Major Changes

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Index

Introduction

Several major changes to The Omega Connection will be taking place during the coming weeks and it is the intent of this page to explain what they are and why they are taking place. Because this document is rather lengthy, you may opt to save this page and read it offline.

Selection of the Week

This following numbers will be especially appreciated by those of you who feed their incoming Midi files through a good stereo system. Crank up the bass and volume and,... enjoy!

Le Bananier Elvira Moonlight Serenade

These selections will be changed on a regular basis.

What brought this all about?

The Case of the Embedded Code...

Anyone who has surfed the Net for any amount of time knows very well by now the tribulations encountered with the use of 'embedded' codes permitting instant play of musical files (Midi). There are zillions of browsers now in use, most of them in a beta version or another. And everyone is going the multimedia way. Fine by me. Unfortunately, not all browsers are born equal and a fair number of them cannot play those Midi files.

After receiving a good number of e-mails from subscribers, and would-be subscribers, stating they had much problem playing 'embedded' music files, I sent a small survey on the subject.

What I have learned from this little experiment about providing the best service possible re:embedded music files, is that the subject is 'hot'! Based on the mail received (the exact number is a closely kept state secret) suffice to say that it kept me out of mischief for a few days, just answering the mail and trying out the various schemes which were proposed as a solution.

One solution would have been easy to implement: get rid of all music selections on the pages! A little draconian, if one asks. On the bright side, the overwhelming response was very positive. It would appear that most surfers enjoy a love/hate relationship where multimedia in homepages is concerned. On the one hand, 100% of those who stated they love surfing while listening to a nice musical background use a later version of Netscape (boy! what a plug for Netscape) while nearly 100% of those who complained about the subject were using some form of MSI Explorer, or as one writer suggested, a copy of the ` Micromoosh Zepplin' (chuckle... that's not nice!!). Others complained about their Service Providers because they were not 'providing' the code necessary for Crescendo to operate.

But just to muddle the issue, .... there were conflicting reports. A few writers indicated that their Netscape 3.0 Beta 5.a crashed every time they logged in the 'Latest Jewels' and other pages and clicked on 'any' hot link within those pages while others swore by that version of Netscape, indicating they had no problem whatever! Are the latter ones doing something the formers should do or what? I dunno! As for users of earlier versions of Netscape and all MSI Exlorers.... they did not sound like happy pilgrims.

As a simple test to see if the problem could be 'Crescendo', for whatever reason, if you use that version of Netscape, (3.0 beta 5a), go to the following URL and see if your browser still crashes. If it doesn't crash .... it can only mean it doesn't like Crescendo!


(ex-Omega, without Crescendo)or,


(ex-Latest Jewels, without Crescendo)

One of the reasons it doesn't like Crescendo is almost surely the fact that your Provider doesn't `provide' the proper code at their server to enable reception of Crescendo music.... This is the only reason I can find to explain why some work and some don't. Certain writers have suggested they would write their Providers and discuss the problem with them.

Possible Solutions

I have long debated whether I should dispense completely with embedding musical selections in my pages. Many of my cyberpals helped me in the past few days by 'testing' a modified page which did not include embedded code but still provided them with background music. Based on their response, I decided to forego the use of embedded code (necessitating the use of Crescendo as a viewer) and to go the new route....

Crescendo vs Midigate

Both Crescendo and Midigate are excellent programs and it is not my intention here to denigrate either. The great quality of Crescendo is that it permits one to almost immediately hear any musical selection embedded with the proper code in the page one is downloading. But it has a major drawback in that you can only 'select' whatever has been `selected' for you by the page author. The best example is this page you are reading .... there are three selections at the top of the page. If I had programmed the first selection to play, it would have played, whether you like it or not. No choice. On the other hand, if Crescendo was either `disabled' or not installed and Midigate had been made the `active' viewer, you then could select any of the three you wish or all three at once.

The shareware version of Midigate allows you to select up to three numbers at any one time. As soon as one has played out, you can select another one, etc etc. But why not register? The asking price is more than reasonable, ($10.00 US) Besides providing that nice feeling of helping programmers survive, it has all the features enabled!

Another drawback of Crescendo (unfortunately, there are more than one) is the fact that once you move away from the page that spawned the number you selected, you lose it! Not so with Midigate. And folks, that's the main advantage of Midigate and the reason why I have gone that route. For those folks who would rather die than give up their Crescendo I will, a little further on, offer easy ways to temporarily or permanently get around the problem.

Removing or Disabling Crescendo

Nothing could be simpler. To completely remove Crescendo, delete all files in the \Crescendo directory and the file NPMIDI32.DLL normally located in your Netscape Plugins directory. Should you wish to only 'cripple' Crescendo, then leave all files in place but temporarily rename NPMIDI32.DLL to something like NPMIDI32.DL

Once you have done the above, and Midigate is installed in Netscape as 'the' viewer of choice, you can then begin selecting your musical selections, wherever and whenever you wish. Needless to say, you should also 'associate' the Mid files to Midigate so you click your way to good music while using the Explorer.

