News PC Linux Mac Amiga CUCUG
The January 17 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. TheMacintosh SIG will be treated to Emil Cobb's first impressions of OS X as anew user. The PC SIG will be watching Kevin Hisel, Jim Lewis and MikeLatinovich installing Windows XP on a machine and benefiting from theircollective experiences. The Linux SIG will be doing Redhat and Mandrakeinstalls for the uninitiated. In short, it will be an evening of OS ins andouts. If you don't learn something useful at this meeting, you're dead.
We'd also like to thank renewing members Emil Cobb, Jerry A. Feltner, EdwinHadley, Kevin Hopkins, Ed Serbe, Anderson Yau, John Baird, Greg Kline, JohnB. Ross, Kris Klindworth, Selena Kay Douglass.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Have an article orreview you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment? Email any officeryou like. Involvement is the driving force of any user group. Welcome tothe group.
Our friend and honorary Board member, Mike Latinovich, has created a website of forums for CUCUG members to use. This could bring back the good olddays web we chatted with each other on almost a daily basis on the oldCUCUG BBS. If you'd like to try it out, go to:
http://www.cucug.org/starship/index.php
Here's what Mike says you will find there:
You should see a generic message board which you won't be able to doanything in until you register with the forum. Registering sends you anemail with a link to click on to activate yourself. Once you have donethis, you could potentially use this forum, but really, it's not the icinghere...
Once you are registered, you can click on the link labeled 'usergroups' andselect 'CUCUG', click Join.. It'll send ME some spam (or whomever in thefuture, possibly), I'll see it, I'll add you, and then you'll see someadditional forums, which will be accessable by all allowed into the'usergroup'.
Here's the potential: it's an online forum; people (CUCUG members, not justBoard guys) can post stuff, reply, whatever...just like any other forum outthere.. except this one is for us to use and abuse.
There's a 'free for all' board (the first one you see) which is availableto ANYONE who registers, member or not.
There are a generic members-only, and members-only SIG-specific forums,too, but those only show up once you are part of the 'usergroup'. (ie, Thisis like the old-school days of modem-based BBSes of a sort - once you are'validated' or your club membership has been verified, you will have access- this is done manually.)
In addition to that, there's also a board-member specific forum; nobody cansee that forum unless they specifically have access to it, and to those whohave access, I will give 'moderator' status, so everyone knows whocan/cannot see the messages there.
Now, this ability to be in touch in such an informal manner (to the groupitself) is something akin to when we had a BBS ... just this time itdoesn't really cost anything.
Consistent with our coverage of the PowerBook G4 Titanium's new Combodrive, Apple has announced the PowerBook G4 Combo Upgrade Program. Underthis program, owners of PowerBook G4 Titaniums with either 550 MHz or 667MHz processors (check Apple System Profiler if you're not sure) can swaptheir existing DVD-ROM or CD-RW drives for a DVD- ROM/CD-RW Combo drive for$300. The program, full details of which will become available on 14-Jan-02on Apple's Web site, will involve sending your PowerBook in to Apple ortaking it to an Apple Store. The program lasts only until 30-Mar-02, so getyour order in quickly if you want to upgrade. [ACE]
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06663
http://www.info.apple.com/usen/powerbook/upgrade_faq.html
In a welcome, though slightly unusual move, Microsoft has released InternetExplorer 5.1 - previously available only for Mac OS X - for Mac OS 8.1through 9.2 as well, adding a few minor features and enhancing reliability.The feature set of Internet Explorer 5.1 is largely unchanged from 5.0,adding the few new features that appeared in Internet Explorer 5.1 underMac OS X. A new Interface Extras preferences panel gives you control over afew cosmetic options: whether clicking the Address field selects the textor places the insertion point, whether Internet Explorer opens new windowsor uses the front browser window when asked to go to a URL by anotherapplication, and whether new browser windows open with the toolbar expandedor use the current default setting. Another useful feature is theCommand-Shift-click shortcut that opens the clicked-on link in a new windowbehind the current one. Also new is support for NTLMv2 authentication inaddition to the previous NTLMv1 support. Internet Explorer 5.1 for Mac OS8.1 through 9.2 requires at least 16 MB of RAM with virtual memory turnedon and 12 MB of disk space. It's a 5.3 MB download. [ACE]
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/DOWNLOAD/IE/ie51.asp
Shortly before the new year, Apple released an update to Mac OS X 10.1.2via Software Update, building in a number of useful enhancements and fixes(and providing better release notes than for previous updates). The updateimproves USB and FireWire support (including support for FireWire-baseddigital cameras), adds support for PC Card storage devices and mediareaders, updates Mail with CRAM-MD5 authentication support, builds inAirPort 2.0, updates Apache to 1.3.22, and provides AppleScript 1.8, whichis necessary for the forthcoming AppleScript Studio. The release alsoincludes unspecified bug fixes in the areas of audio, display, speech,networking, the File Manager, and printing. Also just released via SoftwareUpdate were a number of printer drivers - if you want to avoid continuallyseeing ones that you'll never use, select them and choose Make Inactivefrom the Update menu. [ACE]
http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/softwareupdates.html
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06667
Following up on its recent Test Drive version of Microsoft Word X for MacOS X, Microsoft has announced a free Test Drive version of the completeMicrosoft Office X suite of applications for Mac OS X, including Mac OS Xversions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. The Test Drive runs for30 days and lets users get hands-on experience with Office X's features andcapabilities - nearly all the features of the retail version of Office Xare available in the Test Drive. The Test Drive is available now as anenormous 122 MB download, or - after 14-Jan-02 - users in the U.S. andCanada can order the Test Drive on CD-ROM for a small shipping and handlingfee. Office X requires a Mac running Mac OS X 10.1 or later.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/officex/otdreg.asp
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06581
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06637
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06514
In addition, Apple and Microsoft have announced mail-in rebate programs forcustomers buying Mac OS X and Office X. Buying a new Mac with Office Xmakes a user eligible for a $150 rebate; a new Mac with the an Office Xupgrade qualifies for a $75 rebate, and purchasing Mac OS X and eitherOffice X or the Office X upgrade qualifies for a $50 rebate. The rebatesall run through 31-Mar-02. [GD]
Bare Bones Software has released BBEdit 6.5.1, adding a number of smallfeatures such as support for JSP (Java Server Pages), modified keyboardnavigation, interface tweaks, and minor scripting improvements. The list ofminor bug fixes is extensive (and is a model of how product release notesshould be written!). If you use BBEdit 6.5 at all seriously, you'll wantthis free update; it's a 7.3 MB download. [ACE]
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit.html
http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/bbedit-notes.html
http://www.barebones.com/support/updates.html
A federal judge in Baltimore on Friday rejected a controversial settlementthat would have ended more than 100 private class-action lawsuits againstMicrosoft.
In his 21-page ruling, U.S. District Judge J. Fredrick Motz agreed withopponents that the proposed deal in the antitrust cases would itself beanti-competitive. He also said that the private cases had not been developedfar enough to determine the extent of damages that could have been obtainedthrough litigation.
Under terms of the proposal, Microsoft would have given $1 billion in money,software, services and training to about 12,500 underprivileged publicschools. The company also would have given about one million Windowslicenses for refurbished PCs donated to the schools.
The judge concluded that the level of funding for the schools and for aprivate foundation to administer the donations was insufficient, a shortfallthat was "more acutely problematic when viewed in the context of theproposed settlement's potential adverse impact on competition."
Opponents of the settlement proposal, including Apple Computer, had arguedthat the proposal was anti-competitive, as it would help Microsoft makesoftware gains in the education market.
Microsoft expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling--and optimism that itwould eventually carry the day in the court proceedings.
"Microsoft really went the extra mile in trying to put together thissettlement proposal," said Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel,during a conference call with the media on Friday afternoon. "We thought itwas creative, we thought it was a way to resolve litigation and bring somereal benefits to the neediest school children in the country."
Burt could not immediately say if new negotiations were possible, but heemphasized, "Microsoft has no plans to appeal this determination," referringto the ruling.
On the surface, Motz wrote, the proposal would appear to be "platformneutral...However, the agreement raises legitimate questions since itappears to provide a means for flooding part of the kindergarten throughhigh school market--in which Microsoft has not traditionally been thestrongest player, particularly in relation to Apple--with Microsoft softwareand refurbished PCs."
Motz noted that refurbished computers donated to schools largely come fromgovernment agencies, "and 95 percent of them use PCs rather than Macs." Heconcluded that this factor would lead to an "increase in the number of PCs,both absolutely and in comparison to Macs, being used by eligible schools."The likely outcome would be a decline in the development of softwaredesigned for use in the Apple computers, further reducing the attractivenessof Apple products over time, he said.
Giving away software to schools also raises antitrust concerns, Motzconcluded. He agreed with opponents who argued that the software giveawaycould be viewed as "court-approved predatory pricing."
"Good for the judge," said Bob Lande, an antitrust professor with Universityof Baltimore Law School. "The judge is protecting the public from gettingripped off by Microsoft and the coalition of greedy plaintiff attorneys."vMotz also rejected the deal because he concluded that the court record hadnot been developed enough to reasonably assess what damages the plaintiffsmight have obtained in court. He added that the $1 billion value did notfall into "the range of possible approval."
"In other words, it is too low," Lande said.
In December, Apple suggested that Microsoft give $1 billion in cash, lettingthe schools buy whatever software or computers they wanted. Apple could notyet be reached for comment on Friday's ruling.
Plaintiff attorneys split
Microsoft wasn't the only party dismayed by Motz's ruling on Friday--so werea number of the plaintiffs.
"We're disappointed, of course, in the outcome," said Dan Small, an attorneywith Washington, D.C.-based Cohen Milstein Hausfeld and Toll. The firmrepresented the largest group of the cases, those that had been consolidatedin federal court.
"We worked hard to put together a settlement that we believe would have donea lot of good for the most disadvantaged schoolchildren in this country,"Small said. "But we respect and understand the court's decision, and we arenow prepared to aggressively litigate the case against Microsoft."
Another group of attorneys, led by Eugene Crew of Townsend, Townsend & Crewin San Francisco, led a California coalition of plaintiff attorneys whoopposed the deal.
Small took a dim view of the possibility that the settlement would berevived. "The court gave a pretty clear road map what we would need to do tofix the problems," he said. "But, of course, it depends on whether Microsoftwants to proceed down that path."
First and foremost, Microsoft would have to cough up more money to fund thefoundation. The software maker would have contributed about $400 million tothat organization.
