Frequently Asked Questions and Comments about the SAS On-Line Video Tutorial
==============================================================================
Date:         Thu, 5 Apr 2001 10:48:28 -0700
    Reply-To:     "Huang, Ya" 
    Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" 
    From:         "Huang, Ya" 
    Subject:      Re: SAS On-Line Training Video
    Comments: To: "Evonich, George" 
    Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

    I was also able to download and I am behind a firewall (IE5,NT).
    Very cool stuff. maybe the background music can be ..?
    Thanks Charles!
==============================================================================
Date:         Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:28:11 -0400
     Reply-To:     frank.mwaniki@PHARMA.NOVARTIS.COM
     Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" 
     From:         "" 
     Subject:      Re: SAS On-Line Training Video
     Comments: To: "William W. Viergever" 
     Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

     Same here. Firewall?
     ==========================================================
     Charles:

     Went to take a peek and IE 5.5 said I need Javascript enabled (didn't know
     it wasn't enabled); I responded CANCEL and IE 5.5 gives me the ole "This
     page can't be viewed" (or whatever the default IE msg is) and said to use
     my browser's back button.

     Well - the back button takes me to the Javascript (js) msg and thus I'm now
     in a loop.

     Had to kill IE 5.5.

     Will try again later if/when I figure out why js is disabled.

     HTH
     Later
===============================================================================
Hi Frank and Others,

Sorry about the confusion.

That message states your browser needs to be Javascript Enabled to continue.  
I didn't mean to say that it wasn't as I do not check to see if it is or isn't.  
I assumed you would know if it was or not.

If you pressed "OK" and your browser is enabled then you should be just fine, 
provided you enter the correct password which is PROVIDED ON THE WINDOW WHICH 
PROMPTS YOU FOR THE PASSWORD.  But just in case you don't see the password, 
it is "samplevideo01"  without the quotes.

Oh well, I guess I need to put myself in EVERYONE's shoes before thinking I am 
done .

Again, I apologize for the confusion to all who have tried this and stopped 
without going any further.  I guess I am one of those people who refuse to 
have the door closed on their face - just barge in anyways !!! .

I'll have to re-think about putting up password protected pages.

Regrets,
Charles Patridge
===============================================================================
Date:         Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:41:41 -0400
    Reply-To:     Charles Patridge 
    Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" 
    From:         Charles Patridge 
    Subject:      Re: SAS On-Line Training Video

    For those of you who may be having problems with your browsers being Java
    enabled, try posting the following URL into your web browser Address/URL box
    and see if you are able to download it directly to your hard drive.

    http://www.sconsig.com/sasvideo/samplevideo01.exe

    Then double click on the file "samplevideo01.exe" wherever you saved it to
    on your hard drive.

    I did it with both Netscape 4.7 and IE 5.0 to test that it will work.

    Hopefully, this will work around your Java problem.

    Regards,
    Charles Patridge
    Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
===========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:43:18 -0400
    Reply-To:     "Evonich, George" 
    Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" 
    From:         "Evonich, George" 
    Subject:      Re: SAS On-Line Training Video
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

    I have ie 6 and although I get that message, all I need to do is enter the
    provided password and I'm able to download the video fine, but I'm not
    behind a firewall.  I thought the video was useful and would be interested
    in seeing more.  Thank you for taking the time Mr. Partridge!  Your web site
    has provided me with much information as well as some entertainment.

    Thanks,
    George
================================================================================
    From: Brittain, James zqr0@cdc.gov
    Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 14:17:25 -0400 
    To: Charles_S_Patridge@PRODIGY.NET
    Subject: RE: SAS On-Line Training Video

    I got it download with no problem but when I try to run it "Real Player"
    comes up and says "The file contains an unsupported audio format.  The
    needed codec is not installed on your system.".

    How do I associate .AVI files with Windows Media Player instead of Real
    Player?  I know I have done it before but I just can't remember.
===============================================================================
Hi James,

If you have an existing file on your system with an AVI extension, use your 
mouse to highlight the file within Windows Explorer, then "SHIFT+rightclick"  
on that file.

Then select "Open with..." and scroll down through the list and find "mplayer2" 
or something like that depending on your system.  And then click on the little 
box "Always use this program to associate with this type of file".

