389 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
389 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
RAndY's RumOR RaG
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December 1994
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NEWS IN YER FACE
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A new medical software package is called Voice-Actuated
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Medical Practice Image Retrieving Environment - or VAMPIRE for
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short.
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IBM calls their SP2 "the world's most powerful general-
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purpose computer." The unit has 512 high-performance processors
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producing up to 136 billion calculations per second.
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Jones Interactive has a new CD coming out soon called
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"Charlton Heston's Voyage Through The Bible." At last, the voice
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of Moses comes to computing.
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Hackers recently broke into a computer at Florida State
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University and posted copies of IBM's Warp and a test version of
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Windows 95 on the Internet.
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IBM and Hughes Network Systems have concocted a new way to
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provide software fixes and program upgrades via satellite to
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corporations and retail outlets.
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The system uses a pizza-sized satellite dish mounted outside
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the customer's location via DirecPC, a new service from Hughes.
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The dish, card, and software necessary to use the service will
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cost $1,495. IBM will begin testing with several large corporate
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customers starting in December.
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Microsoft was not content with their recent acquisition of
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Intuit. Next on the list is NextBase Ltd., a British company
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that produces mapping and route-planning software. Gee, now what
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could they have in mind for this?
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Corel has had discussions recently with IBM concerning
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producing a suite for Warp. This would be similar to their
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planned CD-ROM only suite for Windows 95.
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ASF Associates (1-800-771-3600) is marketing the NCL480
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which is clip-on light for notebook computers. It comes with
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four nicad batteries, three Ektron bulbs, an adapter/recharger,
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and a carrying case - all for just $40.
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Are you one of those whiners who's paranoid about
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electromagnetic fields? For just #39.95, you can get the Dr.
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Gauss EMF meter from Safe Concepts (1-800-646-7233). This device
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measures EMF levels and displays them with an analog gauge. It
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also indicates safe distances to keep yourself from appliances.
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The sequel to Myst, called Myst II, is in the process of
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being created using a $500,000 Silicon Graphics computer - the
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same type of computer used to create the dinosaurs of Jurassic
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Park.
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Hewlett-Packard is expected to unveil a LaserJet that will
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allow wireless printing via an infrared link.
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Novell is rumored to be dumping plans for a separate
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multiprocessing version of NetWare, and instead is planning to
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"multiprocessing enable" all version of NetWare 4.1.
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Also, MapInfo's mapping technology will be incorporated into
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future versions of Microsoft Office and Excel.
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WINDOWS 95 UPDATE
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In January, Microsoft will ship 400,000 preview copies of
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Windows 95 to users and businesses that want to familiarize
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themselves with the product. You'll pay about$30 per copy. But
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don't think you can buy the beta and avoid buying the real thing
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when it becomes available. The CD will stop working at some
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specific date (which the company hadn't determined yet). Users
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interested in the final product will have to buy it like anyone
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else.
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Marvel, the on-line service soon to be started up by
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Microsoft, will include hooks into telephone services including
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voice connectivity, fax, on-line databases, ISDN, and remote
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network access. One beta tester says "You forget you're using an
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online service. It's like being inside a Windows application."
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The content of the Microsoft Network is sparse at this point, but
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Mr. Gates himself said, "We won't measure ourselves by the amount
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of content; we want to focus on doing unique things." Competing
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online services are concerned about the product's tight
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integration with Windows 95.
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Charges will be based on content interaction rather than
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connect time, which Microsoft claims will result in lower
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charges. (Uh-huh) They plan to use the Microsoft Network to
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register software customers, take orders for products, and
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provide software forums and technical support. Eventually,
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they'll distribute software over the network as more bandwidth
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becomes available.
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AutoPlay is a technology which will allow third-party CD-
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ROMs to play automatically with Windows 95.
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Microsoft continues to claim that Windows 95 will ship in
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April, but industry insiders predict it will be more like
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November or December. Microsoft's Mike Maples insists that
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they'll ship "early in the first half of the year." He hedges
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his bets by saying "But there's a significant cost to making a
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false start, so we want to be sure that everything is solid."
