awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) (06/13/89)
I would appreciate hearing about any commercially available CD-ROMs for the Macintosh (or compatible with the AppleCD SC), since I just placed an order for a CD-ROM drive. I am aware of MegaROM from QL Tech in Coral Gables, FL. $49 for 330MB of public domain stacks, fonts, picts, utilities and examples. By the way, they are working on a $99 700+MB BBS CD due in July. Does anyone know if Microsoft Bookshelf or Grolier's encyclopedia work on the Macintosh? Netiquette demands that I request email and offer to post a summary (although, between you and me, starting a new thread for CD-ROM here wouldn't bother me at all). I scanned various newsgroups looking for a better place to post this request, but couldn't find one--any pointers would be gladly accepted. Thanks in advance. /alastair/
jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) (06/13/89)
In article <102@dbase.UUCP> awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) writes: >I would appreciate hearing about any commercially available CD-ROMs for >the Macintosh (or compatible with the AppleCD SC), since I just placed >an order for a CD-ROM drive. > >I am aware of MegaROM from QL Tech in Coral Gables, FL. $49 for 330MB >of public domain stacks, fonts, picts, utilities and examples. By the >way, they are working on a $99 700+MB BBS CD due in July. The most recent Apple Developer mailing included a copy of the 88 THE magazine on the Mac, one article listed the following CD's. Books in Print Plus, 770,000 book citatins Bowker Electronic Publishing, New York, NY ClubMac, Quantom Access Inc, fonts, stacks etc. Quantom Access, Houston TX Miriam-Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary Highligted Data, Falls Church, VA The Eletronic Encycoloedia, Groiler Electronic Publising, Danbury CN Time Table of Science and Innovation, Xiphias, Mariana Del Ray CA Universe of Sounds Optical Media International, Los Gatos CA apple!jrg John R. Galloway, Jr. contract programmer, San Jose, Ca These are my views, NOT Apple's, I am a GUEST here, not an employee!!
blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) (06/13/89)
In article <32391@apple.Apple.COM> jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) writes:
Books in Print Plus, 770,000 book citations
Bowker Electronic Publishing, New York, NY
ClubMac, Quantum Access Inc, fonts, stacks etc.
Quantum Access, Houston TX
Miriam-Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
Highlighted Data, Falls Church, VA
includes pronunciation of most (all?) of the words.
The Electronic Encyclopedia,
Groiler Electronic Publising, Danbury CN
Time Table of Science and Innovation,
Xiphias, Mariana Del Ray CA
Universe of Sounds
Optical Media International, Los Gatos CA
Boston Computer Society, Berkeley Mac User's Group(BMUG), and Educorp all
sell CD-ROMs that have the typical selections of public-domain and
shareware (aka "virusware") stuff.
The Electronic Whole Earth Catalog is available from Broderbund, San
Rafael, CA. Reviews, Articles, samples of records, all the sorts of
things that you remember from the printed versions.
Manhole by Activision. A non-violent exploration of a world populated by
rabbit, walrus, and dragon.
Facts On File News Digest by Facts On File, New York, NY. The last 8
years of Facts On File plus more than 500 details maps.
National Business Directory by Xiphias, Marina Del Rey, CA. A national
business directory with addresses and telephone numbers.
Ingram MicroD, the largest nationwide distributor of Macintosh software,
has two separate collections of three CD-ROM titles for $249 per set. The
first set includes BMUG's PD-ROM, the Universe of Sounds by OMI, and a
VideoWorks collection by MacroMind. The second set includes Xiphias'
National Business Directory, Multi-Ad Services' ProArt Trilogy, and
Comstock Photography's Desktop Photography. You also get a free Nimbus
Records audio sampler with either package.
Developer Helper: Phil and Dave's Excellent CD is or will be available
from APDA. All the system software back to the 128K, all the foreign
language software, all the peripherals software, tech notes, etc.