"The judge made it clear that without more money, he doesn't think thefoundation can accomplish its purposes without avoiding any anti-competitiveeffect," Small said.
For its part, Microsoft is considering the options laid out by Motz forfixing the settlement.
"We're considering all of those," Burt said, "and remain open to resolvingthe case if we can do so in a way that's fair and reasonable to Microsoftand our customers." But it is too early to say whether negotiations wouldresume or not, he emphasized.
Lawyers started filing the cases in February 1999 based on Microsoft'slarger antitrust battle with the Justice Department and 18 states. Themajority of cases were filed in 2000.
In their lawsuits, plaintiff attorneys alleged Microsoft overchargedconsumers as much as $40 per copy of Windows sold. But Microsoftsuccessfully whittled down the number of cases by relying on a 1977 U.S.Supreme Court ruling that says only the first purchaser of a product has aright to sue on grounds of antitrust behavior.
Most of the pending private lawsuits have been brought on the behalf ofconsumers, who in most cases cannot be considered first purchasers becauseMicrosoft generally sells its software to PC makers or wholesalers. Theconsumer plaintiffs, who are not Microsoft's direct customers, are noteligible to sue Microsoft under federal law.
But California is one of a handful of states that have adoptedindirect-purchaser statutes, which may make the cases there a more seriousthreat to Microsoft.
"We're delighted," said Rick Grossman, an attorney with Townsend, Townsend &Crew, of Motz's ruling. "We're preparing for our trial in August. This casewill be, one way or the other, resolved quite soon through a jury verdict inAugust or, if Microsoft wishes, a reasonable and legal settlement any timethey wish."
The cases in Mississippi also are scheduled to go to trial this summer.
Discovery in the cases that had been stayed during the settlement processresumes Jan. 20.
"It is likely, in our view, in light of the effort that's been put into thissettlement and the stay of litigation, that those trial dates will bemodified until some later time," Burt said.
A string of setbacks
Rich Gray, a Silicon Valley-based attorney closely following the matter,said that Motz's conclusion--that the cases are not developed sufficientlyfor the judge to be comfortable with a billion-dollar settlement--bodes illfor the software maker.
That "is potentially ominous news for Microsoft," Gray said. "It does notguarantee that the ultimate number for a new settlement will besignificantly higher, but it certainly suggests that as a possibility."
Motz's rejection of the settlement is the second court setback forMicrosoft this week, and a possible foreshadowing of more trouble ahead. Ina separate antitrust case, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly onMonday rejected a request that would have delayed a remedy hearing by fourmonths.
In November, the Justice Department and nine of 18 states settledMicrosoft's nearly 4-year-old case. Nine other states and the District ofColumbia decided to continue litigating the case, which would lead to aMarch remedy hearing.
In court on Monday, Kollar-Kotelly indicated that she would not necessarilyseparate the Justice Department's proposed settlement from a harsherproposed remedy put forth by the nine states that have continued thelitigation. Options would include a single remedy or new round of settlementtalks.
"One has to start wondering if the positive momentum Microsoft had with itstwo settlements at the end of 2001 has not been severely set back by thisruling (in the class-action lawsuits), combined with the ruling in thegovernment case earlier this week," Gray said.
The latest developments, Gray said, suggest that the remedies sought by thedissenting states, not the Justice Department settlement, "will define theouter limits of the injunction ultimately entered against Microsoft in thegovernment lawsuit."
Microsoft Corp. says it has sold more than 17 million copies ofWindows XP since the new operating system went on sale twomonths ago.
"This is our best-selling release of Windows ever, and one that iscreating great opportunities for PC manufacturers and our otherpartners in the industry," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates saidMonday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in LasVegas. "We've seen a significant upturn in sales of digital cameras,printers and other peripherals and software that enable people toexperience their PC in a new way."
Windows XP has a number of new features to support multimedia,including programs for listening to and recording music, playingvideos and editing and organizing digital photographs. The retailupgrade for home computers sells for about $99.
Sales of licenses of Windows XP by computer manufacturers aremore than 300 percent higher than Windows 98 and 200 percenthigher than Windows Millennium Edition for comparable periodsafter those products' debuted, Microsoft said in a news release.Windows 98 came out in mid-1998 and Windows ME wasreleased in September 2000.
Microsoft did not give a breakdown for retail upgrade, full-product,or license sales for Windows XP.
Do you believe driving a well-tuned Web browser around the Internet cangive you a visceral feeling, like tossing a sports car into a twisty turn,sipping that perfect year of that perfect wine with a perfect meal, orrunning a five-minute mile? Few things about using PCs are like websurfing. For anyone with a questing mind, the Internet is like nourishmentfor the soul. And the Web browser you let your mind go with does play a keypart in the experience.
I first had that experience about six years ago with Netscape Navigator.For the last several years, I've been a confirmed Internet Explorer man.Ever since the 4.0 version.
Opera 6.0 is every bit as good a browser -- and in some ways, it's the bestbrowser that ever was. Like IE 5.0, which was the first browser to becometotally fun to drive for me, Opera 6.0 is fluid in motion. It's fast.Faster than anything else. Click the Back button is still instantaneous. Nowaiting. Sitting behind Opera's windshield on the Web can make you feelgiddy.
I've always liked Opera. Almost exactly a year ago I placed it onWinmag.com's WinList, and made it the Windows Insider Program of the Month.
http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/insider/2000/41.htm#opera5review
But 6.0 goes beyond the features. I named Opera 5.0 a top product as analternative browser. I no longer think of it as "alternative." We'refinally back to a two-horse race among Web browsers. Opera has matured,it's improved, and mellowed. The rough edges are gone. It's not perfect, tobe sure. But there's another positive that I can tell you about. OperaSoftware, the company, has also matured. It is listening better to NorthAmerican customers (and, indeed, probably customers worldwide) than it oncedid. That's very important. That's how Microsoft got where it is. Nevermindthat the Redmond folks seem to have forgotten that practice. Because Operais listening and trying to react to suggestions, I am much more confidentthan I used to be that this product will become even better on Windowsdesktops. (It probably already is the best browser for Linux.)
What About Netscape?
I got a lot of discouraged and even angry email from the last issue when Iwrote that I no longer considered Netscape 6.x worthy of review. Many justwrote to tell me that Netscape 6.2.1 is out, and is better -- and that Ishould try that before I make up my mind. Fair enough. I'd forgotten about6.2. Just a slip of the tongue, because it was the version installed on mymachine. (I think that was right around the time my baby was born, soplease forgive my temporary inattention.) But I asked Netscape about thedifferences between 6.1 and 6.2, and they're negligible. So, Netscape fans,I'm sorry to say that my comments stand. I prefer Netscape 6.x to Netscape4.x on every point but one: rendering Web pages as they were meant to berendered. Netscape 4.x is excellent at that. In all other regards, I preferNetscape 6.x. But I feel that this browser is still not ready for primetime. It will very likely be ready with the next major version of theproduct, and I will consider it then.
End Netscape interlude, and back to Opera. There's a good long list of newfeatures. And I'm going to cover some of those. But to be honest, most ofwhat matters feature-wise showed up in Opera 5.0. Opera 6.0 is therefinement version, like IE 5.0. It's still not as jam packed with featuresas Internet Explorer. But it's also much smaller, much lighter, muchfaster.
What's New And Improved in Opera 6.0
My whirlwind tour of the best new features of Opera 6.0 starts with theoption to disable the MDI (multiple document interface) mode that manyreviewers -- including yours truly -- have criticized Opera for in past.Windows 95 essentially took the MDI idea, and created an operating systemUI around it. The taskbar contains footprint tabs for all runningapplication windows, and you can switch among the apps by clicking on thosetabs on the taskbar. Opera comes with its own built-in taskbar-like area.You can open multiple browser windows that are contained within thebrowser's overall window. That's MDI. Or if you prefer not to work that way(and most Windows applications do not), you can opt to have each browserwindow instance put its footprint down on the Windows taskbar instead (alsocalled SDI, for single document interface). Excellent solution. I'm gladthe company has listened, and solved the problem.
Here's the irony. I find myself using the MDI interface instead. I've grownaccustomed to it. It's different from working with IE, where you have ablizzard of separate IE programs open. Also, the Hotlist (bookmarks) isn'tdockable when MDI is turned off, and I'm not a big fan of floating items,which always seem to get lost behind a window somewhere. Each approach hasits advantages though. I'm glad Opera provides both options.
The SDI version also has a new Pagebar, which lets you keep track ofvisited pages and helps you launch windows.
IE users have the Links bar, a customizable toolbar where you can placeone-click links to frequently accessed websites. Now Opera has acounterpart, the Personal Bar. Good deal. You can't drag and drop the URLfor a currently open page on the Personal Bar though. Nor can youright-click the Personal Bar and add a new item to it. Those limitationsseem like notable oversights.
Although bookmarking has long been an Opera weakness, the programmers haveimproved this facility bit by bit. In the 6.0 release, they've added thepowerful ability to both search and sort the Hotlist. That makes it mucheasier to find bookmarks. It's an advantage the competition doesn't offer.I also found IE importation to work very well. The browser suite is capableof importing both Netscape and IE bookmarks, as well as Outlook Express andEudora email, among other things. You can also drag and drop bookmarks fromthe Hotlist not just to the Opera browser window, but also to the PersonalBar.
Opera has always been great about keyboard shortcuts, but 6.0 has evenmore:
http://www.opera.com/windows/keyboard.html
Habitual mouse users will also be intrigued by Opera's extensive list of"mouse gestures," many of which are keyboard + mouse combinations thatoffer significant shortcuts for common tasks. Definitely check this out(and see the Opera 6.0 Help facility for a better list):
http://www.opera.com/windows/mouse.html
The Opera 6.0 interface is new. It supports multiple skins, or looks, andalso the Preferences area has been completely reorganized. You can justpress F12 to open a brief Quick Preferences menu now too.
You can now double-click any highlighted word or phrase displayed in theOpera window and get dictionary definitions, encyclopedia elaboration,translation, and other functions, most of which are supplied by Lycos.com.
Time will tell how well Opera's Cascading Stylesheets support works, butOpera 6.0 has a new CSS parser, and it also supports Unicode, PNG images,and does a better job with JavaScript. The 6.0 release also comes withcompletely revamped Help.
