6/17/95 CompuNotes Issue #13 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. This Week's Contents: ===================== NEWS ==== -=> Microsoft Victorious in Licensing Case <=- -=> Founder of Ingram Micro Dies <=- -=> Cyberia Expands <=- REVIEWS ======= -=> InterMail and InterEcho by Jacci Howard Bear <=- -=> Harvard Montage by Judy Litt <=- WEB SITE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> Texaco on the Web <=- FTP FILE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> DARN! For Windows by Emmasoft <=- INTERVIEW ========= 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 This issue was brought to you by Readables, the publishing house that understands you! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Do You Have Any Dinosaurs Laying Around? | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |"Great, we just upgraded . . "What? You can only give me $50 for| | to 486s and now we / `. .' \ my 8088 computer? Are you kidding?| | have all these .---. < > < > .---. I paid $3000 for this 7 | | old 286s sitting| \ \ - ~ ~ - / / | years ago!" | | around . . ." ~-..-~ ~-..-~ | | \~~~\.' `./~~~/ "Hmmm, my company is | | .-~~^-. \__/ \__/ giving away old | | .' O \ / / \ \ 386SX machines. 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All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> Microsoft Victorious in Licensing Case <=- By O. Casey Corr, Michele M. Flores and Greg Heberlein, The Seattle Times Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (1ST WRITETHRU, adding detail throughout) SEATTLE--Jun. 16--In a huge victory for Microsoft, a federal appeals court on Friday ended a five-year battle over the company's software- licensing practices. The three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., ordered approval of the company's negotiated settlement with the Justice Department. The court also took the dramatic step of removing federal District Judge Stanley Sporkin from the case, finding he had overstepped his authority in ruling against the settlement in February. Sporkin had angered both Justice and Microsoft by suggesting that the narrow settlement had ignored wide- ranging allegations against the company. The appeals-court ruling reversed Sporkin's Valentine's Day decision rejecting the agreement Microsoft and the government crafted to resolve antitrust charges. After a four-year federal probe into charges that Microsoft illegally used its corporate muscle to harm competition, the agreement was limited to ending a handful of restrictions Microsoft had placed on computer manufacturers who bought the company's DOS and Windows software. Microsoft at the time said the restrictions were minor. Friday, the court accepted Microsoft's charge that Sporkin was biased against the company and said the case should be assigned to another district judge, who was ordered to approve the settlement. Microsoft officials said they were pleased with the decision and that the company got everything it wanted. "The software industry enjoys increasing competition, lower prices and rapid innovation," said William H. Neukom, Microsoft's senior vice president for law and corporate affairs. "This will continue to be the case so long as the market - the consumer - is allowed to make the decisions. It is regrettable that some of our competitors have sought to use the government process rather than the market to compete." Attorney General Janet Reno hailed the opinion: "It confirms our own understanding of the appropriate roles of the courts and the Department of Justice in the enforcement of the antitrust laws." Stock analyst Rick Owens with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland said the decision resolves some uncertainty in Microsoft's favor. "I think most people thought it would ultimately go this way," Owens said. "This obviously confirms, and removes the uncertainty." After four months of haggling with government and company lawyers, Sporkin raised pointed questions about other allegations against Microsoft, saying the agreement didn't go far enough to protect competitors from unfair business practices. When he rejected the agreement, Sporkin also said it did nothing to make up for money and market share Microsoft had gained from the challenged practices. The Justice Department and Microsoft both appealed, saying that Sporkin exceeded his authority under a federal law that requires a judge to review government antitrust settlements. Under the law, they argued, a judge's only role is to decide whether the settlement adequately addresses the charges brought by prosecutors. By questioning the scope of the government's allegations, they said, Sporkin usurped the role of a prosecutor. One group that had opposed the consent decree said it was disappointed but viewed other Microsoft antitrust issues as more important. The company on May 20 backed out of its proposed acquisition of Intuit Inc. rather than fight a federal challenge to the merger. Justice is now reviewing