9/10/95 CompuNotes Issue #20 Patrick Grote, Publisher and Editor CompuNotes is a weekly publication available through an email distribution list and many fine on-line networks! We feature reviews, interviews and commentary concerning the PC industry. Still looking for a listserv site, please help . . . This Week's Contents: ===================== PATRICK'S NOTES =============== -=> News and More <=- NEWS ==== -=> Super Bowl Decided by CDROM <=- -=> Microsoft Money - Free for Everyone <=- REVIEWS ======= -=> Simon the Sorcerer <=- -=> Darn - Don't Forget Reminder Software <=- WEB SITE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> Fisher Comes Alive <=- FTP FILE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> New Web Site <=- INTERVIEW ========= -=> PCBoard Innovator - Jack Kilday <=- To subscribe, send a message to subscribe@supportu.com with subscribe in body. To unsubscribe, send a message to unsubscribe@supportu.com with unsubscribe in body. Comments should be sent to feedback@supportu.com. Voice: (314) 984-9691 BBS : (314) 984-8387 FAX : (314) 984-9981 All old copies available from anonymous FTP at ftp.uu.net:/published/compunotes CD-ROM Online Magazine is another good resource. You can subscribe free by sending an email message to CDRMag@nsimultimedia.com with the word subscribe in the body of the text! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Patrick's Notes Notes from the Publisher and Managing Editor ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wow, what a four weeks this has been. The publication of CompuNotes was sporadic there for a while due to the fact we were moving into office space. Our move is over, so now more delays! Let me warn you about using a suite number at one of those MailBoxes, Etc. or PakMail places. When you move your mail cannot be forward from the post office to your new address. You have to pay the suite number provider a fee for forwarding your mail! Can you say pain the behind? I knew you could! If anyone knows a way around this, please let me know . . . LISTSERV Ok, our list of CompuNotes subscribers is close to 6000. I am still processing the list by hand using Eudora. It takes forever to send the issue out using this method. Does anyone know of anyone who has the capacity to handle our list? I know lists of over 10,000 people exist. Where can I find someone to handle this? FORMER WRITERS If you wrote for CompuNotes or CyberNews in the past and would like to do software reviews again, send a message to review_list@supportu.com. You will receive a return message listing all the software we have available for review. Before you request software remember the following: * Reviews must be completed within a week of receiving software. * Reviews should be as in-depth as 600-800 words allows. * They should be submitted in ASCII. WINDOWS 95 Look for my extra special Windows 95 review coming up in the next issue. I will be writing this on my birthday, September 20! I turn 27! Ugh! No more early 20s or young adult :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> Super Bowl is Over <=- LANCASTER, Pa.--(BW SportsWire)--Sept. 13, 1995--The San Francisco 49ers will be dethroned and lose Super Bowl XXX to the Indianapolis Colts, according to a new, technologically advanced statistics based CD-ROM football game being introduced by APBA to coincide with the 95 season kickoff. Last year, APBA correctly predicted that the San Francisco 49ers would be the '94 season champs using its DOS version to run an entire season of statistical play. APBA, which was acquired by SAI/MicroLeague earlier this year, has been developing sports board games and more recently CD-ROM titles for the past 45 years. "The new APBA Football for Windows for gridiron "stats fanatics" makes it significantly easier to build the schedule and account for all of the off-season personnel changes," explains APBA President Fritz Light. "We already know that '95 was a riveting season that we simulated in only 30 minutes using APBA Football." APBA Football for Windows is the culmination of years of planning and effort designed to make APBA Football, introduced as a board game in 1958, more powerful and easier to play using the Windows interface. Stunning Season Upset According to the APBA Football game, the regular season saw some surprises (Indianapolis and Green Bay) and familiar faces (Dallas, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Oakland) capture division titles. Wild card Cleveland provided the biggest post season shocker by upsetting Pittsburgh in the Steel City, 17-16. Dallas and San Francsico competed for the NFC title for the fourth consecutive season, while Cleveland met the Colts, a familiar championship foe from the past. The Niners had no troubles halting the Cowboys, 23-9, to earn a sixth trip to the "Big Game," while Indy pounded Cleveland in an impressive