Let's get started with some reminders.
"WebExpress" is a hassle-free way to create and manage professional web sites. You can create professional looking web sites and be up on the web instantly. Speed through the creation process with many helpful wizards, templates and a gallery of graphics. Supports all the latest web bells and whistles including multi-media, interactive forms, WYSIWYG frame editing, sound, video and marquees. Plus, capture valuable visitor information with interactive, auto-response forms. Sounds like the car salesman I talked to recently.
This software even had rave remarks from John Dvorak according to information I am reading. He rates it better than Front Page (sorry Bill). The street price is $69.95 and the user group member price is $59.95. If it really is better than Front Page, I guess they are offering us a good price at that.
Another product is "DesignExpress for Labels v2.0." Here is some of their description: Perfect print utility for specialty paper and labels. Built-in templates for CD-ROMs, address labels, business cards and more. Powerful and easy with professional designs and full Avery support. There is more description and the price is $29.95, $10 off street.
"WordExpress 2.0" is the fast and friendly word processor (Their words) that doesn't take up much room on your HD, and MicroVison says it's also powerful! It was honored two years running at the annual Shareware Industry Awards ceremonies. "WordExpress" is also $10 off the street price at $39.95.
I suggest that if you're on the web you should visit their web site at www.mvd.com for more information. To order any of these products call 1-800-998-4555 or fax your message to Rob Misko at 1-760-438-7406 and mention the name of your user group.
If your budget is limited, let's start with 30 impulse titles that sell for just $5.00 each (they may let them go for $4.95 if you bargain hard). They are: 10,000 graphics pack #1, 2 or 3; 25,000 web objects (new); Yesterday's Art; Religious Clip Art (new); 40 Holidays & Special Occasions; Funny Toons (these are cartoon type clip-art); PagePlus 3.0, (Desktop Publishing) (new for Media Graphics, but not the latest version of PagePlus); Draw & Design; T-shirt Design Kit; Craft Factory (new); Calendars (new); 500 Fonts; and Handwriting Fonts.
Additional impulse titles are: Photo Gallery 5,000; Photo Gallery 5,000 (more photos); Photo Editor (new); Your Photo Here (new); 5,000 Animations (new); Animated Cursors; 2,000 Sound Effects; 2,000 Sound Effects (new); 2,000 Music Clips (new); Morphing Mania Screen Savers; Ultimate Screen Savers; Holy Bible; The Day You Were Born (new); Jigsaw Puzzler (new); and Crossword Puzzler (new). They also still have the "Make em Laugh" CD ROM full of cartoons.
While browsing through some titles I chose "Auto" and was surprised to see auto parts instead of different autos. There were many interesting collections of graphics. While browsing the sounds, I noticed that in the manual were instructional steps on how to assign a sound to an action in Windows 95.
"Photo Editor Professional" (for just $19.99) makes it easy to give all your photos a professional look. Scan in one of your favorites or use one of the 10,000 photos provided. View the original and the corrected image side by side as you work. Neat eh, although I'm not sure I'd even want to see my old self again, just the younger me I'm creating! Adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness and color. Invert or flip images, or rotate to any angle. Resize and crop, and even do a free form crop to cut objects out. Does even more.
For $19.99, it's on to the "125,000 Graphics Pack." It contains: 65,000 clip-art images; 15,000 photos; 2,000 sound effects; 1,000 animations; and 50,000 web objects. Not only that but this includes the free "Web Site Maker" for creating your own home page in just a few hours. Of course we know "free" really means "included in the price" since nothing is actually free in life.
Now lets talk about the "Quarter of a Million Multimedia Graphics Suite" for a mere $39.99 "without even pulling a gun on them"!! They say it's the ultimate collection of multimedia graphics, sounds, music and animations. Watch your E-mails and web pages spring to life. With the exciting bonus programs included, you'll have all the tools you need to create newsletters, brochures, ads, flyers, presentations, web pages and much more.
This package contains: 100,000 clip-art images; 30,000 photos; 125,000 web objects; 4,000 sound effects; 6,000 animations; and 2,000 music clips. As a bonus you also receive: "Desktop Publishing;" "Graphic Design;" "Photo Editor;" "Web Site Maker;" and "Fast Online Browser." My package arrived right at my deadline so I didn't have enough time to try out the "Web Site Maker."
If you need more information, or are ready to order, call George Rice at Media Graphics. Phone 1-800-679-6730 (US) or 1-800-598-2037 (US & Canada) and tell him I sent you. You might say "Bob Click" is the password for this deal. Web site is www.media-graphics.net. Shipping is $5.00 additional to Canada. I'm not sure how much to Australia or Russia, or if they even read the "deals column there," but how could they not read it! On second thought, nobody in Russia has asked for it as yet. They'll wise up one of these days. A Russian guy did ask me for it but he doesn't live there.
For you "Adobe PhotoShop" owners, Adobe is offering a special on Plug-in tools. The special "Chroma Graphics" offer lets you purchase the current line of "PhotoShop" plug-ins for a discounted price. "Chromatica" is a one-stop WYSIWYG recoloring engine, which offers selection, and recoloring in a few easy steps. "MagicMask" brings together traditional new tools to make creating and editing masks easier than ever. "EdgeWizzard" offers tools for bleeding edges, without any "halo" effects.
To order, call 1-888-8CHROMA to get all three plug-ins for $199.95 (saving $100), or any one for $79.95.
If you own any Adobe software, Adobe magazine is free for the asking, although most people automatically get it when they register. Call Adobe if you are a registered owner and do not presently get this fine quarterly magazine. It is very informative and I especially like the Q&A on the various products.
They have established strategic publishing relationships with Oracle Corporation, Corel Corporation, CommerceNet Press, Global Knowledge Network, Alta Vista Search, America Online, AT&T, Stream International, and several well-known McGraw-Hill magazines including LAN Times and BYTE.
They offer discounts to User Groups and as you can see, there is a wide variety of books available, which includes classroom books. To find out more about these discounts, someone from your user group should contact Osborne/McGraw-Hill to see which discount program is best for your group. Sharon Rogan at 1-800-227-0900, ext. 659 or Bernedette Jurich at ext. 616 can help. Visit their web site at www.osborne.com where you'll find more information. Sometimes even a special offer.
That's it for June. In fact, a bit too much, but that is the editor's call. You can reach me at my fax, 1-407-382-2781, or E-mail me via dealsguy@mindspring.com. Meet me here next month. Bob (the cheapskate) Click.
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