![[UCS Trademark]](../../images/blulogo.jpg)
![[Color Bar]](../../images/rainbar.gif){kind=small}
Franklin Covey offers tools and strategies for improving individual and organizational effectiveness through proven principles. We provide a broad range of products and training programs to help people achieve personal fulfillment and career satisfaction, and help institutions build highly skilled, high trust, high performance cultures. Above all, Franklin Covey supports individuals, families, and organizations in accomplishing what matters most to them.
Franklin Covey Co. is the result of a merging of two leading, highly respected companies in the field of personal and professional improvement: Franklin Quest Co., creator of the Franklin Day Planner and Covey Leadership Center, whose products include books and training programs based on "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Principle Centered Leadership."
The Technology Division of Franklin Covey focuses on building technology based products that leverage the company's philosophies and principles. The division's core products include: (1) ASCEND '97, The Franklin Day Planner Personal Information Manager, (2) The PalmPilot Electronic Organizer w/ ASCEND '97, (3) On Target 2.0 Project Management software, and (4) Visioneer's PaperPort Strobe Scanner w/links to ASCEND '97.
Greg Romero is the Corporate Sales Manager for the Technology Division. His responsibilities include helping large corporations/organizations evaluate Franklin Covey's technology products and managing the Technology Division's Inside Sales Team.
![[Photo of Cliff]](../../images/cliff151.jpg)
![[Baton Bleu Image]](../../images/baton.gif)
By Cliff Millward, Editor
Another year to add to my collection! I guess that's OK so long as I keep collecting them.
Each year I try to predict what may happen in the new year. Last year I got 4 right, 2 wrong and 2 divided. Here they are in order as I had them last January.
I concluded that the major players would be Microsoft, IBM, Corel, Sun Microsystems and the phone companies. I thought IBM would work closely with Apple; instead Microsoft bailed them out! Fate works strangely at times.
This year promises to be even more interesting and, perhaps, volatile. The government is going after Microsoft, a CPU battle brewing, etc. With my previous record in mind, peruse the following and see if you agree.
Circumvention of the law will continue to dominate the headlines this year. As I have said many times, famous people and/or people with lots of money tend to get what they want.
am1010 News
Most of the talk this month has been on the Microsoft DOJ wranglings. On
the Saturday before Christmas, however, I read a parody on The Night Before
Christmas entitled A Microsoft Christmas. It was well received; several
people asked me for copies of it.
On the last Saturday of the year, Preston Anderson and I again discussed the Microsoft-DOJ troubles and ended up by coming to the conclusion that 1957 was a "Microsoft Year" for computing. They dominated the news last year; both good and bad. Also discussed on the last show of the year was "what did you get your computer for Christmas?" and "what is your computer's name?"
I named my computer Hexcdram now where do you think I came up with that name? One caller said he named his computer "Linda" after his wife. I did not ask him why or what were the similarities between them. Some things are better left unsaid!
I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and wish you all a Fantastic New Year!
![[President's Porch Image]](../../images/porch.gif)
.
. . from the President's Porch
by James Alexander
Happy New Year.
This past year has been busy for our user group. Hopefully, you are
aware that our meeting location was changed for January 14, 1997. Briefly,
the background. December 24, Bob Beaudoin E-mailed me to alert me to the
fact we did not have our usual location for the Winter Quarter at the U
of U. Short of breath and stunned, I got off e-mail to members of the Board
and our information team (WEB, magazine, BBS, etc.) about the problem.
The first question I have received for the last few days is: Have we got
a place yet? Due to the holiday timing, we had to wait for Monday Dec.
29 to get an answer. This of course delayed the magazine going out as well
as getting information to all the members, press, etc. Hopefully, we got
email out to everyone about the switch. Several of the Board of Trustees
have been very busy working out these logistics. The next question asked
of course is why? The short version is the University is planning to change
from a quarter calendar to a semester calendar. The effect of a calendar
change on Seniors and upper level Juniors is they would come up short on
credits needed to graduate. In order for the University to help these students
get through without having to retake courses for missing credits many extra
classes had to be scheduled including evenings. That means that our meeting
at the university is bumped at least for January and February, possibly
more. The Board of Trustees will do everything in our power to keep you
informed of any such major changes. As always please contact us in person
or send e-mail to ucs.pres@juno.com
In the past year we conducted a survey and asked in it about the possibility of changing our meeting location. There was a minority interest, so we did not pursue anything further then. Now, with this bump and the possible of future needs, we are forced to look at alternatives, if not a new permanent location. I asked various members to check and make recommendation to the Board based upon their research. I requested that they try to find a location meeting the needs of our group.
They were given the parameters for a meeting place. We need a place which can: 1) accommodate (seeing and hearing) 200 - 300 people (more if the group grows or we bring in a super-star presentation); 2) allow room for our check-in and other pre-meeting activities; 3) provide space for some SIGs meeting from 6-7 pm; 4) be well-known, easy to find, and accessible (public transit or personal vehicle freeway access) to our members; 5) have parking available, preferably free; 6) be for free or very low-cost; and 7) not be schedule bumped. The fee part is the one that impacts our members the most. If we need to pay for our facilities, then most likely membership dues would have to be increased. Frequent moves are not in our best interests, as eventually we would lose people due to an uncertainty about where we meet.
1997 has been an historic fifteenth year for UCS/Blue Chips. We had January with out a vendor presentation, but we also have had some of the best presentations ever this year, one from a last minute volunteer (November). This was the year for exceptional Volunteer activities. This past year we were involved with three trade shows in the Salt Palace: Hot Technology (April); Internet (July); and Technology 2000 (November). Starting in May our radio program PC Solutions began every Saturday on AM 1010. June, we again received awards from the Intergalactic User Group Conference. We had two swap meets (May & September), three pot-luck meals (May, September, & December), and hosted the November 8th Microsoft Extreme Event in the Expo-Mart. Eight representatives from the Group enrolled and attended (at personal expense) the APCUG activities at Fall COMDEX. Finally, in December the volunteers received their hard work rewards in the form of Blue Chips Bucks and a Blue Chips Bucks only auction. Remember, there are lots of ways to qualify and receive these Bucks for 1998's Volunteer Auction.
Volunteers are going to be needed during the next fifteen months. We do not have the final okay yet, but it looks like UCS/Blue Chips User Group will be hosting a regional user groups conference in March of 1999. Please let Lauryn Wingate know of your interests in planning, arranging or participating in this mega or giga event.
As I wrote last month, Fall COMDEX was different this year. First off, Monday was the most packed with people in my memory. Then Friday seemed semi-deserted, room enough to have driven a golf cart around. Though there were many product announcements, mostly, they were upgrades or vendor's mediocre entry into product areas where other vendors already have better software. The LCD monster (32-48") screens were being shown, but not shipping. Their smaller (14-20") sibling LCD screens were shipping, but at higher prices than CRT monitors. Second generation DVD was being demonstrated on most aisles throughout the convention floors. However, most DVDs were showing off the newest movies, and little in software (see DVD preview and reviews in this issue). 3-D video technology was the most touted by just about everyone. Video capture in all its variety was also a highlighted product. Internet was not quiet, but from my perspective - nothing we have not seen in previous years.
There were COMDEX vendors who excitedly told us their product was the newest definition of that category. But, I reflected that many of these products had been shown off at COMDEX as far back as four years earlier. Either some vendors fail to look around or they have the best contacts possible with "Lies R Us - marketing" people.
Not to attack marketing. Without marketing there would be no COMDEX. However, there are companies who have too much free time for their sales people. I have been telemarked by a few companies three times or more in the last month. My politeness evaporates after three minutes of hard sell telemarketing of over-priced mediocre product.
The brighter side to these telemarketers - I am being told how important it is for people like myself to get certified, and how much more money I would make if I were certified. If that is so, why don't these sales people take their own course and get certified to make more money. Could it be possible that training course sales people make more than CSE or CNE certified graduates?
Clipped from the March, 1997 issue of the Florida Space Coast PC Journal
By Phil Greb
Shift Key Secrets:
The right-click is certainly a significant improvement in Win95, but
you might like to try out a few useful Shift Key features:
How to Reformat a Formatted Floppy Disk in Explorer:
The trick is that you can not have Drive A open in Explorer, nor can
you use the left mouse button to highlight Drive A if you want to format
the floppy disk. If Drive A is open, click on Drive C first to close Drive
A. Then, use the right mouse button to click on Drive A and choose Format
from the drop-down menu.
Explorer Default Drive Partition:
If you would rather have Explorer open to a drive other than Drive
C, you wish is Microsoft's command. From the Start Menu, select Settings
and click on Taskbar. Select the Start Menu Programs Tab. Click on the
Advanced button, then double click Programs and find your Windows Explorer
shortcut. Right click the Explorer shortcut and select Properties from
the drop down menu and click on the Shortcut tab and not the path and command
line in the target field. It should look like: C:\Windows~Explorer. exe,
or perhaps like this: C:\W'mdows~Explorer. exe/n,/e,C:\. If you want to
change your default partition to say Drive D, modify your command line
to look like this: C:\W~ndows~Explorer. exe/n,/d,/D:\.
