THIS WEEK: Trick or treat

[WhatIs]

June 10, 2002 >> Receive this email as text  >> About this e-mail  In this Issue >> Conferencing technologies: Trick or Treat >> Featured topic from SearchWebmanagement: Web server management tools >> Reader Feedback: Watch out for those flying posts   Trick or Treat by Margaret Rouse, Assistant Editor When my kids were small, they couldn't wait for me to come home from conferences. They knew I'd be loaded up with goodies from all the vendors. I'd watch people to see which vendor was giving out the biggest shopping bag and then go from booth to booth chatting up vendors and picking up t-shirts, disposable cameras, a coffee cup or two, bouncing glow balls, mouse pads, bubble wands, software demo's, baseball caps, Frisbees, and of course, candy. When I'd get back home, the kids would pour the contents of my bag out on the floor and sort through it, just like they'd did with their own bags on Halloween. In their eyes, a good conference was one where I got good stuff. It's fortunate that my kids are all grown up because I rarely go to conferences anymore. Instead, I often take advantage of Webcasts to find out the latest/greatest whatever. I can work remotely and meet with the whatis.com team by teleconferencing. There's even videoconferencing equipment set up in my office. In fact, there's so much technology available to me that I could probably stay current without ever going to a conference again. Except that I would lose something by not attending workshops and conferences in person. Something besides all those goodies from the vendors. I know money is tight. No one wants to travel unnecessarily. And don't get me wrong. I don't want to go back to the days when we were road warriors racking up miles in an effort to keep up with the latest/greatest. I just have this nagging feeling that I'm just not taking away what I would if I was "really" there instead of "virtually" there. (And I 'm not talking about the coffee mug or t-shirt.) This week we'd like to know what you think of conferencing technologies. Is it a treat to be able to save time and meet with your colleagues remotely? Or do you feel tricked and cheated because you don't get as much out of it as the people who are really there. And how about the technology itself? Is your conferencing technology dependable? Can you always hear (or see) what's going on? And then there's the big question. When is it an effective use of technology to meet remotely? When is it not? Drop us a note. Or better yet, stop by our discussion forum and share your thoughts. We're not vendors, but we are giving away a few baseball caps to people who take the time to stop by the forum and chat us up. (Are you smiling?) See you in the forum! LEARN MORE: teleconference http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213111,00.html videoconference http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213291,00.html Webcast http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213344,00.html Attend a Webcast: Telework Success Strategies for the Virtual Employee http://searchebusiness.techtarget.com/onlineEventsTranscriptSecurity/1,289693,sid19_gci533415,00.html  Featured Site: SearchWebManagement Web server management tools Got security, performance or other server management issues? There's probably a tool out there that can help. SearchWebServices invites you to use their resources on Web server utilities to see if you can find the answer to your biggest Web management headache. Did you know that each month SearchWebManagement runs a contest called "Crack the hacker"? In this month's episode, Company Beta mysteriously gets a call from law enforcement asking why Beta's computers were breaking into other governments' networks. Better put on your thinking cap.  Help solve this month's "Crack the Hacker".  Reader Feedback: Watch out for those flying posts by Lowell Thing, Editor Monday was "Post time!" and it really did feel a bit like the Kentucky Derby as the first few hours after last week's e-mail arrived, readers burst out of the logic gates in their heads, began to pound those keyboards, and whipped and spurred words of praise, questions, and human dilemmas over to our new forum pages. At least 30 or 40 of you crossed the finish line. We hope to hear from more of you. Here were some of last week's posts: tuttlebob wrote: "Has anyone read or seen anything about WHO has been putting out some of these latest viruses?" The links people sent in response made for some interesting reading. FredIT07 asked: "I'm scheduled to be downsized by IBM Global Services next month. I've heard that the job market is bad. How bad is it?" He heard back from 10 other readers, some of whom have been unemployed for longer than they'd planned. PurplePearlC5 had a question: "I have limited experience in Frontpage and I'm trying to find out how to create a "members only" area in our web site." Several people responded helpfully. We also heard about the kibi, a DNS configuration issue, glocalization, and the MCSE. Where we could, we referred people to some of our other TechTarget forums and suggested they repost their question there as well. (Once you take the time to register for one TechTarget forum, you can talk in all of them.) And some people sent compliments. GreenNewbie said: "Whatis.com's services and partners have become part of my morning starting point, right next to my 20 oz. coffee and banana." It made our day. A challenge Margaret Rouse posted began: "If Scott wasn't already going bald, he'd be tearing his hair out," and went on to ask whether company trainers should have the authority to install and use certain applications and devices in their computer systems. Feel free to tell her what you think. Toward the end of our first forum week, the posts slowed way down, possibly became a little moody as Friday settled in (there was a lot of rain on the east coast of the U.S.), and the editors became a little moody themselves, tapping their fingers and toes, dreaming up forum promotion campaigns. Basically, although no longer the tabula rasa of last week, we found the forum sitting quietly, waiting for some human beings to give it more meaning, an enormous potential momentarily at rest. Do we detect another flurry of minds out there?  Isn't there anything that's worrying you just a little bit?     This e-mail is brought to you by TechTarget where you can get relevant search results from over 19 industry-specific Web sites.  Whatis.com contacts: Lowell Thing, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Margaret Rouse, Assistant Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) To unsubscribe from Updates on new site content: >> Simply Reply to this Email with REMOVE within the Body or Subject -OR- >> Go to: http://WhatIs.techtarget.com/register/1,,sid9,00.html    - Log in to edit your profile.    - Click on the link to Edit email subscriptions.    - Uncheck the box next to the newsletter you wish to unsubscribe from    - When finished, click "Save Changes to My Profile". Copyright 2002 TechTarget, Inc. All rights reserved.