What's New?

For legal and Web updates, please visit the relocated news site at Consultwebs.com News:

August 6, 1999

I'm surprised there isn't more written (there will be) about Microsoft's consideration of free Internet Access. Shares of America Online fell 4 percent on concern that Microsoft will cut or eliminate its Internet access fees in a move that could hurt AOL's revenue.

Microsoft currently offers free HotMail E-mail, viewable from a browser and allowing attachments HotMail and is now giving away free 12MB "consumer" home pages MSFT Free Consumer pages. I couldn't resist signing up to check it out. My quickie template page is located at Dale's Page. You will be able to remember that URL, won't you?

This has enormous ramifications for ISP's (yikes!! - free from MSFT is tough to beat), Web designers (yes!!! - very positive, since growth will be fueled), and investors (what do we do now?)

There are drawbacks to Microsoft's offerings. I prefer having "all" of my mail come into my mailbox without having to go to a browser and wait while ads fly by. I feel that most ISP's have better offerings and software tools, CGI scripts, etc., and a designer/consultant can get a page off the ground quicker and with higher quality. An amateurish effort hurts more than helps. Obviously, a short URL is preferable to a 50 or 60 character URL. However, many consumers won't get past the "free." The positive side is that many children and adults will have an affordable method of obtaining access to the Internet highway and Web page design. HotmailDale

June 14, 1999

American Lawyer Media Network Law News reports A growing torrent of frivolous litigation sanctions imposed on Albany attorney Andrew F. Capoccia reached flood tide when Albany City Judge Leslie E. Stein awarded sanctions totalling $850,000 in 87 separate, but similar, debt collection cases last week. In one order, Judge Stein cited sanctions imposed on Mr. Capoccia by judges across the state, and said the penalty was necessary to deter "a pattern of conduct by the Capoccia Law Firm which exhibits a complete disregard for the judicial system, in tying up its limited resources and preventing the system from addressing legitimate disputes, by bombarding it with meritless claims and defenses, apparently as some sort of tactic, the aim of which is to coerce settlement from the adversaries of its clients."

June 7, 1999

Timex reports that its two-year-old Web site was originated in order to display its almost 300 watches. Advantages obtained included the ability to show more watches than their stores could display and "huge margins." Start-up costs were less than $100,000 with sales of $6,000,000, doubling annually in an industry that has been relatively stagnant. Editor: I find this interesting. Where else could they spend $100,000 and achieve these results as well as miniscule on-going maintenance costs.

June 7, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Website for A. Brothers Associates , a Raleigh, North Carolina full-service design firm that specializes in innovative and communicative environments such as World Fair pavilions, tradeshow exhibits and corporate showrooms. A. Brothers offers their clients creative, efficient design solutions at competitive prices.

June 1, 1999

Nine of the world's leading PC manufacturers and technology suppliers have announced several resources aimed at clarifying hardware issues for PC users surrounding the coming century change. Called the PC Y2000 Alliance, the group seeks to help end users by describing Year 2000 (Y2K) PC hardware compliance in everyday language, as well as providing a suggested Y2K roadmap for system compliance which includes software and data. The Alliance is comprised of Acer, American Megatrends, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Phoenix Technologies and Toshiba. ClickNet, Intel, Microsoft, NSTL and Symantec also support this effort. Visit the site at PC Y2000 Alliance.

May 24, 1999

HP releases a sub-$600 PC. An Andover News report states that Hewlett-Packard's new HP Pavilion 4530 multimedia PC -- on store shelves today -- is set to debut at an initial manufacturer's suggested retail price of $599(1) (U.S.) This is the first time HP has introduced a home PC priced below $600. The HP Pavilion 4530 PC is powered by an AMD K6-2 350MHz processor, 4GB Ultra DMA hard-disk drive, 32MB SDRAM, 32x Max CD-ROM drive, 56Kbps fax/data modem with V.90 technology, Polk Audio stereo speakers and a one-touch multimedia keyboard.