Microsoft's plans to include access to a new online service, Microsoft Network, in its new operating software, Windows 95. "I actually always thought this (the Justice Department case) was the forum in which to be heard and make our statement, but the real victories were to be won in the other issues," said Ed Black, chairman of the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Black's group had joined a small band of Microsoft competitors in Silicon Valley in fighting the consent decree. Both parties played key roles in getting Sporkin to scrutinize the agreement. Because of that, Black said, the public became more aware of Microsoft's dominance. That, in turn, led to the recent scuttling of Microsoft's plans for Intuit Inc. as well an ongoing Justice review of Microsoft's online service. During oral arguments on April 24, members of the appeals court seemed sympathetic to the central legal arguments proposed by Microsoft and the Justice Department. Harry T. Edwards, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, told lawyers for competing companies that Sporkin seemed to think he had almost unlimited power to dig into the Justice Department's reasons for bringing a case. "Our case law does not suggest the district-court judge has the authority to second-guess the Justice Department," Edwards said. "It's absolutely clear that the district court thinks he has the ability to (examine) matters not charged" by the government. The other two judges, Laurence H. Silberman and James L. Buckley, both expressed concern that the government would be hamstrung in out-of-court negotiations of antitrust cases if a federal judge had wide-ranging jurisdiction or set an unreasonably high standard for assessing the penalties in a settlement. The appeals court agreed to hear the case on a legal fast track, because of Justice Department concerns that Sporkin's decision would hamper its ability to seal deals that would settle antitrust cases without years of courtroom battle. -=> Founder of Ingram Micro Dies <=- By Elisa Williams, The Orange County Register, Calif. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jun. 16--Billionaire industrialist E. Bronson Ingram, whose company built Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro into the world's largest computer-products distributor, died Thursday of cancer. He was 63. Family members were with him when he died at his home in Nashville, Tenn. Physicians had detected the cancer in December. Ingram turned a family oil and barge business into one of the nation's largest privately held companies, which is estimated to have earned $150 million last year on $6.1 billion in revenue. Its computer-products distribution business, Ingram Micro, reported $5.8 billion in sales during 1994 and has said it expects to exceed $8 billion in sales this year. Ingram, who was chairman and chief executive, owned 80 percent of the company; company executives and employees' 401-k funds own the rest. In addition to distributing computer parts, software, books and videocassettes, Ingram Industries is involved in barge transportation, insurance, and the manufacture of oil and gas industrial equipment. Before his death, Ingram had named Ingram Micro co-chairman and chief executive Linwood A. "Chip" Lacy Jr. president of Ingram Industries. As planned, Lacy will continue to lead the company, a spokesman said. Lacy was not available for comment Thursday. Listed by Forbes magazine last October as Tennessee's only billionaire, with estimated holdings of $1.3 billion, Ingram was president of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust. He also served on the Weyerhauser Co.'s executive committee, was a director of NationsBank Corp. and was a national board chairman of Inroads Inc. -=> Cyberia Expands <=- York, PA -- June 12, 1995 -- Cyberia Communications, Inc. announced today the grand opening of their Internet Services Division. The Company will begin offering flat rate Internet connections, consulting, training, and World Wide Web development and distribution services. For the flat rate of $29.95 per month callers can utilize any of the vast resources of the Internet without worrying about additional hourly charges. New customers can get up and running on the Internet quickly by registering with a credit card, and the company is working on developing a program to allow Instant registration from their Bulletin Board System. Cyberia Communications has built their name in the Industry by making on-line services as simple as possible for their customers. Using a similar approach when implementing their Internet services, Cyberia offers training seminars and an easy to install Internet software package to greatly reduced the time and troubles usually encountered in setting up Internet accounts. "We are very excited about helping local business build a presence on the Internet and market their products and services globally." says Adam Viener, Cyberia's President. "One of our first