textfiles/magazines/RRR/rrr199501.txt

RAndY's RumOR RaG
January 1995

NEWS IN YER FACE
      The  Flexible  PC Company is working on a  voice  interface
computer  that  will fit on your belt.  It consists  of  flexible
PCMCIA  cards that process and transmit voice commands between  a
person  using a speaker or earphone and the memory and  processor
cards.   The  cards  can  then be plugged  into  a  free-standing
computer for input into a data network.
---------------
      IBM  sent out a promo pack to computer industry media which
included  a  version of Warp and a bunch of pro-Warp information.
Some reviews were less than glorious except for one which ran  in
Infoworld.   Seems their review was written by a free-lancer  who
also  worked  for IBM - and he created the reviewers'  guide  for
Warp!
---------------
     Compaq has filed a lawsuit against Packard Bell which claims
that  Packard Bell violated three Compaq technology patents.   No
one  is  talking specifics, but it has to do with some of Packard
Bell's desktop and notebook computers.
---------------
      In  an  effort to boost sales, Lotus is selling their  OS/2
SmartSuite with OS/2 Warp for $219.  BT&T Consumer Technology  is
going  to  give  away  250,000 copies of their  OS/2  tax  return
program Taxdollars 1994.
---------------
      A  test  of  an  experimental telephone  voting  system  in
Alberta,  Canada  became a debacle recently.  Maritime  Telegraph
and  Telephone Company claimed the system could handle 500  calls
per minute, but when 11,000 people tried to vote in less than six
hours, the system came to a screeching halt.  Thousands of voters
couldn't   get  through  and  others  were  told  their  personal
identification numbers had already been used.
---------------
      Corel  says they'll develop for both OS/2 Warp and  Windows
95.   While  not  elaborating on which of their  titles  will  be
released  for  Warp, the ones they choose will be  released  next
year.
---------------
      Take  a  look at the anti-capitalist liberals who want  the
Justice Department to look into Microsoft's acquisition of Intuit
-  Howard  Metzenbaum, Paul Simon, and Ted Kennedy. (More  people
died at Chappaquidick than at Three Mile Island)
---------------
      "Today  we have to turn PCs off and on.  When you  leave  a
restroom, the toilet flushes automatically." - Apple CEO  Michael
Spindler, explaining that the computer industry has a long way to
go to be truly user friendly.
---------------
     Seems like Gateway computers have trouble running Windows NT
3.5.  Sometimes the software can't be installed or runs poorly on
their 486 and Pentium-based computers.  Gateway insiders claim it
may be because the company uses antiquated video cards and old CD-
ROM drives in order to cut costs.
---------------
      Microsoft's At Work effort has hit the brakes with plans to
narrow  the technology as a part of Windows 95.  Originally  seen
as a standard operating system architecture and interface for fax
and  copy  machines and office telephones, the efforts have  been
largely unsuccessful.
---------------
      Swan  Technologies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy  and
was promptly picked up by Zenith Data Systems.
---------------
     Intel is looking to introduce a 120mhz Pentium in late first
quarter of 1995 and is delaying the P24T overdrive until January.
Wonder if they'll fix the floating point bug.
---------------
      Corel  has  licensed CAD technology for  their  Windows  95
product which will also be used in a separate product, CorelCAD.
---------------

WARP
      It's here today - a 32-bit operating system that runs  your
DOS  and  Windows  programs!  You don't have to wait  until  next
year.
      I ran the OS/2 Warp Beta II for a little while and found it
a tremendous improvement over version 2.x.  Now the real thing is
here and I'm just a little disappointed.
      Installation  from CD takes a while but  it's  better  than
doing  the  floppy shuffle.  The IBM BonusPak is  provided  on  a
second CD.
      What  you'll see after the installation is a new OS/2  with
animated  folders, good multimedia support, and numerous  options
to make the system as colorful and as noisy as you want.
      The  big disappointment is that the general release product
runs  slower  than the beta did.  What's with that?  I'm  running
with  8  megs  and  I know it should be faster.   Sometimes  when
double-clicking  an object, it can take several seconds  for  the
icons in the folder to appear.
      On  the  plus side, in the beta version, installing Windows
support  rendered my Windows for Workgroups 3.11  unrunable  from
normal  DOS.  It would hang up after a few seconds of  the  title
screen.   The  commercial release of Warp doesn't do  that  so  I
don't  need  to  keep  backups  of my  WIN.INI,  SYSTEM.INI,  and
WIN.COM.   (I still do anyway.)  Running Windows from OS/2  still
makes  the mouse a little sluggish, even after setting  the  idle
sensitivity to 100.
      The BonusPak included in the package contains several mini-
applications  ranging from Internet access tools to a  bare-bones
integrated  package  called IBM Works to  conferencing  software.
Kiss 12 megs of your hard drive goodbye.
      IBM  Works  is  pretty sparse, but at  least  lets  you  do
something  with your new operating system.  What did you  expect,
SmartSuite?   A stripped down version of HyperACCESS is  included
and  is  installed in a folder someone jokingly  called  the  IBM
Information Superhighway.  At least they still have  a  sense  of
humor.   Although  the comm software is a Lite version,  it  will
still  get  you online easily and whet your whistle for something
more  robust.  I couldn't test the Internet tools because I don't
have Internet access.
      The  point  here is that this is a tested 32-bit  operating
system  that is here TODAY.  And with Warp, I don't have  to  get
all  new  software.  Everything I have works just fine.  I  still
say that OS/2 is a better DOS than DOS.
      IBM is selling this pretty cheap and you owe it to yourself
to  at least check it out.  If you've got the system resources  I
think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what OS/2 has become.
      Says Dan Lautenbach, VP of IBM's personal software products
division,  "Our manufacturing facility is working round-the-clock
to fill channel orders and help us build inventory."
---------------

