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Randys Rumor Rag 1992 06
RAndY's RumOR RaG
June 1992
NEW MICROSOFT SKU
Microsoft is currently doing marketing studies in preparation
for a summer launch of a combined DOS 5/Windows 3.1 product. This
will enable users to install both products more easily.
I reported on this last month, but I've since gotten a few
more details. What is clear is that there will be a common
installer for both DOS and Windows. Right now, Microsoft is
evaluating the demand for a shrink-wrapped version of a DOS
5/Windows 3.1 package. They're also trying to figure out which
market segment this type of product would appeal to.
As I get ready to wrap things up, this product is now on the
market.
---------------
NEWS IN YER FACE
Spinnaker has finally released PFS:Publisher for Windows. The
package combines a word processor, style sheets, 12 scalable fonts,
clip art, layout tools, and preset templates. A browsing feature
lets you scan through clip-art libraries and template libraries
visually
---------------
I finally saw the famous After Dark screen blanking program
for Windows. What a bunch of crap! Who needs this junk clogging
up their hard drives anyway? DEL *.*
---------------
When Bill Gates was asked about Kaleida (the IBM/Apple joint
venture) at a NYPC user group meeting, he called the start-up
nothing more than a "press release".
---------------
Microsoft is attempting to woo some dBase experts at Borland's
dBase conference. The carrot being dangled is FoxPro and Cirrus.
---------------
By now you've surely heard the flap about the Wingding
typeface included with Windows 3.1? If you type in NYC it gives
you a skull-and-crossbones, the Star of David, and the thumbs-up
symbol. Some imbecile somewhere decided that Microsoft is
deliberately saying that dead Jews are good or some such nonsense.
Get a life!
---------------
I hear that Texas Instruments is thinking of buying Cyrix and
putting the pressure on Intel. Makes sense to me.
---------------
Chips & Technologies has filed a counterclaim against Intel,
alleging that Intel's 386SL architecture relies on technology
patented by C&T. <grin>
---------------
In other chip news, AMD has been granted a license to manufacture
its version of the 386 chip. Of course Intel will appeal and says
that the court decision has no relationship to the 486 chip.
---------------
The first bug in OS/2 2.0 has surfaced. OS/2 users cannot cut
and paste between some Windows and Presentation Manager
applications. A fix will be included in an OS/2 upgrade later this
year. Until then, users can copy and paste rather than cut and
paste, or start the Win-OS/2 session first, then launch the
Presentation Manager session.
---------------
Lotus is pumping the development cycle of Ami Pro. They hope
to announce Version 3 in June with a release date this summer.
Improved performance and drag-and-drop editing are expected to be
among the enhancements. Expect an OS/2 version out by Labor Day.
---------------
FoxPro for Windows is not yet in beta testing. Fox executives
have shown it to some prominent xBasers, but the rumor is that
Microsoft wants to incorporate some of Cirrus' Windows interface
into the product and that will take a while.
---------------
Intel recently slashed prices by 58% on 486SX chips (yawn) in
a move obviously aimed at competitors AMD and Cyrix. Predictions
are that by the end of the year you'll see 486SX systems selling in
the $1,000 range. All of this is real nice, but my advice is to go
with the DX.
---------------
Developer will finally get a chance to get a Windows NT
developer's kit this summer. Until now, Microsoft has been
carefully controlling these things with only a couple of hundred
out there. Expect this to take place in mid-July at an NT
developers conference.
---------------
Borland will unveil Paradox 4 for DOS at a developers
conference in early June. The product will feature support for
memo fields, hastened query performance, and event trapping. It
will also be able to read more data formats including dBase DBF
files. (No one knows if it will be able to utilize Paradox for
Windows tables.)
The outlook in the Windows spreadsheet department are not so
promising. Borland has cancelled a June 22 event which would have
featured Quattro Pro for Windows. Apparently, they are adding
features to compete with Excel 4.0, including a "Turbofill"
function.