projects will be to implement a Web Page for the York Chamber of Commerce, which will include a listing of local chamber companies and will contain hot links to those companies with Web pages of their own." "Along with the Introduction of our Internet services we have launched our World Wide Web Home Page (http://www.cyberia.com) which will help organize the vast resources of the Web for our customers." said Sara Viener. "Another option on our page will allow callers anywhere in the world to click on a button and telnet directly into our existing BBS without incurring any long distance phone charges." Cyberia Communications, Inc., based in York, PA, is the area's fastest-growing provider of on-line services. Founded in 1993, The Company specializes in making the on-line world as easy as possible for all users. Cyberia has two separate on-line services. The bulletin board offers more than 5,000 callers a wide variety of services, including electronic mail, global messaging, multiuser games, software, computing support, interactive magazines and newspapers, and real-time chat lounges. Cyberia's Internet division provides flat rate Internet connections, consulting, training, and World Wide Web development and distribution services. Customers can call 717-848-1439 for more information ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ InterMail 2.2 and InterEcho Review by Jacci Howard Bear Unless you are a BBS Sysop or Network Administrator, "mail handling" may not be a software category you are even aware exists. If, however, you are in the market for some easy to use, but powerful and flexible workhorses to handle incoming and outgoing mail calls, mail packing, and tossing of mail to your BBS, then InterMail Software, Inc. has a team of products well worth considering. Even without a BBS, you can use InterMail to exchange files and messages, such as between your work and home computers or as part of a company email communications network. If your BBS software of choice happens to be the newest versions of Wildcat! from Mustang Software (like me), you will be even more pleased to hear that the InterMail/InterEcho team handles the unique needs of the Wildcat! formatted messages with ease and without complicated workarounds or kludges. INTERMAIL--the front-end mailer Although it can be used as a standalone electronic mail system, it is also widely used as a "front-end mailer" by BBS Sysops. My use of the program is in that capacity. As a front-end mailer, the job of InterMail is to intercept an incoming call to the modem, route it to the BBS or receive incoming mail from a remote computer, and make outgoing calls to deliver files and messages. To use InterMail with a full BBS setup requires the creation and maintenance of a number of batch files; however, the setup and overall operation of the program is completely menu-driven. In addition to handling incoming and outgoing calls, InterMail also includes simple word processing (editor) functions, a nodelist manager (a type of phone book for computer networks), message folders, and a simple Terminal Emulator (for interactive communications rather than the automated calls that the Mailer makes). While the purpose of the mailer is fairly straight-forward--send and receive messages and files--the variety of options, including security measures, controls for when mail is sent or received, and interaction with other programs, makes it a complicated piece of software. By "complicated" I don't mean to imply that InterMail is hard to setup and use, only that there are many features and options to explore and that it is a highly complex program. The Editor Used to write new messages or reply to received messages, the editor contains basic word processing functions. Message attributes such as CRASH (high priority), or KILL (delete the message after it is sent) can be assigned to messages you write. The editor also allows you to print, copy to file, copy text from other files, and attach files to the message. Some of the message management functions include the ability to purge messages based on their age, name of sender, etc. The Message Folders Messages are stored in folders, divided by subject or person or some other criteria. If used in conjunction with a BBS then the message folders will usually correspond to the various netmail and echomail areas found on the BBS. The Message Folder setup in InterEcho replaces the Message Folder setup in InterMail if you use both programs together. The Terminal Emulator InterMail's terminal program is not needed to run a mail system. It is included as an added bonus to make it easier for the system operator to call up other BBS's (as a user) or online databases, without leaving the InterMail program. Features include ALT-key commands for functions such as dial, upload, and download; user-definable macros; split screen chat mode; internal phone directory. Numbers can also be dialed using node numbers if a nodelist is present. The Nodelist Manager