Then go back and try opening the video you downloaded.  You should have Windows 
Media Play now associated with AVI files.  After you are done, you can go back 
and associate AVI files back to RealMedia the same way you did it with Windows 
Media Player.

If you do not have an AVI file on your system, then make up a dummy file using 
NotePad or WordPad and save it as "dummy.avi".  Then go to my instructions (above)
to associate AVI files with Windows Media Player.  When it tries to open this 
"dummy.avi" you will get an error message but do not fret.  Now, go to the video 
you downloaded and try opening it again.

The point is you need to get Windows Media Player associated with AVI files 
before you can open my video.

HTH,
Charles Patridge
Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
=================================================================================
Subject:   RE: SAS On-Line Training Video
   Date:  Thu, 5 Apr 2001 11:33:01 -0400
   From:  "Schechter, Robert S" 
    To:  "'Charles Patridge'" 

Charles,

I gave up before it loaded and I'm on a high speed line (not dial-up).
=================================================================================
Robert,

It is possible that many people were trying to download it at the same time.
And I have no control over my ISP which is Prodigy Business Solutions and 
what its capabilities are for traffic jams.

All I can suggest is try it at some later date.
Regrets,
Charles Patridge
===============================================================================
Subject:  FW: SAS-L Digest - 5 Apr 2001 - Special issue (#2001-437)
   Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 12:40:46 -0400
   From:  "Goldman, Brad (AT-Atlanta)" 
    To:  "'Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net'" 

Charles, I watched the first two minutes of it.  I use the technique myself,
so I wasn't watching for the actual knowledge.  My main impressing was that
is was very hard to see the screen.  Perhaps I needed to watch it in
full-video mode or something, but I honestly couldn't tell what I was
seeing.  Like a badly rendered font.  That was my main reaction, and I
turned it off after a couple minutes of straining to see.  

I hate to be the bearer of bad reactions.  Espeically since I am looking
forward to using your fuzzy merge routines later this month.  Excellent
documentation, I am very glad you took the trouble to write that up!

Brad Goldman
brad.goldman@autotrader.com
=================================================================================
Brad,

You are right in that without FULL SCREEN viewing, the video appears 
very badly which is why I wrote recommendations on the page where you 
would have had to download this video.  It is best viewed in FULL SCREEN 
Mode.  Sorry, but if I made the video in smaller format, then you would 
not be able to read what was on the screen - hence no reason for the video.  
BTW, what kind of video card/monitor are you using???  I noticed when I looked 
at my video at work, the monitor was not as good for me as mine at home.

Regards and sorry about the bad viewing - others seem to have no problem 
but they may have turned on FULL SCREEN Mode first.

Charles Patridge
==================================================================================
Subject:  Re: SAS On-Line Training Video
    Date:  Thu, 05 Apr 2001 17:41:03 -0000
    From:  "Paul Dorfman" 
 Reply-To:  sashole@bellsouth.net
     To:   Charles_S_Patridge@PRODIGY.NET

Dear Chuck,

I stand in awe before the job you have done. Sure a lot of people will find 
it helpful. Unfortunately, I am not amongst them, just because an old fart 
like me is completely unfit to the new forms of presenting information. I 
have honestly tried things like this before and always found myself 
distracted by the sheer beauty of the process. Instead of delving into what 
was being presented, I caught myself thinking 'just how the heck all this 
works together?' Likewise, looking at my son's mathematical handbook, I 
cannot fathom how they can learn anything with all those illustrations in 
color instead of plain black-and-white draftings and axioms followed by 
theorems followed by proofs followed by corrolaries, and so forth. Guess I 
am forever stuck with a book... But like I said, for the young ones to whom 
the high-tech media is a natural environment, you tutorial must be a real 
blessing.

Thank you for all your hard work benefitting the entire SAS community!

Best regards,
Paul
===================================================================================
"Goldman, Brad (AT-Atlanta)" wrote:

  OK, so I'm a schmuck and didn't RTFM! :)  I'll try again tomorrow in full
  screen.  FWIW, I had no problems with Java like others reported.

  I am using a Samsung SyncMaster 750p at work -- haven't the vaguest what
  kind of card or anything it uses.
=============================================================================
OK you are forgiven .