Windows 95 Resource Kit for Free:
Many have gone out and bought the Windows 95 Resource book which is
more than 1,000 pages long and may have cost in excess of $35. You may
not be aware that the complete Resource Kit is included on your Windows95
CD! It is identical to the book and perhaps even better than the book as
an excellent searching tool that not only seeks out the topic you are looking
for, but offers suggestions for related topics. The file is (CD-ROM Drive):
\admin\reskit~elpfile\win95rk.hlp on the Windows CD.
Add Search to Your Desktop:
Open Notepad and Save-as an empty text file as SEARCH.FND in your Windows
directory. A shortcut on your Desktop will be created or you may create
a shortcut yourself on your Desktop to SEARCHFND. Double click on the shortcut
and you have it.
Catch a Sound:
Ever been using Internet Explorer and hear a sound at a site that you
really wanted.???? Well, if you have, try this. Go to the Internet site
where it is, then exit Internet Explorer and go to the \Program File\Plus
!\Microsoft Internet\cache directory on your hard drive. Find the .wav
file and copy it to any folder. That sound is now at your beck and call.
Shortcut to Taskbar Properties:
The path usually outlined to go to Taskbar Properties is to click Start,
then Taskbar, then Properties. A shorter way is to right click on any empty
place on the Taskbar, then select Properties from the pop-up menu.
InfoQuick:
Do you ever want to remember a bit of information but you do not have
a pencil or paper near your computer.? Try this to store your important
information and it is only a double click away. Start Notepad (or any text
editor) and type a note to yourself containing the information. Save the
file (using the default extension for your text editor, usually *.TXT)
in the ~DESKTOP folder which is located in the same folder as your Win95
installation. For example, on my computer, the filename would be C:\WindowsXDesktop\(my
name for the file).TXT. Windows automatically creates an icon right on
your Desktop. When you need to recall the information, simply double click
and it's there! When the information is no longer needed, simply drag the
icon to the recycle bin.
![[Review Image]](../../images/review.gif)
by Jay R. Kim
Manufacturer: Quarterdeck Corporation 13160 Mindanao Way Marina Del Rey, CA 902929705 http://www.quarterdeck.com http://www.tuneup.com Phone: 800.354.3222 Phone: 573.443.3282 Fax: 800.354.3329 Email: info@quarterdeck.com System Requirements: Intel based 486DX2/66MHz or higher Windows 95 VGA or better display CDROM drive 12 MB of RAM 9MB of free hard disk space Internet connection Price: Free $35 depending on sale and rebate!
I am a struggling beginner in this "hurryup and catchup" computer world. This is my very first product review. I am hoping to learn much through this process and that one day soon achieve that elusive title of being an "advanced novice". As any beginner knows installation and removal of any program is enough to send your poor little heart racing right up to your throat. I compare this experience to my first ride on a caf racer motorcycle flying down the L.A. freeway ten years ago EXTREME PARANOIA!!! Since my earlier and distant days as a beginner, three months ago, I have become somewhat experienced in installing and uninstalling programs through many hours of trying and mostly needless worrying. As for the ultimate initiation of becoming a knowledgeable and a professional computer user like myself and few others in this world, I paid my price last month. I experienced my first CRASH. It happened as you can guess installing and playing with a program called "Nuts and Bolts" another utility program. For those of you out there who have never experienced a total system crash all I can say is "what are you waiting for?". It's an experience like no other and one you and your family will never forget. If there is one thing you should remember about a "utility" program it is to be very careful with it. One wrong key stroke and you too will experience the ultimate in ecstasy a crash!
The installation process was very simple, much like other Quarterdeck products. My personal system included the Dell Dimension XPS M233MHz Pentium processor with MMX, 64 MB Ram, 2 DIMMS, SDRAM, 24X EIDE CD ROM with 6.4 GB EIDE hard drive.
TuneUp is an Internet-based SUBSCRIPTION (annually) which will provide you with the following on-line care:
Two major parts of this program include the TuneUp AV and TuneUp. Let's get started on what everyone has been waiting for the evaluation of this program.
TuneUp AV:
One component is the ViruSweep virus scanning and repair function which
includes the virus memory, boot and file scans. My thought on this feature
is it's useless. Unlike many other and effective virus programs out there
this program doesn't even run automatically while you are working or at
start up. You must execute it manually and my impression is that this program
isn't as thorough as other inexpensive and proven virus protection in the
market today (McAfee, Norton's, Pcillin etc...).
Another component is the ScanDisk function for checking your hard disk. This too, is useless. Most everyone has this program which comes with your Windows 95 program. It is the exact same copy of what you already have in your computer system Microsoft's ScanDisk (something you can download for free!). ScanDisk is a program you can find by accessing program|accessory|system|tools|scandisk. It is designed to diagnose and repair disk problems, such as lost clusters or cross-linked files. This is a very important program that everyone should run along with the disk defragmenter at least once a month or whenever you get an error message.
TuneUp:
This second part of the package is used as an Internet connection to
a dedicated remote server to gather the latest update information for hardware
drivers and software. When you first run TuneUp and click the Update button,
it will scan your PC and create a configuration profile. It will check
to see what hardware drivers and applications are installed. Once initial
profile is complete, every subsequent time you run this program it will
update your system automatically.
After updating you have a choice to download and/or install any drivers or software updates. It achieves this by creating three folders; "update" to hold the downloaded information, "temp" to hold the installed information and "hold" to retain a copy of the older version of an update. This is all very nice but it's nothing but a fancy program for something you already have and thus have no need for. In my vast three months of experience I have found out that you already have the critical drivers and software you need or you wouldn't be using your computer right now. Most of the drivers can be found and downloaded from the net for FREE.
By now everyone is anxiously awaiting for Jay's opinion of this program. Well, I shall not keep you waiting any longer. It is without a doubt a big "Thumbs Down." It is a program most of us already have in one form or another. This program is redundant and unnecessary. Save your money and time by investing in many other valuable and useful Quarterdeck programs. As for me, as soon as this report is finished I will be uninstalling my copy to make valuable space for my next utility review.
![[Internet Insights Graphic]](../../images/interntc.gif)
by Welden Andersen
Finding, Comparing and Buying Computer Equipment on the
Internet
After attending COMDEX and seeing all the latest and greatest goodies for sale, I wanted to find out what the "Street" prices would be for a few selected computer upgrades. As you recall, "Street" prices are what you would be expected to pay for the items in the retail world, rather than the SRP or Suggested Retail Price.
There are several computer malls out there such as:
And of course there is YAHOO http://shopguide. yahoo.com/ and a list of other search engines that can point you to huge lists of shopping malls.
The trick is to be able to compare what you found with one on-line shopping center to see if the item is indeed the EXACT same one that can be found for a lower price on another site. Sometimes the software bundle is not the same, or the options list would be much higher priced. Shipping costs need to be included in your bottom line to see who really has the best price.
While we're on the subject of total costs, remember that the Tax Man will be visiting ALL mail order and on-line companies to see that individual State Sales Taxes are collected and paid. Additional laws will be enacted and put into effect later this year to make the Seller collect and pay the sales tax for your state, even though your products were shipped out of his state.
Most of the time the company that makes the product you're interested in only gives you information about their latest & greatest stuff on their home pages. Sometimes they include vendor information and dealers to help you find your way in making a purchase. What you really want is a list of places that have the product, are available on the Internet and a way to compare them with each other.
One such way to check out who has your product and for what price is RoboShopper http://www.roboshopper.com/
Just download the 400Kb program and install it. Once installed, you have the choice to Research or Shop for computer or other products. Trouble with this program is that it looks in it's own data list of malls and companies on a regular basis. Rarely did it comb through and find out-of-the-way vendors that truly had bargains. One such search I made never did find the motherboard I was looking for, yet it was from a major company and could be found in several on-line places.
On the other hand, you have to try Netbuyer, http://www.zdnet.com/netbuyer/ a service of Computer Shopper and Ziff-Davis publishing. We all know about Computer Shopper, the killer sized computer mega-publication that weighs in around 3 lbs. per issue and has 1,000 pages of ads. After selecting from the category list for say, memory, you are asked to click on a Search & Compare button to give them your requirements and they will match them to products available. Next, a form is presented to fill-in that asks your preferences about Manufacturer, Vendor, Amount of RAM, Device type, System/Device Mfg., Pin size, Parity, Module type, Memory type, and Price. Each of these choices has a drop-down window and asks if you have a preference or not.
A click on the Search button brings up 5 vendors with a listing of the memory that you wanted, the price and parity listings. Each vendor has small icons under their name with the following Vendor Legend: open 24hrs/7 days, tech support, years in business, government orders, education orders, international orders. But here is where it gets GREAT. There is a checkbox for each vendor. Check any of the boxes and "Click to Compare" to see a side-by-side chart. Or, click on the vendor to see individual specs and Warranties. On the top of each vendor's column are two more buttons. One for Phone orders that give you the company 800 or 888 toll free numbers, the types of credit cards they accept and shipping options. The other is for a request to have the company contact you by snail mail, e-mail, phone or Fax with a list of what you requested and any other comments you wish to make. The vendor had a web site listing as well so you could go to the source and find the latest press releases and facts about their product offerings.