A nodelist is a network phone directory consisting of node numbers (addresses), telephone numbers, and additional information about a system. Without a nodelist InterMail will not start, therefore, a compiled nodelist is included with the setup files. The Nodelist Manager utility program allows you to edit the nodelist, import and export lists, compile the nodelist (create the index files needed by the mailer), edit the routing file and edit the control table (information about cost of calls and how to dial international numbers, etc.). The Nodelist Manager is menu-driven or it can be run from batch files to compile lists automatically. New Sysops or System Administrators will find an excellent description and examples of nodelists and related batch files in the InterMail manual. The Mailer The heart of InterMail is the mailer. As long as your computer is running and the modem is functioning, the mailer works automatically and unattended. How and when the mailer does its work of routing mail is determined by the Events and Routing Instructions setup during program configuration. The InterMail manual gives both an overview and in-depth instructions in all portions of the Mailer. The Events, which define when mail is to be delivered or received and for how long, are created and managed by the IMSetup program. The Routing instructions, which work with the Events to determine which groups of messages are delivered during specific events, are created and edited with the Nodelist Manager. The many options of the Event Manager and the Nodelist Manager allow for precise control of all mailer actions. This controls allows the system administrator great flexibility in creating a mail system that saves both time and money. Even though the mailer works unattended, there may be times when you want or need to change the schedule or perform specific functions without changing the configuration of the mailer. The main menu of InterMail gives you access to those functions, such as immediate calls to send or retrieve mail, and putting outbound mail on hold. From the main menu you can access the editor, the nodelist manager, and the terminal program. Also from the main menu you can view inbound and outbound histories, view or change the mail queue (mail waiting to go out), lock the local keyboard, view a summary of recent activity such as number of incoming and outgoing calls, number and size of files transferred, and the number of human (or BBS) callers. The mailer can be configured to run external tasks as events by setting them up with the Event Manager in IMSetup or by assigning tasks to function keys (F1, F2, Shift-F3, etc.) that can be activated from the main mailer menu at any time. Typical external events include system backups, virus scans, offline mail readers, or most any kind of interactive or automated program or file. In this way, the mailer can be configured to perform a variety of tasks automatically or as needed, in addition to its primary mail handling duties. (Actually, the mailer doesn't perform those tasks itself, but through the use of batch files and events, it allows the execution of those jobs. Because my own setup is a single line, DOS system I couldn't test it; however, InterMail includes multi-line support for multiple modem and phone lines when run with OS/2, Windows 3, DesqView, or a Local Area Network. Through the use of semaphore files, InterMail can transmit files while InterEcho is processing mail, without the disaster of file collisions (both programs trying to access the same files at the same time). Its internal serial driver provides greater support for high speed modems, and it supports speech software for blind users. InterMail also includes many levels of password protection to protect you from unauthorized access both at your local terminal and from outside callers. INTERECHO--the echomail tosser Mostly invisible to all but the sysop, the "echomail tosser" is essential to the smooth operation of any BBS that exchanges FidoNet compatible echomail and netmail with other Bulletin Board Systems. While it is the front-end mailer that actually moves the mail from one computer to another, it is the job of the tosser to unpack inbound mail packets, give (toss) the messages to the BBS software (in a format that it understands), take messages entered by BBS callers and pack them up to be mailed to other systems in the network. The ideal echomail tosser works well with a variety of front-end mailers and a variety of BBS software packages and message formats. InterEcho is one of those ideal programs. Although it will work with most available front-end mailers, it is especially compatible with InterMail and the two share many of the same setup files. It directly supports Wildcat! 4.0, Wildcat! 