MS Project

MS Project is a project management software that helps a person manage a project at hand. MS Project lets a person put specific tasks and deadlines to give a timeline of when a project will be finished. Unlike creating schedules in a spreadsheet that are static, schedules in MS Project are dynamic, enabling users to update the schedule to reflect the project at hand (Microsoft 2004).

MS Project takes the guesswork out for anybody that wants an overview of how long a project will take and can allow a person to see what requirements a project needs in a task oriented basis. For example, if a project had a three month deadline and the requirements are already set, then a person can enter each requirement as a task and spread the tasks out in a three month period. Each task is also given a time period for an estimate of how long it will take, and then a person can view a Gantt Chart that shows how the tasks line up in the three month period.
Some of the limitations to MS Project are that it cannot help with conceptualizing and identifying the purpose of the project, defining the project’s objective, or discuss alternative scenarios and build contingency plans. Some of the things MS Project 2000 can do are: help with finalizing the project’s scope, identify its activities, assign resources to activities, and create an estimate of time and costs (Srikanth). As mentioned in the MS Project 2000 Tutorial by Anjana Srikanth, Microsoft Project 2000 “helps you put together a plan of action, fill in and organize all the details that must be completed in order to achieve your goal.”

MS Project lets a person print the tasks out in many different types of formats. Some print versions a person can look at are a Gantt Chart, a Pert Chart, look at the tasks by month, and customized views. “MS Project also supports saving reports as formatted HTML documents or printing formatted reports.” (Smith 2001).

Some reasons people don’t buy MS Project is the price and the compatibility limitation with other operating systems. Currently MS Poject is not available to Mac OS X users. The most current MS Project software costs anywhere from $599 to $1499 per license depending on the amount of features a person needs. Other project management softwares include Project KickStart by Experience In Software, Inc. that costs $129.95 per license that is currently only available for the Windows OS. FastTrack Schedule 8 by AEC Software, Inc. costs $299 and is available for the Windows or Mac OS. An open-source project management software called Open Workbench is available at www.openworkbench.org. This is an alternative to the pricey MS Project by Microsoft.



References
FastTrack Schedule 8. 2005. AEC Software. 26 Feb. 2005


Lynch, Jim. “KickStart Your Next Project.” 06 Mar. 2001. PC Magazine. Ziff Davis Media.
26 Feb. 2005

Open Workbench. 2004. Niku Corporation. 26 Feb. 2005


Project KickStart. 14 Oct. 2003. Experience In Software. 26 Feb. 2005


“Project 2003 Frequently Asked Questions.” 13 Dec. 2004. Microsoft Corporation. 26 Feb.
2005

Smith, Summer. “How does MS Project help in Project Management?” Nov. 2001.
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/almstrum/cs370/summer/MS_Project.html

Srikanth, Anjana. “MS Project 2000 Tutorial.” Stylus Systems Pvt. 26 Feb. 2005

MS Project

MS Project is a project management software that helps a person manage a project at hand. MS Project lets a person put specific tasks and deadlines to give a timeline of when a project will be finished. Unlike creating schedules in a spreadsheet that are static, schedules in MS Project are dynamic, enabling users to update the schedule to reflect the project at hand (Microsoft 2004).
MS Project takes the guesswork out for anybody that wants an overview of how long a project will take and can allow a person to see what requirements a project needs in a task oriented basis. For example, if a project had a three month deadline and the requirements are already set, then a person can enter each requirement as a task and spread the tasks out in a three month period. Each task is also given a time period for an estimate of how long it will take, and then a person can view a Gantt Chart that shows how the tasks line up in the three month period.
Some of the limitations to MS Project are that it cannot help with conceptualizing and identifying the purpose of the project, defining the project’s objective, or discuss alternative scenarios and build contingency plans. Some of the things MS Project 2000 can do are: help with finalizing the project’s scope, identify its activities, assign resources to activities, and create an estimate of time and costs (Srikanth). As mentioned in the MS Project 2000 Tutorial by Anjana Srikanth, Microsoft Project 2000 “helps you put together a plan of action, fill in and organize all the details that must be completed in order to achieve your goal.”
MS Project lets a person print the tasks out in many different types of formats. Some print versions a person can look at are a Gantt Chart, a Pert Chart, look at the tasks by month, and customized views. “MS Project also supports saving reports as formatted HTML documents or printing formatted reports.” (Smith 2001).
Some reasons people don’t buy MS Project is the price and the compatibility limitation with other operating systems. Currently MS Poject is not available to Mac OS X users. The most current MS Project software costs anywhere from $599 to $1499 per license depending on the amount of features a person needs. Other project management softwares include Project KickStart by Experience In Software, Inc. that costs $129.95 per license that is currently only available for the Windows OS. FastTrack Schedule 8 by AEC Software, Inc. costs $299 and is available for the Windows or Mac OS. An open-source project management software called Open Workbench is available at www.openworkbench.org. This is an alternative to the pricey MS Project by Microsoft.

