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Vol. 2, Issue 01 (c)1996 GKM Journals Jan. 1997
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This month's GrapeVine was acquired from segments of
information and articles published in selected computer and
electronics industry trade publications in addition to
several online sources. The information contained within is
comprised of some factual information, editorial comments,
and hearsay from the industry in general.
Each month, we will try to focus on items of interest related
to the computer/electronics industries as they become news-
worthy, and hopefully, the GrapeVine' will be both in-
formative and entertaining to our readers.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Topical Index:
- Topic 01 Medical x-ray sensors from Xerox replace film
- Topic 02 Intel getting into the encryption business
- Topic 03 Personal Communications Services did not take as planned
- Topic 04 New treaty may impede Internet growth
- Topic 05 DEC chip will challenge the Pentium domain
- Topic 06 Low-end videoconferencing from VIC and Lucent
- Topic 07 CompuServe will offer new service to PC makers
- Topic 08 Fingertip scanning for identification
- Topic 09 Flat Panel Display prices continue to fall
- Topic 10 56-Kbit/second modem protocol is catching on
- Topic 11 Sun Micro to enter deal with Taiwan
- Topic 12 Intel also contracts the Taiwanese for motherboard fab
- Topic 13 Bogus Pentium chips are confiscated
- Topic 14 PC makers win in HDTV war
- Topic 15 H-P encryption technology approved
- Topic 16 NEC goes to multiprocessing
- Topic 17 Toshiba... all your eggs in one basket
- Topic 18 Voxware offers low-cost teleconferencing
- Topic 19 AT&T can put the Internet in your pocket
- Topic 20 WinFax Pro 7.5 is more versatile
- Topic 21 Ricoh cameras are packed with multimedia features
- Topic 22 Low-cost voice E-mail from VocalTec
- Topic 23 Intel takes sides with Rambus DRAM
- Topic 24 U.S. enters a trade agreement... of sorts
- Topic 25 DEC has set its sights on the PC market
- Topic 26 SGS-Thomson & Microsoft team up on DVD platform
- Topic 27 Better than a fruit cake
- Topic 28 MS-Viper frightens off supporters
- Topic 29 Another Microsoft fumble
- Topic 30 MS-Internet Explorer for Windows 3.1 finally ready
- Topic 31 THE BOTTOM LINE... 1996 is behind us...
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Topic 1
/// MEDICAL X-RAY SENSORS REPLACE FILM ///
A subsidiary company of Xerox Corp., dpiX, last month took
the lid off of a new application of flat-panel display
technology.
An FPD medical x-ray sensor was introduced by dpiX that is
similar in design to those developed by Optical Imaging Systems
at Troy, Michigan (see Oct. 1996 GrapeVine) and others. The
new application of the technology gives the U.S. display makers
an apparent lead over their Japanese and Korean counterparts in
the medical field because the people offshore have concentrated
their efforts toward the notebook PC market, and had no desire
to enter the medical FPD field.
A high-resolution sensor panel measuring 8" x 10" is used in the
dpiX system. With its 3 million pixels, it is claimed to be of
much higher resolution than the FPDs used in notebook computer
applications.
Instead of relying on conventional x-ray film, the FPD sensor
sends a digital signal directly to a computer workstation to
give doctors an instant analysis of the situation. The digital
image can also be transmitted to other sites around the world
to facilitate consultation through videoconferencing.
Xerox/dpiX should start shipping evaluation systems early this
year, with full production scheduled for mid-1997.
Topic 2
/// INTEL JUMPED ONTO ENCRYPTION BAND WAGON///
Intel Corp. made its move into the encryption chip market last
month as it announced another partnership deal with Hewlett-
Packard Co. to co-develop some new PCMCIA PC cards.
The cards will be designed for international cryptographic use
in personal computers and workstations. The co-developed PC
cards are expected to meet President Clinton's encryption guide-
lines, according to Washington sources.
Topic 3
/// PCS GROWTH RATE NOT AS EXPECTED ///
What has been touted as an inexpensive handheld do-all
contraption that would handle voice, e-mail, faxing, and paging
chores, and also communicate on the Internet has taken form as
what the industry refers to as PCS (Personal Communications
Services) devices.
Since its inception several years ago, both the definition of
the device itself and the expected market growth have
drastically changed. The marketing and implementation of new
networks for PCS has taken place at a very slow rate, according
to some industry analysts... especially in the deployment of the
2-Gigahertz range broadband PCS.
