TAKE STOCK SECRETS REVEALED

A.K.A. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TRAUB

Wiley and revered Take Stock inventor Ellis Traub explains the origins of the popular stock analysis program in his ongoing workshop The Truth About Take Stock, currently accessible in The Classroom.

Take Stock, the powerful yet easy-to-use tool for Instant Stock Analysis™ didn't start out as the slick web-based version that's rapidly become the most popular feature on StockCentral. On the contrary, the program's humble beginnings date back to the year of our lord Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Nine. To think, the entire program used to be Excel macros -- this reporter cannot even balance his checking ledger with Excel, let alone write a program for it. Blasted cells.

The tipping point for Take Stock was the development of the Quality Index, the bedrock methodology that sets it apart from most other stock analysis tools. Professor Traub, presently residing in the StockCentral University's Honorary Nicholson Chair, explains in his workshop:

"Analyzing the process, clearly its purpose could be summed up in two basic requirements: the first was to determine whether the company was a good enough company to warrant investing in it. The second, strictly contingent upon the first, was to determine whether the price was reasonable. Indeed, those two items could be presented to the user all at once.

"What answer could be simpler than to use those parameters to 'grade' the company on scale of 1 to 10? Any novice could understand that a 10 was better than a 9 or 8! Thus, the QI or Quality Index was developed."

Follow along with Mr. Traub's comments in The Classroom, and feel free to ask questions and add to the discussion. He'll be posting throughout the week, so you can catch up on previous posts and drop in on the workshop at any time.

INVESTOR'S TOOLKIT MEETS STOCKCENTRAL

THE UNION OF DATA AND SOFTWARE IS COMPLETE

It's talked about in hushed tones in the coffee houses and meeting halls. It's discussed in whispers and through secret hand signals and illicit underground communiques (like our beloved Gazette, dear readers). Your intrepid reporter risks life and limb to bring you this news, but fear not, for he cackles defiantly in the face of doom:

The StockCentral Data Service is directly accessible from within your copy of Investor's Toolkit 5.

Yes, StockCentral denizens, it's true. You can import the Data you get as a StockCentral member into Toolkit 5, and generate *.SSGs and perform judgment analyses just as you've been doing for years. It might seem revolutionary to get your financial data for free, but this reporter thinks that you'll get used to it.

Spread the word! Tell a friend! Vive le data gratis!

Complete instructions for configuring Investor's Toolkit to use StockCentral Data can be found in the FAQ tab under the "Data" category. For the scientifically curious among you, a new-fangled magic lantern moving picture show is also available.

A NEW, SCENIC VISTA

MICROSOFT RELEASES SHINY BAUBLE

Just when you thought you finally had your computer figured out, the good folks in Redmond, WA have dropped a brand new operating system into your lap. Windows Vista, the first new-generation of the Windows OS since 2001, is now available at retail. Of course, zealots of the Macintosh (like this reporter) have met the Vista fanfare with disinterested yawns and backhanded comments such as "my computer already does all of that."

What does this mean for you, and your fellow members of the StockCentral Community? Probably nothing, at least not immediately.

Comrade Hodgkin posits that "the introduction of Vista will make little difference to MSFT's top or bottom lines. I doubt that a huge number of people will buy new computers sooner than they would have in order to get Vista. Some early adopters, yes, but not mass numbers of people. But if Vista licenses for significantly more than XP did, there will be a nice and almost immediate accretion to MSFT's revenues. But if Vista licenses for significantly more than XP did, there will be a nice and almost immediate accretion to MSFT's revenues."

You can offer your views on the financial impact of Vista, and even share your first impressions of it (if you are one of the brave souls who have already installed a copy) in the MSFT forum.

StockCentral, since it is entirely web-based, will run perfectly on Vista. However, ICLUBcentral's desktop products are currently undergoing rigorous compatibility testing. Stay up to date at iclub.com.

"Relax. The market goes up, the market goes down. But, over the long haul, the market goes up."

- PETER BURKE, CEO of Global Century Investments

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