RAndY s RumOR RaG May 1993 SPECIAL SOCIO-POLITICAL EDITION INTOLERANCE & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS In the March issue of the RaG, I did a short piece which has attracted considerable attention on the East Coast (or so I'm told). Here is the section in question: RED HOT & PUBLISH Quark is offering a software package called Red Hot & Publish, the proceeds of which will go to support AIDS research. I hesitate to talk politics here, but I feel compelled to speak out. I've seen similar promotions in the photography business too. While I have sympathy for those afflicted with AIDS, you must remember that it is a disease promoted through deviant behavior.Don't drag out the .0001% who get it through a tainted blood transfusion - this disease is directly related to behavior. This country is already spending ten times more money on AIDS research than on cancer research. I avoid these promotions as I avoid the behavior which spreads the disease. OK,, that's what was said. I recently got a long distance phone call from someone who was very agitated at my use of the word "deviant". I explained that the RaG is a benevolent dictatorship and the opinions expressed in the RaG were mine. If he did not agree with them, he was free to publish a rebuttal. I noted that the last time I checked this was still America (spelled with a "c") and we were all entitled to our own opinions. The caller felt that religion did not belong in a software publication. I asked where anything was said about religion. He concluded by telling me he would have me kicked off GEnie and America Online. The next day, I got a call from Jeff Green (publisher of ModemNews). Apparently he had been getting numerous calls from gay activist groups and circulation of his fine publication was in jeopardy. I was amazed. Jeff suggested that I give him some sort of statement to try to defuse the situation, so here's what I sent him: It has come to my attention that my remarks concerning AIDS have created a furor in the gay community. Perhaps my use of the word deviant appeared strong, but checking my Microsoft Bookshelf dictionary reveals the definition differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of society . No reference was made in my article to homosexuality or religious beliefs. As I understand it, AIDS is spread through two major methods: promiscuous sex and intravenous drug use. Neither of these types of behavior should be considered normal. The liberal, leftist activists that are so prevalent today preach tolerance of others except when it comes to the politically incorrect. Well, as I prepare to publish this issue, I have gotten no mail one way or the other on either pay service concerning the offending issue of the RaG. I have received no communication from those in control at either pay service concerning this issue. I have gotten no more angry phone calls either. A recent article in the newspaper told of the results of a study on sexual practices - and the result was that homosexuals were only 1% of the population. It's amazing the amount of political clout such a small group carries. The recent demostration by the homosexual community in Washington DC was possibly the most revolting spectacle I've ever seen. And I resent attempts by the mainstream media (and Hollywood types) to portray homosexuality as normal and socially acceptable behavior. I believe our country has lost its sense of moral values, leading to the further decay of our society. --------------- NEWS IN YER FACE Media Vision recently purchased 40% of Advanced Gravis, makers of sound boards and joysticks. Industry insiders expect to see the relationship between Logitech and Media Vision to grow much closer in the future. (By the way, Media Vision no longer manufactures 8- bit sound cards.) --------------- WordPerfect Office 4 is in the second round of beta testing. The program takes up 21 disks and features new electronic mail, calendaring, and scheduling support for up to 1,000 users. It is claimed to run up to 20% faster than the previous beta release. Expect to see it shipped later this quarter. --------------- Microsoft will ship Access 1.1 in mid-May. There will be a nominal fee. --------------- Borland recently sent a disk-based survey to beta testers. When you hit F2 to save your responses to a disk file, you get the equivalent of a three-fingered salute. --------------- Every six weeks I get a catalog on disk from one of my major vendors of software and hardware. While browsing the listing of new products, I came across a CD called "Scary Poems for Rotten Kids". Sounds interesting. --------------- Windows NT will be incompatible with DOS 6's DoubleSpace and other compression software. --------------- Version 4 of CorelDraw! may hit the streets as early as May and Version 3 will continue to be sold at $199. The new CorelDraw! will feature multiple page layout, desktop publishing features, color separation, optical character recognition, direct scanning, and animation. You'll also get 750 fonts and 17,000 clipart images. --------------- A couple more features of WordPerfect 6 for DOS are becoming known. QuickFinder from the Windows version will be part of the package. The WordPerfect Coach is an on-line tutor which will guide the user through a task with step-by-step instructions. --------------- NEW DOS 6 OPPORTUNITIES One might think that with the bundled utilities included in the DOS 6 package, some third party developers might be concerned about