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