# Comments

MessText:
I really like the graphics on your hope page. Did you
have them done by a professional design firm? If so,
I would be very interested in finding out who they 
are and what they charge.

We are working on a site which will serve as as a "hub"
for people interested in botanical gardening. We have
a lot of design and artwork done from pervious catalogs (and other
marketing materials) however it seems like the web
requires new techniques and ways of thinking for 
graphic designers.

Anyway, I love your site. Please get back to me at
your earliest convenience.


MessText:
I was checking out your links to other interesting
Web sites and noticed that a bunch of the links were
broken. This list also looks kind of dated (all of the
sites on it were up and running over a year ago).


MessText:
I couldn't find information on ordering your products
anywhere on your site (800 #'s, etc.). I think you
should provide this information so that you can 
capitalize on the interest you have generated with
your very nicely designed web.

Also, I liked your chat room a lot. Is it correct that
you are going to begin charging for access to it? I
think this would be a very bad idea seeing that many
other free chat rooms are available on the net.

Regards,

Frank LaPrente


MessText:
Are you guys working directly with resellers yet? If
so, we are most certainly interested in offering your
product to our customers.

We (Spades, Inc.) are one of the largest custom 
gardening firms in the upper midwest. We think that
many of our customers would be very interested in 
buying your product, especially if they could do so
as part of custom, value-added services provided by
us.

Please contact us soon! We are very excited about your product!


# Courses

Descript:
Introduction to Java Graphics Programming


Descript:
Advanced Cold Fusion Development Techniques


Descript:
Introduction to Java Sockets Programming


# Messages

Body:
We are looking at setting up a Web site for our company
(a Fortune 1000 health care provider). There has been
some initial discussion about using Windows NT, however
a few (important) voices are saying that since UNIX is
the current standard we need to be very careful about
deviating from that.

My bias is that we use NT, mostly because the folks who
are generating the internal momentum to make the leap onto
the Web are so enthusiastic about it. 

I don't actually know what all of the technical considerations are in 
choosing a platform, I was hoping that some folks in the
conference would pitch in with suggestions for the major
issues for me to consider in making the choice.


Body:
You need to look seriously at the cost of deployment and
ongoing maintenance for Web servers. If you don't already
have in-house UNIX expertise then there will be a long
learning curve and the system will be quite fragile as long as
you are still struggling to understand and manage it.

We almost always recommend that our customers choose NT
because the maintenance and deployment costs are so much 
lower. Don't leap into the UNIX game until you have lots
of information on what it will cost over the long run.


Body:
Actually, our IS people have lots of UNIX backbone (we have
been using it for our strategic systems for almost 10
years). We can definitely handle UNIX.

Also, we aren't really concerned about minimizing the costs
of our Web presence. We view the Web as a major strategic
platform for delivering our services and expect to save
literally hundreds of millions over dollars by using it
aggressively over the next 5 years. In this context, $30,000
vs. $100,000 for a Web presence doesn't really matter. What
matters is, how can we get the absolute maximum out of 
what the Web has to offer?

Assuming cost and expertise are not an issue, are there
any other reasons why we might choose NT?


Body:
You need to be where the action is!

Early adopters don't care about how hard it is to use
the technology they are out on the bleeding edge with. 
Right now, people who are setting up Web sites are (1) technically
sophisticated, and (2) relatively cost insensitive.

Think how this will change though - Only a fraction (probably
less than 5%) of the firms who WILL be on the Web are 
there now. All of the rest still to come will want a server
solution which is familiar and cheap, where will they turn?

Put another way, there is a fixed supply of UNIX system administrators
which is far exceeded by the number of people who will want webs.
If the large mass of the market turns to Windows, where will
firms developing products for the 'net focus their efforts? If you 
want a peek at the future, note the current situation in compilers 
and development tools: Visual C++ & Borland C++ cost $300 and have
+incredible+ functionality. Equivilant products on UNIX cost in the
multi-thousands of dollars and are +less+ functional.

Vendors will focus their energy on NT because that is
where the high-volume action is. Get in on the ground
floor now and you won't regret it!


Body:
I have been playing around with the Alpha 2 release of
Java/HotJava for NT. I am absolutely blown away by the
elegance and forsight of Sun's design for the Java
language. I think this will be the "next big thing" in computing.

Anyone else seen Java and have an opinion?


Body:
I checked out the Alpha as well, the demo apps are cool.
It definitely will enable a new wave of multimedia 
content on the net.


