RAndY's RumOR RaG July 1994 NEWS IN YER FACE Bill Gates has said he will give away 95% of his wealth, but someone calculated that if he gave away $1 million a day it would take over 20 years to get rid of it. --------------- Novell has ceased core development of NetWare 3.x and is concentrating future development on Netware 4.x. A word of advice - you might want to sell some product first. They're saying that at 4.02 upgrade will happen by July. --------------- Intel showed off a 150mhz Pentium at an Asian trade show recently. An Intel spokesman said that this chip and the next-generation P6 would be in systems late this year. They also said that 25% of Intel-based PCs sold in the 4th quarter of this year will use a Pentium. --------------- Borland posted a $76 million loss for their fourth quarter ending March 31. Sales plummeted 56%. Philippe Kahn says that the company can get back to a profitable status with the release of dBase for Windows. --------------- Microsoft just released MS-DOS 6.22 which uses a compression technology called DriveSpace. There is no functional difference from 6.2 except from the switch to DriveSpace from DoubleSpace. You can get the free upgrade via any of the pay services. (I did.) --------------- Motorola and IBM's Microelectronics division showed off some fast PowerPC computers at Spring Comdex. The demonstration of a 120mhz PowerPC running in a Power Macintosh locked up repeatedly and Apple reps pulled the machine from the booth. Explanations given ranged from surrounding ASICs running too hot to "an I/O problem." The heat sink on the 120mhz PowerPC 601 chip was too hot to touch. This is comical because one of the slams used against Intel chips in favor of the PowerPC has been the heat problems of early Pentiums. --------------- According to Microsoft, Windows is selling at a rate of 2 million copies per month - or more than 66,000 units per day! --------------- Autodesk is delaying shipment of AutoCAD Release 13 until late October. It had been scheduled to ship in July. --------------- Corel decided to ship Version 5 without Ventura Publisher rather than delay any longer. Buyers of the package will get a free coupon which can be redeemed for a free Ventura when it is ready, expected in July. Apparently they haven't had Ventura Publisher long enough to integrate what one beta tester called "spaghetti code" with CorelDraw. --------------- One rumor circulating at Comdex was that Media Vision would be bought out by Aztech, a competitor. A VP for Aztech confirmed that they had considered such actions but decided against it. Media Vision has seen their stock plummet from $46 to $3 and the industry has been concerned about the company's future. --------------- In perusing an industry periodical, I came across an advertisement for a CD from Playboy. Upon reading the copy, I see that it contains over 350 interviews with photos and audio clips - but apparently not photos of the centerfolds. The point is that if you see this software on the shelf, don't get too excited. --------------- The Patent and Trademark Office has revoked Compton NewMedia's patent covering multimedia database technology. As you may recall, the company was one of the first to do research into working with interactive multimedia and was granted a patent which had implications for almost every company producing interactive CD-ROM software. --------------- MICROSOFT - BRAVO SIERRA I've just about had it with Microsoft. How can you ignore all the articles in the end-user magazines touting the wonders of Chicago/Windows 4? Do you remember just a few years ago when Microsoft was hyping NT? Windows 3.0 was out and people were disappointed with some of its limitations. That's OK - just wait until Windows NT. Then NT comes out and it's a massive disappointment. Don't worry - just wait until Chicago/Windows 4. It reminds me of how Clinton gets his socialistic agenda passed - the Clinton hustle. And Microsoft works the same way - keep dangling a carrot and collecting the upgrade dollars. If you noticed the disclaimer on the RaG last month, you'll see that I recently upgraded my system from a 105MB hard drive to a 420MB. I knew I couldn't sell the old one because you can't get much for a little hard drive. So - I installed it as a slave. Now, what do I do with half a gig? When my computer comes on I get a little menu called the Boot Manager which lets me select between DOS and OS/2. That's right, I put OS/2 2.1 on the second drive and formatted it with HPFS. So far, I like OS/2. Version 2.1 is much better than 2.0 and runs quite nicely in just 8 megs. The included applets are somewhat pathetic, but I've downloaded some shareware stuff that is pretty nice. The Windows emulation is still not very good - you're probably better off with OS/2 for Windows (except that it doesn't work with Windows 3.11 or Windows for WorkGroups 3.11). But the speed is good and it appears to be quite stable. Multimedia support is barely adequate, but it's there. So why should I wait for a 32-bit operating system from Microsoft, an operating system that they keep saying will look like OS/2 - when the real thing is here now? Mainstream applications are still waiting in the wings, but OS/2 is a proven product. I'm not about to switch just yet because of the lack of applications. But if you want to see something different, give it a shot. I do want to mention two problems I had. When the system booted, it would not recognize COM3 (where my modem is). It will now recognize the presence of COM3 but I still can't use it. Also, I had printing problems - it wouldn't. This turned out to be an interrupt conflict with the SoundBlaster compatibility part of my sound card. I changed the interrupt on the sound card and it now prints just fine. --------------- LATE GREAT BORLAND No, they're not out yet but the ship date for dBase for Windows has slipped to July. Borland is betting their future on this product which beta testers are reporting still has some problems. At Borland's recent developers' conference, Philippe Kahn took the stage, looked out on the assembled masses, and spread his arms defiantly. Intel CEO Andy Grove called in to Philippe's on-stage videoconference. Grove's first words were, "It's amazing, you're alive. I thought I read your obituary in the Wall Street Journal." Kahn blaming the press, replied "You're never as good as they say you are when you're good, and you're never as bad as they say I am." Grove asked, "Well . . . did anyone come?" (to the conference) The crowd loved it. --------------- CLIPPER REVISITED I recently put my two cents in on the Clipper chip. Basically I think it's a bad idea for a variety of reasons. Once again I was right. A researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories recently found that it's possible to encode a message that