To check out the rest of what's new in the new Opera, read its officiallist of new features:
http://www.opera.com/windows/new/
And for a detailed list of everything that changed or was added, see theOpera 6.0 Changlog:
http://www.opera.com/windows/changelog/log600beta1.html
Opera 6.0 carries over the many powerful features of previous versions.It's fast. No kidding. IE 6.0 is fast too. Opera is a bit faster at averagepages than IE. It's a toss up on more complex pages. I have seen pages thatIE 6.0 loaded faster. But overall, Opera is a speed demon. It's small. Ifyou skip the Java Runtime, you can download it as 3.2MB self-extractingfile. Yet it includes an excellent browser, a pretty good email package,and ICQ instant messaging. It's highly multiplatform with separate versionsfor BeOS, Linux/Solaris, Mac, OS/2, QNX, Symbian OS, and ... oh yes ...Windows. Opera offers better accessibility features than any browser I'maware of. It's not perfect in this regard; I'm not sure any applicationcould be so. But Opera Software has long been a leader in bringingaccessibility features to software.
What Still Isn't Right
You may be surprised by how many things are still on my wish list. I wantto thank the SFNL readers who wrote to me over the last few weeks anddescribed their experiences with 6.0 for at least half of theseobservations. There are too many names to list, but the folks who help mereview products are very important to this newsletter -- because they'rehelping not just me but the entire subscriber base (which is growing andgrowing). So, anyway ... Dear Opera Software, please consider addressingthese issues with Opera for Windows (if not all versions) in the nearfuture:
Toolbar size in the ad-supported version. It's true, the unregisteredversion of Opera 6.0 has a giant toolbar because the advertising window ishoused within the toolbar. It takes up a ton of screen real estate. For apeek at a product that manages to add an advertising window without killingoff a lot of usable space, look at Eudora 5.x. But ad-window notion is amuch harder proposition in a browser where the Web window is the thing andthe rest is window dressing. Literally.
Disclosure time: I'm testing with the registered version. If I were todecide on Opera as my only browser, and I didn't have the registration coderoutinely extended to software reviewers, I would spend the 39 bucks toregister Opera. Anyone who is using Opera exclusively should consider doingthat anyway. It's a small enough price to pay to support the developers whoare making future improvements to the browser.
Page-Display Fidelity. My biggest gripe with Opera is that it still doesn'tdisplay pages exactly like IE or Netscape 4.x. Let me add that it is muchimproved, even over Opera 5.0. Even so, Netscape 6.x does a slightly betterjob of this than Opera. Every once in a while you'll stumble across a Webpage that looks funny in Opera. That's separate and apart from the issuethat some websites block Opera when it identifies itself as Opera (insteadof spoofing its identity as being IE 5.0). That's a whole other thing thatisn't usually Opera's fault. If Opera can display a page correctly whenit's identifying itself as IE 5.0 but not when it's identifying itself asOpera 5.0, then that's the website's fault. I'm still looking for exampleswith specific URLs of websites that do that. Please send them to me. I'mworking on a story about this:
The Bookmarking Tools. Bookmarking, though it has improved, is still a longway from what IE users are used to. You can't drag and drop a URL fromOpera's address bar and drop it on the desktop to create an IE styleFavorite icon. You can't drag and drop from the address bar into yourBookmarks menu, as you can with Netscape and IE. And you can't right-clickan open Web page and choose "Create Shortcut" to put a Favorite-style iconon your desktop.
These criticisms were offered by several readers. Interestingly, I had theexact same problem during the late beta phase for Opera 6.0 (a couplemonths ago) and I wrote to the company's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner. Jonresponded by saying he thought these functions could be added to anupcoming version. Let's hope that occurs.
Problems with Web Forms. Opera seems to have difficulties with Web forms.I've noticed this on my own website, where virtually every other browserrenders my Subscribe and Unsubscribe Web form boxes the same way (oralmost). But Opera's rendition is very different. SFNL reader CathyWilliams has also had Web form issues. She writes: "I was trying to fillout a Web form the other day, but I kept getting the message that____________ is blank; fill it in. When I filled it in with the requestedinformation, I just kept getting an error message. I finally gave up andrevisited the page with IE 6.0 and filled in the form without problem."
Reliability. Some people are reporting crashing behaviors with Opera 6.0.Either it takes a long time to load and/or it crashes after use. I'vegotten this feedback from a handful of SFNL readers. I haven't seen itmyself. One person who wrote to me believes there's a significant memoryleak in the 6.0 release.
I asked Opera about this and the response was that the company believesthat Opera 6.0 is as reliable as any version of the browser they ever done.And in my experience, that means it's very reliable. There are alwaysissues with every software version, no matter how good a job the developersdo. But it bears watching. Opera Software is already hard at work on the6.01 version, which I have beta for. So far it's just tweaks and things.And I have no word on when it'll be delivered.
Dial-up Performance. Some 56kbps or slower dial-up users report that Operais slower than IE 6.0 in that setting. (Although others says say it'sfaster.) It's almost a universal experience with broadband and T1connections that Opera is generally faster than IE on typical Web pages.
Print Preview Is Buggy. Sometimes it doesn't work. Although some readersreport not being able to make Page Preview work at all, I have been able toget it to work. But I have seen instances where it didn't work. Somethingis amiss there.
Printing Problems. Issues with printing are quite common in Opera 6.0 --something its makers admit. Many people report printing problems, althoughit prints fine to my old HP LaserJet 5MP.
Secure Internet Services. A few people note that they are unable to loginto secure pages for specialized online services, such as online banking,portfolio management, money paying services, and the like. All those thingswork fine for me.
When Push Comes to Shove
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I'm naming Opera 6.0 as aScot's Newsletter Top Product. Only a few short years ago, Opera was anovelty. And, okay, Microsoft has an almost insurmountable marketshare, butthat's largely determined by people who don't choose their own browser.Opera is on the rise, in a big way. If you haven't tried it, you're missingout on an essential computing experience. With Opera 6.0, Opera isabsolutely for real.
** Scot's Newsletter Top Product!** Ad-supported freeware or $39 registeredversion without ads (5.0 upgrades are free; 4.0 upgrades are $15), Opera6.0 for Windows, Opera Software, Phone: In Oslo, Norway, +47 24 16 40 00Opera Software:
http://www.hancom.com/en/news/press02_0111.html
HANCOM and Korean government stepped into Linux desktop mainstream -120Kcopies desktop packages are to be supplied in this year by the contractbetween two parties
January 9th, 2002 in Seoul, Korea - HancomLinux, a Linux expert developingand distributing Linux applications, has announced that they have concludedan agreement with the Central Procurement Office of the Korean Governmentto supply the 120,000 copies of desktop Linux office packages in this year.
" HancomLinux Deluxe 2.0" is the product that combines the MS compatibleoffice suite and Linux OS.
Total 120,000 Linux office packages for the desktop computers areequivalent to 23% of annual Windows based PC procurement. By the aggressiveadoption of the Korean government, Hancom is said to start massivepromotion and setting up the nationwide support network for the governmentagency.
Mr. Dongkun Lee, the chief of the central procurement office who has ledthis contract said, "the purchase of this Linux office packages in thegovernment will bring to us more than 80% of cost saving compared to buyingexclusive softwares produced by Microsoft. We hope that this might be agood start to pump up the Linux vendors to maintain technologicalcompetence."
Adopting this Linux system use into the Korean government agencies andministries has an huge effect on Asian that is expected to use Linux more.
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http://www.sharp-usa.com/products/TypeLanding/0,1056,112,00.html
Sharp released a developer version of a Linux-based PDA that looks reallyslick.
The Zaurus SL-5500 includes many new and improved features compared with astandard PDA. One of the key additions is a built-in QWERTY keyboard(located behind a sliding cover) for quick and easy data entry andmanagement. For the enterprise customer, the Linux/Java-based platform isstable, flexible, efficient and easily customizable while supporting a widerange of wired and wireless applications and services. Other advancesinclude a high-definition 65,536 color reflective screen with 240 X 320resolution, making it easy to read indoors and out. With an IntelGStrongARM 206MHz processor and 64MB, the Zaurus SL-5500 is fast with plentyof memory making it perfect for downloading software or playing multimediaapplications such as MP3 and MPEG1.
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Interesting links for Linux/Amiga people:
http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae/
The UAE Amiga Emulator
http://www.tech9.net/rml/linux/
This patch enables a preemptible kernel, which should reduce the latency ofthe kernel. It allows processes to be preempted even if in kernel mode.
The design used is to allow a task to be preempted anywhere within thekernel, using spinlocks as markers for non-preemptibility regions. Theresulting system response is greatly increased, with measured averagelatencies under 1ms.
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http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/
Gnumeric 1.0 was released.
The Gnumeric spreadsheet is part of the GNOME desktop environment: a projectto create a free, user friendly desktop environment. As every other componentof GNOME, Gnumeric is free software (Some other people like to call thisOpenSource software) and it is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL.
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HP launched the industry's first blade server product series based on openindustry standards.
HP's blade server products are essentially "computers on a board" operatingin a compact chassis(2) that reduces complex wiring issues. The productsinclude server, storage, appliance, network, switch and management bladesand are supported by HP OpenView service manageability tools which includecomprehensive network, system, storage, application and service managementsolutions. HP blade server products will initially run on the Linux operatingsystem distributions of Red Hat, Debian and SuSE. HP-UX and Microsoft¨Windows¨ are expected to be available on the blade server in the first halfof 2002.
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/release1.html
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Shipped - "Ruby in a Nutshell"
Ruby is a young and promising object-oriented cross-platform scriptinglanguage that has had a large degree of success in Japan. There are now afew books available on this interesting scripting language.
O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 0596002149
Author: Yukihiro Matsumoto
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Shipped - "Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition featuring the Sims" ($70)
The Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition bundles one of the world's most populargames with the award winning Linux operating system by MandrakeSoft. Poweredby TransGaming Technologies' innovative and unique portability technologylayer, WineX, this release marks the first time Electronic Arts'¨chart-topping 3D-simulation game, The Sims, is available under Linux.
Runs popular Windows¨ games seamlessly on Linux¨ with TransGaming'sportability technology. For a full list of Windows games that will rununder Linux, see:
http://www.transgaming.com/dosearch.php?order=working&showall=1
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/81/gaming-edition
http://www.transgaming.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------
Shipped: SuSE Linux 7.3 PowerPC Edition
http://www.suse.com/us/products/suse_linux/ppc/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
Run KDE (a Linux desktop) in Windows/Cygwin
If you haven't taken a look at Cygwin, do so. It offers Unix-style tools andutilities on a Win32 box.