A market development manager at Motorola's Semiconductor
Products Sector related that the U.S. has a long way to go until
the 1.9-GHz PCS networks are rampant enough for chip makers to
embark in mass production of the required semiconductors to
power the new devices and network equipment.
The dispute over which standard to use has also kept the U.S.
PCS business well behind the European market, which has done
its development under just one standard. In this country, we
are still disputing over whether the CDMA (cable division
multiple access) or several other standards should prevail.
New inroads however, are being forged that do offer some hope
that [digital] PCS will become more practical and cost-
effective. Motorola is now licensing its ReFlEX protocol
technology for instance, where a three-part chip set integrates
the radio- frequency, intermediate frequency, and DSP (digital
signal processor) functions in 2-way message handling.
Topic 4
/// TREATY MAY IMPEDE INTERNET GROWTH ///
An international copyright treaty has been proposed that could
significantly hinder the growth of Internet commerce, as
reported by the Electronic Buyers' News, Nov. 25 edition.
The report referenced a paper released by the Ad Hoc Copyright
Coalition, which represents a confederation of online and
Internet service providers. The coalition includes power
hitters, such as America Online, MCI, AT&T, Netscape, and the
U.S. Telephone Association.
The group argues that the treaty could lead to the imposition
of extremely heavy burdens on the people who build and manage
the Internet. According to the coalition, that would put the
further growth of the Internet at risk.
A group identified as the World Intellectual Property
Organization is taking the treaty into consideration at its
Diplomatic Conference, which began last month. The draft of
the treaty being considered could make it illegal to operate a
router or news server system that sends unauthorized or copy-
righted material online.
The report stated that the copyright holders want the treaty
to hold online service providers liable for any user infringe-
ments, or for just providing the technology that makes it
possible, even if the service providers have no knowledge of
an infringement. The coalition members maintain that their
job is only to facilitate the multi-million messages sent over
the Internet each day without having to examine and edit the
content.
If the treaty passes, the online and Internet service providers
could be forced to raise the prices of their services to such
an extreme that it would put Internet access costs above that
which the average user could afford.
Topic 5
/// DEC CHIP WILL CHALLENGE PENTIUMS ///
Some fast, new Alpha microprocessors from Digital Equipment
Corp. could give mighty Intel Corp. more than just a market
challenge in the Windows-based workstation realm.
According to sources, DEC predicts that its Alpha-based systems
will yield twice the performance of competing systems based on
Intel Corp.'s upcoming, highly rated Klamath chip. Reports
indicate that in the $2,600 price range, Intel-based systems
running at 233-MHz will have to contend with Alpha-based units
pushing a full 466-MHz on the clock.
If that isn't fast enough to capture the high-end market, DEC
also plans to deliver a 600-MHz Alpha chip within the next six
months. This chip is designed to compete against the Intel
Merced microprocessor, which may not ship until sometime in 1998,
according to some business analysts. And with the fabrication
agreement signed with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in Korea,
DEC will be assured more than enough volume production cap-
ability to meet expected market demands.
Topic 6
/// 486-CLASS VIDEOCONFERENCING ///
VIC Hi-Tech Corp. and Lucent Technologies recently announced
that they have designed a videoconferencing system that keeps
the 486 PC users in mind.
The VIC/Lucent system does not require a super Pentium-based
computer to render high-end videoconferencing... just an old
486 processor will do fine, according to a December 2 trade
report. VIC Global Phone 2.0 software and a Video Packer Pro
H.324 compliant add-on card, which uses the Lucent AVP (audio/
video processor) technology is all that is required to set up
a VIC system.
As explained by representatives from both companies, the AVP
processor liberates the PC's processor from the added task of
processing the videoconferencing information. The VIC system
will run full-motion video at 15 frames per second using POT
(plain old telephone) lines.
Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are ready to release a similar
low-end solution, which will render only 5 frames per second
in full-motion video.
Topic 7
/// COMPUSERVE WILL OFFER NEW SERVICE TO PC MAKERS ///
Under its new PLC (Private Label Community) program, Compu-
Serve Inc. will design special proprietary online networks for
PC manufacturers.
A press release from Columbus, Ohio last month, said that the
online service provider has responded to the price competition
from the telephone carriers, and had no choice but to attempt
to differentiate itself from the competition by initiating the
new program. According to a company spokesman, PLC will focus
on the business trade as much as possible.
Compuserve found it essential to come up with some fresh ideas
to overcome a poor 4th quarter report, which shows its stock
down 63 cents per share, at a loss of $58 million.
