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Silicon Times Report Issue 1217
Silicon Times Report
The Original Independent OnLine Magazine"
(Since 1987)
April 26, 1996 No. 1217
Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine
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STR Electronic Publishing Inc.
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R.F. Mariano, Editor
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04/26/96 STR 1217 The Original Independent OnLine Magazine!
- CPU Industry Report - Disney & HP - Corel WPerfect
- CanoScan News - Free EMail - Mitnick Guilty Plea
- 100 Million Mice - NAB Report - Micrografx News
- People Talking - Defender 2k - FFL Ships
Cheyenne Sues McAfee, Larson
Apple to Offer Windows Products
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Editors
Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35
Results: 4/13/96: 3 of 6 numbers with 2 matches in 19 plays
From the Editor's Desk...
Spring Comdex promises to be very interesting this year. In as much as
the "take-over" fever that seems to be running like a wildfire through the
computing community making good companies disappear with alarming regularity
is still in vogue. Perhaps.. it is time the users made themselves heard
relative to the grabbing, leaching and ingesting of each other these "money
barons" are so greedily popularizing. What they are doing is atrocious. So
far, how many readers can honestly say they've seen good come from these
"happenings"?? All I see is a purposeful elimination of "the competition".
not an enhancement of choice for the users. A number of victims .er ah.. I
mean acquisitions and mergers immediately come to mind.
ú Take Central Point Software (PC Tools & CP Backup) for example. Where
are they now?? Its a fact they had just about the very best Tape Backup
Software available. It was affordable, reliable and its now ..gone. Thanks
to Symantec inhaling Central Point.
ú Then comes Word Perfect. and all its nuances. It may have had warts but
its the puppy most of us matured using. It has been bounced around like an
old "Pensy Pinkie" Why? So somebody could to do a bux grab?? Sure looks
that way. Now its being re-released by another firm. The sad part is ..its
so far behind the pack (16 bit) it'll more than likely never catch up.
ú Then there is Delrina. Inhaled by a company that really had nothing of
real substance to offer other than a disk formatter and a few copy-cat
utilities. After all, they killed the "gems" they grabbed from CPS. Now its
a fair bet that Delrina's picture will change dramatically in the next year
or so. Its wild!
ú This thing between Cheyenne and McAfee is an outrage. Two fine
upstanding well trusted firms duking it out in public slinging everything but
yesterday's dinner at each other. Why?? Again, for the almighty buck!
Unfortunately it'll, as always, be at the user's ultimate expense.
What ever happened to the good old fashioned premise that you outdid
your competition through sheer excellence in your products and service??
What's with all this "buy `em out and pigeon hole `em" garbage?? Can it be
that Cheyenne's anti virus program is that superior that McAfee simply HAS to
OWN Cheyenne lock stock and barrel by what ever means it has at its
disposal?? What is WRONG with this picture?? Wanna bet if these spectacles
begin to hear from the users, worldwide, about their offensive behavior
things will calm down and get back to reality?
By all means. Let the best man win! Win by domination through superior
product not heavier pocketbook or slicker lawyers. All that's really
happening is the users are being victimized.
I could be wrong, I don't think so. let's hear from you.
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Portable Computers & Entertainment Kid's Computing Corner
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Cheyenne Sues McAfee, Larson
Cheyenne Software Inc. has filed a securities fraud suit against McAfee
Associates Inc. and its chairman, William L. Larson, who was offering a $1
billion takeover bid. As reported, anti-virus software specialist McAfee
announced earlier this week it planned a hostile takeover of storage
management software publisher Cheyenne Software in a stock swap deal that
would create the world's fifth largest software publisher.
In a statement, Cheyenne Chairman ReiJane Huai accuses Larson of making false
and misleading statements about Cheyenne in order to promote McAfee's
takeover bid and influence the trading of Cheyenne stock. The Associated
Press reports Huai alleges McAfee falsely told Cheyenne stockholders that
Huai agreed to a merger and the only discussions left would be about price.
Cheyenne's claim also said McAfee fraudulently stated Cheyenne had put itself
up for sale.
Cheyenne has asked the court to stop McAfee from making such statements and
seeks to reclaim its legal costs and any other damages the court sees it.
Meanwhile, Larson contends the suit, filed in federal court in Delaware, is
meant to divert attention from the merger proposal, saying, "The lawsuit is
a frivolous nitpicking of public statements. We are convinced that our
conduct and statements have been well within the bounds of the law."
He also said several Cheyenne shareholders have filed suit, claiming
Cheyenne's board of directors have breached their fiduciary responsibility.
Apple to Offer Windows Products
In what is being characterized as a bold move to revive its business, Apple
Computer Inc. is set to launch a number of new products offering greater
compatibility with rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems. Dave
Daetz, who oversees Apple's line of Windows-compatible computers, told
Samuel Perry of the Reuter News Service, "Customers can frankly now run more
software on Apple than any other PC. It's really that we're standing out by
fitting in."
Reporting from Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters, Perry says two of
the new computers represent Apple's "most concentrated effort yet to appeal
directly to the market for Windows machines, which outnumber those based on
Apple's Mac operating system by more than 10 to one." These units enable
Apple customers to:
ú Use software written for either an Apple or Windows-compatible systems
at the same time.
ú Switch back and forth between these programs.
Also for the first time, one of the two Power Macintosh PC Compatible
machines will include an Intel Corp. Pentium chip that can run Windows 95,
Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and MS-DOS 1.22 in addition tothe
Mac OS system.
Reuters says prices for these range from $2,599 for a machine with a '586 PC-
compatible card to $2,799 for the Power Mac 7200/120 with a Pentium 100
megahertz card, with availability starting in June. Besides the Power
Macintosh PC Compatibles, Apple also is introducing wide-ranging upgrades of
its Power PC models. Users of other Apple computers also will be offered PC
Compatibility Cards at $799 for the Cyrix 586 100MHz card and $1,049 for the
Pentium card. Both have eight megabytes of random access memory, or RAM. As
Perry notes, the timing of the new models is especially important as Apple
struggles back from a record $740 million quarterly loss announced last
week.
HP to Offer Disney Software
A new color home printer featuring a built-in Disney Interactive CD-ROM and
home-craft software for family entertainment is to be unveiled this week by
Hewlett-Packard Co. United Press International reports from HP's Palo Alto,
California, headquarters that the new printer is part of the DeskJet 680
series, priced starting at $300, and should be available at retail stores
and computer resellers on July 1.
The DeskJet 682C lets users create invitations, greeting cards, coloring
pages and banners with the Disney trademark through the Mickey and Friends
Print Studio CD-ROM, featuring some 200 images of Mickey, Donald, Goofy and
other Disney characters, with a variety of print projects and page layouts.
The printer also comes with software featuring 50 specially designed images
and a craft kit for creating magnets, window art and banners. A media kit is
also included, with greeting card stock, envelopes and banner paper, UPI
says.
Microsoft to Incorporate Java
A new deal with Sun Microsystems Inc. reportedly calls for embedding Java,
Sun's computer language for interactive network computing, into the
operating systems of Microsoft Corp. and its competitors. One of the
companies and industry executives have told The Wall Street Journal that
Microsoft will put Java capability in its best-selling Windows 95 and that
Apple Computer Inc. is considering bundling Java with its Macintosh operating
system. Also, an IBM spokeswoman said the company is in the "planning stages"
of embedding Java in OS/2 and possibly other operating systems.
Reporter Joan E. Rigdon comments in today's Journal that the news is "ironic"
because "until now, Sun has positioned Java as a potential killer of today's
desktop computer operating systems, a market Microsoft dominates with a more
than 80 percent share." Besides that, Microsoft has its own technology --
ActiveX -- that the software giant says does many of the same things Java
does, only better.
Java has gained acclaim as the first major programming language designed to
run on the Internet and other computing networks. "With it," notes Rigdon,
"users can theoretically download bits of programs from the Internet as
needed -- a spelling checker, for instance -- instead of buying today's
hugely popular operating systems and multi-featured applications, such as
word processors. With that in mind, companies including Sun and Oracle Corp.
have announced plans to build network computers that use Java instead of
traditional operating systems."
So far, Sun has aimed Java mostly at makers of Internet Web browsers, who are
adding several new features and are positioning their browsers as
alternatives to conventional operating systems. "But," says the paper, "by
getting companies to embed Java into their operating systems, Sun is
supplying both sides in the war between makers of browsers and operating
systems."
No timetable has been announced, but the Journal says the process of
embedding Java into the operating system is expected to take "at least
several months." Result could change desktop computing in a dramatic way.
"People using a word processor, for instance," Rigdon comments, "could use
Java to go out on the Internet, process data through a spreadsheet and
download the data directly into the word-processor document."
IBM Updates ThinkPad Line
IBM Corp. has updated its ThinkPad notebook PC line with several new models.
The new mid-range ThinkPad 760 series is equipped with Pentium
microprocessors ranging up to 133MHz in speed and PCI support, including PCI-
based video graphics, a PC CardBus and PCI-based docking. Other features
include high-resolution 11.3- and 12.1-inch color displays, 16MB of RAM, a
variety of hard disk capacity choices and numerous standard and optional
multimedia features. System prices start at $3,399.
The line is also compatible with IBM's SelectaDock, a new desktop docking
system that offers a choice of PCI, PC CardBus and ISA expansion
capabilities. IBM has also expanded its entry-level ThinkPad 365 series to
include a choice of Intel 120MHz or 100MHz Pentium microprocessors or IBM's
own 586-class processor. The systems also include a high-resolution 11.3-inch
or 10.4-inch color screen, 8MB of RAM and a choice of hard disk capacities.
Prices start at $1,999.
"The ThinkPad brand has successfully penetrated the mainstream market with
these additions to the 365 and 760 series," says Steve Ward, general manager
of IBM's mobile computing unit. "These announcements offer the ultimate in
mobile capabilities and protect our customers' current investment. Several
new models are designed for fleet buyers and small business owners looking
for reliable and affordable mobile computingsolutions."
Computer Makers Agree on UNIX
Seven major computer makers have agreed to use Santa Cruz Operation Inc.'s
version of the UNIX operating system for server computers based on Intel
Corp. chips. Saying the decision means a fragmented segment of the computer
industry is moving closer together, reporter Don Clark writes in The Wall
Street Journal this morning, "Consequently, programs written for one UNIX
machine often won't run on another, a drawback that has slowed wider adoption
of those computers." Clark notes efforts to unify UNIX have foundered
before, "but competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system has
lent a new sense of urgency."
The Santa Cruz, California, SCO bought Novell Inc.'s UNIX business in
December and reportedly plans to merge that technology with another UNIX
product line SCO has been selling. The Journal says SCO also is working with
Hewlett- Packard Co. on a future version of the technology that will work on
a new line of microchips, known by the code name Merced.
The seven in the new UNIX pact -- Compaq Computer Corp., Data General Corp.,
ICL PLC, NCR Corp., ING. C. Olivetti & Co. SpA, Siemens Nixdorf Information
Systems AG, and Unisys Corp. -- not only plan to use SCO's forthcoming UNIX
product line, but also are contributing cash and engineering resources to
help other software makers make products for the operating system, SCO CEO
Alok Mohan told the paper.
Analyst Philip Johnson of International Data Corp. told Clark the latest
effort seems more promising than past UNIX alliances, though SCO faces major
technical hurdles in combining the two UNIX variants. "SCO also faces
continuing competition from Sun Microsystems Inc., which is also trying to
market a version of UNIX for Intel-based servers,"
Clark observes.
Sypglass Eyes SurfWatch Purchase
Word around Wall Street is Internet software firm Spyglass Inc. will buy
closely held SurfWatch Software Inc., a company that makes software to block
Net users from accessing adult fare on the Net. The Wall Street Journal
reports this morning quotes unidentified executives familiar with the deal
as saying the Naperville, Ill., Spyglass -- which licenses its Web browser
software to 72 other high-tech firms, including Microsoft Corp., Computer
Associates Inc. and Oracle Corp. -- will purchase SurfWatch in a stock swap
valued at about $12.5 million. The Journal notes SurfWatch, based in Los
Altos, Calif., was one of the first companies to offer filtering software to
enable parents to shield their children from adult-oriented Internet
material.
Cable Companies Face Net Challenge
Cable companies will have to do more than just peddle cable modems if they
hope to become significant Internet access providers, reports market
researcher SIMBA Information Inc. of Wilton, Connecticut. The company notes
that cable modems can deliver information up to 1,000 times faster than
today's telephone modems, but the limitations of PCs and the Internet
diminish that advantage.
For example, the performance of cable modems, which are capable of
transmitting data at a rate of 10M bps, was reduced to only 3Mbps or less
during a focus group conducted by SIMBA. "The bottlenecks (in the
demonstation) hurting performance weren't in the cable system or the modem,
but in remote content servers and in the comparatively sluggish graphics
processing speeds of the PC at the end of the pipeline," says Robert Wells, a
SIMBA researcher.
To be viable players in the Internet access business, cable companies must
take complete responsibility for service provision, notes Wells. "They must
create islands of peak performance within the generally sluggish Internet."
One viable solution, according to Wells, is "Internet overbuilds," in which
a cable operator creates a "mini-Internet" within its own system. Content
from the most popular Internet sites, as well the cable operator's own
content, would be stored locally. This technique eliminates the need for
users to access the Internet, where speed is limited by remote servers and
congestion.
According to Wells, cable operators have the opportunity to solve the ease-of-
use problems that have plagued Internet access providers. "Unless users
have a CompuServe or America Online, Internet access has been burdensome, and
for some, prohibitively so," he says. "Cable companies are in a position to
make ease-of-use a major element in the comparative advantage of their
system and service," says Wells. Nearly every top cable operator is
developing a strategy to roll out cable modem service within the next
several years. "High-speed Internet access is a major part of the strategies
of cable companies to develop revenue beyond traditional pay television,"
says Wells. "With the correct approach, cable modems are among the biggest
new revenue opportunities for the cable industry in the next decade."
Corel Launches WordPerfect Contest
Corel Corp. is inviting users of its WordPerfect applications to put their
creative abilities to the test as the company launches its 1st Annual Corel
WordPerfect $1,000,000 World Contest. The contest, which runs until May 20,
features 10 different categories. Winners will be flown to Salt Lake City,
Utah, for a black-tie awards presentation on May 29, to coincide with the
launch of Corel Office Professional and Corel WordPerfect Suite for Windows
95.
"The Corel WordPerfect $1,000,000 World Contest will showcase some of the
best macros, templates, third-party solutions, applications and creative
writing of WordPerfect users worldwide," says Michael Cowpland, Corel's
president and CEO. Registered WordPerfect users may enter the contest as
often as they wish. Each entrant will receive one prize package of a
specially boxed set of 10 jewel-cased CD-ROMS containing recently released
Corel multimedia software.
Entries can be created in any version or platform of WordPerfect,
Presentations, Quattro Pro or Paradox. Graphic elements from any version of
CorelDRAW, the Corel Gallery clipart collection and/or Corel Professional
Photos on CD- ROM may also be included.
OS/2 Has Speech Recognition
IBM Corp. is working on a new version of its O2/2 Warp operating system
featuring built-in voice recognition. IBM notes that the product -- code-
named "Merlin" -- will be the first major Intel-based operating system with
built- in speech recognition. At the IBM Technical Interchange developer's
conference in Nashville, the company today unveiled an early copy of Merlin,
which features IBM's VoiceType speech technology. The product also includes
an improved user interface with an enhanced version of the Lotus SmartCenter,
as well as simplified Internet access.