I found this service to be MOST extraordinary in finding great deals and comparisons for my shopping needs. I suddenly became a much more informed buyer as to what was being offered, at what price and by whom. Only rub here is that you probably are wishing that you had this article before Christmas! OK, OK, just remember, that a number of prices drop AFTER Christmas.
Send comments or suggestions to welden@xmission.com
by George Lewis
Author: Anne Prince Publisher: Mike Murach & Associates 2560 West Shaw Lane, Suite 101 Fresno, California 937112765 Phone: (209) 2753335 Cost: $15.00 (User group discount 40% off the retail price)
Sometime ago I purchased a product to help me learn how to use the Excel 95 spreadsheet program. The book was more than 300 pages long, and since I did not have a great deal of time to read the book, I began reading it as I found time. Needless to say the book is unfinished, and I had not picked up enough skills to do more than open up the program. However, since my place of business uses Excel 95, I needed someway to learn how to use this program and its diversified operations. Then I was introduced to the Murach Crash Course Series of books for the busy person. I thumbed through the Excel 95 book and realized this could help me achieve my goal. All I had to do was spend some time reading one or more short lessons within each chapter, and completing a brief exercise to familiarize myself with the menus and keystrokes of the program.
As I began to work my way through the lessons, I noticed each lesson began with a brief description of what you would be doing along with definitions of words that were new or had a different meaning than usual. The printed graphics were very clear and easy to understand which brings ones understanding and comprehension to higher level. I liked the way the keyboard strokes were included with each lesson so an individual could speed up their processing rate. Unfortunately, after the second chapter, the keyboard strokes seemed to diminish.
Occasionally the definitions were not as clear as I would like them. For example the definition for formatting a cell left me wondering what in the world they were talking about. Since the information is so limited in this manual and there was no glossary at the end of the book, I was forced to look elsewhere for a better definition of formatting and its usage. A glossary of terms at the end of the book would help the reader with some additional information regarding and bridging subjects too large to be covered in just a brief lesson. It would also serve as a resource of information for a quick reference guide encapsulating what the reader is trying do or understand.
Things were going rather well through the first chapter. I was learning how to use the menus and different subparts of the menus while putting together a spread sheet with its calculations and all. In the second and subsequence chapters there were no exercises to complete, but I found myself creating my own exercises to bridge the gap between the written pages and actually doing it. There is nothing better than filling the mind's void with knowledge, experience, and confidence. To create a spreadsheet that one dreams about, with its formulas, graphics, and bar graphs only adds a professional touch to any document.
The section on charts and graphs gives only the basic bare bones of the subject, essential and a necessary part, yes, but does not challenge the reader who wants to investigate those parts of the program not covered by the book. It seems to me that something about the Help menu should have been included with these lessons. This could have at least encouraged and showed the reader how to explore and learn other areas of the program. I realize that all windows base programs have a Help menu and most people are some what experience with it, but a second dose of a good thing can only help.
One other thing that was brought to my attention, was the index at the back of the book. I used it frequently to recall where this item or that information was located in the manual. It was very helpful and a much needed resource for this kind of book to be of any help in the future, if the occasion merited it. I also noticed a summary at the end of each chapter, where most of the important concepts were again briefly restated. An additional across reference of subject and location would be helpful.
Would I recommend this book to someone wanting to learn the fundamentals of Excel? The answer is a definite yes. It did what it said it would do in the shortest possible time for me, and it will for you too. That 300 plus page book I purchased on Excel, well it is still on my night stand with the book marker only a third of the way thorough it. Oh well, may be some day I will finish it, but right now I am too busy.
by Don Nendell
Dave Pehrson, this month's presenter from Access Software, a Utah-based
company with offices at the International Complex adjacent to the Salt
Lake City International Airport, was still setting up his rig at meeting
start-up time, so our imaginations were piqued just a little bit more in
anticipation of the latest and greatest from Access. You just somehow knew
that tonight was going to be something special, said "SPEEE-CIAL,"
when the United Moving Van pulled up in front of the Mining and Engineering
Building, and a crew of six or seven stevedores jumped out and started
unloading Dave's humongous load of equipment for his presentation. That's
the real reason we were late getting started - stuff stashed all over the
place. There was a speaker about the size of a piano kind of resting on
a seat in the front row and pity the person who opted to get up and close
to the screen. Sure enough, someone did sit by that BOOOOM-box and was
last seen v-i-b-r-a-t-i-n-g (picture it as bouncing in all directions at
the same time) on the way out of the presentation - probably still is,
if the truths be known? More on that later, but first things first . .
.
James displayed genuine disappointment when he announced that the clothing vendor couldn't make it tonight to display the new line of Blue Chips outerwear the board has contracted for recently. I myself was sporting my beautiful birthday shirt (got it in Vegas at COMDEX) with the hand-painted Blue Chips Logo on the back, took the onus off James a bit, and took the spotlight instead. I had another little surprise for everyone's enjoyment tonight too! I brought back from COMDEX a magic pen light that doubled as a writing pen. That way, they didn't have to keep the auditorium lights on for me to take these notes for your edification and enlightenment herein. The Light-Pen/Pen was an instant sensation as I wrote this blather in the darkness - didn't make me any smarter however, I just wrote more legible notes, that's all. I was in the third row of seats up front and you ought to see the wiggly scribbles on my note pad. I wasn't nervous, I got whip lash, and the whips and jingles from my own vibration from that front row speaker, and the left front (and probably the right front, right rear and left rear speakers as well). But, more on that later . . .
Larry Lamph (phone 571-2908) has a couple of time-limited specials you might be interested in: A 3D Shutter Lens game with eyeglasses that come with two games is available for $37.50 (plus S&H); and, a 24X Toshiba Quantex CD-Rom Player (DVD) for $225.00 (plus S&H), both are obtainable through him. Give him a call and let him straighten all this out for you, if you're interested.
Rick Gregory didn't have much to add to the agenda in the Open Access time, but a question was asked about the UCS BBS cutting back to one line and limiting the time of operation (a UCS cost-cutting necessity). Bob Beaudoin, the Sysop, should be putting out the straight scoop real soon for you all, that's all ya'll in Texas talk. Bob also announced that the Paradox SIG is still meeting before the general meeting. A question was asked if anyone was interested in an M/S Access SIG, and a few hands went up. If you are interested, give James a call.
Now I understand the nervous anticipation out of the group tonight, and I thought it was for Dave and his Tex Murphy Overseer presentation. Well, pretty much, but when Lauryn announced that the Volunteer Auction was going to be held after Dave's presentation, then it all made sense. That was a blast, but more on that later too. . .
At 7:25 sharp Dave said, "I'm ready." James heaved a sigh of relief and turned the mike over to Dave. Mr. P. started off with a Bill Gates Primary Business Plan joke that put everyone totally at ease. Then he and James started throwing miniature sponge rubber golf balls (you squeeze them for nerves) and jaw breakers all over the place (designed to keep your mouth shut while he was demonstrating his new phenomena). And, phenomena it was.
I've already alluded to the speaker system. It was an AC3 Dolby Surround Sound (Front Right, Front Left, Back Right, Back Left, Middle and a Sub-woofer speaker) setup that puts you right in the middle of the action - WITH A BANG! Each speaker operates independently from the others and actually puts the Jazz home crowd noise to shame (way over 100+ DB's). Wait. There's more. You had to actually be there to appreciate the need for all those alleged stevedores. Dave was showing off to the public, for the first time, the new 266 MHZ (Intel test bed), 128 Megs of RAM, AGP Advanced Graphics Port 128 Bit Video Card, MPEG II Full Screen (said, "Scream"), 30 Frames/Second, 16 million color rig run by a double-sided 24X (might have actually been faster, I was awe struck about then) DVD CD-ROM (the future of computer graphics - "Support DVD, the others are on a trial basis," said Dave) which holds almost 9 Gigs of data (current systems are a mere 4.7 Gigs), and he had the actual temerity to say, "Wait til next year!" He might as well have said, "You ain't seen noth'en yet folks," because he was right.
Dave showed off the newest sensation from Access, Links LS 98, first. The growth of LS has been nothing less than sensational. In July `96 it was Links LS 97 (Native Windows 95 only); In July `97 it was Links LS 98 (Windows 95/NT [Service Pack 3]); and, the upgrade to LS 98 from LS 97 is only $19.95. (If I'm wrong on this, blame my new Light-Pen/Pen - it was good, but it might also have been my bouncing glasses too?). The minimum you need to run Links LS 98 is a Pentium 100 (that really means, a 200) with 16 Megs of RAM (that really means, 64 Megs of RAM) with a full installation of 218 Megs of HD space (that really means, 354 Megs for all 26 courses). They have a number of options starting with the Resort Tour at Kapalua (pronounced Cop-a- lua) [next out is Pinehurst #2]. The Tour Players portion takes in Arnold Palmer's Country Club place at Latrobe, PA, with Arnold himself stroking the golf ball [Dave Love III also stars in there somewhere too!]. You have a number of options for play like: Stroke, Best Ball, Scramble, Alternate Shot, Skins and Practice (You ought to see the perfect hole-in-one Easter egg! There are a few more Easter eggs built in just for the fun of it, with rewards like, "HaPpY HaIlEy," just for finding them.) Dave is going to give away 200 Demos of Links LS 98 at the meeting this month (January 14th). Retail price of Links LS 98 is $79.95 and the Street price should be $50, give or take a few tees. The whole scene was so peaceful and tranquil that you could have almost dozed off. Not.
