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Silicon Times Report Issue 1130
SILICON TIMES REPORT
====================
INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
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from
STR Electronic Publishing Inc.
A subsidiary of
STR Worldwide CompNews Inc.
July 28, 1995 No. 1130
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Silicon Times Report
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> 07/28/95 STR 1130 "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!"
"""""""""""""""""
- CPU INDUSTRY REPORT - Taiwanese CPUs - Adobe & WEB
- Intel Pentiums - CDRom News Updates - Dvorak's NEW OUI
- ST Linux Emulator - USR 33.6 Muscle Modem - Canadian Sentenced
- Don's CatNips - People Talking - Jaguar NewsBits
-* CompUSA Launches Win95 Campaign *-
-* APPLE, NEW PERFORMAS *-
-* PRODIGY FIGHTS ON *-
==========================================================================
STReport International OnLine Magazine
The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine
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> From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
This is a big issue, so I'll not bore you with a long editorial this
week. There is one thing though, now that Windows 95 is well on its way
to your favorite retailer, please don't rub it in on your "warped" friends
or your poor, overspent, "macaroon" loving buddies. They are all well
aware of Win'95's speed, good looks and even temperament. So much so that
they're quite "sensitive" about any discussion relative to the topic.
You'll soon find they tend to divert the topic to something more personal,
like your intelligence level, the manner in which you offer facts instead
of fantasy or, the tired old story of "my dog's bigger and better than
your dog".
So please, in the interests of maintaining harmony among our less
fortunate fellow computer enthusiasts, leave them in deep silent thought
about more of the "things to come" like Nashville, Cairo etc. They really
do have more than enough on their soggy paper plates.
Windows 95 is excellent. Microsoft Plus!, A companion to Windows 95,
is like adding the delicate icing to an already fine, light and moist four
tier layer cake.
Ralph...
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STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
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Publisher - Editor
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Ralph F. Mariano
Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs
Section Editors
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PC SECTION AMIGA SECTION MAC SECTION ATARI SECTION
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Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach
Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian
Contributing Correspondents:
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Dominick J. Fontana Norman Boucher Clemens Chin
Eric Jerue Ron Deal Mike Barnwell
Ed Westhusing Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith
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> STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
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Computer Products Update - CPU Report
------------------------ ----------
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Issue #30
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
******* General Computer News *******
>> Apple to Bundle MegaPhone <<
Apple Computer Inc. has agreed to bundle a version of Cypress
Research Corp.'s MegaPhone screen-based telephone software with certain
Macintosh Performa desktop computers.
Cypress Research is quoted as saying Apple is pre-installing the
MegaPhone for Performa software with Global Village Communications
Inc.'s voice-capable Teleport Gold IIv internal telecommunications card.
>> Canon Debuts Desktop Camera <<
Canon U.S.A. Inc. has unveiled the RE-150, a new color desktop video
camera.
The company notes that the RE-150 can function as a presentation
device, image capture peripheral, document camera and portrait camera.
The product features a 450-line horizontal resolution. Potential
applications include visual presentations, video conferences, distance
learning classes and telemedicine.
The RE-150 includes an articulated three-axis arm and a camera head
that can rotate more than 180 degrees.
The RE-150 is scheduled to ship in October for $1,500.
>> Intel Making Toshiba Computers <<
U.S. chip giant Intel Corp. has begun assembling desktop PCs to be
sold in Japan under the Toshiba Corp. name.
A Toshiba spokesman is quoted as saying the decision to buy PCs from
Intel was based on making the best use of Toshiba's facilities.
Toshiba said it hopes to expand its desktop share by selling about
120,000 Intel-made desktop PCs under its own brand name this fiscal
year.
>> Epson Offers PCMCIA Guarantee <<
Epson America Inc. says it will back its PCMCIA expansion cards with
a gurarantee that offers customers 100 percent system compatibility or
their money back.
The guarantee covers all Epson PCMCIA cards offered through retail
channels. Customers can identify the covered cards by an Epson
"Compatibility Guarantee" logo that's displayed on the products'
packaging.
"Epson is committed to enlarging the market for PC cards by offering
this guarantee of compatibility with all desktop notebook systems," says
Bob Porooshani, manager of technical marketing for Epson America's OEM
division. "This is in response to our research which indicated that the
number one issue for PC Card users and potential users is
compatibility."
>> HP Offers New Low-End Printers <<
A line of low-cost home printers has been introduced by Hewlett-
Packard Co. to replace the current HP DeskJet 540 and DeskWriter 540
printers.
The new products, to sell for less than $300, are the HP DeskJet 600
and 600C for IBM-compatible machines and the HP DeskWriter 600 for
Macintosh computers.
The 600C, expected to sell for $299, off a $369 U.S. list price, will
include an HP Color Kit. The two 600s are color-capable monochrome
printers expected to sell for $279. They can be upgraded to color with a
$49-list Color Kit.
HP says resolution has been increased to 600-by-600 dots per inch for
black and up to 600-by- 300 dots per inch for color. Print speed has
increased to four pages per minute for black and one page per minute for
color.
>> HP Expands PC Distribution <<
Hewlett-Packard Co. is expanding its multimedia PC distribution to
several additional national retail chains, including Best Buy, Circuit
City, CompUSA, Computer City, Incredible Universe, Micro Center, Office
Depot, OfficeMax and Staples.
Since April, HP has been selling its initial line of multimedia PCs
through the Circuit City chain. A new line of consumer PCs is expected
to become available in stores starting in late August.
>> IBM Targets Viruses <<
IBM Corp. has announced the availability of an integrated suite of
anti-virus products and services, including software that protects PCs
by detecting and removing more than 6,000 strains of computer viruses.
IBM AntiVirus scans memory, hard disks, floppy drives and network
servers for the thousands of viruses, including polymorphic viruses that
change to avoid detection, and viruses previously considered impossible
to detect. For defending against previously unknown viruses, IBM has
developed heuristics that attempt to detect viruses by watching for
appearances or behavior that are characteristic of viruses.
IBM AntiVirus customers will be able to take advantage of a broad
range of optional services, including technical support with rapid
technical assistance, virus signature updates and bulletin board
support, quarterly software upgrades, electronic updates and guidance
from an anti-virus Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). IBM's CERT
has more than seven years of experience in virus emergency response and
incident management.
Designed for home and small businesses, the $50 IBM AntiVirus Desktop
Edition runs on OS/2, including OS/2 Warp, DOS and Windows. Support for
Windows NT and Windows 95 is planned to arrive later this year. An
Enterprise Edition, designed for larger businesses and client/server
network environments, includes IBM AntiVirus for OS/2, DOS, Windows and
Novell NetWare. It also offers complementary products to distribute and
update anti-virus software and administer anti-virus policy across a
business. Pricing depends on the number of users covered.
>> Prodigy Fights Online Libel <<
Prodigy says it is taking the offensive in the Stratton-Oakmont
libel case, in which an investment firm is attempting to hold the
online service responsible for third-party comments made on a public
electronic bulletin board.
The White Plains, New York-based company says it is beginning
discovery proceedings of Stratton-Oakmont which, according to news
reports, last year agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
to pay a penalty of $500,000, plus $2 million in compensation to
investors who lost money because of the investment firm's conduct.
Stratton-Oakmont, while denying any charges of wrongdoing, agreed to
the settlement, notes Prodigy.
Through documents and deposition testimony that Prodigy will seek
from Stratton-Oakmont, its present and former officers and directors,
the SEC and NASD, Prodigy says it anticipates developing all the facts
surrounding Stratton-Oakmont's claims, the specific actions referred to
in the bulletin board posts in question and the facts surrounding
Stratton-Oakmont and the SEC. Prodigy's legal counsel says they also
will consider taking statements from investors who offered to speak on
Prodigy's behalf after seeing stories about the suit in the media.
Prodigy also says that the New York State Supreme Court has agreed
to consider Prodigy's motion for re-argument of the court's decision
that it is a publisher with regard to third-party comments posted on
its MoneyTalk bulletin board. Handling the motion will be noted First
Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus of Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein & Selz, a
firm specializing in publishing and new media. Prodigy says it is
furnishing additional evidence to the court, and a decision could come
by the end of October.
"Deciding to consider Prodigy's motion was the right thing to do,"
says Mike Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF), a public-interest civil-liberties group. "In its previous
decision, which mis-characterized Prodigy as a traditional publisher,
the court reached legal conclusions that impose great risks on
providers who try to shape the character and content of their forums."
Several industry groups, including The Authors Guild and The
Interactive Services Association (which represents over 300 companies,
including America Online and CompuServe) have come forward to argue
that they be permitted to file amicus briefs in support of Prodigy's
position in the argument.
>> NEC Plans New Synchronous DRAMs <<
Japan's NEC Corp. says it plans to produce 16-megabit synchronous
DRAM chips designed for use in PC main memory applications.
The parts will be offered in both monolithic and 168-pin dual in-line
memory module (DIMM) versions. The chips are projected to cost up to 10
percent less than standard synchronous DRAMs, making them better suited
for use in the high-volume main memory market.
"Today, fast-page and hyper- page (also known as EDO) DRAMs are the
most commonly used devices for PC main memory," says Cecil Conkle, NEC
Electronics' senior product marketing manager for memory. "However, in
order to support the new higher-speed processors, DRAMs need to be even
faster, without substantially increasing system costs -- the solution is
new generation, or synchronous, DRAMs."
The new SDRAMs and SDRAM DIMMs are expected to be available in sample
quantities September.
>> Radio Shack Unlimited Makes Debut <<
Radio Shack has unveiled Radio Shack Unlimited, a new in-store
catalog service that aims to provide customers with convenient access to
more than 100,000 unique and hard-to-find personal electronic products
and accessories, as well as replacement parts and components from brand-
name manufacturers.
Under the service, customers will have access to resource catalogs
that are contained in a specially designed kiosk. The catalogs are
indexed by product category and include such items as phonograph
needles, batteries, computers and computer hardware and hundreds of
computer and video game software titles. Most items in the catalogs will
be delivered within five days, says Radio Shack.
>> Survey Tracks Average Web Use <<
A new survey suggests serious Net surfers spend an average of 45
minutes a day on the Internet's World Wide Web and that most have
positive feelings about the new trend toward advertising found on
commercial Web sites.
Those are among the conclusions reached in research conducted over a
two-week period last month for magazine firm CMP Publications Inc.'s
Interactive Media unit by independent telemarketing firm Innovative
Concepts. The survey polled users of CMP's own TechWeb WWW site
(reachable at the Web address of http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb).
"Serious users of the World Wide Web see advertising as another op-
portunity to gather information about products and services, so it comes
as no surprise that our TechWeb audience would respond enthusiastically
to cyber-ads," said Mitchell York, managing director of CMP Interactive
Media.
Other findings:
-:- Some 53% of respondents regularly visit Web sites of specific
companies at least once a week. The most popular were Microsoft Corp.
(which 26% of the respondents said they visit at least once weekly),
IBM (visited weekly by 18% of the respondents), Hewlett-Packard Co.
(10%), Apple Computer (9%), Novell (8%) and Intel Corp. (7%).
-:- Respondents said they spend 59.3% of their time on the Web for
work-related purposes.
-:- Nearly three quarters of respondents indicated they are
interested in receiving electronic newsletters sent directly to their
email boxes on relevant subject matters.
>> CompUSA Launches Win95 Campaign <<
Computer superstore chain CompUSA is launching its Windows 95
campaign with a series of promotions, demonstrations and special
offers.
Beginning Saturday, customers can reserve a copy of Windows 95
with the purchase of a $10 gift certificate that's redeemable on any
product or service sold at any of the 85 CompUSA stores nationwide.
Additionally, CompUSA customers are eligible to receive an
American Airlines savings certificate with the purchase of Windows 95
on or after Aug. 24. For each purchase of Windows 95 through Sept. 30,
customers can get up to $95 off American Airlines air travel.
Other promotional activities include demonstrations of Windows 95
to be held in all stores each weekend starting July 15. Also, a
limited number of Windows 95 CD demo kits will be available for
customers.
"The introduction of Windows 95 is the most significant launch of
any software product this decade. We believe this product will have a
tremendously positive impact on the way America uses computers," says
Larry Mondry, executive vice president of merchandising at
Dallas-based CompUSA.
"Because of the huge demand we anticipate, we are pleased to
announce an opportunity for our customers to pre-book their copy of
Windows 95. This ensures they will have a reserved copy waiting for
them on August 24," Mondry says.
>> Chip Market to Grow 52 Percent <<
The worldwide semiconductor production equipment market will grow
by 52 percent in 1995 to $16.3 billion due to heavy demand for computer
chips, forecast Dataquest, a market research firm that is a unit of
Dun & Bradstreet.
United Press International reports that Dataquest also predicted
the market would grow an additional 22 percent in 1996. It grew
56.4 percent in 1994 and 34.9 percent in 1993.
Dataquest credited persistent high prices for DRAM chips for
keeping manufacturers profitable, which has spurred strong spending.
New semiconductor plants usually cost at least $1 billion each.
"We knew a few months ago that the 1995 market would surprise us,
and now, with the year half over, 1995 is turning out to be 1994 all
over again," said Clark Fuhs, senior analyst in Dataquest's
semiconductor equipment, manufacturing and materials worldwide.
The largest gains will come from the Asia-Pacific region with an
anticipated rise of 78.8 percent to $4.58 billion. Spending in the area
is also expected to increase next year by 44.4 percent to $6.62 billion.
Europe is the second fastest-growing region with projections of a
69 percent gain to $2.34 billion.
Meanwhile, North American spending will grow 40.4 percent in 1995
to $4.41 billion, and Japanese spending will rise 36.5 percent to
$5 billion.
>> Supra Plans Faster Modems <<
Modem maker Supra Corp. says it plans to offer products that
adhere to the forthcoming 33.6K bps standard.
The company notes that availability of the new modems hinges on
the finalization of a 33.6K standard by the ITU Standards Committee.
Supra expects the guidelines to become available in early 1996. Pricing
and availability information on the modems will be announced at a later
date, says Supra, which is based in Vancouver, Washington.
"It is in the best interest of modern users that we wait for the
ITU standard to be established, thus avoiding potential communication
conflicts between 33.6K modems," says James Cutburth, vice president
of marketing for Supra.
>> Robotics Unveils 33.6Kbps Modem <<
US Robotics Corp. says it is the first to unveil software that
supports the souped-up version of the V.34 modem standard that runs at
33.6Kbps.
From Robotics' Skokie, Ill., Computergram International says the
software is for use on the company's Courier desktop modems and Total
control systems products.
"As well as the 33.6Kbps speed, the software also supports a
proprietary 31.2Kbps standard," says CI. "While the International
Telecommunications Union has yet to agree the standard, the V.34
working group has now agreed on the enhancements needed to boost the
speed, and the firm said its software 'closely tracks' this work."
Robotics Vice President Dale Walsh told CI, "If there are any
changes to the standard, we'll be able to implement those via software
download."
The company is being "coy on specifics," the newsletter says, but
notes it "also claims to have boosted the overall efficiency of its
software, so that it 'consistently' runs at speeds from 2,400bps to
4,800bps faster than with the previous version."
Look for the software to be available at no cost for owners of the
company's Courier V.Everything and V.Fast Class modems and will ship as
standard in all new Courier modems, CI says.
"It will also be implemented on the company's remote access
servers, modem pools and high-end wide area network systems," CI says.
"No pricing or availability but the company did say that the 33.6Kbps
software will be available on all its systems products by the year-end."