May 19, 1999

Microsoft's IE has passed Netscape's Navigator as the No. 1 browser among corporate users, with 59 percent of 308 offices using Internet Explorer, according to a browser study by Zona Research. Also see Wired for additional information on the report.

May 18, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Website for Network South, Inc. , a Raleigh, North Carolina full-service telecommunications interconnect company.

May 14, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a brochure Website for Dickerson Pressure Wash , a Raleigh, North Carolina company that provides power washing and restoration services for houses, decks, driveways, sidewalks, fences, awnings and mobile homes.

April 28, 1999

Law News Network.com reports that The American Bar Association has given its seal of approval to the use of e-mail to transmit client documents. Under most circumstances, a lawyer does not violate a client's confidentiality by transmitting documents via unencrypted electronic mail, the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility concluded in an ethics opinion announced last week. The actual ABA opinion is now available. See ABAnet Journal Technology News for an article entitled Red-letter Day for E-Mail - Client communication on Internet not ethics breach

April 29, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Website makeover for the National Legal Research Group , an organization that has served the legal community throughout the nation by providing high quality, cost effective research, analysis and writing since 1969.

April 26, 1999

Appeals court outlaws clandestine trick used in e-commerce. Nando Times reports in the Technology News Section that a federal appeals court outlawed a stealth weapon in the Internet commerce wars by forbidding companies from using their rivals' trademarks to steal business. The ruling involves the practice of including a competitors' trademark or brand name in an Internet site, either as the address or through what are known as "meta-tags." Brookfield Communication Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that sells entertainment industry software. In a suit filed last year, it accused West Coast Entertainment of infringing on its trademark, "MovieBuff." Brookfield said the company, one of the nation's largest video rental chains, improperly took the Web address www.moviebuff.com and included it in the coding.

April 24, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed Websites for Europa Designs, llc and Commercial Marble and Tile. Europa Designs is a leading East Coast importer and distributor of ceramic tile and accessories. Commercial Marble and Tile has been installing ceramic tile and marble in both custom and tract homes in the Triangle for more than 15 years.

April 21, 1999

In a news story, CNET News.com reports that America Online is among five companies that today were named as "testbed" competitors to Network Solutions in the lucrative business of registering ".com," ".net," and ".org" domain names. ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the new non-profit corporation that was formed to take over responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions now performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities.

April 14, 1999

Microsoft has updated the Web information pages for the next release of Microsoft® BackOffice® Small Business Server, version 4.5, will be available during the second quarter of this year. It is the network solution for small business designed specifically to address the needs of companies with 50 or fewer workstations. It is easy to install, manage, and use, and presents Technology Providers, Consultants, and Resellers with compelling sales opportunities, both as an off-the-shelf product and as a platform for custom solutions. To offer Small Business Server 4.0 customers several very important and compelling benefits, such as fast, secure Internet access and resolution to known Microsoft Year 2000 Compliance issues, the version upgrade from Small Business Server 4.0 to 4.5 will be offered at no cost (shipping and handling costs will apply). See Preview Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5 for more information.

March 27, 1999

For news on a new "Melissa" that virus infects Microsoft Word documents using Visual Basic for Applications -- the built-in scripting language in the Microsoft Office suite, visit - the NetSmart, bulletin board. The virus has three main actions:
It infects Word and spreads to all Word documents you open.
It changes some settings to ease infection.
It e-mails itself using Microsoft Outlook, masquerading as a message from you.
Also visit the bulletin board for other information including news on Corel. This includes Corel's recent financial results, a PC World Corel 2000 review, and Corel's upcoming 2000 Roadshow.

March 26, 1999

Amid controversy, Network Solutions has quietly closed the Internic.net domain and moved everything to the Network Solutions domain. See the following CCN article for more information. The whois search is now located at Make Changes.

February 24, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Web site for The Law Offices of Thomas N. Barefoot, a Raleigh, North Carolina plaintiff litigation law firm.

February 19, 1999

The Happy99.exe worm (often called a virus) is real and causing widespread damage. See our Client Bulletin Board for more information on Happyy99.exe and removal instructions.

