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System Requirements Summary

Hardware, Software, Browserware

Peopleware

Three Tips for the Road

Registration Desk

It is neither fun nor productive to get on the Net for a conference like this without the horsepower or basic skills you need to work decently. It is not a huge deal, however you will be thwarted, frustrated and sooner or later give up on the whole venture if you are not in a position to interact with the Web site and the others at least at some acceptable minimum level of performance. When life is bad on the net, it's rotten. But that too is a choice; it does not ahve to be like that. However, you do need a strategy, exactly as you would if you are trying to survive the rigors of phsycial commuting on roads that come to a standstill in rush hour.

So... before you venture any further into the conference, let us quickly give you right here at the top give you a summary of the high points of what you need to have in hand. A survival strategy of sorts. For more details on both your system and the tuning of it for most efficient performance, you are invited to consult the section of the site entitled, System Requirements and Settings

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The following specifications should be treated as an absolute minimum. If your present system does not meet them, please let us know and we can perhaps make some suggestions. It is possibly worth noting that a fully loaded high quality system that greatly exceeds these specifications can be readily had on the market today for less than $1,000 - less than many of us spend on travel and hotels for a single conference. So, it should not be a problem of money.

Pentium or fast Intel 486 computer (or MAC equivalent)

Windows 95 or Windows NT (or MAC equivalent)

16 megabytes of RAM (strict minimum)

Monitor: Good stable 14" or better monitor (17" is perfect for easy reading)

256-color display. Best viewed at 800x640 or better. (Note: This site does not look particularly good in 256 colors)

Internet Explorer 3.0 or Netscape 3.0 or better (get 4.0 of either; they're free, useful and makie a big difference in terms of quality, speed, versatility and convencine of use)

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People Ware

The conference requires no great sophistication in surfing. If you know how to use your right mouse button on the browsers that will surely be a good indicator that you are going to be able to get along in the conference without any special efforts on your part.

If not, take a few minutes and run through the 'Web Tutorial' that comes with your browser. It is very well organized, instructive and free. It's a good investment. (Look right up there at the Help icon just on top of this page. That will lead you right to your tutorial.)

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Three Tips for the Road

• When the traffic slows to a crawl on the Web, get off and do something else
  In Europe you can do yourself a very big favor indeed by avoiding peak hour traffic and moving on the Web, why not?, sustainably. You really do want to make the right choice on this, since as things slow down efficiency suffers and patience runs out. The worst hours seem to be from 15:00 (nine a.m. back on the East Coast) to 19:00 Paris time. Best are mornings, the earlier the better, and later at night. The crunch over in the United States is worse during the working day. Play it by ear, but when things get bad, please don't insist.

• Graphics Off? If you have to! If you are using a browser that supports graphics and have a slow modem or a slow connection, you might consider turning off the graphics loading mode. This can make a BIG difference in terms of the speed of operation!

• When in doubt, complain! If you are having a problem, if you are running into something that you don't like or do not quite understand, move right on over to the Complaints/Suggestions section in the WebBoard. It is there for that, and you may even find that you get some help or satisfaction.

This will take you quite literally no more than two minutes and will open up the considerable array of feedback and communications tools that you need to take full and easy advantge of the conference. Remember: we intend this as an interactive conference... exactly as you would expect in any case.

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