April 1996 Newstrends

By Jim Forbes

So you think all PCs look the same? For now, most of them do. But if computer vendors have their way, many machines will have nontraditional features tailored to suit customers working at home, at the office or at a home office.

Compaq, for example, has the Presario 7232, designed for at-home or small-office settings. The system includes a CPU, a monitor, and a full set of personal productivity applications. There's also a built-in scanner designed by Visioneer and similar to that firm's top-selling PaperPort Vx.

To use the scanner, which is integrated with the keyboard, all you need to do is slide a document into the slot. The device automatically turns itself on, feeds and reads the document, and gives you the choice of storing the entire contents or converting the scanned text into any type of file.

Canon Computer, meanwhile, is now shipping the NoteJet IIIcx, a portable with a self-contained color ink jet printer and a scan head that snaps into the same bay as the print head. This allows users to print and scan documents while they're away from the office.

By John Gartner

By Jim Forbes

Not very long ago, the only way to see good visuals on a PC screen was to sneak a peek at an artist's workstation. Now, grabber graphics are making it to the masses: Nearly one of seven PCs will feature a new generation of 3-D graphics controllers that help users create rendered displays or view data like never before.

Still, some analysts predict these 3-D updates face a bumpy road ahead. "This is an exciting PC technology," acknowledged consultant John Peddie, "but [consumers] need to look before they leap."

In the early phases, at least, users will find few applications. However, Microsoft has begun shipping code that allows developers to add this capability to their programs. By early 1997, 3-D controllers-most of which are backward-compatible with existing accelerated and other VGA standards-will take over the market.

Of course, each vendor in the 3-D arena-30-plus and counting-is trumpeting its own solution. At first, most manufacturers will offer add-in cards with custom solutions from Chro-matic, Nvidia, Video-Logic/NEC and Brook-tree, among others. By fall, some PC makers will install socket 3-D graphics controllers on their motherboards.

Early adopters will have to pay a premium; the first versions cost up to $600. But when 3-D moves to the motherboard, it should add only $30 to $70 to the cost of a PC.

• MCI and Microsoft announced a broad alliance to jointly market and develop services in the online, Internet and networking markets. MCI will market and distribute a custom version of The Microsoft Network and adopt the Microsoft Internet Explorer as its preferred browser; Microsoft will market MCI services, including MCI Conferencing and MCI ISDN.
• Electronic money, genetic-based medical treatments, and HDTV screens so thin and light they can hang on your wall will be the hot products of the next 10 years, according to Battelle's Technology Intelligence Program. The organization also predicts your personal computer will be replaced by a "personalized" computer that follows voice commands.
• Microsoft began promoting Blackbird as a development tool for the Internet, de-emphasizing-possibly eliminating-features that would make Blackbird apps run only on The Microsoft Network.
• Continental Cablevision and BBN announced a market trial for high-speed Internet access and online services to about 200 cable subscribers in the Boston suburbs. Customers will be connected to the Internet via Continental's hybrid network of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.
• Apple went through an even more turbulent upheaval than usual, culminating in a major financial loss and a switch in its top management-CEO Michael Spindler was replaced by former National Semiconductor chief Gilbert F. Amelio.
• In a continuation of Wall Street's love affair with Internet companies, Netscape stockholders approved a 2-for-1 stock split effective February 7.
• Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Quarterdeck joined Stardust WinSock Labs, raising the technology consortium's membership to 22. The companies will work with Stardust engineers to perform WinSock interoperability testing on their Internet hardware and software products.

Corel agreed to acquire Novell's long-suffering personal productivity applications group (better known as WordPerfect). Under the terms of the $186 million deal, the graphics software vendor gets WordPerfect, QuattroPro, the PerfectOffice suite, and related software from Novell, and licenses GroupWise client software, Envoy electronic publishing software and other technologies. Novell put the best face on what was, by all accounts, a disastrous investment-the company paid $855 million for WordPerfect alone barely a year and a half ago (although that deal included GroupWise and Envoy). Given the licensing opportunities afforded by GroupWise, said Novell CEO Robert Frankenberg, "It's a fair price, especially when you compare it with what IBM paid for Lotus" [$3.4 billion]. Corel believes the PerfectOffice suite's Internet capabilities give it an edge over Microsoft's Office suite.

