//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Vol. 3, Issue 08 (c)1996 GKM Journals Aug. 1998 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Fujitsu General America Inc. is building the second generation
of its Plasmavision 42 high-resolution 42-inch plasma display.
Unveiled in January, the new Plasmavision flat-panel display
renders a contrast ratio of 400-to-1, which is a significant
improvement over the previous version's 70-to-1 limitation.
As would be expected with a screen this large, and a price tag
of $10,999, the Plasmavision 42 is targeted at the business and
high-end home theater TV market.
The 67 pound display measures about 6-in. thick, 3-ft. wide,
and 20-in. high. Maximum resolution under ideal conditions is
832 x 480 pixels. Power consumption is a hefty 350 watts.
Mounting of the model 42 can be accomplished by hanging it
from the ceiling or mounting it on a wall using an optional
flush mounting kit.
Test engineers say that the new big screen device produces
brilliant color and offers smooth motion of the video image.
Compaq Computer Corp. appears to be taking the lead in the
move toward acceptance of the Device Bay interface platform.
The Houston-based company plans to start shipping desktop PCs
next year equipped with Device Bay modules, with some notebooks
fitted with DB modules slated to ship in the year 2000.
On the drawing board one year ago, the Device Bay architecture
was parented by Compaq, Intel Corp., and Microsoft Corp. with
the goal of interfacing a variety of peripherals such as hard
drives, modems, audio devices, and smart card readers in a
manner that allows them to be swapped between various brands
and models of personal computers with a minimum of setup or
installation hassle.
A small module, measuring less than one-inch square, could be
used in either a notebook or desktop PC to transfer data from
the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and IEEE 1394 interface.
The USB itself, allows connection of multiple devices to just
one port through a hub in a similar manner as workstations are
linked through a network. The Device Bay will further enhance
the interface capability of the USB.
Soon there will be four CPUs to choose from in the Celeron
line from Intel Corp.
By late summer, Intel will release two more "Mendoceno" Celeron-
class chips rated at 300-MHz and 333-MHz-- both having 128-Kb
of Level 2 cache. The company will continue to produce Celeron
CPUs in 266-MHz and 300-MHz versions without the L2 cache.
The release date and price structure of the Mendoceno chips
have not yet been released by Intel
.
IBM, Gateway, Toshiba, and Dell have all issued warnings to
their users that some of their newest laptop computers should
not be upgraded to Microsoft Windows 98... not just yet!
Patches will be required to ensure compatibility with hardware
drivers and the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) used in the new
laptop computers. Dell officials said that their Latitude
series machines are upgradable to W98, but it is not
recommended.
Toshiba says that any of their laptops with ACPI (advanced
configuration power interface), which include recent models
such as: 100CT, 305CDS, 310C, 320CT, 320C, 330C, 490CDT,
490XCDT, 550CDT, 750CDT, 750CDM/DVD, and 780CDM/DVD,
should not be upgraded to Windows 98 until an ACPI patch is
available.
IBM plans to announce a patch for its new ThinkPad series to
deal with the ACPI problem. Gateway's Solo 9100 series laptops
should not be upgraded to W98 until the BIOS has been flash
upgraded, according to company executives.
IBM PC owners having problems can check off their symptoms over
the Internet through IBM's new Web site.
The new Web site is a result of more than a year of data gather-
ing between a team from IBM's Help Center and a few dozen PC
and communications experts. Designed to reduce the volume of
customer support calls, the new site provides precise answers
to IBM resellers and end users alike through its gigantic data-
base of solutions.
IBM envisions that its resellers will receive benefit even from
the consumer version of the "Knowledge Base" system, and more
so from the greatly detailed reseller version now in the making.
The reseller version of Knowledge Base will include part numbers
and information geared toward the more technically-proficient
user.
In addition to some BIOS incompatibility problems when upgrading
to Microsoft's Windows 98 operating system on the newer notebook
computers, one industry source has noted some additional
glitches related to W98 upgrades in desktops.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and other desktop manufacturers have been
posting advisories and warnings on their Web sites to their
customers about bugs that affect CD-ROM performance and Internet
access. HP engineers are working on BIOS (Basic Input/Output
System) upgrades for all their models affected, according to
HP sources.
The NEC Computer Systems Division of Packard Bell NEC Inc. has
been receiving sporadic reports of W98 problems from customers,
but an NEC spokesperson said that the problems are being handled
on a case-by-case basis.