>> Apple Unveils New Performas <<
Apple Computer Inc. has introduced two new PowerPC-based Macintosh
Performa multimedia computer lines designed for first-time and home
office buyers--the Macintosh Performa 5200CD series and the Macintosh
Performa 6200CD series.
Apple has also introduced the Macintosh Performa 631CD, Macintosh
Performa 640CD DOS Compatible, Macintosh Performa 6116CD and the MPEG
(Motion Picture Experts Group) Media System.
The Macintosh Performa computers are packaged as a complete
solution in one box, including hardware optimized for multimedia
application, Macintosh System 7.5, pre-installed productivity
applications and a variety of education and entertainment software and
CD-ROM titles.
The Macintosh Performa 5200CD and 6200CD series both feature an
internal 14.4K bps modem, which provides a full-duplex speakerphone,
answering machine and a fax send and receive capability. Prices start
at $1,999.
The Macintosh Performa 631CD is based on the 66/33MHz 68LC040
microprocessor and comes with 8MB of RAM, a 500MB hard drive, a 14-inch
display, an internal double-speed CD-ROM drive and an external
14.4K bps data/fax send/receive modem.
The Macintosh Performa 6116CD, based on the 60MHz PowerPC 601
microprocessor, comes with 8MB of memory, a 700MB hard disk, a double
speed CD-ROM drive, a 14-inch display and an external 14.4K bps
data/fax send/receive modem.
The Macintosh Performa 640CD DOS Compatible is powered by two
microprocessors: a 66/33MHz 68LC040 and 66MHz 486DX2. The system comes
with 12MB of RAM (8MB dedicated to the Mac OS, 4MB dedicated to
DOS/Windows), a 500MB hard disk, a 15-inch display, a double speed
CD-ROM drive and an internal 14.4K bps data/fax send/receive modem.
The Apple MPEG Media System, a plug-in card, provides full-motion,
full-screen video. The card works with the Macintosh Performa 630, 5200
and 6200 systems. The Macintosh Performa 6230CD comes with the MPEG
Media System pre-installed.
>> Report: Taiwan Plans Own CPUs <<
Electronic Engineering Times reports that the Taiwanese government
is planning to develop its own CPUs by 1997, putting the devices in
direct competition with Intel Corp.'s Pentium chips.
The Manhasset, N.Y.-based trade publication says Intel's dominance
in processors, chip sets and motherboards sparked the move. "Fear is the
best way to characterize the mood in Taiwan," says Daniel Heyler,
semiconductor analyst for Dataquest in Asia and a longtime resident of
Taiwan. "You have a whole IT industry in Taiwan based around the
motherboard."
>> Teens Turn Japan's No-PC Image <<
Computer-hunger teenagers apparently are turning around Japan's
image as a country that makes PCs but doesn't use them, launching a
boom that seems to be taking the industry by surprise.
"It's hard to pinpoint exactly what is starting the current boom
in PC sales," David Benda, electronics analyst at BZW Securities in
Tokyo told Velisarios Kattoulas of the Reuter News Service, "but school
children are definitely playing an important role."
Reporting from Osaka, Kattoulas reports large discounts on
powerful new software and hardware also have boosted PC sales,
according to a report from the Yamaichi Research Institute, the
research arm of Yamaichi Securities.
The Yamaichi Research report said that due to interest among
school children and heavy discounts on powerful and easy-to-use new
software and hardware, Japan's top four makers -- NEC Corp., Fujitsu
Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. -- are likely to increase PC
production sharply over the next two years.
Reuters says the research institute estimated an 8 percent rise
in shipments to 5.3 million units in the year to March 1996 and a
23 percent jump to 6.5 million in the year after that.
And Benda said officials at one of the four makers were expecting
deliveries to rise even more quickly than that. Quoting senior
officials, he said one maker expected production to top 5.5 million
units this business year and approach 7 million units next year.
"Still, the value of computers delivered will not grow as fast
because of price-slashing sparked by aggressive competition from
foreign computer giants like Compaq, which are making inroads into the
Japanese market," Reuters said.
Yamaichi Research estimates the value of deliveries will rise to
2 trillion yen in the year to March 1997, up from an estimated
1.75 trillion yen the previous year.
>> Canadian Sentenced in Porn Case <<
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Canada, an
Ontario man convicted of transmitting child pornography by computer has
sentenced to 150 hours of community service. Reporting from Toronto, The
Associated Press says 20-year-old Joseph Pecciarich of Mississauga also
was put on probation for two years and ordered to receive psychiatric
treatment.
The wire service says Pecciarich was charged in 1993 after police
started looking for sources of pornography available on computer
bulletin board systems. Investigators alleged he "would copy pictures of
children from books and catalogues onto a computer, alter the images to
remove clothing and arrange them into sexual positions. He then loaded
them into a bulletin board. The scenes involved adults, children and
animals, police said." The judge said Pecciarich shouldn't go to jail
because he had no criminal record and there was no proof he ever acted out
sexual fantasies. AP said he is believed to be the first person in Canada
convicted of using a computer to distribute child pornography.
>> UK Cops Bust Net Child Porn Ring <<
An international child pornography ring operating on the Internet
has been discovered by British police who have arrested nine people in
the UK in connection with the operation. Reporting from London, the
Reuter News Service today said the police investigation also targeted
suspects in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, South Africa and
Germany. The nine arrested later were released on bail pending further
inquiries. Police also seized a large quantity of computer equipment,
Reuters says.
Code-named "Operation Starburst," the effort was launched in
Birmingham in central England, after police identified several people
they suspected of distributing pornography on the Internet. David Davis,
head of the local vice squad, told the wire service, "This type of
operation shows that police working together can effectively combat the
distribution of child pornography across the Internet, no matter how, or
from where, it is sent."
>> Schwartz Convicted of Cracking <<
Programmer/author Randal Schwartz could be sentenced to as much as
five years in prison and $100,000 in fines on each of three counts of
computer crimes after his conviction of invading an Intel Corp. network
in what he claimed was an effort to point out security flaws. However,
the Reuter News Service says that under Oregon state guidelines, the
33-year-old Schwartz -- convicted Tuesday after a 2 1/2-week jury trial in
Washington County, Oregon, Superior Court -- he is likely to be treated
more leniently when sentenced Sept. 11 because he has no previous criminal
record.
Reporting from Portland, Reuters says Prosecutor Thomas Tintera
also ask Circuit Judge Alan Bonebrake to order restitution of $60,000
to Intel. Schwartz, described by Reuters as a "computer prodigy and
software authority," was convicted of stealing passwords and making
unauthorized software changes in Intel's computer network while he was
working at the company as a $45-an-hour consultant.
Reuters adds, "Schwartz, who went to work at 16 after graduating
from high school, is the author of two books on Perl, a programming
language, but has described himself as a loner with few social skills."
_______________________________________
> OUI by DVORAK STR InfoFile More great GOODIES from Dvorak!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
OUI (tm)
Off-line Usenet Interface
for Windows
(updated July 26, 1995)
Many NavCIS users have been asking us for an advanced off-line navigator
that makes Usenet newsgroups as easy to use as CompuServe forums. We've
taken our NavCIS experience and applied it, listened to our users, studied
and tinkered, and soon we'll be releasing our Windows version of OUI
(pronounced "whee"). Expected target realease: by the end of August.
Using off-line technology developed and used by thousands of NavCIS users,
OUI makes using Usenet's myriad newsgroups easy and affordable. OUI uses
CompuServe's Dialer program (available free via GO NETLAUNCHER) to access
the Internet's Usenet newsgroups. OUI can also use other popular dialers
such as Trumpet and the Windows 95 dialer. OUI works with PPP, SLP and
TCP/IP type connections.
This product will pay for itself in a month or two if you've been a
moderate USENET user. And it's perfect if you've been wanting to learn
about the USENET but have been put off by the cost (its billed as an
extended forum) or complexity.
Features:
---------
* Windows MDI interface, makes Usenet easy to learn, easy to use.
* Built in e-mail support for both SMTP and POP-3 mail servers.
* Powerful search and index options allow you to quickly find
Newsgroups, subjects, and messages that interest you.
* Powerful threading features let you find conversations that
interest you... you can see threads BEFORE you download messages,
as well as track, ignore, and store threads according to your tastes.
* Twit filters allow you to ignore input from selected users or subjects.
* Watch filters allow you to automatically spot messages that interest
you.
* Read and reply easily using split windows.
* User definable auto-quote characteristics.
* Built in multi-lingual spell checker.
* Built in automatic UUencoding and UUdecoding.
* Automatic message part locator for multi-part messages.
* Extensive dual-window help with Index and Glossary.
* Supports NavCIS font technology.
System Requirements:
--------------------
You must be using some sort of Winsock compliant dialer such as the
CompuServe Dialer, Trumpet or the Windows 95 dialer. OUI also works with
SLP and TCP/IP connections.
Requires Windows 3.1 running in enhanced mode. 386/40 or faster with 4mb
RAM minimum. Mouse, modem and 5mb hard disk space. Compatible with
Windows 95 and Windows NT.
Anticipated Release:
--------------------
By the end of August, 1995. Currently in Beta 2.
How is OUI packaged?
--------------------
OUI is a disk based product and does not include a written manual.
Rather, it features powerful on-line help that is concise, well written
and easy to use.
Can I order it now?
-------------------
Sorry, no. We do not want to take your money and deliver something that
doesn't live up to your expectations. We'd rather you download and try
the TE (15 day demoware Timed Edition) before you decide to purchase OUI.
The TE version will be located in LIB 1 of the DVORAK forum once the
product is released.
IF I own NavCIS Pro, do I get a discount?
-----------------------------------------
Yes, if you own NavCIS Pro, you can get OUI for just $22.00 ($19 plus $3
for shipping) on diskette (slighly more if you are overseas).
What does it cost?
------------------
$39 plus $3 for shipping (shipping is slightly more for our overseas
cutomers). We accept MsasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover.
Will OUI be available on the Internet?
--------------------------------------
Yes, Dvorak Development is putting in place a direct connection to the
internet and will sooon have full time servers from where it can be
downloaded. Additionally we'll have a Web server supporting our Web
pages.
Can I beta test OUI?
--------------------
Sorry, the call for OUI beta testers has already gone out and we have a
full compliment of hard working testers. We are no longer accepting
applications.
--Dvorak Development
_____________________________________________
> Frankie's Corner STR Feature
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Imagination Express Destination: Rain Forest
============================================
Dual format CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh
ages 6 to 12
approximate retail $40
by Edmark Corporation
P.O. Box 97021
Redmond, WA 98073-9721
(206) 556-8484
IBM Requirements Macintosh Requirements
CPU: 386DX-25 CPU: Color Mac
RAM: 8 megs RAM: 8 megs
Video: 256 color SVGA monitor Video: 256 color, 13" monitor
HDISK: 2 megs HDISK: 2 megs
CD-ROM: Double-speed recommended CD-ROM: Double-speed recommended
OS: Windows 3.1 OS: System 7
Misc.: Sound card, mouse
The Kids' Computing Corner
--------------------------
by Frank Sereno
Destination: Rain Forest is the newest addition to Edmark's enchanting
Imagination Express package. The program encourages children to explore
their creative writing skills by allowing them to mix words, graphics and
sound to publish multimedia stories.
The setting is the rain forest of Panama. The program includes a Fact
Book filled with interesting information about the land, people, animals
and plants of the region. This information will also spark children's
imaginations when they create their stories. Also featured is a Story
Ideas section which provides thematic suggestions. A parent's section
gives information on the program's educational features and contains
suggestions for enhancing your child's enjoyment of writing.
The most important feature is the story editor. Children can choose from
many backgrounds for each page. Then any number of "stickers" may be
added. Destination: Rain Forest includes dozens of stickers of people,
plants and animals. Some stickers are animated and some even include
sound effects. Stickers change in size as they are moved fore and aft in
the scene to maintain proper perspective. They can also be placed behind
objects in the background rather than simply being layered on top of it.
Some characters can be rotated in three dimensions. The creative
possibilities are endless.
Destination: Rain Forest offers children the option of recording dialog
and sounds for the stickers in each page. They can also record a
narration for the page. Simple editing tools can be used to write the
text for the story. Several fonts and sizes are available. The program
also provides music of the local people which can be used to introduce
each page. Children have an infinite array storytelling opportunities
with these many options.
With outstanding graphics and excellent audio, Destination: Rain Forest is
a delight to both the eye and ear. One small flaw is that the program can
only be run in 256-color mode. The authentic music is quite different and
interesting. Voices and sound effects were digitized very well.
The interface is a rather complex point-and-click device. Audible help is
not provided so it is best for adults to aid younger children. The manual
explains the many interface features and it becomes second nature after a
short time. The manual also offers excellent technical tips. Some of
these tips keep the program moving at a good pace on older computers.
Destination: Rain Forest has great play value. Children will enjoy
manipulating the many animals and bugs which are native to the rain
forest. They will spend many hours discovering the features of each
sticker and then writing stories.
The educational value is excellent. Products which can ignite creative
thought are still rare in the educational software market. Destination:
Rain Forest and Imagination Express inspire creativity by giving children
the tools and information to create original multimedia electronic books
based on unfamiliar scenarios. Most children will never visit a rain
forest. By using the fact book and their imaginations, they can go to
this important ecosystem in their minds.
Destination: Rain Forest provides a rich learning experience at a
reasonable price. It is an excellent value.
Ratings
Graphics ........... 9.5
Sound .............. 9.5
Interface .......... 9.0
Play Value ......... 9.5
Educational Value ..10.0
Bang for the Buck .. 9.5
Average ............ 9.5
Frank Sereno
STReport Magazine
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, FL 32221-6155
Thank you for reading!
____________________________________________
> INTEL PENTIUM STR FOCUS! Good Stuff! No matter how you look at it!
""""""""""""""""""""""""
INTEL PENTIUM(TM) PROCESSOR SYSTEMS
===================================
INTRODUCTION
------------
Today's compute-intensive applications require vast amounts of data to be
processed and moved faster than ever before. To meet these needs, Intel
has made dramatic advances in processor architecture, design, and
manufacturing technology, resulting in the Pentium(TM) processor, the
fastest microprocessor Intel has ever made. Not only has the Pentium
processor become more powerful and efficient, but system designs have also
moved forward. The high-performance systems available today both leverage
the strengths of the processor and integrate other advanced features to
provide the best performance from the total system.
This technical overview focuses on the key components and specifications
of a high-performance desktop personal computer -- a system that is not
only well-designed, but also affordable to home and business computer
users.
After these elements are described, other PC features such as multimedia
capabilities and ease-of-use are discussed. Finally, the performance gains
provided by various key system components are summarized.
FEATURES OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE DESKTOP PERSONAL COMPUTERS
-------------------------------------------------------
Today's best PCs are well-balanced systems with each component optimized
to take full advantage of the processor's capabilities, highly tuned and
working together to give you the best possible results.
1. PENTIUM PROCESSOR. The Pentium processor's advanced superscalar
architecture enables it to execute up to 166 million instructions per
second (MIPS).
2. MEMORY SUBSYSTEM. Key components of a memory subsystem are: large
fast RAM, second-level write-back cache, and wide processor-to-memory
bus. 8 to 32 Mbytes of RAM will enable the processor to efficiently
run large applications and advanced operating systems. A 256 to 512
Kbyte write-back cache increases memory performance by helping
coordinate the speed of the Pentium processor with the slower RAM.
And a 64-bit bus increases the flow of data between the processor and
the system's RAM and memory cache.
