From: xxltony@cts.com (Tony Lindsey)
Subject: Mac*Chat#093/20-Oct-95

Mac*Chat#093/20-Oct-95
======================

Welcome to Mac*Chat, the weekly electronic newsletter biased
  toward Mac users who are production-oriented professionals.  Other
  Mac users may find many, many items of interest as well.  I'd enjoy
  hearing your feedback and suggestions.  Unfortunately, due to the
  massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee
  a personal reply.

  Tony Lindsey, <xxltony@cts.com>.
  <http://www.cts.com/browse/xxltony>
  3401-A55 Adams Avenue
  San Diego, CA 92116-2429

Mac*Chat may be copied freely, provided that all copies are left
  intact and unedited.

Financial donations are gratefully accepted, to help defray the
  costs of putting-out one of the fastest-growing newsletters
  on earth.  For more information, send e-mail to <xxltony@cts.com>,
  with "Donations" in the Subject line.

  Mac*Chat back-issues may be found within any Info-Mac ftp archive at
  /info-mac/per/chat
  and read with any Web browser at
  <http://www.ese.ogi.edu/macchat/>

See the end of this file for legalisms and info on how to get a free
  subscription.

Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey.

Topics:
Highlights Of This Issue
Editor's Notes
Learning Applescript
First Virtual - I'M Now An Online Consumer, Part Two
Photoshop 3.05 Upgrade & Gif Exporters
Industrial-Strength Indexer
Finding Techtool
Ez135 Cartridge Drive
"A Word A Day" Mailing List
Typeindexer
Tips For America Online Users - Start Designing Your Web Page!
Tips For America Online Users - Downloading Mac*Chat Back-Issues
The Best Way To Read Mac*Chat Back-Issues
New Jobs
Legalisms
Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter

Highlights Of This Issue
------------------------
  I talk about my efforts to learn AppleScript and why, finish my
  diary of what it was like to open a First Virtual account and
  spend some bucks over the Internet, we talk about the new version
  of Photoshop and goodies that come with it, Toby tells us about a
  great document-indexer, Ken tells us where to find TechTool, we
  get more info about the new EZ135 drive, several fans of the Word
  a Day mailing list tell us about it, we get news about a very
  nice type-management tool, I begin the discussion about America
  Online's new (primitive, but available) Web-page service, I
  explain how to find Mac*Chat back issues and point out the issue
  that makes reading Mac*Chat super-easy, we hear about some great
  New Jobs for Mac users, and hear about two books that can explain
  a lot about the New Job Market.

Editor's Notes
--------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  Ahhh - It's so satisfying to be back on track!  I'm getting
  plenty of high-quality e-mail for the next few issues of the
  newsletter, subscribers are getting their weekly issues again,
  and I'm very happy that the technical difficulties are over!

Learning Applescript
--------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  I've been spending the last few weeks learning AppleScript.
  Where on earth am I finding the spare time?  AppleScript comes
  free with System 7.5.  It's a language that allows me to control
  the programs on the Mac with a high degree of automation.  It's
  not difficult to learn for most people, but I tend to learn
  things backwards.  I only open the manual whenever I want to look
  things up!  I just dive in and mess around until I've wrestled it
  to the ground.  Later on, I'll read the manual and be thrilled to
  find easier ways to get things done.

  Why would I want to learn such a thing?  Because we've arrived at
  a point in computer complexity where it's very easy to create
  beautiful documents in a wonderfully efficient way, but then
  we're expected to use our time-savings to create and organize
  even MORE work.  I find myself and my clients spending too much
  time doing repetitive work that involves grabbing information,
  passing it through several changes, and then outputting it in
  some attractive or useful way.

  AppleScript, being built-into the operating system, allows me to
  set up a simple program that can take over other programs (such
  as QuarkXpress, JPEGview, the Finder and America Online), and
  make them do the work themselves, one after the other.  In the
  meantime, I can be swaying gently in a hammock, sipping pineapple
  juice and humming a few dance tunes from my youth.  Yeah, right.
  More likely, I'll find some OTHER reason to be too darned busy!