I am going to try the same presentation on my other 2 computers which are lower 
in quality than my the one I used to make the video on.  Should have done that 
before but I got tired and lazy.

Good luck on the next try.  I just increased the video to 9 minutes 54 seconds, and 
the file size went from 1442 KB to 1887 KB which isn't too bad considering I 
lengthen the video by 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

I tried audio but the size just went up to 11 megs so I have to go back to the 
drawing boards and do better with the audio.

Take care and Regards,
Charles Patridge
===============================================================================
Date:         Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:23:10 -1000
        From:         Richard Severino 
        Subject:      Re: SAS On-Line Training Video

        Anyone who is using MS IE 5.5 should be aware that MS seems to release
        patches on a rather regular basis ... so if your browser is giving you
        trouble, check to make sure you have the most recent update

          Since it is free, why not try Netscape 4.75 (yes I know 6.x is available,
        but 4.75 works just fine)

        I have both loaded and when one gives me trouble I try the other to see if
        its the browser, the site, or heaven forbid  that it might be me :)

        I had no problem using Netscape 4.75 to access the SCONSIG website and
        download the video.

          -Richard
=================================================================================
Subject: RE: SAS On-Line Training Video
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 07:58:37 +0200
From: "Edel, Christoph (Frankfurt)" 
To: "'Charles Patridge'" 

Charles,

this works flawlessly; I had encountered some of the problems described on
SAS-L by others.

Great job, congratulations! Why don't you approach some large companies who
you know use SAS and ask if they'd be interested. I bet they could afford to
pay more than 5 to 10 USD per video.

Greetings,

Christoph Edel
Produktionssupport
IMS Health, Frankfurt (Germany)
CEdel@de.imshealth.com
==================================================================================
From: "Kerrison, Foster" FKerrison@nt.dma.state.ma.us
To: Charles_S_Patridge@PRODIGY.NET
Subject: RE: On-Line Video SAS Training, Tips and Techniques
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 12:29:19 -0400 
     Chuck, 

     I had a look at this today and I have a few comments for you. 

     1. Overall idea. 

     I think that the overall idea is excellent and well worth pursuing from a 
     training and financial perspective. I think that many firms are gouging SAS 
     newbies and their employers so having a facility to log on and learn is 
     great. At the same time I think that you are entitled to charge a reasonable 
     price for this otherwise the burden may become too much. I strongly favor a 
     modular approach to this. In other words if I can buy into a training 
     program on a particular subject and have the facility to either download it 
     or log on to it whenever I want, then, as a user, I would be interested. In 
     addition I would offer buyers a consultative facility to ask questions etc. 

     2. Approach. 

     I think that the video approach is very clever and is an excellent medium. 

     3. Quality. 

     The quality of what I saw on screen was poor. The screen type was difficult 
     to read. I have a windows media player on my PC. I liked the idea of 
     highlighting the relevant text and this worked well for the most part. I 
     found the key tapping annoying after a while. 

     4. Training and learning. 

     I found the learning process difficult to follow. I put myself in the shoes 
     of a learner and I don't think that there was much teaching going on. Well, 
     not enough anyway. I think you need to spell out what you are trying to 
     teach. Something like: 

     Welcome 
     This video will teach you how to convert a datastep program into a macro, 
     and why that is more efficient. 
     First we will look at the data..... 
     Then we will look at the program, and what it is doing.... 
     Now lets look at how we can make it easier to run with a macro. 
     First with an assigned macro.... 
     Now with a positional parameter. 
     So the benefit of changing is that we only had to add one line of text and 
     away we go... 

     In other words I think that you need to focus on the lowest rung on the 
     ladder in terms of understanding and then build from there. I know that you 
     were only trying to demonstrate what can be done, but I think the focus was 
     too much on the use of the technology and that needs to be addressed if you 
     bring this to fruition. 

     5. Conclusion. 

     I would encourage you to follow through with this. I think that there is a 
     need for it and you have identified a clever application of technology to 
     meet that need. 

     I hope that you find my comments helpful rather than critical. They are 
     intended to be helpful. 

     If I can help further then please let me know. 

     Regards, 

     Foster Kerrison. 
=================================================================
Dear Foster,

First, Thank you for your very complete critique which is what I was hoping 
for. I appreciate your time and effort putting this to words.

