NEWSLETTER #6 – Feb 2008
Table of
Contents
1-
We are now
partnering with major manufacturers to provide sales and warranty support !
a. Here is Brady’s official announcement:
Enterprise Computing Systems, partnering with
Piñon PC Support, is now a Registered Partner with Dell Computers and a
Preferred Partner with Toshiba computers. We are currently in
negotiations with both firms to provide local service for their computer and business
products.
What does this mean?
For Toshiba – This could mean pre sales advice, sales transactions, and post sales warranty support will be provided by us. Depot mail in warranty support too. We have received their “Welcome Packet” for the program but haven’t been able to go online to formally establish our role with Toshiba.
For Dell – Already we are a Registered Partner for sales and ?other stuff?. Now we are working on getting into the “Managed Care” (remote monitoring) services program with Dell. That program leads us into being warranty repair for Dell. We hope to cover LA, SF and, eventually, the lab. J
For HP – We hope to establish whatever kind of relationship with them that we can. Specifically, we hope to obtain printer repair training and then to be able to offer printer repair services across all brands.
b. As a result of all this hob-nobbing with the big guys, we will be incorporating and merging Piñon PC with (Brady’s company) Enterprise Computer Systems. Piñon PC will be rolled under ECS as a … whatever they call it…. sub-company? You may or may not outwardly see the results of this.
2-
Piñon PC now
has an online store !
Here it is: http://www.ShopPinonPC.com - the capitals are not necessary to type, I just put them in for clarity.
I am reselling anything Amazon sells except for computers and cell phones. You, the buyer, get the same Amazon prices, sales, promotions, gift card use, Prime shipping account access, etc… that you do by going to www.amazon.com . I get 4-10% of your purchase price. WHEEE !!!
I can add any of
the Amazon categories, so if you don’t see something you want, drop me an
email. The new category will be online within
a few hours.
This and the above partnering with manufacturers, are the methods we have come up with to increase and stabilize our income as we try to reduce the feast/famine nature of being a small business.
3-
XP SERVICE
PACK 3 is coming out soon
a. Information on it can be found at http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/8/7/687484ed-8174-496d-8db9-f02b40c12982/Overview%20of%20Windows%20XP%20Service%20Pack%203.pdf
b. As of Dec. 18, 2007 SP3 was released in RC status (for you brave souls!)–
Download and deploy
Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC
This pre-release software is provided for testing purposes only. Microsoft does
not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems.
Microsoft recommends that you have a backup of your data prior to installing
any pre-release software. (from Microsoft)
I haven’t tested this yet.
4-
a. Service Pack 1 is still in beta/testing. Go read about it at http://www.crn.com/software/206103959 & http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb738089.aspx . It is projected to be available in mid-March. You can email me for an installation disk if you can not download it yourselves.
b.
Here is an interesting list of solutions found by
many contributors, some are downloads, some are just advice. Heaven knows,
c. Anecdotally :
i.
ii. HP is updating printer drivers, goto http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html and check your printer for recent driver releases. Other brands – go to their web sites too.
5-
Taking new PCs
backwards from
We are in a
small window of opportunity this winter/spring where PCs which are being sold
with
Story – I was (sort of)
outgrowing my Dell XPS 410 and longing for the XPS 420 with a quad core cpu. Before buying it I hung out in the Dell
Community Forums and read all I could find by people who were taking a
6- Belarc Advisor software
You can find it at http://belarc.com/free_download.html . This looks very interesting as a tool to inform you (or us) about your computers innards and installed programs, and the program’s version #s. I am very intrigued that it seems to report back the Microsoft license #s for installed products as well as the version #s for all other programs. There are so many times that we can not match up which license is on which pc and this tools looks to be the answer for that dilemma.
7-
Google Offices
Suite & Open Office
a. Available at http://pack.google.com are many free tools from Google. The one of interest here is Star Office. Upon a little bit of investigation, we have found it to be a free alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite. There are some details at http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/08/google-pack-adds-staroffice.html . It’s components seems be: word processor, spread sheet, database, presentation slides and a graphic editor. I have not installed these nor have I tested them, but the reviews are good. They boast compatibility with Microsoft Office files up to and including Office 2003, but not Office 2007. The download is huge so be prepared.
b. The other interesting free Office Suite is from Open Office, http://www.openoffice.org/ . They too claim Microsoft Office compatibility.
That’s all for now folks !!!!
PIÑON PC SUPPORT
505-470-2431