That was until I started reading some of the
bugs and security leaks related to IE4, the penny dropped. At the same time I was
installing a new motherboard into a friends PC. His PC had also been acting irregular
prior to the motherboard installation; it showed all the symptoms of IE4's bugs.
The cure for my friends PC and for mine is to erase the contents of our
hard-drive's and reinstall Windows 95 without the IE4 extension. This is a very drastic
move that is forced upon anyone who has not backed-up their hard-drive (copied their
important data onto a second drive or floppy disks). Basically, Microsoft has released a
product upon the masses that has not been thoroughly tested, within days of its release
there were patches on Microsoft's web site that fixed these bugs and security holes. How
can they get away with this? Because they have a near monopoly in the Computer industry
where over 80% of PCs run their operating systems.GIVEAWAY
You may think that this is madness, but they're actually giving IE4 away
free. IE4's previous versions, IE2 and IE3 had been browsers and browsers alone, along
comes this new version, that extends the functionality of the original browsers and
incorporates it into the operating system.
Microsoft's competitor, Netscape, is under real pressure to stay
competitive, but how can they stay competitive when Microsoft are giving away IE4?
Netscape's answer was to give away their browser too, but to also offer superior products
to their corporate customers. Currently Microsoft have been fined one million dollars a
day in America for being anti-competitive and the European Courts are also looking into
their case. What's my advice to you? Stay well away from IE4 and use Netscape Navigator 4
instead, it's a much superior and stable product.
LCDC ‘UNOFFICIAL’ WEB SITE?
On Sunday 7th December I received an email from another London taxi driver,
Colin Marshall of the London Cab Drivers Club. He informed me that he'd created |
another web site on the
Internet concerning the London taxi trade and of course I visited his site straight away.
Colin's site is to be found at: http://home.clara.net/colinmarshalll (Ed’s
note: Three l’s at the end are correct)
Although he readily admits to being new at the Internet game, his site is easily navigable
and very informative.
Colin's site has seven different areas to visit; London Airport Taxis,
General Information, History, Qualifications, Tariffs, Warnings, Related Sites. Most of
these are self explanatory, but where Colin's site differs is in the content. Colin goes
quite deeply into detail concerning all of these subjects and his tariff page actually
resembles the tariff situated in the passenger compartment. In its current state Colin's
site is informative and I'm sure in the future he'll improve the graphics and buttons.
Well worth a visit.
I keep saying it, but how long will it take before our trade organisations
wake up to the Internet? Why is it that it's the drivers rather that the organisations
that make up the UK taxi trade's presence on the Web? Is it because the London taxi driver
is the driving force in this industry? No pun intended!
DIAL A CAB
After reading last months Call Sign I visited Dial-a-Cab's web site to see
what's occurring, and as Alan Togwell said it's off-line at the moment. As someone who's
heavily involved in the Internet, I'm really looking forward to see what Dial-a-Cab are
implementing on the Net.
When the new site is up-and-running I'll give it a visit and tell you all
about it.
How many of you purchased a new computer for Christmas? I'm sure you must have questions
or problems that need answering. Why not write to the Editor and he'll pass your letters
onto me or visit http://www.taxicab.co.uk and email me.
Well, I suppose I'd better get on with formatting my hard-drive now. Hope you all have a
prosperous 1998.
Vince Chin |
