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RAndY's RumOR RaG
January 1995
NEWS IN YER FACE
The Flexible PC Company is working on a voice interface
computer that will fit on your belt. It consists of flexible
PCMCIA cards that process and transmit voice commands between a
person using a speaker or earphone and the memory and processor
cards. The cards can then be plugged into a free-standing
computer for input into a data network.
---------------
IBM sent out a promo pack to computer industry media which
included a version of Warp and a bunch of pro-Warp information.
Some reviews were less than glorious except for one which ran in
Infoworld. Seems their review was written by a free-lancer who
also worked for IBM - and he created the reviewers' guide for
Warp!
---------------
Compaq has filed a lawsuit against Packard Bell which claims
that Packard Bell violated three Compaq technology patents. No
one is talking specifics, but it has to do with some of Packard
Bell's desktop and notebook computers.
---------------
In an effort to boost sales, Lotus is selling their OS/2
SmartSuite with OS/2 Warp for $219. BT&T Consumer Technology is
going to give away 250,000 copies of their OS/2 tax return
program Taxdollars 1994.
---------------
A test of an experimental telephone voting system in
Alberta, Canada became a debacle recently. Maritime Telegraph
and Telephone Company claimed the system could handle 500 calls
per minute, but when 11,000 people tried to vote in less than six
hours, the system came to a screeching halt. Thousands of voters
couldn't get through and others were told their personal
identification numbers had already been used.
---------------
Corel says they'll develop for both OS/2 Warp and Windows
95. While not elaborating on which of their titles will be
released for Warp, the ones they choose will be released next
year.
---------------
Take a look at the anti-capitalist liberals who want the
Justice Department to look into Microsoft's acquisition of Intuit
- Howard Metzenbaum, Paul Simon, and Ted Kennedy. (More people
died at Chappaquidick than at Three Mile Island)
---------------
"Today we have to turn PCs off and on. When you leave a
restroom, the toilet flushes automatically." - Apple CEO Michael
Spindler, explaining that the computer industry has a long way to
go to be truly user friendly.
---------------
Seems like Gateway computers have trouble running Windows NT
3.5. Sometimes the software can't be installed or runs poorly on
their 486 and Pentium-based computers. Gateway insiders claim it
may be because the company uses antiquated video cards and old CD-
ROM drives in order to cut costs.
---------------
Microsoft's At Work effort has hit the brakes with plans to
narrow the technology as a part of Windows 95. Originally seen
as a standard operating system architecture and interface for fax
and copy machines and office telephones, the efforts have been
largely unsuccessful.
---------------
Swan Technologies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and
was promptly picked up by Zenith Data Systems.
---------------
Intel is looking to introduce a 120mhz Pentium in late first
quarter of 1995 and is delaying the P24T overdrive until January.
Wonder if they'll fix the floating point bug.
---------------
Corel has licensed CAD technology for their Windows 95
product which will also be used in a separate product, CorelCAD.
---------------
WARP
It's here today - a 32-bit operating system that runs your
DOS and Windows programs! You don't have to wait until next
year.
I ran the OS/2 Warp Beta II for a little while and found it
a tremendous improvement over version 2.x. Now the real thing is
here and I'm just a little disappointed.
Installation from CD takes a while but it's better than
doing the floppy shuffle. The IBM BonusPak is provided on a
second CD.
What you'll see after the installation is a new OS/2 with
animated folders, good multimedia support, and numerous options
to make the system as colorful and as noisy as you want.
The big disappointment is that the general release product
runs slower than the beta did. What's with that? I'm running
with 8 megs and I know it should be faster. Sometimes when
double-clicking an object, it can take several seconds for the
icons in the folder to appear.
On the plus side, in the beta version, installing Windows
support rendered my Windows for Workgroups 3.11 unrunable from
normal DOS. It would hang up after a few seconds of the title
screen. The commercial release of Warp doesn't do that so I
don't need to keep backups of my WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, and
WIN.COM. (I still do anyway.) Running Windows from OS/2 still
makes the mouse a little sluggish, even after setting the idle
sensitivity to 100.
The BonusPak included in the package contains several mini-
applications ranging from Internet access tools to a bare-bones
integrated package called IBM Works to conferencing software.