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Royalties paid by vendors to bundle Windows 95 look like
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they're at least 20% higher than they currently pay to bundle
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Windows 3.1. Microsoft claims that Windows 95 has more value
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than Windows 3.1.
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Several printer manufacturers have announced that they
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intend to develop printers that will be optimized for Windows 95.
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Among them are Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, NEC,
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Olivetti, and Texas Instruments.
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Did you know that Microsoft is planning to continue selling
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Windows 3.1 after Windows 95 ships? PC manufacturers will have
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the option of installing both versions of Windows. Meanwhile,
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they're saying that things like Stacker and DoubleSpace will
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continue to work with the new Windows.
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P6 NEWS
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The first prototypes of Intel's P6 processor have been
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produced. Their main feature is called Dynamic Execution , a
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combination of three technologies - speculative execution,
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multiple-branch execution, and data-flow analysis - which were
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previously thought or be incompatible. Dynamic Exchange will let
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the P6 execute three instructions per clock cycle. (AMD's K5 can
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execute 4 instructions per cycle.) "You can do a lot with 6
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million transistors," said John Hyde, head of Intel's P6
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marketing group.
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Speculative execution lets the processor look ahead for up
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to 20 new instructions during a cache miss, then uses the
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multiple-branch-execution technology to process them and prepare
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data until the single instruction from the cache miss for which
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it had been waiting comes through. Said Hyde, "While it waits
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for the cache miss to be satisfied, the P6 basically goes out and
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looks to pre-execute new instructions."
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Hyde expects that the P6 will run the same software as the
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486 and Pentium at twice the speed of the Pentium.
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Intel says that the chip is targeted at the high-end desktop
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and server market. Now isn't that what they've told us every
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time they've prepared to obsolete a processor?
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COREL VENTURA
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I learned desktop publishing using the old GEM version of
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Ventura Publisher. I remember learning about frames and tags and
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all that kind of stuff. But when they went to Windows, it's like
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they didn't quite get it.
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Of course you know that Corel bought the Ventura program and
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has finally finished reworking it to include in their popular
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CorelDraw package. If you returned your coupon included in the
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Corel 5 package, you should have gotten a bunch of disks or 2 CDs
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which contain not only the new Ventura, but also bug fixes and
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updates for the rest of the CorelDraw package.
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The look of Ventura has once again changed to look more like
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today's Windows applications, especially to conform in appearance
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to the rest of the Corel family. Finally, Ventura has a much
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more logical menu structure.
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This new Ventura imported some of my old Version 3-era files
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just fine. It looks like they've finally done away with the need
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to convert graphics to IMG or GEM formats. That always drove me
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nuts. Unfortunately, you're stuck with some of CorelDraw's
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annoying habits - like remembering the last subdirectory you were
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in, etc. This is a nice feature, unless you've zapped what you
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were working on before and the program starts looking for
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something that's not there. Oh well...
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You are advised to have at least 8 megs of memory, but they
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recommend 16 megs. This thing is a system hog! But it appears
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to be stable and, once loaded, runs quite nicely in my measly 8
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megs.
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I switched to PageMaker a couple of years ago, so it's tough
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for me to get back into the Ventura way of doing things. All I
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can say is that they've done a good job of fixing the code and if
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you're used to the Ventura way of desktop publishing, this update
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will definitely make your day.
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MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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Media Vision sold their software division to Virgin
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Interactive for $1.8 million in cash and some bundling rights for
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titles. Media Vision closed their Westlake office.
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Cyberia is a new coffeehouse in London which is being billed
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as Europe's first "Internet cafe." The cafe has espresso, Danis,
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and a tour of the World Wide Web with a number of computers
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available for customers' use. Cyberia owner Ewa Pascoe says, "We
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don't get many anoraks." (That's British for "nerds.")
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Stac Electronics, pockets bulging with $40 million from
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their Microsoft settlement, says they'll be producing a Windows
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95 version of Stacker. The company recently bought out a company
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which produced a remote control and file transfer product which
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will ease their transition to produce client-server products.
