271 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
271 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
RAndY's RumOR RaG
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February 1995
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NEWS IN YER FACE
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Under the heading of dumb software comes Microsoft Bob.
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I've discussed this stupidware previously in this column, but now
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Microsoft is starting to hype it. Let's see, a piece of paper on
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a desk represents a word processing application, cartoon
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characters like a dog called Rover which give on-line help via
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text statements, and Microsoft says that eventually the
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characters will have speech capabilities. Who asks for this
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crap?
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Some industry wonk recently predicted, "I think in five
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years some kind of talking head will be the standard way the
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computer communicates." Not on my machine, buddy.
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After being introduced at CES, few PC manufacturers
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expressed an interest in bundling the product with their systems.
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Insiders expect it to sell well to the teen crowd and PC
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neophytes who are intimidated by current interfaces. Microsoft
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is shooting for sales figures in the same range as those for
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Works.
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In related stupid software news, Novel is testing a product
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called Corsair which is similar to Microsoft Bob.
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Rocker Peter Gabriel is planning to build his own
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interactive software company, Real World Multimedia. A new CD-
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ROM called Xplora combines Gabriel's music with interactive
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multimedia images.
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Look for a new technology from Microsoft called Surround
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Video. According to a spokesman, "It puts the user in an
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environment that is photographically real." Users can view a
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still image at 360 degrees by just moving the mouse. It's like
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you're standing in one place and turn your head to see a full
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panorama. The technology also allows for full-motion video and
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sound to be layered on top.
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Two new screensavers you've got to get - The Women of
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Playboy and The Beavis and Butthead Multimedia Screen Saver. Uh-
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huh-uh-uh-huh-huh-mmmm-huh-huh.
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Sound card makers Aztech have made an 8.3% equity investment
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in Reveal, a company loosely related to Packard Bell.
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There's a problem with the replacement Pentium chips being
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shipped out. Some chips are overheating if the heat sinks are
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not compatible with the replacement chips. Intel offers OEMs a
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universal heat sink, but some vendors change the design.
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The beta for OS/2 for PowerPC is late and ISVs are being
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told they'll have to wait a few more weeks.
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Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have embarked on a joint
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project to develop infrared technology which will be integrated
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into Windows 95. This will allow users to work with portables
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and printers that have infrared capabilities.
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Intel will soon introduce a new chipset, code-named Triton,
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which will allow manufacturers to produce higher performing
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systems at a lower cost. The chipset uses a new type of DRAM
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called Extended Data Out, EDO, which is currently in short
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supply. EDO doubles the bandwidth of regular DRAM and eliminates
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the need for expensive SRAM caches while delivering the same
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performance.
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If you have a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 520, 550C, 560C, or
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Deskwriter 520 you may be finding that the paper feed rollers are
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having trouble picking up paper. It seems that these printers
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which were manufactured between June 1993 and March 1994 used a
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new material for the rollers which loses its friction properties
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over time. Low humidity or temperature, low usage, or excess
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paper dust aggravates the condition.
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You can call Hewlett-Packard at 1-800-656-2324 for a Paper
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Feed Cleaning Kit. Included will be a disk which makes the
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rollers turn continuously while spring-loaded abrasive pads
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roughen the rollers' surfaces. This takes about 20 minutes and
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HP claims it should only be required once or twice during the
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lifetime of the printer.
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Lotus and AT&T are reportedly teaming up to buy another
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company - possibly Novell.
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GameCop from Analytic Software in San Jose is programmed to
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recognize 100 games and will sound an alarm if an employee plays
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a game on company time.
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Ten years ago, IBM's 3090 Model 200 mainframe sold for $5.6
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million and cranked out 27.9 MIPS. Today, their ES/9000 has 15
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times the processor power at just three times the cost.
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WINDOWS 95 NEWS
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Microsoft will host some nondisclosure meetings at CES to
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explain the delays in getting Windows 95 to the shelf. They'll
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also talk about the new idiotware mentioned above, Microsoft Bob.
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My spies tell me that the reason for the Windows 95 delay is that
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Plug-N-Play is nowhere near ready yet.
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I have heard through the grapevine that Windows 95 is not a
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completely new rewrite, but an improvement of DOS and Windows,
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that it continues to rely on DOS, and that the kernel includes 16-
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bit code. Well, it seems that some beta testers are finding out
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that some applications will not load because they've run out of
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conventional DOS memory.
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Even Microsoft admits that there is some 16-bit code around.
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Andrew Schulman, author of the Microsoft-sanctioned book
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"Unauthorized Windows 95" claims that the use of MS-DOS code is
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necessary for compatibility reasons - and to keep the code
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smaller. It is claimed that converting to 32-bit code would have
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increased the memory requirements by almost 40 percent.
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Don't bother trying to suck up to Microsoft to be a Windows
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95 beta tester. They've already got 40,000 and aren't looking
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for any more.
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Microsoft is taking the Microsoft Network off-line until
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March to upgrade the infrastructure. Beta testers have been able
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to dial in up to this point.
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DOS AIN'T DEAD YET
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Even though Microsoft has ceased development of MS-DOS, IBM
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thinks there is still a market. Lotus and Novell continue to
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develop DOS-based products.
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PC-DOS 7 is now in beta testing and will reportedly give
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users as much as 70K of extra memory for running drivers and
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applications.