Many PC users and resellers remember the countless patches and
fixes that had to be downloaded to correct bugs in Windows 95
over the past few years, now it appears the situation may even
be worse in the case of Windows 98. This time around, much of
the burden is being placed on the PC manufacturer to come up
with their own fixes.
Insiders are saying that the chances of the debut of Windows NT
5.0 happening this year are mighty slim.
Microsoft officials, last month, acknowledged that they missed
the beta 2 version 1998 target date altogether. Only a pre-
beta 2 version of the enhanced operating system will be made
available to some 2,000 "select" beta testers this year, but
the total number of users allowed to test drive the beta is
expected to grow to approximately 100,000.
With Microsoft's top executives going on record as stating they
are "betting the company" on NT 5.0, things must be getting a
little stressful at the Redmond, Wash. facility. An additional
cloud hanging over the scheduled release of NT 5.0 is the
addition of an unscheduled "third" beta of the software that
must also be thoroughly tested before Microsoft can even think
about releasing the finished product.
In an anticipated move into the corporate enterprise market,
Intel Corp. introduced its Xeon line of processors last month.
Well suited for enterprise servers and graphics workstations,
the Xeon line will include processors and their companion chip-
sets. The new chips are intended to bridge the gap between
the Pentium Pro server workhorses and the upcoming 64-bit
Merced chip.
The first Xeon series processors off the line will be of the
400-MHz variety-- one with 512-Kbytes of Level 2 cache, and
the other one toteing a full 1-Mbyte of L2 cache. The chip-
sets provide support for more than 4-Gigabyte of server RAM.
Wholesale volume prices right now show $1,124 for the 512-Kb
cache version and $2,836 for the 1-Mb cache processor in lots
of 1,000.
The newest browser product from Netscape Communications Corp.
has been enhanced with features that add a degree of smarts to
its software, and will link its users more closely with the
company's Web site.
A beta version of Communicator 4.5 should be out this month,
and the final version has been slated for release by the end
of this year, as disclosed by company officials last month. At
the end of the year, Netscape will also bring out a beta release
of Communicator 5.0.
Among the intelligent features of version 4.5 will be the "smart
browsing" search engine that adds search capability at the URL
(Uniform Resource Locator). For example; if the user don't
know the exact address of a site, the browser will try to
determine the link in question. If the key word entered by the
user is too vague, Communicator's Smart Browsing will then
jump over to Excite's search page. A "What's Related" icon
enables a drop down list of sites related to the current site
a user is surfing.
Through the mail client called Netscape Messenger, both E-mail
and Newsgroup information can be displayed on a single screen
in an attempt to simplify how a user might view and move data
from one area to another.
PalmPilot users will want to take advantage of Communicator
4.5's feature that allows users to take along data from their
workplace when they are on the road.
The PC industry giants, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
continued their thrust toward the PC '99 industry standard
with the release of PC'99 version 1.0.
Officials at both companies expect final design guidelines for
PCs shipped by the fourth quarter of next year will comply with
their PC'99 blueprint. The guidelines specify that next year's
PCs incorporate a 300-MHz or faster Intel-compatible processor
with at least 128 Kbytes of Level 2 cache. The PC'99 platform
also requires that processors designed for PC workstations are
to run at a minimum of 400-MHz.
A feature called OnNow, that allows PCs to operate instantly
from sleep mode, which eliminates the need to turn off and then
reboot the system between uses, is also required for next year's
PC systems under PC'99 specifications. The minimum amount of
memory installed in an "office" machine will be 32-Mb of RAM,
while a home PC could pass muster with as little as 16-Mb.
ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) slots will have to fall by
the wayside as the transition to the PCI (Peripheral Computer
Interconnect) local bus is completed. PCs that meet all
the document's requirements by July 1, 1999, will receive
a "Designed for Microsoft Windows" certification, and a
corresponding logo on the outside of the box.
Except for printers, all other peripheral devices must inter-
face with either USB (Universal Serial Bus) or IEEE 1394
connections next year, according to the master plan formed
by Intel and Microsoft. There are also indications that the
CD-ROM drive will be supplanted by the DVD-ROM system as a
storage device, and that video cards will be required to handle
3-D graphics to bring the PC industry up to the PC'99
specifications.
The PC '99 guide can be found at both Microsoft's and Intel's
Web sites (www.microsoft.com/hwdev) and (developer.intel.com/
design/desguide).
Through the cooperation of a software vendor and local law-
enforcement in Anaheim, Calif., Microsoft Corp. was able to
nab a man suspected of selling pirated copies of Windows 98
last month.
