RAndY's RumOR RaG February 1995 NEWS IN YER FACE Under the heading of dumb software comes Microsoft Bob. I've discussed this stupidware previously in this column, but now Microsoft is starting to hype it. Let's see, a piece of paper on a desk represents a word processing application, cartoon characters like a dog called Rover which give on-line help via text statements, and Microsoft says that eventually the characters will have speech capabilities. Who asks for this crap? Some industry wonk recently predicted, "I think in five years some kind of talking head will be the standard way the computer communicates." Not on my machine, buddy. After being introduced at CES, few PC manufacturers expressed an interest in bundling the product with their systems. Insiders expect it to sell well to the teen crowd and PC neophytes who are intimidated by current interfaces. Microsoft is shooting for sales figures in the same range as those for Works. In related stupid software news, Novel is testing a product called Corsair which is similar to Microsoft Bob. --------------- Rocker Peter Gabriel is planning to build his own interactive software company, Real World Multimedia. A new CD- ROM called Xplora combines Gabriel's music with interactive multimedia images. --------------- Look for a new technology from Microsoft called Surround Video. According to a spokesman, "It puts the user in an environment that is photographically real." Users can view a still image at 360 degrees by just moving the mouse. It's like you're standing in one place and turn your head to see a full panorama. The technology also allows for full-motion video and sound to be layered on top. --------------- Two new screensavers you've got to get - The Women of Playboy and The Beavis and Butthead Multimedia Screen Saver. Uh- huh-uh-uh-huh-huh-mmmm-huh-huh. --------------- Sound card makers Aztech have made an 8.3% equity investment in Reveal, a company loosely related to Packard Bell. --------------- There's a problem with the replacement Pentium chips being shipped out. Some chips are overheating if the heat sinks are not compatible with the replacement chips. Intel offers OEMs a universal heat sink, but some vendors change the design. --------------- The beta for OS/2 for PowerPC is late and ISVs are being told they'll have to wait a few more weeks. --------------- Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have embarked on a joint project to develop infrared technology which will be integrated into Windows 95. This will allow users to work with portables and printers that have infrared capabilities. --------------- Intel will soon introduce a new chipset, code-named Triton, which will allow manufacturers to produce higher performing systems at a lower cost. The chipset uses a new type of DRAM called Extended Data Out, EDO, which is currently in short supply. EDO doubles the bandwidth of regular DRAM and eliminates the need for expensive SRAM caches while delivering the same performance. --------------- If you have a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 520, 550C, 560C, or Deskwriter 520 you may be finding that the paper feed rollers are having trouble picking up paper. It seems that these printers which were manufactured between June 1993 and March 1994 used a new material for the rollers which loses its friction properties over time. Low humidity or temperature, low usage, or excess paper dust aggravates the condition. You can call Hewlett-Packard at 1-800-656-2324 for a Paper Feed Cleaning Kit. Included will be a disk which makes the rollers turn continuously while spring-loaded abrasive pads roughen the rollers' surfaces. This takes about 20 minutes and HP claims it should only be required once or twice during the lifetime of the printer. --------------- Lotus and AT&T are reportedly teaming up to buy another company - possibly Novell. --------------- GameCop from Analytic Software in San Jose is programmed to recognize 100 games and will sound an alarm if an employee plays a game on company time. --------------- Ten years ago, IBM's 3090 Model 200 mainframe sold for $5.6 million and cranked out 27.9 MIPS. Today, their ES/9000 has 15 times the processor power at just three times the cost. --------------- WINDOWS 95 NEWS Microsoft will host some nondisclosure meetings at CES to explain the delays in getting Windows 95 to the shelf. They'll also talk about the new idiotware mentioned above, Microsoft Bob. My spies tell me that the reason for the Windows 95 delay is that Plug-N-Play is nowhere near ready yet. I have heard through the grapevine that Windows 95 is not a completely new rewrite, but an improvement of DOS and Windows, that it continues to rely on DOS, and that the kernel includes 16- bit code. Well, it seems that some beta testers are finding out that some applications will not load because they've run out of conventional DOS memory. Even Microsoft admits that there is some 16-bit code around. Andrew Schulman, author of the Microsoft-sanctioned book "Unauthorized Windows 95" claims that the use of MS-DOS code is necessary for compatibility reasons - and to keep the code smaller. It is claimed that converting to 32-bit code would have increased the memory requirements by almost 40 percent. Don't bother trying to suck up to Microsoft to be a Windows 95 beta tester. They've already got 40,000 and aren't looking for any more. Microsoft is taking the Microsoft Network off-line until March to upgrade the infrastructure. Beta testers have been able to dial in up to this point. --------------- DOS AIN'T DEAD YET Even though Microsoft has ceased development of MS-DOS, IBM thinks there is still a market. Lotus and Novell continue to develop DOS-based products. PC-DOS 7 is now in beta testing and will reportedly give users as much as 70K of extra memory for running drivers and applications. Along with better memory management, PC-DOS 7 will detect more than 2,100 viruses, contain the full Windows