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Randys Rumor Rag 1992 08
RAndY's RumOR RaG
August 1992
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Intel is searching for a new name for their soon to be
released 586 processor. They are suggesting that vendors refer to
it as the P5 until the product is officially announced.
Intel recently nixed ads run by DEC which claimed that their
computers would be fully upgradeable to the 586.
Intel's senior vice president and general manager Dave House
said, "The problem we face stems from [a recent court decision]
that we couldn't protect the 386 name - even though Boeing is
protected with the 747." The courts have not yet decided if the
486 will be protected as an Intel trademark. House said, "there's
uncertainty and risk involved."
Intel competitors Cyrix and AMD are using the 486 name in
their product descriptions. Meanwhile, Intel has announced a
naming contest which will convey high speed and compatibility with
previous processors. At the same time, Intel has been counseling
vendors that have been using the 586 name publicly to cease.
---------------
NEWS IN YER FACE
Here's a surprise (grin). Microsoft now says that Windows NT
will now be released in 1993. The original ship date was late this
fall.
Dwayne Walker, Microsoft director of Windows NT and network
products said, "We expect to go to manufacturing in December, with
the product being available to customers sometime in January or
February." Industry analysts say that schedule may be optimistic.
---------------
Mail-order king DAK Industries filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in US Bankruptcy Court. HAHAHAHAHA
---------------
In other Microsoft news, it seems like they're finally going
to do something with the long-awaited Windows database Cirrus.
Later this year, Cirrus will be introduced with a $99 price tag.
It will tap into dBase, Paradox, and SQL data from a Windows front-
end.
---------------
Virus experts McAfee Associates may go public soon with a
stock offering.
---------------
WordPerfect claims to have shipped the millionth copy of
WordPerfect for Windows about June 15th with two-thirds being full
packages rather than upgrades. They expect to take half of Windows
word processor new sales in 1992 overall.
---------------
Word is that Microsoft will release DOS 6 by March 1993. (I
hear it will incorporate Stacker technology.) I hear there will be
an interim release of DOS 5.x to fend off DR-DOS 6. Sources are
also waiting for a full 32-bit DOS that would be a better
foundation for future versions of Windows. YEAH!!
---------------
Noticed an advertisement for a new piece of software that is
definitely different. "Origins of Pre-History Vol. 1" features
adjustable speed animation, graphics, and a large database of facts
and theories. It's an introduction to early earth and dinosaurs
with subjects including plate tectonics, continental drift, and the
history of dinosaurs. It covers the time period from 4.6 billion
to 65 million years ago (the end of the dinosaur era). MSRP is
$79.95.
---------------
IBM now claims to have shipped "more than 1 million copies" of
OS/2 2.0 by the end of July. Now multiply that times the 20+ disks
in the package and you've got a LOT of floppy disks.
---------------
Microsoft was caught off-guard when they underestimated the
demand for Windows 3.1 in 3.5-inch format. Demand for the smaller
disks made up 80% of the demand.
---------------
OS/2 UPDATE
This fall, IBM will announce an update to OS/2 2.0 that will
be delivered in modular 'Service Packs". Included will be Windows
3.1 compatibility, the 32-bit graphics engine, XGA and SVGA device
driver support, and miscellaneous bug fixes.
This departs from IBM's traditional Corrective Service Disk
updates of the past. Users will be able to select the features
they would like to update or fix. This approach was chosen to
avoid the "administrative nightmare" of shipping 20+ disks all over
again.
Users will be able to request what they want via a toll-free
number as well as online. A nominal fee is expected to be charged
and the update will also be available on CompuServe.
---------------
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
Microsoft's recent aggressive advertisements have Apple,
Borland, and WordPerfect considering a joint advertising or public-
relations effort.
None of the above mentioned firms are ready to file court
cases, but there has been discussion of a united effort to combat
Microsoft's marketing machine. Microsoft's vice president of
marketing strategy dismisses the allegations, calling them nothing
but "whining" unless they are backed up with litigation.
Borland has run some ads titled "Borland Exposes Microsoft",
focusing on inaccurate information in Microsoft ads.
Apple has challenged Microsoft's claim that 5,000 applications
exist for Windows, saying they can only find 1,380. Apple also
challenges Microsoft's claim of 10 million Windows users worldwide.
This suggests that Microsoft counts all copies shipped from the
factory, including those shipped to distributors and bundled with
hardware.
Normally quiet WordPerfect has gone so far as to call Bill
Gates personally to protest unfair advertising. Microsoft's
response was "There are courts if people think they've got a case."
