Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Randys Rumor Rag 1994 07
RAndY's RumOR RaG
July 1994
NEWS IN YER FACE
Bill Gates has said he will give away 95% of his
wealth, but someone calculated that if he gave away $1
million a day it would take over 20 years to get rid of it.
---------------
Novell has ceased core development of NetWare 3.x and
is concentrating future development on Netware 4.x. A word
of advice - you might want to sell some product first.
They're saying that at 4.02 upgrade will happen by July.
---------------
Intel showed off a 150mhz Pentium at an Asian trade
show recently. An Intel spokesman said that this chip and
the next-generation P6 would be in systems late this year.
They also said that 25% of Intel-based PCs sold in the 4th
quarter of this year will use a Pentium.
---------------
Borland posted a $76 million loss for their fourth
quarter ending March 31. Sales plummeted 56%. Philippe
Kahn says that the company can get back to a profitable
status with the release of dBase for Windows.
---------------
Microsoft just released MS-DOS 6.22 which uses a
compression technology called DriveSpace. There is no
functional difference from 6.2 except from the switch to
DriveSpace from DoubleSpace. You can get the free upgrade
via any of the pay services. (I did.)
---------------
Motorola and IBM's Microelectronics division showed off
some fast PowerPC computers at Spring Comdex. The
demonstration of a 120mhz PowerPC running in a Power
Macintosh locked up repeatedly and Apple reps pulled the
machine from the booth. Explanations given ranged from
surrounding ASICs running too hot to "an I/O problem." The
heat sink on the 120mhz PowerPC 601 chip was too hot to
touch.
This is comical because one of the slams used against
Intel chips in favor of the PowerPC has been the heat
problems of early Pentiums.
---------------
According to Microsoft, Windows is selling at a rate of
2 million copies per month - or more than 66,000 units per
day!
---------------
Autodesk is delaying shipment of AutoCAD Release 13
until late October. It had been scheduled to ship in July.
---------------
Corel decided to ship Version 5 without Ventura
Publisher rather than delay any longer. Buyers of the
package will get a free coupon which can be redeemed for a
free Ventura when it is ready, expected in July. Apparently
they haven't had Ventura Publisher long enough to integrate
what one beta tester called "spaghetti code" with CorelDraw.
---------------
One rumor circulating at Comdex was that Media Vision
would be bought out by Aztech, a competitor. A VP for
Aztech confirmed that they had considered such actions but
decided against it. Media Vision has seen their stock
plummet from $46 to $3 and the industry has been concerned
about the company's future.
---------------
In perusing an industry periodical, I came across an
advertisement for a CD from Playboy. Upon reading the copy,
I see that it contains over 350 interviews with photos and
audio clips - but apparently not photos of the centerfolds.
The point is that if you see this software on the shelf,
don't get too excited.
---------------
The Patent and Trademark Office has revoked Compton
NewMedia's patent covering multimedia database technology.
As you may recall, the company was one of the first to do
research into working with interactive multimedia and was
granted a patent which had implications for almost every
company producing interactive CD-ROM software.
---------------
MICROSOFT - BRAVO SIERRA
I've just about had it with Microsoft. How can you
ignore all the articles in the end-user magazines touting
the wonders of Chicago/Windows 4?
Do you remember just a few years ago when Microsoft was
hyping NT? Windows 3.0 was out and people were disappointed
with some of its limitations. That's OK - just wait until
Windows NT. Then NT comes out and it's a massive
disappointment. Don't worry - just wait until
Chicago/Windows 4.
It reminds me of how Clinton gets his socialistic
agenda passed - the Clinton hustle. And Microsoft works the
same way - keep dangling a carrot and collecting the upgrade
dollars.
If you noticed the disclaimer on the RaG last month,
you'll see that I recently upgraded my system from a 105MB
hard drive to a 420MB. I knew I couldn't sell the old one
because you can't get much for a little hard drive. So - I
installed it as a slave. Now, what do I do with half a gig?
When my computer comes on I get a little menu called
the Boot Manager which lets me select between DOS and OS/2.
That's right, I put OS/2 2.1 on the second drive and
formatted it with HPFS.
So far, I like OS/2. Version 2.1 is much better than
2.0 and runs quite nicely in just 8 megs. The included
applets are somewhat pathetic, but I've downloaded some
shareware stuff that is pretty nice. The Windows emulation
is still not very good - you're probably better off with
OS/2 for Windows (except that it doesn't work with Windows
3.11 or Windows for WorkGroups 3.11). But the speed is good
and it appears to be quite stable. Multimedia support is
barely adequate, but it's there.
So why should I wait for a 32-bit operating system from
Microsoft, an operating system that they keep saying will
look like OS/2 - when the real thing is here now?
Mainstream applications are still waiting in the wings, but
OS/2 is a proven product.
I'm not about to switch just yet because of the lack of
applications. But if you want to see something different,
give it a shot.
I do want to mention two problems I had. When the
system booted, it would not recognize COM3 (where my modem
is). It will now recognize the presence of COM3 but I still
can't use it. Also, I had printing problems - it wouldn't.
This turned out to be an interrupt conflict with the
SoundBlaster compatibility part of my sound card. I changed
the interrupt on the sound card and it now prints just fine.
---------------
LATE GREAT BORLAND
No, they're not out yet but the ship date for dBase for
Windows has slipped to July. Borland is betting their
future on this product which beta testers are reporting
still has some problems.
At Borland's recent developers' conference, Philippe
Kahn took the stage, looked out on the assembled masses, and
spread his arms defiantly. Intel CEO Andy Grove called in
to Philippe's on-stage videoconference. Grove's first words
were, "It's amazing, you're alive. I thought I read your
obituary in the Wall Street Journal." Kahn blaming the
press, replied "You're never as good as they say you are
when you're good, and you're never as bad as they say I am."