February 19, 1999

CNET, February 18, 1999, published a Pentium III part of software DSL modems article discussing Itex's "software" modem, which uses the power of the main processor rather than the separate microprocessor and memory normally required by a standalone DSL modem device. This drives down cost, using the new Pentium III's 70 new instructions that programs can use to speed multimedia and communications functions. The "host-based" DSL modem can download data at speeds reaching 1.5 mbps (megabits per second) and send data at a rate of 512 kbps (kilobits per second). Both speeds are many times quicker than current dial-up modems. The article also links to an interesting article on Intel's cable modem initiatives.

February 5, 1999

PC World, February 5, 1999, has published an ISP Support Satisfaction Survey Results (chart) AT&T was rated number. BellSouth was ranked number eight. Microsoft ranked fourteenth. AOL ranked fifteenth. Web host providers are not rated in the article.

February 4, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a "shell" Web site for McDonald-York.com, a leading Raleigh, North Carolina general contracting, construction management, and design-build firm. NetSmart, Inc., often designs the foundation or shell of sites. This approach allows the client to add filler material and additional pages as desired.

February 3, 1999

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Web site for Eddie Caldwell and David Ferrell of Hafer, McNamara, Caldwell, Cutler & Curtner, P.A. NetSmart, Inc., also installed designed and installed sophisticated WordPerfect macros custom programmed by Gerald Kumpf that were designed to reduce the time spent distributing reports to multiple clients.

January 9, 1999

PC prices continue to drop. Compaq has released an under $2,000 server with 350-MHz Pentium II processor, with 64MB of memory, a 10/100 network card, and a 32X CD-ROM drive. Compaq Ships Sub-$1500 Server - IBM has released a $1599 for an entry-level ThinkPad, and $999 for a new Aptiva built around an AMD K6-2 350-MHz processor.

January 8, 1998

What's happening in the world of Internet Commerce? On-line holiday spending grew nearly 200%. Some good sources of information include The Electronic Commerce Guide which has articles on "Who Shopped" in 1998 and other trends. Year Ends on a High Note for E-Commerce - Retailers report strong sales continuing after the holiday crush is a good article to review. Some top e-commerce sites include MICROSOFT EXPEDIA - The best travel site: reserve hotels, rent cars, get flight info- schedules & costs, weather sites, currency converter, travel tips forum. All you need for travelling! Other travel sites include Travelocity and Travel Web. 2. E*TRADE - Access a wealth of individual stock data, up-to-the-minute stock quotes, performance history charts and earning estimates. Other sites in this field: Charles Swabb & Co. 3. GE TRADING PROCESS NETWORK - A network that links suppliers and buyers of industrial commodities. 4. AMAZON BOOKS - An online bookstore that offers more than 1.1 million titles. 5. MANHEIM ONLINE - A network for used automobile dealers.

December 17, 1998

Katsuey and NetSmart,'s Legal Resource Links have been written up in Lawyer's Technology Magazine. Entitled, "Free Research on the Internet", the article encourages readers to "Save time and frustration with Katsuey's Legal Links a fast, organized and economical way of researching anything related to your cases or clients. Full article: Legal Technology.

December 1, 1998

Our friend and NetSmart, Web site companion, Gerald Kumpf (see September 28th below) has received another Corel macro award in the Business Solutions division 1998 Gallery of Winners. Gerald's LTRFRMTR.WCM macro tracks the particulars of letters generated for all legal cases processed by Less, Getz & Lipman, of Memphis, Tenn. See Corel's 1998 Gallery of Winners for a description of his winning - Legal Case Correspondence Management Macro. Gerald may be reached at glkumpf@aol.com or through info@netsmartinc.com.

November 29, 1998

For some time, we have planned a Humor Page. Less important items, such as real work, have kept us from our goal. Finally, a collection of our favorites are listed. We invite your contributions and comments.