Topic 8
/// A PERSONAL TOUCH I.D. ///
The National Registry Inc. at St. Petersburg, Florida now offers
fingertip scanning technology at a price that most corporations
can afford.
Now a fingertip identification system can be installed for as
low as $500 per workstation, which is not bad when compared to
$2,500 for a comparable system just one year ago, as explained
by an NRI executive.
The company offers the fingertip scanning solution in two
versions. One offering is in the size and shape of a desk-
top PC mouse, and the other is a scanner built into a keyboard.
Both scanners are based on optical technology, and must be used
in combination with NRI software. The software is Windows
compatible. Pricing for the Keyboard scanner is set at $420,
while the mouse-like unit sells for $390.
The NRI scanner captures an image of a person's fingertip, then
gives the image an identifier number and stores it in a data-
base. That image [identifier number] is compared with the
other numbers stored in the database to verify whether there is
a correct match to certify the authorized user.
NRI officials said that their scanning solution is suitable for
safeguarding electronic business transactions such as the trans-
fer of funds or securities. Many other applications in the
banking, travel, health care, and the general corporate sector
are outlined by the company as suitable tasks for the NRI
scanners.
Topic 9
/// FPD PRICES CONTINUE TO FALL //////
The option to replace the conventional CRT color monitor with
a flat-panel display for the home desktop PC is slowly becoming
more practical.
Last month, I mentioned the 15" active-matrix color flat-panel
display monitor soon to be introduced by Sceptre Technologies
for a "ball park" figure of $3,500. Now I have found a company
called Portrait Displays Inc., which is promising to enter the
15" color AM-FPD market with a unit priced [below] $1,500.
Although this is still more than double the price of a good 15"
color CRT monitor, it is a major step in the right direction
toward the affordability of full-screen FPD technology for
the home PC user.
Topic 10
/// 56-Kbit/s PROTOCOL IS CATCHING ON ///
Four major PC makers pledged their support last month to the
56-Kbit per second modem protocol standard recently ushered in
by Rockwell Semiconductor Systems and Lucent Technologies.
The four PC manufacturers announcing their support were: AST
Computer Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Compaq Computer, and Toshiba
Inc.
The new 56-Kbit/s format uses standard telephone lines to de-
liver high-speed service to users of the Internet and other
online services. The technology will allow downloading of text
or video content at twice the speed of a 28.8-Kbit/s modem.
Topic 11
/// SUN TO ENTER DEAL WITH TAIWANESE COMPANY ///
An EBN (Electronic Buyers' News) report last month noted that
Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, Calif., plans to sign an
agreement with Mitac International Corp., Taiwan, amounting to
$1 billion.
Under the agreement, Mitac would build low-cost computer work-
stations based on the Sun Sparc microprocessor. If the deal
takes place, industry sources are questioning the reaction of
Compaq Computer Corp., which already has Mitac under contract
and in production of Compaq branded personal computers.
Topic 12
/// INTEL WILL ALSO LICENSE TAIWANESE FOR NPX BOARDS ///
Also outlined in EBN last month... Plans were announced by
Intel Corp. to license its new NPX motherboard technology to
some Taiwanese board manufacturers.
NPX is a new desktop board architecture specifically designed
for Intel's next-generation Pentium Pro series processor, code
named "Klamath." The new board will contain a special slot
where the Klamath module would be installed.
According to industry sources, Intel is rated as one of the
largest motherboard manufacturers, with production records
approaching nine billion units in 1995. This year's production
levels are expected to be about the same.
Topic 13
/// BOGUS PENTIUM CHIPS CONFISCATED ///
A press release from Washington disclosed that police in Asia
and Europe have captured two gangs of chip counterfeiters.
The gangs allegedly obtained lower-speed used Pentium chips or
removed the chips from stolen computers, and then re-labeled
them as 166-MHz Pentiums. The thugs then transported the bogus
chips in personal luggage or as courier shipments to their
European destinations.
One gang was nabbed in Europe last month as police from France,
Germany, Italy and Belgium closed in on one dozen suspects,
leaving another 12 suspects still at large. Approximately
2,000 chips were confiscated in the raid.
A similar situation in Singapore in November netted several
thousand bogus Pentium chips and the arrest of a gang of
suspects.
Topic 14
/// PC CAMP WINS HDTV WAR ///
The computer industry was the winner last month when the TV-set
manufacturers conceded their long held position to have the
Federal Communications Commission adopt a [single] HDTV (high-
definition television) standard.