I think Dave blew out a couple of speakers in his segue into "Tex Murphy Overseer" (TMO) (which is due out this month). The power of Dave's system brought in by the stevedores became instantly apparent, even to those with hearing aids. They were the lucky ones, they could actually turn down the volume in their aids, and thereby actually understand what was being spoken by the actors. Pity the poor guy in that front row seat who was actually blown back into the third row with me!
Some introduction is in order to the customary "Bleeding Edge Technology" of TMO that Access has come to be known for. TMO is a sequel to the "Pandora Directive" (PD). PD was 10 frames/second, which was astounding for its time. TMO is a full 30 frames/second full screen production. And, What a production it is. TMO is a semi re-make/flashback of "Mean Street," Tex's first venture onto the screen by Access. As usual, a host of big name stars are featured in TMO. The story line: Tex is reflecting back to "Under a Killing Moon" with his love and wife, Silvia (Linski), while relating all this to Chelsea via flashback. The setting is the year 2043 with World War III having been fought leaving a nuclear holocaust in its midst. A certain part of the population has not been affected while the remainder is mutated due to the radiation - sort of Norms vs Mutants scenario. Everybody goes to work at night because everything has been switched around as a result of WW III. Naturally, Tex, the good guy, must stop the bad guy, a self-proclaimed Overlord Baron (York), who is trying to surgically insert into everyone an Overseer chip that can completely take control of them. Not if Tex comes out the winner, he won't. Your job is to solve a host of puzzles that Tex encounters, and thus help him move toward the final, and winning encounter with the evil Baron - rather SOP for the Tex Murphy series. There is nothing mundane about this extravaganza. It is exciting and challenging with 4000 points possible to generate in two levels of play. There are cheat codes, if you are not an inveterate puzzle gamer. But if you are, "To BIG to cheat," there are no hints and lots more rooms to visit, the fun part. The interface has been changed with new controls for the game. The keyboard controls are still there, but while searching a location, the mouse pointer turns into a pulsating "+" when it passes over something that can happen. Dave demonstrated four different aspects of TMO giving those in attendance a head start on the rest of the gaming world. If they hadn't cut off my fingers down to the second knuckle to make me shorten this epistle, again, thanks to my new writing toy illuminating my good notes, I could have given you the answers to those examples Dave showed us. But, alas, space is short - they say.
TMO is very beautifully done, state of the art, quite unique and very challenging. Dave has made a standing offer of a guided tour of the wonderful facilities at Access. TMO was filmed right here in Salt Lake City, so take him up on his magnanimous offer. By the way, you will have to have a high speed video card capable of MPEG 2 operation to run TMO. And, as an added note, TMO does not have to be played at full volume to enjoy this truly wonderful (master)piece "de resistance" from Access. Just a reminder, once again, those first 200 in the door at the meeting this month (January 14th) will certainly find this out for themselves, don't miss this opportunity. Dave gave away 20 copies of Links LS 98, and you missed a good one folks.
I should point out that Dave actually outdid himself in every conceivable way. Not only was Links LS 98 and TMO a fabulous presentation, totally enjoyed by every single attendee but, and this is a super large BUT, "He" was "The" actual beast of burden (not my imaginary stevedores) that had to carry "ALL" that gear into the auditorium, and again back out to his tiny sub compact car (Dave's United Van Lines alter ego). How he stuffed all that equipment into that tiny car was a thing to behold, and was darn near an equal to the exploits of the one he came to praise, the one and only, his magnificence, Tex Murphy. Well-done Dave!
by Don Nendell
The Volunteer Auction truly was great. Every volunteer left with some item
of "Thanks for a job well done." Donna Nendell said that only
one 1 left the meeting sans smile on face. She said he must have fallen
face down into a newly laid cement slab, grimaced from the pain and pulled
back out a hardened frowning feature that only a jackhammer could alleviate,
then too, possibly not.
The Volunteer Auction was as fun-filled a meeting as we have had in a long while. Volunteers had from 5 UCS bucks to over 325. Some combined bucks to be able to bid for better prizes. Cliff Millward had the most bucks. He accumulated them by being Editor of Blue Chips Magazine and Host of the PC Solutions radio show. He, however, used many of his bucks to purchase items for other people. Probably the most valuable item on the agenda was a 56K US Robotics modem. This little baby was purchased by very happy volunteer hard work paid off!!
The camaraderie generated and displayed this night by all the wonderful volunteers of Blue Chips will go a long way in bettering this Society for a long time to come.
The Christmas Party hosted by Dixie Murray (announced at the meeting and in the Magazine) merely prolonged the spirit of volunteerism within the UCS. You missed out on another good one if you didn't participate. Thanks Dixie.
The party was held at The Utah Career College, 1144 West, 3300 South. We also want to take this opportunity to thank Randy Mears for letting us use these facilities free of charge.
Of course there were lots of goodies to be had, but there was also a classroom in which several games were loaded on computers. Quake and Diablo could be played over the Intranet with many players participating. The latest Links game from Access was also loaded on a few machines. Needless to say, there was a lot of noise coming out of that room as players "shot the monsters" and advanced to higher levels.
Many people just relaxed in the lunch room and conversed with other members. All in all, it was an afternoon well spent.
Things are changing for the better in all Blue Chip activities. Get with it. Get involved folks, there is a wealth of things to accomplish, and only the individual members can do them. It's your Society, and you can make it better. There is a lot to do and Blue Chips needs volunteers. See Lauryn Wingate and get your name on the volunteer list. You won't be sorry!
I hope you all had a truly marvelous holiday season. Love to all. May your coming year be bright, happy and successful. Caio.
by Richard Kingston
Manufacturer: Visio Corporation 520 Pike Street, Suite 1800 Seattle, WA 98101 (800) 847-4607 www.visio.com
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 486/66 processor; Pentium recommended 16 MB RAM (Windows 95) 24 MB RAM (Windows NT) 15 MB Hard disk space for minimum installation; 90 MB for full installation CD-ROM drive (for installation only) Street Price: $149
What is Visio? Ask three different users and you'll get three different answers - it could be described as a CAD program, a drawing program or a technical illustration program. Whomever you ask will probably give you their own enthusiastic description and recommendation.
Version 5 of Visio is a powerful communications tool that lets you present complex concepts in powerful visual diagrams. It is also a powerful technical drawing tool. You can create `smart' diagrams quickly including flowcharts, organizational charts, project time lines, Pert & Gant charts, network layout charts, and office space plans.
The sequence of creating a Visio drawing starts with selecting a stencil or a template as the base of your drawing. Stencils are similar to those `green' plastic drafting guides; templates include page format settings as well as applicable stencils. Once you've selected a stencil or template you add `SmartShapes' to your drawing by dragging them from the stencil onto your drawing area. You can then connect shapes together using `SmartConnectors'.
The intelligence in the `SmartShapes' and `SmartConnectors' is in underlying database `ShapeSheets'. The stencil objects maintain their proportions. You can resize them without distorting their underlying geometry. The `SmartConnectors' stay connected even if you move the shapes. The connections can automatically reroute themselves so that existing lines don't overlap new shapes as you add more stencil objects to a drawing.
The text features of Visio are also intelligent. You can add text to any connector or shape by selecting it and then typing. The box holding the text automatically sizes itself and you can format the text `box' with different borders, fills, colors, and alignment. Text box objects can be created anywhere on the drawing for titles, lists, or notes.
Visio can act as a graphical database if you attach database attributes to shapes in a drawing. This means you could create a network layout diagram and assign a product model and price to each piece of equipment. A report wizard could create an on-screen report or export the data for use by other database programs.
Visio drawings can also be included in a Microsoft Office Binder and Visio is fully Microsoft Office compliant - it will ask you if you want a Visio icon installed on your tool bar. It is fully OLE compliant in both client and server capacities.
Version 5.0 includes support for many types of graphics import and export formats and increases support for reading and writing AutoCAD drawing and drawing exchange format files. Graphics or drawings that are imported can be assigned to specific layers which can be hidden, locked, printed, or converted into stencil objects. Version 5.0 also has an improved shape explorer to search for and preview symbols, stencils, and templates. And, like every new software package being released today, it supports Inter/Intranet hyperlinks and HTML output format.
Visio Standard includes a good manual in prim form and an electronic manual in PDF format on the CD-ROM (Adobe Acrobat version 3 viewer is also on the CD-ROM). The Help feature covers all of the topics in the printed manual. There are Service Releases and a Visio Knowledge Base available on-line on the Internet.