their utility packages. Addstor is adding a new product called DoubleTools which will enhance Microsoft's DoubleSpace and add extra utilities for disk compression. Quarterdeck is upgrading QEMM-386 to offer better memory optimization than DOS 6's MemMaker. Qualitas is finishing up 386Max Version 7. The new version will have features aimed specifically at Windows users including a Multi-Boot Maximizer which lets you maximize multiple boot configurations. It will have compressed drive support and include a RAM diagnostic program called the Qualitas Memory Tester (and uses a graphical user interface). WinSmart determines High DOS space and what is available for use. Stac Electronics is planning Stacker 3.1 within 30-60 days of the release of DOS 6. The upgrade will bind more tightly with DOS 6 because of hooks that would normally link the operating system to DoubleSpace. --------------- RECYCLED DISKS A guy by the name of David Beschen has started a company in Redmond, Washington called GreenDisk. GreenDisk breaks down all the software package materials into paper, plastic, and floppies. The company will degauss and reformat disks as blank media and label them with a GreenDisk sticker. The GreenDisk labeled product will be sold at about 10% below new blank media costs. Don't start sending all your old disks in yet, he's only accepting disks from publishers where the disk has only been written to once. Precautions are taken for virus prevention. Thus far, CompuTeach and AutoDesk have provided him with about 20,000 disks from obsolete inventory. It is estimated that only 30% of obsolete inventory is recycled. --------------- LOVE YA BABY - LOVE YA BABY A company named interACTIVE is marketing a device called SoundXchange. This thing looks like a telephone which attaches to the side of your monitor. You can use it like a speaker phone or pick up the handset to record and play sound files. There's a volume control on the front panel and a jack for an optional headset. The unit connects to an existing sound card or you can get a proprietary card if you don't already have sound capabilities. Included software is a program for DOS that provides voice and text for network communications. There's also a multimedia mail package which provides voice, text, graphics, and pictures for network communications. Recording and playback are limited to 8-bit samples. You can only record at up to 11,025 Hz and playback up to 44,100 Hz. Compression is proprietary. The Model A is for those who already have a sound card and retails for $149, the Model B comes with a card (actually a thing that plugs into the parallel port) and retails for $289. --------------- FRISBEE CD Now that I have incurred the wrath of the gay activists, what's to lose? While perusing one of my photographic journals, I saw mention of a Photo Interactive CD due out soon (by Philips Interactive Media) called "The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe". It will be compatible with CD-I and Photo CD machines. The disk will show "how Mapplethorpe used the camera to instill monumental dignity and graceful simplicity to the complex shapes and brilliant colors of floral sprays and blossoms. Photographers can experience Mapplethorpe's unique artistic visions via various interactive pathways." WOW - place my order now! Here is an artist to be admired. No, I have not seen these images. I did see most of the ones in the exhibit which was so controversial a couple of years ago. I only hope is that these images are better than the ones for which he is better known. The images I saw of his more famous exhibit, besides being devoid of artistic merit, were not even well done from a technical standpoint. The politically correct will fall all over themselves to endorse such a champion of their causes, expecting the government to finance such projects. I think this CD could probably be best used as a frisbee. --------------- NEW STUFF I've recently had the opportunity to have some hands-on time with some new hardware and software. Finally I've been able get my hands on the NEC CDR-84. This is the hot CD-ROM player with MultiSpin. The disk spins at twice the speed for data, doubling the data transfer rate. While I still wouldn't want to execute programs from a CD, the NEC definitely speeds things up. The odd sounding whisper of the CD working is a little different from what I'm used to, but you barely hear it when it's working. I find the flip-down door to be a nuisance - someone somewhere should come up with a better way to put caddies into a CD. These drives are expensive, but the doubled transfer rate is welcome. I want one. --------------- All of the 486 machines I've sold up until now have been 33's. I recently sold a 486-50 and there's certainly a difference. We decided to put one of those little fans on top of the CPU to help with cooling. The combination of the 486-50 and the Diamond Stealth VRAM S3 card really makes Windows snap. I was impressed. --------------- PC Tools for Windows is out and they'll probably sell a bunch of them. If you like Norton Desktop, this looks like about the same thing. I don't like all that crap on the screen and fortunately they provide an Uninstall option that gets rid of all the changes it made when it installed. I can do without all this junk cluttering up my screen. DEL *.