3. HARD DISK. High-performance hard drives have at least 340 MBytes of
capacity, provide an average seek time of 12 milliseconds, have a 128
to 256 KByte hard disk buffer cache with both write-caching and
read-caching capabilities, and spin about 4,500 rotations per minute.
4. PCI AND VIDEO GRAPHICS CARD. The PCI local bus greatly improves I/O
performance, especially graphics. The PCI bus can transfer data
between the processor and the peripherals at up to 132 MB/second, far
faster than the ISA bus rate of 5 MB/second. A full-featured
PCI-compliant VGA card, with at least 1 to 2 MB of video RAM, will
further accelerate graphics performance.
THE PENTIUM PROCESSOR
---------------------
The highest-performing PC designs today incorporate the Pentium processor.
Intel's Pentium processor combines the performance traditionally reserved
for high-end workstations with the flexibility and compatibility required
for desktop systems. In addition, it maintains complete compatibility with
the large installed base of software currently running on Intel
microprocessors.
The Pentium processor family includes the fastest processors in Intel's
line--Pentium processor 510\60MHz, Pentium processor 567\66MHz, Pentium
processor 735\90MHz, and Pentium processor 815\100MHz. These processors
achieve exceptional performance levels by incorporating new features and
improvements made possible by advances in semiconductor technology. For
example, the Pentium processor has a superscalar architecture
("superscalar" refers to a microprocessor architecture that contains more
than one execution unit) which enables it to execute more than one
instruction per clock cycle. In addition, the Pentium processor
incorporates separate 8 Kbyte on-chip code and data caches, an enhanced
floating point unit, and a high-performance 64-bit data bus.
The Pentium processor family was designed using an advanced process
technology and has features that are less than a micron (one-millionth of
a meter) in size. The Pentium processor (510\60, 567\66) was developed
utilizing 5V, 0.8 micron technology, while the Pentium processor (735\90,
815\100) was designed using 3.3V, 0.6 micron technology.
As a result of these design, architecture, and process innovations, the
Pentium processor (815\100) has over two and a half times the performance
of the Intel486TM DX2-66 microprocessor. This performance allows the
Pentium processor to meet the rigorous computing demands of areas such as
advanced operating systems, compute-intensive graphics applications,
large-scale financial programs, high-throughput client/server software,
and real-time video applications.
WELL-DESIGNED MEMORY SYSTEM
---------------------------
The Pentium processor can handle data faster than many memory subsystems
can supply it. When that happens, the processor sits idle and the overall
efficiency of the system is greatly reduced. That's why it's critical to
have a memory system that can keep up with the data processing
capabilities of the Pentium processor.
Well-designed memory systems increase system performance primarily using
three techniques: wide processor-to-memory buses, second-level cache
systems, and large fast random access memory (RAM) subsystems.
Wide Processor-to-Memory Data Bus
---------------------------------
The data bus is the highway that carries information between the
processor and the memory subsystem, so a wider bus simply increases
the flow. While some of the early systems introduced with the Pentium
processor in mid-1993 did not fully utilize the processor's 64-bit
data bus, today's PC designs are better. The Pentium processor-based
PCs available now have 64-bit processor-to-memory data buses,
enabling extremely fast data flow between the processor, second-level
cache, and RAM subsystem.
Second-level Cache
------------------
Second-level caches are blocks of high-speed memory that are placed
between the processor and system memory. This memory acts as a
temporary storage place for commonly-used instructions and data,
replacing the need to always go to the system's slower main memory to
fetch information. The size of the second-level cache in
high-performance systems is at least 256 Kbytes to 512 Kbytes. Larger
cache sizes improve performance, because more memory is available to
store the needed data. More advanced caches are also write-back
designs rather than write-through implementations (1). The write-back
approach reduces bus utilization and prevents needless bottlenecks in
the system by caching data both written to and read from main memory
(system memory is only updated when the cached data is replaced). In
contrast, write-through cache implementations transfer data to the
external memory each time the processor writes data to the cache
(i.e., write-through designs do not cache data written to memory).
Large Fast RAM system
---------------------
Memory systems, which are generally constructed from dynamic RAM
(DRAM) modules, can easily become a system bottleneck. For example,
if the PC does not have enough DRAM, then the processor has to
frequently retrieve information from the much-slower hard disk.
High-performance
----------------
PCs have large memory subsystems (larger RAM systems increase
software performance, because more of the program currently executing
can reside in RAM rather than on the hard disk). With 8 to 32 Mbytes
of RAM, the PC can minimize hard disk accesses and efficiently
execute large applications and advanced operating systems such as
Windows*, OS/2* and UNIX*. In addition, advanced RAM systems use
interleaving to reach peak performance levels. Interleaving reduces
memory access time by segmenting the memory system into two
coordinated banks. During a particular request, one bank will supply
information to the processor while the other prepares data for the
next cycle; during the next access, they switch roles.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE HARD DISK
--------------------------
During a data read from the hard disk, the processor spends most of its
time waiting for the disk to retrieve the requested information. As a
result, hard disk performance can have a significant impact on system
performance. Hard disk drives are categorized and ranked based on various
metrics. Four common selection criteria are average seek time, on-board
disk cache, disk caching features, and platter rotation speed.
Average Seek Time
-----------------
The average seek time, the most readily available specification and
arguably the most important criterion, is the amount of time that the
drive heads require to move from one sector to another. Seek times
for fast hard disks generally range from 10 to 15 milliseconds.
Hard Disk Buffer/Cache
----------------------
A hard disk cache stores commonly used data, so that the disk's
tracks and sectors do not have to be accessed each time the processor
requests data. And like second-level caches, more disk cache memory
improves performance -- the larger the cache, the more likely it
holds the desired data.
Intelligent Caching Features
----------------------------
Many disk drives have features that off-load work from the processor,
freeing it to perform other functions. One such function is
read-caching, or pre-fetching, where the disk drive fetches data
before the processor requests it. This technique "reads ahead" by
assuming that the sector following the one most recently accessed
will be next requested by the system. Another advanced disk feature
is write-caching, where the cache accepts data before the drive is
ready to write it. Write-caching can improve hard disk performance
significantly.
Platter Rotation Speed
----------------------
As with seek times, faster platter rotation speeds yield higher disk
performance. Rotation speeds for today's PC drives typically range
from 3,600 to 7,200 rotations per minute (RPMs). While there is some
inherent correlation between platter speed and average seek time,
faster rotation speed does not guarantee shorter seek times. For
example, some drives have platter speeds of 4,300 RPMs with average
seek times of 16 ms, while other drive platters rotate at 3,600 RPMs
but have average seek times of 13 ms.
A high-performance hard disk drive provides an average seek time of
12 milliseconds, has a 128 to 256 Kbyte cache with both read-caching
and write-caching capabilities, and spins about 4,500 rotations per
minute. In addition, it has a minimum of 340 Mbytes in capacity to
meet the storage needs of today's applications and operating systems.
PCI LOCAL BUS
-------------
The industry-standard 16-bit/8-MHz ISA expansion bus, the decade-old bus
currently found in most computers, cannot adequately transport the large
amounts of data generated by today's compute-intensive applications.
High-performance processors, operating at speeds of 100 MHz and beyond,
are forced to wait as hard disks, video boards and other peripherals send
and receive data along a path that is not only narrow and slow, but
inefficient as well. As a result, serious bottlenecks occur as large files
vie for the limited bandwidth offered by the ISA system bus. Enhanced bus
standards, such as EISA and Micro Channel*, have been introduced to
alleviate these concerns, but none has provided an adequate
cost-effective, long-term solution.
To solve this problem, the PC industry developed a local bus specification
based on the Intel486(TM) processor bus and a standard local bus
connector.
Known as VESA's VL local bus, it allows high-performance peripherals to
bypass the I/O bottlenecks of traditional system buses and take a shortcut
to the system processor. While the specification is a good intermediate
solution and has resolved some of the I/O issues, it has a number of
limitations. Its most significant disadvantage is incompatibility; because
the VL bus design is tied to the processor's speed, not every VL bus card
is compatible with every VL bus-based system.
To eliminate incompatibilities and provide a more robust solution for
Pentium processor-based systems, the Intel Architecture Lab along with its
industry partners developed the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
local bus specification. PCI is an advanced high-performance local bus
design that supports multiple peripheral devices. It is optimized to take
advantage of today's microprocessor and personal computer technology and
provides a total system solution. PCI provides increased performance for
network adapters, hard disk drives, full-motion video, graphics and the
wide range of today's high-speed peripherals, while maintaining
compatibility with today's existing ISA/EISA/Micro Channel expansion
buses.
Running at a clock speed of 33 MHz, the PCI local bus employs a 32-bit
data bus that supports multiple peripheral components and add-in cards at
a peak bandwidth of 132 Mbytes/second, a substantial improvement over the
5 Mbyte/second peak transfer rate of the standard ISA bus. This increased
bandwidth allows the PCI local bus to provide more than four times the
graphics performance of the ISA bus. The PCI local bus achieved a WinMark*
test score of 84.1 million WinMarks compared to the 20 million WinMarks
attained with the ISA bus (3). The PCI local bus, however, offers much
more than high bandwidth. It allows peripherals to take full advantage of
available processing power without being dependent on processor speed or
architecture. It also supports auto-configuration of Plug and Play-enabled
add-in cards and offers system designers a standardized design path.
Finally, PCI provides built-in upgradability to accommodate future
technical advances.
FULL-FEATURED VIDEO GRAPHICS ADAPTER
------------------------------------
Today's advanced graphically-intensive operating systems and applications
have fueled the need for high-performance video graphics adapter (VGA)
cards. In yesterday's text-based DOS operating environments, the processor
could effectively perform both displaying and number-crunching tasks.
Today windows and images are frequently created and moved on PC monitors,
requiring the manipulation of tens to hundreds of thousands of pixels.
Without an advanced video graphics adapter, this would be an incredibly
processor-consuming task.
Video graphics adapters are designed to enable high-speed data
communication between the processor and the VGA, and between the VGA and
the display monitor. Advanced VGAs also have intelligent functions, such
as drawing, zooming, pixel manipulation, and pattern replication, which
relieve the processor of some of its workload. Using these features, the
processor can send a simple command to the VGA and then perform some other
task while the VGA updates the monitor. The result is increased system
performance
.
In addition to having "smart" functions, a high-performance VGA enables
high-resolution displays (at least 800-by-600 with 256 colors) and has a
minimum of 1 to 2 MB of on-board RAM to store the information that needs
to be displayed on the monitor. In addition, the VGA is PCI-compliant so
it can take advantage of PCI local bus designs.
ADDITIONAL SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS
--------------------------------
The processor, hard disk, memory design, and I/O and graphics systems are
not the only factors that influence performance and usability. Other
elements, such as CD-ROMs for multimedia and Plug and Play technology for
easy installation, also come into play.
CD-ROMs
-------
Fast, affordable, and fueled by an increasing number of available
software titles, CD-ROM drives are becoming a standard part of
personal computers. Although CD-ROMs are read-only and transfer data
at a considerably slower rate than hard disk drives, they can store
up to 680 Mbytes of information. Because of this immense capacity,
CD-ROMs are being used for everything from multimedia games and
reference materials to operating systems and software applications.
When selecting a CD-ROM drive, the most important specification is
speed, or data transfer rate. The faster the transfer rate, the
smoother video and graphics playback will be on multimedia
applications. Although CD-ROM data rates range from 150 to 600
Kbytes/second, the transfer rate should be at least 300 Kbyte/second
(i.e., double-speed) to obtain good multimedia performance.
PLUG AND PLAY TECHNOLOGY
------------------------
Installing an add-in card can be a challenging process. Sometimes
cards need to be configured manually, which means selecting a variety
of system resources -- interrupt requests, I/O and memory addresses,
and direct memory access channels -- for each card. Every PC has a
limited number of these resources available, and each card is
designed to use a small group of them. And since there are no
standards stating which cards can use which resources, conflicts can
arise between cards.
Plug and Play technology consists of hardware and software components
that add-in card, PC, and operating system manufacturers incorporate
into their products to eliminate the need for manual configuration.
With this technology, an expansion card can identify itself and the
resources it requires, and the system software can automatically set
up a suitable configuration for the card. As a result, add-in cards
can be easily inserted into the PC.
Although Plug and Play technology is still maturing, Plug and
Play-enabled Pentium processor systems are readily available.
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE -- THE NUMBERS
---------------------------------
System performance can be optimized by ensuring that, in addition to the
Pentium processor, the PC has top-performing subsystems. This can be seen
by examining the numbers.
SUBSYSTEMS
----------
A PC's subsystems can provide considerable performance improvements. For
example, by making sure that the PC has a 256 KB write-back second-level
cache, the performance of the system can be improved by 26% to 31%. In
addition, including a high-performance hard disk rather than merely an
average hard disk can provide an 11% performance boost. These and other
typical performance gains are summarized in Table 1.
PENTIUM PROCESSOR-BASED SYSTEMS
-------------------------------
While subsystems can significantly affect the PC's speed, the processor is
the component that most influences system performance, and the Pentium
processor provides considerably higher performance than other
PC-compatible microprocessors. This is clearly shown by the SYSmark93 for
Windows benchmark. SYSmark93 is a system-level benchmark suite that tests
a processor's ability to handle everyday desktop computing operations such
as word processing, spreadsheets, desktop graphics, desktop publishing,
database management, and software development. It is a reliable benchmark
to judge a system's performance for everyday use.
The SYSmark93 for Windows rating for a high-performance system based on
the Pentium processor 815\100 MHz is 384.2. This is approximately twice
the performance of a system based on the 66MHz Intel486 DX2 processor.
SUMMARY
-------
The highest-performing PCs available today are based on Intel's Pentium
processor. Incorporating state-of-the-art design principles, the Pentium
processor meets the performance needs of today and tomorrow's
applications.
In addition, it maintains complete compatibility with the large installed
base of software currently running on members of the Intel family.
The best PCs have not only fast processors but also high-performance
subsystems. A well-designed memory subsystem, high-performance hard disk,
PCI local bus, and full-featured PCI-compliant VGA card can greatly
improve a personal computer's performance by allowing the PC to operate at
maximum efficiency. This means that the Pentium processor will too. And
the cumulative effect is a more powerful computer all the way around.
_____________________________________
> A PEEK at Prodigy STR FOCUS!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A QUICK LOOK AT PRODIGY
=======================
(More to follow)
For Tech Eyes Only: Gateways, LANs, T1s.
---------------------------------------
Description of Prodigy's Network
--------------------------------
In contrast to our competitors, Prodigy was one of the first and still
remains the largest distributed client server network. (See the glossary
below.) Currently AOL and CompuServe use a host-centric technology.
Prodigy's powerful and extensive configuration allows us to distribute the
network with greater flexibility in the recovery of disturbances such as
those caused by outages or by natural disasters. What this means to our
members is faster overall connect time with fewer session interrupts.
The top section of a box diagram focuses on mainframe activity. All
Prodigy data, including applications and content, is transmitted to the
mainframe server, and then distributed over the T1/T3 network. These
applications and content are created on producer workstations, both remote
and in-house. The Prodigy mainframe processes a multitude of tasks, for
example, it:
handles basic systems management.
handles membership service communications, such as Chat.
runs new applications, such as the Web Browser.
accepts incoming wire feeds, such as API and Reuters.
maintains Prodigy gateways for transaction applications, such as EAASY
SABRE (sm) for airline reservations and PC Financial Network (sm) for
banking.
Maintains our newest gateway for access to the Internet's World Wide Web.