  I have had two good books to help me along - Danny Goodman's
  _AppleScript Handbook_ (I'm a big fan of his writing) and _The
  Tao of AppleScript_ by Derrick Schneider, Hans Hansen and Tim
  Holmes.  The second book is very, very warm & fuzzy in its style,
  so I'm recommending it more than Danny's book for people who
  REALLY hate to read manuals.  Personally, I'm very pleased with
  both of them.

  They're both from Hayden Books (800-428-5331):

  <hayden@hayden.com>

  <http://www.mcp.com/hayden/>

  What are the other recommended books and tutorials, very best
  utilities, add-ons and Internet sites for AppleScript fans and
  students?

First Virtual - I'M Now An Online Consumer, Part Two
----------------------------------------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  In the last issue, I used my aggravation with a shareware
  product's reminders to pay my fees as a goad to make me open up
  my own First Virtual account.  This allows me to transfer funds
  electronically with no fears of hackers making-off with my money.
  See back-issues #67, 81 and 90-92.

  Seven hours after I spent ten minutes and two bucks to set up my
  account, I received an e-mail message giving me my unique First
  Virtual code.

  I was determined to use my newfound buying power to purchase the
  PhotoGIF program from BoxTop Software.  I fired-up the Register
  program that simplifies the process of sending-in my shareware
  fees (It came in the same folder as the PhotoGIF software).  I
  typed a "1" in the field asking me how many copies I was paying
  for, typed my First Virtual code in the appropriate field, and
  then clicked "Save."  This saved a SimpleText file, which I
  opened, selected all of the text, copied it, and then pasted it
  into a new e-mail message.  I typed "shareware@kagi.com" into the
  address field and clicked "Send."

  The next morning, I received a message from First Virtual telling
  me that an order had been requested, which required a reply.  I
  replied with the single word "Yes" and sent it off.  Total cost?
  About twenty seconds and $25 for the Photoshop GIF plug-in.  If I
  had said "No," it would have canceled the order.  If I had
  replied "Fraud," it would have instantly shut-down my account to
  avoid further problems and alerted the folks at First Virtual.

  Bottom line:

  I like the First Virtual system.  It works, it's good.  All the
  words I've typed on the topic have been a lot more bother than
  the actual setup and use.  My next step is to set myself up as a
  First Virtual Merchant.  I really like the idea of getting
  electronically  paid for ads in Chat*Ads, once that separate
  newsletter is up and running.

Photoshop 3.05 Upgrade & Gif Exporters
--------------------------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  In issue #92, I mentioned a nice plug-in module for Photoshop
  that allowed me to export GIF 89a image files that are perfectly
  suited for people publishing information on the World Wide Web.
  Immediately after that, Adobe shipped the bug-fix 3.05 upgrade
  for Photoshop 3.04.  This includes a free plug-in that exports
  those desirable 89a files.  DO NOT bother trying to upgrade your
  Photoshop unless you are already using version 3.04!  However,
  the GIF 89a plug-in will work with version 3.0 or above - it was
  ignored by my elderly version 2.51.  Sigh.  Yes, I know it's time
  to upgrade, I suppose.  3.04's main advantage is for folks using
  the newest 604-chip PowerMacs, such as the 7500, 8500 and 9500 -
  It greatly improves the speed.

  On the topic of PhotoGIF, the other GIF 89a plug-in, I received
  the newest update automatically (since I paid for the previous
  version) and the following text:

  The Adobe GIF89a Export plug-in has capabilities that PhotoGIF
  does not and  PhotoGIF in-turn has capabilities that GIF89a
  Export does not, most important  of which is the fact that it is
  a file format plug-in and can open GIF  files while maintaining
  transparency and interlacing settings allowing for  easy editing
  and fast saving.