display of offensive firepower, 36-10, to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1971. Super Bowl Surprises All signs favored the 49ers to extend the 12-year run of AFC failure in the biggest of games, but Indy scored on the game's first play from scrimmage and never looked back, turning Super Bowl XXX into yet another blowout, 36-20. The Colts were led by a pair of offseason acquisitions, QB Craig Erickson (15-18, 286, 2 TDs, 0 INT) and WR Flipper Anderson (128 yards, 1 TD). RB Marshall Faulk's 123 yards and 2 TDs allowed Indy to keep the ball away from the explosive San Francisco passing attack. In fact, the 49ers were held scoreless until the fourth quarter, when trailing 33-0, QB Steve Young connected with WR John Taylor on a 24-yard TD hookup. The Colts' defensive star was CB "Big Play Ray" Buchanan, who held All-World WR Jerry Rice to just one catch for a single yard. "I was stunned by the result," Light said. "But the stats don't lie. Get ready for a big year in Indianapolis." APBA Football for Windows is available on both CD-ROM and 3 1/2 inch floppy disks. It requires an IBM PC or 100% compatible 486sx/25 or higher processor, double speed CD-ROM drive, MS Windows, 3.1 or higher, hard drive, SVGA Monitor and mouse. The price of $59.95 and can be ordered by calling APBA toll free at 1/800-334-APBA (2722). Headquartered in Lancaster, APBA is a division of SAI (in Newark, Del.) an integrated multimedia company and a leader in interactive sports strategy simulation games for popular PC formats. SAI develops and markets software under the MicroLeague, General Admission and Affiliated Venture Publishing (AVP) labels. SAI Productions provides full service distribution, packaging and printing for other software publishing companies. -=> Free Money??? <=- New Version Of Microsoft Money Personal-Finance Software Boasts Attractive, Easy-To-Use Interface, And Online Banking And Bill Paying REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the start of the limited-time offer on Aug. 24, 1995, a quarter of a million people have made the move to obtain Microsoft(R) Money for the Windows(R) 95 operating system. The personal finance software, which makes it easy to manage core home-finance tasks and offers enhanced online banking and bill-payment services, is being ordered or downloaded at a rate of one every seven seconds. The special promotion, which continues through Oct. 31, 1995, offers people the option to download the product at no charge or order disks, and demonstrates Microsoft's renewed commitment to the personal-finance category. "We were confident that this dramatically different version of Money would appeal to large numbers of people, and we are simply thrilled by the terrific response to this limited-time offer," said Pete Higgins, group vice president of applications and content at Microsoft. "We knew that people who had an opportunity to experience this new version firsthand would see how easy and enjoyable it can be to manage their personal finances, and that was our goal with this special promotion." Through Oct. 31, anyone can download a copy of Money for Windows 95 from MSN(TM), The Microsoft Network online service, or from Microsoft's World Wide Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/MSHOME/) at no charge. Those who want product disks and a user's guide can acquire them directly from Microsoft for approximately $9.95 by calling 800-508-8458. The product is scheduled to be available in stores nationwide by Nov. 1, 1995, for approximately $34.95 (U.S.). Money for Windows 95 takes the personal-finance category in a significantly new direction, aiming to attract the 70 percent of households with computers that do not currently use personal-finance software. The product's elegant redesign, its focus on making the core home-finance tasks easy, and its enhanced online home-banking services are intended to make it more compelling for the typical home computer user to shift everyday financial chores to the computer. Microsoft has announced that it will work with 21 financial institutions to offer online banking and bill-payment services using Microsoft Money for Windows 95. The following is a list of banks offering these fee-based online services. (Asterisks appear next to the names of banks that offered these services with the previous version of Money.) Bank of Boston Centura Bank Chase Manhattan Bank* Chemical Bank Compass Bank CoreStates Bank Crestar Bank First Hawaiian Bank First Interstate Bank First National Bank of Chicago* Home Savings of America M&T Bank Marquette Banks Mellon Bank Michigan National Bank* Sanwa Bank California Smith Barney Texas Commerce Bank Union Bank US Bank* Wells Fargo Bank Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. NOTE: Microsoft, Windows and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Simon the Sorceror by