ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/HATCH/WWIVNEWS.ZIP/9407_8.NWS

Text File | 1994-07-24 | 31KB | 501 lines

management, for implementation in desktop, local area, and wide area network
printers. The idea is to establish a standard database to describe and manage
printer functions that will allow application and systems developers to
actually develop standard printer management and control software. Such a
standard, TI reps claim, "will ultimately free the user from dealing with
the myriad technical details associated with setting up and controlling
printers." Now, if only they could get their damn MicroWriters to quit
hanging systems sporadically after a reboot!

...Speaking of Parallel Processing, Motorola spokespersons are hyping a lot
about a line of parallel processing, supercomputing-class hardware
accelerators being developed by a Canadian company will utilize Motorola's
PowerPC 601 microprocessor. ISG Technologies, based in Toronto, Canada will
reportedly produce a line of symmetrical multi-processing (SMP) hardware
accelerators scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter. The accellerators
will be marketed under the "Pulsus" line.

...ISG Technologies specializes in the development and manufacture of visual
data processing applications and imaging systems. A company spokesperson says
"Pulsus is designed and optimized for visual data processing and is best
suited for systems where there are computation and visualization intensive
requirements such as medical imaging. The ability to do both the computing
and the visualization on a single platform results in lower development and
maintenance cost, faster system response and less resource management at the
system level. This technology is therefore well suited for applications such
as three-dimensional (3-D) seismology as well as medical imaging".

...The entry-level Pulsus, with eight processors, delivers about five times
the performance of the typical midrange RISC workstation, according to the
company's latest hype sheets. Pulsus uses Posix Parallel Threads, allowing
compiled applications to be run on Pulsus or other workstations using a single
CPU (central processing unit) or an SMP architecture.

...For those still in the dark about the stats on the PowerPC 601, this new
RISC-based superchip uses 2.8 million transistors and is manufactured using a
.6 micro CMOS process. The chip includes an advanced bus interface that can
support a range of computer systems from handheld, portable and desktop
computers to midrange workstations and servers.

...From the "Bonsai Floppy" department: Hitachi has developed a powerful
Mini-Disk that stores a whopping 100 times more data than regular Mini-Disks.
Hitachi also reports that the new medium is targeted towards storing motion
picture data, including entire TV programs.

...The Mini-Disk technology was originally developed by Sony, and many
electronics firms including Matsushita and Sanyo have been selling Mini-Disk
-based products for several years. Hitachi's latest twist on Mini-Disk
technology was developed by improving the method with which data is written to
the disk. Optical fiber material is used instead of a lens. The optical fiber
enables data to be written by an extremely narrow laser with a wavelength of
0.07 micron, or about a 10th the size of the laser applied on a regular
Mini-Disk. Hitachi has applied what it calls "the tunnel effect" of lights in
combination with this optical fiber material, and claims it is possible to
further increase the amount of data stored to about 1,000 times higher by
applying even narrower optical fiber material.

...Hitachi spokespersons have not specified how long it will take for this
technology to reach the market, nor did they have any clues as to what the
initial consumer costs would be like.

...From the "Daddy Was a Philanthropic Cheapskate!" department: Microsoft
Chairman Bill Gates says eventually he will give away most of his wealth,
leaving about $10 million to any children he might have.

...Gates, 38 and nowhere near death barring another Doublespace fiasco, is
considered the second wealthiest American, with a net worth of about $6
billion. Gates, however, is quick to point out that his fortune is mostly
on paper. "Outside of what's in my wallet, I really don't *own* any dollars.
I just own Microsoft stock, so it's only through multiplication that you
convert what I own into some scary number!"

...Since late April, Gates and other Microsoft officers have sold millions of
shares of Microsoft stock. That includes 1.12 million shares that brought
Gates over $93 million. As one would expect, Microsoft officials frequently
decline all requests for information about the sale of stock by its officers,
which has helped share prices to fluctuate from a low of 41-1/2 in mid-April
to 57-3/4 in mid-June.