The lower half of the box diagram focuses on distribution activity. All
Prodigy data is streamed through the T1/T3 network and then distributed to
Prodigy local sites, or PLSs. They, in turn, distribute the data to users
through a variety of channels, such as LANs, POTS, local and national
VANs, cable and ISDN (see Glossary below). This results in a constant,
interactive dialogue between the service and the users which is
continually transmitted throughout the network.
Glossary
--------
Cable - (TV). Antennas, receivers, and associated distribution equipment
that receive weak signals from a distant city and relay them to
subscribers via television coaxial cable.
Datakit - An example of a local VAN (Value Added Network).
ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network. A network architecture that
enables end-to-end digital connections. Also described as a set of
communications standards allowing a single wire or optical fiber to carry
voice, digital network services and video. ISDN is intended to eventually
replace the plain old telephone service. ISDN uses mostly existing Public
Switched Telephone Network switches and wiring, upgraded so that the basic
"call" is a 64 kilobits per second, all-digital end-to-end channel.
IP - Internet protocol. A protocol that provides for transmitting blocks
of data between hosts identified by fixed-length addresses. Because IP has
no mechanisms to augment end-to-end data reliability, flow control,
sequencing, or other services, these routines are provided by other
protocols.
LAN - local area network. A private network offering high-speed digital
communications channels for the connection of computers and related
equipment in a limited geographic area. LANs use fiber optic, coaxial, or
twisted-pair cables or radio tansceivers to transmit signals.
MCI TymNet - An example of a national VAN (Value Added Network). POTS -
plain old telephone service. Basic telephone service without any enhanced
features. It is the common term for residential telephone service.
T1 - An AT&T term for a digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-1
formatted digital signal at 1.544 megabits per second.
T3 - A digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-3 formatted digital
signal at 44.746 megabits per second.
TCP/IP -Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. A set of
protocols developed by the U.S. Department of Defense that facilitate the
interconnection of dissimilar computer systems across networks.
UGAP - Universal Gateway Attached Program. A program providing protocol
conversion and enhanced network management.
VAN - Value Added Network. A data network, usually packet-switched, that
provides products or services beyond the basic transport of information.
Often, the services are offered by a private vendor over facilities leased
from a common carrier. Value-added services include network management,
error control, and protocol conversion.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N
FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI
For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent
to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY
600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed
Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to:
STReport's Fargo Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior
to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as
much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this
sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please,
allow at least a one week turn-around)
A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
___ ___ _____ _______
/___| /___| /_____| /_______/
/____|/____| /__/|__| /__/
/_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
/__/|____/|__|________|__/
/__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____
/__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/
________________________________________
/_______________________________________/
MAC/APPLE SECTION (II)
======================
John Deegan, Editor (Temp)
> Adobe & the WEB STR InfoFile
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Integrated Solution for Publishing
to the World Wide Web
Adobe Systems and Frame Technology Announce An Integrated Solution for
Publishing to the World Wide Web
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and FrameMaker offered together for
authoring on Sun Netra and Workstation Platforms
Mountain View, Calif., (July 24, 1995) Adobe Systems Incorporated
(Nasdaq:ADBE) and Frame Technology Corporation (Nasdaq:FRAM) today
announced an integrated solution for authoring documents to be printed or
published on the Internet's World Wide Web. The Frame & Adobe Internet
Publishing Solution, which combines Adobe Illustratort, Adobe Photoshopt
and FrameMakerr software with a Cookbook showing users how to author
documents for Web and print using all three products, is expected to be
available in early August for Netrat and other Sun systems.
Published estimates are that the number of Web sites exploded from 30,000
to 60,000 between April and June of this year. Much of that growth is from
organizations using the Web to share information that they also need to
print. The Frame & Adobe Internet Publishing Solution integrates the key
components required for authoring color publications for print and
electronic distribution - illustrations, images, text and hypertext links
- on the leading Internet platform. According to a 1994 survey conducted
by the Internet Society, the Sun platform is used for 56 percent of all
servers on the Internet.
"The synergy between Framer and Adobet products unifies the authoring
environment for Web and print publishing, offering businesses the richest
solution available today," said Doug Kaewert, Director of Market
Development at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "It gives Sun Netra customers a
powerful environment for creating and publishing original content."
The Frame & Adobe Internet Publishing Solution
----------------------------------------------
The Frame & Adobe Internet Publishing Solution consists of three
applications that are the standards for high-end desktop publishing: Adobe
Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and FrameMaker. Each application excels in a
different area to contribute to the final document, but cooperate smoothly
with the others for easy authoring. Together, they provide unprecedented
ability to quickly produce high-quality, color documents for publication
in print and for viewing on the World-Wide Web using browser software such
as Netscape Navigatort or Mosaict.
"At most sites, Web publishing is a laborious process in which engineers
program page layout and convert images to make documents accessible," said
Bill Sawyer, president of Digital Publishing Specialists, a publishing
consultancy based in Sausalito, California. "The Frame & Adobe Internet
Publishing Solution offers our clients brand-name products from leading
software companies that automatically create documents which can easily be
printed and published on the Web."
The Frame & Adobe Internet Publishing Solution's Cookbook walks users
through the fundamentals of using the three products together to prepare
information for the Internet and for print. Adobe Illustrator excels at
creating logos, illustrations, diagrams, titles and icons used for Web
push-buttons. Authors can combine illustrations with Adobe Photoshop
images to create composite artwork and special effects that can be saved
in the GIF format required by the Web as well as in standard printing
formats. Finished artwork is brought into new or existing FrameMaker
documents. FrameMaker's long document handling features such
as automatic table of contents and index generation; hypertext linking and
HTML; Adobe PostScriptt and software support for the Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF) output make authoring easy for printing and for the
Web.
The combined products offer high precision printing and display, with
easy-to-use font handling capabilities and the ability to share Adobe's
industry-standard Type 1 fonts across applications. They also take
advantage of the strengths of Sun's Solarisr operating system, such as
multi-tasking, high computation throughput, easy Internet access, and ease
of workgroup collaboration across networks. Completely compatible versions
of all products are also sold separately for Sun Solaris, Microsoftr
Windowsr, and Apple's Mac OS.
The Frame & Adobe Internet Publishing Solution will be available from
Adobe and Frame authorized UNIXr resellers in North America. Resellers may
obtain product from Sun Netra partners Access Graphics and Merisel. The
suggested retail price is $3,995, compared to $5,485 for the products
purchased separately. For product information or the name of a local
reseller, call 1-800-843-7263.
The Companies
-------------
Adobe Systems, founded in 1982, is headquartered in Mountain View,
California. Adobe develops, markets and supports computer software
products and technologies that enable users to create, display, print and
communicate electronic documents. The company licenses its technology to
major computer, printing and publishing suppliers, and markets a line of
applications software and type products for authoring visually rich
documents. Additionally, the company markets a line of powerful, but easy
to use, products for home and small business users. Adobe has
subsidiaries in Europe and the Pacific Rim serving a worldwide network of
dealers and distributors. Adobe's 1994 revenue was approximately $598
million.
Frame Technology, founded in 1986, provides award-winning document
creation, management and distribution software for individuals and
workgroups. Frame's products are widely recognized for their PC,
Macintoshr and UNIX cross-platform compatibility, enabling individuals,
companies, government agencies and academic institutions to increase
productivity by leveraging their valuable business and research data. The
company is located in San Jose, California.
On June 22, 1995, Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire Frame
through an exchange of common stock of the two companies. The transaction
is subject to approval by Frame shareholders, and to other conditions.
____________________________________
> MS DOS STILL ON TOP STR FOCUS!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Windows/MPC Is a Player, But Not the Winner
in CDROM Titles Platforms
Prelude..
CD-ROMs
-------
Fast, affordable, and fueled by an increasing number of available software
titles, CD-ROM drives are becoming a standard part of personal computers.
Although CD-ROMs are read-only and transfer data at a considerably slower
rate than hard disk drives, they can store up to 680 Mbytes of
information. Because of this immense capacity, CD-ROMs are being used for
everything from multimedia games and reference materials to operating
systems and software applications.
When selecting a CD-ROM drive, the most important specification is speed,
or data transfer rate. The faster the transfer rate, the smoother video
and graphics playback will be on multimedia applications. Although CD-ROM
data rates range from 150 to 600 Kbytes/second, the transfer rate should
be at least 300 Kbyte/second (i.e., double-speed) to obtain good
multimedia performance.
PRESS RELEASE
-------------
Windows/MPC Is a Player, But Not the Winner
in CDROM Titles Platforms
Columbus OH, July 27, 1995 ---- The latest edition of a comprehensive
directory to CDROM titles shows that the Windows-based MPC platform is
certainly a player, but hardly the clear winner as the platform of
choice for CDROM developers. In fact, the most popular platform remains
MSDOS with nearly 65% of titles currently for sale, according to Richard
A. Bowers, editor of the database, and executive director of the Optical
Publishing Association (OPA).
Both the MPC platform and the Macintosh have seen continually growing
support from publishers, and remain virtually neck-and-neck in the
title-support count. The MPC platform is supported by 38.3% of current
titles, the Macintosh platform is supported by 37.3%. If recent
statistics about respective market shares of Windows-based computers and
Macintosh are accurate, then MPC titles are greatly underrepresented,
and Macintosh titles are over-achieving.
The real surprise - aside from the continued strength of MSDOS - is in
the number of CDROM titles that support multiple platforms. In1994, the
titles that supported both MPC and Macintosh platforms represented only
3.5% of the database. One year later Mac and MPC compatible products
constitute 22.5% of the database.
The CDROM Pocket Guide is a database partnership of Pemberton Press and
Richard A. Bowers. It has been available in print, and will soon be
available as a basic service, searchable database on CompuServe. The
current edition of the database contains records for over 9200 titles.
"Publishers apparently believe the impact of the Macintosh is much
greater than its purported market share," said Bowers. "MPC/Windows has
obviously gained strength with new products and new versions released
over the last year. But Macintosh remains critical as well."
Bowers suggested that reasons for the persistence of MSDOS as a platform
leader lay at two ends of the consumer spectrum. "Schools, libraries
and many business environments do not yet use multimedia or require a
'486 or Pentium to do the research work with bibliographic and full text
databases they require. And, on the consumer side, few high-powered,
graphical games utilize Windows because of the substantial resources
Windows requires, conflicting with the needs of the game. Many heavy
games consumers may have a high-end machine, with Windows installed, but
they run in MSDOS to access their favorite games."
The growth in MPC and Macintosh cross-compatibility may result from both
market reality and coincidence. "Many publishers - and as they perceive
their customers - see the Macintosh as an easier-to-assemble and easier-
to-use computer than MPC/Windows machines. There have been troubling
rumors of substantial returns, following 1994's record Christmas
computers season. And, coincidentally, many publishers use Macintosh
machines to produce titles for MPC/Windows, so the Macintosh version is
nearly ready when the Windows product is ready to ship, so they get two
versions at very little extra cost," explained Bowers.
The platform issue is of utmost significance to CDROM publishers, said
Bowers, because the machine is a point of access to the customer. And
the most complicated part of the consumer's CDROM experience.
"Publishers and consumers understand something computer companies have
not yet taken to heart. CDROM titles are publications. The computer
component of their nature is not a feature, but rather an obstacle for
both the publisher and his customer to overcome," said Bowers. "In the
overall process of production, marketing and distribution, the
computer's complexity remains the weakest link in the relationship
between the publisher and the customer."
"We approach the introduction of Windows 95 from Microsoft with some
trepidation. Given the current mix of CDROM title platform targets,
Windows '95 cannot be seen as anything but a major complication - it
represents yet another platform that must be installed and configured by
the customer adding another barrier to access. And this is assuming
that MPC titles will all work properly under Windows '95, something no
one really expects. Windows '95 will greatly increase the technical
support burden for publishers."
Platforms supported by CDROM Publishers for
over 9200 Titles in the CDROM Pocket Guide Database
Summer 1994 vs 1995
(Percentages of total titles in database per each edition)
Titles playable/accessible on these platforms:
1994 1995
MSDOS 68.7% 64.5%
Macintosh 29.3% 37.3%
MPC/Windows 12.0% 38.3%
Cross-compatible products
Mac & MPC 3.5% 22.5%
Mac & MSDOS 14.9% 17.2%
Mac, MSDOS, MPC 1.7% 10.2%
More details about this topic and others important to new media
publishers are available in the upcoming Summer 1995 Edition of the "OPA
Executive Summary" available at no cost to OPA members.
OPA is a not-for-profit trade and professional association for the CDROM
and digital publishing industries. Founded in 1988 and comprised of
some 400 members, OPA provides information and business assistance
through its semi-annual reports and online forums on CompuServe.
For more information contact:
-----------------------------
Richard A. Bowers
614/442-8805
614/442-8815 (fax)
71333,1114 (CompuServe)
Optical Publishing Association
PO Box 21268
Columbus OH 43221 USA
Online contact:
---------------
71333,1114 (CompuServe)
or
rbowers@meta-media.com (Internet)
____________________________________
> STR Unix/Linux Hanging in there!
""""""""""""""
THE ATARI ST EMULATOR FOR UNIX/X
================================
compiled by Scott Dowdle
Description
-----------
My Atari ST Emulator is currently in Alpha Testing stage. It works fine on
a SPARC IPC under SunOS 4.1, but is still a bit slow. I will try to make
it easily portable across different flavours of Unix. At the moment it
will require a fairly standard Unix System and an X Server which supports
1-bit StaticGray or 8-bit PseudoColor visuals.
Here is a 1152x900 screen shot (34KB) of a slow SPARC (SPECint92 13.8)
running STonX with the VDI driver and with GEMBench being run. Note that
the GEMBench results have to be divided by 2, since the 200Hz system timer
was emulated at 100Hz. Also, the results for the VDI functions are likely
to change once the implementation is complete.
The system components currently emulated are:
* MC68000 CPU
* 4 or 14MB RAM, ROM starting at $E00000
* Color or Monochrome Atari ST graphics modes
* IKBD (partly)
* BIOS-level disk routines are available
* MFP (partly)
* Mega ST(E) clock chip (buggy)
TOS 2.06 runs under the emulator without modification. TOS 1.0, 1.2 and
1.04 should work too, but haven't been tested (and aren't supported at the
moment).
A VDI driver for X Windows is also available, which will speed up the
graphics output of GEM applications by a factor of 20-70 (roughly).
System Requirements
-------------------
You will need a fairly "standard" Unix and the X Window system to run the
emulator. A lot of (physical) memory is also recommended (at least 20MB
for the 14MB emulation, for the 4MB emulation 9MB will suffice), and a
SPECint rating of 30 or more is a good idea too.
Speed
-----
At the moment, speed is quite disappointing. On a SPARC with a SPECint
rating of 13.8, the emulator runs at 25-200% of the speed of an 8 MHz
Atari ST, depending on the operation (on average 45-50%). This is mainly
due to the many cache misses during the emulation (the main loop is much
larger than the 64KB the cache can hold). Performance should be much
better on machines with large L2 caches.
However, compared to other portable emulators this isn't bad at all!
Latest News
-----------
Thu Mar 30 21:18:46 MET DST 1995
Managed to run the Emulator on an SGI in Germany (!), while the
output was directed to the screen of my X-Terminal here in
Austria over a very slow (1-3KB/s) link.
Amazing. :-)
Fri Mar 31 14:16:10 MET DST 1995
The Emulator runs on SGIs now - on a machine with MIPS R4600 at
133MHz, the speed is apparently somewhere between 2.5 and 25
times that of an 8 MHz ST!