Dr. Edward A. Fox at Virginia Tech has pressed a High Sierra CD and a A/UX
CD. Each contains a variety of things that you would find on the
Internet. For more information, contact him at Internet:
fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu or BITNET: foxea@vtcc1.
The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae contains most, if not all, ancient Greek
literature. Harvard has come up with a Hypercard stack to search this CD.
Contact me (blob@apple.com) if you want more information, as I don't have
the addresses right in front of me.
There are lots and lots of in-house projects going on with CD-ROM, both at
Apple and other companies. Most of those never get mentioned outside the
company involved, usually because the information is considered
proprietary.
Finally, if you want to press your own CD, Disctronics will make a single
CD using "a unique, patented process" for $500. Many, many places will
press CDs for ~$1500 mastering charge plus $2.00 per CD.
A new magazine, free for qualified subscribers, is "CD-ROM End User."
Contact DDRI, 6609 Rosecroft Place, Falls Church, VA 22043 or (703)
237-0682 for more information.
These are just the ones I could find in articles somewhere in my office.
I'm sure I missed some. I've seen copies of, or personally possess,
all of the CDs mentioned.
--Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) (06/13/89)
In article <2349@internal.Apple.COM> blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) writes: (citations deleted) > >Boston Computer Society, Berkeley Mac User's Group(BMUG), and Educorp all >sell CD-ROMs that have the typical selections of public-domain and >shareware (aka "virusware") stuff. (more citations deleted) > >--Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's" Both BMUG and BCS have gone to great pains to ensure that the contents of their respective CDs are free of viruses. I don't have even a tenuous connection with Educorp, so I can't vouch for their disk, but I would assume until I heard otherwise that they were similarly careful. A clean CD-ROM is probably the *best* place to obtain publically distributable software. On the other hand, the quality control and mastering routines BMUG goes through in producing PD floppies essentially eliminates the possibility of known viruses sneaking through that medium. And since we're among the first to hear about new viruses, we're quite adept at preventing their spread. For a review of some CD-ROMs containing publically distributable software, see the latest issue of MacUser. John Heckendorn /\ BMUG ARPA: bmug@garnet.berkeley.EDU A__A 1442A Walnut St., #62 BITNET: bmug@ucbgarne |()| Berkeley, CA 94709 Phone: (415) 549-2684 | |
blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) (06/13/89)
In article <25437@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) writes: >In article <2349@internal.Apple.COM> blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) writes: >>Boston Computer Society, Berkeley Mac User's Group(BMUG), and Educorp >>all sell CD-ROMs that have the typical selections of public-domain >>and shareware (aka "virusware") stuff. ^^^^^^^^^ facetious comment without smiley face. > >Both BMUG and BCS have gone to great pains to ensure that the contents >of their respective CDs are free of viruses. Ooops. I meant to put a smiley face after the facetious comment but missed it. The translation of spoken English to printed words fails me again... BMUG, BCS, Educorp and every other publisher of collections of software take INCREDIBLE pains to ensure that no virus infections exist on their disks. I never meant to imply that any of the organizations listed would release a CD with infected software. They have worked long and hard to ensure the quality of the CDs. I apologize, John. I meant the comment as a joke, not as a reflection on the quality of the BMUG or any other CD. I would recommend any of the three CDs as a good source of publicly distributable software that is guaranteed to be without virus infections. Beyond that, all three CDs include a variety of tools that help you fight viruses; since the tools are on CD-ROM, you are assured that you have at least one permanently clean version of these programs. --Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"
mjohnson@Apple.COM (Mark B. Johnson) (06/14/89)