Some comments about your suggestions:
1.  Overall idea - you mention I should be entitled to a reasonable price 
for such services.  In your mind what would be a reasonable price, and how 
should it be price?

  a.  price per video - how much ?
  b.  annual fee per person - how much ?
  c.  annual fee per company - how much ?
  d.  other suggestion ?

3.  Quality - did you play the video in FULL SCREEN Mode???  If so, what 
type of video card do you have as well as the monitor?  I found playing 
the video in size less than Full Screen Mode definitely has produced poor 
quality.

As for the keys tapping - I guess I would have felt the same so something 
learned for the next time.

4. Training and Learning - I agree I would need to start at the lowest rung 
of the ladder and make no assumptions about the viewer.  Having been a teacher 
20 years ago, I should have concentrated more on this but again, as you stated, 
I was testing the concept and approach.

However, your point about following a Well Laidout Script would be a MUST, and 
I need to incorporate this everytime.

5.  Conclusion - thanks for the encouragement.

I did do some SAS training earlier in my career (ago 3 years of it).  When one 
has to develop their own materials, it is a VERY time consuming activity with 
many drafts, edits, re-writes, and getting critique input from various sources.  
And, I often found that I would re-write complete sections after giving a class 
a number of times.

So far, the response has been very positive with a few minor gliches concerning 
downloading, not playing the video in full screen mode, how to play/pause/stop 
the video and size of download file.

A number of comments were made about the concept and liked the idea.  However, 
most peopleindicated they would not pay for any such material or very little 
(say under $5.00) unless they saw the video first hand before paying.  Now comes 
the catch 22, if someone wants to see the video before buying, why would they 
want to pay for it after watching as they would have the ability to save the 
video to disk.  Hence, I would be giving it away.

The cost to make a video such that it can be played only once, encrypted, and 
create an on-line e-commerce site for an accounting/billing/tracking system would 
FAR EXCEED my current financial resources.  And based upon my previous experience 
with web-base accounting systems, I would need to charge more than $5.00 per video 
just in order to cover my expenses for processing the transaction through these 
types of accounting systems.  And this would not cover my costs for creating the 
video in the first place, hence the cost would have to be somewhere in the $10.00 
plus range.

However, I will not let this deter me from pursuing this further.  I will need to 
think more about other possibilities or methods in maturing this concept.

Again, thank you very much for your time.  Your comments and suggestions will help 
guide me down the road for making better materials and presentations should I pursue 
this further.

My sincerest appreciation,
Charles Patridge
Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
Web:  http://www.sconsig.com
=========================================================================================
Subject:  Re: SAS video
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 08:28:30 -0400
From:  "Michael A Mace" 

Hi Charles !
 
i just 'played' your video - nice job !
Are you thinking of branching out your consulting business with this type of 'training'? 
i think this could be great !
You had mentioned enhancing it with audio - the downside being the size of files;
as an alternative, may i suggest using %WINDOW to display instructions.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
At your service,
... michael
=========================================================================================
Subject: Sample video
Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2001 02:54:43 -0400
From: Bernard Tremblay 
Organization: Imaginasys enr
To: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net

Charles,

    Since I'm sending this from Linux, I can confirm that I have been
unable to see anything from your video!  Too bad I was given the unique
chance to ear your nice voice and see you !!!  May be you could post the
video on a common format that we could see and hear from all platform :
Linux, MacIntosh, Solaris, PowerPC, etc.  I can tell you that real audio
and flash works on most platforms.  I'm not aware of any OPEN SOURCE
project that you could use for that :  real audio, Quick Time or Window
Player beeing the most dominant formats.

  Anything you can do for us on Linux  ?  Your voice must be so nice  on
a Linux machine !

(I feel like the fox in the Lafontaine storie 'The fox and the crow').

         Regards and don't drop the cheese!

         Bernard Tremblay

Hi Bernard,
===============================================================================
Hmmm.  I'll check around.  To get Flash would require another license on 
my part.  And, at this time, I am not sure anyone would be willing to pay 
for these tutorials.  So, I have a catch-22 in that I need to spend more 
money for something which I maybe never use and get any return on.

In my books an ROI equal to ZERO is not a very good investment .