---------------
Somebody's Thinking Department: Hewlett-Packard recently
introduced a high-capacity cartridge for their popular DeskJet
printers. These cartridges have a see-through case so you can see
how much ink you have left. Good idea, eh?
---------------
FACELIFT FOR WINDOWS 2
Facelift was the first scalable font package that I used for
Windows. Back then, the idea of scalable type was an incredible
idea. And I've always thought that Bitstream fonts looked better
than anybody else's. But Facelift was not entirely compatible with
Windows 3.1, and it was certainly slower with the new Windows.
Facelift 2 sports a new interface that is much friendlier than
the original. Huge icons along the right of the panel let you
choose different options with a choice of beginner and advanced
user.
Installation is as easy as it gets and it now supports both
Speedo and Type 1 fonts. A one-line help message is displayed
whenever your mouse moves over an option in addition to the regular
on-line help system.
The program seems just as fast as ATM with Windows 3.1 and
there are plenty of options to let you customize the way you want
things to work. There's even an option to let you create
specialized fonts with fills and shadows (from existing fonts ).
Go for the upgrade, it's worth it.
---------------
NEW PRODUCTS
Two new products have come to my attention that you may find
interesting.
Autosketch for Windows takes the popular DOS program and makes
it easier to use under the Windows environment. You've got
customizable, on-screen toolboxes, OLE support, and more. A Quick
Start manual is included to get you going right away and an
extensive tutorial takes you through the initial steps for creating
a drawing. Features include associative dimensioning, multiple
layers, sixth decimal place accuracy, and tools such as stretch,
scale, chamfer, and fillet. Also included are over 2,000 pre-drawn
symbols drawn in realistic scale and to an object's true size.
From the folks who brought you the Far Side Computer Calendar
comes the CATHY Daily Planner. This has the same features as the
Far Side Calendar including 365 cartoons along with the day-
organizer planner features. It's available in DOS, Windows, and
Mac versions.
---------------
WINSPEED
How would you like to speed up Windows without putting out
several hundred dollars for a co-processed video card?
The low cost solution is Winspeed, a software-only
accelerator. You need a VGA card with at least 512K based on one
of the following chip sets: Tseng Labs ET-4000, Trident 8800 or
8900, Paradise, Western Digital, Video Seven, or ATI. Fortunately,
all of these are extremely common. You get a choice of resolutions
in either 640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768 - all with 256 colors (the
resolution depends upon the capabilities of your card).
The installation program will automatically detect the type of
card you have and then unpack the drivers to your hard drive. Then
just run Setup out of Windows, select the resolution you want, and
that's all there is to it.
You need to understand that there is only so much you can do
with software. You can not expect the same performance that you
get with a co-processed video card. But the results are definitely
noticeable. Not everything you do with Windows will move faster,
but the difference is very evident as you work with applications.
---------------
MAINTENANCE RELEASES
If you're a registered owner of WordPerfect for Windows, call
their order department or contact your reseller for an interim
release.
Besides fixing problems reported since its release, you now
have drag-and-drop editing, a zoom edit button (on the ruler) so
that you can edit your page in any magnification from 50% to 400%,
bullet and envelope macros, a provision for adding dialog boxes to
macros, on-line macro help, table math, and remappable alphanumeric
keys. The cost through WordPerfect is $15.
They still need to fix it so that when you're done spell
checking a document, the spell checker box disappears. When you
switch from portrait to landscape with a Windows printer driver, it
still takes forever for "Updating Printer Information" - JEEZ.
And who's the genius that decided to ship the interim release
on 19 360K disks? Ever heard of high density?
Word for Windows is also scheduled for a maintenance release
which will fix a problem that generated a UAE when spell checking
headers and footers. Improved will be printing large and complex
TIFF images, glossary problems, and file corruption problems with
Word 1.x. This should be available as you read this and is
designated Word for Windows 2.0a.
---------------
WINDOWS 3.1 TIPS & CHEAP TRICKS
How would you like having a windowed DOS session display 50
lines instead of the normal 25?