Fri Mar 31 16:53:53 MET DST 1995
Compiled & ran the Emulator on a little-endian DECstation, and it
seems to work! However, it still doesn't work with X displays
that use LSB bit/byte format for bitmaps.
Fri Mar 31 20:31:23 MET DST 1995
I just sucessfully compiled the Emulator on a DEC 3000
(Alpha-based), and it runs smoothly with 200Hz system timer and
20Hz VBL, even though the bitmap format is different on the
Alpha, and it needs to reverse all bytes (the bits in them) for
20 frames per second! In monochrome mode it runs at 115% ST
speed. While it still flickers a bit in monochrome mode (because
the drawing takes much longer), in color mode there is no flicker
at all, and the emulation is also much faster (171%).
Unfortunately, the byte ordering is still wrong in color mode for
8 bit displays, since my conversion routine was written for
big-endian machines. One lesson I've learned is, that the
emulation will always be much faster on big-endian machines...
Fri Mar 31 21:11:34 MET DST 1995
Fixed the problems with LSB bitmaps - all graphics modes work
correctly now, on both MSB and LSB displays! On a DEC 3000 I can
run the emulator with true 50Hz VBLs(!!!) and 200Hz system timer,
and it's still faster than the original!
Sat Apr 1 16:05:06 MET DST 1995
Made a few modifications, to provide for easier distribution of
binaries. A binary for the Sun SPARC series of computers with
SunOS 4.1 will be made available shortly (when tested
thoroughly).
Thu Apr 13 17:32:17 MET DST 1995
A first "package" has been made, including a `configure' script.
Some basic VDI functions have also been implemented as native
Xlib calls (monochrome only), and the speedup (which may become
less in the future) is appoximately 75 x compared to that of the
emulated TOS routines, and around 25 x the speed of an 8 MHz ST.
It is possible to switch between emulated and native VDI support
at runtime, by moving the mouse pointer into the corresponding
window. A compile-time option to make a less memory-intensive
version of the emulator, which provides 4MB ST memory and
requires approx. 9MB is also supplied now.
Sat Apr 15 13:29:47 MET DST 1995
The VDI driver looks very good already, programs have been
written to convert the system fonts to the BDF format, so they
can be used by the X Server directly. A bug has been fixed which
prevented large diskfiles from working; I have a 10MB diskfile (a
copy of one of the partitions of my ST harddisk) on the Unix disk
now. A public version should be out in less than two weeks (I
hope), once the serial/parallel port drivers are finished.
Wed May 17 19:43:55 MET DST 1995
Sorry for the long break, I was (and still am) quite busy. I've
started writing an emulator-generator which will probably help
increase STonX's speed by a factor of 1.5 (I hope), while at the
same time the current code is being optimized by Griff's eager
hands (yes, the Griff of DSP coding fame).
The Future
----------
I am or will soon start working on
* Better portability (esp. support for little-endian architectures)
* Support for arbitrarily sized screens (X windows)
* GEMDOS-level filesystem routines to allow access to the Unix FS
* Speed optimizations
* MC68020 emulation (maybe)
* A VDI driver for an "X window" device, which will allow the emulated
system to use the full graphics capabilities of your X terminal
(currently being worked on - will take a while)
Copyright status:
-----------------
It will most probably be released under the GNU Lincense.
More information:
-----------------
... will be available soon.
**********************************************************************
ATARI/JAG SECTION (III)
=======================
Dana Jacobson, Editor
> From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, I was all set to try and get out of these summer doldrums,
find some cool spot to relax, and get this week's editorial put
together. Well, the best laid plans... This week's vacation has been
like living in a blast furnace - this heat and humidity has been
brutal! And, to top it all off, a trip to the dentist for a root
canal! Hey, can it get any better than this?! <g>
Yes, it can - fortunately. The MIST Atari show is this weekend.
If you're in the Indianapolis area, check it out. If all goes well,
expect to see the upgrade to Flash II, version 3.0. I've been beta-
testing this program for awhile and you're going to enjoy it. I can't
go into any details (NDA, you know) - just take my word for it! Look
for a lot of other great products available at the show. As usual,
Atari shows are the best - the people make it all worthwhile.
Well, I know what awaits you with the rest of this issue, so while
you're enjoy this week's issue I'm going to grab a couple more aspirin
and an iced-cold drink. We'll see you back next week!
Until next time...
________________________________________
Delphi's Atari Advantage!
TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (7/26/95)
(1) PICTURE FILE BROWSER 1.0A (6) HCOPY 1.6S
(2) MEMWATCH 4 *(7) DIAMOND EDGE PATCH -> V2.03
(3) EASY MONEY 1.0 *(8) FLASH II 2.23 UPGRADE
(4) MARIANT 1.0 *(9) STOOP 1.04
(5) IN-TOUCH 1.52 *(10) CALENDAR TEMPLATE
* = New on list
HONORARY TOP 10
The following on-line magazines are always top downloads, frequently
out-performing every other file in the databases.
ST REPORT (Current issue: STREPORT 11.29
ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE (Current issue: AEO: VOLUME 4, ISSUE 5)
Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database.
_________________________________________________
> It's All Relative/MIST Show! STR InfoFile! - CD Selection At MIST!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's All Relative's Greg Kopchak announces CD selection to be available
at this weekend's MIST show:
We have a great selection of Atari specific CD's coming to MIST:
GEMini
Crawly Crypt 1
Crawly Crypt 2
Skyline
CD Service - Volume 1
CD Service - Volume 2
CD Service - Volume 3
Atari Software Treasury (2 disc set)
That's right, 9 CD's to select from!
================================================================
We have a super selection of Atari readers too:
Image Library Viewer for MPC Research True Color Military Series
Atari CD Master with support for 4 CD's
SARA 5 pack with support for 12 CD's
SARA for Groliers and a SUPER SHOW SPECIAL on the set
SARA Movie Guide
Photo Show with support for over 500 CD's
Photo Show Pro with support for over 500 CD's
Photo Show STe with support for over 500 CD's
Photokina
Virtual BookMaker support disc
Shareware M.O.S.T. with support for 19 CD's
======================================================================
We have some great news on disc utilities too:
ExtenDOS Pro - Version 2.1
CD Recorder Version 1.0 (YES YOU CAN WRITE AS WELL AS READ A CD)
Advance orders will be accepted. CD-Recorder Version 1.0 is now
shipping!
======================================================================
We also have the entire Walnut Creek Line of CD ROM discs 52 CD's
including the new "Best of Walnut Creek" and the just released Amazing
Animations with a 3-D full motion CD case!
A large group of CD's for use with SARA, Atari CD Master, and Photo
Show Pro, or Photo Show STe.
If your the least bit interested in CD ROM, stop at the It's All
Relative booth at M.I.S.T. this weekend and see the largest group of
CD-related items for your Atari computer ever gathered together at
one place.
While your there, pick up a special deal on "Art for Kids" for the
family. The world's LOUDEST paint program.
________________________________________
> STR News TidBits
""""""""""""""""
-/- Leahy Warns of Fed Rules Online -/-
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says "government regulation will stifle"
the new industry of online services.
In a recent floor speech, the Vermont Democrat added, "Heavy
handed attempts to protect children could unduly chill speech on the
Internet and infringe upon the First Amendment. What are we doing as a
legislative body if we discourage the Project Gutenberg from placing
online the works of Geoffrey Chaucer or D.H. Lawrence for fear of
prosecution because someone, somewhere on the Internet might find the
works indecent?"
Communications Daily notes the Senate Judiciary Committee, on
which Leahy serves, holds hearing today on the cyberporn issues.
Witnesses include Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for
Democracy & Technology; Dee Jepsen, executive director of Enough Is
Enough, a group fighting pornography, and parents and representatives
of the online industry.
Also today, Interactive Working Group, a private sector group, is
to release report describing the availability of software and
technology to help parents supervise children's use of Internet and
online services.
The report "also will show how existing federal laws in (the)
criminal code already prohibit sale or distribution of obscene material
over computer networks, provide criminal liability for transmitting
threatening messages and have other means to handle problems created by
online pornography," CD writes.
-/- Cops Downplay Internet 'Smut' -/-
A U.S. House of Representatives panel has been told by law
enforcement authorities that, while pornography and pedophiles do
exist on the Internet, the problem has been exaggerated by the
attention the issue has gotten lately.
Mike Geraghty, a New Jersey State Police trooper who uses networks
in law enforcement, told lawmakers yesterday, "You can't find
pornography unless you go looking for it. If you want to find
pedophiles, you have to look for them. Those instances are few and far
between."
Also, Kevin Manson of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
said Congress and the public should avoid "demonizing the Internet"
because of the actions of a tiny minority.
United Press International says Manson, testifying before the
House Science Basic Research subcommittee, asserted that a small
fraction of the communications on the Net are of an obscene nature. He
pointed out it was a recent study frequently cited by
Internet-censorship advocates that concluded most objectionable
postings can only be found in private sites not linked to the network.
Said Manson, "We need to be a little more level headed."
Lee Hollander, a state prosecutor from Naples, Florida, told the
panel authorities still face problems prosecuting the crimes because
they lack basic knowledge of computers.
Subcommittee Chairman Steve Schiff, R-New Mexico, agreed, counting
himself and other lawmakers among a vast group struggling to understand
computers, adding, "We're very intimidated by the whole thing. We've
got a bunch of frightened parents. This is a mystery to people my age
and older."
Meanwhile, a family advocacy group has urged Congress to reject
arguments that software alone is the answer to shielding children from
the dissemination of pornography on the Net.
According to the Reuter News Service, Cathy Cleaver, director of
legal studies at Family Research Council, said, "There are serious
flaws to the approach of relying solely on software to screen out the
offensive material. It is wrong to shift the entire cost ... to the
parents."
Reuters says the group says software and regulation "are
complementary approaches to this problem."
-/- Packard Bell Settles Charges -/-
Packard Bell Electronics Inc. has reportedly agreed to spend up to
$1 million and change its warranty policy in order to settle
allegations it deceptively sold new computers with substandard used
parts.
The Wall Street Journal says Packard Bell admitted no wrongdoing
in the proposed settlement. The paper reports that the settlement
received preliminary approval on June 29 from the California Superior
Court in Los Angeles.
If approved, the settlement would reportedly end nine California
class-action suits that have been consolidated, although it would not
resolve lawsuits pending in other states on the same subject. Among
those suits is one filed in federal court in Delaware by Compaq
Computer Corp. of Houston, which has accused Packard Bell of using
substandard parts from returned computers in machines that are sold
as new.
Meanwhile, another computer maker is facing charges similar to the
ones reportedly resolved by Packard Bell. Pan American Commerce Corp., a
San Francisco-based export company, says it has filed a $10 million
lawsuit alleging fraud against Dell Computer Corp.
John C. Kaufman, Pan American's president, says Dell fraudulently
sold his firm a computer system it billed as new, but in fact contained
spare parts, including a used motherboard.
Pan American said the used equipment resulted in lost business
because of repeated instances of motherboard and hard disk failures.
Kaufman says that Dell-designated technicians who visited his firm to
repair the system replaced the faulty motherboards with still more used
parts which, several weeks later also failed.
"It's outrageous and it's cheap. It falls into the same category
as rolling back odometers on used cars," Kaufman says.
-/- Microsoft to Settle School Suit -/-
To settle a suit accusing it of "untrue and misleading
advertisements" -- but without admitting any wrongdoing -- Microsoft
Corp. has agreed to give California schools $6 million of software.
Reporting from San Rafael, Calif., The Wall Street Journal quotes
Deputy District Attorney Robert Nichols as saying Microsoft will equip
one classroom in each of California's 1,058 districts with a full
software package.
"Under terms of the settlement, reached after two years of
negotiations, Microsoft also agreed to a $175,000 civil penalty," the
Journal reports this morning. "In addition, it will pay Marin County
$90,000 for legal fees and investigative costs."
The California suit was prompted by a complaint from a consumer
that the Microsoft Office software package came in a box showing four
software programs, yet contained only three. (The box showed a drawing
of Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for
graphics and Mail for email, implying all four were contained inside.
Yet it only contained a license to copy and use electronic mail, not
the program itself.)
Microsoft spokeswoman Erin Carney told the paper her employer
settled only to avoid a technical dispute and to end the case, adding,
"We feel we caused no actual injury to consumers."
________________________________________
Jaguar Section
==============
Ted Hoff Speaks Out, FFL Delayed!
Onliners React to News!
CATnips! STR/Jag Contest!
More Vintage Minter! And more!
> From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Look for 'White Men Can't Jump' and 'Flashback' to appear in the
next few days. These should be a couple of games to take people's
minds off of the recent announcement that 'Fight For Life' is being
sent back to be re-worked. I've seen video clips and an assortment of
screen shots of both these games - they look great. I think these two
games are going to be a lot of fun to play. We're standing by for
Atari to send review copies so we can provide you with an in-depth
review of both these games soon.
Also on tap, hopefully what appears to be a great end of summer
push, will be the JaguarCD. Yes folks, it is coming out next month.
We're anxiously waiting to get a review unit of the player along with
some of the CD-games. Like our staff here at STReport, we're all
waiting for this new peripheral to add to our gaming enjoyment.
Personally, I can't wait! I've even been practicing with the Lynx
version of 'Blue Lightning', which I've always enjoyed - the CD version
looks fantastic! I'm also looking forward to checking out Jeff
Minter's VLM - shades of the 60's!!
Atari's Ted Hoff speaks out about the decision behind the
postponement of 'Fight For Life' in an article included in Don Thomas'
latest CATnips report. As you'll see from the online reactions
included in that article, the decision was a good one. Although it's
not the best of news, Atari needs to make these difficult decisions.
Better to delay or cancel a game before it hits the streets rather than
be forced to listen to its customers complain about a game that just
doesn't deserve to be on the shelf. It took a few "lemons" before
Atari got the message, but at least they finally listened. Hoff, and
Atari, deserve a lot of credit for going public with this announcement.
It's contest time again!! We haven't had one in a number of
months; the last was before the holidays last winter. Atari's Don
Thomas was gracious enough to call the other day and asked if we'd like
to "give some stuff away again?" Of course, we alway like giving stuff
away! I'm not going to go into details about this, and next week's,
contest. You're just going to have to finish reading this issue to get
the details. I will suggest to you, however, that you don't skip over
too much in the issue - you may miss some important information! <g>
So, let's get to the news and information for this week. Stay
tuned as we're gearing up for a lot of activity on the Jaguar front.
We'll be there every step of the way!
Until next time...
_________________________________________
> Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile - What's currently available, what's
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" coming out.
Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $29.99 Atari Corp.
J9005 Raiden $29.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp.
J9001 Trevor McFur/
Crescent Galaxy $29.99 Atari Corp.
J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp.
J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp.
JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames
J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp.
J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp.
J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $39.99 Atari Corp.
J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9007 Checkered Flag $39.99 Atari Corp.
J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp.
J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp
J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp
J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp
J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp.
Cannon Fodder $69.99 Virgin/C-West
Syndicate $69.99 Ocean
Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams
Theme Park $69.99 Ocean
Sensible Soccer Telegames
Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams
J9009E Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Corp.
J0144E Pinball Fantasies $59.99 C-West
J9052E Super Burnout $59.99 Atari
Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
White Men Can't Jump $69.99 Atari
Air Cars TBD MidNite Entertainment
Flashback $59.99 U.S. Gold
Ultra Vortek $69.99 Atari
Flip-Out TBD Atari
Rayman TBD UBI Soft
Power Drive Rally TBD TWI
Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari
Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER
J8001 Jaguar (complete) $189.99 Atari Corp.
J8001 Jaguar (no cart) $159.99 Atari Corp.
