RAndY s RumOR RaG March 1993 BBS BUST I don't know the source of the following, but I had heard of Rusty & Edie's getting busted. The Federation Bureau of Investigation on Saturday, Jan. 30, 1993, raided "Rusty & Edie's", a computer bulletin board located in Boardman, Ohio, which has allegedly been illegally distributing copyrighted software programs. For the past several months, the Software Publishers Association(SPA)has been working with the FBI in investigating the Rusty & Edie's bulletin board, and as part of that investigation has downloaded numerous copyrighted business and entertainment programs from the board. The SPA investigation was initiated following the receipt of complaints from a number of SPA members that their software was being illegally distributed on the Rusty & Edie's BBS. The Rusty & Edie's bulletin board was one of the largest private bulletin boards in the country. It had 124 nodes available to callers and over 14,000 subscribers throughout the United States and several foreign countries. To date, the board has logged in excess of 3.4 million phone calls, with new calls coming in at the rate of over 4,000 per day. It was established in 1987 and had expanded to include over 19 gigabytes of storage housing over 100,000 files available to subscribers for downloading. It had paid subscribers throughout the United States and several foreign countries, including Canada, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. "The SPA applauds the FBI's action today," said Ilene Rosenthal, general counsel for the SPA. "This shows that the FBI recognizes the harm that theft of intellectual property causes to one of the U.S.'s most vibrant industries. It clearly demonstrates a trend that the government understands the seriousness of software piracy." The SPA is actively working with the FBI in the investigation of computer bulletin boards, and similar raids on other boards are expected shortly. --------------- NEWS IN YER FACE Back in February 1992, Novell and Microsoft were talking about a merger. Microsoft offered about $85 per share at a time when Novell stock was trading in the low $60's. Novell balked when Microsoft bought Fox and never told them. The relationship further deteriorated when Microsoft embedded NetWare code in Windows for WorkGroups. --------------- Novell has converted Microware accounts receivable into stock in the company. Microware has been struggling financially and this move could help. Novell noted that this move does not mean they will take an active role in running Microware. --------------- Microsoft has released Macintosh and Windows versions of Office on CD-ROM. --------------- Intuit (makers of the popular Quicken) have filed an initial public offering, attempting to raise $25.5 million through the sale of 1.5 million shares of stock. --------------- Logitech is releasing a 16-bit sound card using the Spectrum chip licensed from Media Vision. This is basically a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 card under the name of Logitech. Included utilities are the same and until August, Logitech will sell buyers one of four Accolade games for just $5. --------------- Creative Labs, makers of the popular SoundBlaster series, recently bought E-Mu, a digital audio company well known for their keyboard line. The stated goal is to combine E-Mu's expertise and sound libraries with Creative Labs' manufacturing and distribution, but no immediate changes are planned for the SoundBlaster line. E- Mu will continue to supply chips to other sound board makers (like Turtle Beach). --------------- Intel and Chips & Technologies have settled their patent litigation. Each party is releasing the other and its customers from past liabilities, and are granting each other license rights on selected patents. --------------- Expected for release by the time you read this are Freelance Graphics and 1-2-3, both for OS/2. To follow soon are 32-bit version of cc:Mail and Ami Pro. Meanwhile, Borland is backing off from tentative OS/2 versions of Quattro Pro and Paradox. --------------- The dispute between Microsoft and Stac Electronics continues over Microsoft s alleged pilfering of Stac patents. Apparently the two companies had talked about a DOS 6/Stacker bundle and Bill Gates had expressed an interest in the Stacker product back in late 1991. --------------- Microsoft next beta of NT will include 32-bit electronic mail and scheduling applications. Improved support for IPX and improved network awareness will also be included. Microsoft is hinting that 8 megs of memory will not be enough, hinting that 10-12 megs will be necessary. --------------- Microsoft is scheduling a DOS 6 rollout for March 30. The focus of the blitz will be the data compression technology, but there is concern about the 8% performance degradation it causes with some applications. --------------- As you read this, Autodesk should have released a Windows version of AutoCAD and a set of mechanical CAD products. List price of the Windows product will be $3750, but AutoCAD owners can get it free within the first 30 days and for $75 after that. --------------- Certain models of Compaq's Prolinea line are having battery problems. You d think that since battery-backed CMOS was implemented in the first AT's, they d have it figured out by now. --------------- Intel is now saying that the Pentium chip will be available only in limited quantities at the end of this year. Availability will be limited to 50,000 units this