Kiss 12 megs of your hard drive goodbye.
IBM Works is pretty sparse, but at least lets you do
something with your new operating system. What did you expect,
SmartSuite? A stripped down version of HyperACCESS is included
and is installed in a folder someone jokingly called the IBM
Information Superhighway. At least they still have a sense of
humor. Although the comm software is a Lite version, it will
still get you online easily and whet your whistle for something
more robust. I couldn't test the Internet tools because I don't
have Internet access.
The point here is that this is a tested 32-bit operating
system that is here TODAY. And with Warp, I don't have to get
all new software. Everything I have works just fine. I still
say that OS/2 is a better DOS than DOS.
IBM is selling this pretty cheap and you owe it to yourself
to at least check it out. If you've got the system resources I
think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what OS/2 has become.
Says Dan Lautenbach, VP of IBM's personal software products
division, "Our manufacturing facility is working round-the-clock
to fill channel orders and help us build inventory."
---------------
THE PENTIUM DEBACLE
By now you've sure heard about the bug found in the Pentium
chip. As I write this, IBM has temporarily ceased selling
Pentium-based computers and Intel is distributing a software fix
which will disable the instruction which causes the error. In
case you've missed out, here's what happened.
Electronic Engineering Times recently reported a floating-
point bug in the Pentium chip. Intel quickly provided a fix, but
did not seem sorry. One spokesman said, "this doesn't even
qualify as an errata. The casual user might see [the glitch]
once every 27,000 years."
Some scientific users who were affected did feel slighted
and caused Intel CEO Andy Grove to issue the following apology
via Internet: "I am truly sorry for the anxiety created among you
... It's clear ... some of you are very angry at us."
A local user came up with these jokes regarding this
problem:
What's another name for the "Intel Inside" sticker they put on
Pentiums?
The Warning Label.
What algorithm did Intel use in the Pentium floating-point
divider?
"Life is like a box of chocolates." F. Gump - Intel
Why didn't Intel call the Pentium the 586?
Because they added 486 and 100 on the first Pentium and got
585.99983605
According to Intel, the Pentium conforms to the IEEE standards
754 and 854 for floating-point arithmetic. If you fly an
aircraft designed using a Pentium, what is the correct
pronunciation of IEEE?
Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieieeeeeeeee!
Here are some new reasons for buying a Pentium: Your old PC
is too accurate; provides a good alibi when the IRS calls;
attracted by Intel's new "You don't need to know what's inside"
ad campaign; you've always wondered what it would be like to be a
plaintiff; current paperweight is not big enough; you always
round off to the nearest hundred anyway.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is planning to put floating-point
emulation into Windows NT. The emulation package will likely be
distributed as a patch to NT customers early next year.
There are now reports that the Calculator applet shipped
with Windows has a bug having to do with subtracting numbers that
end in .01.
Wall Street moguls Smith Barney checked 600 Pentium
computers shortly after Thanksgiving and replaced 200 with new
Pentiums which were flown in from Intel. The remaining 400
computers were to have new chips by the end of the year.
Intel's Andy Grove recently said, "I think [the Pentium
situation] has renewed contact with individuals and heightened
our appreciation for OEMs and end users of our products."
The Internal Revenue Service has proclaimed that they won't
accept excuses from taxpayers that their Pentium caused an error
in a tax return. Says the IRS, "If the flaw causes an error in a
spreadsheet incorporated into a tax return submitted by a
taxpayer, the individual is ultimately responsible."
---------------
WINDOWS 95 UPDATE
It's difficult to be right all the time, but it's a burden
I'll gladly bear. Just a week ago (as I write this) I read where
Microsoft was sticking to their first half of 1995 ship date. At
that time (actually before that) I said that this was a clue that
they were getting ready to push back the date. Of course I was
right. By my calculations (not using a Pentium), August is month
#8 which leaves Microsoft with only 4 months to market a product
containing the year in it's title. What will happen next January
1? Looks like a good time to send out the maintenance release.
You've likely heard about the Internet joke where Microsoft
was buying the Catholic Church. Actually, Bill Gates would live
to buy the church so he could extend the calendar three months so
Microsoft won't have to change the name for Windows 95. Given
the current situation regarding Windows 95, I predict that
they'll change the name before it's released.
