183 lines
8.8 KiB
Plaintext
183 lines
8.8 KiB
Plaintext
RAndY's RumOR RaG
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May 1994
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NEWS IN YER FACE
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By this fall, Hewlett-Packard will introduce a color laser
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printer for under $7,000 list. It will have Resolution Enhancement
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Technology and print 300 dpi for color and 600 dpi in monochrome.
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You'll get up to 4 ppm in color and 12 ppm in black-and-white.
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It's slated for a Fall Comdex introduction and will give users
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the choice of PostScript 2 or PCL5E. Of course, they'll work with
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JetDirect and other network cards.
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They are also planning to increase the speed of new printers,
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with plans in the work to jump the next version of the LaserJet 4Si
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from 17 ppm to 22-24 ppm.
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At a recent event, the bio slide for Novell Senior VP Mike
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DeFazio was spelled "Senoir". Looks like they bought WordPerfect
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just in time to use their spell checker.
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Intel's Andy Grove showed off a motherboard prototype with
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Intel's forthcoming P-6 chip. When he set it down, the chip fell
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out. Grove admitted they still had some work to do on it.
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Someone has suggested that if CSPAN merged with The Home
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Shopping Channel on the Information Superhighway, people could buy
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their congressman along with computers that aren't available in the
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channel.
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Rumor has it that Microsoft is still working out little bugs
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in Access 2.0 and won't get it on the shelves until May 1.
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Microsoft says mid-April. My suppliers say mid-May
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IBM and Motorola's RISC division is working on a 100MHz
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version of the PowerPC 601 using .5-micron CMOS technology.
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Still no word of the new name for the merger of Novell and
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WordPerfect. Wordell is likely out and don't count on NoPerfect
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either.
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Look for a CD murder mystery from MTV that will feature their
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infamous "eye-popping visual effects." There won't be any famous
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bands or VJs but there might be some music videos.
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In other MTV related news, Sega is working on a Beavis and
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Butthead game and the caveman band Gwar will make an appearance.
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WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?
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The longer I continue being involved in computers, the more I
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wonder what the software developers are thinking.
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The guy I do aerial photography with recently had need to work
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with Paradox data from Excel 5.0. Microsoft provides an add-in for
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this in the form of Microsoft Query. But when trying to use it he
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continued to have problems. A call to Microsoft revealed that the
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drivers haven't been completed yet (and they didn't want to hold up
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the release of Excel). And they want to charge an additional $7
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for them!
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"So when will they be ready," he asks? "Can I get my name on
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the list so you'll send them when they're ready?"
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"Well, we don't have lists so you'll just have to call back
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from time to time," says Microsoft.
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What in the hell way is this to run a business? Isn't it bad
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enough that succeeding versions of software continue to gobble up
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megs upon megs of hard drive space without regard to tight code?
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Now you release a product which sells on the street for $350-$400
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and then nick you for an additional $7 for something that should
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have been in the shipping package.
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And this is just one example...
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MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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Microsoft continues to have problems getting Access 2.0 to
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market. Here are some of the reported problems holding up release:
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Object names using back quotes must be renamed or access will not
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convert the database to 2.0 format; Users must create user and
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group accounts to take advantage of 2.0 security features; Visual
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Basic applications using JET database engine are not yet supported
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in 2.0 (Microsoft is promising a DLL).
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In other Microsoft news, later this year they'll be shipping
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the object-oriented 32-bit version of Visual Basic. It will have
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enhanced data controls and will come in 16-bit and 32-bit versions
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to support Windows NT, Chicago, and Windows 3.1.
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Addison-Wesley is publishing "E-Mail Addresses of the Rich and
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Famous." You can get the E-mail addresses of Tom Brokaw, Bill
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Gates, Ed Asner, Ross Perot, and others through this $7.95 book
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I hear that Norton Utilities is having problems with Stacker
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4, in particular the Speed Disk and Disk Doctor programs. A fix is
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not expected for another six months, three months past the 90-day
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limit on tech support. Hmmmm...
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Apple has a trade-in program where you can exchange a used Mac
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or any brand-name PC, monitor, or printer and get money toward the
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purchase of new Apple equipment.
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THE ISH
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Are you as sick as I am of hearing endless drivel about the
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Information Superhighway - from government geeks who don't know a
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modem from monitor, no less?
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I've held off talking about the Clipper chip because I've
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considered it a stupid idea (look who dreamed it up) and
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uninteresting.
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Let me see if I've got this straight - data communications are
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encrypted with a chip that only the government has the key to? I
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don't think so. The last guys I want nosing around my computer are
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Bubba and Algore. Isn't their socialist utopian health plan enough
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erosion of our freedom? (Oops, I forgot about gun control.) And
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when has the government done anything right- with the exception of
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running the military and a couple other things (all of which
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they're trying to mess up now).
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I say NO to Clipper and the concept behind it. I don't want
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Janet Reno lobbing in smoke grenades just because she found a
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message that I was using in illegal copy of Print Shop. (I'm not!)
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MAINTENANCE RELEASE
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I just received the interim release of WordPerfect for Windows
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6.0a. It now ships on 12 disks and includes an uninstall option.
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They added things like AutoCorrect, which corrects your typing
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as you go along; new Coaches and other helps.
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They reportedly speeded up certain areas of the program.
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Sorry, but I don't see it. If anything the program is even slower
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than it used to be. They've taken slow printing and brought it to
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a crawl. They just don't get it.
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In fairness, they seem to have corrected the problems I had
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with faxing. The line spacing used to be compressed and now it
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looks OK.
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I hate to say it, but I'm giving serious consideration to
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switching to Word for Windows. This release can hardly be called
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an improvement when it takes an already slow product and slows it
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down further. Fortunately the upgrade is free to existing owners
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because I wouldn't pay a dime for it. Somebody down there in Utah
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needs to wake up and smell the coffee (oops, I forgot the Mormons
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don't drink coffee).
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PRO GRAPHICS 1024
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If you read last month's column, you know that I'm in the
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market for a different VLB graphics card. I've looked at the Media
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Vision Pro Graphics 1024 and finally had a chance to install one.
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Installation is as easy as it gets, but when I loaded the
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Windows drivers, Windows would no longer run. A call to tech
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support cleared up the problem and required that I set up the
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software for 3 wait states for both reading and writing. The card
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then worked fine with Windows, but with so many wait states I could
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discern no appreciable speed difference from the stock Windows VGA
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driver.
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I've always found Media Vision's sound cards to be excellent,
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and I'm sure that this card is good too - but they need to get this
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thing worked out with drivers. Everybody is buying 486-66 machines
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these days and support needs to be there.
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NEXT MONTH
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I'm hoping to see Corel 5 for review next month. I know
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they've packed a lot of new stuff into it including Ventura
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Publisher. I'll probably be using Word for Windows by then so I'll
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likely talk about that too. Access 2 should be shipping by then and
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I might even have something to say about Microsoft Baseball and lots
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of other new stuff.
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=================================
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DISCLAIMER
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RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH
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COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various local BBS's and
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GEnie, as well as 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,105 MB Toshiba IDE hard drive, Teac 1.2 MB
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and 1.44 MB floppies, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750
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CD ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA display, Microsoft mouse, WordPerfect
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for 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. Comments should
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be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie, phone, analog
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mail, or whatever method makes you feel 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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