...As for what someone does when you have everything and you can't take it
with you because you havn't bought the technology to do so, Gates said when
he divests himself of much of his wealth it will go to charities and
scientific groups. Proof of this plan was first seen in November 1991, when
Gates personally donated $12 million to the University of Washington School
of Medicine to create a Department of Molecular Biotechnology. Old timers
will recall that this move caused speculation that Gates was really attempting
to buy in early on nanotechnology! In August of 1991, Wild Bill donated $1
million to the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and a
year later gave $6 million to Stanford University to help the school complete
its new Information Sciences building. Neither of these donations, however,
sparked any wild rumors about Gates having the Big C and/or starting up his
own online information service.

...As for the future, Gates says he will continue to run Microsoft for another
decade, then step aside to let a younger person run the day-to-day activities
of the giant software company. Gates also says he tries to make his life as
normal as possible, flying coach class when he travels, and eating at
McDonald's more than most people.

...Well, there you have it, folks. Proof positive that Doublespace was the
result of the hallucinogenic effects of those damn McRibs!

...From the "Orkin Man" department: Tests conducted at Lone Star Evaluation
Labs (LSEL) in Georgetown, Texas have discovered a potentially serious bug in
the Cx486DX, Cyrix Corp.'s 486DX-compatible chip. The bug affects the chip's
built-in floating point unit, and can cause unpredictable results in 32-bit
applications created for OS/2 or Windows NT. It is less likely - but still
possible - for these results to occur in certain math-intensive DOS and
Windows applications.

...LSEL's tests were designed to check the compatibility of the Cyrix and AMD
parts with the Intel 486. Cyrix's 486DX chip gave erroneous results in quite
a few tests of 32-bit floating-point code, but found none in the AMD versions.

...Following the initial report - which was plastered all over the wire
services in big bold letters - Cyrix initiated fixes to the chip design to
correct the problems, and reported that all chips manufactured after late
March would incorporate the fix. The company has been shipping the Cx486DX
since October 1993, and all units shipped since then have the bug. However,
Cyrix has reportedly shipped less than 10,000 of the buggy chips, and
vendors have been notified of the problem so they can adjust their stocks
accordingly. The bug does not occur, it should be noted, with Cyrix's other
CPU and FPU products, such as the Cx486SLC/DLC, Cx486SRx2/DRx2, or FasMath
83D87 chips.

...Owners of PCs that use the Cx486DX can call Cyrix at 800-462-9749 to see
if their chips are affected. Cyrix can identify the faulty chips based on
the date code marked on the top of the chip, but you will need to open up
the PC and copy these numbers down before making the call.

...Cyrix engineers determined the bug is caused by an improperly-executing
two-instruction sequence that can cause many types of program failures when
it occurs. It is also believed that the bug would not occur with DOS or
standard Windows applications because most 16-bit compilers (used to build
the DOS and Windows applications) do not generate this code sequence.

...This means that although the error can occur in DOS and Windows, the
users at highest risk are indeed those who use the Cx486DX with native 32-bit
apps in Windows NT or OS/2. Compilers used to build 32-bit applications for
these environments are more likely to use the improperly executing instruction
sequence.

...Sound familiar? It should, because the original 386-12's had an almost
identical problem with their math segments. While not confirmed at press time,
an insider close to LSEL says that one of the tests failed was, in fact,
the computational accuracy of Pi. On the old 386-12's, after a specified
number of iterations, Pi *repeated* itself, which mathematicians all claim
is impossible! If this is actually one of the tests that the Cyrix chips
failed, then one must wonder just what revision of the 386 instruction set
was used to make these hybrid chips in the first place!

...From the "Old Dog, New Tricks" department: In 1992, Borland first
demonstrated dBASE for Windows. Shortly afterwards, the product was put on
an indefinate hold while the product was retooled around its then-new
Interbase engine technology.

...The delay, however, stretched longer than anyone expected. In fact, the
release date of dBASE for Windows became almost as much the brunt of jokes
as Microsoft's "Chicago". Borland has even abandoned trying to guess as to
a shiping date, much less a "final" beta. "No more promises. We'll ship when
the product is damn good and ready!" claimed a Borland official who spoke
over the phone to a WWIVNews inquiry.

