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Randys Rumor Rag 1994 03
RAndy's RumOR RaG
March 1994
NEWS IN YER FACE
Here's an interesting tidbit I came across in a trade
publication: last year computer games, cartridges, and CD-ROMs
were a $4 billion industry - the size of two Microsofts.
---------------
Intel paid Cyrix $5 million and dismissed its 338 patent
infringement claims, then paid $500,000 to end the math co-
processor litigation between the two companies.
---------------
WordPerfect will release an interim release to WordPerfect for
Windows 6 sometime next month. It will correct several bugs,
improve performance, and contain enhancements and additional
features, such as new Coach help functions.
Sometime before the end of the summer, expect to see Version
6.1 released which will include OLE support.
In unrelated news, WordPerfect has said they will not develop
additional DOS versions except as maintenance upgrades. Other DOS
titles will likely not be upgraded either.
---------------
Stac may be holding up but AddStor has shut its doors due to
pressure from the updated MS-DOS 6.2 compression.
---------------
Apple wonks are referring to prospective layoff candidates
(100-200 people) as "Spindler's List".
---------------
For the first 45 days on the market, IBM sold more than
300,000 copies of OS/2 for Windows. They're raising the price to
$99 for the disk version, $79 for the CD version.
---------------
WordPerfect 6 for Unix is in beta testing and due for release
in April.
---------------
Symantec will not upgrade Q&A, their flat file database for
DOS and Windows.
---------------
On March 7, Compaq will introduce a high-end notebook called
Masterpiece. It will have an Intel 486DX4-75 on the upper end of
the line and a 486DX2-40 on the lower end.
---------------
IS ANYBODY TESTING?
A couple of weeks ago, a friend loaned me a CD he had gotten
in a magazine. The CD contained crippled versions of software that
you can try out before buying them. He had not been able to make
it work and want me to give it a shot. I could install the
software but it would tell me a file was missing (which it wasn't)
when I went to start it up.
I should also note that the first time I installed it, my
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT got zapped.
I just got a similar CD in the mail titled CD Select. On it
are a ton of Microsoft applications and a few from other parties.
You call the company for the key to unlock the application and it's
yours (after you pay for it, of course). This one I can't even get
to install. I've tried three times and it gives me a General
Protection Fault.
Now, I'm not using any bizarre hardware configuration nor is
my friend who had the trouble. It looks to me like somebody didn't
do a very good job of testing the product before it went out the
door.
We're seeing this more and more in even mainstream
applications. The companies are so hungry to get the money stream
flowing that quality control goes out the door. Looks like the
bean counters are running things sometimes.
Somebody needs to wake up. . .
---------------
DATABASE WARS TO HEAT UP
This spring you can expect to see new database releases from
Borland, Lotus, and Microsoft.
Code-named "Perspectives", Borland has been developing this
free-form database which will have no rows and columns and is not
purely relational like Paradox. They're hoping to ship dBase V for
DOS and Windows by early June, but insiders say that only the DOS
version will make it by then.
Look for Lotus to release an updated Approach with a cross-
tab feature, OLE 2 support, and tighter links to 1-2-3. Approach
3 will not include the LotusScript language but will have enhanced
macro capabilities.
Microsoft's Access 2 will work with the Visual Basic language
and is scheduled for an early April release. You'll have Wizards
for graphs and tables as well as a graphical relation builder.
Almost every important on-screen object has an accompanying Wizard.
---------------
MICROSOFT MARVEL
Look for Chicago/Windows 4 to offer an on-line service called
Marvel which will allow users access to technical information and
third-party vendor support. Initially, it will be geared toward
resellers. They're hoping to attract 250,000 subscribers.
A second version due in 1995 would be targeted at consumers
featuring online banking and financial information, "chat"
services, travel services, and electronic magazines.
---------------
MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
Corel remains on schedule for their May release of CorelDraw
5. Ventura Publisher will be closely integrated into the existing
Corel modules and will link those modules and outside applications
through OLE 2 and improved filters. The Ventura module and
interface will be easier to use with a major performance boost
thrown in for good measure.
All the modules will share color management tools and printing
engines with support for Standard Generalized Markup Language.
---------------
I've said it before and now it's getting closer to becoming
reality - look for Microsoft to dump Profit on Great Plains.
Meanwhile, the guys in Redmond are in a quandary in coming up with
a version number for the update to NT (code-named Daytona).
---------------
What do Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and Bill
Gates have in common?
They all have CDs titled "unplugged".
In Bill's case, it's a CD with demo software including Office,
OLE 2, multimedia, Visual Basic, and some 32-bit NT apps.
---------------
WordPerfect has a version of WordPerfect for PowerPCs in beta
testing and will ship as soon as PowerPC machines are available.
---------------
As WordPerfect has announced that they will no longer develop
DOS products, so has Lotus decided to consolidate spreadsheet
versions 2.x and 3.x into development for Release 4.0 for DOS.
---------------
WINDOWS TIP
Here's a tip that may keep you from having various application
errors in Windows. I don't guarantee that this will work, so try
this at your own risk.