The computer makers had argued against a proposed broadcasting
system where the video images would be transmitted in the inter-
laced scan format currently used in TV-sets. The non-interlaced
(progressive scan) format used in computer systems, as pointed
out by the PC makers, would offer better picture quality in
general, and eliminate the need for the PC manufacturers to
produce systems compatible to both platforms.
The FCC is expected to approve last month's agreement, and would
allow TV broadcasters to transmit digital video in either
format.
Topic 15
/// H-P ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY APPROVED ///
An online report from New York recounted that Hewlett-Packard
Co. has received government approval of its new encryption
technology for transmitting secure Internet-based business
transactions.
The International Cryptography Framework (ICF) as unveiled by
H-P, is part of the company's "Praesidium" enterprise security
solution. ICF includes what H-P calls a flexible host system,
flexible policy activation tokens, a secure cryptographic unit,
and a secure network server.
Under the ICF platform, the user is permitted to select levels
of encryption algorithms and security levels according to their
requirements and government regulations.
According to industry sources, H-P's ICF is the only strong
encryption technology that is export-approved by the U.S.
government. The platform is also supported by the French and
British governments.
The online report also indicated that Intel Corp. has announced
plans to build cryptographic hardware that will include the ICF
framework.
Topic 16
/// NEC GOES MULTI ///
NEC Computer Systems (division of Packard Bell) will be offering
a multiprocessing server computer to the small-to-medium bus-
iness market.
The multiprocessing architecture involves the use of two or
more microprocessors within one computer. NEC's new system,
named ProServa V Plus, will employ two Intel Pentium processors
of either 120-MHz or 200-MHz depending on choice of options.
Memory options for the V Plus are: 16-Mbytes and 32-Mbytes and
is expandable up to 256-Mbytes. The customer can also choose
between either a 1- or 2-Gigabyte hard drive. There is plenty
of room for expansion in all departments within the system's
eight drive bays, and plenty of power available from its 300-
watt power supply. V Plus prices start at $1,984 for a single-
processor model based on the 120-MHz Pentium.
Topic 17
/// TOSHIBA CAN PUT ALL YOUR EGGS INTO ONE BASKET ///
Toshiba America Information Systems introduced a new line of
PCs at the Comdex show that embrace many of the converging
technologies, such as telephony, video, and audio. Although
there are many other [multimedia] systems on the market, Toshiba
has taken the technology to new heights, and has added remote
control to the equation.
The Toshiba high-end Pentium Infinia 7200 PCs give high-quality
stereo sound for television and FM radio reproduction through a
16-bit sound card, and also performs as a full-featured tele-
phone system. An 8x-CD-ROM drive and 3-D video acceleration
card with 2-Mbytes of video memory enhances the graphics quite
well.
For the telephony chores, the Infinia includes a 28.8-Kbit/s
modem that can be upgraded to 33.6-Kbits/s and DSVD (Digital
Simultaneous Voice and Data) capability. The MS-Windows 95
operating system is installed as well as a large collection of
other beneficial software. The 7200 comes with 32-Mbytes of
memory, which can be expanded to 128-Mbytes.
Inputs for an FM radio and TV antenna or cable connection are
provided on the Infinia. An optional "InTouch" remote control
module can control play-back and volume of the CD-ROM drive,
television, radio, and telephone answering system without any
interruption of the work-screen.
With a 200-MHz Pentium processor and a 3-Gigabit hard drive,
the 7200 carries a price tag of $2,799. The InTouch remote
module and remote control will add another $198 to the selling
price. The recommended 17" color monitor sells for $749.
Topic 18
/// VOXWARE SYSTEM FOR INTERNET TELECONFERENCING ///
A company called Voxware Inc. has developed a low-cost software
solution for Internet telephone and teleconferencing operations.
In November, Voxware began shipping its TeleVox 2.0 Internet
telephone software. Voxware officials said that TeleVox is a
low-budget long-distance/multi-party alternative that uses a
voice compression/decompression code that allows high-quality
speech at low data rates of just under 3,000-bits/sec.
The small-business and general consumer will welcome the low
price of $30 for the Televox software as compared to the greater
complexity and much higher prices of alternative systems. Added
features include a worldwide directory, which lists other users
currently running TeleVox. A TeleVox user can initiate a call
to another user on the list simply by selecting a name from the
directory.
Topic 19
/// AT&T PUTS THE NET IN YOUR POCKET ///
AT&T will soon be marketing its "PocketNet Phone," which looks
much like a conventional cellular phone except for the addition
of a small display screen.