November 19, 1998

Corel has released Corel® WordPerfect® Suite 8 Service Pack 5. This patch will update English versions of Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 Professional, and Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 - Legal Edition to Program Release 8.0.0.611. For more information about this update please Click here.

November 16, 1998

Cyrix Unveils Groundbreaking WebPAD Conceptual Design; Demonstrates Proof-of-Concept for Low-Cost, Portable Web-Browsing Device That Could Enable Mass Adoption of Internet Access. See Andover News for the article.

November 16, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has designed and installed a Web site for The Healthcare Resource. The Healthcare Resource is a company whose mission is to build, Manage and marketing healthcare practices. Visit their Web site at The Healthcare Resource.

November 16, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Web site for HealthCare Business Management, L.L.P. HealthCare Business Management is a network of business professionals whose mission is to build, sustain and promote business operations of healthcare providers in the ever-changing healthcare industry. Visit their Web site at HealthCare Alert.

November 3, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a new Web site for Yonkers Industries, Inc. Yonkers Industries is a Cary, North Carolina based, construction services company that provides world-wide pre-construction services, construction management, program management, project support personnel, project support services and start-up, commissioning & validation support. Dale Tincher was Webmaster for the project.

November 3, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a custom, Microsoft Access based invoicing, job tracking, and reporting program for The Woolf Group. The system is installed on the Woolf Group's Microsoft NT network and integrates with existing programs including Microsoft Excel. Joyce Nance was project manager for the system.

November 3, 1998

More affordable legal research? In a pair of related decisions November 3, 1998, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected most all of West's copyright claims, including the star pagination claim. Also, see U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals - MATTHEW BENDER & CO. v WEST PUBLISHING CO. for additional detail. According to one knowledgeable industry source, the decision is about the pagination issue. It is about having to purchase West books in order to be able to cite authority to the courts. Many courts require citing to the actual page number where your authority lies. For 150 years, West has held this information. This decision threatens that market and opens the door for the "little guys" like HyperLaw and VersusLaw.

October 30, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has completed a Web site enhancement for Environmental Insight, attorney and Ph.D. James M. Kuscaj's monthly newsletter about environmental compliance issues in North Carolina and location for comprehensive information about complying with the various notification and reporting requirements of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 ["EPCRA" or SARA Title III] 42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq. Dale Tincher was Webmaster for the project.

October 29, 1998

Would you like to compare digital line pricing, plus obtain local ISP pricing and capability (limited ISP's)? Try Telco Express' Pricing Tool at Telco Express.

October 16, 1998

Microsoft unveils Office 2000 lineup; Premium Suite to include FrontPage 2000, PhotoDraw 2000. See Microsoft Office for further more information.

September 29, 1998

Dale Tincher has been awarded the August winner in the TechnoLawyer TechnoPost writing competition for an article on Internet Legal Research. To view the article, a product of his collaboration with Peggie Brown, see TechnoLawyer. Also visit the article written by Dale Tincher and Peggie Brown on their take on the Internet's evolvement and future in the area of legal research.

September 28, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., is pleased to welcome Gerald Kumpf to our site. Gerald is one of the top WordPerfect macro programmers in America. Among Gerald's accomplishments is being one the winners of the Corel World Design macro winners. Gerald has a list of macros that he has developed. He is available for assignments/projects. Gerald's email address is glkumpf@aol.com or you may reach him by contacting info@netsmartinc.com.

September 18, 1998

Domain Name Registration - The National Science Foundation has recently transferred authority to the U.S. Department of Commerce to administer the cooperative agreement under which Internet domain name registration services are provided. Commerce will be negotiating directly with Network Solutions to effect a smooth transition from government oversight to more competitive, private sector management of Internet issues. See Andover News for the article.

September 16, 1998

PROVO, Utah -- September 14, 1998 -- Novell, Inc. today announced that NetWare®5 began shipping to customers last week, more than 10 days earlier than previously announced. According to an article in Computer Daily News, Novell NetWare 5.0 will be the last NetWare. Novell will no longer provide its flagship NetWare product through major system releases, the company revealed in Sydney, Australia on Wednesday. Instead, the product will be continually upgraded with downloadable modules.

