Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (12/24/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 23 Dec 90 Volume 90 : Issue 212
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Administrivia - VAPORWARE
Administrivia - Table of Contents V90 #211
Christmas Violator Virus
Murph's VAPORWARE Column for November 1990
Send Replies or notes for publication to:
<INFO-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
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Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP
only from WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>.
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Date: Sun, 23 Dec 90 18:00:00 +01:00
From Gregory Hicks <ghicks@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil>
Subject: Administrivia - VAPORWARE
I was asked by a subscriber why the VAPORWARE newsletter was not posted
to Info-IBMPC. I replied that I was concerned with copyright
implications and the fact of using government resources to distribute
requests for 'paid' subscriptions (to the HUGE Apple Club).
Professor Murph Sewall pointed out that the fee was for access to the
BBS and the PRINTED Newsletter and that I could delete that portion
of the header if I so desired. I did so.
I then asked some respected advisors if I should distribute the VAPORWARE
newsletter via Info-IBMPC... Got one 'Yes', one 'NO' and one ... Since
the newsletter is available from the INFO-MICRO@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
list. The newsletter comes out on a 'monthly' basis.
My question to you is: Should this newsletter be distributed by the
Info-IBMPC Digest? I have found it quite interesting.
Let me know please. I'll abide by your decision.
Regards.
Gregory Hicks
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Date: Fri, 28 Dec 90, 12:08:14 A (GMT +01:00)
From Gregory Hicks <ghicks@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Administrivia - Table of Contents V90 #211
When perusing some rejected mail yesterday, I discovered that I had
inadvertently left out the table of contents for Info-IBMPC Digest
V90 #211. Herewith attached is that TOC.
Regret inconvience.
Regards,
Gregory Hicks
Today's Topics:
DIF Data Interchange Format (2 msgs)
Ghostscript, bgi
Today's Queries:
PD or Shareware Paint Program Available?
Network problem
PC-GLOBE
Portable 486's
Problems with a 3 1/2" HD floppy drive
Quarterback Deskview
Turbo C Tutorial experience
New Uploads:
STARTR10.ZIP - Menu-based database of all Star Trek episodes
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Date: Sat, 22 Dec 90 00:25:51 PST
From: Aryeh Goretsky <netcom!nusjecs!ozonebbs!aryehg@APPLE.COM>
Subject: Christmas Violator Virus
CHRISTMAS VIOLATOR VIRUS
There has been a hacked version of Omen Technology's DSZ ZMODEM
External File Protocol Module called DSZ1203.ZIP. The DSZ file inside
is infected with a new variant of the Violator virus known as the
Christmas Violator or Violator-B4 virus. The virus contains a an ASCII
message from a group called RABID and contains a Christmas Greeting.
It is not known what else the virus does.
The following search string can be used by VIRUSCAN with the /EXT
switch to check for the virus:
"51 ba ? ? fc 8b f2 81 c6 9b 11 bf 00 01 b9 03 00" Christmas Violator
If you find this virus on your system, run VIRUSCAN with the /D option
to delete the infected files.
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NEW BBS LINE
A new bbs line has been added to Homebase BBS at (408) 988-5190. This line
has a US Robotics Courier 9600 Dual Standard providing a 9600bps connection
using v.32 and MNP-5. Hopefully, this will make getting the software easier
for International Long Distance callers.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Aryeh Goretsky, Tech Support vox (408) 988-3832 |
McAfee Associates fax (408) 970-9727 |
4423 Cheeney Street bbs (408) 988-4004 |
Santa Clara, California 95054-0253 // |
Internet: aryehg_ozonebbs.uucp!apple.com // |
UUCP: apple!netcom!nusjecs!ozonebbs!aryehg \X/ |
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1990 22:04:30 EST
From: Murph Sewall <Sewall%UCONNVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Murph's VAPORWARE Column for November 1990
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the November 1990 APPLE PULP
H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter
P.O. Box 18027
East Hartford, CT 06118
Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739
Permission granted to copy with the above citation
"We will learn to walk and chew gum" - Michael Spindler, chief
operating officer, Apple Computer.
The Latest Word.
A little known research and development company has announced a major
breakthrough in speech recognition software. Emerson & Stern's
"Soliloquy" uses a method based on the way the human vocal tract
produces spoken words. With this new approach, Soliloquy can recognize
voices of children and people with accents or colds. The method is CPU
and RAM intensive, and Emerson & Stern recommend the minimum processor
should be a 68040 running at 25 MHz. The demonstration code is in the
form of C routines written for the Macintosh. On a Macintosh IIci the
software has a vocabulary of about 200 words. Experts say that a
vocabulary of 1,000 words would be sufficient for 95 percent of most
people's everyday conversation and 2,000 words would be adequate for 99
percent of ordinary conversation. Soliloquy offers a real possibility
of conversing naturally with computers within a few years. - PC Week 1
October
128 Mbyte 3.5 inch Drive.
Most Inc., a subsidiary of Nakamichi Peripherals, will market a $2,500
magnito-optical disk drive sometime during the Winter. The rewritable
3.5 inch media is expected to sell for about $128. The drive's average
seek time is 35 milliseconds and average data access time is 47
milliseconds. The drive will be fully compatible with the emerging
ANSI standard and future versions are planed with a capacity of up to
512 Mbytes. - InfoWorld 24 September
True "Notebook" Computing.
NCR will bring a four pound pen-based notebook PC to Fall Comdex for
private showings. The pen-based system promises to automate such paper
intensive tasks as field data collection and inventory management.
NCR's active digitizer is said to be more "paperlike" than the glass
surface used by the Grid pen-based system. If NCR decides to put their
"Handwriter" into production, it should be shipping by Spring Comdex.