In article <2349@internal.Apple.COM> blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) writes: >Developer Helper: Phil and Dave's Excellent CD is or will be available >from APDA. All the system software back to the 128K, all the foreign >language software, all the peripherals software, tech notes, etc. > Well, we hope to make it available from APDA. No promises yet, but the decision rests with the powers that be and they have feedback from people who have requested it ... so we'll see what happens. Mark B. Johnson AppleLink: mjohnson Developer Technical Support domain: mjohnson@Apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. UUCP: {amdahl,decwrl,sun,unisoft}!apple!mjohnson "You gave your life to become the person you are right now. Was it worth it?" - Richard Bach, _One_
alibaba@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Alexander M. Rosenberg) (06/14/89)
In article <2349@internal.Apple.COM> blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) writes: >Boston Computer Society, Berkeley Mac User's Group(BMUG), and Educorp all >sell CD-ROMs that have the typical selections of public-domain and >shareware (aka "virusware") stuff. > >--Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's" Although each group does extensively check and recheck the masters for viruses, this doesn't prevent some boneheads at the mastering company from infecting it. :-) (no names, of course) I would also caution Brain to watch the common tendancy to place for-profit "user groups " (used _very_ lightly) in with non-profit groups that provide real services and have real meetings with discussions of real intersting stuff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Alexander M. Rosenberg - INTERNET: alibaba@ucscb.ucsc.edu - Yoyodyne - - Crown College, UCSC - UUCP:...!ucbvax!ucscc!ucscb!alibaba- Propulsion - - Santa Cruz, CA 95064 - BITNET:alibaba%ucscb@ucscc.BITNET - Systems - - (408) 426-8869 - Disclaimer: Nobody is my employer - :-) - - - so nobody cares what I say. - -
blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) (06/14/89)
In article <7947@saturn.ucsc.edu> alibaba@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Alexander M. Rosenberg) writes: > Although each group does extensively check and recheck the masters > for viruses, this doesn't prevent some boneheads at the mastering > company from infecting it. :-) (no names, of course) But only one CD that was so infected was ever released; the company that did so sent out 300 copies, and got back all of them immediately through a massive phone effort. Other CDs that were infected by naive mastering companies were discovered before being released to the public. Of course, the mastering company eats the costs on such a matter. All the mastering companies that I'm aware of are now as strict as BMUG or BCS in keeping viruses out of their systems. > I would also caution Brain to watch the common tendancy to ^^^^^ gee, thanks! > place for-profit "user groups " (used _very_ lightly) in with > non-profit groups that provide real services and have real > meetings with discussions of real intersting stuff. I'm quite aware that Educorp is not a user group in any normal sense of the word. Their CD is still an adequate collection of publicly distributable programs. --Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"
kent@lloyd.camex.uucp (Kent Borg) (06/16/89)
In article <2366@internal.Apple.COM> blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) writes: >In article <7947@saturn.ucsc.edu> alibaba@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Alexander M. >Rosenberg) writes: >> Although each group does extensively check and recheck the masters >> for viruses, this doesn't prevent some boneheads at the mastering >> company from infecting it. :-) (no names, of course) > ... >the mastering company eats the costs on such a matter. All the mastering >companies that I'm aware of are now as strict as BMUG or BCS in keeping >viruses out of their systems. And the one ``bonehead'' instance I *have* heard of was caught before any of the bad discs were distributed. (I think some the bad ones had holes punched in them and were made into badges.) I would trust any of the BMUG or BCS discs. All I need is a CD player. Kent Borg kent@lloyd.uucp or ...!husc6!lloyd!kent
cy@dbase.UUCP (Cy Shuster) (06/21/89)
In article <420@lloyd.camex.uucp> kent@lloyd.UUCP (Kent Borg) writes: >And the one ``bonehead'' instance I *have* heard of was caught before >any of the bad discs were distributed. I hold in my hand the first issue of QLTech's MegaROM (Vol 1, Oct. 88, with green stripes across it) which was apparently infected by Nimbus just before it was pressed. Dennis Cohen and I found the virus on the same weekend, and reported it to Quantum Leap, who immediately sent out clean replacements, with even a few more goodies on it. The point is that some of these did in fact get distributed. So what the heck? Trust, but verify: run Virus RX over a weekend. Do it once, and then you never need do it again. --Cy-- DISCLAIMER: My opinions only.