The KDE on Cygwin project is started to enable the kde desktop on Windows OSbased on cygwin, the posix emulation layer for Windows, the xfree86 serverand the qt library (qtlib).
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=126042
http://www.cygwin.com/
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International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) said thatit has begun selling groups of server computers with system managementsoftware and the Linux (news - web sites) operating system in a move thatthe computer giant says will expand the use of Linux.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011113/tc/tech_ibm_dc_3.html
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New Linux distribution: Lindows. Linux configured especially for WINE(Windows emulation within Linux.)
Lindows.com, a 20-person San Diego company led by former MP3.com ChiefExecutive Michael Robertson, plans to sell a preview edition of the softwarefor $99 this quarter, with version 1.0 coming in early 2002.
The software is based on years of labor devoted to the Wine project, anopen-source effort to mimic the commands that Windows programs use. Lindowsadds proprietary software with improvements such as making fonts appearbetter or software install more easily, Robertson said in an interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
RedHat releases version 7.2. $60 for basic version (or download free).
Significant features:
- ext3 Journaling File System
- newer kernel
- countless updates (Gnome, KDE)
http://www.redhat.com/software/linux/rhl_new_features.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yellow Dog Linux 2.1 is shipping.
Yellow Dog Linux is a complete, Red Hat and RPM based operating system forPowerPC computers.
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/
TidBITS#611/07-Jan-02
I hope the noodles are soaking in preparation for a serious flogging of thepeople in Apple's PR machine. This keynote was perhaps the most hyped eventApple has ever done, making it sound as if the reports on the rumor siteswere nothing compared with what Apple would announce. (The Crazy AppleRumor Site took up the challenge, deciding in the end that the only thingApple could do that would top the wild rumors swirling about was tointroduce anatomically correct sexbots.)
http://crazyapplerumor.blogspot.com/
But let's face it, the only people who didn't expect Apple to release anLCD iMac are those for whom news is the winners at Saturday night's Bingotournament. There's no question the new iMac design is cool-looking, andnumerous people have said they're not sure quite whether they like it ornot - which is probably a good omen for what could be called an edgy designif it weren't so rounded.
Overall, for a keynote as heavily hyped as this one, the actualpresentation was bland. Aside from the iMacs, iPhoto generated the mosttalk, but it too has been expected for a year, at least in these pages (see"iPhoto Joins the iFold" in this issue for more details). And theenhancements to the iBook are mostly just larger numbers in the spec sheet,including a model with a larger screen. Are we expecting too much from aMacworld keynote? Yes, but although that's always been the case, this timeApple deserves blame for overheated expectations.
Mac OS X
The biggest news about Mac OS X is that all new Macs willship with Mac OS X as the default operating system, starting with the newMacs introduced today and extending to the entire product line (well, notthe iPod, we assume) by the end of January. That's sooner than we hadexpected, and frankly, sooner than we feel is warranted. Apple deservescredit for improving Mac OS X so significantly during 2001, but it'snowhere near the maturity level of Mac OS 9, as Adam and I just found outwhen trying to share files and an Internet connection using Mac OS X. Forthose using their Macs merely to browse the Web, read email, listen toMP3s, and manage their digital photo collection, Mac OS X is fine, but it'sstill easy to find things that Mac OS X simply can't do. And that's despiteApple's claim of 2,500 shipping Mac OS X applications.
Nonetheless, the parade of developers during the keynote was welcome.Adobe's After Effects 5.5 is now shipping, and GoLive 6.0 and LiveMotion2.0 were announced (with no expected ship dates yet). But the most eagerlyawaited application, Photoshop, remains a distant promise. Adobe did showit off, though, including a built-in spelling checker, a feature that wasgreeted with much applause, presumably from the people who do all theirwriting in Photoshop.
The highlight of the Mac OS X portion of the keynote - dare I say theentire keynote? - was Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research. DemonstratingMathematica for Mac OS X, he engaged the audience by saying, "Okay, it'smath... but look at the typography!" To round out his appearance, Graydemonstrated modeling a complex formula with the quip, "This would havebeen incredibly useful for people designing vacuum tubes."
Dan Gregoire of Lucasfilm began his presentation with a video clip ofdirector George Lucas welcoming the Macworld audience and explaining howMacs have been used extensively to build around 4,000 animatics(low-resolution pre-visualizations of scenes) for the upcoming movie StarWars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones. Judging from the circles underLucas's eyes, using the Macs hasn't helped so much that he's gotten a lotof sleep of late, but it's no doubt an improvement from earlier methods ofcreating effects. Gregoire then briefly showed how the animatics designersuse Maya for Mac OS X and After Effects to build the shots.
iBook's Big Brother
Until today, the iBook's bigger sibling has been the PowerBook G4 Titanium- little did anyone know there was a half brother lingering on the familytree. Available now, the 14.1-inch iBook sports the same design as theexisting iBook, but expanded slightly to accommodate a 14-inch screen. Thenew machine includes a larger battery, which Apple says offers a six hourcharge. The 14.1-inch model, which also has a 600 MHz G3 processor, 256 MBof RAM, and a Combo drive, sells for $1,800 and weighs about a pound morethan the existing model. Hopefully it won't suffer the fate of the Cube,orphaned as that machine was between the iMac and Power Mac lines, but thislarger iBook fits more neatly into the price gap. More the question is ifit will seriously damage sales for the Titanium, given that screen size wasa primary difference between the PowerBook and iBook lines before.
The other iBooks received some attention, too: the entry-level model withCD-ROM is now $100 cheaper at $1,200, and the previous high-end 600 MHziBook with Combo drive now sells for $1,500.
Flat-Panel iMac
Based on the semi-exuberant reception to the newiBook, it was clear that the audience was itching for new hardwareannouncements, specifically the rumored flat-panel iMac. Jobs teased thecrowd, noting that Apple has sold six million iMacs since its introductionin 1998, and running a succession of iMac commercials, allegedly todemonstrate the model's progression (conspicuously absent was any mentionof the Flower Power and Dalmatian models). He even started quickly runningdown the impressive list of specifications before unveiling what we reallywanted to see: the design.
On a platform rising from the middle of the stage was the most amazingtable lamp you've ever seen. Okay, that's not a fair description, but it'sthe comparison I've heard most since the keynote. Retaining the iMac'sall-in-one design, the new model has a 10.6-inch diameter white hemisphericbase that contains all the components, including the power supply, which inthe G4 Cube existed as a bulky external power brick. Despite that, the iMacstill doesn't have a fan**, making it near silent. The 15-inch flat screensits on an adjustable metal neck that rotates 180 degrees left-to-right and90 degrees top-to-bottom; the screen itself also tilts up and down, andeven retains its angle when you move the neck (in other words, a screenthat's vertical remains vertical when you adjust the neck). A lip aroundthe screen's front face makes it easy to move the armature around - nodoubt the models in the Apple booth will undergo massive user testing overthe next four days. The screen's viewable area is the same as a 17-inch CRTmonitor, running at resolutions of 1,024 by 768 or 800 by 600 interpolated(you can also choose 640 by 480 if you've attached an external monitor).
The base appears rather ordinary at first, but a peek around the backreveals a host of ports: two FireWire connections, Pro speaker jack,headphone jack, Ethernet, power, modem, three USB ports, and an iBook-stylevideo-out port (video mirroring only). The machine's sole power switch is abutton on the back left side, which seems somewhat awkward, especially nowthat Apple's keyboards no longer feature a power button. On the front,looking like a white-on-white smiley face, the media bay houses either atray-loading CD-ROM, Combo drive, or SuperDrive, depending onconfiguration.
Looks aside, what about the iMac's power? Here, the iMac's designation as aconsumer model is purely a side effect of its marketing. The low-endconfiguration, priced at $1,300, includes a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processorwith Velocity Engine, 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard disk, and the CD-ROMdrive. The mid-range model, for $100 more, has the same processor and harddisk, but includes 256 MB of RAM and the Combo drive. The $1,800 high-endiMac sports an 800 MHz G4 processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 60 GB hard disk, anda SuperDrive. Each model also comes with an Nvidia GeForce2 MX graphicscard, can support up to 1 GB of RAM, and is AirPort- ready. The AirPortantenna goes around the outside of the monitor, so range should be good,and the RAM and AirPort slots are easily available by removing the base'sbottom plate. It's unclear how easy it will be to perform other upgradessuch as swapping in a new hard disk.
Anticipating high demand for what is now an inexpensive SuperDrive-equippedMac, the 800 MHz iMac will be available at the end of January, with themiddle-tier model arriving in February and the entry-level machine showingup in March as the company ramps up production.
Apple is selling the new iMac as the ideal digital hub, and it's clearlymore than capable in that regard. In fact, the biggest question seems to bewhether potential buyers will accept or reject the new design - aninteresting predicament, considering that until Apple introduced theoriginal iMac, design was usually at the bottom of the list ofconsiderations. But given that the "new" iMac will no doubt be the onlyiMac Apple offers (the two previous low-end models are still available,though I'm guessing only until Apple can clear out its inventory), themachine's impressive capabilities will win over even the most skepticaleyes - especially if they belong to someone looking to reclaim a fair bitof desk space.
** It does have a fan. [Bah, the Apple people yesterday said the fan is onall the time when the Mac is on, but it will turn off once the Mac is coolenough in sleep. They did say it was specced at being very quite - 25 dB, Iguess, or quieter than the hard disk, they claim. I haven't been able tolisten to one in a quiet room, so I can't tell. -Adam]
From: Dan Frakes (Dan@Frakes.org)
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 08:53:16 -0800
Being at the Expo all week, I haven't had the time to read every TidBITSTalk message on this topic, but had one quick comment.
I pretty much think the new iMac is a great machine, with a great featureset and great power for the price. I'm still not sure about the shape of thebase, but it's grown on me quite a bit since the keynote ;) It definitelyrepresents well in person (better than in pictures).
My one single complaint is port placement (and it's been a complaint I'vehad with G4/G3 towers for years). Apple touts the new iMac as a "digitalhub" that lets you connect digital cameras, vidcams, MP3 players, etc. Allof these devices are things that you take with you, and occasionally pluginto your iMac -- they aren't things you keep plugged in all the time.However, all the ports are on the *back* of the machine. What I would loveto see is a couple USB ports and a couple FireWire ports right on thefront... or at least on the side. I realize that the keyboard has one freeUSB port (after plugging in the mouse), but another one, and a coupleFireWire ports that are easily accessible would be quite handy.