IBM notes that Merlin's built-in speech navigation and dictation capabilities
will allow users simply to tell their computers what they normally would
have to type or execute with a mouse. The navigation portion will allow
people to vocally navigate through menu bars and objects on the desktop in
order to do things such as open files and launch applications.
"We believe that speech recognition in computers will be the next major
industry breakthrough when it comes to ease- of- use," says Wally Casey, vice
president of client product management in IBM's software group. "Just as the
Macintosh changed the industry when it introduced a graphical user
interface, OS/2 Merlin will alter the way people interact withcomputers --
from new computer users to business professionals to anyone who wants quick
and easy Internet access." IBM says Merlin will go into beta test later this
quarter and become generally available in the second half of 1996.
Microsoft E-Zine Gets a Name
Microsoft Corp. says "Slate" will be the name of its new online publication.
Slate, with former CNN "Crossfire" co-host Michael Kinsley as editor, will
feature editorial contributions from leading journalists, political and
cultural figures and policy makers.
"I chose the name Slate, as in the blank variety, because we could pour
meaning into it," says Kinsley. "It's short and crisp, and it suggests a
hard reality to counterbalance the amorphousness of cyberspace." According
to Microsoft, Slate plans to deliver high- caliber journalism to the
Internet, providing thoughtful commentary on public policy and culture.
"Slate's editorial features, interactive forums and reviews will offer a
decisive, nonpartisan atmosphere for the culturally and politically engaged
reader," notes a statement issued by the company.
Home PC Use Up Slightly
A new survey conducted by the Software Publishers Association finds that PCs
are now used in 33.9 million U.S. households, up slightly from 32.6 million
a year ago. The trade group notes that 34 percent of U.S. households now use
a PC. Word processing is the most popular home software application, used in
89 percent of homes. Respondents reported using an average of nearly nine
different types of software, with online and Internet users reporting more
than 11 types.
Of all PCs purchased in 1995, 83 percent were equipped with CD-ROM drives,
compared with 55 percent in 1994. Seventy percent of PC households reported
owning a modem. Of modem owners, 46 percent subscribe to an online service,
and an additional 26 percent use the Internet through another type of
gateway, such as an office, educational institution or gateway provider.
Seventy-seven percent of Internet users report accessing the Web. Once there,
research/reference, entertainment and education sites are visited by the
greatest number of respondents. Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported
that their primary computer is an IBM or compatible system; 16 percent said
they own an Apple II, Macintosh or Power Mac. Of households with Intel-based
machines, only 15 percent don't run Windows or Windows 95 on their primary
computer. Eighteen percent of home users reported running Windows 95, and 35
percent of the nonusers planned to upgrade within the next six months.
Twenty-four percent of PC households reported owning a Pentium as their
primary computer, with processors slower than a '286 down to less than 15
percent of the most-used computers. Last year, only 4 percent of primary PCs
held a Pentium chip, notes the SPA.
Year 2000 'Meltdown' Still Looms
Despite numerous media reports alerting organizations to the problem, Gartner
Group reports that 30 percent of computer applications will not be year 2000
compliant by the end of 1999. The market research firm notes that the
problem dates back to the 1960s, when programmers wrote applications using a
standard date format of DD/MM/YY to conserve then expensive storage space.
When the year 2000 arrives, "2000" will be read by affected computer systems
as "00," potentially causing a complete system failure or producing incorrect
calculations in time-sensitive programs. At risk are all applications,
mainframe systems, PCs, networks and peripherals.
Gartner Group estimates that avoiding the potential system meltdown will cost
enterprises between $300 billion and $600 billion worldwide through 1999.
"The year 2000 date change poses one of the most significant challenges ever
faced by the IT industry and will have enormous impact on business
applications, package solutions and system software, even putting some
companies at risk in their business," says Kevin Schick, Gartner Group's
research director, who earlier this month before a Congressional panel
investigating the problem. "The bottom line is the year 2000 virus is the
most devastating virus ever to infect the world's business and IT systems."
"This is not a problem for 2000, this is a problem for today," adds Darlene
Brown, vice president and research director of Gartner Group. "The most
critical considerations in addressing the year 2000 date change are time
horizons, cost and risk. The time horizon is the projection period of when
applications will fail because of the 2000 specification. Cost is the price
tag for the solution, including the cost of initiatives delayed while the
year 2000 resolution effort is prioritized. Risk is not having a complete
inventory of the systems and environment, and not relating this information
to pertinent business values."
Man 'Imprisons' Himself Online
South African computer consultant Richard Weideman has made himself the first
prisoner in a cyberspace jail. He sentenced himself to 88 days in a glass
cubicle in Cape Town with only a computer linked to the Internet's World Wide
Web. "My only contact with society is an Internet connection and a glass
observation door," Weideman wrote in his homepage (reached at Web address
http:/www.woza.co.za/woza). Writing from Johannesburg, Marius Bosch of the
Reuter News Service says Weideman, locked up in his "prison," Weideman has
no access to radio, newspapers, telephones or television and can communicate
only through electronic mail. Since the Jan. 31 start of the project, named
"Woza" for World Online South Africa, Weideman has received more than 2,400
electronic mail messages. School children and businesspeople are among those
who have communicated with him.
In a recent electronic mail interview with a newspaper, Weideman commented,
"The profound bit is dealing with the rest of the world through a binary
umbilical cord. ..... I've exchanged e-mail views and anecdotes with people
from Alaska to Australia and 18 other countries in between. The exciting
aspect is realizing just how similar we all are in this growing global
village. How much I share in common with ordinary people in Ohio, or
Honolulu."
Saying many people see the Internet only as an "information distribution
mechanism," ignoring the Net's communication potential, he noted, "This
results in a false belief that information flows in one direction only." He
said better use of the global communication facilities available on the
Internet could aid the development of many rural communities, particularly
poor black communities in South Africa.
"I aim to shatter that misconception by illustrating how we can use these
tools to collect vital demographic information at a grass-roots community
level," he said. Weideman plans to stay in the glass cubicle, an exhibit at
a telecommunications show at the Cape Town waterfront, until next Saturday,
South Africa's Freedom Day, marking the second anniversary of the country's
historic all-race elections.
The living and working space Weideman calls home measures 26 feet by 16 feet
and includes an exercise bicycle, bed, couch and chemical toilet (hidden
behind a curtain). Meals and laundry are delivered without communications and
contact to the cubicle's back door to which he has the only key. But he
noted that even if he wanted to break free from his imprisonment in
cyberspace, he could not. "For those (with) visions of me roaming free at
night," he wrote, "there are infrared alarm sensors outside both of my
doors."
Mitnick Enters Guilty Plea
As part of a plea bargain, one-time underground computerist Kevin Mitnick --
subject of a three-year nationwide manhunt -- has pleaded guilty to charges
of illegally using stolen mobile phone numbers. Reporting from Los Angeles,
The Associated Press says the plea, entered late yesterday, was part of an
agreement Mitnick arranged with federal prosecutors in North Carolina, where
he was arrested last year after being tracked down by a San Diego computer
security specialist.
The 32-year-old Mitnick also has pleaded guilty to violating probation for a
1988 break-in of Digital Equipment Corp. computers in California. Mitnick
was finally tracked him down by computer specialist Tsutomu Shimomura, who
made catching the system intruder his crusade after Mitnick allegedly broke
into Shimomura's own home computer and stole security programs he had
written. He traced him to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he was arrested in
February 1995.
AP says Mitnick, who had been charged with 23 counts of computer fraud,
agreed to plead guilty to one count of illegally using 15 stolen phone
numbers to dial into computer databases. Mitnick consented to having the case
moved to his home state of California. U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer
set sentencing for July 15. Mitnick could be sententenced to up 20 years on
the stolen phone number charge, but will likely impose a substantially
shorter sentence, prosecutor Chris Painter told the wire service. As
reported, Mitnick served a year in prison in California for illegally tapping
computers at Digital Equipment Corp., and served six months at a youth
facility at age 17 for stealing computer manuals from a Pacific Bell
switching center. In 1992, he disappeared while on probation.
CANON UNVEILS CANOSCAN LINE OF COLOR FLATBED SCANNERS
TO PERSONALIZE COMMUNICATIONS AT HOME AND OFFICE
CanoScanT 600 Provides "Reproduction-Quality" Scanning for Professionals;
CanoScan 300 Offers Affordable, Fun Scanning for the Entire Family
COSTA MESA, Calif. (April 15, 1996) -- Canon Computer Systems Inc. (CCSI)
today introduced a new line of color flatbed scanners: the CanoScan 300 and
the CanoScan 600. The CanoScan 300 is the first scanner to combine high
quality, ease-of-use and Canon Creative software specifically designed for
the home user. Equipped with software-enabled automatic scanning and
advanced image manipulation features, the CanoScan 600 combines compact size
with "reproduction-quality" capabilities for professional imaging
applications.
"1996 is the year we'll see imaging and input devices come into their own,"
says the vice president of marketing and customer care for CCSI. "The
ability to customize documents or create personalized items such as scanning
in a photo and printing on Canon's T-shirt transfer paper will help educate
customers on 'What you can do with a Canon printer?' and bridge the gap
between input and output."
CanoScan 300
The affordable CanoScan 300 is the first scanner of its kind to meet the
expectations of small office/home (SOHOME) users by providing Canon Creative,
a suite of five Windows-compatible software titles on one CD-ROM including
Hallmark ConnectionsT Everyday GreetingsT for personalized greeting cards and
Crayolar Art drawing and coloring program. Coupled with Canon's exclusive
specialty papers such as T-shirt transfers and fabric sheets, the CanoScan
300 allows users to input any color image and photo to create personalized
gifts and crafts. Also, home users will find the CanoScan 300 invaluable for
inputting images such as photos for delivery via the Internet.
Ease-of-use is enhanced by ScanCraft software. Developed by Canon
Information Systems, the software arm of Canon, ScanCraft permits even novice
users to produce brilliant artwork by scanning in detailed color graphics
quickly and easily. ScanCraft includes a TWAIN driver, allowing any TWAIN
compliant imaging application to directly scan images with the CanoScan. In
addition, ScanCraft includes a color copier utility allowing users to
immediately make color prints from any Bubble JetT printer by simply pressing
the "copy" button.
SOHOME users will appreciate the new scanner's 300 x 600 dpi (dots per inch)
resolution that can deliver 1200 dpi enhanced resolution, ideal for business
graphics as well as detailed line art. The CanoScan 300's 27-bit input
provides optimum 24-bit scanning, with improved shadow and contour detailing.
Replacing Canon's current IX-4025 scanner, the CanoScan 300 is expected to
have an estimated street price of $449* when it becomes available in
June/July.
CanoScan 600
The CanoScan 600 is CCSI's first color flatbed scanner designed for the
professional user. The new scanner combines a compact "footprint" with 600 x
1200 dpi resolution that can deliver 2400 dpi enhanced resolution; and 30-bit
input to provide the best 24-bit image possible. ScanCraft software gives
CanoScan 600 users both automatic scanning features and advanced image
manipulation functions.
The addition of the optional film adapter unit gives the CanoScan 600 a
single solution for scanning prints and artwork, as well as film negatives
and slides up to eight by 10 inches in size, an ideal feature for the graphic
designer or desktop publisher. Estimated street price for the adapter is
$479*.
For "after-hours" activities or customizing applications such as stationery
and business cards, small business users will appreciate the inclusion of the
Canon Creative. The estimated street price for the CanoScan 600, with
anticipated availability in June, is $899*.
Possessing the smallest footprints in their class, the CanoScan 300 and
CanoScan 600 take up practically the same desk space as the Sunday newspaper.
Each model features a flicker-free Xenon light source, ensuring a lifetime of
consistent scanning. CCSI also offers an optional automatic document feeder
(estimated street price $329*) that facilitates scanning of large volume
jobs.
Visual Communications Strategy
The CanoScan line is integral to CanonOs Visual Communications strategy
dedicated to providing all the tools for people to enhance communications for
business or pleasure, whether that communication is displayed, printed or
transmitted. The essence of CCSI's Visual Communications strategy is to help
customers become more productive, personalize their communications, look more
professional and be more successful.
Canon Imaging Technologies
Since introducing its first camera more than 50 years ago, Canon's
accumulated technologies in imaging have led to the creation of many
sophisticated, high-technology products that enhance communication, including
analog copiers, digital monochrome and color copiers, facsimiles, laser and
Bubble Jet printers and scanners. As the world's largest manufacturer of
optical lenses, Canon's precision-molded aspherical glass lenses are used on
more than 60 percent of the world's professional television cameras as well
as Canon brand cameras, camcorders and office machines.
About CCSI
Since 1992, Canon Computer Systems Inc. has led Canon's activities in the
U.S. computing market with the following product lines: Bubble Jet and laser
printers, CanoScan scanners, Innovar multimedia desktop and notebook
computers, as well as the integrated computer/printer product, the NoteJetr.
Small office/home office (SOHO) and small office/home (SOHOME) customers are
reached via the mass market channel -- a network of computer dealers,
superstores and mass merchants who represent more than 7,000 storefronts
nationwide. CCSI also offers Innova ProT advanced systems based on Windows
NT and Intel technologies targeted for medium to large corporate customers.
Canon is recognized as the world's largest computer printer manufacturer, a
leader in imaging technology and a top worldwide patent holder. For more
information, customers can call 800-848-4123 or visit the CCSI web site at
http://www.ccsi.canon.com.
# # # #
* Street prices are estimates only. Actual prices are determined by
individual dealers and may vary.
Canon, Innova, NoteJet, BJC, FAXPHONE and BJ are registered trademarks.
Bubble Jet, Innova Media, Innova Pro, PowerShot, CanoScan, MultiPASS and
Canon Convertible are trademarks of Canon Inc. All other trademarks are
properties of their respective owners.
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
Bell Atlantic And Nynex Merger Actions
Compuserve Opens Bidding At $30 A Share
Cheyenne-McAfee Feud Gets Nasty
Gov't Technology Acquisition Plan Criticized
True Plug And Play Is On The Way
Bell Launches New Business Data Service
Spectrum Of Opinion
100,000,000 Mice Served
Bank Backs Internet Credit Card Purchases
Voter Registration On The Web
Leary Talks Of Suicide On The Net
Cisco Buys StrataCom For $4 Billion
Job Cuts Expected From Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger
Random House Looks To New Media
Free E-Mail
FCC Gears Up For Telecom Act Implementation
Call-Waiting Screening
Grateful Med On The Internet
Internet Shopping Appliance
When The Clock Strikes 2000
Unix Users Unite
"I'd Rather Have A PC"
Microsoft Puts Java Into Windows 95
Shrinking Flash Chips
Digital, Computer Associates Team Up On Software
Speed Is Of The Essence
Advertising Vs. Subscription Fees For Info On The Web
FCC Boosts Prospect For Supernets
Internet Sales Undermine Sales Taxes
Microsoft, Casio To Build Consumer Products
Hardware Solution To E-Commerce Security
Adobe, Apple And Scitex Target On-Demand Printing
Internet Phone Faces Regulatory Fight
Mitnick Guilty Plea
BELL ATLANTIC AND NYNEX MERGER ACTIONS
Bell Atlantic's board has approved a merger with Nynex, and Nynex's okay is
expected today, for a Monday announcement of plans for a combined
corporation that would be the second-largest phone company in the U.S. (after
AT&T). After the one-year merger process, Bell Atlantic's Ray Smith will be
CEO of the new corporation for one year, and will then step down to be
replaced by Nynex Chairman Ivan G. Seidenberg. (New York Times 20 Apr 96
p19; 21 Apr 96 p12)
COMPUSERVE OPENS BIDDING AT $30 A SHARE
CompuServe, the second largest commercial online service, is going public,
hoping to capitalize on the Internet frenzy that's characterized IPOs such
as Netscape's and Yahoo!'s. It's priced its initial offering at $30 a share
for 16 million shares, which will raise $454 million for CompuServe's parent
company, H&R Block. Some analysts doubt that CompuServe's offering will
generate the same excitement as some of the purely Internet offerings,
however. "The climate is certainly not optimal. CompuServe blew it by a
few months on the timing," says one investment analyst. High-tech investors
will be watching the stock market's reaction closely, looking for a benchmark
by which the value of competitors America Online and Prodigy can be judged.