3.5-3.91, PCBoard 15.0, and common message base formats such as JAM, *.msg, and Hudson. The menu-driven IESetup program eliminates the need for manual creation of configuration files. IESetup lets you easily define your links (other BBS' with whom you exchange mail), paths to all important BBS and mail-related files, screen colors, log file options, and more. With IESetup you edit and add new links. The options you set tell InterEcho how to handle incoming and outgoing echomail and netmail. Security options include an areafix password, packet password, area groups (allowing your links access to only selected groups of echomail areas), and "sysop access" for links allowed to perform selected maintenance remotely. Some of the most important features of InterEcho are found in the Message Folders manager within IESetup. Message folder is simply the InterEcho name for an echo or conference or board or *.msg directory--depending on the type of messages your BBS software supports. Perhaps one of the nicest options--especially during initial installation--is the built-in import function for message folders. It allows you to quickly import configuration information from your existing PCBoard or Wildcat! area definition files or from common echomail area lists such as FIDONET.NA or AREAS.BBS. For a BBS with more than a dozen message folders, this feature saves hours of typing. As a part of the import function, or when creating new folders manually, there is a folder template that can be edited and used to eliminate repetitive typing of common items such as origin lines and folder types. InterEcho supports over 16,000 message areas. If you use that many message areas, the import and template features become extremely important. For the experienced BBS operator, setup and operation of both InterMail and InterEcho should pose no difficulties. Even the new sysop will find either program simple to setup. The one addition to either manual that might be especially useful to any user is a checklist of steps and options and a trouble shooting guide. For instance, from my own experience, a checklist would have helped me quickly identify the reason messages in a newly added message area were not being packed and sent out--I forgot to set the Links when I created the message folder. Or, a troubleshooting guide may have pointed me toward the log files for InterEcho when disk space kept disappearing. I was creating new log files every day showing every action that InterEcho performed--I needed a reminder that the log creation and contents can be controlled with the IESetup program. Alas, even software as full-featured as InterMail and InterEcho can't make up for operator error. But when given the right instructions, both programs do their job with little or no intervention. As a Sysop, I recommend either program and highly recommend the use of the InterMail/InterEcho combination. For beginning BBS operators, the manuals alone are invaluable tools for understanding the purpose of front-end mailers, echomail tossers, nodelists, and events--all critical to BBS/Network operations. I commend InterMail Software, Inc. for creating such thorough manuals for their products. Demo versions of both products are available from the InterMail BBS or by file request of the magic file names IMDEMO and IEDEMO. These are fully functioning, time-limited versions of the programs. Software/Hardware Requirements: IBM PC, XT, AT (286), 386, PS/1, PS/2 or compatible (IBM AT (286) or higher for InterEcho; 386 recommended); DOS Version 3.1 or higher; 256K available RAM (640K RAM with 400K available for InterEcho); Hard disk with 1 megabyte free for InterMail files; Hard disk with 2 megabytes free for InterEcho files (Message bases & inbound/outbound mail will require much more); Hayes-compatible modem InterMail Software, Inc. 10620 Washington Street #101 Hollywood, FL 33025-3552 Voice: 1-305-436-1587 Fax: 1-305-436-5587 BBS: 1-305-436-1884 FidoNet: 1:369/102 CompuServe: None URL: None Harvard Montage Review by Judy Litt According to Software Publishing Corp., "Harvard Montage helps users spend less time trying to find a file, and more time where it counts most - adding impact to their presentations and documents." With Harvard Montage, you can easily catalog, view, and search all your clipart files, including clip art, images, photos, sound clips, and video clips. Installing the program was quite easy, down to the online registration. There are even offers for free trials of America Online, Windows Magazine, and Home PC - all offered online, during your registration. Harvard Montage comes with a companion, pre-cataloged cd-rom which includes: 2000+ clipart images, photos, and textured backgrounds; a variety of templates in Harvard Graphics, PowerPoint, and Freelance Graphic Formats. The focus of Harvard Montage is clearly presentations - this is made clear when you take a look at what is on the cd-rom. The clips are from some very reputable dealers, such as ArtBeats and Photodisc. However, all of the photos, textures, and backgrounds are at a resolution suitable for presentations/multimedia - 72 dpi. The Program When you first open the program, there are already two sample