...Despite refusals to discuss possible ship dates, Borland has demonstrated
a pre-beta version of dBASE for Windows to selected customers and the press.
The dBASE it has shown isn't the same product Borland demonstrated over two
years ago, though. That product, it turns out, was scrapped and replaced with
a totally redesigned version that like a cross between Quattro Pro - now
owned by WordPerfect, by the way -  and Paradox. Most of this is due to the
fact that dBASE for Windows shares their query-by-example engines and table
manipulation dialogs. Adding to the mix are several features from WordTech
System's Arago, which Borland bought back in December 1992, And some strange
attempt at backwards compatibility with the DOS versions of dBASE, right down
to the good old idiot-confusing dot prompt.

...Of course, that good old idiot-confusing dot prompt is in a Window box,
which takes a little getting used to. However, this does allow all your old
dBASE code to be 100% compatible with the new version - or so Borland claims.
On the other hand, commands executed in the Windows environment - those using
GUI buttons and menus, as well as query by example or table manipulation - are
reflected at the dot prompt as dBASE commands that can be cut and pasted into
programs. The combination of both forms of support promises complete
compatibility with DOS dBASE programs, and programs generated by the older
DOS version run, unchanged, as Windows applications, with the added benefit
of full mouse support and cut-and-paste capability.

...Out of all this, there was one standout feature that's *not* supported by
any other competing database product. Any Windows DLL can be called directly
from dBASE for Windows. This means that for those who know how to handle
API calls, dBASE can be used to invoke Windows routines just like a higher-
level programming language.

...At press time, Borland wasn't even talking about introductory pricing.
However, surveys reportedly taken at Comdex/Spring showed that users were
expecting something akin to the price Microsoft was asking for Access 1.0,
which dropped as low as $79.

...From the "Copper Top" department: Duracell has proposed four standard
battery sizes for the NiMH cells that power notebooks. Optimistic that
standardization is possible - citing the 35mm camera battery market as the
prime example, and which started out with literally dozens of battery designs
for dozens of cameras, and now has five standard sizes. The end result hoped
for is that both disposable *and* rechargable batteries for notebooks can
be purchased over the counter just like a pack of AA cells.

...As with any sort of unification in this business, cooperation from computer
manufacturers has been less than encouraging. Although Duracell has approached
over 90 manufacturers and OEMs in the US, Europe and Japan, only Compaq has
agreed to design in the standard-sized batteries. This isn't too surprising,
considering that Compaq ships Duracell's model DR19, which costs $99, in the
monochrome Contura Aero subnotebook. The model DR31, a longer lasting cell,
will be sold as an optional accessory.

...Most industry observers are skeptical, citing computer manufacturers'
desire to buy customized batteries to optimize their designs and force their
customers to buy batteries from them and them alone. They also predict
customer resistance to the price point, observing that a $100 price tag for
a laptop battery is well out of the kind of "impulse buying" market that
9-volts and AA's belong to.

...From the "Room at the Top" department: Logitech will incorporate Helix
Software's Cloaking technology in the next release of Logitech's MouseWare.
Cloaking technology, such as that marketed by Helix, lets mouse drivers and
TSRs use little or no conventional memory when operating under DOS by moving
the driver to extended memory or protected memory, in most cases leaving
no more than a 1k footprint in conventional memory. Logitech reps expect
the new drivers to be released in late Summer, although it had not been
decided whether the drivers would be available through standard upgrade
paths, or whether full retail would be charged to offset the licensing
cossts for the Cloaking technology.

...From the "Scarcity Begats Demand" department: Windows for Workgroups 3.11
is finally outselling Windows 3.1, according to Microsoft's chief sales
reps. According to those same reps, "at the end of the first quarter Windows
for Workgroups 3.11 (WFWG) was outselling Windows 3.1, and has become the
'mainstream' Windows operating system."

...Retail sales of WFWG 3.11 reached 300,000 copies worldwide at the beginning
of this year, according to Microsoft, and the company predicted that 6 to 8
million copies of WFWG will have been sold by this fall - 12 months after its
launch last October.

...Microsoft touts WFWG's improved performance over Windows 3.1 as being its
selling point. In fact, Microsoft's emphasis on WFWG instead of Win 3.1 is
considered by most industry experts as an attempt to pave the migration path
to Chicago, at the expense of short-term profit. Industry analysts do not see
a huge profit for Microsoft now but predict a return after the release of
Windows 4.0.