In SYSTEM.INI under the [386Enh] section, insert a line that
says:
MaxBPs=768
MaxBPs stands for Maximum Break Points, which are small chunks
of memory (approximately 10 bytes each) that Windows uses to save
the state of a Virtual Machine. Usually, Windows will allocate 4KB
for breakpoints but you only end up with about 158 for your own
operations (once Windows consumes what it needs).
A breakpoint is consumed and never restored every time Windows
crosses a virtual machine boundary. For example, starting a DOS
session consumes a breakpoint as does exiting the session.
Checking swap file settings in Control Panel eats up another
(assuming that a real-mode disk read is required). So you can see,
these breakpoints get consumed quickly during the course of a day's
work. Once your breakpoints are consumed, mysterious error
messages can become frequent.
If you're having trouble with frequent error messages, give
this a shot - it may help.
---------------
THE REST OF THE STORY
You've surely heard about Microsoft losing the lawsuit with
Stac over patent infringement. You've heard that Microsoft must
pay $120 million to Stac. What they didn't tell you is that Stac
must pay Microsoft $13.6 million for stealing trade secrets.
Considering that Microsoft has $2.8 million in cash reserves,
this judgement is chump change.
Meanwhile, resellers and distributors are wondering what will
happen with MS-DOS 6.2 product in the channel. Microsoft said it
would stop selling copies of DOS with the technology in question.
The new product minus DoubleSpace will be called DOS 6.21 but might
not be ready for a couple of months.
Microsoft and Stac disagreed about whether product already in
the channel is covered by the damage settlement. Microsoft is
expected to ask the judge to reconsider the verdict and the amount
of the damage claim. Microsoft is also expected to ask the judge
for an injunction against Stac to block them from selling copies of
Stacker 4. Stacker 3.21 was found by the jury to misappropriate
Microsoft trade secrets.
There is speculation that Microsoft would consider licensing
compression technology from a third party (maybe even Stac) as some
form of settlement. Since DOS 6 shipped with integrated
compression, sales of Stacker fell as much as 50%.
Meanwhile, IBM is readying PC DOS 6.3 for a late March release
which will include compression technology unrelated to the lawsuit.
---------------
MONEY 3
Microsoft has revised their Quicken-wanna-be by adding a
number of financial functions.
Microsoft Money has a set of financial planning Wizards that
simplify savings and retirement planning, mortgage comparisons, and
loan evaluation and tracking. Setting up a budget is easier than
before. They have enhanced the charting abilities and now let you
track multiple investments.
A new feature is the addition of Bank On-Line, Quotes On-Line,
and Pay On-Line which let you perform various banking functions via
modem. These services are only available from a select few banks
and are charged at monthly fees (let me get this straight - I help
the bank do their bookkeeping and I pay for it?).
The changes are not real extensive. You get pretty
backgrounds when you write out a check and many other functions are
now more graphical. Unless you need some of the investment-related
functions you're probably better off sticking with the version
you're using. I have used Microsoft Money since the beginning of
1993 and find it quite helpful for keeping track of how much money
I have at a given moment (it's not much but I want to keep track of
every last penny).
---------------
ELECTRONIC IMAGING
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit the big city
(Seattle) and see some new photo-electronic technology.
I've seen prints produced on dye sublimation printers what
were almost photographic quality. A non-professional would have
trouble telling the difference (fortunately for you, I am a trained
professional). One problem with dye-sublimation prints is that
they are somewhat fragile.
I saw a printer by Fuji that completely astounded me. You
could not tell an electronically-produced print from a real
photographic print.
The printer is about the size of a small copier on a cart and
uses distilled water in its process. An included scanner lets you
print a sample page and run it through the scanner to keep your
color balance consistent. Even prints made from an electronic
camera were excellent, although distinguishable from prints made
from a PhotoCD. The PhotoCD prints had excellent gradation,
detail, and sharpness. It was almost frightening for one who is in
the business of professional photography.
The day is not far off when a professional photographer could
go into a studio, photograph a client against a black background -
electronically display proofs, combine the image with a background
from a PhotoCD. Then you could electronically retouch the selected
pose and print it on one of these printers. The customer would not
be able to tell the difference.
There were two shortcomings I could see to the whole process.
(Well, three - the machine was made by Fuji and I think Fuji film
sucks.). The printer is limited to an 8x10 size image area so
large prints are out of the question.
The main limitation is the price - $21,000.
---------------
NEXT MONTH
I don't know what I'll be talking about next month. I'm not
aware of any major applications that will be passing through.
Guess we'll both have to wait and see . . .
=================================
DISCLAIMER
RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH
COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various local BBS's, GEnie,
and America Online as well as in Modem News.
In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a 486-
50 with 8 megs of memory, Diamond Stealth Pro VESA VLB (1 MB), 105
MB Toshiba IDE hard drive, Teac 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, Pro
Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA
display, Microsoft mouse, WordPerfect for Windows and transmitted
through a US Robotics HST Dual Standard modem.
Opinions expressed are those of the author. Comments should
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