An anonymous tip back in April was given to the police that the
suspect, Donald Goldberg, was selling software through ads in a
local newspaper where used items for sale by individuals are
listed. According to the police, Goldberg was contacted through
his beeper, and then called his customers from a pay phone.
Evidently, Goldberg was selling pirated copies of software from
other manufacturers in addition to Windows 98, according to
news sources. And there could have been no doubt from his
"customers" that the software was faked because Goldberg did
not even try to re-package his merchandise. The CD-ROM disks
were delivered with handwritten labels and stacked on a pole
with no dust jackets or sleeves, according to the authorities.
The police shut down the operation after under-cover agents
purchased a total of 850 copies of pirated software at $10 per
copy.
TellSoft Technologies, Colorado Springs, Colo., has developed
"iTalk Server," which supports near-real time conversion of
analog voice messages from the circuit-switched phone network
into streaming, compressed RealAudio files. Now it will be
possible to add a recorded voice message to a website seconds
after the words are spoken.
The TellSoft technology is reliable enough to be listed as a
primary partner in RealNetworks' Web list of G2 development-
environment beta users, as noted by one prominent online news
source. Based on its iCT (ice tea) architecture, TellSoft
engineered iTalk so that it can be adapted to a variety of
multimedia data types and codec hardware-circuit algorithms,
and a variety of embedded messages.
A user dialing in to an iTalk site can navigate quite easily
through simple push-button commands that are similar to voice
mail systems. The news source reported that Audio messages
converted into compressed files are promptly available for
playback, either from a website or from a dial-in phone system.
TellSoft is working with RealNetworks and several other
companies to have its iTalk logo recognized as an audio-enabled
hyperlink.
The company will be pricing application bundles at $2,995 for
servers supporting two voice lines, and $4,995 for four-line
systems.
A real skirmish has developed between Microsoft Corp. and
RealNetworks as the two computer notables fire accusations at
each other over who is shipping faulty software.
RealNetwork's CEO, Rob Glaser told a Senate Judiciary Committee
that Microsoft's software disabled his streaming-media
technology. One spokesman for RealNetworks said that other
streaming video vendors are complaining of the same thing.
Microsoft officials say that the bugs are in the beta version
of RealNetwork's G2 system and then only when Netscape Navigator
is running.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month,
Glaser showed the senators a demonstration of his company's
latest streaming-media technology, the G2 system. When
Microsoft's Windows Media Player was running during the
demonstration, the G2 system would not function.
According to Microsoft, its Media Player was designed to
automatically take over when a user tried to play RealNetworks
content designed for the RealPlayer 4.0 or earlier versions. A
company spokesman further related that Media Player takes over
on Netscape because RealNetworks did not write the correct code
so that Media Player would know that a G2 Player was present.
Although Microsoft and RealNetworks have a partnership deal to
write multimedia code, it was not confirmed last month whether
the agreement between the two companies specifically called for
Microsoft to write Media Player with "hooks" that made it the
default player for earlier RealNetworks content.
The arrival of the hack-proof PC may be just around the corner,
according to some analysts.
Some major PC movers and shakers such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
Intel, Microsoft, and Compaq are joining forces to create a
security standard designed to protect data on individual PCs
and the Internet and the electronic transactions taking place
on the Internet.
The confederation will take on the task of creating a set of
APIs (Application Program Interfaces) and then decide how to
set it all in motion with little or no additional cost on the
new PC systems due to ship next year. The members of the
coalition are enthused about their security strategy even in
light of the fact that they are not so sure as to what shape
the security system will take. It has been determined by the
group, however, that its purpose will be to prevent hackers
from stealing another user's identity through their ID code,
(sniffing or spoofing) to gain unauthorized access to personal
and financial information.
The system would defeat hackers who try to transfer Internet
applets that steal data by giving each PC its own identification
number. Encryption code could be embedded into a chip in the
I/O (Input/Output) subsystem of a PC that would work in tandem
with an upper layer of software, according to some experts.
Other observers envision the security system being employed in
smart card and/or fingerprint readers.
Netscape Communications Corp. has given exclusive distribution
rights to Access Graphics Inc. for the "Netscape Application
Server" product.
The Web development application was acquired by Netscape from
Kiva Software last year, and according to industry watchmen,
is expected to play a major role in Netscape's business future.
After Netscape redesigned the application, the company released
it last February. It furnishes the platform and necessary
tools to merge existing corporate computer systems with Internet
applications, as explained by Netscape officials. While earning
its fame as [the] Internet browser company, Netscape wants to
get the word out that the Netscape Application Server is aimed
at the Unix enterprise systems market.