September 16, 1998

Microsoft Office Service Release 2 (SR-2) is now available for download to Microsoft Office update members. Office 97 SR-2 is a free update for Office 97, consisting of a series of recent fixes and designed to make it even easier for customers to deploy Office 97. SR-2 includes currently available downloads such as the Excel 97 for Windows Auto-Recalculation Patch. Visit The Microsoft Office Update Page for the download and information. Be prepared, the download is large at 25.144 MB.

September 16, 1998

Are you ready for a network at home using regular telephone lines as your wiring? USA Today reports that chipmaker Intel will produce a single chip to facilitate low-cost computer networks for the home. The chip, expected in personal computers early next year, will for the first time use existing telephone lines. By having a home network, multiple PC users can share computer files, play computer games against each other, share printers and access the Internet at the same time through one Internet account. Intel didn't release pricing, but analysts don't expect it to add more than $100 to home PC prices.

September 15, 1998

NetSmart, In The News: We have had the good fortune to have been in the legal news several times in the past few months. Watch for a special announcement September 18th, on a legal research article we have written. Our NetSmart, Technical Articles have been published in the New York Law Journal, The Internet Lawyer, TechnoLawyer, The North Carolina Bar Association Law Practice Management Section and local legal publications. Dale Tincher's article, A Tale Of Two Attorneys was recommended in the July issue Law Journal Extra and the August issue of Leader Publications' Legal Tech Newsletter. Our web site was referenced by The National Law Journal in the August 1998 issue. The Katsuey Kat Legal Resource Links were named an ABA cite-station in July; referenced in Law Journal Extra's August Internet Newsletter; recommended in the September, Leader Publications, "Legal Tech" newsletter; and covered in the September, Legal Assistant Today magazine. Dale Tincher has been quoted in the July 15 edition of the Lawyers PC and August issue of The National Law Journal and Law Journal Extra. Please let us know if you would like access to any of the materials.

September 14, 1998

Are the cheap rates for Internet phone calls going away? A USA Today article entitled "U S West plans Net calling fees", states that U S West is the second local phone company with plans to charge companies that carry long-distance phone calls over the Internet the same fees traditional long-distance companies must pay. The move could narrow the cost savings enjoyed by people making Internet calls. BellSouth several weeks ago announced plans to do the same thing, prompting analysts to say it will be a test case for federal regulators.

September 12, 1998

The Raleigh News & Observer, September 12, 1998, Business Section, reports that The Triangle (North Carolina) has been rated the country's best metopolitan area for small business, acccording to a new ranking by Dun & Bradstreet. The Charlotte area was number 5. The ranking categories included entrepreneurial activity, small-business growth, economic growth, business failure rate and the cost of doing business.

September 7, 1998

Updates have been made to our Services Page and our Katsuey Legal Research page. The legal research links now include family law, real estate, business and corporate, and several other additions.

September 7, 1998

Compaq, among other announcements this week, is expected to release an entry level Armada with a 233MHz Mobile Pentium II processor, 32 Mbytes of RAM, a 3.2 Gigabyte hard drive, a 56 Kbps modem, a 24X CD-ROM drive, a 12.1 inch dual scan color display and Win95, priced at $1,999. See CRN for the article.

September 6, 1998

This is old news, but is a frequently requested opinion. The Legal Ethics and Legal Costs: ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 can be found at http://www.lawcost.com/opine.htm The LawCost Management Group's site

August 21, 1998

A Raleigh News & Observer article "Tumbling PC Prices a drag to Intel" August 22, 1998 (Associated Press), page 6D, states that "Because of the sharp drop in PC prices, nearly one out of every two U.S. families are expected to own a desktop machine by year end."