The $500 phone uses CDPD (cellular digital packet data) to
retrieve information from the Internet and corporate wireless
networks. Financial reports, price lists, e-mail, order and
delivery status, and just about anything else that can be down-
loaded from a server can be acquired by the PocketNet. An AT&T
spokesperson said that the new device can even be used to obtain
lottery results.
Topic 20
/// WinFax PRO 7.5 IS MORE VERSATILE ///
Symantec Corp.'s new version of WinFax Pro gives new life to
the old PC fax option.
Version 7.5 of the popular communications software just became
more versatile with the addition of Internet fax capabilities.
An enhancement called "TalkWorks" allows any PC with a voice-
capable fax modem to record and store voice messages. The
messages can be sent via ordinary phone lines or over the Inter-
net. When the Internet mode of transmission is selected, the
data is compressed and encrypted before sending it to a Net-
Centric POPware server for routing.
Topic 21
/// RICOH CAMERAS ARE PACKED WITH MULTIMEDIA ///
It's not often that a camera advertisement in a magazine
catches my eye, but I just had to pass on to our readers what I
read about the Ricoh RDC-1 and RDC-2 digital cameras.
Both cameras provide high-resolution at 768 x 576 and feature
color LCD monitors. Both units also have audio features and
the ability to edit text, sound, and graphics... then play them
through a TV-set, PC monitor, or VCR. But the RDC-1 has the
added media capability to handle full-motion video.
The RDC-1 can store up to 24-Mbytes of information on its plug-
in PCMCIA cards, which can interface with either Windows-based
machines or the Apple Macintosh operating system.
Further inquiries are welcome at Ricoh's home page at [http://
www.ricohcpg.com].
Topic 22
/// LOW-COST VOICE E-MAIL ///
A low-cost solution for the transmission of voice e-mail over
the Internet has been developed by a company called VocalTec.
The application package includes the required software and a
microphone, and is called "Internet Voice Mail 3.0." With this
$29 package, you can create fully integrated multimedia e-mail
messages containing text, voice, and attached files. You can
also save, track, forward, and reply to messages as you would
normally do.
The system is compatible with Windows, Windows 95, and NT. If
the person you are sending e-mail to does not have Internet
Voice Mail 3.0, you can send a voice mail "player" so he or she
can play your voice messages.
Topic 23
/// INTEL SIDES WITH RAMBUS ///
Intel Corp. last month un-officially announced its support for
the Rambus DRAM interface technology. The company however,
said that an "overhaul" of the architecture may be necessary
before it can be used in PC applications.
Intel has been working closely with Rambus to expand the present
8-bit bus interface of memory devices to increase the sustained
bandwidth and boost clock speeds needed to meet compatibility
requirements of modern-day microprocessors.
Other advances in memory devices such as SDRAM (Synchronous
Dynamic RAM) are also questionable, according to Intel, because
of timing variances, which make them incompatible with Intel
chip sets. Some of the DRAM vendors however, voiced their
concern over Intel's growing jurisdiction in the DRAM market
through the leveraging of small companies such as Rambus. Other
vendors say they plan to run samples of Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) by
1998. Intel will then provide chip sets with links to RDRAMs
and re-design its motherboards to conform to the architecture.
Rambus Inc, based in Mountain View, California, was expected
also to disclose details about its next-generation DRAM (Dynamic
RAM) architecture, called nDRAM.
Topic 24
/// TRADE AGREEMENT OF SORTS ///
A press release from Washington last month stated that an
agreement was reached in Singapore during the first ministerial
meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which calls for
an end to all tariffs applied to microchips, computers, and
telecommunications equipment by the year 2000.
After four days of deliberation, the U.S., Canada, the European
Union, and Japan signed the agreement, but the U.S. came away
disappointed that the European Union refused to move the date
up to 1997 as we had insisted upon. The report indicated that
the U.S. and the European Union will continue to arbitrate on
the issue.
Topic 25
/// DEC HAS SET ITS SIGHTS ON THE PC MARKET ///
A report from San Mateo, California, said that Digital Equipment
Corp. has cut its prices on the Alpha microprocessor as part of
a strategy to thrust the chip into the personal computer market.
Alpha 21164 prices will be trimmed by 40 to 50 percent, which
translates to a reduction from $1,472 down to $750 for the 433-
MHz version and from $695 down to $395 for the 300-MHz Alpha
chip.
A 500-MHz speedster soon will be introduced by DEC that will
carry a $1,450 price tag.
