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Windows Top Ten Business Software
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All in Good Time
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The Information Age
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Tutorial Time
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Still On Top
by: Jim Forbes
Sometime in the (near) future, even novices will be able to create presentations that involve highly complex three-dimensional graphics. The reason: Microsoft has been playing games with Windows 95.
While most of the attention devoted to the still-new operating system has focused on its business applications, a few people--like Micro-soft game developer Alex St. John--worked on software code that controls the display of graphics, creates novel ways for programs to use sound and video, and builds support within applications for 3-D graphics.
These snippets of code are collectively called the DirectX APIs. Microsoft was supposed to ship them with Win-dows 95, but they arrived a couple of months later. Developed to make Win95 a better games platform, the new APIs speed graphics by up to 25 percent, according to Eric Engstrom, a software development manager with Microsoft.
Software analysts stress that there is a link between games, which run best on high-performance systems, and business applications. The DirectX APIs, said Dan Lavin, an analyst with research firm Dataquest, "could provide a significant advantage for business software developers."
Direct3D, one of the most important APIs, has yet to ship. Deve-loped by Microsoft after its acquisition of the graphics firm Render-morphics, Direct3D allows developers to quickly create rendered animation segments. Companies such as LucasArts, Activision and Papyrus say they will use the new API, which adds less than 300KB to the size of a program.
Microsoft is certainly looking forward to some big business--with the emphasis on business--with the new APIs. Said St. John, "We think of the DirectX APIs as being the genie we just let out of the bottle."
by: Jim Forbes
It may be déja vu all over again, but the names are different. The new OmniGo 100 personal organizer is from Hewlett-Packard, and it runs on GEOS from Geoworks.
Only a couple of years ago, conventional wisdom had it that Compaq should attack the "companion" market--very portable machines that retain the look and feel of a desktop PC--with products that ran Microsoft's WinPad. But HP, which has built a reputation for notebooks and palmtops, thinks it's found a better path to Windows applications--without Microsoft.
While the OmniGo is a far cry from the products touted by Compaq and Microsoft, it is a true second-generation hand-held that lets users exchange data with PCs running Windows.
Ironically, HP was to have been among the first manufacturers to use the ill-fated WinPad OS. But the company actually balked at the price long before Microsoft itself abandoned its Win-Pad plans. The decision appears to have paid off; the OmniGo is a good 300 percent less costly than what Compaq had proposed.
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Micro Multimedia
by: Jim Forbes
Multimedia is big--so big, in fact, that you can soon expect to see chip manufacturers deliver new CPUs designed specifically for multimedia applications.
First, Intel has the P55C (Newstrends, October 1995). The company will only confirm that it's an enhanced Pentium processor with multimedia code extensions, and delivery is set for the second quarter of this year.
Cyrix is taking a more aggressive approach with a preliminary demonstration of its technology, a prototype part called the 5GX86. It includes an on-chip graphics accelerator and other integrated functions that could make it attractive to cost-conscious OEMs.
Finally, AMD may also get in the hunt by including multimedia microcode in its new Am5x86.
Virtually all these products are aimed at the SOHO market--which is very big. Worldwide sales of notebooks and desktops now exceed 4.5 million units per month, and nearly 40 percent are multimedia-capable.
But it's a market that cares as much about price as performance. And Cyrix's price tags have already drawn AST and Epson, which signed on for its 5X86 and 6X86 (or M1) series. In short, the chip wars could soon get even more heated.
by: Dave Raffo
Every computing product has a magic price barrier that it needs to crack if it wants to entice the mainstream user. For CD recorders, analysts said that magic number was $500--half the average price.
Enter Panasonic's PowerDrive2, which now costs $499.95. "Basically, we decided to get out of the niche market and attack the mass market," said Rich Harada, marketing manager for optical products. And if other vendors follow Panasonic's lead--they may have no choice--CD-Rs may yet catch on at home.
The PowerDrive2 is a removable, rewritable 650MB phase-change optical disk and quad-speed CD-ROM drive. Consumers liked it, says Panasonic, but not the $895 price tag. Maybe now they will.
by: James E. Powell
Even as the Internet becomes an increasingly popular medium for providing company information or technical support--or just whiling away the time--consumer acceptance of online services remains quite low. That's a challenge to firms like Intuit, whose future rests with online offerings such as home banking.
Intuit's Quicken for 96 takes a big step toward getting customers to experiment with online services. The financial management software includes a custom graphical World Wide Web browser to cruise Intuit's home pages, which include personal finance tips, details about online offerings from banks and order forms for Intuit software. Company sources say the sites could eventually provide stock quotes and other financial data. There are no plans--yet--to conduct financial transactions via the service, but given partner Netscape's intense interest in secure online commerce, such features will probably become available in early 1996.
The browser is a modified version of Netscape--the most popular Web cruiser now available--that permits customers to visit only the sites Intuit selects. Customers wanting to upgrade to a full Internet browser, meanwhile, can call another Intuit partner, Concentric Communications, which is offering an hour of online time for $1.95 per month or seven hours for $9.95. That's the lowest-cost plan yet available from Internet service providers.
