[Greennet-l] GreenNet Winter 2010 Newsletter

[GreenNet User Support]

GreenNet Logo

As many of you already know, the GN collective is mostly made up of
rather shy, lefty, geekish types. So we have been amused to learn that
the area around our office in Old street is now being described as the
Silicon Roundabout, a hotbed of creative and trendy new IT start-ups. 
After spending 2010 carrying on with what we started 24 years ago,
there's probably not much danger of GreenNet getting too fashionable
though. The truth is that we're still much more interested in keeping
our email and web site services tip top for your campaigns and projects,
than we are in redesigning the office. And on that note, we're very
excited to announce the successful installation of a fab new
super-speedy and low-power mailserver, more powerful web searching
tools, and another batch of beautifully built functional new sites.

Please note that the GreenNet office will be closed from 24th December
2010 and will reopen on 4th January 2011. During this time we will be
monitoring our systems as usual. If you have an urgent query during this
period, you can send an email to support at gn.apc.org or leave a message
on 020 7065 0942. Our support team will be periodically checking those
during the holiday period.

With warm wishes for a happy and peaceful holiday and a productive 2011
from the GreenNet Collective,

Andrew, Anna, Cedric, Howard, Ian, Liz, Marek and Michael


    GN logo


    Feeling the Squeeze? Let GN help you cut your IT Support Costs (and
    improve things at the same time)


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If you're looking for ways of cutting costs in the new year, your
in-house email and file servers might be just the place to start. Now we
know that change can be a pain, but after looking at what many of you
are paying out for IT support contracts to manage in-house MS Exchange
Servers and file-sharing and backup systems, we thought we'd let you
know that there is a simpler and much cheaper way of doing things.
GreenNet has options for taking care of all your organisational email
account needs - including unlimited mailbox size, unlimited aliases
(mail-forwarding names) for any of your accounts, round the clock
monitoring and the friendliest office-hours telephone & email support
you could wish for. And for file sharing and back-ups, we've got some
great value dedicated and virtual disk space options. Give us a call on
0845 0554011 or write to support at gn.apc.org.


    GN logo


    The Mail Server is dead, Long Live the Mail Server!


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As a fairly cautious lot, we tend to wait a while before doing anything
as extreme as patting ourselves on the back for successful system
changes. But given the time of year and the amazing difference we know
its making already, we've decided to break with tradition and blow our
sys-admin trumpets in celebration of the wonderful new Mail Server.

And also pay a tribute to the old... We bought the old mail server back
in 2005 and and with all the modifications, upgrades to memory and disk
space, it served us well into 2010. In an industry characterised by
replacing so-called obsolete equipment every two years that's a pretty
remarkable life span. But recently we started noticing problems with the
server's speed and disk space. Since we provide unlimited disk space in
mail folders for IMAP it became clear that its disc space days were
numbered. And on the server performance front, it looked like our
comprehensive anti-spam and anti-virus systems' use of more resources
were pushing it to the limit, as it responded with rather grumpy mail
queues every time it had to handle a big mail-out.

So now the old mail server has generously offered itself up for re-use
with spare parts and backup possibilities. Meanwhile, our zippy new mail
server is turning mail round in a flash and making very light work of
our improved ways of dealing with spam and virus infected e-mail by
rejecting it at an earlier point in the mail sorting process -
lightening your mailbox load and getting messages out faster.

You can read more about the benefits of GN's innovative spam-busting
measures here <http://www.gn.apc.org/services/spam-filtering-service>.
Give us a call on 0845 0554011 or write to support at gn.apc.org for
information and prices on how you can benefit even if we don't host your
mail.


    GN logo


    Web development - the best we've ever been


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The GreenNet web team have spent the last ten years building dozens of
websites for NGOs, campaigns, social enterprises, development projects,
ethically-minded free lancers, community groups and many others besides.
And we just get better and better at doing it which means a) all the
work that is done in the name of one web project gets shared for the
benefit of all subsequent projects and b) we're now the best we ever
have been so there's never been a better time to ask us to build a site
for you! You can find out more about GN's website projects here, or give
us a call on 0845 0554011 or write to gndesign at gn.apc.org.
The pick of this year's web project crop include new sites for:

The Woodcraft Folk <http://www.woodcraft.org>The, Cornerhouse
<http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk>deboraheade.net
<http://www.deboraheade.net>Diaspora Volunteering Alliance
<http://www.diasporavolunteeringalliance.org>Logging Off
<http://www.loggingoff.info> Global Network of Sex Work, Projects
<http://www.nswp.org>PeriGlobal <http://www.periglobal.org>Publish What
You Pay Norway <http://www.publishwhatyoupay.no>Scientists for Global,
Responsibility <http://www.sgr.org.uk>Down To Earth Indonesia


    GN logo


    How sustainable are ICTs really?


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The 2010 Global Information Society report has been produced by the
Association for Progressive Communications (APC), covering 53 countries
and six regions including Latin America and the Middle East, with the
key issues of ICTs and environmental sustainability explored in ten
expert thematic reports. The United Kingdom report
<http://giswatch.org/country-report/2010-icts-and-environmental-sustainability/united-kingdom>
is written by Paul Mobbs on behalf on GreenNet. Among the issues
discussed are the regulation of "e-waste" and the ecological impacts of
energy consumption and the developing information society.

This year the report spells out the impact the production and disposal
of computers, mobile phones and other technology is having on the
earth's natural resources, and the massive global carbon footprint
produced by their use. The potential of ICTs to mitigate and adapt to
climate change is also discussed, as are the roles of international
institutions, the global research agenda on ICTs and climate change and
"sustainability" as an evolving concept.

http://giswatch.org/


    GN logo


    Truth and Economics


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The truth about the continuing financial crisis is not only painful but
it can also be painfully dull to bang on about. Not for nothing is
Economics called the dismal science, and although it's the festive
season the traditional Dickensian levity is in shorter supply than usual
this year, especially as the times themselves are becoming ever more
Dickensian.

The coalition government's policy seems to be based on ideology rather
than economic necessity or any sense of social justice. So it's good to
see the internet used to great effect to proclaim the truth about
alternatives to the cuts by organisations like 38 Degrees, False Economy
and War on Want, and many others.

It's good too to hear the BBC's opinion of the government's, er...cuts,
as well as Andrew Jennings and Panorama's exposure of corruption at
FIFA. And together with the Association of Progressive Communications we
are in full support of WikiLeaks in their revealing the truth about
governments' corruption and political dishonesty.

Financially it looks like difficult times are ahead but at GreenNet we
are doing our best to improve our services and to keep them affordable
in the squeeze. While our core prices remain unchanged we cannot avoid
the January VAT rise from 17.5% to 20%, and so our invoicing will
reflect this increase in the new year. Please amend your regular
standing orders to include the increase which will be shown on invoices
from 1 January 2011.

-- 
GreenNet User Support

GreenNet supports a progressive community working for Peace,
the Environment, Gender Equality and Social Justice, through
the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs).

GreenNet, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT
UK Tel:  0845 055 4011
Intl:    +44 (0)20 7065 0935
Fax:     +44 (0)20 7065 0936
Registered in England & Wales, Company No. 02070438


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