  -------

  By Ken Hancock <kenh@world.std.com>

  Adobe has now released their free GIF 89a export filter as part
  of the Photoshop 3.0.5 upgrade.  It's available from their web
  site:

  <http://www.adobe.com>

  -------

  By siple@infinet.com (Mark Siple)

  The PhotoShop 3.05 update is available from


<ftp://ftp.adobe.com//pub/adobe/Applications/Photoshop/Macintosh/Updaters/PS
hop305.mac.hqx>

Industrial-Strength Indexer
---------------------------
  By Toby Moore <MeowI@aol.com>

  In response to Isaiah Cox's request for *very* powerful indexing
  tools in Mac*Chat #92:

  Check out EndNote Plus 2.0 by Niles & Assoc. It's available
  through the usual Mac mail order catalogues. I'm not sure it can
  do exactly what you describe, but it is an excellent
  bibliographic database (5 mice from _MacUser_). I used an earlier
  version when writing my Ph.D. dissertation, & it saved my sanity.
  However, I didn't have the complex indexing task you have.

Finding Techtool
----------------
  By Ken Workman <sbken@cruzio.com>

  In Mac*Chat #092, Jeff Brett mentioned the use of "TechTool."
  [It's an essential utility that allows anyone to PROPERLY manage
  that pesky desktop-rebuilding chore, manage and rebuild the
  Parameter RAM, etc.  I strongly recommend it.]   It is very
  useful but also very hard to locate. After much searching I
  managed to find this freeware at

  <http://www.mindspring.com/~mcameron/>

  *Editorial Comment:* I was very saddened by the statistics of the
  donations to Mac*Chat as of issue #092. Only 21 folks could
  afford the $10? Heck, I'm retired and on a fixed income but I was
  pleased to be able to help support the continuance of Mac*Chat.
  Here's hoping that you get on the order of 5,000 to 10,000 paying
  subscribers. That's the number I would estimate that would pay
  for the great information available in Mac*Chat!

Ez135 Cartridge Drive
---------------------
  By Al Goldsmith <algold@bdt.com>

  As others have undoubtedly copied to you by now, Syquest EZ135
  has on-off switch and push-the-switch selectable SCSI asddress
  lacking in the  Iomega ZIP (either-or one of two addresses,
  always"on").  Also, the first disk furnished with EZ135 includes
  DiskFit Direct and it works just fine on a multidisk backup,
  "ejecting" and calling for each new disk - with user-selectable
  backups of"everything", or "folders", or "files", etc. Restores
  in reverse -aaand, individual files can be accessed from the
  back-up disks.  Faster than ZIP too. Using the included Silver
  Lining driver, it may be turned on during a session and mounted
  when needed other utilities will also mount, depending on driver
  used.

  I've been very pleased with the EZ135.

  -----

  By Jeff Porten <JeffPorten@aol.com>

  >  The box had no designation as Mac or PC specific. The floppy that
  >  came with it was PC format and had some Mac software on it (which
  >  I never got to work.) There were two very brief instruction pages
  >  included - one for Mac and one for PC. So the question arose, can
  >  you use the media to transfer files between Macs and PCs?

  That's not quite true.  The box indicates whether the drive is
  IDE (primarily for IBMs, but also good with the new PowerMacs, I
  believe), or SCSI (primarily for Macs, but some IBMs as well).
  The SCSI box indicates that it can be used with Macs and IBMs,
  but the IDE box only says IBM's.

  I've only worked with the SCSI drive.  The disk that comes with
  it is indeed in IBM format, because the 135 meg disk is in Mac
  format.  The IBM disk is for IBM  SCSI users who want to format
  the disk for their use.  When I installed an EZ drive for a
  client, we had no need for the floppy.  There is a program on
  there that suggests the right SCSI number, but if you know the
  system (and know which numbers are usually reserved: 0, 3, and 7)
  there's little need for it.

  Incidentally, Incredible Universe has the EZ drive on sale for
  $189, which is over $40 cheaper than the catalogs.

