STATA Version 7 Availability for UNIX and Windows
STAT/TRANSFER Version 6 Availability
New UW Web Accessibility Policy
Creating/Publishing a Course Web Site Class on January 18
Virus Protection Update
STATA 7 is a major new release and updates virtually every aspect of STATA, from statistics to programming language, to the way output is displayed. A list of all the new features can be found at STATA's web site.
STATA users operating under X-windows on UNIX now have the same windowed interface that STATA for Windows users have: type xstata rather than stata to start STATA. Typing stata brings up the old line-by-line console version of STATA. Typing xstata brings up the new windowed version. The old console version can be still useful in batch situations. Please read: SSCC Publication 7-12, Using STATA on UNIX for detailed information. A lot has changed between version 6 and 7 and this publication documents these changes.
STATA 7 is already installed on UNIX computers and will be installed on WinCenter during next Wednesday's downtime. SSCC users can purchase STATA 7 for their PCs beginning next week. SSCC participates in the STATA Grad Plan which enables our users to purchase STATA at reduced rates, a substantial discount off the already-discounted academic price of STATA. The software offered through the STATA GradPlan is NOT student software; that is, it is in no way limited in terms of features.
Prices are just slightly higher than for STATA 6, and there are some different manuals and combinations of manuals available. This information can be found on SSCC's web page describing the STATA Grad Plan.
STAT/TRANSFER 6 is also being released and works with version 7 of STATA. Unfortunately, the producers of STAT/TRANSFER will no longer be offering the building-wide site license SSCC had with previous versions. If you want a copy for your PC, you can purchase it for $49 through the STATA Grad Plan. SSCC has not yet received media for STAT/TRANSFER for our WinCenter servers but we expect it in the next week or so.
In an effort to make the web more accessible for all users, UW-Madison is implementing a policy setting standards for campus web sites. The web accessibility policy will take effect January 22, 2001. DoIT has two web pages that you should know about if you have any web pages at UW-Madison: Policy Governing World Wide Web Accessibility UW-Madison and New UW web accessibility resources from DoIT.
This new policy statement has raised a lot of yet-to-be answered questions around campus. Once these questions get answered and we know exactly what is required, SSCC will provide guidance on this important matter.
Russell Dimond will be teaching a class on creating and publishing a course web site on Thursday January 18th at 10:30 in the 2470 Public Terminal Room. This class is intended for Faculty, Instructors and TA's with no previous web editing experience who want to create a web site for courses being taught this upcoming Spring semester. The pages we'll create in this class will be compliant with the UW web accessibility policy.
Enrollment is limited and pre-registration is required. Please e-mail Russell Dimond if you would like to attend.
There have been warnings about a number of viruses that have been circulating recently. These viruses have endings such as .exe, .pif, or .scr, which the Windows operating system will recognize and treat in a particular way. Many of you might be worried about getting these viruses, and activating them accidentally.
There's no need to worry about any of these viruses being attached to your SSCC e-mail. The server knows how to remove any attachments with these endings, so they don't make it as far as your Inbox. If a message passes through SSCC's mail server with such an attachment, the attachment is removed before the message gets delivered to you, and you will also receive a message that an attachment was removed from your mail. So you don't need to worry about losing any mail because of this protection.
This protection is from SSCC's mail server, so it only works for your SSCC e-mail. It's still a good idea to take other precautions to keep your PC protected, especially if you use another e-mail account as well. Keep in mind that e-mail is not the only way that viruses are distributed, just the most popular right now. It is good to be aware of viruses and keep your antivirus software up to date. And, be careful not to open any e-mail attachments that you aren't expecting, or that don't seem to belong to the message or the sender.
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