albums on the desktop. Below the menu bar is the search ribbon, which makes searching your albums easy and convenient. On the right side of the screen is the toolbox, which includes the shelf. Albums you are not currently using are stored on the shelf. You can easily add your most used programs to the toolbox. Once added, those programs can be started with a click of the mouse. Harvard Montage also supports drag and drop - you can dra g a thumbnai l from your album onto either the viewer or any other program in the toolbox, and that program will open up with that image file. Creating catalogs is quite easy, but can be rather time-consuming. It took roughly forty-five minutes to catalog 457 clipart images, and the resultant file was 465 KB. You cannot assign keywords as the images are cataloged. After the cataloging process is finished, you can go back and assign keywords, as well as a subject and description (if you're cataloging presentations, these are extracted from the files themselves). The path, file size, size of image, date created, and format are inserted automatically. You can create a keyword list for each album, and save this list to a text file. The same keyword list can be loaded into another album. Viewing Harvard Montage has a very cool viewing feature: autoscroll. You choose this feature, set a time (in seconds), and then the whole album will scroll, pausing for the amount of time you set, until you have viewed the entire album. The only editing you can do in the viewer is cropping the picture, or copy it to the clipboard for insertion into another program. I found one thing about the viewer mildly annoying: when you open it, Harvard Montage minimizes itself. Where's that file? The search engine included in Harvard Montage is very powerful. You can easily search by keyword, subject, description, file name, file size, date, media, volume label, and query. Queries support the Boolean operators. The location of thumbnails within a file is easily changed by dragging and dropping. Albums can be sorted by: name, file, type, file size, date, media type, subject, description, etc. Printing If you would like to print your albums, you have several options. You can print out thumbnails at several different sizes. You can choose to print only the thumbnails you have selected. You can also choose what information you would like to have printed along with the thumbnails: keywords, file attributes, subjects, and descriptions. What seems to be missing is the ability to customize the actual layout of your printouts. While you can add headers and footers, and change the size of the thumbnails, you can't specify that you want, say, twenty thumbnails on one page. Conclusion I generally only buy clipart on cd-rom. I can't see bothering with something on floppies. Most clipart collections on cd are already pre-cataloged. Also, it takes a great deal of time to add keywords to all that clipart - not to mention the space the albums occupy on your hard drive. On the other hand, where Harvard Montage really shines is cataloging your presentations - it will automatically insert keywords taken from the presentations themselves. Street Price: $99.00 System Requirements: DOS 3.1 or higher Widows 3.1 or higher 4 MB RAM (8 MB recommended) 11 MB hard disk space Software Publishing Corporation 3165 Kifer Road P.O. Box 54983 Santa Clara, CA 95056-0983 (408) 986-8000 CompuServe: GO SPCSOFTWARE URL: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> Texaco on the Web <=- HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1995--Cruising on the Internet doesn't require gasoline or motor oil, but Texaco has opened a station for its lubricants products and services with the establishment of the Texaco Lubricants Company (TLC) home page on the Internet Worldwide Web. Through the TLC home page at the Internet address: http://www.texaco.com/tlc, customers can be connected with information about the company's complete line of lubricant products and services. Information on special programs such as the Texaco/Havoline-sponsored motorsports teams also will be available, and the interactive program also offers a one stop information source for answers to lubrication related questions. One unique feature of the TLC home page is the Xpress Lube locator. Clicking on the Xpress Lube locator flashes a United States map onto the computer screen. The user chooses a state, and a list of Texaco oil change facilities in that state appears. In addition to this interactive locator, the TLC home page will hold the users attention by displaying color photos of Texaco/Havoline-sponsored Indy Car and NASCAR race cars and product photos of the company's newest entry into the antifreeze market: Texaco Long Life AntiFreeze/Coolant. "From Fire Chief and Milton Berle to Havoline Formula3 and Mario Andretti, Texaco has long been known for its expertise in reaching the marketplace with the right message at the right time. The newest tool for any savvy marketer is