Well, goodness me, another year gone by, and what a busy and
exciting one we’ve had here at R.E.D. - new clients, new
facilities, new modules - I think I can safely say that no two
days are ever the same!
The plan for R.E.D. is that, like last year, we shall be closed between Christmas and the New Year. However, if you have something really urgent come up, it is worth faxing us, as various bodies will be in the office at different times.
Onto things completely unrelated to computing - Emma’s mother collects used foreign postage stamps which she then sells to raise money for charity. So, don’t throw away foreign stamps sent to you, rescue them from the bin, and send them along to us. Thanks. (Don’t forget too, that old or broken computery-type things can also be resuscitated and rebuilt for charity by one of our users.) Is there anything you collect for charity that we might tell others about?
Our John is feeling very virtuous at the moment - he’s got a gold tie-pin for his blood donations over the years. If you would like to give blood please don’t send it to us!
I am sure you would like to join us in congratulating Emma, as she achieved Guildhall grade 5 on the accordion recently.
NEWS FOR ALL
We sometimes think that some of you long-standing users might get fed up because we only seem to mention new users in these letters, so we would like to say a big hello to everybody at the IPD (originally IPM), Reed, IBD and at PW Publishing, all of whom have been using R.E.D. software for years and years and, hopefully, are still happy with it. HELLO!
We’d like to report the shortest support call on Earth!
‘Hello, this is so-and-so. My post hasn’t arrived yet
and .... oh no, I’m talking rubbish. Thanks so much, bye".
Now, this is the type of call that tickles us here at R.E.D.,
but it does lead onto the subject of a phenomenon that is increasing;
the R.E.D. Herring. We like to run an efficient support
line, not a fishing line, you understand! Not all Red Herrings
are immediately recognisable as such by us, and it can take an
enormous amount of time trying to understand what is going on,
until the answer becomes clear at the users’s end - colleagues
changing templates, removing names, fiddling with data, that type
of thing. Please, do try to gather all the facts before you ring
us, it will save your time and patience too!
Congratulations are due to Christine at IDS, Peter at KHL,
Janice from Insider, Rodney at Merlin, and Louisa from IRS. Why?
Because they (or, in Peter and Rodney’s case, their wives!)
have all produced bonny babies just recently. All girls I might
add, which according to JB is a probability of 1 in 32!! Well
done, all of you. And on to less important matters!
Did you know that you can access the ‘string’ fields in R.E.D. tables, e.g. addresses, using Access. You will need a set of DDFs which we will be happy to supply, along with some get-you-going instructions.
We’d like to clear up something of a misunderstanding which seems to have arisen over the years. PKZIP is a program which does not belong to us, but for which we have bought a license in order to give it to you to send your data backwards and forwards to us. That license does not cover you using it to send data elsewhere. If you would like to send your data to other places, there are various alternatives. One is to use the MS DOS 6 backup which, like PKZIP, will compress your data across multiple floppy disks. If you have DOS 6 the backup facility is already available to you. Or alternatively, if you like PKZIP, it is available as shareware and at very reasonable cost for your own registered copy from Pkzip on- 01297 24088.
This is an electronic phone book holding the names, addresses and telephone numbers listed in the BT White Pages Phone Books.
The idea is that you enter the name of a company, and it will
provide you with the telephone number. It could be useful if you
do telesales or want to improve your names list. Details are available
on 01344 861961
This is a service principally for people who sell lists. As a member of MPS, you receive an enormous database of those people who have said they do not wish to receive promotional literature, along with those who have specified they definitely do, and those who have moved. This data base and your R.E.D. addresses can be compared one to the other with a special routine we have produced, and this makes your lists more accurate (and therefore more attractive to buyers). The MPS logo can be put on your headed paper. Details from MPS 0171 738 1625
If you have a subs support contract, you should have received your end of year update by now, and we very much hope you like all the new facilities - many of them coming from you in the form of ‘wishes’. Don’t forget, if you don’t have a wish, how can your wish come true!
The popularity of the Add-Lists seems to be getting bigger and bigger, and so too do your data sets. For those who build lists of hundreds of thousands of names, we are sure you’ll be pleased to hear that many hours of work are going into making the creating of lists quicker.
Mailsort/Presstream encoding and label printing has also been speeded up, particularly where the addresses cover a very small number of different post-codes. This is sometimes the case for area-specific lists, or regional publications.
So you think the title is something of a mouthful? - well, this is what it stands for: International Standards for Exchange of Machine Readable Subscription Orders.
Basically, it’s to do with inserting a disk into your
workstation and, at a push of a button, all the renewals coming
from a subscription agent are implemented - renewal entered, cash
entered, the full works. This will prove very time-saving for
people with many subscribers using agents. It is available as
a module, so if you want details, let us know.
Disability Now, published by Scope (formerly the Spastics Society)
is to go on sale in Sainbury’s, Menzies, W H Smiths, Forbouys,
and newsagents around the country from December 16th. We know
how long DN has been working toward this, and are very pleased
for them. Good luck!
The Royal Society of Medicine Press is moving forward apace.
From Spring, two of their publications are going onto the Internet
in their entirety - the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare,
and the Journal of STD and AIDS. It is their longer term
intention to Internet all their publications, but felt it prudent
to set off with a small number. In addition, they are to start
producing them on CD. We wish them success in their venture.
Help us to make your lives easier. We would like to hear from
those of you who have read the new manual (not those who
simply have it!) about the areas which you find confusing or difficult
to understand.. Please try and be specific, so that we can clarify
that particular section. Many thanks.
We have been given a copy of Circulation Management Mag- azine, which is published in America. The particular issue we have concentrates on direct marketing as well as circulation and demographics issues. If you would like more information, the fax number in New York is 00 1 212 979 0961, or if you would like to borrow our copy for a quick look, let us know.
Do you have any news which might be of interest in our News? Let us know what you are up to.
So, all that remains is for us to wish you all a very happy Christmas, and a prosperous and successful 1996.