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Business Users
Hi,
From time to time, I find that I need to use a calculator or a calendar. To do this, I dive deep into the Windows system folders and execute the calc.exe program or the date/time settings from within the Control Panel.
Several things strike me about this. The first is that I am appalled I even have access to the Windows systems folders. Coming from an application support background as I do, the idea that anyone can just plunge into these folders makes me shiver with horror.
The second is that it takes a long time to find and execute these files. Far better, in my opinion, to have a webpage (perhaps one coming off the Aubergine Room webpages) dedicated to the needs of the non-gaming user.
I would like to see a webpage (or pages) with the following tools:
Tools
Calculator
Calendar
World dates and times
Courier Links
Fedex
Royal Mail
UPS etc.
Statutory / Governmental Bodies
Bracknell Forest
Companies House
DVLA
Inland Revenue
The above are just off the top of my head. I am sure the idea could be developed over time.
Links
Javascript calculator : http://javascript.internet.com/math-related/16-function-scientific-calcu...
Javascript calendar : http://javascript.internet.com/time-date/calendar.html
World times / dates : http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
Fedex : http://fedex.com/gb/
UPS : http://ups.com/content/gb/en/index.jsx
Royal Mail : http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm
Inland Revenue : http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/
DVLA : http://www.dvla.gov.uk/welcome.htm
Bracknell Forest : www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Companies House : http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
I would also like to suggest that you create a new forum topic or discussion area specifically for non-gaming users.
Thomas.
delicious
digg
reddit
furl
google
yahoo
Forums And Links
Stephen,
A good first step might actually be to create a new Forum header (I don't know what the technical term is in terms of the forum application) under http://www.theaubergineroom.com/forum .
At present, you have a General and a Games section. The addition of Business Users and/or Personal Users might stimulate some conversation.
As for topics, some ideas off the top of my head include:
Training - Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Internet Explorer, HTML etc. to see if any of your customers have an interest in those areas. What are they looking for?
Skills Sought - a sort of newsagent's window where customers can look for or offer specific skills (or perhaps customers could be allowed to post a card somewhere) to encourage business between customers.
Suggestions and comments - I know you already have one of these in the General area but my own observations on how people work and think is that they prefer to do everything in one place where possible and it might help to build a sense of community within the non-gaming users.
Additional Links
I've thought of a couple of additional links that would be appropriate for a travel section.
The Passport Office
http://www.passport.gov.uk/index.asp
Identity Theft (Home Office)
http://www.identity-theft.org.uk/
European Health Identity Card (EHIC)
https://www.ehic.org.uk
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
http://www.fco.gov.uk
International Standards Organisation
http://www.iso.org
European Union
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
Confederation Of British Industry
http://www.cbi.org.uk
Political Parties
Labour Party
http://www.labour.org.uk/
Conservative Party
http://www.conservatives.com/
Liberal Democrats
http://www.libdems.org.uk/
Scottish National Party
http://www.snp.org/
Plaid Cymru
http://www.plaidcymru.org/
Ulster Unionist Party
http://www.uup.org/
Social Democratic And Labour Party
http://www.sdlp.ie/
Ulster Democratic Unionist Party
http://www.dup.org.uk/
Sinn Fein
http://www.sinnfein.ie/
Respect
http://www.respectcoalition.org/
Independent Kidderminster And Health Concern
http://www.healthconcern.org.uk/
Green Party Of England And Wales
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news
Scottish Green Party
http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/
Scottish Socialist Party
http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/
UK Independence Party
http://www.ukip.org/
Government And Ministries
10 Downing Street
http://www.number-10.gov.uk
Department For Communities And Local Government
http://www.communities.gov.uk/
Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
http://www.defra.gov.uk/
Cabinet Office
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
Department For Culture, Media And sport
http://www.culture.gov.uk/
Ministry Of Defence (MoD)
http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/home
Department For Education And Skills (DES)
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/
Department For Transport
http://www.dft.gov.uk
Home Office
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/
Department For Internation Development
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/
Lord Chancellor's Department
http://www.dca.gov.uk/
Northern Ireland Office
http://www.nio.gov.uk/
Scotland Office
http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/
Department For Work And Pensions
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/
Department Of Trade And Industry
http://www.dti.gov.uk/
Treasury
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/
Wales Office
http://www.ossw.wales.gov.uk/
Department Of Health
http://www.dh.gov.uk
Other Political And Government Service Websites
Houses Of Parliament
http://www.parliament.uk/
Hansard - House Of Commons
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm
Hansard - House Of Lord
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldhansrd.htm
The Stationery Office
http://www.tso.co.uk/
Her Majesty's Stationery office
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/
Central Office Of Information (COI)
http://www.coi.gov.uk/
Office Of National Statistics
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
National Audit Office
http://www.nao.org.uk/
Government Information Service (DirectGov)
http://www.direct.gov.uk
Scottish Parliament
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk
National Assembly For Wales
http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm
Northern Ireland Assembly
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/
London Mayor And London Assembly
http://www.london.gov.uk/
European Parliament
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm
Downing Street Says - Prime Minister's Official Spokesman
http://www.downingstreetsays.com/
Trade Union / Employment Issues Websites
Advisory, Conciliation And Arbitration Service (ACAS)
http://www.acas.org.uk/
Thomas.
And particularly relevant at the moment :-)
No2ID: http://www.no2id.net
Liberty: http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
Privacy International: http://www.privacyinternational.org
ESSA (English Secondary Students Assocation): http://www.studentvoice.co.uk
Spy Blog (must read for technology and privacy issues): http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog
Cheers,
TOM
New forum created
We have now created a non-gaming section to the forums. Currently the only topic is 'General Discussions' – as niches emerge we will create additional, more specialised topics.
I am still working on incorporating a Resources section into the web site, for all the links you've submitted and hopefully a few more things. As that develops I'll post any updates back here.
Stephen
Good ideas
I have to agree, it is shockingly easy to delve around in the innards of Windows, which is either a blessing or a curse, depending on what you want to achieve!
Part of the protection systems we have in centre means that a user can do absolutely anything to our systems (install viruses, even delete the Windows folder) and it doesn't matter. Simply reboot the machine and everything is back as it was - it's as if they were never there...
As for resources for our non-gaming customers, that is a very good suggestion and we will start working on putting something together for the web site. There are a good number of links you have provided to get us started but if anyone has any others they would like added to the list then post them here.
When you talk about forums, what topics of discussion do you have in mind? To date, our approach to creating new forums has been to see what gets discussed sufficiently in the general forums to identify a need and then create something specifically for that topic. Clearly in the case of non-gaming there is nowhere appropriate for that process to take place. So if you could suggest a topic or two that you think will be popular then we will certainly try it out and see if people start to use them.
Cheers,
Stephen