the Internet and we are pleased to be one of the pioneering energy companies to reach customers through this global computer network," said S. Shariq Yosufzai, President of Texaco Lubricants Company. At the home page, both consumers and industrial customers have easy access to information about TLC. Users can choose from a menu of items which includes: customer service, the Xpress Lube locator, automotive products, agricultural products, commercial and industrial lubricants products, racing information, coolant products, Havoline Formula3, and Texaco Fluid Management, a lubrication maintenance system. Whether the question is which type of gear oil is used in a backhoe or what grade of motor oil is used in a car engine, the answer is available through the TLC home page on the Internet. Yosufzai continued, "Texaco Lubricants Company is marketing products on a global scale and a home page on the Internet will allow us to reach customers worldwide. Other benefits afforded to TLC from this innovative technology will be the ability to rapidly deploy marketing campaigns, conduct cost effective market research and collect customer input, as well as improve customer service." In addition to TLC information, a Texaco Inc. home page also has been established at http://www.Texaco.com. for access to Texaco's 1994 Annual Report; current press releases; informati n on the Texaco- sponsored Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts; and customer and shareholder services information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DARN! Don't Forget! Events Reminder -- Be popular in your family or office when you always remember birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, and other events! DARN! pops up every day, and gives you plenty of warning so you can purchase cards or presents, plan parties, or prepare for meetings. ASP shareware from EmmaSoft Software Co, Inc. Address: EmmaSoft Software Company, Inc PO BOX 238 LANSING, NY 14882-0238 Phone: (607) 533-4685 FAX: (607) 533-3524 BBS Name: EmmaSoft BBS BBS Phone: (607) 533-7072 AmOnLine: EmmaSoft CompuServe: 71333,1577 Internet: 71333.1577@compuserve.com Other E-mail: http://www/execpc.com/~emmasoft You can find this as DARNW40.ZIP on the following FTP site: WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/darnw40.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Telix is one of the older terminal programs available on the market. Once only known to hobbyists, it has burst onto the commercial software scene with strong sales of its Windows version. Jeff Woods has been Mr. Telix for as long as I have noticed. In addition to his Mr. Telix hat, he is also a person with a strong vision of the telecommunication marketplace and how it relates to real people. Enjoy the interview! *** NEW FEATURE *** We have decided to print the email addresses of our interviewees so you can ask additional follow-up questions, etc.! PG: You have been a long time Telix supporter. How did the situation where you could buy Telix come about? What kind of financing did you need to secure? JW: For the entire time I worked for Colin Sampaleanu at Exis, Inc., I was the sole employee. I did everything but write the program (and toward the end, I did that, too, for Telix for Windows). For the amount of sales we had and the number of customers we had, I knew that we needed to expand, but Colin was (and is) a programmer at heart and not a business person. I'm a fifth-generation entrepreneur, and only a half-hearted programmer, so it was really a match made in heaven. Wehn Exis decided that we would not exhibit nor attend the first BBSCON in Denver in 1992, I went on my own, during my vacation time. I paid for my own trip, lodging, and attendance. When I came back, I left a carefully written report on Colin's desk for him to read over Labor Day weekend, about what I'd seen and what I felt he needed to do to compete. When he came back from his vacation to Europe, he read the report, and the crucial line which was to the effect that if he didn't adopt the Windows platform, hire more staff, and grow the company, that he may as well close up shop. I was QUITE surprised when he decided to do exactly that, claiming he'd worked on Telix for six years, and was ready to move on to something else. While he felt he'd done as much as he wanted to with Telix, I felt it had much more life left in it, and I wasn't ready to call it quits. I don't really feel the need to discuss the financing of the buyout, other than to say that it would be a fair statement that both parties came out ahead and got what they wanted in the agreement. PG: Telix is a great product, but what else deltaComm do to generate revenue? JW: I don't want to tip our hand too greatly, but there are an awful lot of modems out there that don't get used due to fear of cyberspace. Its estimated that eighty percent of modems are "shelf-ware" and we're working on a concept to bring these people online. PG: No one can just "do