Grove asked, "Well . . . did anyone come?" (to the
conference) The crowd loved it.
---------------
CLIPPER REVISITED
I recently put my two cents in on the Clipper chip.
Basically I think it's a bad idea for a variety of reasons.
Once again I was right. A researcher at AT&T Bell
Laboratories recently found that it's possible to encode a
message that even the government can't crack. I would take
that as good news. But although this flaw does not
compromise security, it raises questions about the whole
system.
David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy
Information Center said, "The flaw was discovered on the
parts of the system that are publicly known. But the guts -
the algorithms - are classified. What are we not going to
find out because of that?"
Yet again, the government proves they are incapable of
running your life better than you are.
---------------
COREL 5
I haven't ordered my copy of Corel 5 yet and with good
reason. Two friends ordered their upgrade and it showed up
on their doorstep recently. The package comes with 5 CD's -
two PhotoCDs and the remaining three are for the program.
Corel has taken the cheapskate route and packaged the CD's
without jewel cases. I realize that a jewel case costs
maybe 75 cents, but just throwing a CD between the pages of
a manual is no way to do it.
Anyway, so my one friend attempts to install the
program and repeatedly gets errors. He calls the number
suggested which turns out to be the company that duplicated
the discs. A pre-recorded message recommends cleaning the
data side of the disc in case the ink of the manual rubbed
off. OK, but the program still won't install. He finally
went to a local record store, bought a CD cleaning kit, and
the program installed - although you could see no ink on the
data side of the CD. My other friend had his CD install OK.
So how is the program? PhotoPaint, for one, has been
greatly improved. The look and feel of Corel has changed
with the addition of toolbars and the speed seems to have
improved (although loading the program takes significantly
longer).
No longer do you have to tweak settings of the Corel
INI files manually, the Preferences option takes care of
backup and other annoying options you may want to turn off
or on. Along the top of the screen is what they call a
Ribbon Bar which has buttons for common features. This
Ribbon Bar looks suspiciously like those use by Microsoft
products, even to the point of displaying a short
description when you let the mouse cursor hesitate over one
for a second or two.
Especially useful is the new Lens tool which lets you
superimpose a transparent object over another object.
Pretty cool, uh-huh-huh-huh.
Printing still takes too long, especially if you're
faxing from Corel. But it's always been that way.
---------------
MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
Brace yourselves for another DRAM shortage (and likely
higher prices). Several large computer manufacturers are
scrambling to make arrangements with chip suppliers for
reliable supplies of chips. To further complicate matters,
memory developers are switching from 4MB SIMMs to 16MB
SIMMs, making the 4MB chips harder to get. The PC market is
not the only one affected - workstation manufacturers are
also being hit by shortages. Relief is not expected until
sometime in the first half of 1995.
---------------
By the time you read this, Microsoft is expected to
release the first beta of Chicago. Everyone says they're on
track for a release by the end of this year.
---------------
Lotus is talking about 1-2-3 Release 5 for Windows
which will offer better support for and integration with
Notes. A new version of Approach will also be announced and
Ami Pro 3.1 has already been announced. None of these
products except for Approach will ship until at least August
when a new SmartSuite is due out.
---------------
A unique new keyboard from Identity Systems Technology
has a "moisture-proof" membrane under the keys that protects
working parts from spills, crumbs, dust, and other cooties
that can gunk up a normal keyboard. Give 'em a call at 1-
800-723-8258.
---------------
Until now the only games we've seen for OS/2 have been
relatively simple applets like card games, Mahjongg, and the
like. SimCity for OS/2 will ship any day now as will
Galactic Civilizations. Other major game manufacturers are
finally waking up to the opportunities in OS/2 gaming.
---------------
By the time you read this, IBM should have enveiled
OS/2 for Symmetrical Processing. This produce will be
bundled with server products from IBM, Compaq, AST, and
others. It will be available on the retail level on CD-ROM.
---------------
MICROSOFT VS. STAC CONTINUED
Microsoft and Stac Electronics ended their 18-month
feud over data compression with Microsoft agreeing to pay
Stac license royalties of over $1 million per month for 43
months. Microsoft will also purchase $39.9 million in non-
voting convertible preferred stock in Stac, giving them an
approximate 15% stake in Stac.
In return, Microsoft received a cross license covering
all of Stac's existing patents and any future disk-
compression patents Stac may receive in the next five years.
Stac receives the rights to use technology covered in
Microsoft's related data compression technology.
Microsoft will not use the Stacker brand name, but it
can use Stac technology if it chooses. Stac president Gary
Clow interrupted his vacation to negotiate the settlement.
"Within two minutes, the basis of the agreement was
reached," said Clow.
---------------
PC PC
WordPerfect is shipping Grammatik 6 for Windows.
Besides checking your grammar, it now checks your political
correctness.
A bug in the program flags the word "Jew" as
"pejorative." It is only supposed to warn if the word is
used as a verb. A new version of the software corrects this
bug.
Now this is just what we need - software that ensures
you're politically correct. I hate grammar checkers
anyway. They're for people who didn't pay attention in
junior high English class. Yet I've heard college
instructors rave about these things - I guess outcome-based
education is working.
The thought police continue their in their efforts . .
.
---------------
PERSONAL: Plans are being made to have a local server
connected to Internet. If all goes as planned, it will be
in place by August. I'll let you know if it happens so that
you can send me mail via Internet.
=================================
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 in Modem News.
In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on
a 486-50 with 8 megs of memory, 420 MB Connor IDE hard
drive, 105MB Toshiba IDE hard drive (with OS/2 2.1 and
HPFS), 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, Word 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,
via phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel
good.
AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES
605 W. Wishkah
Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031
(206) 533-6647
GEnie Address: RAG
