an ANSI standard, there are many variations of it, so two SCSI interfaces may be incompatible. For example, SCSI supports several types of connectors.

While SCSI has been the standard interface for Macintoshes, the iMac comes with IDE, a less expensive interface, in which the controller is integrated into the disk or CD-ROM drive. Other interfaces supported by PCs include enhanced IDE and ESDI for mass storage devices and Centronics for printers. You can, however, attach SCSI devices to a PC by inserting a SCSI board in one of the expansion slots. Many high-end new PCs come with SCSI built in. Note, however, that the lack of a single SCSI standard means that some devices may not work with some SCSI boards.

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CD-RW (Compact Disk – ReWritable) disk

It is short for CD-ReWritable disk, a type of CD disk that enables you to write onto it in multiple sessions. One of the problems with CD-R disks is that you can only write to them once. With CD-RW drives and disks, you can treat the optical disk just like a floppy or hard disk, writing data onto it multiple times.

The first CD-RW drives became available in mid-1997. They can read CD-ROMs and can write onto today’s CD-R disks, but they cannot write on normal CD-ROMs. This means that disks created with a CD-RW drive can only be read by a CD-RW drive.

However, a new standard called MultiRead, developed jointly by Philips Electronics and Hewlett-Packard, will enable CD-ROM players to read disks create by CD-RW drives. Many experts believe that CD-RW disks will be a popular storage medium until DVD devices become widely available.

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Warm Boot

Warm boot refers to restarting a computer that is already turned on via the operating
system. Restarting it returns the computer to its initial state. A warm boot is sometimes necessary when a program encounters an error from which it cannot recover.

On PCs, you can perform a warm boot by pressing the Control, Alt, and Delete keys simultaneously. On Macs, you can perform a warm boot by pressing the Restart button.

It is also called a soft boot. Contrast with cold boot, turning a computer on from an off position.

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Discussion Lists

If you participate in discussion lists, which allow advertising, or you maintain "Bulk Emailing Lists", please don’t make a pest of yourself. If your name is seen too often, then some people will NEVER join you. They will send unsubscribe requests. If you are on a

discussion list, people may unsubscribe or just ignore you. Make yourself a pest and you will defeat yourself. This is called loss of mind share. Another reason some people are tolerant of un-solicited e-mail is that all it takes is a couple of keystrokes and offending mail is gone.

If they do not like what the person is sending (such as, solicitation to visit or receive pornography) they are willing to write a polite email and ask to be deleted from their mailing list. I have never been refused. Perhaps Mr. Internet BEAR has a use after all.

One type of Bulk E-mail is acceptable for all occasions. This Bulk E-mail is one where a person has asked to be placed on the list. It is this type of e-mail whether it is a newsletter or a discussion list that has always been accepted on the Internet.

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E-mailing

E-mailing a person for the first time may be a little bit tricky. When posting to anyone for the first time, there are several things to keep in mind. One should keep in mind that one may be violating a person’s carefully guarded privacy or violating a personal or company or other rule someone thought up. Be polite.

And be prepared for a wide range of welcomes from friendly to outright rude and crude. On the other hand, you may be extending a hand of friendship, which will develop into a relationship for life.

In general, there are three types of e-mail communities as defined by economic pressure. In these groups, there are three types of individuals:

1. Those who like to talk via email and will accept almost anything at least once and enjoy the Internet for personal reasons;
2. Those who are online for business; entertainment is the least of what they want to get online;
3. Those who may be a member online purely for their own reasons and do not want to
4. be bothered by anyone except the privileged few they let in.

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