"A Word A Day" Mailing List
---------------------------
  By Rick Sciacca <rsciacca@vcomm.net>

  In the last issue of Mac*Chat, a reader asked about A Word A Day.
  Here's the info for him:

  To subscribe or unsubscribe, email wsmith@wordsmith.org with
  subject "subscribe <your name>" or "unsubscribe"

<http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/index.html>

  --------

  By Duncan <duncan@aus.Stanford.EDU>

  A.Word.A.Day:

     Contact: Anu Garg <agarg@ces.cwru.edu>

     Purpose: Exploring Strange New Words.  The music and magic of
  words--that's what A.Word.A.Day is all about. This is a mailing
  list from a wordserver which mails out an English vocabulary word
  and its definition (with occasional commentary) daily.

  ------

  By Thomas Philip <tphilip@acpub.duke.edu>

  I have been using that list for six months now and find it an
  interesting read every morning, to say the least.

Typeindexer
-----------
  By <sdeline@deltanet.com>

  [The following message is not something I normally let through
  into the newsletter.  It seems vaguely similar to a press-release
  that is aimed to get under my radar.  I'm letting it through
  because it appears to be a fine product, even though the demo
  version completely ignored my TrueType Holiday Font collection.
  It work from the PostScript Type 1 Printer fonts, so it could be
  a boon for "Font Piggies" with a gazillion typefaces to manage.

  I've already urged the author to re-format the
  15-examples-per-page output to make it ideal for a 3-ring binder,
  and to make it easier for folks outside the USA to order the
  upgraded version.

  I assume the following is from the official blurb about
  TypeIndexer:]

  >>TypeIndexer(tm) allows Macintosh users to catalog and print
  samples from all PostScript fonts stored on any live media,
  without having to install the fonts or open them.

  TypeIndexer will automatically search an entire drive and find
  all PostScript fonts stored in any location (folders,
  sub-folders) or, you may limit the search by selecting only the
  fonts for which you need samples.

  A master index of any font list may be exported as a tab
  delimited file containing the following information: screen name,
  file name, file path, family name, full name, file creator,
  weight, version and notice. Imported into a database program this
  information can be used to search and organize font libraries.

  TypeIndexer occupies only 325 K of disk space and can process an
  unlimited number of files.

  Requires: Macintosh,System 6.0.7 or higher, any PostScript
  Printer Suggested Retail Pricing: $49.95 - Includes 26 Type 1
  Postscript Fonts <<<

  The demo version of TypeIndexer is located here - that I'm aware
  of.

http://www-chem.ucdavis.edu/mac/v13/IMp95-13.html#item17
http://users.aol.com/tindexer/TI.htm

Tips For America Online Users - Start Designing Your Web Page!
--------------------------------------------------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  Please notice the AOL address a couple of paragraphs above this.
  It is one of the very first to use America Online's newly-created
  service allowing folks to post their own Web pages to promote
  their small or large businesses.  This is important!  Here's
  why...

  -------

  I've been snooping around the Internet section on AOL, and I'm
  intrigued.  It appears that a determined AOL user can now create
  and display a few Web pages and graphics (up to 2 megabytes) on
  the World Wide Web.

  Why would you want to?  You would know better than I would, once
  you've tried it out, but you may want to promote your business,
  club, church, hobby, or whatever.  You WILL have a Web page at
  some point.  It's as likely as your having a telephone or a
  radio!  You may as well get started now if you're the type who is
  an early adopter.

  I'm planning to type the step-by-step instructions on how you can
  get your pages online and available, starting with the next
  issue, but in the meantime, you can snoop around and find out
  more on your own.

  Sign on to AOL, go to the Internet Connection section, click on
  FTP, and then read through the "My Place FAQ."  These Frequently
  Asked Questions will help you a lot later on.

  You're also going to want to have your study-materials ready (I
  recommend Mac*Chat back-issues 66-69, 71-72, 74-75, 78, 85-86, 88
  and 90 - They're easy to read).

Tips For America Online Users - Downloading Mac*Chat Back-Issues
----------------------------------------------------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  I'd also click "Go To FTP" and then open the
  "sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac" section.  Scroll down to
  Periodical and choose MacChat.  You'll find all of the
  back-issues of Mac*Chat.  Use Stuffit Expander to translate the
  ones that end with ".hqx" to a more-useful form, which is plain
  text that can be read in any word-processor.