August 17, 1998

For a good overview of the Microsoft Office 2000 beta, see Office 2000: Time To Re-Think Your Net Strategy? By Gregg Keizer

August 7, 1998

FCC Aims To Clear Congestion On Information Superhighway Nando.net reports that Telecommuters face traffic jams, too -- on the Internet. Federal regulators want to clear the snarl by enticing companies to build high-speed connections to homes. As one incentive, the Federal Communications Commission proposed Thursday that the regional Bell telephone companies and other major local phone providers, such as GTE, be given some regulatory relief in the delivery of high-speed data services. "We should have a sense of urgency about this," said FCC Chairman Bill Kennard. "What the American consumer wants and needs today is more bandwidth from multiple providers."

August 5, 1998

USA Today - House toughens online copyright. The House of Representatives passed by unanimous voice vote Tuesday a bill strengthening copyright protections on the Internet and in other digital forms. Filmmakers, musicians and publishers had asked Congress for additional digital copyright measures. The bill ratifies two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties and could spur online content and electronic commerce. See USA Today for the article.

August 4, 1998

Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS98-008)- Microsoft has issued an alert and made an update available for a long filename security issue affecting Microsoft Outlook 98 and Microsoft Outlook Express 4.x. See our Bulletin Board for excerpts or view Microsoft's bulletin. Please call if we can be of assistance.

July 29, 1998

8:05am 28.Jul.98.PDT Michael Cowpland, chief executive of money-losing software-maker Corel, is being investigated by Canada's leading securities regulator for selling C$20.5 million (US$13.7 million) in stock a month before the company's share price plunged. See Wired News.

July 29, 1998

See Wendy Liebowitz's article entitled Today's Toughest Tech Decisions: Roads Diverge on Upgrade Paths. The article succinctly discusses the Word and WordPerfect dilemma in which many firms find themselves. Wendy ended the article with a quote from NetSmart, Legal Consulting Manager, Dale Tincher.

July 22, 1998

LinkExchange and Microsoft Team up to promote E-Commerce: Microsoft Site Builder Network Selects LinkExchange E-Commerce service to help small businesses build online stores Andover News Top Stories.

July 22, 1998

Time Matters has released Maintenance Release 4 (MR 4), available without additional cost to all licensed Time Matters 2.0 users. A list of improvements is available at Time Matters Maintenance Release 4. User comments have been extremely favorable.

July 22, 1998

Software Technology TABS Release 9 is currently being sent to clients. The feedback and features are impressive. Please choose the URL below to see a list of features. STI TABS Release 9.

July 15, 1998

Compaq points to Cheap PC's as Most Profitable in an Andover News Top Story.

June 29, 1998

USA Today, July 1, 1998 reports that a number of major PC vendors are issuing warnings to customers, advising them to delay upgrading to Windows 98 until patches and BIOS updates are done. Please see the article below for further information. I (Dale Tincher) updated my home system and it went very well. Please see for my brief summary of the experience. See our Bulletin Board for a series of Windows 98 articles.

June 29, 1998

Katsuey Kat's Legal Links' page, one the best on the web, is being hosted by NetSmart, Inc., at Katsuey's Legal Resource Links. More than 23 categories with several hundred links are available on the page.

June 23, 1998

Online purchases seen soaring over next five years. This is reported on Excite's Wired Technology News - SAN FRANCISCO (Wired) - Online purchases of goods and services will explode to $54 billion by 2002 from $4.3 billion in 1997, a joint study by International Data Corp. and RelevantKnowledge said. The report, released Tuesday, also predicted that the number of people reading the from their homes will leap to 102 million by 2002, from about 30 million last year.

May 21, 1998

BellSouth announces that ASDL service to 7 cities beginning August/September 1998, one of which is the Triangle NC area. BellSouth.net FastAccessSM Service uses Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology which provides the fastest Internet access for your home or office using your existing copper telephone line - up to 50 times faster! How fast is it? A FastAccess equipped phone line and computer enable speeds up to 50 times faster than conventional (28.8 Kbps) modems. The increased capability allows you to access large amounts of data in significantly less time. For instance, the download time for a typical large Web site with many graphics: Conventional modem:   1.15 minutes Using FastAccess:   1.5 seconds. To see if you are in the ASDL area, see BellSouth.net's City Availability page. See adsl.com for a wealth of ADSL information. The initial roll-out will be for "residential" users. January 1999 - A word of warning - few people, even those in "qualified" neighborhoods, are qualifying for ADSL. Two of us from NetSmart, have tried and were told our telephone lines aren't up to the required standard.