even the government can't crack. I would take that as good news. But although this flaw does not compromise security, it raises questions about the whole system. David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center said, "The flaw was discovered on the parts of the system that are publicly known. But the guts - the algorithms - are classified. What are we not going to find out because of that?" Yet again, the government proves they are incapable of running your life better than you are. --------------- COREL 5 I haven't ordered my copy of Corel 5 yet and with good reason. Two friends ordered their upgrade and it showed up on their doorstep recently. The package comes with 5 CD's - two PhotoCDs and the remaining three are for the program. Corel has taken the cheapskate route and packaged the CD's without jewel cases. I realize that a jewel case costs maybe 75 cents, but just throwing a CD between the pages of a manual is no way to do it. Anyway, so my one friend attempts to install the program and repeatedly gets errors. He calls the number suggested which turns out to be the company that duplicated the discs. A pre-recorded message recommends cleaning the data side of the disc in case the ink of the manual rubbed off. OK, but the program still won't install. He finally went to a local record store, bought a CD cleaning kit, and the program installed - although you could see no ink on the data side of the CD. My other friend had his CD install OK. So how is the program? PhotoPaint, for one, has been greatly improved. The look and feel of Corel has changed with the addition of toolbars and the speed seems to have improved (although loading the program takes significantly longer). No longer do you have to tweak settings of the Corel INI files manually, the Preferences option takes care of backup and other annoying options you may want to turn off or on. Along the top of the screen is what they call a Ribbon Bar which has buttons for common features. This Ribbon Bar looks suspiciously like those use by Microsoft products, even to the point of displaying a short description when you let the mouse cursor hesitate over one for a second or two. Especially useful is the new Lens tool which lets you superimpose a transparent object over another object. Pretty cool, uh-huh-huh-huh. Printing still takes too long, especially if you're faxing from Corel. But it's always been that way. --------------- MORE NEWS IN YER FACE Brace yourselves for another DRAM shortage (and likely higher prices). Several large computer manufacturers are scrambling to make arrangements with chip suppliers for reliable supplies of chips. To further complicate matters, memory developers are switching from 4MB SIMMs to 16MB SIMMs, making the 4MB chips harder to get. The PC market is not the only one affected - workstation manufacturers are also being hit by shortages. Relief is not expected until sometime in the first half of 1995. --------------- By the time you read this, Microsoft is expected to release the first beta of Chicago. Everyone says they're on track for a release by the end of this year. --------------- Lotus is talking about 1-2-3 Release 5 for Windows which will offer better support for and integration with Notes. A new version of Approach will also be announced and Ami Pro 3.1 has already been announced. None of these products except for Approach will ship until at least August when a new SmartSuite is due out. --------------- A unique new keyboard from Identity Systems Technology has a "moisture-proof" membrane under the keys that protects working parts from spills, crumbs, dust, and other cooties that can gunk up a normal keyboard. Give 'em a call at 1- 800-723-8258. --------------- Until now the only games we've seen for OS/2 have been relatively simple applets like card games, Mahjongg, and the like. SimCity for OS/2 will ship any day now as will Galactic Civilizations. Other major game manufacturers are finally waking up to the opportunities in OS/2 gaming. --------------- By the time you read this, IBM should have enveiled OS/2 for Symmetrical Processing. This produce will be bundled with server products from IBM, Compaq, AST, and others. It will be available on the retail level on CD-ROM. --------------- MICROSOFT VS. STAC CONTINUED Microsoft and Stac Electronics ended their 18-month feud over data compression with Microsoft agreeing to pay Stac license royalties of over $1 million per month for 43 months. Microsoft will also purchase $39.9 million in non- voting convertible preferred stock in Stac, giving them an approximate 15% stake in Stac. In return, Microsoft received a cross license covering all of Stac's existing patents and any future disk- compression patents Stac may receive in the next five years. Stac receives the rights to use technology covered in Microsoft's related data compression technology. Microsoft will not use the Stacker brand name, but it can use Stac technology if it chooses. Stac president Gary Clow interrupted his vacation to negotiate the settlement. "Within two minutes, the basis of the agreement was reached," said Clow. --------------- PC PC WordPerfect is shipping Grammatik 6 for Windows. Besides checking your grammar, it now checks your political correctness. A bug in the program flags the word "Jew" as "pejorative." It is only supposed to warn if the word is used as a verb. A new version of the software corrects this bug. Now this is just what we need - software that ensures you're politically correct. I hate grammar checkers anyway. They're for people who didn't pay attention in junior high English class. Yet I've heard college instructors rave about these things - I guess outcome-based education is working. The thought police continue their in their efforts . . . --------------- PERSONAL: Plans are being made to have a local server connected to Internet. If all goes as planned, it will be in place by August. I'll let you know if it happens so that you can send me mail via Internet. ================================= DISCLAIMER RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various local BBS's, GEnie, and in Modem News. In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a 486-50 with 8 megs of memory, 420 MB Connor IDE hard drive, 105MB Toshiba IDE hard drive (with OS/2 2.1 and HPFS), TEAC 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA display, Microsoft mouse, Word for Windows and transmitted through a US Robotics HST Dual Standard modem. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Comments should be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie, via phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good. AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES 605 W. Wishkah Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031 (206) 533-6647 GEnie Address: RAG