A Bend, Ore. company recently launched its newest version of
an icon design program.
CursorArts Co. is now producing "IconForge 3," which allows its
users to design and implement their own PC icons, cursors, and
wallpaper. The company has added some new features that permit
users to include animation in their art work.
The Windows-compatible application is priced at $37.95.
After the rather abrupt departure last month of its CEO and
Packard Bell co-founder, Benny Alagem, NEC Corp., Groupe Bull,
and the Packard Bell shareholders named a relatively ambiguous
European executive to head the California-based company.
The CEO of Groupe Bull, Alain Couder was selected to hold the
position of "the board of directors' executive committee chair-
man." Mr. Couder will be officially installed to his position
of command as President and CEO of PB NEC just as soon as all
the paper work related to immigration issues are all resolved.
The U.S. Government gave its blessing last month to the WorldCom
Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. $37 billion merger.
Some unanswered questions, however, have left some analysts
a little worried as to the future operation of the Internet
backbone structure. A third-party in the scheme of things
became known when MCI had to agree to sell its entire Internet
business to United Kingdom-based Cable & Wireless to gain
approval for the consolidation. Cable & Wireless is rated as
the sixth largest long-distance carrier in the U.S., which
may have been reflected in the $1.81 billion price MCI had to
pay to acquire it.
The European Commission also gave its approval of the merger
last month, as reported by international news sources.
More help is on the way to protect Internet users from hackers,
slammers, and viruses through e-mail redirection services such
as that provided by a company called Bigfoot Partners.
The Bigfoot service reroutes mail to protect it from a dangerous
security hole in Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet
Explorer. Bigfoot users can sign up for the company's Virus
Scan service that runs their e-mail through a buffer that
shortens long attachment file names so that the attachments
are prevented from taking over the PC.
The ominous bug was discovered by researchers in Finland and
was announced on Tuesday July 28, and there are already a
number of fixes posted to correct it, according to one computer
industry publication.
Network Associates, WebCom, and WorldTalk are all offering
patches to fix the bug. Netscape has said it should have a fix
available to users this month. Microsoft thought it had a
patch ready, but had to revoke it last month when it apparently
failed to correct the problem.
Bigfoot's approach to the redirection service has the advantage
of operating on the "server" side of the e-mail transmission.
Its users can get the latest security features without having
to worry about constantly downloading new upgrades. So far,
Bigfoot has more than 1 million customers for its e-mail re-
direction service, which including the Virus Scan protection,
costs $30 per year.
According to one news story, Netscape Communications Corp. has
not yet looked into the redirection service from Bigfoot yet.
One Netscape official interviewed said that his company would
have to run tests before backing up claims that it works.
Other than slowing e-mail messages down by a few seconds, there
appears to be no other bad side effects from using a mail re-
direction service.
Late in the day on 07/31/98, The U.S. Justice Department filed a
motion seeking additional testimony from Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates and other Microsoft executives. A demand was also made by
the government that the Redmond, Washington-based software
company turn over the source code for Windows 95 and Windows 98.
The DOJ also wants Bill Gates to submit to two full days of
questioning. In addition to Gates, the government wants to
interrogate President Steve Ballmer - and two other unidentified
witnesses.
As to having to turn over Microsoft Windows source code, company
officials countered that they would continue to cooperate with
the government, but would not turn over the source code to
Windows without first gaining additional protections to ensure
the secrecy of the code.
An unexpected surprise in the form of some rather steep price
cuts hit the computer industry last month.
Intel Corp. trimmed the prices on its Celeron CPU line even
lower than anticipated. The computer chip giant set the
wholesale price of its 266-MHz "Covington" Celeron without
Level 2 cache at only $86. The 300-MHz version of the Celeron
chip will cost OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) a mere
$112.
Industry forecasters had estimated Intel's Celeron price
reductions for the 266-MHz and 300-MHz chips would have put the
wholesale cost at approximately $106 and $159, respectively.
Most all of Intel's Pentium II-class processors showed a
significant price decrease. Only the lowly 233-MHz Pentium II
and the outdated Pentium MMX chips were left with their price
tags in tact.
The 400-MHz Pentium II with 512 Kbytes of L2 cache fell about
18%, to $589; which was the same case for the 350-MHz version
as it fell 18%, to $423; the 333-MHz CPU went down by 23%, to
$316; the 300-MHz version fell by 31%, to $209; and the price
of the 266-MHz chip went down 20%, to just $159.