year due to heat difficulties manufacturing the 66MHz chip. They re considering producing a 60MHz chip in the meantime and there are rumors of a redesign for a lower heat generating 3.3 volt chip. --------------- PLUG-IN FOR PROGRAM MANAGER Plug-In for Program Manager is an enhancement utility that adds to and improves upon the feature set of Program Manager. It operates "behind the scenes" and cooperates fully with Program Manager. Plug-In includes the ability to: copy groups, instantly activate/deactivate groups (deactivated groups stay on disk, but are removed from Program Manager), reset all group windows to their original positions, dynamically change the StartUp group. You get visual browsing, and included is a Speed List feature to get to your favorite icons quickly. Each group can be assigned an icon of its own and you can change the default group icon. The standard pointer and the hourglass cursor can be replaced with a selection of alternates. There is an enhanced run command, including a history list, browse feature, and various runtime options. A single menu choice will install a new Windows application. Just place an installation disk in a drive and you will be given a chance to view any ReadMe files prior to installation. An improved "Exit Windows" dialog also allows you to restart Windows. Enhanced group window commands allow you to minimize all open groups at once, as well as do both vertical and horizontal tiling. System resources and available memory is constantly displayed on Program Manager menu bar and in Program Manager's icon when it is minimized. An alarm can be set to warn you of low system resources and/or memory. The QuickRun menu provides an easy way to access frequently run applications. Complete context-sensitive help is available from all dialogs. There is support for standard multimedia sound associations for dialogs and alarms. All of this sounds real good and the program is easy to install and quite versatile. So what does all this functionality cost? Just send $20 to Plannet Crafters, 2580 Runic Way, Alpharetta, Georgia 30202-5078. I don't normally endorse products, but this one is well worth the money. --------------- WORDPERFECT DELAYS Product delays are plentiful these days in Orem. WordPerfect announced that Office Version 4 will be delayed until the second quarter and InForms will be postponed until May. WordPerfect 6 for Windows is now scheduled for year end release. (Part of this delay was the decision to implement OLE 2.) There are several factors behind these delays. Months of beta testing and demand for cross platform applications slows product development. WordPerfect is trying to make all versions of software share common code and that takes a lot of time. --------------- PAGEMAKER 5 Aldus is set to release Version 5 of PageMaker. I haven't seen it yet, but have read some articles in the mags, including Aldus Magazine. Here are some of the new features and changes. New to Version 5 is something called a Control Palette. This is basically a button bar which changes according to whatever mode you're in. In Character Mode you have access to type specifications, kerning, and type related things. In Paragraph Mode you choose styles, set alignments and indents, and other operations related to paragraphs. This Control Palette should make an easy program even easier to operate. The familiar Toolbox remains, but the rounded corner tool has been replaced with a tool which lets you rotate text and graphics in .01 degree increments. In the area of color, PageMaker comes with eight color matching systems with over 10,000 colors to match to. In addition to the commercial color libraries you can also create your own. You can now do color tints and print process color separations. You will be able to print any pages you want in any sequence. They've also overhauled the code so that it prints more compact PostScript code than the present version and printing overall is supposed to be faster. Aldus claims that PageMaker 5 generates 20% less PostScript code than Version 4. You will now be able to open as many publications as you want (limited only by memory) and copy text and graphics between them. Cross platform compatibility will be greatly improved. You'll also be able to create custom line weights, instead of the present few predefined ones. There is also a library palette which is like a graphical clipboard for storing multiple items, letting you search with keywords if you've got a large library. Aldus expects to ship PageMaker 5 in the first quarter of this year, so don't expect to see it until the end of March. Even then, these long overdue improvements should be worth it. --------------- RED HOT & PUBLISH Quark is offering a software package called Red Hot & Publish, the proceeds of which will go to support AIDS research. I hesitate to talk politics here, but I feel compelled to speak out. I've seen similar promotions in the photography business too. While I have sympathy for those afflicted with AIDS, you must remember that it is a disease promoted through deviant behavior. Don't drag out the .0001% who get it through a tainted blood transfusion - this disease is directly related to behavior. This country is already spending ten times more money on AIDS research than on cancer research. I avoid these promotions as I avoid the behavior which spreads the disease. --------------- MORE NEWS IN YER FACE It seems that Microsoft has removed network client, electronic mail components, and