Before purchasing Visio, as an absolute minimum, you'll want to have a computer system similar to what the manufacturer recommends. I found version 5.0 to be much slower than version 4.0 with just 16MB on my system. If you're using a Novell Network you need to check the Visio web site before you upgrade to version 5.0. I lost my network connection after installing version 5.0 because of a file the upgrade program deleted. Version 5.0 is available only in a Windows 95 or NT 4.0 (32 bit applications). Previous versions could also be used with Windows 3.1 x.
Visio is a robust drawing and diagraming application. Visio is a `Smart' way to visualize, draw, illustrate, or communicate your ideas.
by James Alexander
Manufacturer: ENPC Technology Corp. 12345 SLAUSON AVE. WHITTIER CA 90606 (562)945-2050 or (888)729-3672
As I remark elsewhere, COMDEX overall was not as exciting or impressive as in past years. However, that does not mean there was nothing new, exciting, or impressive. One such discovery was not on the convention floor. The vendor had a by invitation demonstration of their product in one of the Mirage's penthouse suites. It was a wonder that anyone managed to find the suite where personalized demonstrations were conducted. There were problems with the invitations not giving the required information to find the location. We tried a first time, and were able to stump the hotel staff, they had no idea what the invitation meant. Our second try was successful, because we found one of the models (`Fembot') to escort us to the suite. Though not the typical approach, this product (due for release first quarter 1998) needed to have private space. This preview is limited to the private suite demonstration at COMDEX and a press preview CD-ROM.
Some of these hardware requirements are guesses.
So what is L.I.F.E. Force 2050 and why is it worth looking at? First impression would be a movie title about life in the year 2050. The title would support this where L.I.F.E equals League of Interplanetary Federation Experts. Experts? That introduces the real purpose of this program, a study guide to Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer testing. Confused?
L.I.F.E. Force 2050 is a full featured training interactive expert system movie with MTV quality. The music (with digital AC3 surroundsound by European composer - Saint), is haunting and seems familiar, but not something you have heard before. The product very obviously has a targeted audience: 20-30 year old, MTV audience, and seriously interested in Microsoft systems.
There are some areas of the product that personally I do not like. I have a dislike for entertainment trends which use a devastated war ruined future planet. I also dislike flirting female characters. That said, I was very impressed with this product for a number of reasons for which I recommend the product to you if you are interested in acquiring skills for the MS CSE tests:
1) Use of the DVD technology for something other than a movie.
I am excited to see PC software uses of DVD are starting, games have of
course already begun. The amount of data, images and video, and programming
that can be placed on 4.7 gigabyte DVD disk is impressive. I hope that
DVD will quickly and cleanly become the defacto standard of this technology.
As a consumer, I do not want the delays that a standards (DVD vs DiVX)
fight causes (i.e.; VHS vs Beta or X2 vs 56Flex). Having PC uses of the
technology should help to settle the DVD standard, as well as explore what
can be done.
2) Dedicating more resources to training that has not been done before.
Training videos and even CD-ROMs have often in the past been low budget,
and limited in the range of skill taught. In fact, training and help systems
has generally been neglected. ENPC's use of the full movie production demonstrates
that training can be done, and for some people good training is worth an
investment. L.I.F.E. Force 2050 was produced like any other entertainment
and includes: sound tracks, special effects, scripting with full characterization,
and an artistic director. L.I.F.E. Force 2050 was written and directed
by British Director, Adrian Knight. His background includes directing films,
commercials, music videos, multimedia projects and animation as well as
extensive 3D computer graphics work. This production used a `Virtual Studio'
approach, which of itself is of interest. Though not on the monetary scale
of large productions from Disney or Paramount, there has been some effort
to back this project. In other words, ENPC invested more than the average
amount in creating this training program on DVD.
3) Use of an alternative (entirely new multimedia) approach to teaching
a subject.
There are some wonderful people who provide training on PC software.
However, most of these trainers use the lecture and demonstration method
to teach. As a trainer and support person, I have observed a segment of
the population who learn poorly in the standard lecture method. ENPC's
L.I.F.E. Force 2050 takes an inventive alternate training path. I am excited,
here is a product that recognizes that learning can be done in a different
way. If you have a friend (including yourself) who has problems with standard
lecture methods, this might be the answer to learning the material needed
for the CSE exams.
The content and research of the training material was supervised by the virtual teachers: Mark Salazar, MCT, MCSE, MCPS and Erick J. Reyes, M.C.S.E, M.C.T, C.N.E. Their philosophy is "...the key to being certified is motivation. You have to be motivated to learn and traditional instructor led training can only do so much..." 2050 uses the approach that the student needs to acquire the subject matter more coherently.
The method has three focal points: a) Knowledge as the goal to be acquired. Or the facts needed to pass the certification test. b) Vision is the ability to understand how all of the sub-parts are combined, and c) Reason is the exercise of information to reach answers not given, but which can be obtained by applying rules and principles taught in the program/movie.
The L.I.F.E. Force 2050 is to come packaged with a book called an Enchiridion (a concise text manual). The details of the courses are combined with graphics used to identify specific segments of the film. This makes for audio, text, and visual identifiers helping the student retain information. L.I.F.E. Force 2050 Expert System offers a multilevel approach for any student from entry to expert levels. It also provides, as an option, a laboratory kit, consisting of a multi-functional PC server and a workstation/server combo, where the student can experience hands-on training.
by Lee Ammons
Manufacturer: Micrografx 1303 East Arapaho Rd. Richardson, TX 75081 www.micrografx.com Requirements: 486 DX or faster 8 MB RAM 16 preferred MS Windows 95 or NT CD Rom 30 Meg HD space, mouse VGA - 256 color Street price: aprox 99.00
Picture Publisher 7 is an Image Editor/Paint Program that is much more than just a pretty face. It is a very good program that is inexpensive and easy to learn. Picture Publisher 7's strongest points in my estimation are its ability to enhance photographs and create web graphics. It can also be used to create `digital paintings' from scratch.
Unlike a lot of manuals that come with the various programs, PP7's manual is quite easy to read and understand. There are quite a few graphics in the manual which show you step by step what you are reading. This was quite impressive to me. The on-line tutorial is quite good also. I haven't used PP6 but from what I've heard from friends that used it, PP7 is much easier to learn and use.
The manual and tutorials are definitely for the individuals with little or no graphic experience so if you are new to this type of editing/painting you will be pleased. The program is very easy to learn, yet also does some more advanced things.
From what I've read and heard of Version 6 versus Version 7 there are enough new features to make upgrading worthwhile and yet still maintain the feel of Version 6. This is an important item in my eyes as I don't feel that you need to totally change a program just to call it an upgrade. I like the same look and feel so I just have to learn to the new upgraded features and not the whole program.
Where I use Picture Publisher 7 the most is in enhancing my photos for genealogy. I bring the old and new photos (family photos) into Picture Publisher 7 and can really see improvements when I am finished with them. I have some real old photos that are looking great after enhancing them with Picture Publisher7.
PP7's main or opening window is like an art studio where you take your photos to get them ready for release. Before you can use all the functions available in the main window you must first open an image. The toolbar located at the left of your screen contains tools for editing your images. You can use the view tool to see what your images would look like in different sizes. There are masking tools, filter tools, retouch tools, fill tools, draw tools, text tools, color probe, color swatch tool, crop tool, the view tool, selector tool and selector transform tool, so you see there are many tools to work with. The speed at which these tools work is very good and will surprise you.
There are some great third party products that are included on the CD, which you wouldn't know about unless you search the CD and then try them out. They are: VideoCraft GIF Animator, a program for creating animated GIFs and Map This 3.1 which is used for creating image maps. Picture Publisher also has its own built in macros and wizards that should be checked out closely before you purchase other third party addons.
Picture Publisher comes with a large collection of clip art and photos and a Media Manager to handle and catalog these collections and others that you want to include. Media Manager will help you organize included and other graphic images.
There are numerous wizards included in the program, one for creating text with special effects, another for creating drop shadows. The button wizard creates buttons mainly for use on web pages but which can also be used in other ways.
The tutorials in the manual take you step by step through each of the projects that are available. The tutorials are presented in order of easiest to most sophisticated and should be done in order if you are a new user. If you are an old pro at this type of thing then you can pick and choose the tutorials in the order that interests you. Either way it is a good idea to go through at least a few of the tutorials to bring you up to speed before you branch out on your own, unless of course you are a professional.
One of the tutorials that I did and was impressed with was creating a Report Cover. All I can say about the completed project is "AWESOME"! I couldn't believe that even though I was doing it step by step with the tutorial it would be so perfect. First a background was created using a Gradient Fill, then I applied a Clouds effect. This was getting fun! Next I selected an image by opening an existing file. I cropped the image and copied and pasted it on to the background. Then I had to scale the image and centered it on the background. You organize your work using the Command Center which saves your work. I then started working with the Mask Channel and doing special effects. Adding text to my project was next. From there I went to adding graphics to the Report Cover and rotating and moving them about. As I said the finished project was Awesome!