THE PENTIUM DEBACLE
      By now you've sure heard about the bug found in the Pentium
chip.   As  I  write  this,  IBM has temporarily  ceased  selling
Pentium-based computers and Intel is distributing a software  fix
which  will disable the instruction which causes the  error.   In
case you've missed out, here's what happened.
      Electronic Engineering Times recently reported a  floating-
point bug in the Pentium chip.  Intel quickly provided a fix, but
did  not  seem  sorry.  One spokesman said,  "this  doesn't  even
qualify  as  an errata.  The casual user might see  [the  glitch]
once every 27,000 years."
      Some  scientific users who were affected did feel  slighted
and  caused  Intel CEO Andy Grove to issue the following  apology
via Internet: "I am truly sorry for the anxiety created among you
... It's clear ... some of you are very angry at us."
      A  local  user  came  up with these  jokes  regarding  this
problem:

What's  another name for the "Intel Inside" sticker they  put  on
Pentiums?
     The Warning Label.

What  algorithm  did  Intel  use in  the  Pentium  floating-point
divider?
     "Life is like a box of chocolates." F. Gump - Intel

Why didn't Intel call the Pentium the 586?
      Because they added 486 and 100 on the first Pentium and got
585.99983605

According  to  Intel, the Pentium conforms to the IEEE  standards
754  and  854  for  floating-point arithmetic.   If  you  fly  an
aircraft   designed  using  a  Pentium,  what  is   the   correct
pronunciation of IEEE?
     Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieieeeeeeeee!

     Here are some new reasons for buying a Pentium:  Your old PC
is  too  accurate;  provides a good alibi  when  the  IRS  calls;
attracted  by Intel's new "You don't need to know what's  inside"
ad campaign; you've always wondered what it would be like to be a
plaintiff;  current  paperweight is not big  enough;  you  always
round off to the nearest hundred anyway.
      Meanwhile,  Microsoft  is planning  to  put  floating-point
emulation into Windows NT.  The emulation package will likely  be
distributed as a patch to NT customers early next year.
      There  are  now reports that the Calculator applet  shipped
with Windows has a bug having to do with subtracting numbers that
end in .01.
       Wall  Street  moguls  Smith  Barney  checked  600  Pentium
computers  shortly after Thanksgiving and replaced 200  with  new
Pentiums  which  were  flown in from Intel.   The  remaining  400
computers were to have new chips by the end of the year.
      Intel's  Andy  Grove recently said, "I think  [the  Pentium
situation]  has  renewed contact with individuals and  heightened
our appreciation for OEMs and end users of our products."
      The Internal Revenue Service has proclaimed that they won't
accept excuses from taxpayers that their Pentium caused an  error
in a tax return.  Says the IRS, "If the flaw causes an error in a
spreadsheet  incorporated  into  a  tax  return  submitted  by  a
taxpayer, the individual is ultimately responsible."
---------------