But I will consider it.
Regards,
Charles Patridge
================================================================================
From:  "Michael A Mace" michael.a.mace@att.net
 Reply-To:  michael.a.mace@att.net
 To:  Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
 Subject:  Re: SAS video 02
 Date:  Sun, 8 Apr 2001 19:58:40 -0400

 Charles: 

 Another very good lesson ! 
 ... however i did not hear any audio (and you are right, the pause function is 
 necessary) 

 Have a fantabulous week as we look forward to the celebration of our Savior's 
 resurrection ! 
 At your service, 
 ... michael 
 =======================================================================
Michael,

Hmmm?? I downloaded this tutorial again this morning and was able to hear audio as well as 
my Monotone Voice.

Maybe you have to turn up your volume a bit more. You should at least hear the keyboard sounds.

If not, I need to know more about your system with respect to audio.

Not sure what is happening.

Thanks again for evaluating this tutorial. And yes, this is the week of Our Lord's resurrection!

God Bless
Charles Patridge
=======================================================================
 From: Kerrison, Foster 
 Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 3:25 PM 
  Subject: RE: RE: On-Line Video SAS Training, Tips and Techniques 
 
 Chuck, 
 
 My response. 
 
 1. Input. You are very welcome to my comments. I appreciate your 
 investment on behalf of SAS wannabees like me. I would like to reciprocate 
 a little from time to time. 
 
 2. Fees. I think that a fee of $5-10 is ridiculous! I mean it. It should 
 be more like $50-100. I mean that too! I think you need to look at the 
 training market and see what comparable fees are e.g. I attended the 
 Boston SUG advanced macro workshop recently and paid either $75 or $85. I 
 am a contractor so I gave up a day of my time to attend - I will let you 
 do the math on that - but you will quickly see that I, for one, would 
 happily pay in the $50 - 100 range for something like this that I can do 
 at home, in my own time, with a facility to send you or others (SAS-L ??) 
 questions later. Frankly that's a steal for me. I have attended a few SAS 
 course and they came to $7/800 a pop plus lost wages. So my advice is 
 don't sell yourself short on this. I think you have to make the decision 
 as to whether it is worth it. I agree that developing a curriculum is very 
 demanding and I too have experienced that as a lecturer in a previous 
 existence. But once you do it it is much easier the next time round. 
 
 3. Courses. I would develop modules (e.g. Macros, Reports, Functions, SQL, 
 datastep etc.). You have the ability and tools to analyse the demand from 
 SAS-L. Break the SAS-L questions out into beginner, intermediate, and 
 experienced, and see what that tells you. I think you might be surprised. 
 
 4. Delivery. Your basic question is "How can I deliver this and get paid 
 for it?" Well, I would develop the sample that you have put together as a 
 free sample so that a potential user can have a peek without burning 
 themselves. After that it is going to cost me to buy a module. I would not 
 advise you to screw around with a complicated delivery approach. Basically 
 I would say "you pay your money and you get the goods. Same as Walmart!" 
 You don't have anything to apologize for Chuck. 
 
 I would want to "buy" the module i.e. I would want to be able to download 
 it, and I would expect to get updates/revisions without additional cost. 
 
 5. Technical stuff. I have no idea what kind of video card I have. I just 
 bought a new PC so the system is very current. I spent quite a bit on it 
 because I wanted tons of disc and RAM with decent speed. I think that you 
 can cover all that as you explain what the users needs to use the system 
 that you develop. I am also a novice when it comes to multi media 
 production, but could this be deliverd using another format? CD for 
 example. 
 
 I think you should hang in there, and I am glad to see that it looks like 
 you will. 
 
 Finally, I am attaching a copy of a datastep presentation that Lisa 
 Horowitz from SI did at our (NH/VT SUG) meeting this spring. It runs in 
 powerpoint. It is just another example of what can be done. 
 
 Regards, 
  Foster
===========================================================
Thanks Foster.

I'll take your recommendations to heart and study this more.

I thank you for your honest feedback.  Your suggested price is more like what I had in mind 
as I know if there is something I learned in a tutorial/book that helps me do a project faster 
or saves the client time/money then $50 - $100 is a small price to pay for a happy client or 
successful project.