(Wall Street Journal 19 Apr 96 B6)
CHEYENNE-MCAFEE FEUD GETS NASTY
Cheyenne Software, the target of what has turned into a hostile takeover
attempt by McAfee Associates, has filed suit against McAfee and its chairman
William Lawson. The suit accuses Lawson of making false and misleading
statements about Cheyenne in order to influence the trading of Cheyenne
stock. The companies have been feuding since last Monday, when Cheyenne
rejected McAfee's buyout offer of $27.50 a share. McAfee said it had no
immediate comment on the suit. (Investor's Business Daily 19 Apr 96 A19)
GOV'T TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION PLAN CRITICIZED
After repealing in February the discredited 1965 Brooks Act, which dictated
that all computer purchases must be made through the General Services
Administration via a lengthy competitive process, President Clinton's new
plan for government technology acquisition goes too far in the other
direction, say some critics. The new rules require big systems to be
dissected into small independent chunks, allowing easier upgrades to the
latest technology. In addition, under the new rules agencies must analyze
and redesign operations before they invest in systems to automate them.
Senator William Cohen (Maine-D), who sponsored the legislation, estimates the
new system could save up to $175 billion over five years, but a former CIO
for Xerox, Kraft and General Foods disagrees: "Treating each systems
acquisition as a separate solution has resulted in thousands of
unintegrated, hard-to-maintain, impossible-to-manage, contractor-dependent
islands of automation.... This act may succeed in eliminating much of the
existing regulatory chaos of acquisition only to become saddled with a more
costly chaos of operations." (Scientific American May 96 p30)
TRUE PLUG AND PLAY IS ON THE WAY
The Universal Serial Bus, which is being promoted by a group of companies led
by Intel, theoretically will allow simple connections to as many as 127
computer peripheral devices using a single type of connector. Beginning
later this year, Intel will incorporate USB connectors into many of its
motherboards, providing a de facto standard for about half of all PCs sold.
The new format will enable much faster performance and will allow add-ons to
hook into each other, eliminating the snarl of cables and wires that lurks
behind most PCs today. Of course the computer industry never agrees
unanimously on anything, so a competing standard, called IEEE 1394, is being
developed to perform similar functions, and is likely to be available in PCs
sometime next year. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq have demonstrated "sealed-
box" prototypes that sport both types of connections. (Business Week 22 Apr
96 p22)
BELL LAUNCHES NEW BUSINESS DATA SERVICE
Ball Canada launched an electronic service that will allow businesses to set
up private networks between customers and suppliers to order goods on the
Internet. The service, dubbed "Tactik," is based on the electronic data
interchange (EDI) standard that allows businesses around the world to use
the same set of electronic forms for computer-based transactions.
(Toronto Financial Post 19 Apr 96 p6)
SPECTRUM OF OPINION
Technology pundits George Gilder, Nicholas Negroponte, and Peter Huber told a
Senate Commerce Subcommittee on spectrum policy that broadcasters have
contributed to a shortage of spectrum space, with Gilder and Negroponte
maintaining that spectrum should be used for mobile technologies, because
analog broadcasting is obsolete.. Gilder is opposed to auctioning (which he
sees as "a tax on innovation") whereas Huber thinks auctions are the most
efficient means of spectrum allocation. Janice Obuchowski, a former NTIA
administrator, told the subcommittee that eliminating entrenched interests
in occupying spectrum is as much a political as a technical one.
(Communications Daily 19 Apr 96)
100,000,000 MICE SERVED
The mouse has made its mark -- since its invention in 1963 by Douglas
Engelbart, the computer mouse has transformed the way that most people
interact with their machines. Logitech, which claims 40% of the worldwide
mouse market, has just rolled the 100-millionth mouse off its SuzHou, China
production line. Engelbart, who also pioneered the ideas of windows and
hypertext, says, "For one company to reach such a milestone means that users
have understood the benefits of interacting with their computers using a
tool that matches the way their sensory and motion machinery work."
(Information Week 15 Apr 96 p12)
BANK BACKS INTERNET CREDIT CARD PURCHASES
The Bank of Montreal has become the first major Canadian bank to fully
support Visa and MasterCard purchases over the Internet. An Internet-based
business, Internet Liquidators, has met the bank's criteria for providing the
necessary security to facilitate the transaction, but there's no one else in
line. The bank requires online vendors to adhere to the Netscape's
transaction protocol, Secure Socket Layer (SSL), and to have "firewall"
software to block Internet surfers from gaining access to an organization's
internal computer system through its Internet connection. (Toronto Globe &
Mail 19 Apr 96 B13)
VOTER REGISTRATION ON THE WEB
MCI and Rock The Vote are making it possible for people to use the World Wide
Web to submit voter registrations for their home state and receive back a
pre-stamped, addressed and completed voter registration form for mailing.
Site is < http://netvote96.mci.com/ >. (Atlanta Journal Constitution 19 Apr
96)
LEARY TALKS OF SUICIDE ON THE NET
Cancer-stricken Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychologist who became famous in
the 1960s for advocate the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs, says he
is "very involved in the high tech of dying" and is "actively exploring" the
idea of committing suicide in front of a camera that would transmit the
event over the Internet. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 19 Apr 96 A4)
CISCO BUYS STRATACOM FOR $4 BILLION
Cisco Systems, already the leading supplier of routers and other local-area
networking products, has agreed to purchase StrataCom Inc. for $4 billion in
stock. Strategically, the move positions Cisco to take advantage of
StrataCom's expertise in the fast-growing wide-area switching market,
allowing Cisco to expand its offerings to phone carriers. "Cisco needed a
switch maker," says a Forrester Research analyst. "They rule the carriers in
the router market. And StrataCom is hot in Frame Relay and Asynchronous
Transfer Mode, two switching technologies." (Investor's Business Daily 23
Apr 96 A8)
JOB CUTS EXPECTED FROM BELL ATLANTIC/NYNEX MERGER
The merger of Bell Atlantic and Nynex, which will take about a year to
complete, is expected to result in a loss of 1,000 to 2,000 corporate
executive jobs, and some analysts are predicting that cost-streamlining by
the merged company will cause additional job cuts in areas such as
marketing, billing, and repair operations. Worried about such developments,
the Communications Workers of America, which represents 70,000 Bell Atlantic
and Nynex employees, is opposing the merger. (New York Times 22 Apr 96 C3)
RANDOM HOUSE LOOKS TO NEW MEDIA
Book publisher Random House will make an equity investment in Interactive
Imaginations Inc. as part of an agreement to develop interactive puzzles for
the Internet. Interactive Imagination is the creator of riddle.com, a
popular interactive games Web site. Some Random House crossword puzzles
will begin appearing on the site this month, and new, original puzzles are
slated for later this year. (Wall Street Journal 22 Apr 96 B5)
FREE E-MAIL
Juno Online Services LB is starting a free Internet e-mail service for cost-
conscious users who don't mind wading through a little advertising while
they're reading their messages. So far, Juno has lined up 16 advertisers,
including Quaker Oats, Okidata, and Miramax Films. Advertisers will pay 10
cents for every PC reached. Juno is working on deals with PC makers to
bundle its software into the pre-installation package they offer computer
buyers. Next month, Freemark Communications plans to start its own free e-
mail service. (Investor's Business Daily 22 Apr 96 A6)
FCC GEARS UP FOR TELECOM ACT IMPLEMENTATION
The FCC April 19 issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on interconnection
provisions related to the Telecommunications Act, providing initial
guidelines for how new entrants into the local service markets will gain
access to existing local exchange carriers in order to provide seamless
service. The proposed rulemaking is short on specifics, but hints at the
FCC's position on whether the it plans to maintain the role of chief
regulator, or will delegate that authority to the states: "Given the
forward-looking focus of the 1996 Act, the nationwide character of
development and deployment of underlying telecommunications technology, and
the nationwide nature of competitive markets and entry strategies in the
dynamic telecommunications sector, we believe we should take a pro-active
role in implementing Congress' objectives." Long distance companies prefer
that the FCC impose uniformity, while the local phone companies have said the
federal agency should defer to the states. (BNA Daily Report for Executives
22 Apr 96 A20)
CALL-WAITING SCREENING
If you've ever interrupted an important phone call for a solicitation from a
carpet salesman, this product's for you. Starting this summer, a new
service called call-waiting identification (CWID) will be offered by local
phone companies. The service will send the phone number of the incoming
call along with the characteristic beep to let you know someone is trying to
reach you. CWID will require new equipment, and companies such as Casio
Phonemate, Sony, Panasonic and others planning to have their new CWID units
available in the next few months. (Popular Science Apr 96 p43)
GRATEFUL MED ON THE INTERNET
The National Library of Medicine's Grateful Med electronic retrieval service
is moving to the Internet, making the vast storehouse of electronic
databases available via the Web. The service, dubbed Internet Grateful Med,
does not require users to have any special software, and will be priced per
character shipped, with a typical physician's search costing about $1.25.
Would-be users need to sign up for the service and receive a user-ID code and
a password.
< http://igm.nlm.nih.gov/ > or 800-638-8480. (Chronicle of Higher Education
26 Apr 96 A25)
INTERNET SHOPPING APPLIANCE
TransPhone, a U.S.- and Canadian-based start-up company, has come up with a
low-cost interactive appliance, which combines the functions of a full Web
browser, two-line phone, fax machine and answering machine into one unit. The
company also plans to offer an interactive TV version that can plug into a TV
equipped with a cable modem. "One of the targets is the (large) percentage
of people who do not have computers," says TransPhone's president. The
appliance will be available in June and subscriptions will run about $20 a
month. (Broadcasting & Cable 15 Apr 96 p81)
WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES 2000
The Gartner Group in Stamford, Connecticut, says the federal government will
spend about $30 billion to modify a massive number of computer programs in
which years were coded simply as two-digit numbers (without identifying the
century) and which will have to be fixed so that they can correctly calculate
things like benefits payments. It is also estimated that by the time the
year 2000 comes around only 70% of government computer programs will have
been modified to deal with the problem. (Computerworld 22 Apr 96 p1)
UNIX USERS UNITE
Seven computer makers -- Compaq, Data General, ICL PLC, NCR Corp., Olivetti,
Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems, and Unisys -- have agreed to use Santa
Cruz Operation's version of Unix in their Intel-based servers. Santa Cruz,
which bought Novell Inc.'s Unix business last December, plans to integrate
that technology with another existing Unix product line. (Wall Street
Journal 23 Apr 96 B5)
"I'D RATHER HAVE A PC"
A Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association survey of teens and adults
in households that own both PCs and video game machines shows that 54% of
the teens polled spend more time with the PC. And if forced to choose
between the two, 88% said they'd rather have the PC. About a quarter of the
parents would allow their children "some influence" in selecting a computer.
(Investor's Business Daily 23 Apr 96 A8)
MICROSOFT PUTS JAVA INTO WINDOWS 95
Microsoft's best-selling Windows 95 operating system will soon include Sun's
Java programming language, which software designers can use to create tiny
"applet" programs that can be sent over the Internet for immediate use on a
personal computer. This development is expected to give Java a good push
toward becoming an industry standard. (New York Times 25 Apr 96 C1)
SHRINKING FLASH CHIPS
Intel and Sharp Corp. have developed tiny 0.4-micron processing for 8-megabit
flash memory chips, shrinking their size by almost half, and paving the way
for even smaller cellular phones, digital cameras and laptop computers.
Intel says it will begin sending out sample chips immediately, and plans
call for mass production in September. Sharp will begin sending sample
shipments next month, but has not disclosed when it will begin mass
production. Meanwhile, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. are developing
16-megabit and even 64-megabit flash memory technology. "Flash memory chips
may eventually be used in the place of hard disks on computers," says an
Hitachi spokeswoman. (Investor's Business Daily 24 Apr A9)
DIGITAL, COMPUTER ASSOCIATES TEAM UP ON SOFTWARE
Digital Equipment Corp. has formed a strategic alliance with Computer
Associates International that will target the corporate market for high-end
computer network management solutions. Although details weren't available,
industry observers say the agreement likely will involve Digital selling or
licensing some of its software to CA, and providing installation, support
and other services for CA's products. (Wall Street Journal 24 Apr 96 B11)
SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE
Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico is building $46-million Intel
supercomputer that will be touted as the world's fastest computer, capable
of cracking the long-time goal of 1 teraflops -- a trillion calculations per
second. "It's never been done before -- like the first moon shot," says the
head of Intel's supercomputer division. In fact, researchers say the
computer's peak speed could be almost double that -- 1.8 teraflops. Energy
Dept. plans call for investing $940 million in its Accelerated Strategic
Computing Initiative between now and 2002, with a 100-teraflops system
possible by 2002 or 2003. (Business Week 29 Apr 96 p90)
ADVERTISING VS. SUBSCRIPTION FEES FOR INFO ON THE WEB
Content companies are still trying to figure out how to make money on their
Internet ventures, and many are turning away from advertising to
subscription fees to cover their costs. "The ad model didn't support the
cost of creating content," says Time's senior VP of new media. "The only
free medium fully supported by advertising is broadcast TV, but that's a
different model. TV is broadcast, and the Net is narrowcast. It's totally
one-to-one communication." Time Warner's repackaged Pathfinder Personal
Edition will be a subscription-based product, offering personalized news and
information from Time and People magazines. Meanwhile, Simba Media Daily
estimates that U.S. companies spent $9.3 billion for online information last
year, and predicts rising expenditures of $10.6 billion this year and $12
billion in 1997. (Investor's Business Daily 25 Apr 96 A10)
FCC BOOSTS PROSPECT FOR SUPERNETS
The Federal Communications Commission may reserve a band of radio frequencies
to allo
w free and unlicensed transmissions at 25 megabit speeds of large
volumes of data within a group of buildings. These so-called "supernet"
wireless services, which would operate at no more than one watt of power in
order to avoid interfering with neighboring supernets, could then be
connected by high-speed phone lines to the Internet, thus largely bypassing
local phone companies to get Net access. (New York Times 25 Apr 96 C1)
INTERNET SALES UNDERMINE SALES TAXES
As commerce over the Internet increases, city and state governments are
looking for ways to collect sales taxes on these transactions. But a 1992
court case (Quill Corp. vs. North Dakota) held that for a state to collect
taxes on sales, the vendor must have significant sales operations --
personnel, inventory, showrooms, etc. -- within the state. Because many
Internet operations have extremely dispersed personnel, little inventory and
no showrooms, states have no legal right to collect taxes on their sales.