Such ports might take away from the aesthetic appeal of the iMac, but I knowthat I personally would rather see a couple ports on the bottom (maybebehind a door?) than have to reach around the back to plug things in all thetime ;) (I realize that one could just leave the cables plugged in all thetime, but that's an even bigger aesthetic violation, IMO -- you just boughta computer designed to get rid of cables (grin)).
That's my single, and minor, complaint. If I was in the market for aconsumer-level machine, I'd be on the Apple site right now ordering one.IMO, most of the complaints I have read are the same kind of complaintswe've always heard about the iMac or the iBook -- it doesn't have pro-linefeatures. Heck, if it supported dual displays/extended desktop, sales of G4towers would plummet.
----
From: Ruairi McFarlane (ruairim@mac.com)
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:45:31 -0800
My gripes are:
Why all 3 USB at back? Now I have to have a ugly USB hub sitting up frontto plug in the extra USB devices I have. The keyboard has 2 ports but oneis used by my Kensington TurboBall and the other is used by my joystick andat night time a flex light ( late night coder ). They should have at thevery least placed a single USB at the front.
[The keyboard has two USB ports, so I don't think this is a huge problem.The devices that need to plug into the iMac itself are likely to stay put,so plugging them in once won't be a problem. -Adam]
I feel the same about the FireWire ports. It would be a lot easier to hookup the iPod at the front ( or heaven forbid the side ) than way around theback.
[Why not just leave the cable plugged in all the time? -Adam]
Only 1 headphone jack and it's at the back? I suppose this new "digitalhub" is suppose to be for only 1 person.
Power button at the back as well?! Hmmm, let's see how well this works. Iplace my beautiful new "digital hub" about 3 feet back on my desk so I canenjoy the view of the LCD screen , but anytime I want to turn on thecomputer , I have to stand up and reach around the back for this littleflush button. This definitely labels this more as the iLamp. :)
[Apple claimed that people mostly leave their Macs in sleep now, which iswhy they were less concerned about the placement of the power button.-Adam]
Now I have to buy custom RAM (SO-DIMM) again! Either that or tear apart themachine completely to access the standard 168 pin RAM slot.
The new iMac is more useful now as a professional system and yet it doesnot have the professional network capabilities. Yes, I do need gigabitethernet. How else are you suppose to use the iLamp with Final Cut Pro ifyour footage is on a network server?
[They really aren't aiming it at professionals - for that, either the PowerMac or PowerBook is appropriate. -Adam]
Only 1024 x 768? They claim that the viewing area on the screen is the sameas a 17" CRT so why are we limited to 1024 x 768? I prefer to work in 1280x 1024 and with OS X and the size of most icons ( too big ) , 1024 x 768 istoo small. You are left with no window space. I have used Linux and beforeOS X the icons in Linux are bigger so I was used to that and I was able tohave a larger screen size. heck , I have seen some heavy Linux users thatuse 1600 x ? screen sizes. for me though the new LCD would be better in OSX if it could go bigger than 1024 x 768.
As for the base plate cover, why use screws? Could not a screw on type ofcover ( like mice have ) been used? Maybe someone at Macworld can ask aboutthat?
All in all (that is except for my so called pickiness - according to mywife) , Apple did a great job. I would purchase this system for use in homeas well as for some small time professional work. For the real work, Istill need a tower. For my mobile support services, the new 14" iBook fitsthe bill. The TiBook would be great but not yet justifiable at the price.:(
My hat is off to Apple on the new systems. Now I just need to keep my shirton and purchase a new Apple. :)
PS : all those at the show , enjoy it for those of us not there. ;)
[We're trying! -Adam]
----
From: Ben Rubinstein (benr@cogapp.com)
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:50:22 -0800
My own "but why doesn't it have" item was an infra-red receiver at thefront, so that one could use a wireless keyboard and not spoil those cleanlines (and, as someone without much space, I like the idea of (assumingairport) being able to pull it out of the cupboard and slap it down a tablewith just a power cable to connect (and pulling the keyboard from somewhereelse)).
My guess is that there's going be a great after-market within a month or twofor 10.5" disks that clip under the iMac, raise it an inch or less, and addsome combination of:
- infra red port at the front for wireless keyboard/mouse
- one or two headphone sockets at the front
- a video out port at rear
The deluxe version would come with a little infra red remote control, forwatching DVDs. (Does anyone know if the new iMac will autoplay DVDs?)
I was surprised, in fact, to hear Steve Jobs deride the idea of puttingconnectors on the side of the computer, thinking that the back was lesscluttered in this new version.
And perhaps Belkin will rehouse a USB hub in a 10.5" disk, with ports allthe way round...
Ben Rubinstein | Email: benr@cogapp.com Cognitive Applications Ltd | Phone: +44 (0)1273-821600 http://www.cogapp.com | Fax : +44 (0)1273-728866
----
From: "Derek K. Miller" (dkmiller@pobox.com)
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:46:33 -0800
As I sit here at a cramped, cable-cluttered floor-tower Windows PC in my den(my Mac is burning a CD downstairs in my office), where the 14" monitor isnearly shoving the keyboard off the front of the sewing table it sits on, Irelish the extra space I could get with a new iMac.
Its size and form factor alone would make it worthwhile having my maincomputer upstairs again -- even in the kitchen, where my every previousattempt (with the PC, and with a Power Mac 6100 and 660AV before it) hasbeen foiled by lack of space.
Plus, iPhoto may finally push me to get a digital camera, even though myNikon SLR takes such excellent pictures.
I think Apple is making me think of its products as MY digital hub, even ifI can't afford to make it real just yet.
"Johann Beda" (j-beda@pobox.com) wrote:
No, you've got it backwards! All those connectors are on the FRONT of the machine! The Apple logo is on the back! Since the screen swings around so easily, this is an easy error to make - you must have pulled it out of the box wrong.[...]
Maybe it should be used in a non-standard configuration with the logo on one side and the connectors on the other?
I guess with the screen so easily moved and the whole thing being so light, perhaps the location of the connectors is not as much of an issue as with the comparatively bulky CDT iMacs.
Good point, cheekily made. But alas, as far as I can tell the screen onlypivots 180 degrees, i.e. from full left to full right, but not 360 degreesaround. That would have been nice.
Still, you can, as Johann mentioned, position the new iMac so the connectorsare on the left (putting the power button in a more reasonable position too)and the CD/DVD drive on the right, or vice versa (which would put theheadphone jack closer to the front). The screen presumably won't move anyfurther then, though, so if you need to show something to someone sittingbeside you, they should be on the freely-moving side. :)
It is a shame that the screen doesn't pivot to portrait position too.Something for Apple to consider for subsequent revisions, perhaps? Or maybePortrait Labs wants too much money for their patented technology? Or perhapsit was hard enough to engineer the existing joints in the neck already?
So, even though I think it's a great machine, my three top improvements forthe new iMac are:
All quite doable, I think, and the makings of an even more killer machine.
Finally, the more I think about it, the more the new iMac is a moreintelligently rethought (and repriced!) Cube. Had the Cube originally beenreleased as a G3 machine with a low-end headless iMac price tag, I think itcould have been a raging success.
In its (uncharacteristically wry) July press release when it discontinuedthe Cube, Apple wrote:
"The company said there is a small chance it will reintroduce an upgradedmodel of the unique computer in the future, but that there are no plans todo so at this time."
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2001/jul/03cube.html
Well, here we are. Perhaps an upgraded cube is a half-sphere...
--
Derek K. Miller - dkmiller@pobox.com
Writer, Editor, Web Guy, Drummer, Dad
Vancouver, Canada | http://www.penmachine.com
Would you tell me about your Macintosh background?
I'm going to get in trouble for this; I have never liked the Mac. I usedone for a short while as an undergraduate, and it crashed frequently. 16months ago, I owned only a Linux machine and a Windows NT machine. Theywere flawed, but acceptable. I had never owned a Macintosh and thought Iprobably never would. Then Apple let me see Mac OS X, and everythingchanged -- You can take my PowerBook from me when you pry it from my colddead hands.
I've always been impressed with the Unix community'swillingness to share code and to collaborate on projects. Do you think thatMac OS X will attract some of the Unix community to the Macintoshplatform?
Isn't that the oddest thing? In the Unix community if you write somethinguseful, you give it away. When I started looking around the Mac community, Iwas shocked by the tiny applications that people were charging money for.The Unix people are coming, and you will see the community flooded withfreeware.
I heard you worked at NeXT. What was it like?
Well, long ago, I wrote applications for NeXTSTEP on Wall Street. ThenNeXT hired me. I wrote and taught courses on how to write applications forNeXTSTEP. Working at NeXT was amazing. The people who worked there wereextremely talented, and we were all devoted to the idea that we could helpprogrammers to be more effective. The resulting technologies include Cocoaand WebObjects. I would not describe either of these technologies as Òeasyto learn," but once mastered, they are the most powerful tools available onany platform. The result was that NeXT's customers were the sort of peoplewho wrote many applications every year: investment banks, scientists, andintelligence agencies.
And then suddenly Apple came into your life?
Yes, I was there when Apple acquired us. NeXT had 300 employees whileApple had thousands. I was not excited about being part of Apple. Rememberthat this was before Steve took the helm. I gave notice and moved back Eastto be a freelance programmer.
You mentioned the difference in company size, and I assume there were alsosome corporate culture differences. How well did the NeXT engineersintegrate into Apple? Or should I say, how well did the Apple engineersaccept the NeXT engineers?
That was a weird time. First, Apple bought NeXT. Then Apple laid-off hordesof people, but no one from NeXT. Then the NeXT people (including Steve) wererapidly promoted to positions of great power. There was a definite feelingthat NeXT had taken over Apple instead of the other way around.
The other part of the story was that both groups had been living in theirown world. NeXT supplied tools to corporate America on modern operatingsystems like NeXTSTEP, Solaris, and NT. We were into open standards, virtualmemory, relational databases, and consulting services. Apple people wereselling to artists. They were into fonts, color profiles, and resourceforks.
Overall, the result could have been a disaster; instead, they merged tocreate the best of both worlds.
So what led you back to Apple?
In August 2000, Apple called and said, ÒWe need someone to teach ourengineers how to write Cocoa applications for our new operating system whichis based on NeXTSTEP. Will you come for a week and teach the course that youwrote at NeXT?"