Doug Reed Simon the Sorceror is an adventure game published by Infocom, world-famous maker of adventure games such as Zork (and all of the accompanying sequels), Planetfall, and the computer adaptation of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The box bills Simon the Sorceror as "The interactive fantasy with an attitude". The premise of the game is fairly simple and common: you play the part of Simon, an adolescent from our world thrust into a fantasy world who must rescue the good wizard Calypso from the evil clutches of Sordid. The game uses a simple interface whereby you use the mouse to move Simon around the screen and to access various commands from the bottom of the screen. The top half of the screen shows you the location graphically while the bottom half shows you the various commands and items that you have picked up. Conversation is key to the game, and when a reply is necessary a list of choices will appear on the bottom of the screen. Characters in the game reply through digitized speech, which you must pay careful attention to because there is no notepad or any device in the game to save these statements. The game does come with, however, a "postcard" which can magically transport you to some of the important locations in the game that you have already visited. The game breaks down essentially into the old pattern of get what character A wants, then they give you what character C wants, and they give you what character B wants, and so on. Not that this patterns makes for a bad game. I personally found Simon the Sorceror to be a fun and engaging game that sucked me in. The characters are interesting and funny (including Simon, who tends to be a bit of a smartalec). The graphics are pretty to look at and the animations are well done. If you leave the game running without touching it for a while, Simon pulls out a Walkman and plays it while he waits for you. The puzzles begin simple and gradually increase in difficulty. When the going gets to rough, the game provides a helpful owl who will give you hints as to how to proceed. In addition, it appears that the game is structured such that Simon is never killed. All in all, I liked Simon the Sorceror a lot. Simon the Sorceror played just fine under Windows '95 by running the game under MS-DOS mode. I have only two gripes about the game: the aforementioned lack of a notepad/recorder to save conversations, and the difficulty sometime in finding objects on the screen. Unless your mouse pointer happens to pass over it just so, you might spend hours trying to find some necessary item. This can be exasperating at times (for example, in one screen you have to find a rock lying on the ground (along with several others) that has a password on it. The rock blends in so well with the background that it does not stick out and is hard to find. I might never have found it if it hadn't been for my wife, who was fortunate enough to find it by accident. Overall, though, I recommend Simon the Sorceror. It is entertaining and downright funny at times. Infocom c/o Activision, Inc. P.O.. Box 67713 Los Angeles, CA 90067 (310) 479-5644 CompuServe: GO ACTIVISION URL: http://www.activision.com Darn! Don't Forget! by Doug Reed Do you constantly forget important dates, such as anniversaries, birthdays, and meeting with the boss? Darn! Don't Forget is the perfect program for you, or for anybody who would like to keep track of important dates on their computer. Darn! is a reminder program which is available as shareware; the latest version upgrades Darn! to run under Windows 3.1. The full version of Darn! comes with a printed manual and two bonus utilities, Lookout! and the Emmasoft Screen Saver. Lookout! runs in the background and pops up to remind you when it is time for an appointment. The Emmasoft Screen Saver provides you with a new screen saver, Emma the soft Cat flying across the screen on her flying carpet. Both Darn! and Lookout! can be setup to run in the Windows startup group. Darn! can be set to pop up every time Windows is loaded or the first time that Windows is loaded every day. Adding new appointments, birthdays, and so on is very easy. The event can be personalized so that you know who, what, and where, as well as a phone number or address. You can even specify whether this is a one-time event or occurs annually, weekly, etc... It even comes with customized 'icons' that appear next to each item as it comes up. Darn! can be customized so that it will show you events that are occurring on the current day and show you what is coming up in the near future (the default is 21 days). Darn! also reminds you of holidays, including Mother's day. It can also suggest gift ideas for anniversaries! As an added bonus, Darn! also pops up each day with famous quotes. These can be copied or you can add your own personal quotes. Overall, I'd say that Darn! is