Author Nathan Newman suggests the problem should be addressed by state or
federal government: "The best way to make up for the revenue lost by
lowered sales taxes would be through a state income tax... An even better
option is to use federal income taxes to substitute for lost revenue at both
the local and state level. Although not politically likely right now, this
option seems only fair -- it was federal cutbacks in aid to states that led
states to rely so heavily on sales taxes to begin with." (Technology Review
May/June p24)
MICROSOFT, CASIO TO BUILD CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PRODUCTS
Microsoft and Japan's Casio Corp. will work together to develop hand-held
computer devices that can exchange data with PCs running Windows.
Microsoft's latest venture into the hand-held device market, the Winpad,
suffered from software that took too much memory and was slow -- it was
withdrawn before it hit the market. The company is counting on Casio's
expertise to move beyond PCs into the consumer products market. (Wall Street
Journal 25 Apr 96 B2)
HARDWARE SOLUTION TO E-COMMERCE SECURITY
VLSI Technology and Tandem Computer's Atalla are developing chip-level
security products to protect electronic transactions over the Internet and
intranets. The products will incorporate DES, RSA and other encryption
technology, and the companies hope their joint venture will establish a
hardware-based security standard for electronic commerce. (Information Week
15 Apr 96 p34)
ADOBE, APPLE AND SCITEX TARGET ON-DEMAND PRINTING
Adobe Systems is collaborating with Apple Computer and Israeli firm Scitex to
jointly market hardware and software for on-demand printing. On-demand
printing enables businesses to print small runs of documents or brochures at
more reasonable per-piece cost than if they used a traditional printing
company. (Wall Street Journal 24 Apr 96 B11)
INTERNET PHONE FACES REGULATORY FIGHT
The Canadian communications regulatory agency says companies offering online
phone services must pay a fee to local phone companies to help keep local
phone rates low. ShadowTel, the small Ontario company which recently
announced it planned to offer telephone service on the Internet, appears
headed toward a fight with federal regulators over whether it must pay a
special fee to Canada's phone companies. (Toronto Globe & Mail 25 Apr 96
B10)
MITNICK GUILTY PLEA
Kevin Mitnick, the object of a national manhunt last year on charges of
computer-related crimes, has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors
to plead guilty to counts of possessing stolen cellular phone devices and
violating probation terms. One count calls for a maximum penalty of 20
years in jail. Mitnick, known in his circle as "the Condor," still faces a
number of serious charges in California for illegal use of computer and
telephone networks over the past 15 years. (New York Times 24 Apr 96 A11)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu).
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News from NAB - Monday 4/15
Ship-ship, hooray: The biggest news on the opening day of this year's NAB
show in Lost Wages (a.k.a. Las Vegas) is of course the SHIPPING version of
Premiere 4.2 for Windows & NT. It features prominently at the Adobe booth
and at several hardware vendors who use it to show off their latest hard
wares. To be honest, the shipping version "went to shipping," meaning that
CDs are being pressed and packages are being stuffed as we speak. Expect
actual product going out of the door within two weeks, barring unforeseen
problems, like the CD-plant being hit by an earthquake or other smaller
glitchies.
Gute news for all of you non-English speaking folks: Language versions of
Premiere 4.2 are no longer languishing way behind, they actually were
developed parallel to the English version. Unofficial guesstimates are that
the French and German versions should be shipping only two weeks after the
English version, i.e. somewhere mid-May. The French and German sales offices
may not know this yet, so go easy on them and call again beginning of May if
they deny the existence of Premiere 4.2 ...
Mating Plugs: Why do Mac-Premiere users have all the fun or rather all the
cool 3rd party plugins? Sulk no more, because this situation is also
changing rapidly. More on that tomorrow, because news is still embargoed and
you don't want to have me shot because I told you too early.
Produce for producers: In the capture board department, Interactive Images
looks like the darling of the show. There must be between 20 or 30 Plum
boards on the floor, adding speed and polish to various software and hardware
vendors' demonstrations. At the Adobe booth, Premiere 4.2 is being demoed
on Plums. There even are Plums-in-disguise: Interactive Images sold a
large number of boards to a hardware integrator in Florida, who puts them in
black boxes and sells integrated systems called "Blossom". Word is that
Interactive Images sold out the first batch of boards and they are working as
fast as they can to come up with another batch.
Where are the Ultras: Several harddrive integrators, such as Hammerlabs or
Rorke, show well-worn mock-ups of the high performance Seagate Barracuda 9
series. (Which were covered here in great detail sometime last year.) The big
question is : When will they ship? Some say June, some say September. I take
the optimistic approach and put my money on September. The 23Gig monster,
first shown at CEBIT in Hannover, will probably not ship before the end of
the year. Also, the $3000 which were reported as a price, are, so I am told,
"a mistake" - and $5000 are more like it.
Netwokscsi: ATTO, the SCSI adapter folks, show "AccelNet, An Accelerated
SCSI-based Networking Solution" I've been waiting for for years. It's
basically a box that gives a small number of computers shared access to the
same high speed storage devices, like RAID arrays. Trouble is, the box is all
there is at the moment -- ATTO relies on 3rd parties to write the software.
Transoft reportedly has a driver for the Mac and something for Wintel could
be in the works. Sounds great for a small workgroup, if they get it working.
In the "if you have to ask" dept, Play Inc. and Softimage
("Softimaaaashe") announced a "strategic relationship" (new euphemism for
marriage?) to a sell-out crowd at Caesar's Palace. The multi-screen and
ear-splitting-decibel event turned into a love fest between Softimage (the
Canadians who were acquired by Microsoft) and Play's Trinity, the fabled do-
all-&-end-all digital video studio in a big box that wouldn't ship. No real
news re Trinity, they basically showed what they showed last year. Play
sold 25 Million $$$ worth of Snappys this year, next year they'll inundate
the non-NTSC-speaking world with a PAL version and plan on shipping $ 50
Million worth Snappys. At these sales (and with very little discounting) one
wonders why they even bother with the Trinity. The first Trinity, by the
by., was built in 1980, it never shipped, and it won't ship for a while, at
least not before November (which in this industry means "sometime next year
if we are lucky"). Softimage coupled their NT-based Digital Studio software
(which also isn't ready and hiccuped several times during the demo) to the
Trinity. Price? Well, if you have to ask .... it looks like lotsa bucks. The
base Trinity (basically a motherboard with 44 PCI-like slots and sundry
other connectors, awaiting costly components) will sell for a paltry $10,000,
Digital Studio is rumored to go for another $15,000, so once you've added
other doodads, not to forget ample harddrives and a computer, you'll be out
more than $100,000. (If someone ever complains about the $49 for the
Premiere 4.2 upgrade, well, here's an alternative...)
Parting shots: In the olden days, part of any revolution was the customary
storming of the central TV & radio station and that was it. In the CNN-age,
those pesky reporters in the streets just beam their footage up to the next
satellite, so they have to be shot one at a time. Nasty business. At last
year's NAB, they featured "throw-away cameras" to leave behind and get out of
Dodge, this year, a producer of soft camera bags also shows a "Anti Bullet
Body Armor", a bullet-resistant garment, SWAT-style, with a big "PRESS"
stenciled on the back. A Belgian company called Moving-Cam S.A. has what
seems to be the next variation on the topic: A remote-controlled helicopter
with a tilt&swivel camera in it. Rents out for $4000 per day, maybe a slight
surcharge for high threat environments.
More tomorrow.
News from NAB - Tuesday 4/16
Tuesday, newsday. Today, NAB is in full swing. One announcement chases the
next. 14 hour workday. Topping the news of course is Premiere again. Each
year, PC Graphics & Video Magazine chooses 10 Products at NAB for their
PRIME TIME PRODUCTS award. This year, the award goes to Premiere 4.2 for
Windows as one of the Top 10 innovative products at NAB '96. But Premiere
isn't just basking in the Nevada limelight, it's hard at work. At NAB,
Premiere 4.2 is being used on-site daily to produce movies for delivery over
NAB's website (http://www.nab.org/cnvntns/nab96/promos/video.htm). Premiere
4.2 comes with the VDOLive video streaming technology from VDOnet Corp. So if
you want to put your video on the net., do what the big broadcasters do, use
Premiere.
After all, After Effects for Windows: Today, Adobe announces plans to
deliver Adobe After Effects 3.1 for Windows. The 32bit version for Windows
95 and NT will match Mac After Effects 3.1 feature-for-feature and will be
available "later this year". Pricing will be announced in due time. A
collective sigh went through the crowd when the news were released.
Everybody seems to agree this year that NT is the operating system of choice.
Let's hope that the capture card manufacturers share the same opinion and get
on with their driver development. A bit of good news for Mac users also:
After Effects 3.1 for the Macintosh is shipping and it's a free upgrade.
Finally, Final Effects for Windows: Hot on the heels of the After Effects
for Windows announcements, Metatools (formerly HSC Software) declares today
that they are developing their award-winning Final Effects 3 for Windows NT
and Windows 95. Final Effects will be a set of powerful video and animations
FX that plug into After Effects for Windows NT and Windows 95. For Premiere
4.2 users, there will be Final Effects AP., a set of 16 Premiere plugins
which should be available in the 2nd quarter of 1996. So Final Effects will
premiere on Premiere, well before After Effects - - are you still with me?
According to Metatools, all their apps, filters and plugins will be ported to
Windows95 and NT by year's end.
More plugs for plugins: As alluded in yesterday's dispatch, every self-
respecting plugin manufacturer appears to be on the Premiere 4.2 for Windows
bandwagon. Synergy International ships Hollywood FX, as Premiere plugins
for Windows NT and Windows 95. Boris Effects by Artel Software will have
theirs by year's end. And the plugs, they keep on comin' ...
What's in the cards? DPS shows their long-rumored Perception A4V, a PCI 8
track digital audio board, and their Perception FX, a full length ISA board
that will significantly speed-up the currently a bit laggardish Perception
transitions. DPS promises improvements of up to 50 times. The demos at
their booth zip along at a respectable clip. Both cards are planned for end
of July. The FX will sell for $995, the A4V for $1495.
Yes, Master: FAST rolls out what they already showed at CEBIT - - their AV
Master, a busmastering video capture card cum audio for $1099 MSRP. Should
sell on the street for well under that. It's a great card for people who
already have Premiere, because it's bundled with a lite version of somebody
else's software. FAST also announces (but in a surprisingly low key
fashion) a professional member of the Master series, called the "Animaster".
Its a kindof enigmatic product. It comes with professional specs (720x486
pixels, S-video, composite and even D1/D5 Serial Digital Interface), so it
sounds like their higher-end capture card. But FAST sells it as "a broadcast-
quality video compression and graphics capture card created for professional
animators and digital media producers." Why the focus on animators? FAST
isn't elaborating. All they say is that it should be available later this
summer for around $2500.
True visionaries: Flanked by 16 captains of industry, Truevision Prez. Lou
Doctor today announces the Targa 2000 RTX, a brand-new, dual MJPEG hardware
CODEC PCI card that will process common digital video effects such as wipes,
fades and dissolves in real-time. This is a professional system with a
breakout box and CCIR 601 support. According to Lou Doctor, "the TARGA 2000
RTX is a $4995 upgrade to the current T 2000 Pro or a $6495 upgrade to the
standard T 2000." A bargain. If you read somewhere that the card will
_retail_ for $4995, don't believe it, their press release is a bit open for
interpretation in this regard and Lou wasn't taking any questions from the
floor. Shipdate is slated for June. For the end of the year, the DVCPRO Targa
2000 Pro is planned. The board uses 2 ea of Panasonic's DVCPRO chipset
(pricey silicon that reportedly goes for $150 in large quantities). Pricing
for the DVPRO T2K has not been announced, but rumors put it in the $10,000
category.
Now you DVC it, now you don't: No DVC cameras or VCRs are on display (this
is a show for professionals, after all...) but the floor is abuzz with "IEEE
1394" "Firewire" "1394". Sony's DCR-VX1000 digital camera appears to be the
weapon of choice to document the activities of colleagues and adversaries,
and every manufacturer of capture card faces the same question on a
permanent basis: "When will you have a capture board for DV?" Except for
Truevision , none of the card manufacturers is talking or has any official
plans. But everybody else, from Microsoft to the OpenDML consortium, is
fully behind it. Microsoft's Steven Balmer even says that there's a place
for DV mapped out in ActiveMovie (formerly codenamed "Quartz"). All we need
is a board. Come on, you guys.
Exit stage left: Short plywood and 2x4's, go long on blue paint. "Virtual
sets" are all the rage at this year's NAB. Think of it like everybody on the
set is a weatherman. Actors act in front of a blue screen, the rest of the
set is virtual. The sets still look a bit cheesy, but not bad for real time
work. Most virtual sets are built with SGIs, but there already are PC based
sets. Clean out a closet, paint it blue, add a little computing power, and
ready, set, go.
News from NAB, Wednesday will also go virtual. Simply close your eyes, and if
you can visualize it, it will be there. I'll be catching the redeye back to
NYC on Wed nite. If there are any newsworthy developments on Wednesday,
report will follow on Thursday (unless I'm totally braindead).
News from NAB - Wednesday/Thursday 4/17-18
Up, up & away: I'm typing this in the departure lounge of Las Vegas Airport.
Catching the redeye. For four days, I've been surrounded by slotmachines.
Even at the gate, the only escape from the din of the machines is to take the
plane and fly away. Some departing shots while my laptop's battery is still
holding up:
MMX inside: One important announcement didn't make it into yesterday's
dispatch. A friendly gentleman from Intel told me that the Multi Media
Extensions, a.k.a MMX, will go "into every new processor from now on" - at
least as far as Intel is concerned. Meaning: Forget the Multimedia Pentium as
a special part, those extensions will be slipped into all new chip revisions
from summer on out. Developers of hardware CODEC chips are eyeing these
developments with great suspicion, and right they are to be concerned. MMX
could put them out of business, or make a serious dent in it. Application
and driver programmers are ogling these extremely powerful MMX extensions
with great hopes, because they will allow them to write multimedia code that
will be much, much faster than now. We'll talk more about this in the
future.
DV-tidbit: As mentioned in Tuesday's dispatch, there was a lot of talk about
DV & Firewire cards at this year's NAB, but no tangible action. Except that
hidden in the back of the miro booth, there was a Sony's DCR-VX1000 digital
camera with wires going down into some computer. The miro folks were pretty
close-lipped about what's going on here. The camera could be controlled via
on screen buttons, but on closer inspection, it turned out that they did it
via a LANC connection. A Firewire went somewhere, but they could only
capture single frames, no moving video. They could play back moving video
from disk, which showed in a small on-screen window. Miro didn't want to
elaborate and cautioned that real product should not be expected before the
year is over. Nevertheless, something DVish is clearly going on here.
Friendly takeover: A few years ago, PCs at NAB were odd ducks, stuff for
amateurs dabbling in video, toys, not to be taken seriously (unless they were
hidden in 19 inch rackmount boxes with macho handles at both ends). This
year, PCs were everywhere. They edit, they cut, they manage newsrooms,
guide satellites - - even the Broadcast Exchange, traders of preowned
broadcast equipment, didn't display refurbished Beta gear or 16mm cams of ex-
Soviet origin. No, they showed their website
(http://db.general.net/broadcast_exchange/BEI/). Showed it live on PCs, of
course. Poo-pooed in previous years, PCs have clearly consummated their
takeover of video and audio.