* --------------- Microsoft has finally gotten their multimedia encyclopedia out the door - Encarta. If you liked Bookshelf, you'll love Encarta. You've got the 29 volume set of Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia on disk along with tons of digitized images, digitized and MIDI music and speech, animation, and AVI digitized video files. There's so much here that you'll spend hours looking at all of it, listening to the music, watching the full motion video, etc. I strongly suggest running it on a 486 (the fastest the better) and a CD-ROM that supports high transfer rates and/or access times. The above mentioned NEC drive should do nicely or one of the other double-spin drives. The Timeline feature is especially unique. A scrolling time line with plotted events in time lets you examine events and civilizations of the past, easily searching for whatever time period or event you wish. My only complaint is that it puts forth evolution as the means by which mankind was placed on earth. (I don't buy the theory of evolution.) Encarta is one classy product. --------------- The new Microsoft Mouse is now available. They've spent $10 million on R&D, the first in-house mouse work done at Microsoft. The first thing you'll see different is the shape of the mouse. Since ergonomics is such a big thing these days, they've designed it so that it fits comfortably in either hand. The software lets you customize the mouse's operation quite extensively. The new DOS driver automatically loads into upper memory. You can select which button is the primary button. You can have a large, medium, or small Windows mouse cursor as well as have the arrow black, white, or transparent. Four new options are quite interesting. Locate will have the mouse cursor always appear in the middle of the screen when starting applications (so you don't have to hunt for it). Snap-to will always position the cursor at whatever button is the default in a dialog box. Screen-wrap will let the cursor wrap to the opposite side of the screen when it hits the edge (instead of stopping). Magnify works in combination with a keyboard key and opens up a small box around the cursor under which everything is magnified. --------------- PC PC's I'm seeing more articles in the magazines about ecologically and environmentally safe computers. I see stories lamenting that trees have to die to make our paper and that we're wasting electricity by leaving our computers on all the time. For example, Hewlett-Packard ships their products in brown boxes marked "For a better environment, this container was not bleached white. All packing materials were manufactured with out CFCs". How special! Enough with the political correctness already! People are making unsubstantiated claims which have no basis in fact. We are not destroying the planet and I doubt that we're even capable of it. I live in the middle of spotted owl country. I have seen businesses and people struggling to live on a day to day basis. And it's all because some hippie throwbacks are trying to impose their brand of socialism on us. We are being made to think that mankind has messed up everything - and the only solution is government control. This isn't about owls or log exports. This is a battle over private ownership of land and it's an attack on capitalism. I am not now, have never been, and never will be politically correct. --------------- MORE NEWS IN YER FACE Ingram Micro, a major distributor of hardware and software, is planning to distribute multiple applications on an encrypted CD. A customer will get the CD after making a software purchase. You'll then be able to sample the 100-200 programs on the CD. If you wish to purchase a program, you'll call a special number, give them your credit card number, and you'll receive the necessary codes which will unlock the software. Both Mac and PC products are planned. --------------- AMD has started shipping 33MHz, 40MHz, and a 25/50MHz 486DX clones and expects to ship 500,000 this year. Look for a 3.3 volt this about mid-summer. --------------- IBM is ready to rollout OS/2 2.1 on May 18th. Price is uncertain at this point. --------------- Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy said at the recent Dataquest conference that if he were Clinton for five seconds, he would ban any further purchase of DOS and DOS-derived products by the Feds. He considers them to be "non-open". --------------- We're still seeing a backorder situation with DOS 6 (expected to be resolved by the end of May). Microsoft claims that they sold more DOS 6 during the first week than it did DOS 5 during the first 30 days. Said Richard Freedman, MS-DOS project manager for Microsoft, "the projections weren't worth the paper they were written on". ================================= DISCLAIMER RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various local BBS's, GEnie, and America Online as well as in Modem News. In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a DTK 386-33 with 16 megs of memory, Cyrix Fasmath co-processor, ATI VGA Wonder+ card (1 MB), 105 MB Toshiba IDE hard drive, Teac 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA display, Microsoft mouse, WordPerfect for Windows and transmitted through a US Robotics HST Dual Standard modem. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Comments should be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie, America Online, phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good. AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES 605 W. Wishkah Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031 (206) 533-6647 GEnie Address: RAG America Online: RumOR RaG