Microsoft has an agreement with China's Ministry of
Electronics Industry for a Chinese language version of Windows
95.
Microsoft has set the minimum memory requirement at 4 megs,
but they're now recommending using at least 8 megs.
Meanwhile, independent software vendors are not going to
react well to the news of Windows 95's delay. This will send
companies scrambling to continue work on 16-bit projects while
maintaining development of 32-bit applications. For example,
Novell is planning to release both 16-bit and 32-bit suites in
1995 as well as interactive CD-ROM games.
The $30 pre-release versions of Windows 95 will not be
available until the end of March. Boy, there's a surprise!
---------------
WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW
I recently had the opportunity to work with the Beta 2
October 1994 release of Windows 95. Much attention has been
given in the press to this vaporware and I wanted to see if it
was living up to the hype.
You who follow the RaG know that I have been critical of
Microsoft and the hoopla surrounding Windows 95. I continue to
be concerned. I have some concerns over the method Microsoft has
chosen to structure memory which can lead to problems running
present day 16-bit applications. And, of course, they're not
going to make it to market by June 30th.
Rather than tell you everything Windows 95 has, you can read
that in any of the end-user magazines. What I will attempt to do
here is present information based on what I saw and did with this
beta release and draw some comparisons with OS/2 Warp.
To begin, the installation was from 17 disks and went
flawlessly. The installation procedure asked if I had either a
network card or a CD-ROM, beyond that it sniffed out my
configuration quite well. Expect installation from floppies to
take about 45 minutes. I've heard of others taking all day to do
it. Go for the CD.
Windows 95 did not want to install on any drive other than
C. I had been running with Boot Manager and OS/2 on my second
hard drive. Microsoft wants it on your first hard drive -
period.
I have to give credit to Microsoft's art department.
They've done a fantastic job of making the operating system look
pretty. The attention to detail is very good and the overall
look is pleasing yet professional.
The obvious first question is "how fast is it?" I've worked
with OS/2 Warp and the speed in the release product was
disappointingly slower than the Beta. But the speed of the
Windows 95 beta was impressive. The whole system really snaps.
It's much faster than the best tweaked Windows you'll find today.
The way you start a program is easy enough, but I'm
wondering if I'll tire of having to click on Start, then maneuver
through the pop-up menus. I didn't get a chance to go through
much of the help system to see if there's a way to assign a
keystroke to an application as you can do now. I would favor
this approach. But I do like the way that the fly-out menus
appear just by passing the mouse cursor over a menu option.
All the reviewers are going nuts over the Explorer. I don't
know why. It's just a glorified File Manager. I'm not
impressed. I had to hunt like hell to find where I go to format
a disk.
And can someone tell me what useful function the "My
Computer" serves? I realize that it provides access to the
control panel and drive icons, but these are features that are
duplicated elsewhere.
The Macintosh has a garbage can and OS/2 uses a shredder for
deleting files. Leave it to politically correct Microsoft to
give us a recycling bin. You are given the option of immediately
deleting files which are dragged to the bin or waiting until a
user-defined number of objects accumulate.
Interestingly, Scandisk and Defrag are run from the
graphical interface rather than from a command line.
The whole interface is quite customizable. Clicking with
the right mouse button on any object lets you adjust that
object's properties (like OS/2). Everything is very intuitive -
I didn't need any kind of documentation to make it work.
They've done something to Video for Windows (WinG?) so that
AVI files are much smoother and not quite so pixelated. You
won't think it's a live video signal but it's much better than
we've seen so far. Unfortunately, you're still stuck with a
small window.
The creative artists have also run wild. When you copy a
file, you get a dialog box with a file folder on each side. As
the copying progresses, papers fly out of the left folder and
drift across the box into the other folder. Cute, but a waste of
clock cycles.
Overall, it's impressive for this stage of beta testing. I
wonder if they'll bloat the code by the time it's released so
that it performs like a 286. Wanna bet?