References
FastTrack Schedule 8. 2005. AEC Software. 26 Feb. 2005

Lynch, Jim. “KickStart Your Next Project.” 06 Mar. 2001. PC Magazine. Ziff Davis Media.
26 Feb. 2005
Open Workbench. 2004. Niku Corporation. 26 Feb. 2005

Project KickStart. 14 Oct. 2003. Experience In Software. 26 Feb. 2005

“Project 2003 Frequently Asked Questions.” 13 Dec. 2004. Microsoft Corporation. 26 Feb.
2005
Smith, Summer. “How does MS Project help in Project Management?” Nov. 2001.
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/almstrum/cs370/summer/MS_Project.html
Srikanth, Anjana. “MS Project 2000 Tutorial.” Stylus Systems Pvt. 26 Feb. 2005

Web-Logs

Weblogs or web logs are more commonly referred to as blogs to prevent confusion from the term “web log,” since that can refer to a server’s log files (WHG). As indicated at Blogger.com, “a blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically.... Blog posts are like instant messages to the web.”
There are many things blogs are useful for, such as keeping an online journal where people can view what is on a person’s mind, especially a political party member wanting to reach out to more people, or just keeping a long distance family on how you are doing (Blogger).

Blogs are important in many situations in today’s society. There are many reasons to have blogs. For personal reasons, a college student can blog as a means of communication among family members and friends when talking is not convenient. Using a blog can link many insightful information for people to read.
Blogging can be done as a group where a bunch of people talk about a specific topic. This type of blogging reaches out many people that have many perspectives on a certain topic. For instance, when Bush wanted to declare war on Iraq, blogs can be a helpful medium for people to write comments regarding the decision.
Blogging can also be important for companies in that they can get customer feedback almost instantaneously. Companies can then get back to the customer or correct any complaints in a fast manner. Blogging can also help in loading photos online. With the implementation of a photo blog, a real estate company can add photos very easily on their web site and possibly increase customer traffic.

A blog web application is usually written in php, jsp, perl, and the VB.net framework. People view blogs through internet browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Safari. If the blog supports RSS, Real Simple Syndication, news reader applications can simply access the headings of the blogs to only read the text and bypass all the images. For instance, if a person doesn’t want to see any advertisements or obscene graphics, then news reader applications are the way to go. A person can also load RSS onto mobile phones and pda’s so blogs can be posted or read conveniently without all the graphics.


References
“What is a blog?” Blogger. 2005. Push-Button Publishing. 18 Feb. 2005


“Weblog.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Feb. 2005. MediaWiki. 18 Feb. 2005
.

Doctorow, C., et al. Essential Blogging. 2005. Safari Tech Books Online. 18 Feb. 2005
.

Dow, Jase. “Bloggin – what’s it all about?” 05 Feb. 2005. 18 Feb. 2005
.

“Blog – weblog.” WHG. 2004. Crucial Marketing. 18 Feb. 2005
.

Open Source Database

According to the opensource.org, this is what makes an application an open source.
One, there must be free redistribution of the code. Two, the program must include source code and allow distribution. Three, the license of the software must allow modifications and derived works. Fourth to preserve the integrity of the author’s code, the software license restricts how original codes can be modified and redistributed. If a modification occurs, there must be a change in name or version from the original software. Fifth, license of the software cannot discriminate any person or group of persons. Sixth, there cannot be discrimination against what company the software is being used for. Seventh, no additional license may be attached to the original license. Eighth, the rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. Ninth, license cannot restrict other software. Tenth, license cannot prevent people from putting the software on different platforms (Open Source Initiative, 2005).
Open source is important because it “promotes software reliability and quality by supporting independent peer review and rapid evolution of source code”(Open Source Initiative, 2005). With closed source software, many “vendors fill their licenses with clauses that both deny anyone else the right to deal with their software bugs, and deny the right of the purchaser to expect problems to be fixed”(Cox).
There are five compared open-source database software at this Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/mailsoftware42/db/. They are MySQL, PostgreSQL, MaxDB, Firebird, and Ingres. After choosing the appropriate database a person would like to install, go to the database Web Site and download the software.
For example, if a person chose MySQL, go to mysql.com, click on downloads, then click on preferred software, then click on the version that will run on the person’s computer. For example, a Mac OS X. After the file is downloaded, the image will auto-mount onto the desktop. Double-click on the image and install both package files. Then open the Terminal and type in: start mysql. The database is now running. A person can start creating tables and input information.

Works Cited

Cox, Alan. “The Risks of Closed Source Computing.” 1999. 04 Feb. 2005
.

MySQL AB. 2005. 04 Feb. 2005
.

Open Source Database Software Comparison. Jan. 2005. 04 Feb. 2005
.

Open Source Initiative. 2005. 04 Feb.2005
.