One attender of the Microsoft Word Challenge completed a task in
WordPerfect for Windows quicker than with Microsoft's product and
the Microsoft people "told me I did it wrong and said I had to do
it the long way."
---------------
MORE MICROSOFT NEWS
At the recent Windows NT Developers Conference, Microsoft made
a strong push for 32-bit applications. "The message is that
developers should target the 32-bit environment," said one senior
Microsoft official.
Programs written to Win32, the 32-bit application programming
interface used in NT, will run under the 16-bit Windows 3.1
environment so long as the application includes Microsoft's Win32s,
a subset of Win32 that translates 32-bit system calls to their 16-
bit equivalent.
In another area, Microsoft admits that Windows font embedding
technology is flawed. They're working with typeface and
applications vendors to get things straightened out by year's end.
They will soon begin beta testing a DLL that greatly simplifies
font embedding. Microsoft officials also said that a future
implementation of TrueType will support special typographic
features such as multiple-weight typefaces and ligatures.
Under fear of font theft and the lack of comprehensible
standards, some changes have been presented to Microsoft. It has
been suggested to change the names of the two current levels of
embedding and add a third.
Read-only embedding would become "print and preview" which
more accurately describes its abilities. Read-write would be
renamed "installable" suggesting that the embedded font is
permanently installed when encountered by an application. The new
level, called "editable" would install the font to allow editing,
but purge it from the disk drive each time the document containing
the font is closed. To further aid security, the font would be
installed with a randomly generated file name not recognizable by
Windows' font manager.
"Editable embedding is a happy medium," said a spokesperson at
one major font vendor. "We want to make things easier for users,
but without pulling the rug out from under ourselves."
Microsoft recently released plans to announce more new
products. Forthcoming will be a multimedia encyclopedia and a
movie guide (known as Cinemania), both to be sold on CD for under
$100. Visual Basic for DOS will be introduced in the early fall
and no word on the CD's.
---------------
A BRIGHT IDEA
I was just thinking (dangerous for sure). Instead of cranking
out more word processors, publishing programs, etc. for Windows,
how about a program similar to Banner Maker. How about a banner
program for Windows that will use TrueType fonts and let you
manipulate and print banners. Maybe Bitstream's Make-up or some
similar program has this capability and I don't know it. Anyway,
it was just a thought.
---------------
COREL DRAW! 3.0
This graphics heavyweight has just gotten better. You can
read the specs and features in any advertisement. Combined with
the already excellent graphics program (and Trace and Mosaic) is a
24-bit color editor, CorelChart, and CorelShow.
Each is a separate module and installing the whole thing (with
samples) will eat up 29 megs of your hard drive.
It's great to finally be able to edit in preview mode - no
more wire frames (unless you want them). The speed is very good
and you finally have online help. They've also implemented the
common dialog box feature of Windows 3.1 so that all the dialog
boxes look the same.
I'm glad to see Corel get away from proprietary fonts and use
TrueType. The TrueType fonts bundled on the disks are pretty much
the same as the old proprietary ones. But there are over 100 more
on the CD that comes with the package (see below).
The Paint, Chart, and Show modules are all easy to use and
work well together. All feature online help and editing in color
preview mode. The Mosaic module lets you print out pages of your
clipart in a thumbnail type of view. You may want to keep your old
Corel clipart disks since most of the bundled clipart is on CD.
There's an old adage that states "software sells hardware".
Just as Windows 3.1 is selling sound boards, Corel will sell CD-ROM
drives. Whether you buy Corel as a new user or as an upgrade, it
comes packaged with a CD containing all the programs, more fonts,
and a ton of clipart. CD drives have come down drastically in
price since last year and there is now no excuse for not having one
(never thought I'd say that). But I'll stick my neck out and state
that this is the package that will finally make a difference in
selling CD-ROM drives. (Make sure you get one compatible with the
Kodak Photo CD's if you're interested in that.)
Whether you're new to Corel Draw! or wondering if you should
upgrade, this is the graphics package to beat.
---------------
586 PRICING STRATEGY
In an uncharacteristic move, Intel is planning aggressive
pricing and early software support when it introduces the P5 chip.
Says Ron Curry, product line manager for Intel, "The first 486
systems were over $10,000. At the P5 launch, you'll see machines
in the $6,000 range."
The P5 chip is expected to be priced at just less than $700 in
quantities of 1,000 compared to the 486DX chip which is priced at
$536 in quantities of 1,000.