May 18, 1998

We are pleased to announce that we have been advised that we are on of three consultants who will be under contract by the North Carolina Bar Association to provide consulting to members of the North Carolina Bar Association. The contract specifies favorable rates, performance criteria, and performance guidelines for Association members.

May 17, 1998

MS Office 9 personal and group productivity suite will get a makeover in its next release, code-named Office 9, which will let users create and collaborate on HTML-based documents and will include a set of ActiveX controls that let users interact with Office documents using their Web browsers. Office 9 is scheduled to enter beta this summer and to ship by the end of the year. The biggest change in Office will be the embrace of HTML as the primary file format. (Reported in http://www.internetwk.com May 11, 1998). This is an exciting addition for web users and developers.

May 17, 1998

Dale Tincher's article on "Squashing Spam" was published in The Internet Lawyer, an International subscription Internet periodical. Portions of the article were quoted in the Lawyer's PC July 15, 1998.

May 2, 1998

Ken George and Dale Tincher were named co-winners of the 5/1/98 TechnoPost Award presented by the TechnoLawyer ListServer. TechnoLawyer, managed by Neil Squillante, Esq., is reportedly the Internet's fastest growing legal ListServer. The Article "E-mail, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" focuses on E-mail's cultural evolution, its strengths, weaknesses and areas of concern.

April 30, 1998

The Corel WordPerfect 8 Legal Edition will be shipping on Monday, May 4 and will be on shelves or available through distributors by May 15. NetSmart, Inc., has an advanced copy and will be presenting it at the North Carolina Bar Association May 6th. Please call for our analysis. Click on WordPerfect 8 Legal for a description of WordPerfect 8 Legal Edition.

April 21, 1998

In the first U.S. court of appeals decision on trademark dilution of domain names, the Ninth Circuit on Friday (April 17, 1998) (see Panavision International v. Toeppen (cyber-squatter case) available on Westlaw (1998 WL 178553)) affirmed the Central District of California's 1996 decision in Panavision v. Toeppen, concluding that well-known cyber-squatter Dennis Toeppen made commercial use of Panavision's trademarks and diluted those marks. The Ninth Circuit also affirmed the district court's decision finding that Toeppen was subject to personal jurisdiction in California even though he resided in Illinois. The case is also available in newspaper archives.

April 16, 1998

Are you concerned about the Year 2000 situation? We should be. Microsoft has developed a Year 2000 Web site which states that more than one-third of the products listed on this Web site, including past and present iterations of Internet Explorer, suffer from Y2K defects (though most are minor). Please see this page for a listing of Y2K resources and Microsoft products in question.

April 14, 1998

GTE announced Monday that Durham, NC will be among the initial areas where, this summer, it will begin offering consumers, businesses, universities and Internet service providers "always-on" high-speed ADSL Internet access and remote office connectivity service that helps boost connection speeds to the Internet at rates up to 50 times faster than conventional modems. GTE will offer several packages of service, beginning at $30 per month for a package geared toward people who work at home or like to surf the net at speeds of 256Kilobits per second. The high end will cost $250 per month for business users to connect at the fastest speed of 1.5 megabits per second, or 50 times faster than conventional modems. GTE today announced that it will begin offering consumers, businesses, universities and Internet service providers "always-on" high-speed Internet access and remote office connectivity service that helps boost connection speeds to the Internet at rates up to 50 times faster than conventional modems. See GTE's web site for more detail. All five regional Bells also plan to offer ADSL.

April 10, 1998

Washington, DC, APR. 8 (The Content Factory) - Electronic mail has overtaken the telephone as the primary means of business communication, according to a survey of more than 400 Human Resources executives attending an American Management Association conference in New York City. Thirty-six percent of surveyed executives say they use e-mail most often of any communications tool, while 26 percent report using the telephone most frequently and 15 percent cite face-to-face meetings. See Andover for more detail.