Edit SYSTEM.INI so that there is a line under the
[NonWindowsApp]section that reads "ScreenLines=50". You can also
use a value of 43, but this only works with VGA, of course.
Apparently this also works with Windows 3.0.
Want to cheat at Solitaire and Minesweeper?
Hold down CTRL-ALT-SHIFT when you play a Draw Three game and
the cards actually turn over one at a time without counting against
you.
For Minesweeper, you first change your Desktop color to black,
then minimize all your applications. Move the mouse pointer into
the playing area, then type "xyzzy" on your keyboard and press
ENTER. Press the SHIFT key and move the mouse slightly. A single
white pixel will light up in the upper left corner of the screen if
your pointer is on a "safe" square.
Check out a book called "Winning!" by John Hedtke and
published by Peachpit Press (510-548-4393). It sells for $14.95
and has tips on the games in the three Entertainment Packs.
---------------
MORE WINDOWS 3.1 ERRATA
Have you ever looked in your WIN.INI file and wondered what
the [Compatibility] section was all about?
These are known collectively as AppHacks. We've had two years
between Windows 3.0 and 3.1, and one of the things Microsoft did
was to find performance enhancements in Windows' code. Some of
these improvements broke the back of Windows applications that
depended upon the original behavior. This is why some applications
have needed minor tweaking to work right with Windows 3.1.
Check out the line for Excel, for example. The Excel=0x1000
fixes the fact that Excel developers hard-wired the bit-mapped font
names Tms Rmn and Helv into the tutorial. With the flag set,
Windows 3.1 supplies Excel with the old names it needs, instead of
the new names MS Serif and MS Sans Serif.
The Wpwinfil=0x0006 flag partially corrects a WordPerfect for
Windows module's inability to print graphics on landscape-oriented
pages.
I mentioned above when discussing the WordPerfect for Windows
interim release that you still get that irritating "Updating
Printer Information" message when changing printer drivers. Try
changing that line to Wpwinfil=0x1206, according to Kevin Adamson
(Manager of WpCorp's Windows testing).
---------------
WIRED FOR SOUND PRO
Here's a utility for those of you with sound cards. You get
a clock that talks, a talking system monitor, a sound editor, and
the ability to attach sounds to almost any system event (not just
the six or so that Windows allows) - and you get 100 sounds too.
The talking alarm clock will speak the time as well as allow
you to set an alarm which is announced with Big Ben chimes, a
Cuckoo, or a prerecorded sound. The talking system monitor tells
you available system resources, free RAM, and disk space. This
thing would drive me nuts real quick.
Windows 3.1 allow you to attach a sound to one of seven system
events, such as System Start, System Exit, and Exclamation Point.
Wired for Sound Pro enables you to go beyond that and attach sound
to dialog boxes, printer timeout messages, Save Data dialogs, and
much more.
The sound editor is similar to the one that comes with
Windows, but gives you more options for editing and effects. The
biggest plus is that you can convert sound files between WAV, VOC,
SND, and other formats.
The big draw is the inclusion of 100 sounds ranging from
somebody saying "Pick One of These Things" to burps and farts
(really). Some of these samples are pretty stupid, but others are
quite useful.
Wired for Sound Pro supports a SoundBlaster or any Windows 3.1
compatible sound card. Street price is around $50.
---------------
STAR TREK 25th ANNIVERSARY
If you're a Star Trek fan like I am, you'll be interested by
Interplay's game, Star Trek 25th Anniversary.
The game supports EGA and VGA as well as popular sound cards.
Installation takes 30 minutes to 3 hours depending upon your CPU.
Once the laborious process is done, you can play the game.
The 256 color VGA graphics seem crude compared to the Sierra
games. The music is good, too.
My complaint is in playing the game. The documentation is
more than adequate, but there are too many things to remember (or
maybe I'm just getting old). You have to remember to talk to Spock
and the other characters, remember which mouse button does what as
well as remembering that "S" turns on the shields, etc. In
addition you have to control the phasers, photon torpedoes,
communications, warp drive, and more.