Motorola Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. last month signed
a cross-licensing deal that both companies claim will lead to
the production of high-performance copper-based processors that
can run at phenomenal clock speeds.
The two chip makers are forecasting processor speeds in the
1-Gigahertz range by the year 2000, and also predict that Intel
Corp. will not be able to keep pace with their research and
development (R&D) teams because of Intel's lack of copper
technology experience.
Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector will be throwing its
0.18-micron manufacturing expertise into the team effort, and
will possibly lead to even smaller silicon wafer sizes of
0.15-micron design with its HiPerMOS copper interconnect process
technology. AMD will be contributing its flash-memory patents,
which will allow the team to begin offering high-density,
low-power embedded flash micro-controllers sometime next year.
As of July 13, RealNetworks posted the beta of its RealSystem G2
multimedia-streaming server, player, and tools on its Web site
for users to download.
The new audio/video package will comply with the Synchronized
Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) standard for handling
streamed content on the Web. SMIL is well recognized by Web
developers and is endorsed by the Worldwide Web Consortium, but
opposition has surfaced from Microsoft Corp., who withdrew
support for the standard when its objections were voted down in
June. Microsoft has gone ahead with its own audio/video
streaming program, however.
An integral part of SMIL is XML (Extensible Markup Language),
which is a spin-off of HTML-- the most common language of the
Web. XML allows third-party content providers to roll streaming
media into other existing XML environments.
RealNetworks is now working with about 30 companies supporting
SMIL with their tools, which also are used in the G2
architecture.
The G2 player has taken on some bulk as compared to its Real-
Player 5 predecessor. Where RP 5 used just 1.3 Mb of the user's
hard disk space, G2 will demand a full 2 Mb, but the affirmed
improvements far outweigh the small sacrifice in disk resources.
One of the minimum system requirements noted by Real is that to
run the G2 Player you must have a Pentium-class processor that
has a clock speed of 100-MHz or better.
In a $31 million buyout deal last month, Diamond Multimedia
Systems Inc. acquired the Fremont, Calif. motherboard maker,
Micronics Computers Inc.
The deal will position Diamond in a better plane to compete
in an industry where there is a growing trend to integrate
multimedia architecture into low-end motherboards in order to
eliminate the need for add-on cards.
Micronics' capacity within Diamond will be the backbone of a
new division called the System Business Unit, which will zero
in on supplying systems integrators and distributors with
board-level systems solutions.
Industry sources expect to see Diamond's first Micronics-based
products going into distribution by the end of this fiscal
quarter.
Bay Networks Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., has become the newest
vendor to turn to the cable industry to provide voice-over-IP
(Internet Protocol) technology.
To instate its three-pronged thrust into the market, Bay first
acquired German-based NetServe GmbH, which manufactures packet-
based voice products that operate on coaxial cable systems.
After NetServe becomes part of Bay Networks' Broadband Tech-
nology Division, Bay will distribute the Netserve VoiceHub
and VoiceServer devices now made in Germany.
VoiceHub is used to convert analog signals over phone lines
into data packets-- then resend them to a cable operator's
server. VoiceServer works as a gateway to public switched
telephone networks that makes it is possible to keep track of
billing and management information.
Phase two of Bay's plans will focus on the integration of voice-
over IP networks and cable systems. A company spokesman said
that Bay will develop an IP-based VoiceHub add-in card for its
LAN-city cable modems in addition to an IP server gateway for
use by cable system operators later this year.
Bay's phase three strategy involves the total integration of
these technologies by mid-1999.
Now that it has gained the support of some major database
vendors, the backers of the Linux operating system are going
all-out to promote it as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows
in the desktop environment.
Supporters say that the low-cost of Linux and its flexibility
make it a natural option to Windows NT when run on Intel-based
machines.
Although Linux began only as a development project (see June,
1998 GrapeVine), it has since gained strong support from the
Internet crowd. It has been labeled as the fastest growing
Unix-style platform within the enterprise community to-date,
and has an estimated base of 7 million users.
Last month, Oracle Corp. and Informix Software Inc. joined
Inprise Corp. and Ingres Corp. in going public with their
support of Linux. And one of the biggest potential backers of
the operating system looks to be IBM Corp.
One IBM official acknowledged that his company and its Lotus
Development Corp. are definitely interested in Linux, and
would foresee supporting it in the future. In similar fashion,
a spokesman for Sun Microsystems Corp. said his company is
working closely with some Linux vendors.
Linux, based in Utah, said it will enlarge its reseller program
to include training and certification in September.
Gary Miller