The installed base of modems is growing, thanks to their inclusion as standard equipment on new PCs, and easy one-click access to the Internet should help Quicken's 8 million users. The company decided to form an alliance with an Internet provider because Web pages can be changed quickly to respond to the ever-shifting nature of financial data.
Users of Intuit's chief competitor, Microsoft Money, also have access to the Net via the Microsoft Network. However, they must already be members of MSN, which comes at a price; Intuit's offering is free.
by: Jim Forbes
Never mind "World Wide"; one of the more interesting aspects about the Web is the growing number of private home pages, with access limited to employees of a specific corporation.
"Corporate home pages are an important tool for enhancing internal communications in workgroups and [extended] settings," said Ed Hott, vice president of Internet provider IntersΘ in Sunnyvale, Calif. In fact, Internet consultants report that corporate interest in the World Wide Web--which, unlike the rest of the Internet, abounds in graphics, sound, hypertext links and other multimedia elements--as an internal communications medium is at an all-time high, and getting higher.
Oil giant Chevron is among the companies using the so-called Intranet to disseminate information and make software updates available to its 42,000 employees. This has also sparked interest among staffers who want to publish technical and other newsletters. "There is tremendous potential in private Web pages that are adapted to collect information or that serve as two-way interactive links to network-enabled applications," said Kirk Trambel, an analyst with Chevron.
This trend has great implications. For example, if the Web becomes a true medium of collaborative computing in the corporate world, it could hurt Notes, the groupware product that induced IBM to buy Lotus. Moreover, several vendors are scrambling to help corporations do what they need to do on the Web. Borland, Oracle, Microsoft and Netscape are among those aiming products at this market. And while Netscape gets most of the press, analysts point to Microsoft's forthcoming Blackbird, which helps corporate and third-party developers build networked, Web-based apps, as a product that could fit the bill.
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High Revenue
by: Eileen McCooey
When the holidays are in full swing ... can tax season be far behind?
Some of those who turned to tax software last year may have not-so-fond memories of unhappy returns. Several products had bugs, and vendors scrambled to issue mea culpas and fixes. This year, they're determined to avoid a sequel.
For example, Intuit, publisher of TurboTax, has doubled its testing but is ready to cope with problems. "We have an infrastructure in place that would enable us to ship hundreds of thousands of [fixes] immediately," reported Guy MacNeill, group product manager for tax software. And most vendors are setting up online forums, bulletin boards, fax-back programs and free support.
The bottom line: Makers of tax software can't afford not to take such steps. "At current price points [typically $20 to $40], vendors can't afford to release maintenance versions," said Lance Dunn, director of software development for Parsons, which publishes Personal Tax Edge.
Vendors have enhanced the '95 tax year versions with a wealth of advice. TurboTax, for example, has over 100 video clips with pointers from tax experts. Kiplinger's Tax-Cut and Per-sonal Tax Edge also use multimedia to counsel users on tax-saving strategies. Most programs now offer context-sensitive advice and make it easier to import data from personal-finance programs.
Quantum and Symantec's Norton Smart Doctor for Windows 95, an application that warns PC users of impending device failures, is among some 35 products being developed by various vendors to support the SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) System industry standard for hardware devices. Launched last summer, the SMART System calls for disk-drive monitoring by the drive as well as the host computer, plus a graphical user interface designed to alert the user when a device is about to fail.
To no one's surprise, Novell decided to put WordPerfect, its umbrella applications business, up for sale. The decision came not too long after the company decided to abandon its UNIX business. After struggling to make itself a player in the applications arena--WordPerfect's word processing software steadily lost ground to Microsoft Word, while its office suite barely got off the ground--Novell announced plans to focus on doing what it does best: networking.
According to Microsoft, nearly 450,000 people took advantage of the company's offer for a free download of Money, its personal finance product and rival to market leader Quicken. However, the rollout was marred by what the company called a "minor problem" with the online bill-payment feature. The company hastily sent out a fix that was also posted on Microsoft's Web site.
Online service provider CompuServe struck several strategic alliances. The company joined forces with Premiere Communications to launch the CallingAll Card, which looks like a phone card but actually gives members a "virtual office" that includes fax mail, voice mail, speed dial, conference calling, travel services, and up-to-the-minute reports on news, weather and sports. CompuServe also announced plans for a service that enables users to view multimedia clips online without having to download playback software and multimedia files. It's the goal of a deal with Macromedia that will bring the firm's Director Player technology to the online environment.
by: Jim Forbes
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And the Oscar Goes to...Trinity
Don't look now, but the next big thing in Windows computing could be seen on a really big screen. Some of the brains behind the mid-1980s product Video Toaster are working on a new device that, despite its vaporware status, has already been pitched by Intel's CEO Andrew Grove to Steven Spielberg.