...However, Microsoft officials declined to comment on several comments
raised at Comdex/Spring regarding the lack of availability of Windows 3.1
around the time of the release of WFWG. One Dallas distributor was cited
as accusing Microsoft of "deliberately forcing us to sell WFWG in place
of regular 3.1, just to inflate the 'worth' of a product they couldn't
have sold otherwise!"

...The problem with that sort of thinking, though, is that WFGW - or
WinGroups, as it's also been referred to - *is* a faster version of Windows
and runs quite a bit more reliably not only moreso than its standalone
predecessor, but even more than the version from which the improvements
were first developed, Windows NT! Outside of the lack of compatibility with
OS/2, upgrading to WFWG is *not* an unsound idea.

...From the "Jurassic Park is Melting In the Dark" department: Pixar is about
to bring a version of its rendering technology software - yeah, that's what
Spielberg used to create those dinosaurs with in "Jurassic Park" - to end-user
desktops. Aimed at the power executive, Cool Charts will use rendering and
morphing technology to control the movement and adjustment of light sources,
creating the illusion that graphics used for presentation displays are
actually photographic, or rendered, images.

...While Pixar claims the package will run on 486SXs, as with any high-end
graphics package, performance will improve on a DX4 or Pentium-based system.
Pixar suggests that the package will run best on a Pentium-60, although
a DX4-100 is acceptable. As one would expect, if something needs expensive
hardware to run it, rest assured the cost of the software is going to be
expensive as well. Pixar plans to MSRP Cool Charts at $995, although Pixar
spokespersons did hint that a somewhat scaled-down version for hobbyist
and small commercial use would probably be developed depending on the
demand.

...From the "Wanna Buy a Bridge?" department: Worldwide losses to business
software piracy totaled $7.45 billion in 1993, according to figures recently
published by the industry's most notable paranoid watchdog, the Software
Publishers Association. The United States suffered the greatest loss with
$1.57 billion, followed by Japan with a loss of $650 million.

...Although the Western nations led in terms of overall monetary losses, the
SPA reported that piracy rates in economically emerging nations exceeded those
seen in the industrialized world. Of course, considering that the primary
excuse for piracy is the fact that most software is overpriced to begin
with, this observation should really come as no surprise.

...From the "Throw in the Towel!" department: Remember Microsoft Profit? Of
course not! Everyone was too busy dumping on Doublespace to dump on this
particular gaffe from the Gates Boys. Well, Microsoft has come to their
senses about this worthless package, and has left the business accounting
arena to remain dominated by the likes of Quicken. Anyone who has ever
tried to use Profit has come to believe that the package itself, and not
Quicken's usability, was a major factor in why Quicken's sales were so
high.

...In late May, Microsoft handed over Microsoft Profit for Windows, to
Great Plains Software, for what's been rumored to have been a really *low*
sum of money. Great Plains, as you'll recall, originally developed the DOS
version of Profit - which wasn't too bad a program -  and the North Dakota
-based company joined Microsoft in developing and distributing the Windows
version in 1992. Great Plains will continue to market and develop future
versions of Profit, but intends to make some major changes in the design
and efficiency of the product prior to its next release.

...On a nasty note, word has it that Compu$erve is moving from its mainframe
core system to a series of RISC boxes, all running Windows NT on top of
Unix. Expect rates to go up and accessability to go down when someone
discovers that CI$ bought I/O controllers that can't support 32-bit disk
access!

...From the "Crimestoppers Textbook" department: CD-ROM publishers may soon
take a hint from the record industry and distribute the shiny discs in
plastic "jewel cases'' with no additional cardboard packaging. The jewel cases
can hold a 16-page manual, a registration card, and the disc itself, but
several multimedia publishers have warned that larger cardboard packaging has
advantages that aren't needed with audio CD's. According to a Software
Toolworks spokesperson, "the larger box lets a company display the features
and explain an application to customers. An illustrated box is very
informative, and is a lot more difficult to shoplift than one might think!"

...All hell is breaking loose in San Francisco, and it's not because of
Earthquakes, either! Media Vision, manufacturers of is considered by most
OEM's and computer resellers the more reliable line of sound cards on the
market today, is under fire from nearly every quarter. The #2 multimedia
hardware and software company - second only to Sound Blaster thanks to an
unfair advantage in on-the-game-box advertising - is under investigation from
both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)and the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) concerning securities issues. Several class action lawsuits
have been filed against the company in March in addition to lawsuits alleging
violation of Section 10(b), 20 of Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and several
chief executives have bailed out of the company in the wake.

