Issue Number 29 - July 2000

This is a reissue and an update of a book written in 19872 by Harold Evans, former editor of the The Sunday Times. It's a guide for journalists and editors, but anybody with an interest in writing clear prose will find it valuable. Evans concentrates on the skills of producing writing which is succinct, clear, and free from cliche. He offers some amusing lists of bad journalese, and shows how to edit news stories for maximum impact and accuracy. There's also a section on the creation and vocabulary of headlines. This gives interesting examples of conveying the essence of an event in the minimum number of words. Full review at --

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/evans.htm

Quotable quotes
"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside."

Robert X Cringely - 1989

e-TIP: Make A Start-up Disk
When your hard drive is in trouble, or a virus has infected your system, you'll be glad you have that start-up disk for a clean start of your Windows PC. Here's how to make one:

1. Click My Computer -> Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. Click the Start-up Disk tab.
4. Put a blank disk into the disk drive.
5. Click Create Disk.

Harry Potter makes eCommerce history
Amazon.com says it made 'e-commerce history' last Saturday by delivering 250,000 copies of the latest Harry Potter book. The feat marks the largest distribution of one item in a single day, Amazon says. Amazon gave its first 250,000 orders a free upgrade to Saturday delivery, while the customers paid for standard shipping, which usually takes from three days to a week.

The offer saved customers $10 on shipping, and Amazon also took 40 percent off the book's list price. FedEx helped with the deliveries, using the opportunity to test a new home delivery unit geared toward e-commerce. Amazon.co.uk have also promised to deliver in record time.

'How to win as a final-year student'
The sub-title of this new publication from the Open University Press is 'essays, exams and employment'. And the unique selling point of Phil Race's approach is to cover the plurality of problems and choices faced in the final year of undergraduate study. How to revise and get the best results in the exams. Writing your dissertation. Are you ready for post-graduate study? If so - how to choose a topic for research. If not - how to prepare your CV and apply for jobs. It's a practical guide, with lots of tests, checklists, and self-assessment questions.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/race.htm

The Size of the Web - Official
Internet company Cyveillance has released a study, 'Sizing the Internet' that puts the current size of the Web at 2.1 billion 'unique, publicly available pages.' The study further estimated that the Web was growing at more than seven million pages a day and that the highest rate of growth is yet to come.

(Source http://www.researchbuzz.com/)

Prizes for free software movement
The Computer Press Association (CPA) has awarded top honors to Eric S. Raymond for his book 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary'. This is a collection of ground-breaking essays in support of Open Sources - the movement to make software free. It's an idea which has gathered a lot of momentum recently with the success of Linux and its challenge to Microsoft. Linux is a powerful operating system (much more stable than Winows) which you download free from the Internet. To catch up on all these developments, we have a full review of 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' at --

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/raymond.htm