Changes on the Way
Still Alive (Just)
Writing this, I've just arrived home from a
spell in hospital following a short and sudden illness that, had
it not been treated in time, might have taken my life. But we
Greens are of hardy stock and I plan to live to a great age.
Serious as it was this was just a bump in the road.
Nevertheless, it has helped put a few things into perspective
for me and helped me sort out some priorities, one of which was
to embark upon a major update of my web site.
Watch This Space
When I started building this site Microsoft
Office 97 was new and many of the tutorials were written as they
applied to that incarnation of Microsoft Office. Although most
still apply today, Microsoft Office 2010 is an entirely
different beast with a revised user interface and many new
features. I'm aware that some of my tutorials don't work or have
to be adapted to suit the newest versions of Office. I've also
learnt a bit more over the years. So I have a big job to do. One
by one I am going to rewrite all of my tutorials and thoroughly
check them for compatibility with the current version of
Microsoft Office. That includes updating all the screenshots
too. Quite an undertaking! As the work progresses all my links
will point to the updated versions but the originals will not
disappear. There will be links to the original versions for
those who still use the older versions of the programs.
Always Studying
In this business you never stop learning. My
latest study project is Microsoft's latest web design program
called Microsoft Expression 4. It's a hugely powerful program
and replaces Microsoft FrontPage, the program I've used to build
and maintain this site almost from the start. The final version
was Microsoft FrontPage 2003 and I've been using it happily ever
since its release. So, once again it has been a trip to Amazon
for a pile of books and endless hours studying online tutorials.
As always there's a steep learning curve but for me it's all
part of the fun!
Stupid (not to be read by those of a sensitive
disposition!)
Not long ago I received an email from some guy
berating me for using Microsoft FrontPage and wondering why I
wasn't ashamed to admit it by displaying the logo you see at the
foot of this page. According to him you weren't a real man (my
words) unless you used Dreamweaver. I really don't know why he
bothered to tell me this. I teach people to use Microsoft
applications and I work as a Microsoft application developer. It
would be natural for me to use FrontPage because it did, and
still does, everything I need. Anyway, when I first started
building web pages neither program existed and I wrote my pages
in HTML in Notepad when he was still in short pants. I was
tempted to tell him this but instead his email went into the
bin.
I get similar comments from people about
Microsoft Access. Surely any sane person would use Microsoft SQL
Server or (God forbid) Oracle. SQL Server is a fine program and
I have a fair grasp of it. It is the world leader in server
based database management systems. But Microsoft Access is
simply the best desktop database there is. No argument. If you
want to build a database for a small workgroup it's ideal, and
when you want to roll it out worldwide the transition to SQL
Server is easy.
If you get comments like this from those who
think they know better remember, this is just a variation on the
"I've got a bigger car than you" or "I've got a better phone
than you" (jeez!). What they are really saying is "I've got a
bigger p*nis than you" and if they spent less time playing with
it maybe they wouldn't make such stupid comments. So be like me,
the next time some ar*ehole tries to put you down just tell them
to f**k off!
Keep dancing!
10 August 2011
©2011 Martin Green. All rights
reserved.
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