J8904 Composite Cable $19.95
J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp.
J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95
CatBox $69.95 ICD
> Game Console Segment STR News TidBits
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-/- Toys 'R' Us to Sell Software -/-
Toys 'R' Us has announced it will revamp all 618 of its U.S. toy
stores to include a special section of family-oriented computer
software. United Press International reports that all the products will
be supplied by NewMedia Express, a joint venture of Mattel Inc. and
Davidson & Associates Inc. Electronic Arts will be a major supplier of
the entertainment software.
The section, which will boast more than 150 titles, will include
entertainment programs and educational items. "There has been an
explosion in computer software for children, and we intend to be a major
player," said Michael Goldstein, chief executive officer for the retailer.
"We know that family-oriented computer software can be a big business for
Toys 'R' Us."
About half the chain's stores have already begun selling the
software. The rest will begin doing so within two weeks. "We have been
seeing a lot of customer requests in recent months," the executive said.
"One of the problems in setting this up is that there are so many titles
for us to choose."
Jill Barad, Mattel's president and chief operating officer, said
personal computers outsold television sets last year, making multimedia
software one of the fastest growing categories. "It's a different kind
of product, and mass merchants need special tools to help with
inventory management and in-store merchandising."
Bob Davidson, chairman and CEO of Davidson & Associates, said
channels such as Toys 'R' Us will be key in the expanding multimedia
software market.
"Family-oriented software has the potential to rival or surpass
platform-based video games in market size," Davidson said. "It's just
a matter of getting the right selection of titles into more locations
where consumers do their everyday shopping."
_____________________________________
> Jaguar Developers STR InfoFile - Current Developer Lists & Titles
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Game Title Date Game Type MSRP Publisher
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Cars 7/95 Racing/Combat $59.99 MidNite Ent.
Alien vs Predator NOW Role Play/Adventure $69.99 Atari
Alien vs Predator CD 2/96 Role Play/Adventure TBD Atari
Arena Football 10/95 Sports TBD V Reel
Assault 2Q/95 Action/Combat $59.99 MidNite Ent.
Atari Kart 11/95 TBD TBD Atari
Att. of Mut. Penguins 10/95 Arcade TBD Atari
Baldies (CD) 9/95 Action/Simulation TBD Atari
Batman Forever (CD) 4/96 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
Battlemorph (CD) 9/95 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Battlesphere 9/95 Space/Combat TBD 4-Play
Battlestar 11/95 Space/Combat TBD ?
Battle Wheels 2Q/95 Racing/Combat TBD Beyond Games
Black ICE/White Noise 12/95 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
Blue Lightning (CD) 8/95 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Braindead 13 (CD) 10/95 Action/Adventure TBD ReadySoft
Breakout 2000 11/95 Puzzle TBD Atari
Brett Hull Hockey (CD) 11/95 Sports TBD Atari
Brutal Sports Football NOW Sports/Combat $69.99 Telegames
Bubsy NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Cannon Fodder NOW Action/Adventure $69.99 Virgin
Chas Barkley Basketball 9/95 Sports TBD Atari
Checkered Flag NOW Racing $69.99 Atari
Club Drive NOW Racing $59.99 Atari
Commando (CD) 11/95 Action (3D) TBD Atari
Commander Blood (CD) 11/95 RPG TBD Atari
Creature Shock (CD) 8/95 Adventure/Sci-Fi TBD Atari/Virgin
Cybermorph NOW Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Dactyl Joust 11/95 Action TBD Atari
Dante (CD) 6/96 Action TBD Atari
Deathwatch 11/95 Arcade TBD Atari
Defender 2000 10/95 Arcade TBD Atari
Demolition Man (CD) 9/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Atari
Doom NOW Action/Combat $69.99 Atari
Double Dragon V NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Williams
Dragon:Bruce Lee Story NOW Combat $59.99 Atari
Dragon's Lair (CD) 8/95 Adventure TBD Ready Soft
Dragon's Lair 2 (CD) 10/95 Adventure TBD ReadySoft
Dreadnought (CD) 2Q/95 Adventure TBD Atari
Dune Racer (CD) 1/96 Racing TBD Atari
Dungeon Depths 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 MidNite Ent.
Evolution: Dino Dudes NOW Puzzle/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Fight For Life TBA Combat TBD Atari
Flashback 7/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 US Gold
Flip-Out 8/95 Puzzle TBD Atari
Formula Racing (CD) 12/95 Racing TBD Atari
Frank Thomas Baseball 4/96 Sports TBD Atari
Gotcha! 1/95 ? TBD ---
Hardball Baseball 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Highlander I (CD) 11/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Highlander II (CD) 2/96 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
Highlander III (CD) 4/96 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
Horrorscope 2Q/95 Combat TBD V Reel
Hover Strike NOW Action/Combat $59.99 Atari
Hover Strike CD 9/95 Action/Combat TBD Atari
Hyper Force TBA ? TBD Comp. West
Ironman/XO-Manowar 4/96 Action TBD Atari
Iron Soldier NOW Action/Strategy $59.99 Atari
Iron Soldier II (CD) 1/96 Action/Strategy TBD Atari
Jack Nicklaus Golf(CD) 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Kasumi Ninja NOW Combat $69.99 Atari
Magic Carpet (CD) 12/95 Action/RPG TBD Atari
Max Force 9/95 Action TBD Atari
Mindripper (CD) 2/96 Adventure TBD Atari
Mortal Kombat 3 4/96 Fighting TBD Atari
Myst (CD) 8/95 Interactive Novel TBD Atari
NBA Jam T.E. 12/95 Sports TBD Atari
Phase Zero 10/95 Action/Arcade TBD Atari
Pinball Fantasies NOW Arcade $59.95 Comp. West
Pitfall 9/95 Arcade TBD Activision
Power Drive Rally 8/95 Driving TBD TWI
Primal Rage (CD) 12/95 Fighting TBD TWI
Rage Rally 2Q/95 Racing TBD Atari
Raiden NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Rayman 8/95 Action/Adventure TBD UBI Soft
Redemption (CD) 11/95 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
Rise of the Robots (CD)11/95 Action/Arcade TBD TWI
Robinson's Requiem (CD) 9/95 Adventure TBD Atari
Rocky Horror Inter.(CD) 4/96 Adventure TBD Atari
Ruiner Pinball 9/95 Arcade TBD Atari
Sensible Soccer NOW Sports Telegames
Sky Hammer (CD) 12/95 Flying/Action TBD Atari
Soccer Kid 2Q/95 Sports TBD Ocean
Soul Star (CD) 9/95 Action/Sci-Fi TBD Atari
Space Ace (CD) 9/95 Space/Combat TBD ReadySoft
Space War 9/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Starlight BowlaRama CD 10/95 Simulation/Sports TBD Atari
Star Raiders 2Q/95 Space Simulation TBD Atari
Sudden Impact 12/95 Action TBD Atari
Super Burnout NOW Racing $59.99 Atari
Supercross 3D 9/95 Sports TBD Atari
Syndicate NOW Simulation $69.99 Ocean
Tempest 2000 NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Thea Relm Fighters (CD)10/95 Action/Fighting TBD Atari
Theme Park NOW Simulation $69.99 Ocean
Tiny Toon Adventures 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Trevor McFur NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Troy Aikman NFL Ftball NOW Sports $69.99 Williams
Ultimate Brain Games 2Q/95 Puzzle TBD Telegames
Ultra Vortek 9/95 Action/Adventure $69.99 Beyond Games
Val D'Isere Skiing... NOW Sports $59.99 Atari
Varuna's Forces (CD) 11/95 Action/Adventure TBD Atari
VidGrid (CD) 8/95 Puzzle/Music Video TBD Atari
Wayne Gretzky NHL (CD) 12/95 Sports TBD TWI
White Men Can't Jump 7/95 Sports (w/Team Tap) $69.99 TriMark
Wolfenstein 3D NOW Combat/Action $59.99 Atari
Zero 5 1/96 ? TBD ---
Zool2 NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
[Editor's note: Titles, scheduled release dates, and prices are
verified from Atari - all subject to change]
> Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
CATnips... Jaguar Tidbits from Don Thomas (95.07.24)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
On Friday last week (7/21/95), Mr. Ted Hoff, President of Atari's North
American Operations, released a statement regarding Atari's formal
position on "Fight for Life". The statement was in response to a swell
of online rumors regarding the title which was brought to Ted's
attention.
I usually would not transmit something twice through my distribution
channels. In this case, however, since I did not send Ted's statement
under a CATnips masthead and the online response has been so
overwhelming. I felt I would share that response with everyone. If you
have already read Ted's statement, please jump past it for a sampling
of the online reaction plus other news.
An open message from Mr. Ted Hoff, President of North American
operations for Atari Corporation...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Of those of you who follow Atari's progress and 64-bit Jaguar momentum,
some have expressed interests (and concerns) with regard to the
disposition of the much anticipated Jaguar software title, "Fight for
Life." Right away, let me address the rumors/flames by stating that
"Fight for Life" is alive and well and a solid Atari development effort
continues on that title. Due to the online concerns passed on to me
recently, I see there's a need to make A
tari's official position clear
with regard to its current status.
Since the development effort began on "Fight for Life," Francois
Bertrand and the "Fight for Life" team have seen significant progress
in the development tools and the capabilities of the Jaguar machine.
What was underestimated was the development time and effort necessary
to take advantage of the machine's capability. In our most recent
evaluation of "Fight For Life," we were concerned that the game (in its
current stage) did not exploit the capabilities of the Jaguar, nor
would it deliver to the gamer the quality or depth of game play
expected from the Jaguar 64 system. For this reason, newer development
efforts are being explored, including the evaluation of new software
engines to enhance the speed, smoothness and graphics handling of the
Jaguar 64.
I personally wish to assure you that every step will be taken to
provide a game that meets your expectations and shows off the strength
and capability of the system. Most of all, I insist that each game
provides hours and hours of fun and challenging game play. I am
demanding these principals to be maintained on all games from Atari;
not only on "Fight for Life." If we change schedules, it will be for
good reason; namely to meet high standards of graphics appeal and
incorporate the "fun factor" for which Atari products are so well
known.
Francois wants to add...
"Due to the acquisition and implementation of new
resources, my 'Fight For Life' team has been inspired
to enhance 'Fight For Life' in the areas of graphics
and animation. We are really excited with the changes
we have made so far. The enhancements will well be
worth the wait."
I know the online community has hung in there with us! Thank you. You
are our loyal user base and we are determined not to disappoint you.
For those of you interested, Jaguar CD-ROM will ship August 24, 1995
and should be available throughout our retail distribution base by the
last week of August and early September; depending on how different
stores have set up distribution.
If you are not presently a Jaguar gamer and wish to own the power of
the 64-bit Jaguar, please call Atari Corporation at 1-800-GO-ATARI and
we will help locate a retailer near you. For about $150.00 each (system
or CD-ROM), you can't beat it. We will continue to monitor your
comments and feedback regarding our products... both positive and
negative. I'm hoping that we can continue to be open and constructive.
We have a big job ahead of us; your input continues to be important
and your loyalty and interest are greatly appreciated.
--Ted Hoff (July 21, 1995)
=========================================================
Open Letter from to Mr. Ted Hoff and Francois Bertrand:
Thank you for your press release. It shows courtesy and
respect for your user base and provides encouragement to
me that Atari is really trying to be the best it can be.
Thanks again,
David Fairweather
=========================================================
To: 75300.1267@compuserve.com
From: Naina Jahangir <naina@technet.sg>
Subject: 1st sighting of Intelligent Lifeforms at Atari?
I don't know about you guys, I was extremely happy after
reading Ted Hoff's recent letter to the on-line community
reassuring us about the FFL. I think finally, someone
with a modicum of clue is at the helm of Atari. His well
reasoned decision to completely re-write FFL from scratch
makes perfect sense. If this is the kind of hard-nosed
business decisions that Atari is going to make from now
on, then Atari has a very real chance at success with the
Jaguar64.
PsiberAktiv
=========================================================
Don,
Ted is a great addition to the Atari Corporation I see.
I like his style, and he also talks English I understand.
Does Mr. Hoff have an online mailbox for suggestions (not
a bad idea for Atari to do)? If not, tell him;
Dear Mr. Ted Hoff
I think you're doing a good job. Usually new execs
aren't noticed very well, but the online community has
recognized you, Mr Hoff, as the person to make the
Jaguar a high-quality system. I see Atari is focusing
not only on graphics, but on "fun factor" (which I'm
sure also means good control). Most newer games on
other 16 and 32 bit platforms provide extraordinary
graphics, but poor gameplay and a short "life" game.
Online (on CompuServe), there were multiple comments on
you style of talking in the Activison/Atari press
release. They thought, and I do to, that you made it
stick to the competitions minds. And, they noticed you
saying "Jaguar 64", instead of just "Jaguar". Many
online think that this is very good, by actually
showing that the Jaguar is a 64 bit system and this is
what is happening with it. I'm glad to see that the
Jaguar CD is coming on August 24. Although I probably
won't pick one up until the holiday season (I'm 15, and
my parents get us big-ticket items at Christmas. When
it comes to birthdays, tho, they're to cheap!) I am
happy to see it (finally) come out. I'm sure this won't
be another Sega CD!
Warmest Regards,
Jeffrey Norwood
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief -- The Jaguar Journal
=========================================================
Date: Sat, 22 July 1995 09:59:43 -0400
From: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
To: 75300.1267@compuserve.com
Subject: Re: FFL UPDATE
Hi Don,
I have to tell you, I am really impressed by Ted Hoff's
message to the online community. I am REALLY impressed.
And you know how hard it is to impress me! :)
His message is open and honest with Atari's customers.
He also addresses the online community as if they are
intelligent. He stated truth that the game is being
delayed (as everyone knows anyway), but he assured
everyone that it is being delayed to make the game
better. I have to tell you that a lot of people thought
that Atari would just rush the game out to get it out no
matter if it was good or not. And we both know that when
this happens, there are a lot of unpurchased Checkered
Flag games taking up space on retail shelves.
Mr. Hoff's message also gives people an indication of
what kind of leader he is. He has that common-sense
attitude that (as an Atari supporter) you hope to God
that he has. He also has the no-nonsense attitude that
this is the way it is going to be. And finally, he also
appears to have the attitude of there being no compromise
when it means hurting the future of Atari Corporation.
And the releasing of poor quality games does hurt the
future of Atari.
After reading his message, I left with the feeling that
I'm glad this guy is in there. I hope to see good things
result because of it.
Len
=========================================================
FR: Larry Tipton 74127,601
TO: Don Thomas 75300,1267
DA: July 22, 1995
SV: CompuServe
Don,
Please let Mr. Hoff know that I am pleased that he came
forward to clear up the "FFL" matter once and for all.
No smoke and mirrors! Ted seems to be a
tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy. I like that.
-lt
=========================================================
FR: Dana Jacobson 71051,3327
TO: Don Thomas 75300,1267
DA: July 22, 1995
SV: CompuServe
Don,
I'm glad that Ted came out with an official statement in
this regard, as well. I also applaud the decision to
avoid the risk of releasing a game that just might not be
up to snuff with regard to "fun factor" and other things
that might cause undue negative reactions.
Dana @ STReport International Online Magazine
=========================================================
FR: Bob Retelle 76702,1466
TO: Don Thomas 75300,1267
DA: July 22, 1995
SV: CompuServe
Don,
Please pass on our thanks to Ted too, for the official
statement about FFL..
That's probably the best way to make sure the real story
gets out, and keeps all the wild rumors from spreading.