Topic 26
/// SGS-THOMSON & MICROSOFT TEAM UP ON DVD PLATFORM ///
SGS-Thomson Microelectronics and Microsoft Corp. teamed up last
month to combine their firmware and software expertise to come
up with a platform standard to bring DVD (digital versatile
disks) to the PC domain.
The ST DVD from Thomson will merge technologies from both
companies, including Thomson's single-chip DVD decoder and
Microsoft's "ActiveMovie 2.0" to play MPEG-2 formatted video
and games without diminishing the general performance of the
PC system or its network, if connected.
The ST MPEG-2 decoder also allows the PC user to access and
view digital satellite TV transmissions, which according to
officials from both companies, will be available by the second
half of this year.
Topic 27
/// MUCH BETTER THAN A FRUITCAKE ///
Anyone who has either received a paltry annual Christmas bonus
from their employer or has been passed over due to hard times,
may develop a slight case of envy toward the employees of
Kingston Technologies when you read this.
The Fountain Valley, California company divided up a Christmas
reserve amounting to more than $40 million. When distributed
among its 523 employees, the average bonus check was in the
neighborhood of $75,000.
Kingston is one of the leading suppliers of computer and
industrial memory devices. You can fax your resumes to:
Kingston Technology Company
714-435-2699
Topic 28
/// MS-VIPER FRIGHTENS OFF SUPPORTERS ///
When Microsoft Corp. unveiled its "Viper" Transaction Server
last month, the company did not expect it to frighten away its
intended supporters. However, that seems to be the case as
some vendors and analysts deemed the product as too immature to
be productive in building enterprise network applications and
that it does not seem to be compatible with anything other than
the Windows NT environment.
In fact, Oracle Corp. stated flat out that it has no plans to
support Viper because it appears to be too highly proprietary.
An Oracle spokesman said that his company has no intention of
supporting OLE (object linking & embedding) transactions, which
is a major element in the construction of applications that use
Transaction Server.
The first release of Viper will only support Microsoft's own
database (SQL Server) and IBM's DB2 on the back end. For the
front end, Microsoft says that its own version of Java performs
best.
Topic 29
/// ANOTHER MICROSOFT FUMBLE ///
One trade report noted last month that Microsoft Corp. pulled
an add-on product for Internet Explorer called "News Viewer"
from its Web site. The product is no longer available for
download because it too closely resembles an application from
PointCast Technology Inc., which recently signed a technology
agreement with Microsoft.
Both applications are designed to download online information
to PC users.
Topic 30
/// INTERNET EXPLORER FOR WINDOWS 3.1 ///
With 60 million people still using Windows 3.1, Microsoft Corp.
finally released a version of Internet Explorer 3.0 for the
older, but very popular operating system.
According to a summary from Redmond, Washington, IE 3.0 for
Windows 3.1 was built from scratch and has special enhancements
for the earlier computers that use the 3.1 architecture.
The software can run on a lowly 386 PC with as little as 4-Mb
of memory, which according to an MS spokesman, represents about
90 percent of the Windows 3.1 users.
Topic 31
/// THE BOTTOM LINE ///
/////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
1996 is now behind us. I have a feeling that for many of us
it's a year that we are glad to see expire.
No one can deny that the news headlines this past year were
particularly depressing as we read or heard on television and
the radio of the Value Jet tragedy and the TWA Flight 800
disaster. The loss of life alone is agonizing enough, but even
more grief has been put upon the families and friends of the
crash victims of Flight 800 because of the mystery surrounding
the circumstances that may have caused the explosion.
Out of compassion for those relatives and friends, and for the
sake of future passengers, I pray that the cause will soon be
identified so that whatever remedy is required to prevent a
similar disaster can be put into place. If the problem is of a
mechanical nature, it may not be that difficult to fix. If
however, we are dealing with political terrorism, a moral
degenerate, or psychopath, we may be in for more chaotic events
of this nature before we can stop them. And if you look at the
crime statistics and the types of crimes being committed within
our society, we seem to get a picture of a generation that has
either gone mad, or has totally lost its compassion and
conscience. For that, I'm not sure we have the remedy. We
could do with better mentors and role models for our youth.
Some of our sports heros show very poor behavior, both on and
off the field. And the politicians... both of the major parties
need to do some house cleaning if we are to look there for
moral leadership.
Have we gone too soft on crime? Have we lost our ability to
talk through situations without resorting to violence? Are
there enough of us who know right from wrong and are willing to
stand up and be counted? I hope so. And that my friends is
the ONE good thing we have to go on as we leave 1996 and enter
into 1997... HOPE!
Gary Miller