Copy HTML makes it easy to copy the codes for placement of an image in an HTML file from Picture Publisher into a text based editor in one easy step. This version of Picture Publisher is geared for HTML and the Internet. What isn't these days.
For the money and ease of use this is an excellent program. I would highly recommend this program to anyone doing photo editing.
![[Ogden Outpost Image]](../../images/ogden.gif)
November Meeting
If you missed our November BlueChips meeting, you missed out on some
important information about new and improved IOMEGA products. You also
missed out on the goodies they passed out.
It was a GREAT meeting. Thanks IOMEGA!
December Meeting
On Tuesday, December 9th, Charles Morgan from Software Plus sent us
one of his hardware technicians. He told us all about custom building and
upgrading your own PC. We met in the OWATC Union Building, Rm UB1 at 7pm
also a great meeting thanks!
Nomination/Election of Officers FOR `98
It is also time for nominating new officers. We will be holding elections
as soon as possible. Be thinking about who you want for President, Vice
President and Secretary. Currently Bob Meyer is serving as President and
Rob Ritchie is serving as VP and secretary. They need a break, but will
be available to assist the new officers.
Questions or Suggestions
Contact Bob Meyer at meyerre@mail.xmission.com
or Rob Ritchie at ogden@jcave.com
by David Hunter
Manufacturer: Blue Sky Software 7777 Fay Ave., Suite 201 La Jolla, CA 92037 Tel (619) 4596365 Tel (800) 6774969 Fax (619) 4596366 WEB: http://www.bluesky.com/ E-mail: info@bluesky.com System Requirements: Word 7 for Windows 95 35 Meg Free HD space 8 MB or more of system RAM Reviewed System Config. Zeos Pantera (100 MHz Pentium) 88 meg Ram 2 Gig HD 17" monitor Suggested List: $595 Street Price: $ ???
Help with Help.
Have you ever authored a Help File for an application you or someone
else has produced? It can be a very daunting task. Help files are hypertext
linked documents that are displayed using a Windows Help program. When
authoring a help file, you are preparing the documents that the Windows
Help program will use. One needs a lot of help when attempting help authoring
projects. Several help programs have been looked at and Blue Sky's Robo
Help is the one I chose for my first major Help File effort. RoboHelp is
part of BlueSky Software's WinHelp Office Suite. BlueSky calls it the "Complete
Help Authoring Solution." Authors can use WinHelp to produce Help
systems for Window NT 3.51/NT 4.0, Windows 95, and Windows 3.1, as well
as the new HTMLbased Help standards. (Microsoft HTML Help and Netscape
NetHelp.) The same Documentation that produces all of these help systems
can also produce professional documentation and Intranet/Internet Web Sites.
RoboHelp is a great product but it does not work alone. RoboHelp version 4.0 requires and uses Microsoft Word 7.0 as its word processing engine. In effect RoboHelp is a set of complex templets and macros which turn Word into this awesome Help-authoring-machine. External programs give support and versatility to the overall process. WinHelp Office is a major support system. This is a review of my using the RoboHelp and `What's This Help Composer portions of it to produce a help system for an existing Major Visual Basic Project. Other systems in the package are mentioned to give you an idea of the scope and capabilities of WinHelp Office.
WinHelp Office System
WinHelp Office comes in a large slipcase with six slide out compartments.
Inside you'll find a Video, WinHelp Office on CD rom, registration card,
(electronic registration is available), and thirteen books comprising the
documentation support for WinHelp which covers the following programs:
Installation
Place the supplied CD ROM in your CD drive and the installation process
is all but over. No hitches were encountered. A task bar is created which
gives the user access to the many features and programs contained in this
Suite. The WinHelp Office is also offered in 3.5" disk format if you
do not have a CD drive. (If you have the CD version, you must send the
unopened CD to BlueSky to get the Diskettes.)
I selected the Standard Installation. It took 35.8 Meg of Drive space, utilizing 54 directories, and created 579 files. Additional drive space is required for work directories. That space requirement is dependent on the size of the projects you are creating.
Working with RoboHelp 4.
WinHelp Office displays a tool bar. It appears as a floating WinHelp
`program launching platform.' The programs supported by the suite can be
started from this toolbar The floating toolbar can be selected as a `stay
on top' window. It can also be minimized to hang around on the Task Bar
until needed. If you have a 17" monitor, or bigger, there is a clear
place in the MS Word header where the WinHelp toolbar can be located. It
does not dock with the header, but nothing of consequence is covered up.
A right mouse click on this toolbar displays a popup menu. A Dock to Workspace
option is offered. When the docking option is checked, the WinHelp toolbar
can be moved around, but it does not dock with the Word Header. It will
change from horizontal to vertical format if brought close to the sides
of your screen.
When you select RoboHelp from this tool bar, a window appears. It is not unlike a program start mini-wizard. You are asked if you would like to launch an existing Robo Project or start a new one. This can be done for Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 help file projects. Making a selection starts MS Word, then loads the project you have selected. An alternative way to getting an existing project started, especially if you are already running MS Word, is to select your project from the Past Documents feature or the file browser in Word itself. The loading of the Help Document will set up the RoboHelp tools and menu structure in the MS Word header. (The WinHelp launched mini-wizard starting dialog has a past project listing under the File menu item, as well, for fast launching of existing help projects.)
The RoboHelp tool bar appears in the header of Word 97. It is dockable, and can be moved and placed anywhere on the screen. It can also be resized as the graphic here shows. It's regular format is as a single row of tool buttons. As the tool bar is resized, the number of rows increases or decreases, and the width decreases or increases as needed.
A current Help project was underway when RoboHelp came up to bat. My first encounter with the program was to figure out how to get my previous project into RoboHelp. I didn't feel comfortable starting over with my project as a lot of work had already been invested. I also wanted to check out RoboHelp with my project rather than a sample project. I created a new project, so all of the formatting that RoboHelp needs to create a viable project would be in tack. Then the .HPJ file from the existing project was brought in via the Import Utility. It worked perfectly. My jumps, links and topics all made the trip. Despite the success of the import, there were a number of errors revealed in my project. RoboHelp has a built in Error Wizard. With its help, all of my errors were documented, and I was shown how to fix them via Help "How To" dialog boxes.
The concept of putting together a help file using RoboHelp is simple on the surface. One creates topics. A topic is not unlike a header for a block of information which can be addressed by a Jump. Both topic and jump codes are applied to your text elements via the accessible tool box buttons located at the top of the Word window. The RoboHelp buttons integrate with the Word tool bars seamlessly, and have popup description prompts describing their function. This feature is a very helpful learning aid. The RoboHelp tool bar buttons are mirrored in the Word Menu Structure as well.
Graphic elements can be inserted at any time. These graphic elements can entertain hot spots, which in and of themselves, can act as jumps (or links) to other topics in your project. There is a lot of potential here for some very creative Help Menu navigation. I experimented with screen captures of my application, that a help file was being designed for. These screen captures were edited to create the hot spots so that when a reader clicked on something on the graphic, the help system would jump to a topic describing that selection. Subsequent discovery and use of the "What's This" program in WinHelp eliminated the need for this Hot Spot approach as I was using it.
Creating the Help File from your RTF document.
So far, the creation of the Help documentation in word has produced an
RTF file. This file is used by RoboHelp to maintain the source of the pending
Help File. To actually create the help file, it is necessary to run the
compiler.
The compilation process involves several guided steps and begins when you click on the MakeProject button on the Tool Bar
This all seems quite complex, and it is. I went into this detail to show you what is involved in the creation of a Help File. These options indicate how much you would have to deal with if you were do create a help file manually. No thank you. I'll let RoboHelp do all of this stuff. In actuality, only three buttons are clicked to go from the RTF stage to final HLP file. All of the above are options that you can set along the way if you wish. The time it takes to complete compilation depends on the size of your project. My project takes about 15 seconds to compile. (About 30 pages of original RTF text). The help file can be checked out and you can go back to the RTF file and make corrections and deletions. This cycle is repeated until the job is done. You are usually blue in the face by then due to the enormity of the task of creating documentation for a help file. RoboHelp at least takes the task of actual help file creation off the task list, and makes the process of RTF document development much easier by its many helps added to the Word Environment.
"What's This" program.
I was and am very impressed with this program. It very effectively
scans your application and creates all of the help structure needed to
provide Context Sensitive help. This is a daunting and time consuming process
to do by hand. This program eliminates what can be a complex, often changing,
dialog between a programmer and a Help author. "What's This"
works with both Visual Basic 4.0 and 5.0, as well as C and C++ projects,
using Borland, Symantec, Microsoft, or Watcom compilers.
There are many facets to this program. The list of features is extensive. Here is a brief list of a few of them:
When I tried this program it was an amazing thing to watch. I pointed "What's This" help to my VB 5.0 project and became a spectator as a series of actions occurred automatically. The project was scanned and "What's This" set up a set of dialog lists that had all of the objects in all of the forms of my project. It was a matter of simply selecting the Form I wanted to work on. The objects for that form are displayed, and clicking on an object made it the current topic to be edited in the "Help Text" edit window. It was very straightforward and intuitive. The graphic above is a capture of "What's This Help Composer" working on my project. This project has 18 forms and many objects. The program did not miss any of these components.