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Along with better memory management, PC-DOS 7 will detect
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more than 2,100 viruses, contain the full Windows version of
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Stacker 4.02, feature hyperlinked on-line help, a new interface
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for setting up commonly used cards, and File Update, a Laplink-
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like utility for synchronizing files on multiple computers. Gone
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is the Workplace Shell.
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IBM sees two markets for such a product - preloading systems
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and the upgrade market. They claim there are about 50 million in
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the upgrade market alone. Said an IBM spokesman, "Let's get
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real. There was no real reason (for manufacturers to adopt IBM
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DOS) before because Windows 95 was going to be available third
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quarter of 1994, I mean fourth quarter...I mean August 1995."
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WINDOWS 95 REVISITED
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Last month I gave you some of my impressions after working
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with a beta of Windows 95 for a few days. In my haste to move on
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to more important things, I neglected to mention a few things.
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I don't know if this is something Microsoft plans to
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implement when it releases Windows 95 and, in fact, any new
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software - but they've gone to a new distribution format. The
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disks are distributed in a 1.6M DMF format that our disk drives
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don't understand. Of course you can read the disks, but you
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can't copy the distribution disks. Hmmm, could copy protection
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be rearing its ugly head again after all these years?
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Another thing I forgot to mention is that you can't delete
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the My Computer icon in the upper left corner of your screen.
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You can't even rename it to something less stupid. The only
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useful purpose this serves is to let you format disks. Believe
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it or not, you can't format disks from the much-ballyhooed
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Explorer! All other functions contained therein can be found
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elsewhere. I don't want it there and I certainly don't want it
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to have a stupid name like "My Computer".
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MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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At February's International Solid State Circuits Convention
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in San Francisco, Intel will announce some technical details of
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their P6 microprocessor. Of course, they're targeting it at
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servers and high-end desktops and they're expected to be in
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systems by the third quarter of this year. Using RISC
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architecture for greater processor speeds, the features will
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include speculative execution, multiple-branch execution, and
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data-flow analysis.
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In other Intel news, the much-awaited P24T is now available.
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Price-wise it's positioned between the DX2 and DX4 Overdrives at
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$449 list. They claim a 50%-80% performance increase but I don't
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think the bang for the buck is there. Why go this route when a
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DS4-100 costs $100 less for the same performance?
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Novell's PerfectOffice 3.0 which shipped in December has an
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installation bug which prevents it from installing on a machine
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that has GroupWise already loaded. The problem was quickly
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fixed, but it's still an embarrassment.
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Another bug that's in about 100,000 copies will display an
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error message "Old Theta being updated" when users attempt some
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applications. Resellers have the choice of returning the
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packages or pasting them with a sticker that urges users to call
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Novell's hotline.
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By the end of the year, look for motherboard manufacturers
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to integrate sound on the board.. FM sound cards will then be in
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the upgrade market.
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Kelly Micro has developed a SIMM with a DIP switch which
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will allow resellers to adjust resisters to one of four common
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settings.
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Opinion is divided over the impact the earthquake in Japan
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may have on DRAM prices. The consensus is that if there are
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price increases, they will be short-lived.
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Defense contractor McDonnell Douglas and Microsoft are
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getting together to create an action game.
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Time-Warner's Woodstock CD had a 90% return rate. I thought
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it was groovy, man.
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Although Novell no longer sells WordPerfect for OS/2, for $4
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they'll send you a disk that improves the program's performance
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under Warp and will also register files as objects in the
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Workplace Shell.
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Sunguard Data Systems sent out some disks that contained a
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virus that their own anti-virus software couldn't detect. The
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disks contained a program which helped businesses recover data
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after a disaster such as a flood or other loss-inducing incident.
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Says president Bruce Battjer "Shame on me for getting bit once,
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but shoot me if I get bit twice."
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When commenting on Mac clones which are soon to hit the
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market, Apple CEO Michael Spindler said, "If anybody makes a Mac
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cheaper than we do, we should be shot."
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O.J. Judge Lance Ito was deluged by offers of freebies by
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computer companies who wanted their products used during this
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famous trial. IBM's ThinkPad won and Ito's model carries an IBM
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logo that's twice the normal size (so the cameras can see it).
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Some info-dorks are going on a three-month trek through
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Central America starting February 1 and their itinerary will be
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determined by people who communicate with them via laptop
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computers. You can join in by contacting
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MayaQuest@Info.MNs.k12.mn.us.
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Intel is about to release their third-generation PCI chipset
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for the Pentium called Triton. It will feature bus mastering for
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IDE and a Plug-and-Play port.
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In other Intel news, they plan to disclose any flaws in
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their chips under a more open policy.
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Patrick Duffy, VP of sales for Pionex America, made note of
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his company's anticipation of price cuts by Packard Bell on
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processors his company no longer sells by saying, "We've never
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been caught with our pants down. Maybe unbuckled a few times,
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but never down."
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NEXT MONTH
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I hope to do a hands-on review of Intel's DX4-100. That
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should be hot! And I might even have a line on a Microsoft
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keyboard (finally).
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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, Pro
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Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD ROM drive, Sceptre
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SVGA 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. 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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(360) 533-6647
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GEnie Address: RAG
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Internet: rag@geis.com
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