BobR
=========================================================
To: 75300.1267@compuserve.com
From: MRSALOANE@delphi.com
Subject: Re:Ted Hoff...Whoaaa, now someone is listening.
I too felt really good about this Ted Hoff guy's post. At
least now we know that someone is at least listening.
Before, it was like Atari had the Heavy Duty AC/DC Ear
Plugs stuffed into its ears.
Actually I think that Atari should have kept their ear to
ground all along. Having someone check on the Jaguar
List, while not really a scientific sampling of
demographics etc., at least gives them some kind of real
first person feedback on how their games are and what the
public opinion is.
Sure maybe they have there focus groups and they have
their sales reports, but it is listening to the real
gameowners, players, and buyers' opinions comments, and
suggestions that will really get Atari moving and the
internet with its email and newsgroups, is a very
convenient and rapid form of communication for those who
have the access.
Sales figures only tell you whether something is wrong or
good, not why it is such; which is the only way to either
solve the problem or continue to please the consumers.
I appreciate that Atari is listening in on the Jaguar
mailing list. I also appreciate that Ted Hoff thought it
important enough to take the time to respond to our
concerns. If this is what we can expect from the new Atari
management, I say thank God.
Sincerely,
Daniel Marsalone
=========================================================
To: 75300.1267@compuserve.com
From: Frans Keylard <fkeylard@on-ramp.ior.com>
Subject: More positive Ted Hoff stuff
Everywhere I look there's very positive reactions to Ted
Hoff's statement. Heck, even the stocks went up! :) Ok,
ok, so there might be no connection...
Here's another:
Wow! This new guy actually cares enough about us
'netters to keep us informed. I'm very impressed so
far. Of all companies that make systems, none have
been too obliging in letting the 'net' know information
before the magazines have already published the info.
This is one very nice exception.
Seeya,
Davey <dhaupert@gae.nett>
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Here's another great comment regarding Super Burnout!
Date: Sat, 22 July 1995 21:09:40 -0400
From: BradyT1534@aol.com
Message-Id: <950722210938_120777117@aol.com>
To: Atari@genie.geis.com
Subject: Super Burnout
Wow! Just got the game today and I must say I enjoy it
more than Tempest 2000 and I generally don't like racing
games! It actually feels real. The trees pass you by so
fast and the frame rate is so good! This is one of the
better games I have played.
Great job on Super Burnout! Could there possibly be a
sequel?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Here are some new images just placed into the libraries of CompuServe,
GEnie and CATscan [209/239-1552]. By the way, these and other images
are also being placed in to numerous other sources as well such as
Delphi, where you'll find Andy Eddy and a great bunch of Jaguar gamers.
STRAMIEL.JPG --+-- JPEG file of Mr. Sam Tramiel
""""""""""""
JPEG of Mr. Sam Tramiel, Chief Executive Officer, of
Atari Corporation. Scanned from a recent publicity photo
taken in front of Atari headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA.
Atari is the U.S. manufacturer of the 64-bit Jaguar
gaming system which sells for about $150. Image may be
re-posted in areas public access areas complimentary to
Atari. (c)1995 Atari Corporation. Image scanned and
uploaded by Don Thomas.
ALIGUORI.JPG --+-- JPEG file of Mr. August Liguori
JPEG of Mr. August (Augie) Liguori, Vice President
Finance and Chief Finance Officer, of Atari Corporation.
BELTRAMO.JPG --+-- JPEG file of Mr. Ron Beltramo
JPEG of Mr. Ron Beltramo, Vice President Marketing, of
Atari Corporation.
JCORRELL.JPG --+-- JPEG file of Mr. Jon Correll
JPEG of Mr. Jon Correll, Vice President Software Product
Development, of Atari Corporation.
WMCJPLYR.JPG --+-- JPEG file cartoon for WMCJ
"White Men Can't Jump" is an exciting new basketball game
coming to the Atari Jaguar. Here's a cool looking player
I found on the sell sheet for the game. The actual
players in the game look like real people; not cartoons,
but this can serve as a great image for Web Pages! Image
may be re-posted in areas public access areas
complimentary to Atari. (c)1995 Atari Corporation. Image
scanned and uploaded by Don Thomas.
I have just received clearance to grab five (5) "Ultra Vortek" screen
shots and box copy. Look for these files within the next few days on
CATscan, GEnie, CompuServe, Delphi and, well, all over! <g> Ultra
Vortek will be in stores by mid-September and sell for $69.99.
ULTRA VORTEK - box copy
product shipping to stores in Sept. '95... $69.99 MSRP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prepare Yourself for the Final Test
Mankind must prove that it is worthy of the powers of the
Ultra Vortek--the eternal energy source for all life on
Earth. Failure to meet this challenge will result in the
Earth's destruction. Seven of the planet's mightiest
warriors have been chosen to pit strength and cunning
against the Guardian for complete control of the Ultra
Vortek. Who will prevail? The fate of mankind is in your
hands...
ULTRACOV.JPG - JPEG image of Ultra Vortek screen shot
""""""""""""
Prepare Yourself for the Final Test! (25,059 JPG file)
Mankind must prove that it is worthy of the powers of the
Ultra Vortek--the eternal energy source for all life on
Earth. Failure to meet this challenge will result in the
Earth's destruction. Image (c)1995 Atari Corporation. May
be re-posted in other areas complimentary to Atari. Ultra
Vortek is coming September 1995. $69.99 MSRP. File
uploaded by Don Thomas.
ULTRA_V1.JPG - JPEG image of Ultra Vortek screen shot
Prepare Yourself for the Final Test! (22,435 JPG file)
ULTRA_V2.JPG - JPEG image of Ultra Vortek screen shot
Prepare Yourself for the Final Test! (22,377 JPG file)
ULTRA_V3.JPG - JPEG image of Ultra Vortek screen shot
Prepare Yourself for the Final Test! (18,833 JPG file)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport and Atari Explorer Online (AEO) will be featuring ways to win
a signed copy of the new Jaguar Strategy Guide published by Sandwich
Islands Publishing. Look in upcoming issues for details. Travis promises
an exclusive look at the Virtual Light Machine (VLM) in his next AEO
issue.
CATnips... Jaguar Tidbits from Don Thomas (95.07.27)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Hi there, ho there, hey there...
Here's some great events coming up... (fast!) These people have put a lot
of work into their events. PLEASE help get
onliners involved! Spread the word!
-+-------------------------------------------------------+-
Jaguar Giveaway! Win at the Mid-Indiana MIST AtariFest
Indianapolis, Saturday, July 29
10 am Indiana & Illinois Time (11am EDT)
MIST's No. 1 Door Prize:
-- Jaguar Donated by Atari Corp. (with Cybermorph)
Valued at $200!
CatBox Bonanza -- See ICD's "Jaguar Jet-scape" and three
or more Jags in demo play!
Plus FIVE (* 5 *!) More Jag Games for a Silent Auction:
Atari-Donated: Doom, Alien v. Predator, Tempest 2000,
Iron Soldier, and Hover Strike. Retail as high as $70!
Admission Tickets Still $3
Best Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel
-----------------------------------
on U.S. 136 (Interstate 465 at Speedway Exit)
Double the space is available and we expect
To fill both hotel ballrooms.
Table space is all but sold out,
Phone NOW if you want space!
Charlie Sears at 317.535.4829
Stu Huffman at 812.988.7558
VENDORS: Toad Computers, Gribnif (Geneva/NeoDesk),
ICD (CatBox), It's All Relative (CD-ROMs and
more), Branch Always (GEMulator), Clear Thinking
(EditPlus) chroMAGIC, Crawly Crypt, Missionware
(Flash II and more), MTS Creations, SKWare One
(Seurat), Mars Merchandising, Systems for
Tomorrow, Bare Bones, Computer Dungeon and Homa
Systems of Canada.
(And yes, Dorothy Brumleve will be there to schmooze and browse but leave
kid.prg sales to Toad.)
USER GROUPS: LCACE. T.H.E., CUSTUG, SCAT, WACO, EAUG and
ACORN as well as the hosts -- BL.A.ST of
Bloomington, ASCII of Indianapolis, and PAUG
of Purdue/Lafayette.
-+-------------------------------------------------------+-
-----------------------------------------------------------
prodigy mail: Personal Message 07/26/1995
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: LARRY MAHLER (USNR41D)
Subject: SUPER BURNOUT
Sent On: 07/27 12:19 AM PM ET
Don,
Just a brief note to tell you that I appreciate your
updates on the Jag and game releases. In spite of what I
have read from others you seem to be up front and on target when asked a
question.
I just picked up Super Burnout yesterday and really enjoy it.
Graphics/controls/and overall game layout is great.
Picked up pinball fantasies a few weeks ago and can't stop playing it. My
friends think it's a great game as well.
I've had my Jag from the initial release and although I am also
frustrated with the rate of new game release I still have faith in Atari
and the Jag.
Thanks for the updates!
Larry Mahler
_______________________________________________
> Yak's Zoo - Update! STR InfoFile! - Jeff Minter and D2K Update!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Thanks to CompuServe member Chris Russo for the Internet re-post!
Here is the latest from Yak's WWW page on the Internet.
July 23rd update, Yak writes:
"Well, it's been an interesting few weeks. Yak has been hosed with
data on a variety of different fronts. The brain hurts from the
grokking of it all.
The new graphic artists are not only in place but churning out
excellent bitmaps at a high rate. There is now a complete background
level with all parallax layers running, and the Jag is handling a full
game happening over the top without shredding the OLP - this is a Good
Thing. Much more structural stuff has been overlaid on 2K mode - we
now have waves that have a beginning and an ending, player ship
collision and explosions, enemy shots, and all kinds of good stuff
which makes it more of a game and less of a demo of 2K graphic
elements.. I'm getting more graphics from the new guys than I know
what to do with, never mind where to put in my ROM image.. but that's
normal at this stage, don't worry. We should have audio happening in
the next few days too. Last couple of days, between the artists and
the musicians, Yak has been hosed all over again. I am awash in data
and running out of hard disk space.. but there's a Pentium with a
bottomless hard disk on the horizon, so it's not gonna stop me.
I've also implemented a couple of bonus/Easter Egg games - working
titles 'Pong On Acid' and 'Gridrunner 4 July Mix' - which are kinda
fun.. re-did all the game select/intro screens to my exacting standards
of digital pulchritude.. hoping to have the first 5-10 levels more or
less running within the next week. Once they're in I should be into
tweaking of the gameplay to make it excellent - it's pretty good so
far, but acceleration is not quite correctly balanced at the moment.
Then, once the gameplay is balanced, it should be a simple case of
jamming on new graphics, levels and weapons until I run out of ROM...
More as it happens. Now I have my web page at a better site I hope to
be able to update it more frequently..
\
(:-) - Mama do you think they'll like this song...
/
Fm: Darryl (Atari Europe) 75162,2024
To: Dominick J. Fontana 74766,2154
To prove we have a sense of humour, I thought you guys might like to
have some fun with this at my expense.
Darryl Still and his wife have announced that their first child has
officially entered production. It is believed that the development will
produce only one unit, but the Still's are not aware whether the
product will be released before Christmas or even this year!
Regards
Darryl
_____________________________________
> NEW Contest!! STR FOCUS!
""""""""""""""""""""""""
-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/
* *
J The STReport "Win A Signed Copy of: J
A The official Jaguar Gamer's Guide" Contest!! A
G Published by Sandwich Islands Publishing G
* *
J ____ ____ ___ ____ ___ __ / J
A / / / / ` / / / / / / / ` / A
G / /---/ / __ /___/ / / / /__ / / G
* \ / / / / / / \\\ / / / / / / *
J \/ / / /___/ / \\\ /___/ /___ /___ \__/ * J
A \\\ A
G \\\ G
* *
-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/
In case you're unaware of it, the official Jaguar Gamer's Guide
published by Sandwich Islands Publishing and written by the popular
authors: Zach Meston and J. Douglas Arnold is shipping now! Preorders
should already be fulfilled and store copies should be arriving wherever
popular game books are sold. This book ordinarily retails for $18.95.
If you've been putting off getting your copy, here's a chance to win one!
The guide includes special features such as gaming tips from Atari's
own gaming masters. It has exclusive maps, helpful tips and innovative
strategies.
If you want in-depth play-by-play action coverage including strategies
and tips found no where else on almost 20 of the Jaguar's hottest games,
you must have this book.
As an avid STReport and Jaguar fan, we're sure that you've been keeping
abreast of the Jaguar news and information as it happens. You _have_
been reading, right? Well, we want to find out just how attentive you
are; and we're willing to reward you for your concentration!
What do you have to do? That's easy! All that you have to do is read
this week's issue of STReport and answer the simple question that's
included in this Contest article. And, to make it even easier, the
answer can be found in this very same issue!
Once you have the answer, just send it along to STReport via E-mail to
any of the following addresses:
dpj@delphi.com
71051.3327@compuserve.com
d.jacobson2@genie.geis.com
OR
Dana Jacobson at Toad Hall BBS (617-567-8642) or CATscan BBS
(209-239-1552)
All entries must be received via E-mail only (you don't want to give
the answer away, do you?!) <g>
The winner be selected randomly from all correct entries.
All entries must be received by midnight, August 2, 1995.
THE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN STREPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE, IN THE ISSUE
SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1995.
2nd Chance to WIN!!
Do you sometimes feel that you never win contests? Well, we're going
to give you another opportunity to win! To be eligible to win our
second contest for a second book, in _next_ week's contest, just sign
up for STReport's Internet mailing service. This mail service means
that STReport will be mailed to you each week, automatically. Just
check your mailbox (Internet address or online service E-mail) every
Friday night and the new week's issue will be waiting for you - no more
waiting for STReport to be posted on your favorite BBS or ftp site!
Please note: the second contest will _only_ be open to those STReport
readers who are current STReport mail subscribers (signed-up as of
August 9)! Also, the second contest _starts_ on Saturday, August 5, 1995
and ends at midnight, August 9, 1995. Do _not_ send entries for the
second contest until you read the details for it in next week's issue!!
The first contest is open to _all_ qualified readers, noting eligibility
requirement below. To subscribe to the STReport, drop us a message at
any of the above online addresses.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
-/- The contest question: What is the scheduled release date for -/-
-/- the JaguarCD? Answers must include the month and day. -/-
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Employees of Atari Corporation and staff members of STReport or
Amiga Report are not eligible to win. This contest is void where
prohibited by law.
Credits: STReport and its staff would like to thank Sandwich Island
Publishing and Atari Corporation for its generous donation of the books.
==========
Tradenames herein are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their owning companies.
Permission hereby granted to re-post this contest text, in its entirety,
anywhere that you feel it would be appropriate - your favorite BBS,
user group newsletter, magazine, etc. Please spread the word!
________________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by
Joe Mirando
CIS ID: 73637,2262
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Boy, I lucked out this week... Imagine,
hotter than average temperatures, and the highest humidity on record and,
lucky me, I'm on vacation. While it's just to darned hot to do anything
active on my vacation (which kind of takes the fun out of vacation,
doesn't it?), I'd probably have gotten heat stroke if I had been at work.
True, I'm not _quite_ as bad off as the folks in Chicago, but it's bad
enough for me. Smog warnings (in Connecticut??), thunderstorm
advisories, power brown-outs, and all manner of nasty things make
me quite happy to be on vacation this week. As it is, the most active
thing I can manage is to log onto CompuServe to catch up on all the
"cool" stuff that's going on.