But I am not sure that other people would agree with you and I.  As for distributing the material 
in other formats, I could produce CDs without too much trouble.  I'd need to practice burning 
universal access CDs and "How-tos" in launching the tutorials but that is a minor detail.

I did not get Lisa'a PP that you said you were sending but I'll try again when I get home - it could 
be this web base email stuff.

Again, thanks for your input.  I need to do some more pilot surveys and analysis before I go 
forward with this concept but your input has been a big help.  Thanks for your time!

Regards,
Charles Patridge
Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
===============================================================
From:  "Morten Madsen" 
 To:  charles_s_patridge@prodigy.net
 Subject:  feebback on tutorial
 Date:  Mon, 9 Apr 2001 16:53:32 +0200 

 Hi Charles 

 I've watched both your training videos. I think it was a big improvement 
 with the speech in the second video (and I think your voice is OK). 

 On one hand it doesn't feel optimal that you just read up those writen 
 comments, on the other hand it could maybe be rather confusing with comments 
 that doesn't match the speech? 

 You asked for all sorts of feedback, so I will also give you mine: 
 I think your experiments are interesting, but I have not yet decided what I 
 think about the future of such training videos. 

 Good luck with your future work. 
 Morten Madsen, Denmark 
=============================================================
Dear Morten,

Thanks for your time in reviewing and evaluating these videos.

I agree that reading what is already typed in the screens could be annoying and an overkill but 
I wanted to test adding audio as well as not to exclude the DEAF SAS community.  You see, 
I know of a few SAS programmers who are deaf and not having the written materials in the 
presentation would be meaningless to them.

Being a webmaster for my Town's web page in partnership with the State of Connecticut, I 
was told all material should be for as wide an audience as possible, including the handicapped 
community.

And I, too, am not sure as you pointed out the "future" of such training videos.
Regards,
Charles Patridge
===============================================================================
From:  "Jon O'Neil" joneil@ConsumerHealthSciences.com
 To:  Charles_S_Patridge@PRODIGY.NET
 Subject:  video
 Date:  Wed, 11 Apr 2001 09:43:39 -0400

 Charles, very cool video. In this multi-media world, audio makes it. If you 
 are considering turning this into a money-making venture, I would suggest 
 packaging clusters of topically related videos into, say, half-hour segments 
 (the traditional length of training videos). Best--Jon O'Neil. 

 Jonathan O'Neil 
 Research Programmer 
 CONSUMER 
 HEALTH 
 SCIENCES 
 joneil@consumerhealthsciences.com 
 Phone: 609.924.4455 x128 
 Fax: 609.924.7794 
========================================================
Dear Jon,

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

BTW, what would a fair price be to pay for such "packages" ?

And, how would you react to a video which you paid for but was 
disappointed in contents?  That is, how do I cover my expense when 
someone sees/copies my video and then decides it was not worth the 
money, even if they found a few useful ideas/tips/ etc. ?

I want to be able to provide quality content and customer satisfaction but 
have no way of measuring if it totally met the customer's needs, other than 
customer retention (continuing purchases).

Regards,
Charles Patridge
Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net
========================================================
From: Mitchell, Brian [EESUS] 
 Subject: RE: Feedback on On-Line SAS Video Tutorials
 Date: April 12, 2001 12:46:56 PM EDT
 To: 'Charles Patridge'  Add to Address Book
 
 It's hard to judge the pricing but it seems comparable to SAS/TUTOR. 
 You might want to consider putting small snippets on your website to 
 show the buyer what they can expect. I think that your approach as an annual 
 license is an improvement over SI's 60 or 90-day licenses. I wonder how they 
 and you will verify that a requestor falls into a certain price class and how to 
 prevent "sharing" of access to the material by individual users? Finally, I wish 
 you well but do agree that SI is unlikely to take kindly to competition and expect 
 that you could be in for a rough ride. I think Goodnight has based his business 
 model pretty much on M$ and will react much like Bill Gates. On top of it all, 
 I think that business model has probably hurt SI's recent performance, making 
 them even more sensitive to any "revenue diversion". 
==============================================================
Thank you Brian.