a very useful program. I no longer have to keep and update an appointment book; Darn! keeps track of everything for me. Lookout! is also handy, making sure that I know about those appointments immediately before they occur. Darn! is very easy to use and bug-free. Windows '95 users will be happy to note that Darn! is fully compatible with Windows '95. If you'd like to try it, the shareware version can be found at the Emmasoft web site (http://www.exepc.com/~emmasoft) and can also be found through various shareware vendors, BBSs, and on-line services (look for DARNW40.ZIP). A registration key can be obtained from the company for $29.95 once you decide you want it (and I'm betting you will). I give Darn! my highest recommendation. EmmaSoft Software Company, Inc. P.O. Box 238 Lansing, NY 14882-0238 (607) 533-4685 CompuServe: GO IBMAPP URL: http://www.execpc.com/~emmasoft ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FISHER AUDIO/VIDEO UNVEILS INTERNET HOME PAGE WITH PRODUCTS, PRIZES, CD AND MOVIE REVIEWS AND MORE Sweepstakes Will Award 60-CD Shelf System and Popular CDs to Winners CHATSWORTH, CA _ Fisher Audio/Video enters the world of electronic marketing with the unveiling of its first Internet home page on the World Wide Web, located at Internet address http://www.audvidfisher.com. Designed to attract cyberspace surfers across the U.S., Fisher's home page offers an interactive combination of product information (with a dealer locator), sweepstakes, news releases, and a broad array of consumer entertainment presented with compact, quick-load, full-color graphics. "This is perhaps the most entertaining, consumer-friendly home page offered by a major consumer electronics manufacturer. We invite internet surfers everywhere to look over our products, enter to win great prizes, gather the latest entertainment news, and generally have fun _ all with very quick access," Corporate Communications Manager David Berkus said. Upon entry into the home page, the user is greeted by Fisher's 1995 menu of intuitive information buttons, including The World of Fisher Product, What's New With Fisher, The Fisher Monthly Sweepstakes, The Fisher Galaxy of Cool, and The Fisher Press Room. "The Fisher Galaxy of Cool" opens up the following home pag e entertainment options: Fisher Cut Bait: A nostalgic look back in time that lets you guess-that-trendsetting-year. CD Light: Quick reviews of today's most interesting CD releases, courtesy of CD Review magazine, plus other noteworthy music news. Focus on Film and Tape: Spills the beans on new movies in development, as well as new film and video releases. The Buzz Box: An irreverent overview of current happenings in the U.S. Fisher Backstage: News of note on the musical front, with information provided by EMG Worldwide, Inc. Under "The World of Fisher Product", new audio and video products are displayed with quick-load, 4-color photographs and feature descriptions framed in dimensional Netscape backgrounds. "What's New with Fisher" describes new product technology and the latest events sponsored by Fisher marketing. This month, the company spotlights its new anti-skip CD players, including the top model that features a 10-second memory buffer to keep music playing despite bumps and jolts. "The Fisher Monthly Sweepstakes" is now offering a Fisher DCS-5060 60-disc CD management shelf audio system ($699.95 SRP) to its grand prize winner, and 25 popular CDs to first prize winners, compliments of Mercury Records and RockThe Strip (on the Internet). To enter the sweepstakes, home page visitors simply answer a few marketing survey questions and provide their names and adresses. In "The Fisher Press Room", downloadable news releases and photographs are available that describe the company's newest products. Fisher plans to continue to update the information on its home page on at least a monthly basis, and will add completely new sections to keep visitors coming back for fresh audio/video entertainment information. Headquartered in Chatsworth, CA., Fisher Audio/Video markets a complete line of quality audio and video products. Sanyo Fisher (USA) Corporation is a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., a major worldwide electronics manufacturer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can find this as TRAILER1.ZIP on the following FTP site: WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/trailer1.zip Due to popular demand we now have a new FTP site. Some folks had no luck getting into Wash U.'s ftp site, so I have set up a weekly site on my provider. The only files that will remain on this FTP site are the week's current offerings. New and older files will always be on Wash U.'s site. For this week only, if there is an older file you wanted, but could never get from Wash U. send me an email message and I will put it up on the new site. You can find this as TRAILER1.ZIP on the following FTP site: FTP.CRL.COM:/users/su/supportu/trailer1.