The installation takes too long, the graphics are somewhat
crude, and it's too hard to remember all the keystrokes.
---------------
WILLIE BEAMISH
This game is billed as state-of-the-art gaming using the
animation talents of the Disney organization.
Of course, the graphics are very well done and the use of
color is very reminiscent of a cartoon. The installation
determines your configuration without asking you a bunch of
questions. The interface is totally mouse-oriented.
You're a nine-year-old kid who has to solve problems which are
multiple choice scenarios. For example, you're in the back yard
pushing your little sister on the swing. She wants you to push
harder and swing higher. Do you do wimp out or see how high you
can make the little brat fly? Do you smart mouth the school
principal when you're in his office and risk ending up in military
school? These are a couple of the scenarios you'll be involved
with.
The whole package is very well done, but I'm guessing this is
a game aimed at at least teenagers. This is not for little kids
and the point of the game seems vague until you get used to playing
it. I haven't finished it yet, but most of the situations aren't
too difficult to figure out.
This is lots of fun and the music is pretty good for sound
card owners. So, what do you do when the school bully corners you
in the pizzeria's restroom and tries to bash your brains in for
farting in the booth next to him?
---------------
OS/2 2.0
Well, we've all been waiting for this one, but is it worth the
wait?
First you open the Excel-class box to find 25 high-density
disks (1.2MB). The written documentation is sparse for such a
complex product, but the majority of the information is available
on-line.
Insert the Installation disk and reboot your computer. After
a little while, you see the big IBM logo and you insert the first
of 18 disks(not to mention six printer disks). When you get done
with disk #6, the computer will reboot and installation will
continue while OS/2 is running. You're presented with a list of
options from which you can install the whole thing, or just take
what you need.
The installation takes a good 45 minutes or so, most of which
is doing the "floppy shuffle". Once OS/2 is up and running, you're
greeted with a rather mundane color scheme (which is easily
changed).
Remember, this is a graphical 32-bit operating system. If you
install DOS and Windows support you can kiss about 25 megs of your
hard drive goodbye.
OS/2 has taken some lessons from the Macintosh. The Workplace
Shell operates very much like a Mac, but that's not all bad. One
of my complaints with Windows is that you have to highlight a file
or group of files, then tell it to delete them. It's much easier
to drag their icons to something resembling a garbage can. But
since IBM designed OS/2, they've taken the corporate metaphor and
replaced the trashcan with a shredder.
Working with OS/2, you're no longer concerned with
directories, paths, and such mundane things. The idea is to get
some work done. They've included a number of "applets" similar to
Windows. You've got a daily planner, calendar, text editor,
charting package, terminal package, and even some games. There's
an on-line tutorial to get you acquainted with the interface
because you'll need some practice.
Both mouse buttons are used to perform operations and if
you're a Windows fan it will take some getting used to. After
working with it a while, the process is very intuitive.
Before turning off your system, remember to use the Shutdown
command so that all data is saved.
Performance isn't bad, but I think it could be better. I
imagine that the graphic nature of the interface extracts a high
price in processor time. It's hard to say how useful or popular
OS/2 will become until there are some applications out there.
DOS performance is excellent. It will run almost any DOS
application with the snap you'd expect at a DOS prompt. Windows
support, however, needs a bit more work. The mouse feels jerky to
me and the performance of the Windows 3.0 emulation seems slow.
(Maybe I'm just used to Windows 3.1.)
Now, you're not really running DOS or Windows. OS/2 emulates
both of these by first shelling to an OS/2 command line, then
running the emulation. The Windows 3.0 emulation was pretty
accurate though. I use an application that would not print to the
DeskJet in Windows 3.0 and it won't do it in OS/2 either.