Real times ahead: Now that nobody's seriously debating anymore whether the
PC is a serious platform for video editing, vendors are attacking the field
with vigorous vengeance. They are fiighting for time. As we all are
painfully aware, render times are the big problem. Who wants to wait? The
source of the trouble isn't Premiere (it renders, especially in its 4.2
incarnation, like a bat out of hell) and the answer aren't multiprocessors
or DSP cards. At least not now. MJPEG CODECS have been identified as the
main bottleneck that slows down renders. We're not talking about how fast
capture cards can send video to video out, the issue is how fast do they
decode a frame into a bitmap. Sending full screen video to video out at 30
fps is one thing. Decoding it to a bitmap Premiere can work on is another
thing. That thing sometimes takes more than a mind-numbing full second per
frame (if the CODEC is really, really lamely implemented). When a transition
happens, Premiere asks the CODEC to decode two video streams into two
bitmaps, then Premiere combines the two bitmaps into one bitmap and asks the
CODEC to encode it again. As long as the CODEC is doing its thing, Premiere
must twiddle its thumbs.
This is where render times really pile up. Some vendors ignore this problem,
some are aware of it. If you plug a card by one of the ignoramuses into your
system, a one second transition can take longer than 100 seconds to render.
That's called "100 x", and that's bad. DPS's Perception FX accelerator
brings transitions into the 11x territory (a one second transition takes 11
seconds to render), and according to DPS engineers, they still have room for
improvements and hopes for entering the single digit X territory. The FX
works with hardware plugins, meaning that the board accelerates only selected
transitions, instead of speeding up things across the board. Use the
majority of Premiere plugins, or use the large number of 3rd party plugins,
and the speed is as slow as it was before. Interactive Images Plum board
takes a different approach and blasts pixels across the PCI bus as fast as
technically possible. That impacts all transitions. They currently are in
the 15 x territory, and Interactive's President Mike Schell is talking
single digits before the year is over. The ultimate goal of course is real
time or even better than real time. This is still the realm of pricey
black boxes, but the future of pricey black boxes doesn't look too rosy as
far as the general direction of the market is concerned. Pinnacle's Genie
Plus, a PCI board with real time effects, is a step in the right direction,
but it's not cheap either and it slows down in an on-line editing setting.
The bottom line is that we'll see affordable single-digit-x renders, maybe
low single-digit-x renders, around the end of this year, but real time will
mean real money for some time to come.
This concludes our dead or alive coverage of NAB'96. Back to our regular
programming schedule.
News from NAB - Post Mortem
Undercover field agents working the DV(C) beat provided fresh humint
regarding the mystery DVC board in miro's booth at NAB (See News from NAB
Wed/Thu ). In all probability, what miro had in the bowels of their PC was
the equally mysterious prototype board built by Sony. At the beginning of
NAB, Miro announced a licensing deal with Sony involving Sony's DVC CODEC.
Sources close to the matter say that the Sony prototype is an ISA board with
big limitations: It connects to the camera via Firewire alright, but due to
severe bandwidth limitations of the ISA board and its associated _software_
CODEC, it can only decode a very small moving picture (my guesstimate was 90
x 60 pixels). It does, as demoed at NAB, respectable single frame captures
of impressive clarity. My sources say that the DVC movie was in all
likelihood _not_ played off disk (as opined in the Wed/Thur dispatch), simply
because the Sony ISA prototype can't shovel DVC data to or from the computer
at full 3.5 MB/sec in the first place. The signal most probably came from
the camera, but in real time, the prototype board can only handle a
fraction of the data coming down the Firewire. Hence the smallish picture
that invoked dark memories of the early days of postage stamp video.
What's definitely needed is a PCI board the can digest and decode the DVC
datastream without flinching. Several companies are working on this and some
are further ahead than others. The most interesting piece of hardware at NAB
was not shown at Sands and not in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Duly
vetted and sworn-in insiders, who had signed their life away in triplicate,
were taken to a back room of a hotel suite. There it was, a half length PCI
board with numerous Firewire connectors at the back and solder joints that
were still hot. The genuine article. The Firewire/IEEE 1394 board everybody's
waiting for. Fully digital. Looks like it could be ready to ship in a few
months. Sold by a company called ... oops, there's someone at the door. Be
hopefully right back .....
Kids Computing Corner
Frank Sereno, Editor
The Kids' Computing Corner
Computer news and software reviews
from a parent's point of view
Press Release
MCGRAW-HILL HOME INTERACTIVE ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST CHILDREN'S SOFTWARE TITLES
Kids Are In Charge In The Company's Debut Line Of Titles For Kids 8 To 14
REDWOOD CITY, CA-- McGraw-Hill Home Interactive (MHHI) today announced Pony
Express Rider, Dr. Sulfur's Night Lab, Pyramid: Challenge of the Pharaoh's
Dream and The Fennels Figure Math. The company's first line of original
children's multimedia CD-ROM titles are targeted to kids ages 8 to 14 and
equally emphasize both education and entertainment in core subject areas such
as science, math, social studies and language arts. The products will be
published for Microsoftr Windowsr '95 and the Appler Macintoshr and will be
on store shelves in November 1996.
"These titles show our commitment to providing kids with equally entertaining
and educationally sound products," said Bill Nisen, president of MHHI. "They
combine innovative instructional designs, state-of-the art animation, video
and graphics, compelling story lines and richly drawn characters that engage
children's imaginations and stimulate their minds. Since MHHI is the only
publisher of consumer educational software tied to the number one school
publisher, parents will be pleased with their educational value."
Pony Express Rider, Developed for kids 9 to 14, Pony Express Rider saddles up
kids for a social studies adventure where they experience the Old West as a
Pony Express rider galloping through dangerous territories and influencing
the outcome of U.S. history. With Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane, two
legendary Pony Express riders as their guides, kids encounter many characters
such as spies and roving bandits while crossing swollen rivers, Indian
territory and difficult terrain to forge a vital link between St. Joseph, Mo.
and San Francisco, CA in a mission to get the mail West.
Pony Express Rider is based on an original series concept, AMERIKIDS from
Lynn Rogoff and AMERIKIDS USA, and developed for MHHI in collaboration with
Interactive Arts.
Dr. Sulfur's Night Lab, a science title developed for kids 9 to 14, Dr.
Sulfur's Night Lab places kids in the safety of a 3D virtual chemistry lab,
where kids conduct experiments, learn the principles of chemistry and dabble
with mysterious substances to restore order to the chaotic Sulfur Institute.
The title combines a realistic chemistry simulator with unique 3D characters
that bring chemistry to life and teach kids how chemistry is used in the real
world. As the leader of a science rescue team, kids are sent to save Dr.
Sulfur (who has been transformed into The Flying Nose after one of his
experiments has gone awry) and find his missing formulas. Kids join forces
with the doctor's specially-bred animals, such as Alkaline Alligator,
Cruncher and Saltina to explore chemical relationships and principles.
Pyramid: Challenge of the Pharaoh's Dream In this social studies title
developed for kids 10 and up, children are catapulted back in time to
discover and understand the secrets of ancient Egypt. This adventure, based
on real world history, provides an accurate depiction of this society and
allows kids to explore the technology, culture and secrets of Old Kingdom
Egypt. In addition, "virtual flight" technology and sequences allow kids to
freely explore how an ancient pyramid might have looked during the reign of
the Pharaohs. In this adventure, kids learn about the people and culture of
ancient Egypt, the process of building a pyramid, the tools and technologies
of the time, and details of daily life along the Nile. Throughout the title,
kids are guided by a helpful Scarab that supplies kids with context clues
about the different puzzles and adventure.
Pyramid was developed for MHHI in collaboration with Knowledge Adventure,
Inc. The breathtaking sets and special effects were created by the Academy
Awardr-winning production house Dream Quest Imagesr.
The Fennels Figure Math, developed for kids 8 to 12, The Fennels is the
company's first narrative-based math title and features a humorous story
line, outrageous characters, an oddly perfect house and custom Fennel
Figuring Machines. Kids need to help Frizzie and her brother Baxter (two
members of the outrageous Fennel Family) out of a predicament as five
historical guests, such as Einstein, Cleopatra, and Attila the Hun, show up
for an impromptu dinner party.
Kids assist Frizzie and Baxter with tasks and must use logic, skills and
strategies such as trial and error, hypothesis development and testing,
estimation, and data analysis to ensure that the party is a success. Applying
deductive and inductive reasoning, computation, and measurement (time,
linear, capacity, temperature and weight), kids solve problems in the Fennel
household, where it seems that anything can happen.
The Fennels Figure Math was developed for MHHI in collaboration with ECC. The
story is based upon an original concept and character set by Alan Silberberg,
who also wrote the script and has written extensively for Nickelodeon,
Disney, The Muppets and The Simpsons, among other projects.
Developed for Microsoft Windows'95 and Macintosh CD-ROM, these products will
be available on store shelves this fall. The products are expected to sell
for $40-$50. These titles require an IBM PC or compatible, 486/66 or faster
or Pentium, 8 MB RAM, 256-color monitor, double-speed CD-ROM drive, Microsoft
Windows'95, 8-bit sound card, speakers and a mouse. For the Mac, the titles
require Macintosh System 7.x, 68040/33 or faster or PowerMac, 8 MB RAM, and a
256-color monitor.
Established in 1995, McGraw-Hill Home Interactive (MHHI) is based in Redwood
City, CA. The division is dedicated to publishing original consumer
multimedia titles that equally emphasize education and entertainment in core
subject areas such as science, math, social studies and language arts. MHHI's
titles, targeted to children 8 to 14, engage their imaginations and stimulate
their minds with entertaining narratives, while making parents comfortable
with the educational value and proven experience of McGraw-Hill. McGraw-Hill
Home Interactive is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
The McGraw-Hill Companies, founded in 1888, is a leading information services
organization serving worldwide markets in education, business, finance, the
professions and government. Revenues in 1995 exceeded $2.9 billion.
Registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
Buster and the Beanstalk
Windows 95 CD-ROM
$49.99
ages 3 and up
TerraGlyph Interactive Studios
1375 Remington Road
Schaumburg, IL 60173
847-781-4100
Program Requirements
OS: Windows 95
CPU: 486/33
HD Space: 1 MB
Memory: 8 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
(requires MPC2 SVGA graphics adapter)
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 16-bit sound card
Other: mouse
reviewed by Frank Sereno
They're tiny, they're toony, they're just a little loony and they are the
Tiny Toons. Buster, Babs, Plucky and the rest of the gang from Acme
Looniversity have come to Windows 95 in an entertaining and uproariously
funny multimedia adventure game for the young and young at heart. Buster and
the Beanstalk is filled with great sight gags, caustic wit and puns to amuse
both children and adults.
The quest is to help Buster Bunny and Plucky Duck recover the hen that lays
golden eggs, a bag full of gold coins and a magical flying golden harp from
the giant who lives in the castle at the tip of the beanstalk. To regain
these treasures, you must find the three pieces for each of three keys. Babs
is cast as a fairy princess who will call out clues. All the clues are based
on animated sequences hidden within the scenes of the adventure. The scenes
are off the wall adaptations of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. But watch
out for Elmyra! If you dawdle too long in a location, she'll swoop in to
squeeze and hug Buster and Plucky. Fortunately, Babs has given Buster a
cellular phone good for three trips out of Elmyra's petting zoo.
The game has two difficulty levels. Clues are easier to decipher and Elmyra
is not present on the easy level. On the hard level, you may need a
thesaurus and a dictionary to solve the clue. Because the game has multiple
levels of humor, it is very entertaining for parents to play the game with
younger children. "Tiny Toons" cartoons are similar to "Bullwinkle" in that
many of the jokes and puns are written for adults.
The interface is very simple but complete. All game actions are done with
the mouse. The regular cursor is a curvy arrow. Simply move the mouse
around the screen and it will change to black when it is over a hotspot.
Exits are indicated by straight white arrows. To go to the options screen,
move the cursor to the lower left corner and click when it transforms into
the TerraGlyph logo. Players can save their progress, change the level of
difficulty or exit the game. The game offers great replay value because the
clues change with each play.
Buster and the Beanstalk features stunning graphics. The colors are lush and
the scenes are filled with minute, eye-catching details. Animations are done
at twenty-four frames per second in accordance to the standards of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The movements of the characters
are very smooth and finely detailed. You will feel like you are in a movie
rather than playing just another computer game.
The game features the voices from the cartoon series. The actors did
fantastic jobs delivering their lines. The writing allowed each character to
remain true to the whims and foibles displayed on the television series. The
sound effects and music are top-notch as well. Care and attention to detail
have been effectively used to create a very professional and polished game.
TerraGlyph makes a maximum effort to ensure an aesthetically pleasing
experience. You will be amazed!
Buster and the Beanstalk is great fun for the entire family. This game will
mesmerize and amaze you with its great production values, split your sides
with witty humor and slapstick antics, and entertain you with cryptic
puzzles. This is the deepest, richest and most entertaining family software
that I have reviewed to date. Highly recommended!
Kid Smarts
IBM CD-ROM
$14.95
ages 3 and up
Memorex Software Series
N-TK
18000 Studebaker Rd
Suite 200
Cerritos, CA 90703
310-403-0043
Program Requirements
OS: Windows 3.1
CPU: 386DX
HD Space: 8 MB
Memory: 4 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit sound card
Other: mouse, printer optional
reviewed by Angelo Marasco
Kid Smarts on CD-ROM is a collection of Windows and DOS children's programs.
It is part of the Memorex Children's Series and is distributed by NTK
Entertainment Technologies.
There isn't much educational value to the software included in Kid Smarts.
There are some memory games in the DOS programs and there are also two math
programs there. However, I found one thing very disconcerting. In the DOS
program "Math In a Nutshell" I found math errors! I did my best to give the
program the benefit of the doubt, thinking that perhaps I was reading things
wrong or not operating the program correctly. However, after several errors
I had to conclude that the program was at fault, not me. This really dragged
the educational value rating into the basement.
That doesn't mean that Kid Smarts lacked value. At a retail price of $14.95
it doesn't do half bad. I really wasn't expecting much from this cheap
(inexpensive if you're politically correct) package of software but I have to
admit that I was pleasantly surprised.
The highlight of the disk is "Alien Arcade." I knew I was in for some fun
when I saw the opening. Outside a space ship filled with aliens, a chicken
pops up trying to cluck. The titles read, "In space, you can't hear chickens
clucking.....but you can hear aliens having fun in the Alien Arcade." I got
a good laugh as I watched the chicken trying to cluck, realize it couldn't
make any sounds, then panic and run off the screen.
Alien Arcade is six arcade games in one for Windows. You control an alien
who is having a good time at the arcade. In "Stink Snakes" you throw pies at
snakes and try to catch them after they're hit. In "Nerdoids" you throw
comic books at nerdy little aliens. In "Quasar Klutzes" you float bananas
tied to balloons up to aliens who then eat them and proceed to trip
themselves or each other on the discarded peels. In "Quasar Rain" you bounce
falling aliens onto different levels of conveyor belts while avoiding falling
banana peels. In "Fungus Patrol" you control a vacuum to suck up attacking
fungi. My favorite was "Andromedroids." You are given parts of robots and
several chutes in which to assemble them. You have to put robots together in
the right order, recycle parts that are out of order and send alien bugs that
try to eat the parts to their own bin. It is far more challenging than it
sounds!