Sophos, a British software vendor, identified the first virus designed specifically for Windows 95. The virus, called Boza, destroys 32-bit .exe files and occasionally displays a message saying, "The taste of fame just got tastier. VLAD Australia does it again with the world's first Win95 virus." But Graham Cluley of S&S International, developer of Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit, described Boza as "an ordinary, run-of-the mill virus." In fact, old stalwarts like Form, Parity, AntiCMOS and the Word macro virus Concept still infect more users.

SourceCraft announced two application development tools for generating C++ and Java applications for the Internet and corporate intranets. NetCraft is a browser/server application that generates Java source code for platform-independent Web applications. Here's one way to build market share: It can be downloaded free from the company's home page at http://www.sourcecraft.com through June 30, and for $995 thereafter. ObjectCraft is an object-oriented approach to developing client/server C++ apps and includes a browser and forms development tools. The ObjectCraft CD ($1,995) includes Windows 3.1, NT and 95 versions and supports ODBC and OLE automation.

By James E. Powell

Another trick is to rebox and sell a problem PC as new. Check the packaging: If it's fresh but there's no computer-generated label with a serial number, chances are the dealer got fresh boxes from the manufacturer. You want factory-sealed boxes with preprinted serial numbers that match those on the product. Also check the software: Without documentation, you may not have the real McCoy.

FCC certification is important, too. "The FCC refuses to certify separate components-case, motherboard and power supply-so we can't mix and match devices," Sample noted.

While the parts may be acceptable, dealers may try to sell you PCs that haven't received certification as a whole, or use low-cost power supplies that lack UL certification. Also, beware of prepaying (the dealer could disappear overnight) or deep discounts (with costly warranties).

Finally, stay alert for outdated products; given the life cycle of this industry, there are a lot of them around.

By James E. Powell

As prices go, you can't get much better than free. Take Micro-soft's Web browser, Internet Explorer, which uses the TCP/IP stack. That's free, of course, because it's built into Win95. But with stacks, especially in a corporate environment, what's free may cost you.

That's because you get only what you pay for. Users can't necessarily plug in applications such as IP multicasting into TCP-theirs or anyone else's-since these apps are written only to the kernel. (This is the area of TCP/IP "below" Windows Sockets, or Winsock, an open and well-defined API.) Unlike browsers, which are written to that part of the TCP/IP stack that deals with Winsock, network management tools and apps that handle dynamic IP assignment via DHCP or BOOTP use the kernel. And it's hard to buy and patch in applications to use a free kernel.

This is the word from Walker Richer and Quinn, which makes the Reflection line-with, coincidentally, a TCP/IP stack of its own.

"If there's a problem," said Michael Ahern, product manager for Windows 95, "believe me, we'd have heard." But with today's constant talk of Plug and Play and "free" Winsock, it may be a warning worth heeding.

By Jim Forbes

For chip makers Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Cyrix, the competition is brutal. PC makers are hurting, too, as they try to build market share in a world of shrinking margins. All this means, of course, that consumers never had it so good.

The price of both memory and state-of-the-art microprocessors is falling fast. Try this: a 133MHz Pentium machine with 1GB hard drive and 16MB of memory for around $2,500.

Intel is shipping large numbers of its current midrange Pentiums in response to unprecedented demand for desktop machines in SOHO (small office/home office) and other settings. The demand is driven, at least in part, by the company's $150 million campaign to raise brand awareness. Intel has also been known to offer financial assistance to OEMs in need.