WINDOWS 95 UPDATE
      It's  difficult to be right all the time, but it's a burden
I'll gladly bear.  Just a week ago (as I write this) I read where
Microsoft was sticking to their first half of 1995 ship date.  At
that time (actually before that) I said that this was a clue that
they  were getting ready to push back the date.  Of course I  was
right.  By my calculations (not using a Pentium), August is month
#8  which leaves Microsoft with only 4 months to market a product
containing the year in it's title.  What will happen next January
1?  Looks like a good time to send out the maintenance release.
      You've likely heard about the Internet joke where Microsoft
was  buying the Catholic Church.  Actually, Bill Gates would live
to buy the church so he could extend the calendar three months so
Microsoft  won't have to change the name for Windows  95.   Given
the  current  situation  regarding Windows  95,  I  predict  that
they'll change the name before it's released.
       Microsoft  has  an  agreement  with  China's  Ministry  of
Electronics  Industry for a Chinese language version  of  Windows
95.
      Microsoft has set the minimum memory requirement at 4 megs,
but they're now recommending using at least 8 megs.
      Meanwhile,  independent software vendors are not  going  to
react  well  to the news of Windows 95's delay.  This  will  send
companies  scrambling to continue work on 16-bit  projects  while
maintaining  development  of 32-bit applications.   For  example,
Novell  is  planning to release both 16-bit and 32-bit suites  in
1995 as well as interactive CD-ROM games.
      The  $30  pre-release versions of Windows 95  will  not  be
available until the end of March.  Boy, there's a surprise!
---------------

WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW
      I  recently  had the opportunity to work with  the  Beta  2
October  1994  release of Windows 95.  Much  attention  has  been
given  in the press to this vaporware and I wanted to see  if  it
was living up to the hype.
      You  who  follow the RaG know that I have been critical  of
Microsoft  and the hoopla surrounding Windows 95.  I continue  to
be concerned.  I have some concerns over the method Microsoft has
chosen  to  structure memory which can lead to  problems  running
present  day  16-bit applications.  And, of course,  they're  not
going to make it to market by June 30th.
     Rather than tell you everything Windows 95 has, you can read
that in any of the end-user magazines.  What I will attempt to do
here is present information based on what I saw and did with this
beta release and draw some comparisons with OS/2 Warp.
      To  begin,  the  installation was from 17  disks  and  went
flawlessly.  The installation procedure asked if I had  either  a
network  card  or  a  CD-ROM,  beyond  that  it  sniffed  out  my
configuration quite well.  Expect installation from  floppies  to
take about 45 minutes.  I've heard of others taking all day to do
it.  Go for the CD.
      Windows 95 did not want to install on any drive other  than
C.   I  had been running with Boot Manager and OS/2 on my  second
hard  drive.   Microsoft  wants it on your  first  hard  drive  -
period.
      I  have  to  give  credit  to Microsoft's  art  department.
They've done a fantastic job of making the operating system  look
pretty.   The  attention to detail is very good and  the  overall
look is pleasing yet professional.
     The obvious first question is "how fast is it?"  I've worked
with  OS/2  Warp  and  the  speed  in  the  release  product  was
disappointingly  slower than the Beta.   But  the  speed  of  the
Windows  95 beta was impressive.  The whole system really  snaps.
It's much faster than the best tweaked Windows you'll find today.
      The  way  you  start  a  program is easy  enough,  but  I'm
wondering if I'll tire of having to click on Start, then maneuver
through  the pop-up menus.  I didn't get a chance to  go  through
much  of  the  help system to see if there's a way  to  assign  a
keystroke  to  an application as you can do now.  I  would  favor
this  approach.   But I do like the way that  the  fly-out  menus
appear just by passing the mouse cursor over a menu option.
     All the reviewers are going nuts over the Explorer.  I don't
know  why.   It's  just  a  glorified  File  Manager.   I'm   not
impressed.  I had to hunt like hell to find where I go to  format
a disk.
      And  can  someone  tell  me what useful  function  the  "My
Computer"  serves?   I  realize that it provides  access  to  the
control  panel and drive icons, but these are features  that  are
duplicated elsewhere.
     The Macintosh has a garbage can and OS/2 uses a shredder for
deleting  files.   Leave it to politically correct  Microsoft  to
give us a recycling bin.  You are given the option of immediately
deleting  files which are dragged to the bin or waiting  until  a
user-defined number of objects accumulate.
       Interestingly,  Scandisk  and  Defrag  are  run  from  the
graphical interface rather than from a command line.
      The  whole interface is quite customizable.  Clicking  with
the  right  mouse  button  on any object  lets  you  adjust  that
object's properties (like OS/2).  Everything is very intuitive  -
I didn't need any kind of documentation to make it work.
      They've done something to Video for Windows (WinG?) so that
AVI  files  are  much smoother and not quite so  pixelated.   You
won't  think  it's a live video signal but it's much better  than
we've  seen  so far.  Unfortunately, you're still  stuck  with  a
small window.
      The  creative artists have also run wild.  When you copy  a
file,  you get a dialog box with a file folder on each side.   As
the  copying  progresses, papers fly out of the left  folder  and
drift across the box into the other folder.  Cute, but a waste of
clock cycles.
      Overall, it's impressive for this stage of beta testing.  I
wonder  if  they'll bloat the code by the time it's  released  so
that it performs like a 286.  Wanna bet?
---------------

MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
      Microsoft will give Windows NT the interface of Windows  95
sometime next summer.  They'll port the interface within 90  days
of  Windows  95's release (whenever that is).  Says  a  Microsoft
official, "it will be part of the normal NT service packs we send
out to users."
---------------
      Members of HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) recently  held  a
10th  anniversary  celebration for their quarterly  magazine  for
hackers called 2600.  While at a New York hotel which hosted  the
shindig, members hacked the hotel's computer system, built  phone
dialing machines, and tried to produce a new magnetic subway fare
card.
---------------
      Somewhere  on  the Internet is a program called  PentiuMath
which "simulates" Pentium performance.  For example, if you enter
2x2 you get 3.999286 for the answer.  A version for the Newton is
also available.
     It's a joke, get it?
---------------
     Hundreds of citizens have sent letters to new members of the
House of Representatives asking support for free online access to
congressional documents.  Besides the documents already available
online,  things like Congressional Research Service  reports  and
Federal Election Commission campaign filings are being requested.
As I get ready to release this month's RaG, this is a done deal.
---------------
      Geoworks  has started testing the Geos operating system  on
Intel's 486-based chip (code-named Hummingbird) which is designed
for handheld devices.
---------------
       Media  Vision  has  come  out  of  Chapter  11  bankruptcy
protection.  A court approved their reorganization plan  and  the
SEC.  They are expected to be traded on NASDAQ soon.
---------------
      The  Utopia front end for Windows that I talked about  last
month  will be released on March 31 under the name of Bob.   This
is  a  hokey  interface  that lets you assume  one  of  different
personalities  and  maneuver through  various  rooms  to  perform
tasks.  The price is that you'll need at least a 486 with 8  megs
of memory.  Whoopee - doo.
---------------
      IBM  has  released an update to Warp's Klondike  and  Chess
games.   They've just added some bells and whistles, but  nothing
remarkable.  You can find the file on any of the pay services.
---------------

ENCARTA 95
     If you want a preview of the interface for Windows 95, check
out the new version of Encarta.  This has always been my favorite
multimedia encyclopedia and Microsoft has kept improving on it.
      Of  course  there  are new articles, new video  clips,  new
animations, and just a bunch of new stuff in general.  There  are
even  a few interactive activities which are fun and interesting.
But  it's  the interface that's the big news here.  You  get  the
same  fly-out style of menus that open as you pass the mouse over
them  as  Windows 95 will have if they ever release it  (couldn't
resist that one).
      They've done something to Video for Windows because the AVI
files  now  play  much smoother and considerably less  pixelated.
This looked to me like the same technology used in the Windows 95
beta that I tested - very impressive.  The sound is also improved
with less hiss than previous versions.
      The politically correct theme of many subjects continues to
show through.  It's probably from drinking too much latte on  the
Redmond campus.  If you can overlook the liberal bias on some  of
the cultural and political subjects you'll still be pleased.
      The  street price is running about $75 for Encarta  95  and
that's  an excellent value.  Go try to buy a set of encyclopedias
and videos for that price.
---------------

MS GOLF 2
      If there's anything more boring than actually playing golf,
it  would  have  to  be  watching someone else  play  it  on  TV.
Computer golf games generate the same level of excitement for me.
     Microsoft has enhanced their popular Windows-based Golf game
to  allow  more customization of the on-screen players (different
colored hair, shirts, and skin).  The photo-realistic backgrounds
are  even better and they include a utility to convert any  other
courses you're using now.
      Golf  now gives you lessons for aiming your shot, improving
your play, etc.  They're including the Firestone Country Club now
so  if  you've got the first version you've immediately  got  two
different  courses  to  play.  Scorecards  print  out  much  more
attractively.
      I  found  the  swing and putting to be more sensitive  than
before.  Older courses which have been converted give poor detail
in  the  distance but that's really no big deal.   The  rendering
overall is much better and you now see the players and course  in
a  full-width  screen view instead of the little window  you  had
before.
      You've still got the sounds of the outdoors and comments on
your  shots.   Microsoft  uses the Win32s  extensions;  for  what
reason I'm not sure.  If you liked the first version, you'll like
this one.
---------------

NEXT MONTH
      Beats  me what'll turn up.  I'll probably never see one  of
those new Microsoft keyboards so that's likely out.
      Some  months  I have an idea of what I'll be talking  about
next  month, other times I don't.  Next month will be a  surprise
to both of us.

                =================================

                          DISCLAIMER
     RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by RANDALL
AINSWORTH  PHOTOGRAPHY 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, 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.  Feel  free  to
distribute RAndY's RumOR RaG or post it as you see fit.  Comments
should  be  addressed to Randall Ainsworth Photography on  GEnie,
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     RANDALL AINSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY
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