The Best Way To Read Mac*Chat Back-Issues
-----------------------------------------
  By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>

  If there's anyone who hasn't already started using the
  best-possible way to read Mac*Chat text files, I'd like to
  point-out that the step-by-step instructions are explained fully
  in issue #73.

New Jobs
--------
  By Jess Porter, Gaithersburg, Maryland <jporter@wb.com>

  I started doing Graphics and Desktop publishing here in the
  Washington DC metro area, in January of 1987.  Since then, I have
  been very successful as a "Contractor",.  After about three years
  of Graphics and Desktop publishing, I did a lot of software and
  operating system training. After about three years of training, I
  got into Network Administration, the area I want to stay in.
  Along with network administration always comes software support,
  helping the end users.

  As a contract network administrator, I work for different
  contract firms in the metro area, that send me to there client
  sites.

  All of my work is in Defense and Intelligence.

  My pay has consistently risen every year since 1987.  This is not
  creative work, but highly technical work of a repetitive nature,
  however I enjoy that.

  Apple has a new certification program; Apple Certified Server
  Engineer, (ACSE), which I start studying for in the next two
  weeks.

  You can get information on Apple Certification at:

http://www-abs.apple.com-acse/

  In April of 1989, I wrote an article in the Washington Apple-Pi
  Journal, about doing Macintosh applications for a living, it was
  very well received.  Wash Apple-Pi, Approx. 5500 member Macintosh
  users group.

  I believe I may have been one of the very first persons, to do
  Macintosh contracting for a living.  There were others, as I
  worked with them.  The 80's were very prosperous for Government
  contracts.

  --------

  By Alun Severn, West Midlands, United Kingdom
  <alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk>

  Charles Handy is a business thinker who has written widely about
  the way the world of work is changing - many of the
  social/economic ideas currently in circulation (the disappearance
  of the corporation, the network organisation etc.) come from him.
  Readers might find his books (especially the most recent, The
  Empty Raincoat) helpful and interesting.

  [I asked: "Do you get any kind of financial or personal benefit
  from the book's sales?" He assured me he did not.]

   THE EMPTY RAINCOAT: CHARLES HANDY

   UK: Hutchinson (Hbk); Arrow Books (Pbk)
   US: Random House

   OUT OF CONTROL: THE NEW BIOLOGY OF MACHINES, KEVIN KELLY

   UK: Fourth Estate (Pbk)

   US: Addison Wesley Inc

  The "New Sorts of Employment" articles appearing in MacChat
  brought to mind two recent books which I have found extremely
  helpful in trying to understand the economic and social forces
  currently reshaping the patterns of our employment.

  Handy believes that we are witnessing the death of the
  organisation as we know it. Already, organisations employ only 55
  per cent of the workforce on a fulltime basis - just 38 per cent
  of working age adults. The organisation may well continue
  "organising" work, he suggests, but will not necessarily employ
  those who are carrying it out.

  This search for corporate savings is fuelling what some
  commentators refer to as jobless growth. Flatter, leaner
  hierarchies are producing "downsized" organisations, often with
  physically distant workers who are home- or teleworking,
  self-employed, or left to create their own employment. This is
  not, according to Handy, a temporary employment blip but the
  shape of the future - a view supported by Wired magazine's Kevin
  Kelly, albeit from a rather different and more technological
  perspective.

  Both books highlight another interesting consequence of this
  restructuring. They speak of the birth of "virtual corporations",
  loose associations of teams and individuals, where control is
  dispersed amongst many and requires widespread co-operation.

  The future belongs to those who can become organised in networks,
  able to identify and form temporary, even paradoxical, alliances
  and partnerships. Our old model of the closely bounded
  organisation, Kelly suggests, is no longer valid and is gradually
  being replaced with something resembling a loosely bounded
  ecosystem.

  Both writers, it should be stressed, emphatically put people
  first. I would urge anyone who, like me, is trying to make sense
  of their working lives to get hold of and read these two
  excellent and humane books.