Rival chip manufacturers such as AMD and Cyrix don't have that kind of money; the only way they can stay in the game is by discounting their offerings. But the game is getting much harder to play. Several PC vendors who were evaluating other chip makers' offerings have quietly returned to the Intel fold. Top-ranked Compaq, which has long feuded with Intel, still pays lip service to the rivals. But a recent agreement ensures that it will have-and advertise-"Intel Inside."

The market is so big, however, that the clones may survive, even thrive, by finding niches they can settle into, such as with second- and third-tier PC makers. For that, they'll need to keep honing their designs (Cyrix 6x86, AMD K5) and cut costs. For customers, more good news.

By James E. Powell

Multimedia is going multicultural. Tapping the Spanish-speaking market in the United States, TeleVideo Systems has released the first upgrade kit to ship completely in Spanish. The box, installation video and promotional material are all in Spanish; the manuals are either all-Spanish or bilingual.

The multimedia CD-ROM titles were chosen for their appeal to Hispanic audiences, such as El Cupero Humano (a guide to the human body), Chinon's Encyclopedia Intractiva (a reference work on Hispanic culture) and Como Functionan las Cosas (How Things Work). A Spanish-language sound package includes components for configuring, mixing and editing sound files. Only a shareware CD-ROM offers programs in English.

The upgrade kit will be available not only in U.S. chains but also stores in Spain and Latin America.

By John D. Ruley

In a move designed to push corporate users toward its high end, Microsoft launched a 32-Bit Family Maintenance program that allows customers to pick which users run NT Workstation and which run Windows 95 on a completely ad-hoc basis. But there's a catch: The program is part of its Select plan, which means you must have 25 or more users to play.

The deal combines a one-time fee to upgrade from Windows 3.1x to NT Workstation or Win95 with a two-year maintenance contract. Small firms (25 users and up) can use Open Licensing at a per-user cost of $316. Large ones (250 users-plus) have Variable Pricing, which allows ad-hoc purchasing in small volumes. That's $99 for the upgrade, $130 for the contract.

The best deal is an Enterprise License. Same upgrade, same contract for $105-if you use 32-bit Windows exclusively.

Compiled by John Gartner; Contributors-John Gartner,
John J. Yacono, Serdar Yegulalp

Acronym Alert: Okay, so we need another memory standard like Deion Sanders needs more publicity. But here's one more abbreviated abomination to memorize-SDRAM (synchronous DRAM), which will be replacing standard memory chips. Memory manufacturers such as Texas Instruments are developing 16MB SDRAMs that use the timing of the system clock for increased performance. This allows notebook makers to forego level 2 cache and develop less expensive units. Look for notebooks to include SDRAM during the second half of this year.

Are you embarrassed because you think you're the only Net surfer who hasn't yet learned HTML? Relax-you can still share documents over the Web with minimal effort with Microsoft's Word Viewer for Windows 95 at http://www.microsoft.com/MSWord (click on the "Free Stuff" icon). Version 7.1 allows anyone to view Word documents, and it now supports hyperlinks. So, all of you wanna-be journalists have no excuse not to publish.

In January's Notes From the Lab, we asked for a utility to convert Norton Desktop's .QAG files back to Windows .GRP files, and were astonished at the number of responses. Several readers pointed us to Symantec's BBS (503-484-6669), where the GROUPS.ZIP file does just that. Thanks to all!

There's a new solution for analog users trapped in digital phone hell. The Inside Line from Radish Communications (303-443-2237) lets you plug your analog modem into a digital line. It's easy to install since settings are included for most PBX systems, but you may lose some of your modem's features.

You can now scream at your friend across the country while playing games via modem. A few months ago, Microsoft announced DirectPlay, an API for multi-player game support with modem connectivity. Now it's added Unimodem V, a Win95 driver, for many voice/data modems. It supports .WAV file recording, speakerphones, distinctive ringing and call forwarding. The driver can be had from http://www.microsoft.com/windows.