...As of May 20th, Paul Jain is out as chief executive officer, and is being
joined in his resignation by the company's chief financial officer, Steven
Allan, chief operating officer Russell Faust, and senior vice president of
worldwide sales Michael Humphress. These resignations come following reports
in _The San Francisco Chronicle_, which detailed how the company's financial
reports for the last two years had been doctored to look better than they
really were, and that former employees and executives of the firm have been
talking about illegal activities that took place at Media Vision, such as the
altering of sales records, a hidden warehouse with returned products, and
recording sales of products that had not shipped.

...The personal conduct of Jain himself was also the subject of the newspaper's
reports, centering around Jain's trips to Paris with women allegedly financed
by company funds. Following his resignation, Jain issued a statement for
himself through a public relations firm blaming these scandalous reports in
the _Chronicle_ concerning his acts, as well as the company's, for his
resignation. In his own statement, Jain said concerning his resignation:
"I believe it to be in the best interests of the company and an important
step in restoring confidence in Media Vision and its products among customers,
suppliers and shareholders." Jain also said he plans to spend his time in
making an attempt to clear his name and reputation, and will make himself
"available as a consultant" to Media Vision.

...In addition to these departures, five other Media Vision board members and
vice presidents have left the company entirely since May 9th: Executive Vice
President Min Yee, Vice President of Strategic Marketing Satish Gupta, and
Vice President of Set Top Engineering Shiraz Shivji, outside board member
Bernard Vonderschmitt who is president of Xilinx, and outside board member
Curtis Wozniak who serves as vice president of worldwide marketing at Sun
Microsystems. All have declined comment to the media on the situation on the
advice of their attorneys. Shortly after these departures, the company also
gave fifty employees pink slips, reducing the work force to 300.

...Meanwhile, Media Vision's stock value continues to take a nose dive. In
December of 1993, the stock was at a high of 46, but has since dropped to the
2 level as of press time! This comes on the heels of two delays by the board
of directors in reporting its earnings for its fourth quarter and fiscal year
ending March 31, 1994. Company officials now say that it would be several
weeks until the results are ready, and cites the delay to the turmoil
surrounding the departures of the high-level executives.

...Adding final insult to injury, reports flew over several computer networks
prior to Memorial Day weekend of calls to Media Vision's tech support lines
which were answered by technicians who told of a "company-wide panic"
following a rumor circulated over the company's in-house network, warning
that "everyone should *not* be surprised when they show up back to work on
Tuesday to find the doors have been padlocked!" Workers were also reportedly
urged by department heads to "take home anything of value" from their
offices, just in case the rumor turned out to be true. Luckily for Media
Vision employees, the rumor turned out to be just that - at least, for the
time being.

...Finally, industry experts, OEM's, and VAR's are watching the developments
with Media Vision closely. Should the company's financial troubles result in
cessation of operations, this would give Creative Arts a virtually unchallenged
dominance of the computer multimedia market. Many OEM's and VAR's view this
as something they'd rather not see happen; polls conducted by publications
such as _Computer Reseller News_ and _PC World_ show that Media Vision products
were preferred over Creative Arts line of Sound Blasters by a 2 to 1 margin.
Most cited the ease of compatibility with non-Media Vision OEM products,
and the ease of configurability when compared to that of the Sound Blasters.

...WWIVNews will obviously keep a ear open for further developments.

...From the "ALIAS is *Dead*" department: If you've never uttered the words
English and DOS in the same sentence, this product is for you. Natural
Language Solutions has developed EasyEnglish DOS, which is an alternative to
DOS commands and syntax that non-geeks - that is, people who aren't normal
like the rest of us - cannot comprehend. The program allows you to freely
form DOSlike requests using everyday English words and phrases, such as
"Add the current directory to my path" and "Does this directory fit on drive
A: or B:?"