So, you were walking into a class and seeing what you would be teachingon for the first time?
At that point, Mac OS X hadn't been released, so I showed up an hour beforeclass to see how it worked. After that hour, I was sold. Apple had doneeverything right; the software was solid, the machines were elegant andspeedy, and the user experience was awesome. That week, I bought aPowerBook.
Let's talk about your ÒRanch." Can you explain to our readers what it is all about?
In November 2000, I created the Big Nerd Ranch. I teach intensivefive-day classes on Cocoa programming at the ranch. Using my experienceswith the students there, I've written a book for Addison-Wesley which willbe available on December 7th. I still do some contract programming -- butonly on Mac OS X.
What level is the book aimed at?
It is primarily a book that teaches concepts and techniques. Apple hascreated several great references that are completely unintelligible to mostprogrammers. My book fills in the gap. There is some wisdom in the book thatyou will not get on the first reading, so I recommend that you keep it onyour shelf after you've read it.
Do you feel that Cocoa is easy enough for a complete beginner, or wouldyou recommend starting with something else?
Here is my belief: a beginning programmer should learn C. The C languageis simple to learn and gives the student a good feel for how the computeractually works. After learning C, you will be ready for my book and Cocoaprogramming.
What type of materials will you cover that will be of special interestto Macintosh game developers?
The book covers several things that will be of interest to gameprogrammers. Primarily:
Will the book include a CD-ROM?
We've been working with Erik Barzeski at Techstra to develop a web-basedsupplement to the book. If you are having trouble with a topic in the book,you simply enter the page number you are on, and you are shown all theerrata, solutions, resources, and examples that relate to pages near whereyou are. It also allows readers to put in comments. It is a very cleverknowledge-base and should grow rapidly once the book ships. We have onlybegun to populate it with information, but you can access it at our homepage.
Will the book feature any Java?
There is a chapter on writing applications in Java with an example.
Do you have further plans for writing addition Macintosh titles?
I have a great editor at Addison-Wesley, and he would like to see a fewmore titles from me. I have lots of ideas, but a book is a labor of love.My wife would like to see a few more Òlabors of money" before I startanother book.
Some developers have complained about the lack of documentation for thenew OS, but on the other hand, recent activity by book publishers releasingor announcing book titles seems to say things are changing. How do youfeel?
Good documentation takes a deep understanding of the technology and alot of patience to get those ideas on paper. The Tech Docs team at Apple isvery good, but they have a lot of technology to cover. In time, they willget it all on paper. In the meantime, there is a vacuum that people like meare trying to fill.
How supportive has Apple been to the project?
Apple wrote a book on Cocoa programming. It is a pretty weak book, butO'Reilly and Associates agreed to publish it. As part of the deal, Applepromised them some level of exclusivity. Many individuals at Applerecognized the importance of my book. These people wanted to help, but hadtheir hands were tied by the O'Reilly deal. I'm still hoping that the bookwill be sold in the Apple stores.
There seems to be a strong interest by non-traditional Mac developers in our platform recently. In your opinion what role has Mac OS X and Cocoaplayed in this?
Tomorrow I will get on a plane. I'll have my PowerBook with me. On thatflight, I can write Cocoa apps, PHP-based websites, Tomcat webapplications, AppleScripts or Perl scripts. I can use Project Builder,Emacs, or vi. I'll have my choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL to use as aback-end database. I'll use Apache as my web server. And it is all free! IfI'm willing to spend a little cash, I can also run Word or Photoshop. I mayeven watch a DVD on the flight. If there is a Windows or Linux developer onthe plane next to me, he will envy me. Eventually, he will buy his ownPowerBook. This has everything to do with Darwin and Cocoa. If you have achoice, why would you develop on anything but Mac OS X?
Many of today's games are ported from the PC over to the Macintosh. Doyou think Cocoa can help in this process or perhaps someday, reverse theorder; for example John Carmack making Quake 7 on a Mac?
I do believe that many applications will appear on the Mac first in thefuture. NeXTSTEP was always the operating system where innovative codeappeared first. The first web browser and web server, for example, werewritten on NeXTSTEP.
The example you gave is an excellent one. Here is what Carmack said in 1997:
NeXTSTEP is my favorite environment. Windows NT and Linux both haveadvantages in some areas, but if they were on equal footing I would chooseNeXTSTEP hands down. It has all the power of Unix (there are lots of thingsI miss in NT), the best UI (IMHO, of course), and it just makes sense on somany more levels than Windows. Yes, you can make Windows do anything youwant to if you have enough time to beat on it, but you can come out of itfeeling like you just walked through a sewer.
How well do you think Cocoa will be adopted for major developmentefforts, since Cocoa apps can only be used on OS X?
In my career, I've spoken to thousands of programmers. I've heard abouthundreds of projects. Here is what I know:
1. The vast majority of programmers not creating shrink-wrapped apps. They are creating apps that will be run by one team in one company. Everyone on that team uses the exact same machine. 2. Management pulls the plug on most projects before they run on even one platform. Most projects fail. 3. As a development tool becomes more platform-independent, it becomes more awkward and restrictive.
The market for Òcross-platform development tools" is much, much smaller thanmost programmers imagine. Java is probably the best that has ever existed.How many of the apps that you ran today were written in Java?
If you need a powerful tool for creating an application that runs on oneplatform, it would be a mistake to use anything but Cocoa. I do think thatthe number of people writing Cocoa applications will explode in the comingmonths.
As a great example, look at a few applications written by teams of one ortwo Cocoa programmers that are better than products from huge teams:
* Create by Stone Design is better than Adobe Illustrator * Mesa by P&L is better than Microsoft Excel * OmniWeb by OmniGroup is better than Microsoft Internet Explorer * OmniGraffle by OmniGroup is better than Microsoft Visio
What would you improve about Cocoa if you were the CEO of Apple?
There are brilliant people on the Cocoa team who have been working therefor a decade. If I were the CEO, I would let them decide how it should beimproved. And that is exactly what Steve has done. That's not to say Cocoais perfect, but rather that it is continuously evolving in a well-thoughtout manner.
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Bio: Aaron Hillegass is the author of ÒCocoa Programming for Mac OS X" andfounder of Big Nerd Ranch, Inc. He worked at NeXT, and has been programmingwith NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Cocoa for 10 years.
Happy Holidays!
I know that it has been months since you have read something official fromthe Amiga team. This is not because of lack of activity; in fact, far fromit. Whether it is raising money in the US, joint development with partnersin the Far East, or developing Ami2D in Sweden and New Zealand, Amiga istruly a global, 24 hours a day company.
First, we would like to say thanks to every one of you for your continuedsupport. It has been a challenging year and Amiga continues to fightbattles in this depressed technology market. However, even in these toughtimes, the true spirit of Amiga and the community has come shining through.We are very happy with our partners and are looking forward to a greatfuture together in the year ahead.
There has been confusion regarding the future of Amiga with some members ofthe community spreading rumors and even going to the extent of hacking websites to post false information. Remember, if you do not read it on theofficial Amiga website or on the developer website, consider it rumor, andregard it with appropriate suspicion. If you have any concerns, contact theteam or me directly and let us address any issues that you might have. Wewill answer. It might not be what you want to hear, but we will addressyour concerns.
Amiga is here to win! We will win big by attacking segments of the marketwhere there is a clear opportunity for us to have a significant impact andachieve defendable business. The opportunity for Amiga is stronger thanever. With our two-pronged strategy of AmigaDE as the universal contentsystem and the AmigaOS as our desktop, workstation and server, we can offera complete solution for the home, the office, the school or whereverdigital computing needs exist.
The Amiga team and I are in this for the long haul because we know thatAmiga can succeed. All of our marketing contacts, our business contactsand, our developer contacts, are telling us that this is the time forAmiga. We have seen potential partners, content producers, and evencompanies in our own business park disappear, but Amiga is still inbusiness. As the US economy begins to recover, we are leaner and strongerthan we have ever been.
One of the strengths of Amiga is that the Amiga team really extends far outinto the world through the users, developers, and dealers. Success forAmiga is success for all of you as well. For too long, the Amiga communityhas not had anything to be proud of. However, with the launch of our firstAmigaDE based products, it is time for the whole Amiga team to worktogether again. At the end of this update, I am going to ask for some helpfrom everyone because only by working together can Amiga move forwards.
For those of you hungry for specific news, here are some updates:
Amiga Digital Environment:
The Amiga DEª Player1.0 for both Windows and Linux is now ready andshipping! We have a new website for AmigaDE, which will in the not-so-farfuture become a user focal point for everything AmigaDE and we encourageyou to visit, participate, and spread the word.
The AmigaDEª Player is the first step towards our vision of the DigitalHabitatª, being the launch product for the AmigaDE (Digital Environment), aset of technologies that brings users and their content together regardlessof the digital device they choose to use. The AmigaDEª has been targeteddirectly at the user who wants to be able to experience content on any oftheir digital devices without having to worry about which of those deviceswork with that content. Whether the content is an application, a game,music, video, email, or whatever, with the AmigaDE ª Player the answer isthat they all do.
In the coming weeks, many more applications will be released. Third partydevelopers are currently working on products that will scale up to andexpect desktop capabilities. Bittersweet, Edivision, e.p.i.c. interactiveentertainment, Kaliko, Matay, Pagan Games, Ruksun Software, Technomages,Titan Computer, VecTrace, Zeoneo, plus some companies yet to be announced,as well as many individuals, are all working hard to take advantage of theDE opportunity.
We are looking forward to seeing more people join the ranks of the morethan 3000 developers already developing for Amiga. Amiga and our partnerswill be issuing press releases over the next few weeks as the momentumbuilds, introducing these new and existing companies. For more information,see the developer website.
What does this really mean? Many of you ask the really important question"When can I buy one of these new AmigaDE enabled devices?" I can tell youthat Sharp will soon be shipping their device. Tao Group and Sharp haveselected Amiga to provide all developer support for intentª on the SharpSL5000D. For more information on how Sharp, Tao and Amiga are workingtogether see the intent-sharp website.
I have also just signed a contract with one of the largest Set Top Boxcompanies in the world. Unfortunately, I will not be able to give out thename until the second week of January, but you will be pleased.
AmigaDE is now running on numerous other devices, and many of these vendorsare working with us on making these products a reality in the first quarterof 2002. Here are some sample MPEG videos of just a few of the productswith AmigaDE running on them. Click on a screenshot to download/view theMPEG video.