computers" all the time. Do you hit the golf course? Play a little ping pong? What? JW: I'm an avid whitewater rafter, taking four or five trips each season on the big waters of the Upper Gauley (WV), the Upper Yough (MD), and the Russell Fork (VA/KY) to name a few of my recent trips. I also like to travel, and am a "concert junkie", seeing numerous shows in many different cities. I saw maybe 40 concerts in 1994, in places ranging from my hometown of Raleigh (Eagles, Pink Floyd) to Las Vegas, Atlanta (Elton John and Billy Joel), Washington, DC, and as far away as London, England for my favorite band, Marillion. PG: Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are you in to? JW: Looks like I got a little ahead of you there. The music I listen to has been described by some as "neo-progressive". The artists range from those you'd recognize, like pre-Collins' Genesis, Yes, ELP, and Tori Amos, to those you probably wouldn't, like Marillion, Iluvatar, Castanarc, Pendragon, Il Trono Dei Ricordi, and the new sound out of San Francisco, Enchant. PG: How did you get involved with PCs? What about your first modem? JW: I sincerely hope he's reading this, because I've never really told this story in print. I was a TRS-80 person, one of the original owners of the Model 1 in 1977. It had a 300 bps acoustic coupler, and I wrote my own BBS program for it in 1983, without really knowing what I was doing. It was crash-prone, interpretted BASIC, but it worked. My first IBM-clone was a Tandy laptop with an internal 1200 bps modem. I was living in San Diego at the time, and was just starting to discover the online world when a sysop there named John Dwulet, who ran San Diego PCBoard, cut me up hard on an echo when he claimed something to the effect of "I couldn't tell a UART from a CPU to save my life", which was most likely true at the time. I felt the guy was arrogant and full of hate after I heard that he'd come into the Radio Shack where I worked at the time, to check out who I was and such, without telling me who I was. He pretended to be interested in a computer, and grilled me pretty hard, and later related the incident on his BBS putting me in a very bad light. I then decided that I was going to learn as much as I could about this subject, so that this couldn't happen again. I guess it worked, as the last time I looked at a San Diego BBS list, his board was down, and I was now the author and owner of Telix. I don't know what ever became of John, but he was the catalyst, and probably never knew it. 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? JW: Its likely to change shortly. Right now its a 486-66 with 16 MB of RAM, a Diamond Viper VLB, and a Creative Labs Discovery Multimedia pack (4x CD, Sound Blaster 16). The modems are a PPI v.34 and a USR Courier v.32bis Dual Standard, and the hard drive is 340 MB. I'm about to upgrade for the first time in a long time, to a Pentium 120, 32 MB of RAM, and an STB Powergraph 64 video card, but the rest will stay the same. PG: Define the Information Superhighway in your own words. JW: Its really too broad to define in just a few sentences, and it means many different things to many different people. I think its probably misnamed by the trade press as a "superhighway". I see it more as the next logical extension of the telephone system. Almost every home in America and perhaps the world is interconnected by what the telcos rightly call their "networks", and the interface to that is the telephone. The so-called "Information Superhighway" is the interconnecting of the computers of the world so that they can share information in much the same way, only faster and electronically. I don't think the idea has really taken its final form, nor will we see its true benefits until it is as pervasive as the telephone is today, perhaps in about 10-20 years. PG: Why did you choose PCBoard as BBS software? What are the pitfalls you see with it? What are the benefits? JW: I started with PCBoard when I was student sysop at Arizona State University. That was the BBS they had in place, and as part of my drive to learn, I volunteered to run their PCBoard BBS, which was languishing unattended. That was PCBoard 11.0, serial number below 100, one of the first purchased commercially. I'll leave a direct comparison of the BBS products to their respective authors, as I'm really not an unbiased person when it comes to most of their author-companies. PG: What's your favorite joke? JW: It's called the smushed dead frog on a leash, and it's unprintable in this article. Ask me privately sometime. PG: If the Presidential election were held tomorrow and President Clinton was running against Senator Dole, which would you vote for and why? JW: Patrick, trust me, you don't want to get me started here on politics. You'll never shut me up (ask any of my employees). Lets just leave it with the notion that I named my dog "Dittohead" shall we? ;-) You can contact Jeff at jeff@delta.com --- End another glorious issue . . . ---