Y'know, I have to laugh whenever I hear one of these nouveau cyber-jocks
bragging about downloading files, e-mailing, and chatting over their
computer. Heck, lots of folks have been doing that since CompuServe
went into business all those years ago. Since then, lots of others have
decided that they'd try to make a buck doing the same thing. Not that
there's anything wrong in making a buck... heck, we're _all_ trying to
do that.
It's the _way_ that some of these folks have done it that catches my
attention. Some decided that they'd make a buck by using their existing
computers in their "slow" time, some decided to show "commercials" down
at the bottom of the screen to make a buck, and then have their special
software "peek" at things on your hard drive to see what interested you
(not a malicious attempt at invasion of privacy, but an invasion of
privacy none-the-less), and _make_ you use their software to access
their service. I have no problem with dedicated programs, but I see no
need to require a person to use them... especially since, if you use
more than one online service as I do, the necessary programs could add
up to many megabytes of storage space. And should you be esthetically
opposed to DOS and Intel, and... shall we say, too economically
challenged to afford a Mac, you're just plain out of luck with those
dedicated programs. If you don't believe me, just place a call to
Prodigy or America Online and ask for an Atari ST, Amiga, or any other
"orphan" computer version of their software. Just hold the phone away
from your ear because these folks tend to laugh pretty loud when they
hear that question. Heck, they feel like martyrs because they even offer
a Mac version. Well, I've got news for them, I can do the things I need
to do, the things I want to do, faster and more efficiently on my own
using a "generic" terminal program. And I don't end up paying for their
control codes that cause all those pretty little graphics that clutter up
the monitor and do absolutely nothing to enhance the posts I read, or the
programs I down load.
I'm sure that some folks prefer the glitzy screens and option boxes, and
for them, sure, they should have these programs available to them. But I
don't think that it should be mandatory.
Well, let's get on with the reason for this column (and no, it's not
simply a place for me to rant and rave... I can do that anywhere <grin>).
From the Atari Computing Forums
===============================
Rob Rasmussen tells us about capturing video on his Falcon:
"I ended up getting VideoMaster for the Falcon. It came with a free
copy of True Paint (which I already have!). When I save a still
picture, it saves it in True Paint format. I am enjoying using this
program. My video camera's hooked to my VCR which is hooked to the VM
cartridge. When I aim the camera at something, the action appears
on the screen. Details are not well defined though, and a person can
look like a cartoon in black and white. It looks kind of surreal,
I've seen used in some music videos. It also records sound and I have
synced up audio to a video clip to make several little "films." With
audio and video, it does eat up a lot of memory, stored in the buffer
that you define separately for video & audio. It saves films as .FLM
files, and I hope to find out if I can convert this to something that
an IBM PC can view. Anyone know how I can do this? It has other
things like a sequencer for stringing video clips. I also got
ColorMaster add-on board for color stills. I hope to get into that in
the next few days."
Now THAT sounds like fun, doesn't it? It makes me wish I could afford
all that cool stuff. Meanwhile, Mike Myers posts:
"I've been browsing the library, and I find what seems to be three or
4 programs to use in the Internet facilities. However, I don't know
which is best for a "newbie". Recommendations?"
Daniel Osborne tells Mike:
"For just browsing around the Internet for files to lownload, NOS ver
0.42 works great. It is command line driven and you can run it from
your GEM/TOS desktop.
For viewing WWW sites for text and graphics, the TAF(Chimera) works,
but requries to install the 7 disks on a Minit XF partition and some
working knowledge of Unix commands. While I have been able to get it
to work, others are no so successful. It can also do FTP file
transfers.
The only other one I know of, is DuFTP, which I am working on to try
and get functionaly working. It also allows FTP site downloands, but
has a GEM window interface, but also requires the installation of
Mint-Net on your system.
I would suggest to start off with the NOS 0.42 and work from there."
Nic Garton asks:
"Having retrieved my trusty ST 520 from the attic, and brushed of the
cobwebs, I find I need to load a tos program automatically at switch
on. I remember something about a startup.inf file, but it's all
a bit hazy. Can someone explain to me (in lots of detail) how to get
a .tos file to boot automatically?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Nic:
"You place the file into the AUTO folder and it will boot/run
automatically."
Nic replies:
"Simple as that... Thanks. What was I thinking about with the
startup.inf file, or is that complete rubbish?"
Michel Vanhamme takes a stab at it:
"Maybe you were thinking of a utility like Startgem, which was used
on old machines to automatically start a GEM program? That one used a
STARTGEM.INF file."
It could also be that he was thinking of the DESKTOP.INF file... one
garbled DESKTOP.INF file, and you'll have nightmares about them for a
while.
Simon Churchill tells us about his new monitor:
"I just got a multi-frequency monitor today, does all ST modes. Out
goes the old B&W TV so been playing for the last few hour's in
gloriouse colour and mono, it's bliss on the eye's!!"
Jon Sanford tells Simon:
"I got a ATARI color monitor with my MegaSte but stubbornly use the
SM124. got to get a switch box & bigger desk so i have room for all
this C**P.
I am getting back into my old electronic stuff. Transistors, Vacuum
Tubes, piles of broken consumer electronics & surplus scrounged. My
plan is to find a cheaper hobby. I still like the computer stuff
but the upgrade path is getting steep."
Martin Weber-Casper posts:
"Hello everyone, greetings from Amsterdam!
I am using ST for Music/MIDI for years. It's great.
Now I am wondering if it's possible to connect an SLM804 to my new PC
(386 running Win 3.11)."
John Trautschold of MissionWare Software tells Martin:
"Sorry..as far as I know it can't be done. Atari laser printers all
work off the Atari DMA port. There's no such beast for a PC. Plus the
SLM printers depend on memory and computing power in the Atari
computer itself. You might consider the SLM a "dumb" printer, which
is why the cost, back when they first came out, was much lower than
other "standard" laser printers.
You'll need to purchase something else for your PC."
In the Portfolio section of the Palmtop Forum, Paul Shears poses a
question about using Atari's FT program for transfer to a PC:
"I am connecting the cable [ which I am 99.9% sure is a 25 pin
straight thru cable ] to the port into which my printer goes. I dont
seem to have anywhere else to fit it to, The other ports are 2 serial
[
8 pin ] and mouse and joystick.
I am using the FT.COM software and am wondering what the procedure is
when I have connected the Portfolio to the Pc, Do I press File
Transfer on the PC software and File Recieve on the Portfolio or Just
on the Pc and not on the Portfolio etc etc.
I have only had the Portfolio a few weeks [bought it second hand]
and seems to be difficult finding people who know much about
it in my neck of the woods [Leeds - England], which is quite a shame
really considering the machines qualities, Its easy to see where
Psion got their ideas from, and a shame that Atari don't push their
products any further than they do."
Andrew Hosler tells Paul:
"Hopefully I can help with your problem. Hook up the cable to your
computer. Select setup on the portfolio, then file transfer, then
server. This lets FT.COM do the work . Then you just use Recieve or
Transmit to send your files. It's not a bad idea to set up a file on
your PC for downloads, uploads etc. I use FT.COM with Portman(in the
library). Portman sets up text files for use on the portfolio.
Another excellent program is Portbook. This is a windows program for
adr. files. Good luck with your portfolio! If you have any questions
drop us a line."
In the Atari Gaming Forum, Julie Lagan asks:
"My son has my old ST and got a hold of a game called Alternate
Reality some years ago. At that time sequels were to come out called
Arena and Wilderness. Does anyone know if those disks were ever made
and if they were does anyone have them for sale???"
Sysop Bob Retelle tells Julie:
"Unfortunately the Alternate Reality series was never finished.
It was more of a "political" thing than any technical problems, but
only two of the parts of the game were ever released. The original,
which your son probably has is "Alternate Reality - The City".
The only other "module" in the game that was finished was "Alternate
Reality - The Dungeon".
I never did play the second one, although I really enjoyed the first
game.
Probably the best thing to do is ask here, and on any local BBSs that
still have Atari sections, to see if anyone has a copy they'd like to
sell."
Julie tells Bob:
"Thanks... My son will not give up that st machine because of that
program..He is now 27 and has been playing that game off and on since
it came out. I will do as you suggested and see if I can pick up the
other module.
BTW are they making any programs for the ST? He actually used that
machine through college with the Word Writer program..people kept
calling him "cave man" but that didn't seem to deter him."
Bob replies:
"Unfortunately software development for the ST has become very, very
slow... there are still a few excellent products being supported,
but it's nothing like the "good old days".
Has your son played "Dungeon Master" on his ST..? That was one of
the most popular games on the ST, and at one time even hit the #1
spot for ALL computer games..!
Every now and then I see one for sale.. it's a classic..!"
Julie tells Bob:
"I will check with him and see. If he hasn't maybe I can locate one
for him. I can't believe this kid is so hooked on Alternate
Reality.. The kid seems normal otherwise!!"
From the Graphics Support Forum
===============================
Remember a while back when Unisys announced that they would begin
enforcing their patent on LZW compression, the form of compression used
in all GIF picture files? Well, the talk still rages on. Gini Schmitz
posts her theory on Unisys:
"I think they probably deliberately waited until all the programmers
were GIF-dependent, so they could spring their surprise, and force
people to pay.
Why aren't people YELLING their heads off about the giant software
companies' practices? People are always trying to be "nice" which
actually makes them sheep. I am so furious about paying $25 per call
for technical support for very expensive (and buggy software), but
the giants think they have the people by the throats. If only a few
people YELL, it won't make much difference. With CompuServe and the
Internet, people can YELL all over the world, and soon the giant will
get scared. Remember David and Goliath. It can be done."
Rollie Jones tells Gini:
"I wonder if yelling like that will have much effect on Unisys. Their
existance is (or at least was) dependant on government contracts for
their mainframes. They have yet to develope more than a clue as to
what is going on in the rest of the country. The idea of Shareware
and Freeware seemed to baffle them thoroughly when, in fact, the
developement community yelled rather vehemently about their original
royalty offers.
As to the $25 tech support call, the best way we can yell about this
is to discontinue buying from companies that do this. Let me guess,
it has to do with tech support on a 900 number. I would venture Hold
is a popular button in that situation. So, if they charge for tech
support and particularly if the support doesn't help or they leave
you hanging while the bill racks up, don't buy their product
anymore."
Ray McVay adds:
"Actually, Unisys will realize very little out of the GIF/TIFF
debacle. In fact I bet it's costing them money. In a relatively
short time everyone will move their GIF and LZW TIFF dependences to
PNG and Unisys will be out of the picture. Still it's a good example
of the problem with software patents in general."
Gini asks about PNG:
"PNG is new to me. Is it a royalty-free compression method? Is it
unpatented? Are we sure of that? Maybe Unisys was not as "dumb"
about shareware as they acted. Maybe they did it because the big
companies can pay, and they knew the small shareware companies can't.
I think I keep seeing a trend to put all the small guys out of
business, so the big ones can have all the pie."
Howard Thue tells Gini:
"The entire system of Patents and cross licensing is designed to
drive innovative small business to the point they are either set up
for acquisition or put them out of business.
PNG is royalty free and great effort by the developers and Compuserve
has been put forth to make sure the GIF/LZW situation shall never
raise its ugly head with it."
Steve Rimmer adds his own thoughts on Unisys:
"I don't think there's any question that Unisys deliberately
entrapped developers into using LZW. We did a fair bit of yelling
about this... got a patent lawyer involved and all... but Unisys
didn't want to listen. We're about to yell to other quarters and see
if they catch the echos. I'm of the opinion that we might not be able
to talk them out of ripping us off for royalties, but we can cost
them more than they cost us. I figure that if I can talk someone out
of buying one mid-size Unisys banking terminal system, I can set
Unisys back many times more than all the royalties they'll collect
from us over the life of their patent.
Of course, one of the ironies in yelling about the LZW situation over
CompuServe is that CompuServe is almost as responsible for it as
Unisys is. It was, after all, CompuServe who initially granted a
royalty-free license to GIF to all developers who wanted it, having
failed to do a patent search first by the looks of things, and then
left all those developers to twist in the wind when Unisys appeared
with its patent.
I agree with your yell about big software companies. We've had... and
actually, are in the midst of having... similar experiences. The
problem, of course, is that in order to make the prices of their
products look competitive, the big companies cut out all the support
costs & added them back in after you buy the stuff. Then, in order to
get their stuff to market faster they didn't beta test it very well,
making it a near certainty that you'll need support.
I really enjoyed your messages about yelling at that company who
ripped off your graphics and actually getting somewhere, in a way, it
makes up for some of the bad experiences we've had with Microsoft and
Borland and IBM... and of course, Unisys... and had them respond with
music on hold."
Gini asks Steve...
"...a few questions. The principle party involved in ripping me off
lives in Canada. He comes down here to California for chemotherapy (I
don't feel sorry for him, because I am disabled too, and he knew it)
and to do business the X company--whom I have not yet publicly named.
X company tells me this man in not an employee of the company, and
that he told them that he had paid me for the designs.
I know there are international copyright laws. How can I get more
information about these laws, before I contact an attorney? I want to
go for the guy's throat. I was lied to and treated most shabbily, and
I want to go for his throat.
Also, I think it is time for all of us small guys to unite in a very
massive campaign to stop the major companies from taking over the
world--literally!! If the present trend continues, we will all be
slaves to a few companies. I fear for my children and grandchildren.
As far as CompuServe goes, I have had some dealings with them; and I
feel they are much better than most. They themselves are now
threatened by a giant engulfing them."
Steve tells Gini:
"I'm not an authority on international copyright law... I just feel
like I've paid for enough lawyers of late that I ought to be. I can
tell you what I think I know, but it's all very unofficial, and only
somewhat likely to be correct. You really need to speak to an
attourney for advice you can do something with.
Yo, everyone else... feel free to jump in if you know more about this
than I do.
First off, as I understand it, most of the civilized world is
signatory to the Berne copyright convention, which allows that
copyright is effectively international. If you copyright something in
California, that copyright pertains to someone in Canada... whether
or not they need chemotherapy.
It's my further understanding that copyright exists on any
intellectual property from the first date you can prove it existed.
As such, if I publish a book, it's copyrighted the date it was
published. It's your responsibility to announce that it is a
copyrighted entity by affixing the little (c) symbol, the word
"copyright", the date and the party it's copyright by.
This last bit is so you can't dull what Unisys pulled, of course... a
submarine copyright, by letting people think something isn't a
copyrighted entity 'til they're using it. Under copyright law, you
have to tell everyone it's copyrighted before it's protected.
If it gets to court, of course, you'd have to prove that your
copyrighted entity really did exist at the time you say, and so on.
All our copyright stuff is handled by our lawyers, and to tell you
the truth I have no idea what they do.
I love the idea of uniting to stand against the tide of massive
corporations... it seems to me that with all this connectivity we
should be able to do something about that. I'm not sure I'd know
where to begin, mind...
I'd agree that CompuServe is better than some... they don't censor
e-mail like America OnLine, for example. They went down a few fathoms
in my estimation when they ducked and ran over the GIF issue. On the
whole, I hope Microsoft doesn't succeed in its Microsoft Network
plans for all sorts of reasons -- although if fighting them off costs
CompuServe a few hundred thou I'll probably feel better about what
we've had to spend to defend ourselves against Unisys."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
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STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
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> A "Quotable Quote" A true "Sign of the Times"
""""""""""""""""" In this Day & Age....
Begging RED CHINA to FREE...
HARRY WU
A true, free spirit and lover of all mankind's freedoms.
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STReport International OnLine Magazine
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STR OnLine! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 28, 1995
Since 1987 copyright 1995 All Rights Reserved No. 1130
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