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