288 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
288 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
RAndY's RumOR RaG
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June 1994
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NEWS IN YER FACE
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I hear that the M6 beta release of Chicago has a
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challenging installation and is prone to crashes once
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installed. What was that final release date again?
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Other than that, Microsoft will eliminate suggested
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retail prices on packaged products beginning in July.
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Hardware vendors are getting perturbed at their
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inability to get 100 Mhz Pentiums.
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Windows NT 3.5 will ship in June and run as fast with
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12 megs of memory as the current release does with 24 megs.
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Testers report that the current beta release is "extremely
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solid." Only 250,000 copies of NT have been shipped as of
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December 1993.
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Microsoft is planning to open a company store in the
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Seattle area which will show off their products,
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merchandising, and packaging concepts. The store will have
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a high-tech look similar to Nike's company-owned store.
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LucasArts Entertainment Company will be introducing a
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line of Star Wars screen savers, posters, and animation this
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summer in anticipation of George Lucas' upcoming Star Wars
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trilogy.
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Microsoft is hoping to have replacement disk
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compression technology available by the end of June. This,
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of course, is in response to the lawsuit lost to Stac
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recently. Said Russ Stockdale, product manager for MS-DOS,
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"We are making sure that it meets the technical needs of
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people, and from a legal standpoint that it will be able to
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withstand any infringement claims." Purchasers of MS-DOS
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6.21 will get a coupon for a free upgrade to the new
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compression upgrade.
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Compaq prez Ben Rosen anonymously called in for
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technical support and got lost in the system after being on
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hold forever. He convinced the board to put on 250
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additional people on the support lines and did some butt
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kicking with the head of support.
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AMD recently threw a party to celebrate the opening of
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their new world headquarters in Santa Clara. The estimated
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cost of the bash is in the $1million-$2 million range.
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Washed-up rocker Rod Stewart was rumored to have been paid
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$800,000 for his two-hour gig.
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I recently reported that the new version of Norton
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Utilities had a problem with the new version of Stacker.
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Stac points out that it was Symantec's choice to release its
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product into an environment where it didn't work. (Sounds
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like someone is pulling a Clinton here.)
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WINWORD VS WPWIN
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Last month I expressed my disgust with Version 6.0a of
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WordPerfect for Windows. The program has never been speedy,
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but this interim release brings it to a choking halt.
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Here's just one example: I load an existing document
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and position the cursor anywhere, press ENTER to insert a
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carriage return, and it takes about three seconds before
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something happens. This is inexcusable. Also, I've always
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been angered with the WPPrint thing. Why can't they just
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dump my document to the Windows Print Manager and get it
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over with? It's just another thing to slow things down and
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Version 6.0a really slows down here.
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So, after completing last month's RaG, I erased
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WordPerfect for Windows and installed Word for Windows.
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Now here's a program that really snaps. I type
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something and it immediately appears on the screen - bizarre
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concept. I print the document and it goes to the printer
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NOW - pretty radical.
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There are features WordPerfect has that I'd like to see
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incorporated into Word. I like the idea of Quick Lists and
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having file management features under the File Open menu.
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The AutoFormat feature of WordPerfect works as a toggle
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while Word's Format Painter is a one-shot deal. I prefer
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this feature as a toggle.
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I prefer WordPerfect's envelope printing. WordPerfect
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allows you to store multiple return addresses and addressees
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that you mail to often.
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Feature for feature, both programs seem to be about
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equal. It's taking a little bit of time to learn a new way
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of doing things but it's not a painful process. So far, I
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like it.
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MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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This fall Intel will begin shipping samples of a 3.3
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volt 75mhz Pentium for use in portable systems. They're
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already having trouble meeting demand for the 100mhz DX4
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chip with severe backlogs reported. This is because the
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chip is manufactured on the same fabrication lines as the
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90mhz Pentium. The conversion of the line back to DX4
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production will not happen until later in the summer.
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IBM is finally replacing MS-DOS on systems they sell
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with PC-DOS. The goal is to preload systems with IBM DOS
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and eventually Personal OS/2. IBM's recently introduced PC-
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DOS 6.3 includes integrated data compression and they're
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banking that they can eat into sales of MS-DOS (which at the
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present does not have data compression).
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Lotus has announced 1-2-3 Release 4 for DOS which gives
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you a graphical interface with tabbed worksheets, a manager
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for multiple scenarios, better integration with cc:Mail, and
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enhancements such as cell notepads. The product ships in
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June and will work with files, keystrokes, and macros from
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previous versions. It will require a 286 and 2 megs of
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memory.
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Remember hearing about Broderbund and Electronics Arts
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plans to merge a while back? The wedding is off. Stocks of
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both companies fell during the interim and a new agreement
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could not be negotiated. Broderbund made a one-time payment
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of $10 million and called off the deal.
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Ensoniq, manufacturer of professional keyboards, will
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soon introduce a 16-bit 32-voice sound card based on the
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wavetable technology used in their keyboards. It will carry
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an estimated street price of $199 and will be bundled with
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Audiostation and SuperJAM!Jr. The card has an onboard CPU
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which they claim will prevent pops and clicks on audio
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tracks and sluggish video performance. Unfortunately the
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card will have a proprietary interface for Sony, Mitsumi,
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and Panasonic CD drives. The Ensoniq card will support the
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normal standards for PC sound.
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(The keyboard player in my band plays an Ensoniq SQ-2
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and it sounds excellent.)