- PC Week 8 October
Flash Cards.
Volume quantities of Intel's one and four Mbyte non-volatile Flash
Memory IC cards should be shipping by Christmas. The cards can revise
and store applications and sequential files. At present, the cards
cannot rewrite data at the file level (one file per card; revising
requires rewriting the entire file). The cards should be a boon to
laptop users; no battery backup is required for code retention. -
InfoWorld 8 October
Apple II Compatibility.
The "no compromises" Apple II card for the Macintosh promised by John
Sculley appears to represent a substantial compromise. The under $200
NuBus board has been announced as an Apple //e card which will not
support recent Apple IIgs applications. The card isn't expected to
ship until next March and will have a connector on the back for a 5.25
inch disk drive. - PC Week 1 October
50 MHz i486.
Intel expects volume production of the 50 MHz version of the i486 CPU
sometime in the second quarter of 1991. The speedy processor will be
offered in a highly integrated module that will include an internal
256K static RAM cache with a cache controller. Performance is expected
to exceed that of the 33 MHz version of the i486 by as much as 50
percent. Anticipated prices for most 50 MHz i486 systems are expected
to be in the $8,000 range. - PC Week 1 October
Don't PS/1 It!
In a letter to corporate customers, IBM has indicated it will void the
warranty on any PS/1 with a Token Ring board installed (IBM alleges the
PS/1 is only a home computer). - InfoWorld 24 September and PC Week 8
October
All 386 PS/2's.
The 80286-based PS/2 Model 30 will soon be replaced by the Model 40SX
with a 80386SX CPU. This model will continue to be distinguished by an
AT (not Micro Channel) bus. - PC Week 24 September and InfoWorld 1
October
New Windows.
An upgrade to Microsoft Windows 3.0 may ship during the first half next
year (recall that this product, first announced in 1984, helped to
popularize the term "vaporware"). Windows 3.1 will feature True Type
scalable fonts, but difficulty developing this technology have been
reported. Version 3.1 will also have shell improvements, greater
network support, and "richer imaging." Chairman Bill Gates predicts
more than 1,500 applications developed for Window's graphic environment
by next year. - PC Week 1 October and InfoWorld 8 October
Macintosh System 7 Delayed Again (What Else is New?).
The good news is that System has gone from alpha to beta. The bad news
is that beta testing typically takes six months. Apple has announced
another postponement of the product until "the first half of next
year." It appears the product will miss it's originally planned
shipping date (last summer) by about a year. - PC Week and InfoWorld
24 September
Windows Under OS/2
OS/2 eventually will run Windows applications code without modification
using a binary compatibility layer to map Window's into Presentation
Manager. The extra layer of software will cause some loss of
performance. OS/2 version 3 will be designed to run Windows
applications directly from OS/2 without performance degradation (which
raises the question - is PM necessary?). Microsoft chairman, Bill
Gates, also says that the plan is to include both Adobe Type Manager
and True Type in OS/2. Also in the works is "portable" OS/2 (also
known as OS/2 "New Technology") which will be designed to port to
multiple processors including Motorola 68000 and 88000 families (OS/2
on a Mac?). - InfoWorld 1 October
DOS 5.0.
The latest beta version of Microsoft's DOS 5.0 includes task switching
similar to the capability provided by SoftLogic Solutions' Carrousel.
Microsoft is expected to release DOS 5.0 by the middle of 1991. - PC
Week 24 September
Productive Pricing.
Microsoft is said to be offering Project for Windows for $99 at Windows
3.0 seminars. However, at Engineering Productivity Seminars, Microsoft
asks $199 for the same software. - PC Week 8 October
Full UNIX System V, Release 4 Implementation.
While the mainframes and minis are still waiting for AT&T's UNIX V.4,
freshman at Virginia Tech are busy running this latest release on their
UNIX system of choice -- the Amiga 3000! - InfoWorld 8 October
Look Ma, No Windows.
Microsoft Word 5.5 for MS-DOS will feature pull-down menus similar to
the interface used in Word for Windows. The choices will be
represented in text, not graphics. The upgrade will be announced this
month and ship by the end of the year - PC Week 15 October
Need Persuasion?
Aldus will release it's $595 Persuasion 2.0 for Windows by the end of
the year. It will be bundled with Adobe Type Manager. - PC Week 15
October
Delivery Postponed.
Oracle has previewed version 7.0 of their fully distributed, portable
relational-database management system at the company's annual user
conference but also pushed back release until next year. - PC Week 1
October
SAS for NeXT.
SAS Institute plans to port its entire line of decision support and
data analysis applications to the new Motorola 68040-based NeXT system.
SAS/Insight which is not yet available on the PC platform will be
available on the NeXT workstation. SAS/Insight is a data analysis
program which provides three dimensional charting tools and permits
users to analyze data graphically. - PC Week 17 September
SPARCs Are Flying.
Opus Systems and CompuAdd both plan to announce new Sun SPARC
compatible systems. Look for demonstrations at Comdex. - PC Week 15
October
Poqet Clone.
Toshiba will show a one-pound, palmtop PC code-named the PC Companion
at Comdex. The computer bears a marked resemblance to the similar
sized Poqet. - PC Week 1 October
HyperActive.
The new HyperCard 2.0 for the Macintosh may not be announced officially
until mid-November, but user groups received copies of the disks during
the first week of October. Maybe printing the documentation is taking
an extra six weeks? - I have the disks but not the docs
Bailouts (Forever Vaporware).
Borland International will not develop any more versions of its Sprint
word processor. Applications technical support manager Mark Williams
says the firm will devote their resources to their core Paradox,
Quattro, and language products. Banyan Systems is cancelling
development of network server hardware and will focus attention on its
VINES networking software. - PC Week 15 October
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #212
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