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They're also working on NT products.
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Trial Release 3 of Microsoft Exchange (their answer to
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Notes) will ship late this year and will lack the ability to
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replicate data to remote personal computers.
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People tell me that Warp is flying off the shelves. Local
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Egghead stores get a few in each day and they're gone almost as
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soon as they're put out. CompUSA and some Egghead stores
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nationally are reporting being sold out of initial shipments.
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By the end of the year, Microsoft will release to users, at
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no charge, Internet Assistant for Word. It will automatically
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generate HTML code for Word documents.
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Microsoft is trying to reduce the "delta" that often exists
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between platform releases. This is the amount of time between
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releasing PC and Mac versions of products. Their goal is to
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reduce the time lag to about 60 days. Lag times of up to six
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months are quite common.
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I hear that Bill Gates was lured into an OS/2 booth and
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given a "Get Warped" T-shirt.
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IBM will discontinue selling NetWare in their blue box at
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the end of the year, preferring instead to sell their own LAN
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Server. IBM sales only accounted for 5% of NetWare sales.
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Modem king Hayes has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
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protection. Dennis Hayes, company president, said that they were
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stuck with too much inventory because of a demand for their
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modems earlier this year and that it severely hurt cash flow.
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"Our warehouse had more than enough raw material. Unfortunately,
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the inventory did not come down fast enough," said Hayes.
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Competitor U.S. Robotics looks at this as beneficial to their
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company, which is in the process of acquiring Megahertz Corp..
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Prah-duh-gee is planning new software called 3.1 for release
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in the first quarter of 1995. It will allow users to access the
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Internet World Wide Web.
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IBM is planning to preload both Windows and OS/2 Warp on new
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PCs so that customers have a choice.
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Someone has found a bug that affects the way the Pentium
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BIOS interacts with the Premiere II motherboard. Intel has
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adopted a hands-off policy, instead opting to revise the BIOS -
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for the eleventh time since it was released this summer. When
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asked why the fix instead of a recall, Intel said, "Intel won't
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get involved with the end user."
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Microsoft has apparently been taking lessons from Intel and
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is now bashing Windows 3.1. At a recent Microsoft-HP seminar for
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IS professionals, Microsoft showed a video where users expressed
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their frustrations over some of Windows' shortcomings. The was
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another hype for Windows 95.
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MICROSOFT UTOPIA
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Here's one you probably haven't heard about. Microsoft has
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been approaching system vendors for several months now in an
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attempt to get them to preload a cartoon-like interface for
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switching between applications - called Utopia. They're going to
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debut the software at Winter CES with an expected street price of
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$79-$99.
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Sources say that it requires at least 8 megs of memory and
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operates too slow to be of any practical value.
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Included in the package are Financial Guide, a calendar,
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Letter Writer, Checkbook (which lets you pay bills up to 2 months
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in advance for a monthly service fee), Household Manager, an
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address book, Gardening Guide, and a quiz game called GeoSafari.
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Utopia also works with Money and is integrated with
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QuickBooks.
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The metaphor is that your hard drive is a house, and the
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software lets you enter different rooms to retrieve different
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applications and use different functions. You might go into the
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living room and see a desk upon which a checkbook rests. Users
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choose from eight different "guides"; Blythe, a bee; Chaos, a
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cat; Hopper, a rabbitt; Java, a dinosaur; Lexi Lexicon, a
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dictionary; Orby, the Earth; Ruby, a parrot; and Scuzzy, a rat.
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Spies tell me that Utopia is the brainchild of Bill Gates'
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new wife Melinda French. My question is this: Are they growing
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their own now up in Redmond? Who needs or wants this crap?
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ALL THAT TAZZ
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Short for Tasmanian Devil, Tazz is a stand-alone Microsoft
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application for Windows 95 which will work with multimedia modems
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capable of handling voice and data over a single line. Due out
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at the same time as Windows 95 is released, the anticipated
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street price will be in the area of $100.