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Intel is hassling with New Mexico authorities because
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their chip fabrication plant uses large quantities of water
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and dries out the aquifers.
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Paradox for Windows 5.0 is now in beta testing and is
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due out this summer. Included are a new integrated
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development environment with a flexible debugger, more than
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100 new ObjectPAL methods and 200 new ObjectPAL properties,
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interactive tutors, better online help, and a project viewer
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that lists working directories by type. There is also
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support for OLE 2.
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Bill Gates was recently interviewed by Connie Chung and
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it's what you didn't see on the air that's interesting.
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Bill got mad when she mispronounced DOS as "dose" and Novell
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as "novel". Chung admits to the "dose" but not the "novel".
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Apparently Bill got real mad when she questioned his
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character. (Sounds like he's been taking lessons from
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Clinton)
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ACCESS 2.0
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I am not proficient when it comes to relational
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databases. I use Access primarily for mailing lists - sort
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of like using a bulldozer for smoothing out your garden.
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This upgrade corrects some of the weaknesses of the
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initial release. Wizards abound for almost every task,
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almost to the point of being annoying. Microsoft has
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incorporated the Rushmore technology from FoxPro, and as a
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result, queries are now noticeably faster.
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You've also got customizable toolbars which are more
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consistent with the rest of Microsoft's applications.
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I do have a couple of complaints. When you install
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Access, it installs some network features. This is fine if
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you're on a network, but it should be able to detect whether
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you are or aren't and act appropriately. Related to
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networks, when you open a database Access creates an LDB
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file which is used for network record locking.
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Unfortunately it also does this if you're not on a network
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and only serves to fill up your hard drive with useless
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files. The documentation says you can delete the LDB's but
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Access will recreate them the next time you open the
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database. I find this quite annoying and wish there were
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the ability to turn off this "feature".
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A GUT REACTION
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If you've read down this far, you know that I have
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switched to Word for Windows. I also use Excel and Access.
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Along with these applications, I'm also using Windows for
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Workgroups and MS-DOS.
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Since switching to Word, I've noticed something that
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makes me curious. It seems like all of these Microsoft
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products work together unlike other programs I've used
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through the years. Now, I'm not accusing anyone of
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anything, and I can't point to anything concrete. But it
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appears to me like Microsoft Windows applications are all
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working together in a smooth, coherent fashion.
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My question is this: why? Is there something
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Microsoft knows that third party developers don't? Or is it
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that Microsoft just has a better understanding of how
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everything works together?
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Again, I'm not suggesting that Microsoft has any hidden
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or undocumented code that allows them to develop better
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software. It's just that there's something different going
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on (by using all Microsoft products) that I can't quantify.
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I'd like you to drop me a note and tell me if you have
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the answer, tell me if you've had the same feeling about
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this.
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A STACKED DECK
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I just downloaded a file from the WordPerfect section
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of GEnie because the file description was so funny. It said
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that WordPerfect 6.0a was faster than Word for Windows.
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According to their exhaustive tests, the new WordPerfect
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was:
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Five times faster opening a 500-page document with simple
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text and font attributes
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Four times faster cursoring through a document top to
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bottom
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Six times faster changing the font in a 50-page document
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from Arial to Courier
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Two times faster spell-checking a document with no
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spelling errors
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Four times faster saving a file with changes
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Two times faster opening a 50-page WordPerfect 5.x
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document
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This is all real nice, but take a look at what they've
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chosen for comparisons - faster spell-checking a document
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with no errors? How about retrieving a document,
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positioning the cursor anywhere, and pressing ENTER? It
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took me at least 3 seconds for something to happen on the
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screen.
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I don't want to attack WordPerfect unduly. But my
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experience thus far since switching to Word is that it is
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noticeably faster regardless of what operation you're
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performing.
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GENIE FOR WINDOWS
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If you're a member of GEnie and are not using Aladdin
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software, you know what a complicated system it can be.
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I've been a member since 1986 and still can't figure out
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their message base.
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Aladdin is GEnie's DOS-based front-end software. It
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works fine, but it would be nice to have Windows-based
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software (like the other services have). Well, in looking
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around GEnie's RoundTables I found that they're open beta
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testing GEnie for Windows.
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I downloaded the massive file and installed it. The
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software looks good on the screen, but since there's no
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documentation there are some things that I just can't figure
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out. If any of you readers can answer my questions, please
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send me some E-mail or something.
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I'd like to know - how do I set it up like Aladdin - so
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I can select a menu option or hit a key and have the
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software logon, check for new files since I was last on, and
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download mail. The software has a To Do Manager and a File
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Cabinet, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to
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automate the system.
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When you are first connected, you're presented with a
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somewhat graphical menu through which you can navigate to
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wherever you want to go. The interface is pretty much a no-
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brainer, but I don't see the point of using special software
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if I can't automate it and save a little money online.
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I also don't see where you can have multiple
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configurations, such as one for 2400 and one for 9600.
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=================================
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DISCLAIMER
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RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by
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AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various
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local BBS's, GEnie, and in Modem News.
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In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on
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a 486-50 with 8 megs of memory, 420 MB Connor IDE hard
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drive, 105MB Toshiba IDE hard drive, TEAC 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB
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floppies, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD
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ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA display, Microsoft mouse, Word for
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Windows and transmitted through a US Robotics HST Dual
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Standard modem.
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. Comments
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should be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie,
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via phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel
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good.
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AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES
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605 W. Wishkah
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Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031
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(206) 533-6647
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GEnie Address: RAG
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