...Powered by NLS's proprietary SmartLogic artificial intelligence technology,
EasyEnglish DOS is an advanced natural-language processor that analyzes and
understands your ordinary English so you don't have to memorize cryptic or
complex keywords and syntax. You can simply phrase your request as if you were
speaking to a person. The program even expands the usual set of DOS commands.
For example, you can find and manipulate files or groups of files ("...all
files that end in DOC or WAV except FART.WAV"), get information ("Which drive
has the most free space?"), and much more.

...As for performance, those who've used EasyEnglish DOS claim that it can
slow down your system depending on how much difficulty the program has in
parsing out your command. NLS suggests that while the processor will work on
anything above and including an XT, a 386DX-40 is the minimum recommended
system configuration for at least acceptable performance. EasyEnglish DOS
has an MSRP of $49.95, and is available directly from Natural Language
Solutions or through most suppliers and VARs.

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
               │    The Power Mac: Panacea or Snake Oil?     │
               │            by Omega Man (1@5282)            │
               └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Ok, we've all heard the rhetoric. We've seen the ads, tolerated the hype, and
politely nodded our heads when the Mac geeks were all jumping up and down
about Apple's line of Macintoshes equipped with PowerPC processors. Specially,
we've had to endure the blatherings over Insignia Solutions' SoftWindows,
which is the special version of Windows 3.1 which in turn is executes under
a software-emulated version of DOS. The end result is a machine that's supposed
to unify the two sides of the Great Computer War into one common machine
that'll put Apple on top of the computer industry.

Now, Apple has had some really high hopes that they can sucker all the DOS
geeks away from their DOS boxes and have them buying the new Power Macs
because they can run both Windows and the Macintosh operating system. But the
question here isn't compatibility, it's speed. Do Apple's latest foray into
the world of Windows deliver a level of performance high enough to interest
mainstream Windows users? Let's find out.


"THE STORY YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS TRUE..."
───────────────────────────────────────────

First off, let's look at what we're dealing with. The three new machines,
which will have Windows preloaded, are specially configured versions of the
Power Macintosh 6100/60, 7100/66 and the 8100/80. This adds between $300 and
$700 to the price tag. The added cost comes not only from the licensing fee
for SoftWindows, but because SoftWindows requires a substantial chunk of RAM.
In fact, Power Macs equipped with Windows will ship, at minimum, with a
whopping 16MB of 4MB SIMMs, which as we all know usually runs about 40% more
for Mac systems than for PC's simply due to dealer price gouging.

Next, there's the processor. The new Macs are based on the PowerPC 601 chip,
which is a reduced instruction set (RISC) CPU. This chip offers some really
choice performance results when used with apps that were written in native
PowerPC code. In benchmark tests performed by Apple and IBM, some apps run
four times as fast on a PowerPC system as they do when compared to their
counterparts running on Pentium and 68040 processors.


"THE NAMES WERE CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT..."
───────────────────────────────────────────────────

When the power Macs were released, Apple's CEO, Michael Spindler, claimed that
the architecture of the Power Macs would "deliver Windows 3.1 performance
equivalent to that offered by 486-based computers!" However, benchmark
tests performed by several different magazines and testing centers, including
the normally tainted-by-brownnosing Z-D Labs, have shows that the pairing
between the Power Macs and the Insignia Solutions have been far less than
completely successful. In fact, the word "lame" probably best describes the
situation.

Now, this situation could have been avoided had the PowerPC been designed
along a specification suggested by IBM when the consortium between Big Blue,
Apple, and Motorola started designing the 6xx series of PowerPC chips. IBM's
idea - which will be implemented, incedentally, in the PowerPC 615 - called
for including CISC code for both the 80486 and the 68040 along with the
PowerPC RISC microcode on the same 601 wafer. There was plenty of room, and
the design would have ensured total compatibility between DOS apps, Mac apps,
and whatever PowerPC environment the user chose to operate under.

However, both Apple and Motorola engineers pressured the decision to make the
initial 601 and 603 chips as RISC-specific as possible. RISC technology places
the burden for performance on having the software as optimized as possible
using a reduced instruction set. The belief on the part of Apple and Motorola
was that by forcing those wishing to use CISC-based apps to take a performance
hit when compared to RISC-based apps, pressure would be applied to both users
and software developers to switch to the RISC-based - read: PowerPC-based -
apps in order to gain back the lost performance.