  -----

  By Michael Kaufman, Carlsbad, California <MichaelK38@aol.com>

  I work with a group with a virtual organization (a group of
  independent consultants that live in different cities around the
  US). We support industrial based organizations (almost all
  organizations that we can think of are based on industrial
  models) to transform into 21st Century organizations (based on
  information models or knowledge based models).  As a virtual
  organization we communicate extensively with e-mail and sometimes
  produce products electronically with people working in 4 or 5
  different cities.

  That's the big picture. The little picture usually takes the form
  of gathering a group of people into an environment (that we
  travel around with - it goes on a truck) and facilitate them
  through a creative process. The environment and the process are
  an example of a way of working that we feel is more in line with
  an information/knowledge based world (I could probably write a
  book on this and I understand this may be cryptic, but you asked
  for well-paying information on 1990's New Jobs that change
  constantly and defy casual description).

  The environment and the process are technology rich and supported
  by a lot of Macintosh computers. The simple way to describe what
  we do is to say that we are moving as close to 'real time' as we
  can. We publish a minimum of 2 documents/books in 48 hours after
  working with the client for 3 days (32 hours). One is a
  chronological record of the time together and the evolution of
  ideas. The other is more like a summary or synthesis (of which we
  add value to the participants work).

  Macintoshes are used in everything from capturing the words, to
  digitizing video, to scanning hand drawn art and incorporating it
  into the text, to searching the Internet or AOL for relevant
  knowledge, to desktop publishing and presentations, to whatever
  is needed. We create slide shows (digital and paper based), video
  documentation (20 to 30 minute pieces that capture the essence of
  3 days work), web pages, desktop published summary documents,
  cartoons, etc. - anything that will support the client in
  shrinking time, and doing more work then they have ever done
  before (in such a short time frame) and take their creative ideas
  and put them into a form that is usable.

  Essentially, we call ourselves knowledge workers and we have a
  definite idea of what that means (I think it's different from the
  traditional concept of knowledge work which is more like a
  definition of a white collar worker).

  I have been doing this kind of work for about 8 years. I am 39
  years old, a high school graduate and all of my 'education' has
  been in the world of doing. I have been very fortunate to work
  with some exceptional people doing some exceptional things. The
  hours are very long and the work very intense at times however
  95% of the time what we are doing is 'really cool' and pushes the
  envelope of the technology (or, if not, we can't wait to get the
  time to do new things and push things further). The pay is very
  good depending on the client and most of the clients are pretty
  large, Fortune 500, Government, Military and/or good sized
  businesses.

  I have a couple of friends that are working very closely with
  Executives in major organizations as their personal 'knowledge
  worker' (as employees). Their jobs run the gamut from desktop
  publishing, to slide show presentations, to financial
  projections, to Notes databases, etc. They are the 'translators'
  and 'facilitators' of the executive's vision into tangible,
  useful vehicles that allow things to move ahead 'faster, easier,
  more fun, etc.'. Some might consider then glorified secretaries
  but they have to know business and understand a very large
  context in order to be successful.

  When I am not working with this group of folks I do bits of work
  consulting in the world of education, helping to move that world
  out of the dark ages and into the 21st Century and I have a
  handful of friend that I consult in their use of Macintosh
  computers.

  I know that's a lot to swallow but again, you asked for unusual
  jobs that didn't exist before.

Legalisms
---------

Copyright 1989-1995 Tony Lindsey.

Whole issues of Mac*Chat may be copied freely, provided that
   all copies are left intact and unedited. Small excerpts of
   Mac*Chat may be reproduced for personal use or by nonprofit
   groups (such as Mac User Groups) or for other non-commercial
   publications if full credit is given. Please contact the
   editor <xxltony@cts.com> for any other publication requests.

This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free
   information.  No profit has been made from any of these
   opinions.  Time passes, so accuracy may diminish.

Publication, product, and company names may be registered
   trademarks of their companies.

 This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader.

Tips from readers are gratefully accepted.  Please write them in a
   user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site,
   please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it.

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============== ____ ==================================================
Tony Lindsey   \ _/__  Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter
Mac*Chat Editor \X  / <xxltony@cts.com> <http://www.cts.com/~xxltony/>
================= \/ =================================================