Body:
Peter -

While I agree with you that the demo applications encompass
some nifty multimedia tricks, thinking of Java a multimedia
environment is all wrong.

Java constitutes a generalized programming and systems 
model for public distributed computing. If Java had no
fancy multimedia capabilities at all I believe its importance
would not be diminished. 

The design of the Java language really is 
state of the art, and its portability and sensitivity to network and 
security issues makes it ideally suited to public, distributed
applications.

Remember, the Hot Java browser is written using Java! This
example alone should be enough to illustrate the scope
of applications which can be created with Java.
There are of course lots of question marks about Java,
but the potential is certainly there for it to be the
"next big thing".

- Alvin


Body:
Well, I just got back from a pretty enlivening trip to
COMDEX. A few highlights of the show were: 

(1) Video card manufacturers are now focusing on hardware acceleration for 3-d graphics.
These advances are driving lots of innovation in desktop VR applications. This will initially
affect the game market but eventually have a large impact on the nature and quality of titles in
the educational market. 

(2) SQL Server 6.0 is going to be the killer application for Windows NT. It has a wonderful
graphical front-end which is way ahead of anything currently available for servers on
UNIX. This front-end along with the low cost of NT is going to make NT/SQL Server the
platform of choice for almost all workgroup and departmental client/server computing. It will
also offer a great platform for high-performance Web-based relational database apps. 

(3) Apple's QuickTime Virtual Reality is incredibly hot. I must warn you that I did not
personally see the stuff however two of my fellow show goers returned from an extended
demo/discussion with one of Apple's engineers frothing at the mouth. One of them even thought
that they might abondon their treasured Pentium in order to buy a Power Mac for QuickTime
VR development (the titles run on Windows and Mac but can only be authored on the Mac). 

(4) I was very impressed with Symantec's Norton Navigator (Norton Desktop for Win95).
They have a much improved version of the Explorer which includes direct support for zip files
and FTP sites (they show up like any other drive). They have also done some nice things with
the task bar and added some context-menu handers to the shell. Buying this will be a
no-brainer.


Body:
>Apple's QuickTime Virtual Reality is incredibly hot

I have heard that Apple is considering positioning 
QuickTime VR as an alternative to VRML. This will 
probably be an uphill battle though, since VRML is not
being pushed by a single company and seems to have lots
of folks working on browsers, authoring tools, etc.
 

>I was very impressed with Symantec's Norton Navigator 

Yes, just when we thought it was safe to move to NT (w/ the
Alpha release of the Win95 shell just around the corner)
Symantec has provided a compelling reason to stick with
Win95. Of course, all of this will be a HUGE improvement over our current 
WFW, NT 3.5 plight.


Body:
What's this about Norton Navigator? I have the Norton
Utilities for Win95 and there are no Explorer add-ons
included in my version.

Is there are more up to date version which I should get
my hands on?


Body:
No, Norton Navigator is a separate product which will 
be available when Win95 ships. I think you have to be
pretty close to the inside to get your hands on a copy
at this point.


Body:
What advice can people offer on multiprocessor NT
servers? (e.g. who sells them at what price, who is
considered the best, etc.)

Any help is very much appreciated!


Body:
Barbara -

If you want a cheap server which scales to 4 processors, 
you might look at ALR, whose prices tend to be very
aggressive.

You should of course also consider Compaq (they have lots of 2 and 4 processor server
models). They are more costly than the others but widely 
considered to be the best.

If you want mega-scalability (8 and 16 processors) then 
check out what AT&T GIS has to offer. I went to a 
presentation where they showed these off and I was 
mightely impressed.

If you don't want to spend quite as much money, Dell 
just came out with a new OptiPlex (their high-end 
desktop line) box which is dual-processor. This might 
cost you less than a machine which is configured to be 
a server.

Right now if PC manufacturers want to build 
multi-processor Pentiums they have to do custom 
motherboard design. Intel is just about to OEM a 
low-cost multiprocessor motherboard which should 
open up this market to the Gateway, Zeos, Micron, etc. 
contingent.

Regards,

Andrew


Body:
Does anyone know of a good comprehensive reference on
CGI? (the docs I found at NCSA were kind of bare bones).

Is there a book (or on-line resource) which covers
things in more details and provides working examples?


Body:
By far and away the best CGI reference I have seen is found in the WebSite manual (Building Your Own WebSite). Of course, to get this manual you have to buy WebSite.


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