Early indications are that Intel is still on track for a fall
introduction of the chip. They've never produced a 3.1 million
transistor chip (the 486 has 1.2 million transistors). There are
reports of problems with the P5, indicating it does not run
reliably at 66 mhz.
Intel is also pushing software developers to support the chip.
It is developing a new suite of compiler programs for porting
applications to the new chip. Intel is also positioning the P5 as
a competitor to RISC and is actively recruiting RISC applications
developers to port their software to the P5.
Existing software packages are expected to run twice as fast
without modification, but when recompiled for the new chip, are
expected to run as much as four times faster.
As I write this, Intel has just announced a delay in the
introduction of the P5. What had been an expected ship date of
fourth quarter, Intel has now changed to first quarter of 1993.
While not a great surprise, this gives Intel and various vendors a
chance to work out ALL the bugs and be more prepared for the formal
introduction.
---------------
NEW DRAWPERFECT
The new DrawPerfect is now in beta testing with no firm
release date set. The anticipated release of the DOS version is
September. It will be available in both DOS and Windows versions,
both of which will look the same. The DOS product will ship first
with the Windows product following by six to eight weeks.
The WordPerfect Button Bar will be incorporated into both
versions. All popular drawing tools will be included. You will be
able to contour text, blend colors and objects, and choose color
gradients. Included will be over 100 clip art images.
In the charting department, you will choose from 3-D bar
charts, surface charts, pie charts, hi-lo charts, and organization
charts. It has a split-screen mode where you can enter data and
see instantaneous changes in your chart.
The new DrawPerfect will support 20 popular sound cards and
includes over a hundred MIDI sound files.
There will be a combination of vector based tools and bitmap
tools in the same package. You can create and edit color bitmap
images or convert them to vector images using an auto-trace
feature. There will also be a Master Gallery feature giving you a
variety of templates for slide presentations.
The Outliner feature will let you create an outline or import
a WordPerfect outline and create a presentation slide with a single
mouse click.
Of course, you'll be able to create detailed handout notes and
speaker notes. The slide sorter metaphor is also employed for
rearranging slides and getting an overview of your presentation.
Finally, file formats will be identical between DOS and
Windows programs, the same as with WordPerfect.
---------------
MORE WINDOWS NT INFO
Little details are slowly coming out about Windows NT. Of
course, you know that DOS is not required because this is a 32-bit
self-booting Windows. You won't need NetWare either because
network support is built-in (it will work in conjunction with
NetWare, however). Security is improved since you won't be able to
do a CTRL-BREAK to abort a batch file.
NT will come with a variety of network management tools along
with performance monitors. E-mail and scheduling are also built-
in. This is not a re-work of an existing product, it's new from
the beginning. They're saying that 8 megs will be the minimum
memory required.
Finally, the preferred distribution format for Windows NT will
be CD-ROM.
---------------
HIGH-SPEED MODEMS REVISITED
This past Christmas, my present to myself was a USR HST Dual
Standard modem that one of my suppliers had a great deal on (I
deserved it). I reviewed this modem back then and it continues to
perform well.
I recently had the opportunity to install a different high
speed modem in a client's computer and took advantage of the short
time to play with it a little.
The modem is a Practical Peripherals 14400 internal with
send/receive fax. The price is real tempting to begin with - it
should sell for under $400 on the streets. Of course it's got the
normal alphabet soup of transmission standards for compression,
speed, etc. I've sold Practical Peripheral 2400 modems for some
time and have found them to be excellent. (Hayes bought out the
company a couple of years ago.)
Well, this modem performed quite well. I was able to connect
with two different high speed modems, one at 9600 and with a Dual
Standard at 14400. The only difference I could see from my HST is
that it takes a little longer to connect, since each modem has to
figure out what features the other supports. In the area of file
transfers, it keeps right up with pretty close to an HST-HST
connection.
The half card is more like a quarter card with a daughter card
attached, making it a little on the thick side. The internal model
features a 16550AFN UART for the buffering you'll need with
Windows.
I was unable to test the fax software, though. The software
is DOS-based, not a Windows program. I really wish these fax
manufacturers would include a Windows fax program with their cards.
Every DOS fax program I've seen really sucks. (Well, they do!)
Other than that, this is an excellent value in a 14.4 modem.
All Practical Peripheral modems carry a lifetime warranty and since
Hayes owns the company, you know they're 100% compatible.
=================================
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), 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
605 W. Wishkah
Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031
(206) 533-6647
GEnie Address: RAG
America Online: RumOR RaG