The games that are included are interesting. There's that
bizarre Reversi that's been bundled with Windows since forever. A
Cat & Mouse game lets new users get used to using a mouse. (By the
way, the mouse driver is very dynamic and takes a little getting
used to.) There's a puzzle where you slide numbered tiles to get
them in order. Klondike is the classic solitaire game, but IBM
gives you an option to cheat if you want. A chess game is also
included which can be played over a network. Graphics in all of
the games are crude compared to Windows games.
So, now comes the question. Is OS/2 for you? The minimum
requirements are a 386SX with 4 MB of RAM and 30 MB of free hard
drive space. Yeah, right! You'd better have a DX processor, the
faster the better, the most RAM, and biggest hard drive you can
afford.
IBM has done a remarkably good job considering their track
record with writing code. The test will be to see who supports the
environment.
---------------
COREL DRAW! 3.0
As you read this, Corel Systems should be shipping Version 3
of their popular illustration program. Upgrades through the
channel will be $149.
Text has always been a strong card for Corel and now you will
be able to type and edit text directly on the screen, combined with
a spell checker, thesaurus, hyphenation, and columns. You will be
able to do a dynamic blend along a path with a rainbow option for
multi-color blends. You can generate simple 3-D objects with all
the extrusion, perspective, and envelope functions you've had
before as well as the color options.
The screen redraw has been enhanced so much that one beta
tester says it's faster in preview mode than it is now in wire
frame mode. The preview is in full color and editable.
Finally, you'll have context-sensitive help online with a
consistent interface.
There will be all of the importing and exporting you're
familiar with along with color and grayscale bitmap exports with
user definable resolution.
CorelPHOTO-PAINT is another included module which contains all
the editing tools you need for working with 24-bit color images.
CorelCHART is module which gives you true 3-D charts, pictographs,
and almost every type of chart you've ever heard of. Data input is
freeform with analysis tools like mean, standard deviation, and
more. Of course, OLE server capabilities and DDE links to Excel
and Lotus are built-in.
CorelSHOW will play animated flicks from within a presentation
and includes a slide sorter for easy organization. This module can
act as an OLE client. CorelMOSAIC previews application files such
as BMP, EPS, GIF, and more. It has batch printing capabilities and
will also print simple catalogs of your artwork. CorelTRACE is
still included featuring standalone color and black-and-white
autotracing.
The package requires a 386 or better (286 in protected mode
with 4MB of RAM). Windows 3.1 is required for TrueType fonts and
Windows 3.0 font support is provided by ATM if you have it. This
looks like a killer.
A Macintosh version of Corel is due out this fall along with
a networking version of the Windows product.
---------------
STICKER FUN
Why is everyone all of a sudden including stickers of their
product logos?
The new Procomm Plus for Windows has a page of stickers, OS/2
has a page of stickers, Willy Beamish comes with some, and the
Windows Resource Kit has one big sticker. Why are companies
including these in their software packages?
I took the big one from the Windows Resource Kit and put it in
the back window of my car. It's one of those plastic jobs that
doesn't require adhesive. I guess if we have to have these things
in the software packages for a while, I'd like to cast my vote for
the non-adhesive kind. Instead of having my rear window cluttered
with decals of states I've visited, I can have decals of software
I don't use. <grin>
---------------
PROCOMM PLUS FOR WINDOWS
I've looked at several telecommunications packages for Windows
and they've all left me cold. You spend too much time pulling down
menus and it just doesn't work well for this type of software.
Datastorm has done an excellent job in bringing their popular
DOS program to Windows. Installation is through Windows and is
very easy.
The screen is very clean without a bunch of crap cluttering it
up. There is the obligatory "Action Bar" as they call it, but it
contains icons for the functions you need the most. You'll find an
icon for your dialing directory, script files, system setup,
scrollback buffer, clipboard, uploads and downloads, phone hang-up,
and a few more which will display if you run in 800x600 or higher
resolution.
You can use your dialing directory with parameters for every
entry displayed, or just click on an arrow next to the icon and
highlight the name of the remote you want to call.