Trinity, from a company called Play, is a standalone box that connects to Pentium PCs running Win95 or Windows NT via a PCI card. In ess-ence, Trinity, which starts at about $6,000, allows video professionals to turn their computers in-to digital editing stations. Like Video Toaster, which worked with Commodore's Amiga, Trinity allows videographers to edit and add a variety of complex special effects to digital video images. It can accept up to 29 expansion cards.
Trinity has several features that previously required rack-mounted solutions. For example, it supports 10-input digital switching, chroma keying, and the addition, creation and manipulation of color special effects. It includes a timeline editor, audio mixing and ultra-high-speed (10-nanosecond) character generation. The system also supports a 330Mb-per-second proprietary networking solution that allows users to interconnect PCs in production environments.
Play is bootstrapping its growth from an existing product, Snappy. And though officials say they won't develop one- or two-card versions for the low end, next-generation versions of Snappy will support some of the effects generated by Trinity.
by: James Alan Miller
Acrobat, Adobe's electronic publishing tool, has been slow to find a niche. But its recent integration into browsers could signal a major change.
Acrobat allows a document to retain its look without requiring the user to have the application used to create it. And because Acrobat has given documents an elegant look and feel, Adobe hopes it will overtake HTML.
Netscape is now developing a plug-in architecture for its next-generation browser. This will allow a future version of Acrobat, expected this year, to render PDF files (Acrobat's file format) in Netscape itself. Look for Acrobat to appear in several upcoming online packages, including AT&T's Internet service and Microsoft's Black-bird browser.
by: Ian Etra
Remember VocalTec? The firm sparked interest when it introduced the Internet Phone, a software package for voice communications in real time between two PCs on the Internet. The idea had a simple premise: Linking the PC and the phone via the Net could lead to big savings.
Now some other companies are targeting the same goal. Quarter-deck recently rolled out WebTalk, which provides full duplex phone capabilities over the Net. WebTalk can also be used on one PC to broadcast to multiple PCs running the program, and is bundled with the Mosaic browser. Quarterdeck believes WebTalk could become effective in collaborative computing.
Coming from a different angle, IDT, a provider of Internet access and international callback services, allows a user to initiate a phone call via the Net. The "call" is placed through a switch that handles communications routing. In its rollout period, the service will be available only for dialing into the U.S. and the U.K.
Here are a couple of tricks for networking types courtesy of Mark Frale, WinMag's Network Administrator (with an assist from Microsoft). To add long filename support to a NetWare 3.11 server, you must load a patch from Novell, available online at ftp.novell.com/pub/netware/nwos/nw311/osnlm. Run the file 311PTD.EXE to extract the file OS2OPNFX.NLM. To see the long filenames, Windows 95 machines must add a value to the Registry--in the HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\Nwredir\ section--add a SupportLFN key value and insert a line with a binary value of 2.
Network administrators also can receive NetWare messages in a flash by running Windows 95--and best of all, it's absolutely free! Run WINPOPUP.EXE (conveniently located in your WINDOWS directory) minimized to stay one step ahead of trouble. You can also use WINPOPUP to chat with others instantly if you can't wait for an e-mail response.
Sampo has dropped below the 1K barrier, but we're talking low-priced monitors, not low memory. The AlphaScan GLX-KDM-2077E 20-inch monitor (WinLab Product Comparisons, February 1995) lists for $995 and is the first large-format display we've seen at this price threshold.
Texas Instruments' notebook prices are also taking a downward spiral. The TravelMate 5000 line (WinLab First Impressions, September 1995) now starts at $2,999 for a 75MHz Pentium model and tops out at $4,799 for a P90.
The teeny-tiny Datasonix Pereos storage cartridge ("Hardware Heaven," June 20, 1995) now boasts an equally small price. The 1.25GB unit is now $499, down from $649.
Bully for our alert readers! Craig Bull of the University of Dayton submitted this tip in response to the problems with Zoom modems (November 1995). If your modem won't dial out because your phone service beeps to indicate that you have a message, don't panic. You can issue the command "ATX3" to instruct your modem to dial even if it doesn't detect a tone--or better yet, include this command as part of your initialization string.
Like everyone else, we ran for Office-95 because of the promises--including long filename support. But our first response was to vote against the way files are saved in Word95--that is, with a .DOC extension. That happens even when you try to customize the extension (e.g., FEATURE.JAN becomes FEATURE.JAN.DOC). To get around this naming convention, you only need a good quote--okay, two quotes: Surround your document name with quotation marks ("FEATURE.JAN").
Jim Powell, our man in Seattle, recently received an Acer Aspire 133MHz desktop that has a dramatic new look, including a curved dark-green system and a monitor with Swiss-cheese holes on top. Alas, it had so many problems we couldn't do a full review. The disk-drive door fell off, the cover wouldn't go back on properly, and there was a loose part rattling around somewhere that must have come free during shipment. We called Acer, and the company plans to redesign the case for systems shipping in the spring.