Alien Arcade turned out to be a real family favorite. It has high quality
graphics and is full of funny sounds. Everyone from my eight year old son to
my twenty year old son got hooked on the challenge and fun. Alien Arcade
alone earned the high bang for the buck rating I gave this CD.
"My Coloring Book" is just what the name says. It contains a collection of
coloring book type pictures. You select your color from the palette and then
click on the area you want filled in on the picture. This program is good
for younger children who have less manual dexterity but was quite boring to
my children.
The rest of the programs on the CD are DOS programs with CGA graphics that
use the computer's speaker for sound effects. Most of the sound effects were
annoying, the colors used for the screens were annoying and the graphics were
annoying. I really feel that these types of programs lost their appeal and
usefulness years ago with the fading of the 8088 and 80286 microprocessor-
based computers.
At installation, the CD created a Memorex Software Series program group to
access the Windows programs. It also included an icon within the program
group that simply instructed me to close Windows and access the DOS programs
through DOS. However, I found that it was simple to drag the EXE files for
each of the DOS games from File Manager into the program group to make them
accessible from Windows. It's a simple procedure for anyone who is familiar
with Windows. I wish that the installation program would do this
automatically so that those parents who have less familiarity with Windows
can provide easy access to the DOS programs to their children. This dropped
the interface rating somewhat.
Overall, I can highly recommend purchasing Kid Smarts if what you are looking
for is entertainment for your children. The DOS programs weren't terrible
and they are an added bonus to Alien Arcade, which really makes this a great
CD-ROM.
Ratings
Graphics . . . . . . . . . 9.0
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . 9.0
Interface . . . . . . . . . 8.5
Play Value . . . . . . . . 10.0
Educational Value . . . 3.0
Bang for the Buck . . . 10.0
Average . . . . . . . . . . 8.25
Real-Line
Windows CD-ROM
approximately $30
for ages 8 and up
L3 Interactive
3000 W. Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-264-4188
http://www.learningcube.com
Program Requirements
OS: Windows 3.1
CPU: 486SX/33
HD Space: 0 MB (requires WinG and MS Video for
Windows)
Memory: 8 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 16-bit sound card
Other: mouse, printer optional
reviewed by Frank Sereno
With warm weather finally returning to most of the country, our thoughts turn
to outdoor activities. One of America's fastest growing outdoor sports is
rollerblading or in-line skating. Real-Line offers an excellent primer on
safety, equipment and technique that will teach you to do powerslides, grinds
and verts in a short period of time. Backed with cool tunes and filled with
numerous video clips, Real-Line is an immersive multimedia experience.
The program features the Interactive Learning Cube interface. Twenty-seven
lessons are arranged in a 3-by cube in nine categories. As you proceed down
the cube, the lessons cover more advanced techniques. To access a lesson,
simply click on its section of the cube. You can watch the video lesson or
read the TransporText version. The text includes links to a glossary filled
with definitions and explanations of in-line skating jargon and techniques.
You can even print each page of the text lessons.
Real-Line is hosted by three very personable young people. Their enthusiasm
for the sport is very contagious. They will guide you through the basics of
equipment selection, proper protective wear, beginning skating techniques
through the most difficult and exhilarating stunts. I've never been able to
skate backwards, but this program provides the tips that will make learning
that technique easy and fun. The program also includes sections on proper
skate maintenance. In the fine tradition of Wide World of Sports (the agony
of defeat), a lengthy video section on "slams" is included that will remind
everyone that the sport can be dangerous.
Each lesson ends with the option of playing a Decision Game. Each game
features several multiple choice questions based on the information contained
in the lesson. The questions are presented in a humorous manner with quirky
voice characterizations and the occasional oddball answer. These questions
do help reinforce the important information of each lesson. I think that
each section could have more questions since a few questions can't cover all
the material.
To summarize, this is a fun title that can accelerate the learning and
enjoyment of proper in-line skating techniques. The sections on equipment
selection, safety equipment and skate maintenance can save you much money by
preventing injuries and increasing the life of your skates. Real-Line
provides valuable information in an entertaining way that the entire family
will enjoy.
Portable Computers Section
Marty Mankins, Editor
Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5 Bundled with Argus'
PhotoByte Printer
Ottawa, Canada-April 24, 1996--Corel Corporation is bundling its popular
image-editing and painting software, Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5, with the Argus
PhotoByte! advanced digital color printer. The bundle is available now from
Argus distributors worldwide, carries a suggested retail price of $649.95 US
and also includes one Corel Professional Photos on CD-ROM with 100 royalty-
free, high-resolution images.
"Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5 makes a powerful companion to Argus' PhotoByte Printer,"
said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel
Corporation. "Users will be able to add text, or apply professional editing
and special effects to their photos, and then save time and money by making
their own high-quality prints."
"We are delighted that Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5 is bundled with the Argus
PhotoByte! Printer," said William Pearson, president of Argus Industries.
"The Argus PhotoByte! is now one of the most versatile digital printers
available with the strong addition of Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5."
Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5
Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5 allows users to customize and enhance digital images
through a variety of special effects features. A scanned image can be given a
canvas-like background and altered with special effects such as mesh warp, 3D
perspective and glass block. When editing or retouching photos, users can
adjust color options, including hue/saturation, brightness/contrast, among
others. In addition, users can also access unique brush styles or create
their own custom brushes to add flair to an image.
PHOTO-PAINT 5 includes a powerful color management system to ensure accurate
color representation across devices such as scanners, monitors and printers.
Full color separation capabilities are also included along with support for
various color models, including RGB, CMYK, HSB, Pantone and Focaltone.
Argus PhotoByte!
This advanced digital color printer enables users to produce stunning color
photo prints directly from their computer. PhotoByte! employs dye-sublimation
technology to make extraordinary color prints called DigiGraphs which are
equal to, and superior in many ways to, traditional prints produced by a
photo laboratory.
DigiGraphs can be printed from more than 16.7 million colors. Users can load
color images from photo-CDs, the Internet, CompuServe, America On-Line,
digital cameras, scanners, video cameras, TV interface or VCR interface, and
then use Corel PHOTO-PAINT 5 to retouch, add captions or titles, correct
color and sharpness or crop the image to enhance appearance.
The Argus PhotoByte! printer bundle also includes DigiGraph print paper,
postcards, self-adhesive labels, bumper stickers, window signs, lapel
buttons, and coffee mugs that can be personalized with PhotoByte! photo
imprints.
Corel Professional Photos on CD-ROM
Each Corel Professional Photos on CD-ROM title contains 100 Kodak Photo CD
format photographs that provide users with specific categories of images.
Ideal for brochures, newsletters and advertisements, Corel Professional
Photos on CD-ROM consist of high-resolution images which can be converted to
gray scale, 16 colors, 256 colors or 24-bit RGB, and can be exported in TIFF,
BMP, EPS or PCX formats. Corel Professional Photos on CD-ROM can be read by
any CD-ROM player as XA support is not required.
Argus
Headquartered near Chicago in Des Plaines, IL, Argus is celebrating its 60th
anniversary as one of America's best known brand names in cameras. The
company provides a wide range of quality, affordable 35MM cameras, single use
35MM cameras, Ultra 35MM color print film, as well as other photographic
products and supplies. For more information, contact Argus at (847) 297-8900
or FAX (847) 297-8909.
Corel Corporation
Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as an
award-winning developer and marketer of productivity applications, graphics
and multimedia software. Corel's product line includes CorelDRAWT, the Corel
WordPerfect Suite, Corel Office Professional, CorelVIDEO and over 30
multimedia software titles. Corel's products run on most operating systems,
including: Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, MS-DOS and OS/2 and are consistently
rated among the strongest in the industry. The company ships its products in
over 17 languages through a network of more than 160 distributors in 70
countries worldwide. Corel is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol:
COS) and the NASDAQ--National Market System (symbol: COSFF). For more
information visit Corel's home page on the Internet at http://www.corel.com.
All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies. Corel is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation.
CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT are trademarks of Corel Corporation.
Micrografx Announces Third Quarter Results
Revenue Growth Leads to 186% Increase in Earnings
Richardson, Texas (April 22, 1996) - Micrografx (R) Inc. (NASDAQ: MGXI), a
leading graphics software developer, today reported income of $1.6 million,
or $.17 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 1996, a 186% increase over
the same quarter a year ago. Revenues for the quarter were $17.4 million, an
increase of approximately 19% over last year. For the three months ended
March 31, 1995, the company reported revenues of $14.6 million and net income
of $0.6 million, or $0.06 per share.
For the nine months ended March 31, 1996, the company reported revenues of
$52.7 million and net income of $4.1 million, or $0.44 per share. This
compares to revenues of $45.9 million and net income of $1.6 million, or
$0.18 per share, for the nine months ended March 31, 1995.
"This has been another very strong quarter for the company," said J. Paul
Grayson, Micrografx chairman and chief executive officer. "We are
particularly pleased with the success of our consumer products which grew
almost 350% year over year and the initial success of our corporate licensing
program for the ABC Graphics Suite. During the March quarter, the company
received the largest corporate license in its history which contributed to
growth in overall license revenue of approximately 40%."
Geographically, for the quarter ended December 31, 1995, the Americas region
contributed 51% of consolidated revenue, Europe contributed 35%, and the
Pacific Rim represented 14% of total revenues.
"We are pleased with the improvement in our operating model," added Gregory
A. Peters, chief financial officer. "We continue to leverage our sales and
marketing activities worldwide which translates revenue growth into an
expansion of our operating margins. Our acquisition of Visual Software, Inc.
provides another opportunity for the company to further expand these margins
as revenue from these additional products are realized."
In early April, the company finalized its acquisition of Visual Software,
Inc., a leader of 3D graphics, animation and publishing tools, for
approximately 880,000 shares of Micrografx common stock. The merger will be
accounted for as a pooling of interests. The company expects to take a one-
time charge in the quarter ending June 30, 1996 associated with the
integration of the two companies.
Micrografx is the global leader in developing and marketing graphics software
which enhances visual communication and empowers creative expression.
Founded in 1982, Micrografx has become a leading software publisher by
responding quickly to customer and worldwide market needs. The company's
U.S. operations are based in Richardson, Texas with a development office
located in San Francisco and Los Angeles. International subsidiaries are
located in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Australia and Japan.
The Company notes that each of the above forward-looking statements are
subject to change based on various important factors including, without
limitation, competitive actions in the market place. Further information on
potential factors which could affect the company's financial results are
included in the company's 1995 Annual Report to Shareholders and its Form 10Q
for its fiscal quarter ended December 31, 1995 filed with the SEC.
###
Micrografx Completes Acquisition of Visual Software, Inc.
Critically Acclaimed 3D Technology Joins Family of Award-Winning
Graphics Products from Micrografx
Richardson, Texas (April 3, 1996) - Micrografx(R), Inc. (NASDAQ: MGXI), a
leading graphics software developer, today announced it has completed its
acquisition of Visual Software, Inc. The acquisition became effective April
2, 1996.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Micrografx exchanged approximately .36
shares of its common stock for each share of Visual Software common stock.
Based on the approximate 880,000 shares of Micrografx common stock to be
issued in the acquisition and Micrografx's closing stock price on April 1,
the transaction is valued at approximately $11 million. The acquisition will
be accounted for as a tax-free reorganization and a "pooling-of-interests"
for accounting and financial purposes.
Founded in 1991, Visual Software publishes a full range of 3D tools and
extensive 3D data for Microsoft(R) Windows(R), Windows 95 and Windows NT.
The company's products include Instant 3D(TM), Visual Reality 2.0, Simply 3D,
and Simply 3D SuperPack. Although Micrografx will supersede Visual Software
as the corporate identity for the new company, specific product names are yet
to be determined and will be announced when they are introduced in the
marketplace.
Micrografx is the global leader in developing and marketing graphics software
which enhances visual communication and empowers creative expression.
Founded in 1982, Micrografx has become a leading software publisher by
responding quickly to customer and worldwide market needs. The company's
U.S. operations are based in Richardson, Texas with development offices
located in Los Angeles and San Francisco. International subsidiaries are
located in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Australia and Japan.
# # #
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Atari Interactive - software/Jaguar/Computer Section
Dana Jacobson, Editor
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
It's still _really_ quiet on the computing home front these days. I have to
admit that I haven't been spending as much time as I'd like to in
researching new articles and soliciting articles from a number of our staff
members. It's tough with limited time and resources to do all of the things
that you know need doing; or, that you'd like to do. It's also due, to an
extent, to the declining interest of the existing userbase to contribute
their vast levels of knowledge.
Still, we're here and we'll strive to provide such articles to keep the new,
and the old users informed. It's important, to all of us as Atari users.
Until next time...
Jaguar Section
Defender 2000 Review! Fight for Life!
GT Interactive & Atari Games!
Console Game Sales! And more...
From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
The reviews are coming in, little by little! We've got a very nice
review/article on Defender 2000 this week. Staff member Steve Watkins
provides an overview of the game c check it out to see his reaction and
comments.
GT Interactive has obtained some rights to Williams' recently purchased Atari
games. It appears that there are many development houses out there who
realize the potential for many of the classic Atari games. The recent press
release on this story is below.
We're finally starting to see some reports online regarding opinions of
Atari's recent Jaguar release, Fight for Life. We've included one such
commentary, found on CompuServe, via the Usenet.
Ever wonder how many pieces of game software have sold for each of the major
consoles? Me too. We found a report on CompuServe (unverified) which may
surprise you. Jaguar games have sold c well, read the report as I don't want
to ruin it for you! <g>
More games are being reviewed, with a few more games on the way to us for
review. Even though the flow of Jaguar games has dropped to a trickle the
past few months, we still have a number of current (and pending) games left
to review we'll be busy providing you with informative and honest reviews.
In the meantime (and dependant on the weather it may be nice this weekend), I
hope to get in a few hours in on the Jaguar while my wife is off visiting
with her sister! She STILL won't let me horn in on her Battlemorph playing!
<g>
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile -
The Latest Gaming News!
GT INTERACTIVE OBTAINS
EXCLUSIVE OPTION TO ATARI
NEW YORK & CHICAGO (April 23) BUSINESS WIRE - April 23, 1996 -- Further
strengthening their mutually successful relationship, GT Interactive Software
Corp. (NASDAQ: GTIS) and WMS Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) have entered into
agreements whereby GT Interactive has obtained exclusive options to publish a
variety of PC and 32-and 64-bit next-generation games system versions of
Atari titles. Separately, GT Interactive and WMS also expanded the
territories of their existing agreements whereby GT Interactive had secured
options to PC versions of a variety of WMS' coin-operated video games and
WMS' 32- and 64-bit products to include Japan. Financial terms of the
agreements were not disclosed.
Under the agreements, GT Interactive expects to publish its first WMS-
licensed Atari title later this year. Area 51, Tek and Return Fire are
among the popular titles GT Interactive will option from WMS. GT Interactive
also expects to create new versions of Atari classics for PC. "We are
pleased to strengthen and broaden our relationship with WMS Industries and
bring to market both the Atari titles that have become interactive
entertainment classics and future titles from the Atari development group,"
said Ron Chaimowitz, president and chief executive officer of GT Interactive.
"We have experienced great success with the personal computer version of
Mortal Kombat 3 and plan to unveil additional WMS- licensed titles at the
upcoming E3 show. Add these to the new Atari titles, and we will now bring
gamers worldwide an unsurpassed array of Williams titles."