AmigaDE on Sharp Collie (2194 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/decollie.mpg
AmigaDE on Gateway (1630 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/degateway.mpg
AmigaDE on iPAQ (2668 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/deipaq.mpg
AmigaDE on Linux (1409 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/delinux.mpg
AmigaDE on Myfriend (1573 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/demyfriend.mpg
AmigaDE on Psion (1746 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/depsion.mpg
AmigaDE on Vadem (1728 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/devadem.mpg
AmigaDE on Windows (1286 KB) - http://de.amiga.com/video/dewindows.mpg
AmigaDE SDK 1.1
With the AmigaDE moving forward and the AmigaDE Players released, we cannow concentrate on moving all of the developed technology into the new SDK.Many of these technologies are already in beta and being tested by membersof the Amiga Developer Network.
For instance, our new Ami2D services have been available to a select fewfor two months now. In fact, Pulsar Interactive's new AmigaDE game,Gobbler, was written using this technology. Ami2D is a very excitingdevelopment, and I believe that it will give DE developers a definiteadvantage over what other products can offer.
Even more exciting, working closely in conjunction with our partners atHyperion, Ami3D is advancing towards the release stage. I have seen screenshots of the new Ami3D in action, and have stared at screens throwingsolids around and bouncing off walls. This is great news because with theportability of DE application and the new 2D and 3D services, AmigaDEdevelopers will be able to demonstrate their creativity.
There is great excitement here concerning some of our new scalingtechnologies that are going to provide Amiga applications with even moreflexibility and more capabilities than ever before.
I know many of you have read about the progress of SHEEP, our nextgeneration programming language. Yes, it is a scripting language but it isalso far more than that, and can be used to do anything, from writing smallscripts and macros all the way up to creating full fledged applications. Itwill be a great addition not just to the DE, but also to applicationdevelopment in general and we are very proud of it.
Add to this a new look interface, intelligent icons, new developmentenvironments, an amazing descriptive interface service called Prismª and aboatload of other stuff, and the new SDK will provide developers with areal taste of the future.
While contract negotiations are always under Non Disclosure Agreements, Ican say that with the OEM's that we are working with, and the soon to bereleased devices that will utilize DE technology and content, then it couldwell be a merry AmigaDE Christmas.
Amiga Desktop Progress and a new Surprise
AmigaOS
The AmigaOS is a crucial part of our future. I have emphasized thissentence because I want the Amiga community to repeatedly read it and burnit into their hearts and minds. We will passionately and vigorously developAmigaOS into a world-beating product. Moreover, we passionately andvigorously will defend it against anyone who would try to damage, demean,or seek to take illegal advantage of AmigaOS for their own ends.
I want to apologize for announcing in St Louis that new AmigaOS productswould be available on November 1. I did this with the best intentions butmany factors have contributed to this slipping, some bad, such as thefinancial squeeze, compounded by the September 11 atrocity, someunexpected, such as the announcement of the G5, and some good, such as theadvances in the next generation development that have made us rethink ourtransition.
The transition between the AmigaOne and the succeeding generation of theplatform requires careful management. We have studied transitions on otherplatforms to ensure that we try to do what others did right and not do whatothers did wrong. The transition requires in depth knowledge of AmigaOS3.xsoftware and the classic Amiga hardware and we are relying heavily on ourpartners, as you will see below.
Another team is developing the next generation Amiga entirely and itsdesign and information is being kept a secret. This is to keep down therumors and keep the teams focused on getting AmigaOS 4.0, AmigaOne, andAmigaDE to either their first ship or next release.
Hyperion, Eyetech and the other teams in this partnership are very busy andthere is a great deal for all of us to do. Believe me there is nobetter-dedicated team in the world on getting it all done. With this saidand in order to alleviate the long periods of silence that may resultbecause of this, the executive updates will start to appear once a month,so that we can share what we can with you.
However, in order to let you know that this is not just noise, Amiga hasengaged a partner company from the outside that brings us incredible depth,and has a long history of creating the best of the best in designs. Thecompany is Design Genetix, and the team has already proved to us to be agreat fit for our next generation designs in hardware, and will assist uswith third party manufacturing.
Design Genetix has garnered over 400 product awards, while launchinghundreds of portable, desktop and server products. They have experience ingrowing product lines from $2.4 billion to over $17 billion over fiveyears.
AmigaOne
Eyetech and their team are making excellent progress with the AmigaOneboard. We have seen the work that is being accomplished on the case designfor an AmigaOne and an A1200. This project is entering its final stages,and we are delighted to be a participant. Yes it has been a long wait forthe next generation of Amiga capable hardware but be in no doubt that theAmigaOne is very real, will be a product that you can buy, and on whichAmiga will grow into something of which we can all be proud. For AmigaOneinformation, see Eyetech's website.
AmigaOS 4.0
AmigaOS4.0 will see the software environment moved onto the AmigaOne whereit will be enhanced to take full advantage of the new hardwarecapabilities. AmigaOS4.0 will offer exceptional performance increases, dueto removing a large number of the physical dependencies on the A1200/A4000,increased stability, due to a 'from scratch' hardware design and great newfeatures that will allow developers to leap forwards in terms of offeredapplications.
To allow Amiga Inc to concentrate on the next generation AmigaDE, andbecause of the tight integration of AmigaOS 4.0 with the Eyetech AmigaOneproduct, we have outsourced the project management of AmigaOS4.0 toHyperion Entertainment, one of the most respected software developmentcompanies in the Amiga community. For OS 4.0 information, see Hyperion'swebsite.
They will work closely with Eyetech, Haage and Partner and all our AmigaOSpartners in the project, ensuring that the AmigaOne and AmigaOS4.0combination reaches the market in a timely manner and as a quality product.For Haage-Partner information, see the Haage & Partner website.
Conclusion
Newcomers to the software industry are often unaware of the impact thatAmiga had on the computing industry. But with the launch of the DE Player,and seeing all the new content, as well as the AmigaOne and OS4.0, this isstarting to change. We are working hard to accelerate this process and eachof you can play your part in ensuring that your computer and your communityare successful.
I say this to you because I need your help. I need all of you to rememberthose who used to come to the meetings. I need you to remember those inyour office, or neighborhood who run Windows or Linux. I need you to lookin your local papers and see who writes the business sections, and whowrites the technology sections, and I need you to tell them about AmigaDE.
I need you to tell them about a technology that allows the same content torun without change on various devices. I need you to tell them about howthey can use Linux or Windows, and run Amiga content on either machine. Ineed you to remind them that most of the current content is for PDA's andto ask them to compare what they have seen on PDA's and other handheldgaming systems to what the Amiga community has been building. In addition,I need you to support the developers who are creating content for Amiga inevery way possible.
I know there are thousands in the Amiga community who want to help. I getemail messages daily asking how you all can help. Well the AmigaDE Playeris a big step for us, and for the many developers who have created contentfor it. Thousands more are working on new content! For those who have theDE Player É buy a game, and then give us feedback. This is the first stepin our journey forward, and our first step together towards that future.
There are many amazing things happening at Amiga, and over the next sixmonths, all our hard work will slowly start to emerge into the world. Iwant you to know so much, but for many reasons, I simply cannot tell youthe bulk of what is going on. Just be assured that my team and I areputting our lives and our souls into Amiga and that your patience andloyalty will be rewarded.
For now, I need your help in spreading the good news about the AmigaDEPlayer. Its simplicity makes it ideal for senior citizens, parents, andchildren, people who have a computer, enjoy games but who are terrified ofthe technology. Its portability makes it perfect for developers who want toreach as many markets or as wide an audience as possible.
Go to Amiga's website, purchase some of the games,and then tell everyone you know how Amiga is binary portable; scalable, andable to provide the same content on numerous different devices andproducts, there is no one else that can show a product like this anywhere.Be Proud and show it off.
I promise you that it will not be another 6 months before you hear from meagain, but it was only because there are only 24 hours in a day and we havebeen putting in 36 hours a day making it all happen.
Merry Christmas, God Bless, and bring on 2002!
Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team
http://www.amiga.com
http://www.amigadev.net
http://de.amiga.com
http://intent-sharp.amigadev.net
December 20, 2001 - Prior to the regular General meeting, the Linux SIG hada demonstration of the various distributions of Linux and their variousstrengths and weakness, presented by Dan Jansen. Due to a communicationsSNAFU, this presentation wasn't properly announced to the generalmembership in the newsletter and, because so much interest has been expresson the subject, we will attempt to get Dan to reshow his information at alater date.
President Jim Lewis opened the General meeting by discussing the electionof officers to take place this evening. He then reviewed the events of thelast year: the financial solvency of the group, the joining into our ranksof the Linux SIG, and he views on growing the group membership.
In light of the Annual review, Kevin Hopkins wished to publicly thankRichard Hall for his excellent stewardship of the club's finances as ourTreasurer.
Looking forward to 2002, President Lewis said he was looking forward tomore actively growing the group in the upcoming year. And, in a generalway, he is looking forward to the new year.
Richard Rollins, as former President of CUCUG, thanked Jim for his serviceas President over the last few years. President Lewis thanked Kevin Hopkinsfor his hard work as Secretary and newsletter editor for the group. He thenthanked Emil Cobb for his contributions as the club's Vice President formany years.
President Lewis then opened the floor for any further nominations for clubofficers. As there were none, Mike Latinovich moved to close thenominations. Richard Rollins seconded the motion. The vote for clubofficers was then taken by a show of hands. The current slate of officerswas unanimously re-elected.
Jim then commented on what the Linux SIG had covered prior to the mainmeeting. They had a presentation on the various distributions of Linuxavailable and the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Jim the opened the floor to our Question and Answer Session.
Harold Ravlin made the suggestion that the Linux SIG Chairman send theinformation of what they will be doing in their SIG to the newsletter sothat the membership can be informed ahead of time. Harold had assumed therewouldn't be a SIG meeting this month because of the historicalElection/Social nature of our December meetings. Kevin Hopkins said he hadmade a couple of attempts via email to find out what the Linux SIG hadplanned, but to no avail. This is a rough spot that is sure to be workedout as time goes on.
PC News: Windows XP is in full distribution now. Some security issues havesurfaced, but are sure to be fixed. Jim noted that Windows 2000 is reallyWindows NT 5.0 and Windows XP is Windows NT 5.1. The primary difference iseye candy. When asked about the hardware requirements to run XP underVirtual PC emulation or on older PC platforms, Jim said you can shut downthe eye candy elements of XP to reduce the hardware demands yet retainfunctionality.