disk compression features from the current DOS 6 beta release. They claim that it was causing confusion with consumers. Network client functions for connecting to Windows for Workgroups will be offered as a separate product. The disk compression feature is the center of a dispute with Stac Electronics. --------------- Novell is working on making DR-DOS work with Windows for Workgroups. Novell claims that Microsoft can write software so that DR-DOS' memory management system will not operate properly. Cooperation between Microsoft and Novell continues despite recently publicized disagreements. Novell is trying to better market NetWare Lite while industry insiders are noting slow sales of Windows for Workgroups, earning the moniker of Windows for Warehouses. --------------- In order to exploit dBase for Windows delays, Microsoft will soon unveil a free package which will convert dBase IV files to FoxPro 2.5 format. Rumor has it that Borland will release dBase IV 2.0 for DOS in mid-April. --------------- Borland is shipping an interim release for Paradox 4. The release corrects problems with the Show Pull Down command which has tended to grab memory and not release it. Also included is the T utility for fixing corrupted data tables. The charge is $15 to registered users. --------------- WordPerfect acquired a controlling interest in Reference Software International, makers of Grammatik. I hate Grammatik and all software of like it, but this is certainly a feather in the cap of WordPerfect. --------------- VIDEO FOR WINDOWS I don't even own a VCR that works right so why should I care about video for my computer? Video for Windows is the final piece of the multimedia pie. We've improved the sound quality of PC's with the multitude of sound cards on the market. The graphics and animation capabilities of the PC world have also improved tremendously in recent years. The only thing missing has been full motion video. Video for Windows replaces the Media Player with one that's been enhanced. You also get VidCap and VidEdit, capture and editing utilities respectively. WaveEdit, BitEdit, and PalEdit let you fine-tune your digital audio and video data. A QuickTime converter lets you convert between PC and Macintosh. Video clips are then treated like any other type of data. You can cut and paste video from the Clipboard and use it as an OLE object. Yeah, but how good is it. By default, the video is displayed in a small window (about 2 inches square on a 14-inch monitor). You can play the images full screen. The window cannot be resized with the mouse like a conventional window. I was surprised. If you're used to looking at jerky loops done with GRASP or Animator, Video for Windows makes them look sick. The color is good and the motion is very smooth. Be aware that you'll need the hottest processor and video combination you can muster. Even on my lowly 386-33 and ATI VGA Wonder+ the motion was smooth and clean. You're going to need megs of storage space and CD-ROM will be the normal distribution medium as you might expect. Even so, if your presentations or whatever you're doing require video, look into Video for Windows. --------------- DIGITAL IMAGING As a professional photographer, I have a great interest in digital imaging. I can foresee the day in the not so distant future where a customer will come into my studio, have a portrait done, and select the images to purchase on the screen before leaving. I then do electronic retouching and product the prints on some sort of electronic printer - the customer returns later in the day and picks up (and pays for) the order. I can see the days of silver-based emulsions fading. We all know that it's not too difficult to get an image into the computer with a fair degree of quality. It's not too tough to manipulate an image to product a desired effect. The tough part is getting it out of the computer with enough quality that someone will pay money for it. I recently saw a couple of digital images and was completely blown away. I didn't know that technology had advanced this far. One image had been produced with an electronic camera using no conventional silver-based film. The print was made using Kodak's fancy electronic imaging system. The print didn't look bad, but the colors resembled a Cibachrome print (too saturated). The second image was printed from a Photo CD. An untrained eye would not be able to detect that this print was electronically printed. The limitation at present is that the printer is limited to a maximum file size of 9 megs. A hi-res image from a Photo CD can easily get in the 15 meg area. Don't sell your stock in Kodak just yet. The technology is expensive - but the days of silver are numbered. --------------- PERSONAL NOTE Look out on GEnie - I'm back. I recently discovered that GEnie has both 2400 and 9600 access available through an 800 number. I only log on once a week (either Friday nights or Saturday mornings) but I'll now be able to respond to your messages. ================================= 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 America Online as well as in Modem News. In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a DTK 386-33 with 16 megs of memory, Cyrix Fasmath co-processor, ATI VGA Wonder+ card (1 MB), 105 MB 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, WordPerfect 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, America Online, 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 America Online: RumOR RaG