Byron Cook, President of WMS' Williams Entertainment Inc. subsidiary added,"
Licensing our titles to GT has proven to be beneficial to both parties and
we're delighted that we're able to add Atari products to the agreements." WMS
Industries acquired Atari Games Corporation from Time Warner Inc. late in
March. Atari has been responsible for creating successful arcade and home
video games such as Primal Rage, Pong, Asteroids, Centipede, Area 51 and
Missile Command.
Other WMS titles GT Interactive has published include Arcade Classics and Fun
and Games. In addition, GT Interactive plans to debut several additional
WMS software titles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles next
month. WMS Industries Inc. is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of
coin-operated amusement games, home video games, video lottery terminals and
gaming devices, and the ownership and operation of hotels and casinos. WMS
is the leading U.S.company in the worldwide coin-op games industry.
Headquartered in New York, with offices in London and San Francisco, GT
Interactive Software Corp. is a leading global publisher of interactive
entertainment, edutainment and reference software for IBM-compatible and
Macintosh computers as well as 32- and 64-bit gaming systems. Among GT
Interactive's best-selling titles are DOOM II and Mortal Kombat 3. Located
at www.gtinteractive.com on the World Wide Web, GT Interactive is publicly
traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol GTIS.
CONTACT: Allyne Mills (media)
Dawn Berrie (investors)
GT INTERACTIVE
212/726-5600
Tetris Inventor Gets His Due
Alexey Pajitnov, who invented the addicting Tetris computer game, is finally
getting his due. All rights to Tetris, the best-selling computer game ever,
are now exclusively held by a new company that will allow Pajitnov to receive
the royalties he was denied for 10 years under Soviet-era licensing
agreements covering the game.
In a historic deal, Henk Rogers, the entrepreneur responsible for
popularizing Tetris on Nintendo Game Boy systems, convinced Pajitnov and
Electronorgtechnica, or "Elorg," the now privatized Soviet Ministry of
Software and Hardware Export, to join him in a new joint venture called The
Tetris Company.
The Tetris Company has named Blue Planet Software of Honolulu, Hawaii, the
exclusive agent to all Tetris business licensing. Prior to today's
announcement, a number of Tetris licensing rights covered a range of
platforms, including PCs, electronic organizers, handheld game machines,
scientific calculators, dedicated word processors, home video machines and
video arcade machines. Some of the former licensees included Atari, Bullet-
Proof Software, Hewlett- Packard, Microsoft, Nintendo, Philips, Sega, Sharp
and Spectrum Holobyte. Tetris has sold over 40 million copies to date and
is credited with being the game that popularized the Nintendo Game Boy
system.
"Alexey Pajitnov is perhaps the most famous game designer in the world, yet
he's always been good-natured and philosophical about being denied the
profits from his game," says Rogers. "After 10 years of being left out of
Tetris licensing deals arranged by a government that no longer exists,
modest Alexey is finally getting his due."
Pajitnov developed Tetris in 1985 at the Moscow Academy of Sciences' Computer
Center. Initially designed as entertainment for himself and his computer-
literate colleagues in Soviet academia, Pajitnov was happily surprised to see
his clever creation take the rest of the world by storm. Unaccustomed to the
financial rewards given big Western and Japanese counterparts, Pajitnov saw
Tetris as an electronic ambassador of good will.
"The creation of the Tetris Company will allow us to work on new versions of
the game like Internet, network and multi-platform play," says Pajitnov. "The
company will also give me the opportunity to create new forms of electronic
entertainment with Henk and my colleagues in Russia."
Jaguar STR Review - "Defender 2000"
"Defender 2000"
By Steve Watkins
-= Available Now =-
Developed by: Llamasoft/Atari
Published by: Atari Corp.
Price: $59.99 SRP
At the beginning of the Ronald Reagan Era (1980 for you youngsters out
there), a company named Williams Electronics debuted a little game,
Defender, in the arcades of America. If the arcade industry keeps a record
for how fast a new game becomes a smash hit, I'm sure Defender would be in
the top five of that list. Defender took side-scrolling shooters to a whole
new level on excellence.
Defender machines are (mostly) gone now, but, thanks to Jeff Minter, you once
again have the chance to blast Landers, Swarmers and a host of new foes to
your hearts content. And there are no long lines or cigarette-melted cabinet
buttons to worry about! Sure, there have been other home versions of
Defender, like the respectable, but limited, Atari 2600 version and numerous
IBM Clone knock-offs, but none have been the REAL Defender - the actual
arcade game plucked from the Williams code vault! Until now!
[Steve note: I hear the William's Arcade classics package for the IBM PC
clone market is quite good. I haven't played it.]
[Steve Note: My policy is to COMPLETE, without help/cheats, a game before I
review it. However, in this case, circumstances arose which gave me much
less time to play the game than I usually have for a review. It wasn't
Dana's fault. <G> I decided to write it anyway, since I (Minter fans too)
know that the last levels of Defender 2K merely get more chaotic and have
more surprise enemies, etc. I don't feel I've missed much, but keep this in
mind as you read the review.]
"Cars get 'WINTERIZED' - Jaguar games get 'MINTERIZED'!"
Jeff Minter is considered a programming & game design "God" within the tight
Jaguar community. His two Jaguar games, Tempest 2000 & Defender 2000, were
easily the most anticipated titles in the life of the Jaguar system. They
are also among the very best for the system. There's a simple word that
describes Jeff Minter games: quality. Minter, unlike far too many
developers today, isn't satisfied with a "q&d port" of a game. He determines
what will make a game even better - then he adds MORE. He goes for
the...Jagular. <groans from Peanut Gallery>
Like his previous Tempest 2000 cart, Minter once again gives Jaguar gamers a
choice between playing the original arcade Classic, a Plus version and the
*insane* 2000 game mode.
"So What's this Baby packin'?" - Options
There aren't a lot of options available. It's a simple game and the options
reflect that fact. Here's a quick rundown:
ú One or Two players alternate play using
ú One or two Joypads. The 6-button ProController is supported - see
Controls section in the Classic overview.
ú Sound FX/Music volume level control
ú Separate High Score tables to save your best 2000, Plus & Classic
scores.
ú Plus mode gives you the choice of flying solo or with two droid helpers.
ú Defender 2000 allows you to start new games from your previous high
level reached. However, it keeps track in increments of FIVE, so if you
reach level 16, you may start at 1, 6, 11 or 16. If you only reach level 15,
you may start at 1, 6 or 11. A nice side benefit: If you play a two player
game, BOTH start at the level selected.
"Llamas, Landers & Mutants - Oh, My!" - Gameplay
The basic game is still incorporated into each version of Defender. It's a
side-scrolling shooter in which your mission is to protect as many humans as
possible, as they walk around the surface of a planet. Certain enemies,
Landers, try to pick up the humans and carry off into space, turning
themselves and the human into a Mutant. Mutants have amazing speed and one
goal - to kill you. You must try and shoot the Landers before they pick up
humans, while you also try to clear the level of other deadly foes, like
Bombers (that drop Mines), Pods (that release buzzing bee-like Swarmers) and
a special enemy that appears if you take too long to complete a level.
Captured humans scream - well, the electronic equivalent of a scream - to let
you know they're in trouble. Fly to them, shoot the Lander carrying them
and then catch the human with your ship. Carry them with your or set them
down on the ground for big bonus points. If you miss a falling human and
s/he's too high above ground, s/he will explode. Bummer. And be careful of
your stray laser fire, because you can kill those defenseless humans too! If
you fail to protect your humans and they ALL die, the planet explodes and
all the tame Landers turn into Mutants. Only God and Smart Bombs (a special
weapon that destroys every ON-SCREEN enemy) can save you if that happens.
The outlook is bleak, but there is help in the form of bonus Defender ships &
Smart Bombs (awarded every 10,000, 50,000 and 20,000 points in Classic, Plus
and 2000 modes, respectively), a warp gate (Plus mode), armed humans (2000
mode) and Power-up Pods (2000 mode only) that award increased firepower, a
shield, or special warp tokens. Collect four warp tokens to enter a skill
test screen that allows you skip ahead levels if you complete it.
At the end of each successfully completed level, you are awarded bonus points
for each human remaining alive. The higher the level completed, the more
bonus awarded, up to a 500 per human (Classic & Plus) or 2,000 each (2000
mode). The best news is that at the end of certain levels, your population
of humans is replenished (10 humans in Classic and Plus, 15 humans in 2000
mode)!
"Beer, Wine & Dom Perignon"
A cartridge with *3* games in one, even thought they are basically the same
game, is not easy to review with simple paragraphs for graphics, sound/fx
and gameplay elements. I can't lump them all together, so I'll try to
briefly cover the highlights for each version separately.
"Beer" - Defender Classic
Anyone who's played Defender in the arcade knows exactly what to expect -
it's a near perfect translation of the cabinet classic. I say near perfect,
because I'm fairly certain a couple aspects are slightly different, but I
haven't confirmed these suspicions.
GRAPHICS: A jagged, mountainous landscape, drawn in simple, connected red
lines, scrolls underneath you as you fly around, protecting and zapping.
Little stick-like humans casually stroll around the landscape. Enemies
"materialize" (reverse explosion - very cool in 1980!) on the screen and
begin their attack. And they come in waves. Your best friend in all three
versions is the radar screen. The radar is a slim, transparent, rectangular
box at the top of the screen that pinpoints enemy locations (colored dots)
in relation to your ship (a white dot located in the middle). Space is
defined by black screen and simple dots for stars.
SOUND: No music in this puppy, just glorious robotic effects. Imagine a
deep, mechanical robot voice, mumbling its words and you have a good idea
what the majority of the sound FX are like. Mix in a little "echo" effect, a
basic laser and explosion noise and you have Defender Classic.
CONTROL: I'll say this once, as it applies to ALL THREE versions: This game
WANTS to be played with a joySTICK, but it still handles well with a joyPad.
I do not own a 6-button controller, so I can't comment on how well it works
in Classic mode. The 6-button ProController is ONLY useful in Classic mode.
In Classic mode, you have single fire laser blasts only - no rapid fire - and
your ship cannot fly backwards. You must turn around to fly in the opposite
direction. In Plus and 2000 modes, the ship CAN fly backwards and holding
the fire button down results in rapid laser fire. To turn the ship around,
release the fire button briefly and switch directions on the joypad.
"Wine" - Defender Plus
Minter kept Plus pretty close to Classic, with a twist of Stargate (the warp
gate) and a touch of 2000 thrown into the pot.
GRAPHICS: Updated enemies (sizes, shapes and colors) as well as NEW enemies
were created for Plus. The landscape SHAPE is the same, but Minter went
Acid-Trip-at-a-Grateful-Dead-Concert on us, folks. Thankfully, there's no
Grateful Dead music! <G> The mountain regions are filled with a diamond
shaped pattern that undulates and shifts in different colors (it "shimmers"
and "glows"). The sky/outer space is still black, with dots for stars, but
he added what I consider to be the BEST graphic touch in the entire game
(it's also in 2000 mode) - a Minterized (TM-me! <G>) version of the Aurora
Borealis. It looks *incredible!*
SOUND/FX: Basically the same as Classic, with some updated sounds as well.
CONTROLS: See Classic Defender
SPECIAL NOTE: There is one thing in Plus that I didn't notice at all in
Classic and 2000 - *SLOWDOWN.* It's obvious and it's there from the start.
Perhaps Minter used the Classic engine to power the updated Plus version and
it had a little trouble. I don't know. All I know is that it's noticeable
and it can become annoying and troublesome. I'm surprised it's there,
especially considering the amount of action and the silky smooth SPEED of
2000 mode!
[Steve note: Perhaps the higher levels of 2000 do slow down, but, judging
from the chaos on-screen during the middle levels, I doubt it.]
"Dom. Perignon" - Defender 2000
Defender on steroids. That's the answer to the question, "What is 2000 mode
like?" Minter went ballistic with this version - a little too ballistic.
Everything is much bigger and he filled - literally - the game with new
enemies, landscape graphics, music and excellent sound effects. Heck, even
the bonus tally screen is incredible!
2000 mode, like Tempest 2000, has 100 levels that become increasingly nasty
as you progress. If you manage to finish them all, you will gain access to
the same levels set to a harder difficulty level, called Vindaloo.
There are five more humans to protect and a wider variety of enemies &
attacks to survive. The Power-up Pods, described previously, are literally
your only hope for survival. You MUST collect them to stay alive. The main
reason being that they give you, among other things, special indestructible
wingmen to help you blast enemies and collect captured humans. The humans
become crucial as well, because they have been given weapons to help you
destroy enemies. Flying around with a long chain of weapon wielding humans
hanging from your ship is an incredible sight.
A nice touch in D2K comes at the end of your game. Minter added a line of
text at the bottom of the screen that evaluates your performance. Many are
funny and there's great variety.
GRAPHICS: The glaring difference between 2000 and Plus & Classic is the size
of the play area. The height of the screen is doubled and the length was
extended as well. The Radar is also larger. The landscape has been
completely redesigned. The redlines are history. A decent multi-layered
effect was achieved by placing occasional obstructions "in front" of the
play area (like a rock tower with what looks like a scorpion perched on top)
and a cut-out looking, short backdrop set against the main background. And
there are many different landscape sets in the game that give it great
variety. The following words describe the rest of the graphics: Sleek
(ship). Fun (humans). Spectacular (some enemies). Excellent to Okay
(backgrounds).
SOUND/FX: In-game music is included in this version. And, as in Tempest 2K,
it sets the mood well. It's not as good as the Tempest 2K music, but it's
not anything you would want to turn off either. I haven't finished D2K, so
I'm sure I haven't heard all the music selections.
The sound effects are GREAT and there's a perfect mix of old Classic effects
with the hot new 2000 samples and sounds. The humans have some nice voice
samples (Cheers, Mate!) and your ears will buzz with sounds and samples from
the enemies.
CONTROLS: See Classic Defender.
"See diagram X for installation procedure"
The D2K manual, like all Atari manuals (broken record time), is a little
lacking. It does cover the basics and that's really all you need. Still, I
wish they would stop using the multi-lingual, one-Manual-Fits-All, black &
white format and include more pictures showing/describing gameplay elements.
"Sure it looks nice, but is it ART?"
I was a pinball junkie in gradeschool/highschool when Tempest and Defender
were in the arcades. I didn't care much for Tempest or Defender. I played
(maybe) six to ten games of each. I still don't like Tempest much, but I
*love* Tempest 2K. Now I'm *hooked* on Classic Defender, but I don't enjoy
playing Defender 2000. They're both Minter updates and they're both the same
type of update (100 levels, power-ups, more enemies, vastly improved sound,
etc.), so why do I love T2K and not D2K?
I believe for a simple reason: T2K is CONTROLLED chaos, whereas D2K is
complete, UNCONTROLLED chaos. Both require non-stop blasting, maneuvering
and prayer, but T2K is on a single screen, and D2K is far too large to view
with one screen. In fact, you mainly play D2K with the *radar*, not the
main game screen. I don't like that. In T2K you knew what killed you. In
D2K I was constantly asking, "Now what killed me?" In fact, some enemies are
nearly invisible at times (against darker backgrounds) and that's annoying.
When you're zipping around a screen amidst a sea ofenemy ships and shots, you
like to at least see what you're facing.
Another point is that you must play D2K (from the mid-20's on) the SAME way
each level, regardless of what the new enemies are and what they can do.