---------------
MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
Microsoft will give Windows NT the interface of Windows 95
sometime next summer. They'll port the interface within 90 days
of Windows 95's release (whenever that is). Says a Microsoft
official, "it will be part of the normal NT service packs we send
out to users."
---------------
Members of HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) recently held a
10th anniversary celebration for their quarterly magazine for
hackers called 2600. While at a New York hotel which hosted the
shindig, members hacked the hotel's computer system, built phone
dialing machines, and tried to produce a new magnetic subway fare
card.
---------------
Somewhere on the Internet is a program called PentiuMath
which "simulates" Pentium performance. For example, if you enter
2x2 you get 3.999286 for the answer. A version for the Newton is
also available.
It's a joke, get it?
---------------
Hundreds of citizens have sent letters to new members of the
House of Representatives asking support for free online access to
congressional documents. Besides the documents already available
online, things like Congressional Research Service reports and
Federal Election Commission campaign filings are being requested.
As I get ready to release this month's RaG, this is a done deal.
---------------
Geoworks has started testing the Geos operating system on
Intel's 486-based chip (code-named Hummingbird) which is designed
for handheld devices.
---------------
Media Vision has come out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection. A court approved their reorganization plan and the
SEC. They are expected to be traded on NASDAQ soon.
---------------
The Utopia front end for Windows that I talked about last
month will be released on March 31 under the name of Bob. This
is a hokey interface that lets you assume one of different
personalities and maneuver through various rooms to perform
tasks. The price is that you'll need at least a 486 with 8 megs
of memory. Whoopee - doo.
---------------
IBM has released an update to Warp's Klondike and Chess
games. They've just added some bells and whistles, but nothing
remarkable. You can find the file on any of the pay services.
---------------
ENCARTA 95
If you want a preview of the interface for Windows 95, check
out the new version of Encarta. This has always been my favorite
multimedia encyclopedia and Microsoft has kept improving on it.
Of course there are new articles, new video clips, new
animations, and just a bunch of new stuff in general. There are
even a few interactive activities which are fun and interesting.
But it's the interface that's the big news here. You get the
same fly-out style of menus that open as you pass the mouse over
them as Windows 95 will have if they ever release it (couldn't
resist that one).
They've done something to Video for Windows because the AVI
files now play much smoother and considerably less pixelated.
This looked to me like the same technology used in the Windows 95
beta that I tested - very impressive. The sound is also improved
with less hiss than previous versions.
The politically correct theme of many subjects continues to
show through. It's probably from drinking too much latte on the
Redmond campus. If you can overlook the liberal bias on some of
the cultural and political subjects you'll still be pleased.
The street price is running about $75 for Encarta 95 and
that's an excellent value. Go try to buy a set of encyclopedias
and videos for that price.
---------------
MS GOLF 2
If there's anything more boring than actually playing golf,
it would have to be watching someone else play it on TV.
Computer golf games generate the same level of excitement for me.
Microsoft has enhanced their popular Windows-based Golf game
to allow more customization of the on-screen players (different
colored hair, shirts, and skin). The photo-realistic backgrounds
are even better and they include a utility to convert any other
courses you're using now.
Golf now gives you lessons for aiming your shot, improving
your play, etc. They're including the Firestone Country Club now
so if you've got the first version you've immediately got two
different courses to play. Scorecards print out much more
attractively.
I found the swing and putting to be more sensitive than
before. Older courses which have been converted give poor detail
in the distance but that's really no big deal. The rendering
overall is much better and you now see the players and course in
a full-width screen view instead of the little window you had
before.
You've still got the sounds of the outdoors and comments on
your shots. Microsoft uses the Win32s extensions; for what
reason I'm not sure. If you liked the first version, you'll like
this one.
---------------
NEXT MONTH
Beats me what'll turn up. I'll probably never see one of
those new Microsoft keyboards so that's likely out.
Some months I have an idea of what I'll be talking about
next month, other times I don't. Next month will be a surprise
to both of us.
=================================
DISCLAIMER
RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by RANDALL
AINSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY 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
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. Feel free to
distribute RAndY's RumOR RaG or post it as you see fit. Comments
should be addressed to Randall Ainsworth Photography on GEnie,
via phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good.
RANDALL AINSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY
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GEnie Address: RAG