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According to Mike Maples, "Tazz is a series of things, and
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some of it's for the [operating system] and some will be products
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. . . It encompasses telephone functions, voice recognition,
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system controls, a whole series of various things." The
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application could conceivably be used for things like a
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customized voice mailbox.
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A number of modem vendors are working on this modem market.
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Among them are Intel, Hayes, U.S. Robotics, Rockwell
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International, and Creative Labs.
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P6 ALLOCATIONS?
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Could you believe that Intel is planning to allocate their
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upcoming P6 processor based on hardware vendors' advanced R&D use
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of the chip and their willingness to provide feedback to Intel?
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Intel's not talking but Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and AST are
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rumored to be among the participants. The payback is that these
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manufacturers will get priority allocations when the chip ships
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next year.
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Those not included in the Definition Partners program will
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get their chips based on as-yet-undetermined factors.
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Meanwhile, marketing manger of Intel's Pentium division
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Frank Spindler said that the company would fall "a few weeks
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short" of their goal of selling 6 million Pentiums by December
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31. But they were quick to point out that the rate was four
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times the rate at which the 486 was adopted.
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EVEN MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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In January, Microsoft will release an object-oriented
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version of FoxPro called Visual FoxPro. It is rumored to be a
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first step in merging FoxPro and Access. Microsoft has said that
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there will be one more version of the DOS-based FoxPro.
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Logitech has introduced two new digital cameras. The
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VideoMan sits next to your monitor and is intended as part of a
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videoconferencing solution. It includes a built-in microphone
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and an adjustable arm to focus the camera on the computer
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operator or whatever else you want to shoot across the wire.
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The FotoMan Pixtura is a 24-bit camera that includes a
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special software developer's kit. The camera's non-volatile
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memory can store up to 48 images.
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Wanna make your own CDs? Corel CD Creator is software for
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popular recorders which will let you create data and audio discs
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as well as mixed mode discs. This application supports OLE 2.0
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and supports both single and multisession discs. Don't know what
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the price is, but if you can afford the recorder what difference
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does it make?
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AMD and Cyrix concede that it will be third or fourth
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quarter before their Pentium-compatible chips will hit the
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market.
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Even though Media Vision has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
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protection, they showed off a new sound card at Comdex (behind
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closed doors) which uses WaveGuide technology that is designed to
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outperform and undercut wavetable-based products.
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The death of the 5.25-inch floppy disk is rapidly
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approaching. Many stores don't carry software in that format or
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devote little space to it. It is estimated that 5.25-inch
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products will be available for at least another five years, but
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manufacturers such as Maxell report that they represent less than
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15% of disk sales.
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LAST MINUTE
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As I get ready to wrap things up for this issue, the mailman
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brought me a CD from some outfit called The Merchant. On the CD
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are presentations by about 20 different companies trying to sell
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me something. Vendors range from JC Penny to Target to LL Bean
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to The National Wildlife Foundation. Each presentation is very
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well done and all of the photographs and video were excellent.
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I'm not buying anything from any of these guys, but they
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sure did a nice job of putting things together.
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NEXT MONTH
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I hope to take a look at the release package of Warp and
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give a somewhat detailed review. I certainly liked the Beta II
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release. Still waiting for one of those funky Microsoft
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keyboards. Maybe I'll see one under my Christmas tree. Of
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course there'll be more news about the continuing hype of Windows
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95.
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=================================
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DISCLAIMER
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RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by RANDALL
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AINSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY and is available on various local BBS's,
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GEnie, and in Modem News.
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In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a 486-
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50 with 8 megs of memory, 420 MB Connor IDE hard drive, 105MB
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Toshiba IDE hard drive, TEAC 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, Trident
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VLB video card, 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 Standard
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modem.
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. Feel free to
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distribute RAndY's RumOR RaG or post it as you see fit. Comments
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should be addressed to Randall Ainsworth Photography on GEnie,
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via phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good.
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RANDALL AINSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY
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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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