You MUST concentrate your first efforts on collecting, usually in the same
order, a wingman, shield, better firepower & another wingman, all while
trying to save and collect humans. If you don't collect the power-up pods
quickly, you simply won't survive. T2K had one power-up (jump) and then it
was pure reflexes and strategy.
I guess that's why I love the Classic mode - you can fly and just blast away
for the whole level, concentrating on saving humans and tricky flying
maneuvers to stay alive. Simple - Perfect. Sometimes More is not Better.
Still, D2K is full of great graphics, cool sounds & music and it should
please many gamers. Who knows, maybe I'll grow more eyes and have an easier
time figuring out what's going on and enjoy it more. <BG>
The real sparkle to this cart is the love & effort that went into creating
it. All title screens are animated (Landers carrying humans) and include
the patented Melt-O-Vision, along with a rotating Yak/Atari symbol. There is
at least one confirmed Easter Egg game - Plazma Pong. The other Easter Egg
turns your ship into a SHEEP and the humans into Llamas. It is
*hysterical!* There is a rumor that another Easter Egg (game?) exists, but
there's no confirmation of it's existence...yet.
"You can't tell the players without a scorecard"
Graphics: 9 [Arcade perfect & all new, incredible,
visuals]
Sound FX/Music: 8.5/7 [Nice effects/samples and good music]
Control: 8 [Good, not great. Try joystick - if
possible]
Manual: 7 [Good for an Atari manual]
Entertainment: 8.5 [High replay value. MUCH to discover!]
Reviewer's Overall: 8 [D2K needed play balance "tweaking"; Plus
has some annoying SLOWDOWN - WHY?]
Reviewer's quick ratings comments - If you enjoy Defender, you will surely
find *at least* one version of the game on this cart that will hook you.
Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
From the 'net....
Subject: FFL: first impressions
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 96 04:57:00 GMT
From: blizzard@xmission.com (Curtis J. Hepworth)
Hi all,
Just got Fight for Life today...(thanks Dave at Bits of Fun!) =) I didn't
really know what to expect after the latest round of FFL bashing that went
through this newsgroup...horror stories of bad control, sluggish movement and
sheer boredom, etc. But I must say that I'm very pleasantly surprised with
FFL! Is it the greatest 3-D fighting game ever? No. But is it as dire as
recent reports indicated? Not by a long shot! The word was that it had lousy
control, yet I found the control to be very nearly spot on and the special
moves are among the easiest to pull off of any fighting game I've played.
True, the fights are slower paced than most fighting games as well, so if
you only like the lightning fast fighters this one may not be for you- but I
found that the more deliberate pace of FFL was helpful to me in that I
actually had time to think about my strategy and what moves I wanted to try,
rather than just blindly pounding on buttons as two blurs whiz around the
screen. If some of you are skilled enough to effectively play and enjoy that
type of game- Great! More power to you! I `m not at that level however, and
neither am I too proud to admit it. Sluggish? In speed perhaps, but in
control- no. (In fact I found the control response to be considerably
quicker than Virtua Fighter for example.) I use VF as a comparison because
it is the only 3-D fighter I've played extensively enough to make such a
statement. As for the alleged excessive length of the rounds- well, once I
started using a lot of specials the rounds didn't seem to last very long at
all. Again this is all a matter of what you want- if your desire is to kick
your opponents butt in 10 seconds flat, then again FFL may not be for you.
If however you are more like my brother and I who always turned our hit
strength in SF2 down to the absolute minimum so that our fights WOULDN'T be
all over in 10 seconds, then this may be right up your alley.
Strong points:
Very good graphics- somewhat akin to VF Remix on Saturn...I like FFL's a bit
better because of the nice look the g-shading gives to the tmaps Nice music-
again better than I was expecting based on preliminary info.
Responsive control, Ease of using specials
Many of the specials are quite exciting (though not spectacular) and fun to
watch!
Full 3-D movement (ability to sidestep and also roll away) The "avoid" button
is a very refreshing twist from the block routine! Pretty good voice and SFX
Stealing moves from a defeated opponent in order to customize and "save" (by
password) your character is a nice idea and great fun!
Beautiful backgrounds!
Nice replays- controllable from any angle, distance, etc. (Gives you some
great looks at the characters in action up close.
Seems to have decent AI- not exceptional here though.
Difficulty level is pretty good- seems to easy at first but gets a lot more
challenging by the 3rd or 4th fight. Seems to be a nice steady increase all
along. (No I haven't beaten the game yet!) ;)
Easy to use but somewhat limited combo system. (Again a matter of personal
taste- I don't have any problem with it, but major fans of KI very well
might!) <g>
Very smooth character movement (most of the time!) as well as very nice
scaling and rotation, etc.
Drawbacks:
Pace can be rather plodding (though the generous use of specials can offset
this to some extent.)
Just a bit tricky to get your character turned around to face an opponent
from time to time. (After a overhead jump for example) Some of the
characters look better than others- a few still look like they could have
used a bit more work.
Control can be a bit touchy at first- you'll notice this when you accidently
jump over someone when you just meant to move toward them =) (After a few
minutes though, you'll adjust and it'll hardly ever happen anymore.)
Some moves are better (read smoother) animated than others The game never
really quite achieves that "adrenaline rush" some may be looking for in a
fighter- again because of it's deliberate pace.
All in all though a very worthy purchase in my opinion! Seems solid
throughout- some very nice features and no real glaring weaknesses as I see
it. Definitely a game that showcases what the Jaguar is really capable of-
congrats to Francois Yves Bertrand and his team (artists, composers, etc) I
think this game pushes the hardware more than most any other Jag game yet.
Some people may find the pace a bit slow, but at least we won't have to
endure whiney "16-bit" comparisons on this one! Well done!
Lastly I'd just like to say that this game DOES have that certain intangible
that makes it very addicting! It really seems to grow on you- I can't wait
to finish this post and get back to playing it... that should say something
anyway! I hope that this post might help make it easier for someone out
there to decide if they want to purchase FFL or not- if so, glad to be of
help!
Now back to the game!
Curtis J.
PS- Merci Francois! Je trouve que votre jeu est tres chouette!!!
Reposted by...
--Larry
Zork goes online!
Check out the new online game and enter to win a Wales castle adventure. Just
go to http://www.activision.com.
We also wanted to let you know that we recently released Zork Nemesis, the
newest addition to the Zork universe. Available on Windows(R) 95/MS-DOS(R)
hybrid CD-ROM and coming soon on Macintosh(R) CD-ROM.
"In a desolate corner of the Underground Empire, an evil demon torments the
land. Here, the souls of the empire's great alchemists lie in perpetual
hell...at the hands of the Nemesis. The forces of the Underground now beckon
you to uncover the mystery behind the Nemesis' curse...Travel through five
mind-bending worlds to discover the ancient secret of alchemy that will free
the trapped souls from the evil's grip...before the Nemesis imprisons you
with the others...for eternity."
Are you up to the task? Do you dare enter the world of the Nemesis? If you
are interested, we would like to offer you a $5 rebate coupon on Zork
Nemesis (valid until August 15, 1996).
Thanks for your time,
Your friends @ Activision
From CompuServe's Atari Gaming Forums:
To anyone interested, the following was printed in the magazine "Computer
Retail Weekly"
Video-game software Market unit sales Quarter 1.
SNES 14.5 M
Genesis 10.8 M
NES 5.00 M
Lynx 3.10 M
Playstation 1.89 M
Jaguar 1.40 M
Game Gear 1.20 M
Saturn 0.75 M
3DO 0.20 M
This is not systems sold, but amount of Software sold. The data was from
Fairfield Research. Anyway kinda interesting.
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
On CompuServe
compiled by
Joe Mirando
73637,2262
Well folks, here we are again. Spring has sprung here in the Northeast and
I'm loving it. Several days of 70+ degree weather have me looking forward
to all the cook-outs and days outside to come. It's a good thing that the
sun goes down once a day, or I'd never get inside to log on to CompuServe!
Of course I do have a Stacy, the portable ST, and a portable modem so if I
wanted to run the chance of my Stacy getting melanoma, I could do all my
online computing outside! <grin>
Enjoy the spring... before too long it'll be replaced by days that are too
hot, too humid, and too long. Do what I did: Get yourself an air
conditioner, sit at your computer and check out what's up on CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forums
Chris Arrison asks:
"Does ayone know the proper DNS numbers (and other settings) to use when
setting up STIK with the PPP overlay?"
I reply to Chris:
"Unfortunately, you _can't_ use STik with CompuServe... CompuServe requires
a PPP connection, and STik only supports SLIP connections (so far).
The overlay file for CAB (Crystal Atari Browser) here in the
Telecommunications library requires that you use MINIX on your ST/TT/Falcon.
This means that not only must you run CAB from the MINIX/MiNT operating
system, but that you must have a hard drive partition dedicated to it. This
partition is not accessible from TOS, so you pretty much "loose" that
partition to MINIX.
Aside from a strange new operating system, MINIX/MiNT is slow and cumbersome.
Or maybe I'm just spoiled by Geneva/NeoDesk. <grin>
I, for one, hope the author who took over STik will be able to add PPP
support quickly (but no, I'm not holding my breath). It seems that PPP
includes error correction and other goodies that make it difficult to easily
incorporate into STik. (I don't know this for a fact, it's just what I've
been told)
If you decide to use the MINIX/MiNT overlay with CAB, be aware that there are
many settings in assorted configuration files scattered throughout the MINIX
partition that must be modified in order to successfully use CAB from MiNT.
I'm still in the process of trying to figure out what, where, when, and why
for each of them, but there do seem to be a lot of them strewn about.
Oh, BTW, I believe CompuServe is 149.174.211.5 Well, I know that this
hasn't been much help, but hang in there!"
Bill Anderson asks about using MagiC Mac:
"I was told that GDOS, or was it Speedo GDOS, doesn't work with Magic Mac.
You have to use NVDI4..."
P.Walding tells Bill:
"I assume you are having problems with MagicMac / NVDI increasing the mouse
acceleration too much.
There is an option under one of the NVDI setup CPX's to turn the mouse
acceleration off. I set it up under the Mac to the speed I want and turn it
off under NVDI."
Michel Vanhamme adds:
"Mmm... from memory: have you disabled the 'mouse acceleration' checkbox in
your NVDI configuration CPX? You could also try to turn on the 'ADB mouse
control' checkbox in the MagiCMac 'Options/System Parameters' dialog box."
Jon Sanford picks up the thread and asks:
"TouchUp & EasyDraw cant find GDOS eaven tho I put it in the AUTO folder.
So your saying that programs that use GDOS dont work with out NVDI? Is there
a special version of NVDI for MagiCMac?"
Bill Anderson tells Jon:
"Yes, it has to be NVDI for MagicMac."
Don't you just love it when an answer is that easy?? Meanwhile Colin Hudson
asks:
"I urgently need help on driving a CanonBJ10SX with Papyrus v3.58. The 10EX
and 24pin Epson ones don't seem to work. Any advice gratefully received."
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine asks Colin:
"What system does Papyrus use for printing? Does it use SpeedoGDOS or NVDI?"
John Godbey tells Albert:
"Papyrus has its own drivers--or you can use either Speedo or NVDI."
Colin explains his problem to John:
"Thanks for your reply. I am using NVDI 3 with Papyrus but still can't get
an intelligible printout with the Drivers provided. Could the DIP switches
require alteration do you think? I have tried various modes but still no
good."
George Kopecki tells us:
"I just bought an Atari Mega 4 ST with a MegaFile 30 HD.
I cleaned the thing a little. When I opened the HD case and found inside a
huge Seagate ST-238R. Can someone advise if there is some affordable 1 Gig
mechanism I could replace this mother with? (Yee-hah.)
It seems it's just a matter of a few screws and cable unplugs-replugs
(correct me if I'm wrong.) I don't mind to do it..."
Lee Offenberger tells George:
"If memory serve me correctly, most of the MegaFile 30's used RLL drives.
The Seagate that you listed, ending in the R, is an RLL drive. I would say
you will find it an interesting journey finding a larger replacement. I
don't believe that you can switch to other hard drive types, but I'm not too
sure. I think the RLL drive had the controller on-board, meaning that a
switch to another type of drive may be possible. I'll defer that idea on to
more knowledgable ones, though."
Sysop Bob Retelle adds:
"...Lee was right that the MegaFile 30 used an RLL drive. It's virtually
impossible to find new ones with that format, and ones you might find would
be far smaller in capacity than you want. To replace the current drive with
a SCSI style drive you'll also have to replace the RLL controller board with
a SCSI "host adapter". ICD Inc makes a choice of excellent adapter cards
and software that will work perfectly, for just over $100. You can contact
IDC online here, or give Toad Computers in Severna Park, Maryland a call for
their catalog and prices.
A gigabyte sized SCSI hard drive should run you about $250 or so, and will
easily fit into the MegaFile case along with the host adapter board. There
are some questions about using such a large drive with an Atari system that
were addressed here in the Forum recently... if you do decide to go that
big, you might want to post a message asking about it. Other, smaller sized
drives will work well too, and cost less. Depending on your applications,
you may not need all that much disk storage."
George replies:
"The reason I would like to hot rod _this_ MegaFile 30 is - because it is
there. It takes a lot of space, and it works, too, so I can't just throw it
away and replace with a SCSI HD. Heck, I paid for it. Otherwise, you are
right, perhaps I don't need that much HD space (1 Gig), I'm not doing direct-
to-HD. I wanted to go big, because I still remember how a "simple" three
minute Yamaha SY-77 factory demo sequence recorded into Cubase, took a
whopping 600 kB. So good music (or at least, music with plenty of MIDI
controllers) _does_ take plenty of space."
Robert Grode tells us:
"Hi, I'm kinda new to COLOR on my STe, but I though that I could use more
than ju Curently, I can only use 3 colors on the screen. I mean like if I
want to add color to my cpx icons; for example. I con only pick red, green,
or blue. It doesn't make a difference adjusting the slide rules, it just
lightens the color or darkens it. Anyone know what's wrong?
PS: thanks again to everyone who was helping with my modem problems. I'm
still having trouble but I appreciate all the tips and advise."
P.Walding tells Robert:
"You can only access 16 colours in low rez and 4 in medium rez on the ST
(without a graphics card). If you are in medium , you can choose which 4
colours , but cannot choose more than 4."
Sue Adam posts:
"I am looking for a place to buy or trade software in Southwestern Ontario
for a 520 ST computer with a colour monitor have had donated to our
preschool. The only suitable program we have at present is Bently Bear's
tying tutor. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it and so would the kids. I
have a IBM clone so I can't download stuff for it ."
Ryan Ridgely tells Sue:
"I don't really have any educational software for the old ST, but I do have a
tip. I too have an IBM clone, but I used to be an avid ST user. Great
machines...for the time. You can download software on your IBM, put it on a
disk formatted to 720k, The ST can't read high density disks, but it can
read 720k IBM disks."
James Spielman adds:
"Actually, you _can_ download ST stuff using your PC. I've done it on
several occasions.
Just download the software to your PC's hard drive as you normally would.
Then format a 3.5" floppy to _720K_ on your PC. Copy the software to that
720K disk and use it in your ST. Of course you could also download directly
to the 720K floppy<g>
The ST's will read the PC disk (when formatted to 720K on the _PC_), but the
PC will not be able to read disks formatted on the ST. I have a 3.5" floppy
that I use exclusively for this type of transfer when I need it (as opposed
to using a different disk each time). Hope this helps. If I left out
anything important, someone else from this forum will certainly catch it."
Well folks, that's about 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
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
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