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jack Kilday is but a sysop. He is such a wonderful sysop that he has come to the forefront of PCBoard sysops. Jack is well known for his simple, basic approach to attaching PCBoard to the internet. For almost nothing Jack can show you how to do it. In fact, that's why we interviewed Jack. Not so much for his technical knowledge, but for his unselfishness of sharing it with everyone. Jack is a true sysop. PG: Many people in the world of PCBoard look up to you as a cutting edge sysop. Describe your PCBoard setup. Why did you move your BBS to the internet? JK: I had no idea that I'd fooled so many! "Cutting edge"? Not anywhere near that edge as a half-dozen or more that I could name. We've been providing e-mail and Usenet newsfeeds for over 6 years. I've always been interested in the long distance aspects of this communications medium. Maine is quite backward in this regard, crippled by the non-leadership of its University system, etc., and so when it started becoming feasible to offer interactive Internet connectivity to the public, as well, I just HAD to be the first BBS in Maine to do it. PG: No one can just "do computers" all the time. Do you hit the golf course? Play a little ping pong? What? JK: Boating is my second love. But the emphasis of late has been on developing our ISP (Internet Service Provider) sideline business. PG: How did you gain your knowledge of communications on the internet? Trial by fire? Did you make many mistakes? JK: Yes and YES(!). It was basically a learn-as-you-go, osmosis-like experience. There were some people along the way who were generous with their advice, but for the most part I had to dig out specifically needed knowlege myself. And I feel that I still have a long way to go . . . PG: Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are you in to? JK: New Age. Yanni, Manheim Steamroller, and other "elevator music" (says my teen-age daughter). PG: Where would you like to see the authors of PCBoard take the software product in the future? Better internet connectivity? Graphical front end? JK: I'd like to see David Terry make provisions for the transition to HTML. There is no need to build in Internet connectivity. If you've read any of my posts about using standard wide-area networking equipment to hook up BBSs to the net, you may have noted that I advocate against wasting BBS nodes for delivery of Internet services. Far better to use resellable hardware, and standard freely available software to deliver these services. Also, there is no need to consider porting the better BBSs from DOS to other operating systems. One major reason, dealing with Internet connectivity, is that I have high hopes for the DOSEMU project associated with the bigger Linux project on the Internet. The DOS emulation under Linux eventually will be adequate to support multiple nodes of DOS-based BBS packages. Such will answer all of the needs for multi-tasking AND provision of various Internet services to BBS callers. PG: Ok. Just like everyone asks a car reviewer or mechanic what kind of car they drive, what is the configuration and type of your primary PC? JK: On the DOS BBS side, we run a Gateway 2000 486/33 supporting 5 PCBoard nodes under DESQview. This is null-modem-conneted to our Linux box for transmission of e-mail and Usnet news. We deliver e-mail and Usenet news in Internet "standard format" to our BBS callers via a QWK-like system of door and reader called ZipNews. We also run a Linux box for shell accounts, e-mail, news, gopher, lynx, IRC chat, and access to other Internet services. Our terminal server delivers SLIP and PPP connectivity to dial-up and dedicated (permanently connected) customers. PG: Does your BBS support you? Do you do it full time? If not, what is your occupation? JK: Not by a long shot. It is a sideline that pays me very little other than covering its own expenses and the purchase of new equipment. I am in data processing, PC and LAN-based systems design at an insurance company. PG: Define the Information Superhighway in your own words. JK: A much overused term to describe just about any form of connectivty today. I don't feel that it is particularly meaningful, and should be replaced by something more specific wherever it is used. It's a lot like 'cyberspace'. PG: What is the best part of living in the city you live in? JK: The people and their work ethic, its summertime beauty, and its proximity to the ocean. PG: If the Presidential election were held tomorrow between President Clinton and Bob Dole who would you vote for and why? JK: Bob Dole (although I certainly hope a stronger/younger and more conservative Republican -- or Libertarian) could be found. Fat chance. --END ISSUE -- ** WE NEED A LISTSERV SITE, PLEASE HELP **