April 9, 1998

Microsoft and Intel collaborate on car and television technology. Applications for in-car computing, such as voice-activated navigation, hands-free voice/data telephony, driver information and entertainment for drivers and passengers, will soon be realized through the combined efforts of Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft and Intel will work together to provide an integrated platform for broadcasting interactive television content to PCs and other devices. To further this objective, Intel’s Intercast® software will be integrated into appropriate Microsoft® products, starting with the WebTV® for Windows® feature of the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system.

April 7, 1998

Our web page recorded over 100 hits per workday during the past week. We are pleased to see its usage increase and we thank you for visiting.

April 7, 1998

NetSmart, Inc., has developed a sophisticated Secure Shopping Cart System for Medfaxx, Inc., of Raleigh, North Carolina. The system allows for Secure Credit Card on-line purchases as well as mail and fax ordering of health products.

April 2, 1998

Novell is dropping support for almost 200 products including Softsolutions up to 4.0a (4.1 is supported), WordPerfect Office to 4.0a.

March 26, 1998

Free Windows Tips On-Line Magazine A gold mine of useful tips to help you get more out of Windows 95, 98, NT, 3.1, CE, IE 4.0, and a host of other Windows applications. More than 2,500 tips arranged by category.

March 24, 1998

Best Search Engine? Digital Equipment Corporation's powerful AltaVista Search Service altavista.digital.com was voted by Internet users as the number-one search engine on the Web in user loyalty and accuracy of search results, according to a recent online survey by The NPD Group, Inc. (Port Washington, NY), a leading U.S. market research firm.

March 20, 1998

The rapidly circulating E-mails regarding the "Win A Free Holiday" can be ignored. The reported Virus Is A Hoax. Most are, but you need to be careful, use virus software, and/or save attachments to diskette to run through virus software if you don't know the source. (Also, keep your virus software up to date). See Symantec's Hoax Page and McAfee's Hoax page. These pages list virus hoaxes and also have great virus explanations, prevention techniques, and allow potential virus submissions.

March 19, 1998

Microsoft '97 Update Pages Are Available. Obtain Enhancements, Tips, E-mail Updates. (Warning - Site Is Sometimes Slooowww.. To Load)

March 16, 1998

Client Bulletin Board Has Been Added. You Can Post Questions, Answers Or Look For Solutions Through These Frequently Asked Questions.

March 16, 1998

Internic Domain Registration The price for domain name registration is dropping from $100 for the first two years and $50 per year afterward to $70/$35, effective April 1, 1998. You register a domain name through Internic (see above link). You should register and protect your name if you anticipate having a web page in the near future. We perform the registration for our clients and can assist if you need help. We can host law firms on our "free" http://www.lawyerprofiles.com site and let them obtain their own domain name. This makes it appear the firm has its own site www.yoursite.com and of course, E-mail name (jsmith@yourfirm.com).
To determine if your desired name is still available, go to Internic.net's MakeChanges. Another good domain research site is Consumer Net.

March 12, 1998

Legal Software Pricing Section Is Added

March 11, 1998

Articles Is Updated. Dale Tincher's latest article, being published for the North Carolina Bar Association's Law Practice Management Section Newsletter, is on-line. It is called Your "Own Web Page - Why and How".

March 10, 1998

March 5, 1998

LawLinks Is Updated. A Great Yahoo Compilation of Year 2000 Resources Is Added Along With Other Resouces For Law Firms.

March 4, 1998

USA Today Reprints Excerpts of  Inverse Network Technology's study on ISP performance and Internet performance during the last three months of 1997. BELLSOUTH.net received an A+. Are you curious how AOL did? If you wish a frequent "push" update on Internet performance, plus some great cartoons and tools, subscribe to Andover.net.

Copyright © 1998 NetSmart Inc. All rights reserved.