1.  Small snippets is what I thought I would do.  So we agree here.
2.  12 month license sounds like a good idea as well.
3.  Verifying class price schedule will be a small problem but with Internet 
access to much info, I could probably verify size of companies pretty easily.
4.  "Sharing" materials with other users will be a problem.  I figured I could 
handle this as the problem arises.  Besides with corporate/company licenses, 
I had no need to worry about which employees use it.  It is when the employee 
wishes to share the material with another person outside the company.  At that 
point, I would have legal rights to bring that wrong-doing employee's employer 
to court for violating contractual agreements.

And, if this venture proves worthy, I could probably paid for encrypting these 
videos to prevent some, not all, of the "pirating".  Plus, at the price of 
corporate/company licenses, I could afford some loss of revenue due to pirating.  
And finally, with watermarking, I will be able to prove any pirating that was 
discovered, especially if I offer a sizeable reward for any successful lawsuit.

5.  Finally, I may have to re-size my pricing as I want this to be VERY competitive 
to any alternatives.

Thanks again,
Charles Patridge
================================================================ 
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 18:56:09 GMT
 Reply-To: aratcliffe@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK
  From: aratcliffe@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK
  Subject: Re: SAS On-Line Training Video

 > Was wondering if you had a chance to view the first draft of my SAS
 > Video Tutorial off my web site???

 Chuck, I downloaded it and had a look but, to be honest, I found the pace
 somewhat slow. Having just a view of the SAS window (only VMS, not
 Windows) makes the thing visually drab.

 I'm sure the SAS content is good, and if I needed to learn the content
 then maybe I'd make the effort, so I don't want to put you off. But I'd
 guess that most people's expectations are going to be set by what they see
 on TV and in training videos, i.e. movement, faces, scene changes, and
 audio.

 HTH

 Andrew Ratcliffe ---- Ratcliffe Technical Services Limited
 SAS Institute Registered Partner
 Web site: http://www.ratcliffe.co.uk
==============================================================
Dear Andrew,

No Offense taken. Yes, I agree the SAS Online Video Tutorial using SAS 6.12 
on OpenVMS would be "boring"/drab.

I thought I might try using SAS 6.12 on Windows 98. However, doing this 
would most likely require the size of these files to get bigger due to the 
multiple colors, icons, and nature of a windows' application. Plus, I would 
need to rely more on the use of the mouse to highlight what is happening 
which would require more movement on the screen thus requiring more screen 
capture movements.

And, the pace was slow for anyone who would consider themselves as an 
Advance or Intermediate SAS user. The first couple of sample videos was to 
test the quality of the video and audio, the strategy of such a tutorial, 
and any barriers to the technical issues one might encounter over the 
internet.

I do appreciate your feedback and agree with your comments as I need to see 
the world through many eyes and not just my own.

If I was to continue, it appears distributing these tutorials via a CD would 
be the most appropriate media so the videos could flow faster, not have to 
worry about downloading a lot of files which will tend to be large for modem 
users, provide a web base interface, and any utilities that may be needed 
for viewing/hearing these tutorials.

And finally, it appears the over all impression is so-so and may face 
difficulty for general acceptance to this method of learning unless it meets 
the level of expectation as seen on TV or professional training videos. And 
at this time, such quality expectations can only be obtained through 
sufficient financial funding, highly paid training staff and high end 
technology hardware. None of which I can afford to invest in at this time, 
knowing the payback (ROI) may never happen or take too long.

So, I do not think I will continue with these videos except as a hobby for 
some unique situations unless I find a client willing to finance the 
project.

Regards,
Charles Patridge
Email: Charles_S_Patridge@prodigy.net

PS, the survey and pilot program was well worth the effort via the web. 
Just think, this kind of venture several years ago would have cost most 
companies hundreds of thousands of dollars to test market the concept. For 
me, it was a matter of my time (under 5 days) and under $450 for software 
and hardware to create and demonstrate the concept to a select and target 
market.

Thanks to everyone who participated and offered their suggestions, comments 
and encouragement.
=====================================================================
Subject: Video on How to Access SAS-L via a Web Browser
       Date:  Tue, 17 Apr 2001 09:45:52 -0400
       From:  "Bernard Tremblay" 
 Hi Charles,
 
   Nice stuff!  I took a look at you last video (after booting my computer to Windows instead of Linux...) and found it nice and interesting for any SAS-L newcomer. 
 
      Keep on the good work !
 
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