There are many details that occurred during this process that I am unaware of. Never having created a help sensitive system before by hand, I am unaware of all the details addressed by the "What's This" system. The first time I ran my application the context help worked. It was a true redletter day. I was amazed and very satisfied with the results. Outside of RoboHelp itself, I have found this to be the single most powerful component of WinHelp for my needs.
An interesting aspect to this program is that it can develop your context help system at the same time that the application is being developed. I am doing the Application as well as the Help system which could make the process more complex. When "What's This" is run, it detects that the application has changed and notifies you that a refresh of the current context help project is needed. This process is automatic and corrects any changed or added components in the application. My VB project was at about the mid-development stage when the "What's This" program was started. Many updates and refreshes have passed under the bridge. All of the updates instigated by "What's This" were performed with no problems or hickups. Very impressive, indeed.
On a project the context sensitive help can be activated anytime the cursor is over an object and the F1 key is pressed. A small dialog box appears containing the text that has been entered by the help author using the "What's This Help Composer." Selecting anything else on a form causes this box to disappear. Also available is a button with a `?' in it that is located on the right side of the caption portion of a form. Clicking on this button allows the user to click on various objects on the form. Each click causes the associated dialog to appear. Reclicking on the `?' button restores the form to normal operation.
Help to HTML
This conversion program transforms a help file into HTML format. In
looking into this facet of WinHelp, I used my VB project Help file created
by WinHelp.
This conversion launches from the WinHelp Office tool bar. It runs as a wizard.
It has five stages of inquiry to complete the conversion.
Completing these steps I was surprised that the conversion had created 120 HTML files with 14 graphic GIF files. (I had no image files.) The amount of time to perform the conversion was very brief. I did not get a sense of how long it really took. I was expecting a minute or more would be necessary, but it was much less than that.
Creating Help files and converting them to HTML is an interesting operation.
I found it quick and accurate as far as the text portion went. There were
default decisions made concerning fonts and formatting of the text. HTML
has some pretty severe restrictions in this department, and the resulting
conversion was different than the text but acceptable. Something happened
with the Graphics however. My graphics were BMP screen shots of my program
forms. All of them had a gray background originally. The converted HTML
files showed these files with a kind of sick yellow/green background. I
view the HTML files in both Explorer 4.0 and Netscape 4.03, and each displayed
the same offcolor background. This is the only real minus with the conversion
that I saw. It would take some time to fix this if you had the original
graphics. If a conversion were made of a Help file for which the original
graphics were not available, the color alteration would be more difficult
to deal with.
Problems
Lost Graphics
I had one major problem that caused some heartburn. There were five
occasions when I found all of my graphics in my RTF work file missing.
In their place was a square with an ominous bold red `X' in the middle
of it. I don't know if this was happening in RoboHelp or Word. It was necessary
to delete each of these boxes one by one and manually replace the original
graphic file again. Then we were OK for a while until the next time the
red `X's' appeared. At this time I do not know what was causing this problem.
Long File Names NOT supported
The Help to Word Converter and the WinHelp Inspector were found to
not support Win95 Long File names. This was a disappointment. Hopefully
the next version of WinHelp Office will correct this.
Did the Program work for me?
Yes it did. With just enough experience with Visual Basic to get myself
involved in some intense coding sessions and, on occasion, get a result
that mimics a real program, I needed a Help File Authoring tool. Only recently
have I been involved in creating a help file for one of my programs. A
look at three of the leading currently available help authoring programs
showed promise. They each had their special features. All but one of them
had to be hitched up with Word. In using RoboHelp, I found it worked best
for me. With essentially no experience with help files, RoboHelp's many
wizards were able to get me through it. I had an honest, well running,
help file the first day that I installed RoboHelp. It is an amazing thing
to see, and a great program to work with.
The proof is in the pudding. I like this program. Find out more about RoboHelp and WinHelp Office at their web site.
by Howard Johansen
Manufacturer: Data Junction Corporation 2201 Northland Drive Austin, Texas 78756 Tel: 5124591308 Fax: 5124591309 email: Windows System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher Dos 5.x or higher A hard disk with 6MB of free disk space One floppy disk drive 4 MB of RAM (8MB recommended) OS/2 System Requirements OS/2 ver. 2.1 or higher A hard disk with 6MB free hard disk space One floppy disk drive 16 MB of RAM
When I first read about Cambio in the Software up for review section of the newsletter I will have to admit I was excited. I thought to myself that my prayers were answered. I finally will have a program to convert all of my data base files that I had in the Atari ST format over to the PC in Paradox 7 format.
When you read about the impressive ability that Cambio has to read complex text files of many kinds. Such as printouts from programs captured on disk, reports of any size or dimension, ASCII or EBCDIC text files, spooled print files, fixed length sequential files, complex multiline files and downloaded text files. You get the impression that this program is the end-all-program for data conversion.
Well, I learned that although the program is capable of doing these many functions. The user friendliness of the program has a lot to be desired. I started with a ASCII text file that was tab delimited and each line was a fixed length (not a very tough file to convert). All in all it took many hours of fiddling with the program to convert the file into Paradox 7 format. I actually had to convert it to Access and then into Paradox. This program is not what I would call easy to use.
In all actuality I used Paradox 7's new Text Expert import feature to convert all my files over to the PC. In Paradox it took only about five minutes to convert the same file into a complete running table. This is just what I expect from a program. Ease of use
![[Software Review Image]](../../images/software.gif)
By Donna Nendell, Review Program Manager and Don Nendell, Editor
To sign up to review an article, call Donna Nendell at 565-9594
or E-mail me at Dnendell@AOL.com.
Adobe Type On Call 4.2 - {www.adobe.com}- A fast, economical way to buy typefaces from the Adobe Type Library. Purchase access keys and unlock encrypted typefaces from your CD-ROM, which includes the Adobe Type Library, with the finest selection of typefaces from world-renowned companies, such as Adobe, Agfa, Berthold, ITC, Linotype-Hell, and Monotype. The Adobe Type on call 4.2 contains the Adobe Type Library packages 1-434 and more than 2,300 high quality digital typefaces.
Billing Solution from ProVenture Professional Tools For Small Business and MySoftware Company -{www.mysoftware.com} Spend less time on your billing, more on your business. Manages your billing from everything from invoicing to collecting payments. Easily creates professional invoices, estimates and statements. Tracker window notifies you when a customer is overdue. Tracks accounts payable, balances due, and payments received. The Design Wizard gets you started quickly. Select the customer name and product - the program automatically fills in the rest. Print professional invoices, estimates, and statements on your choice of paper.
Crash Course in Windows 95 & NT 4.0 from Mike Murach & Associates Inc. - This little book packs a mighty wallop. An exceptionally well-organized and lucid introduction. A thin book that carries you, step by step, through everything needed for familiarity and comfort when you're using Windows 95. Learn many new shortcuts and procedures. Time spent learning with this book will be repaid many times over. Murach & Associates offers a 40% discount to User Groups. Phone 800-221-5528 week days (for example: $10.00 less 40% = $6.00)
FaxFree from TAC Systems Incorporated - {www.tacsystem.com} - FaxFree on the Internet and start saving thousands of dollars today. FaxFree provides the functionality of an ordinary fax while dramatically reducing or eliminating telephone fax charges. FaxFree is an easy-to-use replacement for an ordinary fax that allows Internet users to send faxes anywhere in the world e-mail at no cost. FaxFree is much more than e-mail. Send scanned images, charts, bar graphs, drawings, schematics and spreadsheets all within your documents via the Internet for FREE! The recipient doesn't even need to have a copy of FaxFree to receive faxes through their Internet e-mail address. FaxFree is easy to use.
Squiggle from Insight Development Corporation - {www.insightdev.com} Create Hand - Sketched Looks From Your CAD Drawings! Features independent line width, color and sketch style controls. Squiggle transforms HPGL and HPGL/2 into beautiful "hand-drawn" architectural presentations, mechanical drawings, product presentation sketches, technical illustrations, design concepts and more! Squiggle enables architects, designers, and artists to add style, excitement and emphasis to presentations, brochures, catalogs, posters, slide shows and other promotional materials.
PrintAPlot® Batch from Insight Development Corporation -{ www.insightdev.com} PrintAPlot Batch converts HPGL & HPGL/2 plot files for output to any Windows print device. Use PrintAPlot Batch as a stand-alone application, or from within AutoCad using the included ADI driver. Plots can be output in any resolution that your printer that your printer supports. Fast on-screen layout and formatting can be accomplished using PrintAPlot's Live Paper Space. Customized "Pen Templates" can be created and assigned to individual files, allowing users to assign pen width and pen color for each file independently. PrintAPlot Batch prints at any resolution that the printer supports. Print "A" to "E" size drawings on any printer using PrintAPlot Batch's tiling feature.
