THIS WEEK: Farewell, Lost Discoveries!

[WhatIs]

August 5, 2002 >> Receive this email as text  >> About this e-mail  In this Issue >> From the editor: Farewell, Lost Discoveries! >> Featured topic from SearchSystemsManagement: Storage management >> Reader Feedback: IT ad campaigns   Farewell, Lost Discoveries! by Lowell Thing, Editor For several years now, we've been occasionally featuring a brief review of a Web site we deem to be "Our latest discovery." As our latest discovery becomes merely a previous discovery, we move our review of it further down the page. Effectively, the page called "Our latest discovery" is also the accumulation of all our discoveries, the unofficial whatis.com list of favorite Web sites. As we've been adding these discoveries over the past few years, some of them have found a new business model, gone out of business, changed for other reasons, or mysteriously disappeared -- partly as the result, it appears, of the dotcom disaster and partly just because things change at least as fast on the Web as they do anywhere else. Yesterday, we went back through the entire list to see how many sites still held up -- or even existed, for that matter. (We did occasionally revisit the list, but somehow we hadn't been thorough about it.) We discovered (and this turns out to be our "latest discovery") that of the 75 sites listed, ten (10) had to be "delisted" into what we decided to call "The Archive of Lost Discoveries." Some of the sites actually result in a "404" (in at least one case, the domain name is available); others had changed their purpose in existing; and others perhaps just no longer seemed worth recommending. On our new "Our latest discovery" page, we explain what happened; we also have made some minor updates to our reviews of sites still worth recommending. Our saddest discovery was that Learn2.com, once one of the Web's most popular sites for its engaging, yet useful, tutorials, is no longer with us as we knew it. (A brief pause here to contemplate its passing.) On the other hand, 65 of the first 75 sites we discovered are as recommendable as ever. Also, it may be worth reminding ourselves: The World Wide Web is young yet. We've entered a new era and there are more eras yet to come. Meanwhile, we'll keep sharing "Our latest discovery" with you at: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci331047,00.html  Featured Site: SearchSystemsManagement Featured Topic: Managing storage Storing data is at the heart of all companies. SearchSystemsManagement has put together some useful links that represent the most recent and most effective storage resources to help systems managers and administrators complete this critical task easily and efficiently. Learn more about managing storage Improve your mind in 3 days -- and save your sanity while you're at it! Networking Decisions cuts through the confusion to deliver a definitive networking blueprint that lets you reap the biggest networking rewards without breaking the bank. You get in-the-trenches technical sessions to eliminate today's biggest risks - all FREE! Networking Decisions guarantees that you go home with field-tested networking solutions and critical tips and techniques from the industry's leading independent experts. Period. Learn more about Networking Decisions  Reader Feedback: IT ad campaigns by Margaret Rouse, Assistant Editor Last week's mail was pretty darn interesting. We had asked for your feedback about IT ad campaigns, but were amiss in not taking our international audience into consideration. We'd like to thank the reader who took time to write in and bring this to our attention. He wrote: "I don't understand any of this. But then the fact that these campaigns only run in the USA might explain it. I have no idea what percentage of Whatis readership is outside the US but you might consider it when doing 'culture based' stories." Point taken -- and thanks! As long as we brought the subject of IT ad campaigns up, though, we might as well let you know that at least one IT ad campaign that's running right now in the U.S. is hitting a nerve. It's Apple's new "switch" campaign. According to Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, "These commercials profile real people who have switched from PCs to Macs, telling their story in their own words. More people are interested in switching from PCs to Macs than ever before, and we hope that hearing these successful switchers tell their story will help others make the jump." One of the commercials in the series features a man who waxes poetic about his new iMac computer and at the end of the commercial, he introduces himself as a Microsoft network administrator. I don't know whether Steve Jobs is right in thinking that this person's story will help others make the jump, but I did get the impression that it made some people "jumping mad". A reader whose discussion handle is "emm386" wrote to say: "I wish Uncle Bill would make a spin-off of that ad where the same [LAN admistrator] tries to get his iMac to be compatible with new software and hardware. If it was not for Mr. Gates and the Windows OS where would we be today? The world would be a very different place and our jobs would be very different. I'm also an LAN Admin, MCSE 40/W2K. [How could] someone who feeds his kids and puts a roof over their heads managing a WIN LAN make a commercial for the other guys? "SillyMe" agreed: "I would send that IMAC loving NT LAN administrator to the world of the gainfully employed IMAC LAN administrators. Home networking anybody?" "BoogieDaddy" politely disagreed: "I am a LAN Admin (and a W2k MCSA/MCSE) who works with NT4.0, W2K, Unix, (and Mac) systems all day. But when I go home, I have a 733MHz G4, on a home LAN, shared by two PC's that are used by the rest of the family. On both networks the Mac's and PC's work quite well together. I get paid to do Windows, but Mac's are suppose to be FUN! (and they are...)" As always, the discussion remains open. See you in the forum!   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.