Getting and Installing Midigate

Nothing could be simpler.... Click on the following icon and you're off! All instructions are included on the stated homepage. The program is a cinch to install. And it is a cinch to register.

Midigate

Another Goodie!

While on the above page, I suggest you download Midigate's big brother... CD_GATE! I did and am now enjoying superb CD music as I write this.. Get it now at:

CD

The New Look of the Music Page

As mentioned in an earlier issue, I am now completely revamping my 'Music' Page. It will include all the musical selections that are at any one time on my server so you can pick the ones you like best, whenever you wish. The big change will be a special page (or pages) of links to super Music sites. It will be a sort of Homebase for the music lover. All the Music links featured throughout my site will be listed there also plus many more and, as usual... nothing but the best will make it there!

You can have a sneak preview of what's in the works at the following URL:

New Backgrounds

Henry Ford once said about his cars..."You can have it any color you want as long as it's black". Well, the new look with The Omega Connection is white. Seriously folks.... not quite. There will continue to be slight variations from the `white' theme but none too draconian. Why? For several reasons, not the least being ease of viewing. I stand to be corrected but I believe the page you are reading at the moment is easier to absorb than if the background was anything but white!

The aim, when I began The Omega Connection, was to provide information of high quality, be it in terms of articles, tips, links, or whatever. It never was my aim to graphically entertain but to point my readers to the best available links on any given subject. As most of my pages are textually heavy, this seems to be the best way to go.

Rather then spending my time and energy toward making multicolored pages I opted to provide you instead with a nice, soothing musical background while you read all that text!

F.A.Q. General Topics

Q. If I remove Crescendo will it cause my computer to crash when I go to a page containing those embedded codes, such as your Travels page, for example?

A. It should not if the code has been done right! In such cases, you should be able to 'double-click' on the icon and it will load the selection into your Midigate and play.... You could even then go click on a few more 'hot-linked' selections.

Q. Will you continue publishing the Compunews Newsletters?

A. I definitely intend to do so but they will go through a change too. They will each have a special topic, ie:retirement, children's sites etc.... For example, I am presently working on a special issue on retirement but it will discuss more than just retirement.... it will be about retirement at an 'early' age. How early? How about 47 to 50 years young? (as I did). If you are interested in this particular subject, please send me your ideas/questions etc... If the interest is there, I intend to couple the publishing of that issue with conferences online using PowWow. All oif this should happen in mid-September or thereabout! So let's get that mail surfin.....

As for the hottest links and so on... they will now be published under the 'Latest Links' pages. I have begun splitting The Latest Links pages into more easily manageable sections with direction arrows leading you to the various pages.

Q. How about Compuflash Bulletins?

A. These will continue to be published on a regular basis with one major change: they will rarely contain hotlinks! They will rather inform you of any substantial changes to The Omega Connection pages. All latest links will be added to the Omega pages instead.

Q. Why do you insert all this stuff on the Main page about Omega Connection being a `Personal Homepage'?

A. The only major `flame' I ever received, and it was a major one which could have had expensive repercussions, was caused by `The Omega Connection' being too commercial in the mind of the writer. This calls for an explanation. A few months ago, I sent (by mistake) a `blank' invitation to several randomly selected e-mail addresses to subscribe to the Compunews Bulletin. The majority of those who received the `unasked for' message are presently reading this page because they are part of those who had then subscribed (and still are!).

Unfortunately, one individual, who shall remain nameless, created a whole lot of problems because he had thought The Omega Connection was a `commercial' venture and, as can be expected, had been highly peeved at receiving this unwanted promo mail! He nearly caused my Internet Provider to cancel my account and unleashed a fair amount of flames (read:hate mail) from several other sources.

Another reason for those statements is that several present subscribers wrote me to say that they at first had thought The Omega Connection was `commercial' because of its hight quality and were leery of signing on to something which might involve a fee down the line. So now, you know.

Q. Is there an hypertext copy of that Compuflash discussing the Survey report?

A. Glad you asked . You can find it here:


Text of Compuflash re: Survey

Closing Remarks

Having said all of the above, what it actually boils down to is this: the best 'viewer' is the one that works best for you and you feel most at ease with. But if your preferred viewer often causes your computer to crash you might then want to investigate some of the ways suggested here. They just might cure the problem. At least, it is my wish.

In the process of carrying all those above stated changes, I began by cleaning up my own house, so to speak, and deleted the Crescendo and installed Midigate as my midi viewer of choice. Since I made those changes, I tried every which way to make my system crash without avail. And I enjoyed being able to click on a multitude of Midi files then of relaxing and enjoying it all as I surfed along.... I, in turn, wish you "Happy Surfing".

Given the planned major surgery to the Omega Connection, I would really appreciate your comments. A mere 'I like it' or 'I don't like it' would be enough but if you have any other suggestions and/or comments, they will be doubly appreciated. Please enter 'CHANGES' on the subject line. Thank you

Results of Survey

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