People say that most IT
types are Republicans, and after reading your article as to why some
schools are lagging behind in getting wired ("Getting unwired at
school"), I can believe it. That 62 percent of school districts
are facing budget cuts has nothing to do with "vision." They can have
all the vision they want, but if there is no money--especially in places
like Washington State where the likes of conservative "activists" like
Tim Eyman have done everything to convince the provincials that
education is a needless expenditure--there is no money for big-ticket
items like computers and software. On the other hand, 28 percent of
school districts not facing budget cuts--what are they doing right? How
about living in the well-off white communities you are likely familiar
with? "Vision" has nothing to do with that. -- Mark Kittell, Seattle
mwillyk@lycos.com
I read a letter in your magazine
and I was a bit surprised to find it printed without some sort of
disclaimer. So I researched further by reading the articles from your
Web site: "Paradise Found?" and "From Russia With
'Loads". Now I am shocked that ComputerUser appears to be
advocating a practice that's at best unethical and at worst illegal!
Fortunately (or not), your circulation is probably small enough that you
won't be sued or prosecuted for this. Still, what would you do if a
Russian publisher decided to reprint your magazine in its entirety and
claimed that under their copyright laws it was perfectly legal? Would
you advocate that people read it instead? Would you advocate that your
advertisers pay their fees to the Russians? Also, it appears from the
letter writer's e-mail address that he is a software developer. I
assume he makes money from this. What would he do if the same site he
purchases this "legal" music from began offering his software for sale?
Would he advocate people going to it to purchase his software, since it
was "legal" and MUCH cheaper? I can't believe I even need to make this
point! Stealing is stealing no matter what the "legal" ramifications
are. Someone is still being cheated--by YOU now! If you think the
recording industry is too greedy, then boycott them. Find a small, but
talented local band and purchase and advocate their music. Support
"indie" production efforts. BUT, don't steal and say you are justified
by legal loopholes or calling yourself some sort of Robin Hood. -- Kevin
Anderson Jackson, Mich. kevin.e.anderson@earthling.net
Kevin, thanks for your letter. In reporting on these Russian sites, we
weren't categorically advocating them or condemning them, only
acknowledging their existence after a number of readers wrote in
wondering about them. In the process, we did as much research as we
could on the legal implications of using the sites, and found that they
seem to exist in a legal grey area that hasn't been fully explored, and
advised readers to use them at their own risk. The owners of both sites
we wrote about have posted documentation stating that they comply in
full with Russian copyright law. How (and whether) that dovetails with
U.S. copyright laws isn't for us to determine. Either way, the sites
differ from standard file-sharing services in that money from the
consumer does go toward royalty payments, at least according to the laws
in the country from which the sites originate. -eds.
A reader in a previous issue mentioned FilZip as an
alternative to WinZip. I feel I should point out that there are still
other free alternatives. • WinRAR is a Shareware application similar to
WinZIP with more features and similar support to FilZip. My preferred application more recently is 7-Zip. It is open-source, so it's free, and it compresses
files to a much smaller size than most other ZIP programs. Also, it uses
its own format, and I find it superior to RAR. It's definitely worth a
look if you're needing an alternative to Win RAR, WinZip, or WinACE.
-- Charles Banas greyfade@gmail.com