version of Stacker 4.02, feature hyperlinked on-line help, a new interface for setting up commonly used cards, and File Update, a Laplink- like utility for synchronizing files on multiple computers. Gone is the Workplace Shell. IBM sees two markets for such a product - preloading systems and the upgrade market. They claim there are about 50 million in the upgrade market alone. Said an IBM spokesman, "Let's get real. There was no real reason (for manufacturers to adopt IBM DOS) before because Windows 95 was going to be available third quarter of 1994, I mean fourth quarter...I mean August 1995." --------------- WINDOWS 95 REVISITED Last month I gave you some of my impressions after working with a beta of Windows 95 for a few days. In my haste to move on to more important things, I neglected to mention a few things. I don't know if this is something Microsoft plans to implement when it releases Windows 95 and, in fact, any new software - but they've gone to a new distribution format. The disks are distributed in a 1.6M DMF format that our disk drives don't understand. Of course you can read the disks, but you can't copy the distribution disks. Hmmm, could copy protection be rearing its ugly head again after all these years? Another thing I forgot to mention is that you can't delete the My Computer icon in the upper left corner of your screen. You can't even rename it to something less stupid. The only useful purpose this serves is to let you format disks. Believe it or not, you can't format disks from the much-ballyhooed Explorer! All other functions contained therein can be found elsewhere. I don't want it there and I certainly don't want it to have a stupid name like "My Computer". --------------- MORE NEWS IN YER FACE At February's International Solid State Circuits Convention in San Francisco, Intel will announce some technical details of their P6 microprocessor. Of course, they're targeting it at servers and high-end desktops and they're expected to be in systems by the third quarter of this year. Using RISC architecture for greater processor speeds, the features will include speculative execution, multiple-branch execution, and data-flow analysis. In other Intel news, the much-awaited P24T is now available. Price-wise it's positioned between the DX2 and DX4 Overdrives at $449 list. They claim a 50%-80% performance increase but I don't think the bang for the buck is there. Why go this route when a DS4-100 costs $100 less for the same performance? --------------- Novell's PerfectOffice 3.0 which shipped in December has an installation bug which prevents it from installing on a machine that has GroupWise already loaded. The problem was quickly fixed, but it's still an embarrassment. Another bug that's in about 100,000 copies will display an error message "Old Theta being updated" when users attempt some applications. Resellers have the choice of returning the packages or pasting them with a sticker that urges users to call Novell's hotline. --------------- By the end of the year, look for motherboard manufacturers to integrate sound on the board.. FM sound cards will then be in the upgrade market. --------------- Kelly Micro has developed a SIMM with a DIP switch which will allow resellers to adjust resisters to one of four common settings. --------------- Opinion is divided over the impact the earthquake in Japan may have on DRAM prices. The consensus is that if there are price increases, they will be short-lived. --------------- Defense contractor McDonnell Douglas and Microsoft are getting together to create an action game. --------------- Time-Warner's Woodstock CD had a 90% return rate. I thought it was groovy, man. --------------- Although Novell no longer sells WordPerfect for OS/2, for $4 they'll send you a disk that improves the program's performance under Warp and will also register files as objects in the Workplace Shell. --------------- Sunguard Data Systems sent out some disks that contained a virus that their own anti-virus software couldn't detect. The disks contained a program which helped businesses recover data after a disaster such as a flood or other loss-inducing incident. Says president Bruce Battjer "Shame on me for getting bit once, but shoot me if I get bit twice." --------------- When commenting on Mac clones which are soon to hit the market, Apple CEO Michael Spindler said, "If anybody makes a Mac cheaper than we do, we should be shot." --------------- O.J. Judge Lance Ito was deluged by offers of freebies by computer companies who wanted their products used during this famous trial. IBM's ThinkPad won and Ito's model carries an IBM logo that's twice the normal size (so the cameras can see it). --------------- Some info-dorks are going on a three-month trek through Central America starting February 1 and their itinerary will be determined by people who communicate with them via laptop computers. You can join in by contacting MayaQuest@Info.MNs.k12.mn.us. --------------- Intel is about to release their third-generation PCI chipset for the Pentium called Triton. It will feature bus mastering for IDE and a Plug-and-Play port. In other Intel news, they plan to disclose any flaws in their chips under a more open policy. --------------- Patrick Duffy, VP of sales for Pionex America, made note of his company's anticipation of price cuts by Packard Bell on processors his company no longer sells by saying, "We've never been caught with our pants down. Maybe unbuckled a few times, but never down." --------------- NEXT MONTH I hope to do a hands-on review of Intel's DX4-100. That should be hot! And I might even have a line on a Microsoft keyboard (finally). ================================= 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 through a US Robotics HST Dual Standard modem. 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 605 W. Wishkah Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031 (360) 533-6647 GEnie Address: RAG Internet: rag@geis.com