George Krumins said he is having a problem of backgrounds not displaying inInternet Explorer 5. Jim suggested upgrading to IE 5.5. It was recommendedthat George check out the Advanced Options tab. There are tons of optionsthere. One might have accidentally gotten turned off. Another suggestionwas to download Opera. Jim Huls said Opera 6 is great.
Ed Hadley reported that the map to the meeting on the club web site iscompletely screwed up. The problem appears to be with Mapquest, sinceseveral months ago it was correct. Mark Zinzow recommended MapsOnUs. It wasalso suggested that we just put up a GIF and be done with it.
Mark Zinzow provided a report on Trillion, an Instant Messenger programthat talks to all the other instant messengers on the market like ICQ, AOL,etc., etc. Mark said it was available at the UIArchive or athttp://www.trillion.cc . Trillion only works on Windows currently. Mark said that most of the features available in all the other clients arerepresented in Trillion and they work.
John Ross said he is trying to build a "quiet" PC box. Richard Rollinsoffered that he'd seen a program on ScreenSavers about six months ago onthis very topic. He suggested checking out http://www.screensavers.com forinformation. Ed Hadley recommended contacting Mark Rubel of Pogo Studiosfor information on sound deadening materials. Harold Ravlin said theNovember issue of Linux Journal had some pertinent information as well.Others offered ideas of using egg crate foam or waffle bedding. MikeLatinovich talked about the Shuttle "Cube" machine, but Jim Lewis was notimpressed with Shuttle's track record for producing quality products.
Linux News: HP has done the same as IBM by selling groups of servercomputers with system management software and the Linux operating systeminstalled.
Mandrake has released a gaming addition of Linux. There was a discussion ofSuSE and Cygwin. The latter providing Linux capability on a Windows box.Check out http://www.cygwin.com for further information.
Netscape 6.2 for Linux has been released.
VMware was mentioned.
In the light hearted and free flowing direction of the conversation took,President Lewis found an opportunity to bring up the serious topic ofpiracy and restated CUCUG's policy of "no tolerance" for software piracy.
KDE v.3 Beta is out, with more tools and eye candy.
Mac News: Jack Melby reported that there is a new line up of hardware setto be released on January 7th at Macworld. Three G4s and maybe the G5.
Jack reported that Apple is continuing to refine OS X.
Jack said his newest update of ViaVoice is absolutely terrific. It onlyruns on OS X.
OS 9.2.2 was recently released. In answer to a question, Jack said you cannow update OS 9 applications from within OS X.
Virtual PC 5 is out.
Jack enthused that Microsoft Office is "a gas". It works terrifically well.Although, Jack said, he does not use Entourage (MS's email program).
Adobe is in the process of porting all of their products to OS X now.Photoshop is on the way. It may be released as soon as January. Freehand isalready out. Jack also said XWindows ports from Unix to OS X are comingthick and fast.
Returning to speculation on what new machines might be released atMacWorld, the question was "A flat panel iMac?" Jack reported that Applehas ordered as many as 100,000 flat screens and they're going to gosomewhere.
Apple has introduced the Combo drive to the Powerbook.
Jim Lewis noted that the LiteON drives are now faster.
Richard Rollins asked about the bTrieve program. He has a client that hasthis program running in concert with a cash register. No one knew muchabout it.
Dave Witt closed the meeting by showing his Xbox, playing the "Madden 2000"football game.
The December meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Thursday,December 27, 2001, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing toattend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number areboth in the book). We normally meet on the Tuesday after the main meeting,but due to the Christmas holiday, this meeting was "time-shifted". Presentat the meeting were: Jim Lewis, Emil Cobb, Kris Klindworth, Jim Huls,Richard Rollins, Jack Melby, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel and MikeLatinovich.
Prior to official business, there was a discussion of PPOE, or Point toPoint Over Ethernet connections. Several Board members also asked JackMelby about his DSL connection. Having had trouble with the reliability his@Home cable modem connection and not wanting to be caught up anydisruptions caused by the Excite@Home bankruptcy, Jack moved over to anAmeritech DSL phone line connection. He stated that he was very pleasedwith the service. If anyone was interested, Jack said call 1-800-244-4444for the Ameritech DSL service, which costs $49/month. You can also go tohttp://www.ameritech.net and investigate "SpeedPath".
We then turned to business.
Jim Lewis: Jim reported that the club will be getting a copy of AdobePremier 5.0 to raffle off.
Jim gave a glowing report of Dan Jansen's overview of Linux versionspresented at the December meeting.
There was a discussion of IDE versus SCSI price/performance.
Emil Cobb: Emil transferred some membership dues he collected at thegeneral meeting to Kevin Hopkins for delivery to Treasurer Richard Hall.(Kevin and Rich are co-workers at the Krannert Center for the PerformingArts.) However, the name of one paying member was unknown, so this matterwill have to be straightened out at the next General meeting.
Emil reported that we had 37 attendees at the last meeting.
Kris Klindworth: Kris related the upcoming planned presentations for theLinux SIG. He said they will be doing Redhat and Mandrake installs inJanuary. They will do an intro to XWindows in February. The SIG willexamine CD burning under Linux in March. Kris said Dan Jansen could betentatively scheduled to reprise his introduction to the various Linuxdistributions in April, which so many expressed an interest in seeing afterhaving missed it.
Jim Huls: Jim said he is "really liking the Linux thing." He reportedthat "Guys from work are coming because of their interest in the Linuxstuff."
Jim later brought up some interesting points (included here): "I wouldimagine I might be speaking for quite a few when I ask if those who havebeen involved on the *nix side of things could post some good websiteresources for info, news, etc. pertaining to the *nix side of the world."
Referring to the web work of Mike Latinovich (see below), Jim said, "If wedecide to get serious about this board being a resource for the club mightI suggest placing a link to it on the main CUCUG website.
One other thing that hit me that could appeal to guests and potential newmembers is to place on the main page what is going to be taking place atthe next meeting. Granted sometimes it doesn't even make it into thenewsletter, but why should that info be restricted to members only memberswhen we are aware of what it is?"
Richard Rollins: Richard thanked the Linux group for the introduction toLinux. He said it was "Fantastic. Really fun."
Richard suggested getting together a group of Linux CDs for those desiringto get started in Linux, as the club has done on other OSes we've supportedin the past. He suggested a Distribution and a Tools disk.
Richard said the Linux SIG "felt like the old days - really wonderful -with its hands on enthusiasm."
Richard requested the Linux SIG "talk about BSD, too, please." QuentinBarnes did a little on this topic, but what Richard really wants to see isthe physical process of installing and setting up a system.
Mike Latinovich asked them to address the question "What's the features?"
Richard thanked Emil for bringing the doughnuts to the last meeting.
On a personal note, Richard reported that he is playing around with "Dave"and "SoHo" server connect software on the Macintosh.
Richard congratulated Jim Lewis on his re-election to the Presidency, KevinHopkins for his re-election to the office of Secretary, and Rich Hall asTreasurer (noting that Rich has been fantastic in that office).
Jack Melby: Jack said he's hurting for presentations for the Mac SIG.Emil volunteered to do the "Newbie starting into OS X" for the Januarymeeting. Jack said this was a presentation he really wanted. He suggested,what he'd like, is a new user's perspective on what was easy, what washard, what were some of the stumbling blocks for a new user.
Jack concluded his portion of the meeting with "I love my Ameritech DSLline."
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin had nothing pressing to address. He said he needed areporter for the PC SIG and the Linux SIG for the newsletter, so the restof us can find out what they're up to.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin suggested doing an XP install for the PC SIG inJanuary. Kevin says he loves XP. Jim Lewis, Mike Latinovich and Kevinagreed to do the demo.
Richard Rollins said he'd like to see a networking demo in the futurebetween the different platforms we support.
Kevin voiced a complaint about having Amiga content in the newsletter, or,at least, as much as has appeared on occasion.
Jack Melby said go visit the BeOS website. They're signing off.
Kevin said he has been running XP since November 2 and his machine hasn'tcrashed once. He noted that his networking is faster.
Mike Latinovich: Mike said, "The doughnuts were good."
Mike has set up a CUCUG web board at http://www.cucug.org/starship/index.php. This site issimilar to the old club BBS and has forums for club members to communicatewith each other between the monthly meetings. The URL to the instructionshe's made on the forums, detailing what you need to do to be able to usethem, is http://www.cucug.org/starship/index.phpviewtopic.php?p=1#1 . Mike assures us, "It's not difficult, really. :) " Try it out.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at theIllinois Technology Center. The Center is located at 7101 Tomaras Ave inSavoy. To get to the Illinois Technology Center from Champaign or Urbana,take Neil Street (Rt 45) south. Setting the trip meter in your car to zeroat the McDonalds on the corner of Kirby/Florida and Neil in Champaign, youonly go 2.4 miles south. Windsor will be at the one mile mark. Curtis willbe at the two mile mark. Go past the Paradise Inn/Best Western motel to thenext street, Tomaras Ave. on the west (right) side. Tomaras is at the 2.4mile mark. Turn west (right) on Tomaras Ave. The parking lot entrance isimmediately on the south (left) side of Tomaras Ave. Enter the building bythe front door under the three flags facing Rt 45. A map can be found onthe CUCUG website at Membership dues for individuals are $20 annually; prorated to $10 at midyear. Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. Allrecent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user groupexchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. Asa matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after threemonths of no contact. For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, orcontact one of our officers (all at area code 217): Surf our web site at http://www.cucug.org/ President/WinSIG: Jim Lewis 359-1342 jlewis@computers4life.com Vice-President: Emil Cobb 398-0149 e-cobb@uiuc.edu Secretary/Editor: Kevin Hopkins 356-5026 kh2@uiuc.edu Treasurer: Richard Hall 344-8687 rjhall1@uiuc.edu Corporate Agent: Jim Lewis 359-1342 jlewis@computers4life.com Board Advisor: Richard Rollins 469-2616 Webmaster: Kevin Hisel 352-1002 khisel @ kevinhisel.com Mac SIG Co-Chair: John Melby 352-3638 jbmelby@johnmelby.com Mac SIG Co-Chair: Charles Melby-Thompson 352-3638 cmelby@princeton.edu Linux SIG Co-Chair: John Ross 469-0208hurricanejohnn@prairieinet.net Linux SIG Co-Chair: Kris Klindworth 234-0097 kris.klindworth@Carle.com
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
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