The script icon is of a man running and it's animated when a
script is running. I hope you've saved your old ASP files, because
the new Procomm will need to recompile them. There is provision
for converting your old dialing directory, however.
So how does it work? It works great! I called a local BBS
and hit the minimize button while I was downloading a file, played
FreeCell, and when the transfer was done it beeped at me. There
seemed to be no loss in download speed when I ran it in the
background. If you have a modem that runs faster than 2400 baud,
Datastorm suggests you use a 16550 UART to avoid dropping
characters.
Host mode is done through a script file, the source code of
which is included so you can make custom modifications if
necessary.
I've only experienced one problem so far. I have turned off
connection logging, but it still does it. If you turn off the Meta
Key display, remember to turn it off in each of your dialing
directory entries.
The documentation is as good as it gets for a comm program.
My favorite feature is the ability to view GIF files as you
download them.
The help system goes beyond the normal help in Windows. You
get a screen that looks like what you've asked for help on. Just
click on the area of the screen you need help for and it goes from
there.
I just read a review by a computer columnist in the big
Seattle paper and he raked this program over the coals claiming it
was too difficult to use. He's obviously an idiot.
Upgrades are $76 (shipping included) from Datastorm.
---------------
FONT EMBEDDING
As if you don't already have enough to worry about, there's
currently a lot of talk about new technology called font embedding.
The soon to be released PowerPoint supports this and the industry
is buzzing about its implications.
An application that supports font embedding will save the
fonts as part of a file, so if you transport the file to another
computer where the font is not available, you can still print your
document. There are options for making this feature read-only, but
then you could not edit your document. Making a file read-write
lets the user edit the document, but also gives them a font they
did not pay for or otherwise obtain a license.
What do you think?
---------------
AMI PRO 3 BETA PROBLEMS
Lotus is expected to announce Ami Pro Version 3 at PC Expo,
but word is that they're having some problems with the beta
version.
A partial redesign is necessary in the area of mail merges.
When using the new SmartMerge feature to merge a list and form
letter skeleton with fields that don't match, Ami Pro has no way of
terminating the erring merge. Rebooting the computer is the only
recourse.
Apparently there's another difficulty in the inability to
override formatting options assigned via a style sheet.
When they finally get the thing working, expect to see Fast
Format, using the mouse to invoke often used formats, SmartMerge,
SmartIcons that can be sized and edited, and a style sheet viewer.
You'll have text drag-and-drop editing, implementation of the right
mouse button, automatic bulleting, grammar checker, and automatic
numbered lists with right-aligned numbering. A significant speed
increase over the current version is also part of the product.
---------------
MIDI INTERFACE
I finally picked up the MIDI interface for the Pro Audio
Spectrum 16 sound card. It's just a little box with a joystick
port, and MIDI IN, OUT, and THRU (actually, there are two out's).
You can get it bundled with Passport's Trax, sequencing software
for Windows. I haven't had a chance to hook up a MIDI keyboard
yet, but just playing with the sample files is very easy. The band
I play in is just starting to record a tape, so I'll keep you
informed on how things are going. We hope to use the computer for
some of the duties just to make the process easier with what
equipment we have. I've used DOS-based sequencers and it looks
like Windows is a much better way to go.
---------------
NEXT MONTH
If Microsoft ever sends me my copy of Excel 4.0, you'll see
some talk about that. I've seen and worked with the product and it
is incredible. There might be some talk about MIDI and hopefully
Sierra will finally ship Pinball for Windows.
=================================
DISCLAIMER
RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH
COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various BBS's, GEnie, and
America Online as well as in Modem News.
In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a DTK
386-33 with 16 megs of memory, Cyrix Fasmath co-processor, ATI VGA
Wonder+ card (1 MB), Pro Audio Spectrum 16 Sound Card, 105 MB
Toshiba IDE hard drive, Teac 1.2 MB, 360K, and 1.44 MB floppies,
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
be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie, America
Online, phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good.
AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES
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