======================================================================= PC Notes #120 08/02/94 copr. 1994, Dave Williams ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [email protected] The Courts of Chaos BBS, (501)985-0059 .CIS: 72571,3542 ask about the usenet PCNotes mail list . gopher : Name = PC Notes from Dave Williams, Port = 70, Type = 1 . Path = 1c:/msdos/pcnotes, Host = wombat.es.mq.edu.au . WWW URL: gopher://wombat.es.mq.edu.au:70/11c%3a/msdos/pcnotes =======================================================================IBM and Apple are pushing their PowerPC boxes hard, but before you get the urge to jump on the bandwagon remember the PowerPC is just the latest in a long line of contenders trying to knock the DOS/80x86 combo out of the ring. Remember the original RISC machine, the IBM PC/RT? How about the MIPS boxes? Intel's own much-ballyhooed i960?
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Microsoft will be shipping DOS 6.22 soon. 6.2 had DoubleSpace, 6.21
didn't have DoubleSpace, 6.22 has DriveSpace. I hope they did a better
job debugging DriveSpace than they did with DoubleSpace.
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Many readers were tickled by Neil Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and his
description of the Cosa Nostra pizza company. Just to be mean, I could
point out that there really *is* a Cosa Nostra Pizzeria, and they
sponsored a car in the Paris-to-Dakar race back in '87.
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One of the subjects that comes up regularly in the programming
magazines is code reuseability. The experts and wannabees thump their
podiums and babble about OOP and software ICs and the sorry state of
modern programming.
Sure, no company wants to pay for reinventing the wheel every time its programmers start a new project. There's a lot of pressure for code reuseability. So, why don't we have it?
My friends, we *do* have reuseable software. Exactly what do you think the C runtime library *is*, anyway? Back in the days of hand- carved wooden circuit boards and knapped-flint read-write heads, you got a few dozen functions to implement K&R (if you were lucky) or someone's own idea of what C should look like (if you weren't.) Taken a look at OWL or MFC lately? And let's not forget what our operating systems have turned into. Nobody writes user interfaces any more, pal. You use Windows or Program Manager, or maybe Mewel or Vermont Views over DOS.
If runtime functions and user interfaces aren't enough, you can just pick up any programmer's software catalog and find database engines, async communications drivers, printer managers... with source or without, for practically any compiler you can think of, documented out the wazoo.
It's easy to overlook, but there are only a limited number of things a computer does. I/O, database and sorting, editing, graphics, math, a few others. Practically everything else is some extension or combination of the basic functions. The basics are pretty well represented in the reuseable code market.
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After fighting bugs in Paradox and DOS 6, I think some of the software
companies need to sit down and think out what they're doing. To hell
with new features - I'd pay for a software release that has NO NEW
FEATURES! I'd pay for a new version just to get one with *all* the
bugs eliminated. It'll probably ship shortly after Hell freezes over.
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Most people have heard more about the Clipper chip controversy than
they want, but here's another little tidbit - what if some unscrupulous
"they" started selling counterfeit Clipper chips? Getting custom chips
made is not a greatly expensive proposition nowadays. With a little
work you could come up with something that waddled like a Clipper,
quacked like a Clipper, but wouldn't have Clipper's back door.
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The ITU approved the v.34 28.8 modem standard a few weeks ago. It's
basically v.Fast, but not quite - if you have one of the fancy modems
with Flash EPROM you might be able to get away with a software upgrade,
but Hayes, Boca, Practical Peripheral, Microcom, and Supra modems will
have to go back to the manufacturer for upgrade.
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Bill Machrone, ex-editor of PC Magazine, now columnist for PC Week,
suggested the 55 mph speed limit be repealed in his column of July 11.
Uh-yeah, Bill. I can tell you're not a car guy.
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Novell's interesting and innovative Corsair OS got the axe. Easy
come, easy go. Based on Linux and Novell DOS 7, it would've been
something to see - fully preemptive Unix and DOS together with X-
windows and some neat goodies.
I never have been able to fathom the kind of mentality that will dump big money into developing a product, then decide not to ship. Usually the excuse is "marketing costs." They could just mail a flyer out to everyone who had registered DR-DOS or NDOS - no need to break the bank at a $100,000 per page for advertising.
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Computer Reseller News said that Microsoft was considering reducing
the price of NT Advanced Server, "to make it more competitive for small
networks - the stronghold of Novell Inc.'s NetWare." Is this chutzpah,
or what?
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You hear a lot about Microsoft's OLE, otherwise known as Object
Linking and Embedding. OLE is supposed to let Windows applications
share data, like what Symphony or Enable sort-of did. (anyone remember
those?) Unfortunately, that OLE really means is if you create a
complex document using Excel, Word for Windows, and PowerPoint, you're
pretty well stuck. If you decide to ship the document to someone
running Quattro, Ami Pro, and Corel, you're out of luck. And if you
decide to hop off the Microsoft bandwagon, you're equally out of luck.
Non-Microsoft vendors are starting to support OLE, but nobody appears
to be in a tearing hurry.
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Only three months after announcing there'd be no OS/2 for the PowerPC,
IBM has officially announced the product and has it in beta. Did they
hire their marketing people from Atari or something?
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IBM's OS/2 SMP, the multiprocessor version of OS/2 2.2, is in beta and
should ship soon. It supports up to 16 processors. Alas, there don't
seem to be many machines for it to run on - a few high-end offerings
from ALR, HP, Wyse, etc, with multiple 486DX50 and 486DX266 processors.
Too bad someone doesn't make an EISA or VL-bus processor card holding
half a dozen $50 386-40s, with another half-dozen empty sockets. Heck,
it probably wouldn't even cost much.
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AST tried to introduce its own special parallel port protocol a couple
of years back. I tried to get some information from them, but they
didn't want to send me anything. Evidently they didn't send anyone
else anything either, and the AST port has faded away.
Now they have something called DMI, which apparently is to allow
network managers to "monitor" nodes remotely. I haven't found out
anything else yet.
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The Interface Group, which sponsors COMDEX among other things, has
decided to ban displays of nudity and sexually explicit materials from
their trade shows. La-de-da.
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You don't care to work for a place that demands you pee in a bottle on
demand? Drug testing is old hat - the new rage is psych profiling.
Eastman Chemical and Autodesk are doing it, among others. Autodesk
says the test results won't go into employee records, nor will they use
them to make assignment or promotion decisions. And if you believe
that, I have a nice bridge for sale...
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Timex and Microsoft are developing an alarm watch and an interface to
Microsoft's Schedule+. It doesn't sound like it's going to notch into
Sharp Wizard sales much, but it'll have the Microsoft Windows logo on
the case.
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can you help me... help me get out of this place?... slow sedation...
ain't my style, ain't my pace...giving me a number...NINE, SEVEN, EIGHT
===========================================================Nazareth====
Why should I disclaim anything? xKotFAQ - usenet rec.motorcycles
Denizens of Doom M/C - "Live to Flame - Flame to Live" - DoD #978
===========================================================Team OS/2===