ULTRA 33 from Promise Technology, Inc. - {www.promise.com} Ultra ATA/EIDE Accelerator. Increase Disk Performance up to 100% with new Ultra ATA/DMA drives, Frees 2 EIDE ports on the motherboard for more devices, First controller to break 8.4GB drive barrier. Accelerate Performance 33 MB per second. Product Specifications: Bus Platform - PCI, Data Transfer Rates - 33MB/Sec sustained and burst, # of Hard Drives- 4, Drive Types Supported - Ultra ATA/DMA EIDE/Fast ATA-2, Drive Modes - Ultra DMA 2/1/0 PIO 4/3/2/1/0 (EDIE/Fast ATA) DMA2/1/0 (EIDE/Fast ATA), ATAPI Device Support- No, Onboard BIOS - Automatically identifies & configures drive type (EIDE or Ultra DMA; auto-detects & supports Ultra Mode transfers; PCI Plug n' Play; recognizes drives greater than 8.4 GB, Advanced Data Features - Windows-based ULTRATUNE utility customizes controller for specific applications, Bus mastering off-loads data I/O handling from CPU, Operating Systems Compatibility - DOS 5.x and above, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.x & 4.x
Video Express Email from ImageMind Software - {www.imagemind.com} The Internet is the future of communication, so why not make it your future? With Video Express Email you can send audio and video email to friends, family member and business associates. Plays immediately, No waiting for a file to download to your PC. For a small subscription fee, you can send unlimited Video Express Email messages. The recipient doesn't need to have this software to receive your audio, video, PowerPoint Presentation or multimedia slide show email. NOTE: Special requirements are involved: Download the software. After the review is published, reviewer will receive a one (1) year free subscription to Video Express Email from ImageMind Software.
WebEdit Pro from Luckman's -{www.luckman.com} - Luckman's WebEdit Pro is a full-featured, professional HTML authoring and editing tool, yet it is extremely easy to use. Built-in tools and wizards make advanced HTML features such as frames, tables and forms quick to create. With its many powerful features, Luckman's WebEdit Pro is the premier Web page authoring tool for Microsoft® Windows® 95 and Windows NT. WYSIWYG Frame Wizard, WYSIWYG Form Builder, WYSIWYG Table Builder, Quick Pre-viewer, Multimedia Wizard, Open from Location, Client-Side Image Mapping, HTML 3.2, Navigator 3.0 and Internet Explorer 3.0 Tags, FTP Upload, Link Validation Wizard, Multilingual Spell Checker, Project Support and much more.
Here's that gentle Reminder again, your reviews are due.
Cleansweep Deluxe William May Lets Pretend Volume 3 Marian Hatch Lets Pretend Volume 4 Justin Hatch PowerCat TouchPad William May Presto! Multimedia Suite Robert Craven Presto! Page Manager Suite Robert Craven Presto! PhotoAlbum Gena Roe Resume Maker Shane Neilsen
If the following reviews are not turned in by January 14, 1998 you will be disqualified from the review program and, you will be asked to return the product immediately.
Howard Emery Qemm 97 Lauryn Wingate Project Kick Start Max Holloway PaperBridge 3.0
The following HAVE BEEN Disqualified from the review program.
Return the product immediately!
I'm tried of asking!
Cam Burnham MS Office Pro Cam Burnham 12,000 Clip Art Larry Lamph Cheyenne AntiVirus Randi Mears Ozzie's World Deluxe Edition Steven Crofoot ActionPlus Suite Joe Friend Ancestry Genealogy Library Dave Otterstrom Quick Mail PRO
Remember, you must call or e-mail Donna if you want to review ANY OF THE ABOVE listed products. Don't forget the $5.00 shipping and handling on review products.
Donna Nendell -------565-9594
E-Mail: Dnendell@AOL.Com
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Net Addict's Reality Test
Have you been spending more and more time using the Interact.? Have your cheeks taken on that pasty-white glow from over exposure to your computer monitor?
How do you know if you're addicted to the Net and losing touch with
reality?
Take this Net Addict's Reality Test . . . . . .
3. Which punctuation is most correct?
by Reynold Wells
Product Name: The Neverhood Manufacturer: Microsoft and Dreamworks Joint Venture Websites: http://www.dreamworksgames.com http://www.neverhood.com Requirements: Pentium 75mHz (or better) 8 MB of RAM (16 MB Recommended) 10 MB free hard disk space SVGA card and monitor 4X CD-ROM Mouse Sound card Windows 95
I first became aware of "The Neverhood" when I was loaned a disc with the demo version. After just a few minutes of playing this demo version of the game, I knew I just had to have the whole thing!
I was just about to go and buy The Neverhood game when.... WOW! I won one at the monthly meeting! I installed the game, and then proceeded with the adventures of Klaymen in The Neverhood.
The game starts out with Klaymen sleeping in a room, snoring loudly. The room, as everything else in The Neverhood, looks like it is made of clay. There is a rather large hammer poised just above the closed door. It is up to the player to figure out how to get Klaymen out of this room and on with his adventure, which includes a hungry Venus Flytrap, an angry Monster, and occasional help from Willie Trombone.
While playing this game, there is a music soundtrack, along with sound effects. In at least one part of the game, music is used to solve one of the puzzles.
One of the funniest parts of this game involves a rather upset monster that chases Klaymen around, roaring and snapping at him with rather large pincers. Klaymen then ends up trapped in one of the many rooms in this game, and you need to help him figure a way to get by the monster that is reaching in the doorway and is trying to get at Klaymen.
Also, while Klaymen works his way through The Neverhood, he will find items lying on the ground. Clicking on the object will cause Klaymen to pick the item up and put it away for safe keeping. Then, later in the game, Klaymen can use these items.
I "un- install"ed The Neverhood once so I could install it on a different computer, and all the puzzles changed! I had to figure them all out over again. Apparently, each time the game is "install"ed, these puzzles change. For example, in one part Klaymen needs to mix up a drink that is made up of three colored liquids. When I played the second installation, the colors for the liquids were different, along with most of the other "puzzles" being slightly different.
I am still thoroughly enjoying this game, and perhaps someday, I may actually figure out how to solve all the puzzles and see the end of the game!
Here is a hint: A visit to the mailbox located below the Venus Flytrap room will yield new clues from Willie if you need help during play.
by James Alexander
Manufacturer: Acceleration Software International Corp. 999 3rd Avenue, 38th Floor Seattle WA 98104 www.accelerationsw.com Ordering: (800) 754-1128, 8-5 Pacific, M-F Cost: $49.95 plus shipping and handling Available in retail stores as Syncronys's - Windrenalin, also available from some mail order vendors in special bundles. System requirements: Windows95 16 Mb RAM 486 DX 66 MHZ CD-ROM drive
YES! You too, will enjoy a faster PC than ever before. Speed improvements guaranteed from a measly 70% to nearly 500%*. Unique to the Windows95 operating system, it is possible for anyone to have these same dramatic improvements on their PC with most applications. NO, SuperFassst! Does not come with a set of never sharpen again steak knives, and the product does require occasional maintenance and tune-up. What? You have never heard of this product. SuperFassst! was one of those hidden gems from Fall 1996 COMDEX. It was a utility finalist in Byte Magazine's Best of COMDEX awards.
Does it really improve performance? Yes, it does. I have tested the product on both a minimum 486 PC with 16 Mb RAM and a Pentium 133 PC system with 40 Mb RAM. Since the results were identical, this review applies to either hardware setup.
The performance improvement is visually evident, no stopwatch is needed. However, if you are a bean counter, use any of the free Windows95 bench marking tools from ZD or IDG publications. Print out the results from before and compare them with system performance after installing SuperFassst! First off, there is no improving existing hardware, but the product does improve the way applications interact with and optimizes hardware usage. This `trick' is available only in the Windows95 operating system. The engineering involves something to do with allowing applications to access directly (through the "0" ring) hardware such as hard disks, CD-ROM, modem buffers, etc. (For a more complete discussion, read A. Schulman's "Unauthorized Windows95")
There are some applications (according to Acceleration Software) which may not function properly, but so far I have not discovered any applications that did not improve. Installation can take some time. Prior to installation, run Scandisk and Defrag on all drives and partitions, if you haven't the program will require you to do so before installation. After installation, SuperFassst! initializes each program as you launch it. The first and occasionally second launch will take longer than usual, but once initialized the applications are much faster. Occasional maintenance is required or you will have trouble in CPU city. The maintenance is simple: Scandisk and Defrag. Changes in hardware will cause SuperFassst! to want to reinitialize, which I highly recommend after the changes are completed. The product puts its logo in the Taskbar's `tray'. Right mouse click on the logo allows you to Disable or Enable SuperFassst!
*The highest possible performance is limited to higher end PCs such as the Pentium Pro and Pentium II with software written expressly for Windows95. If you use a Promise Technologies Controller card, contact Promise before installation.
In February of 1997, Acceleration made a marketing arrangement where SuperFassst! is sold under the name of Windrenalin from Syncronys Softcorp. Acceleration Software started out as Ballard Synergy, and marketed other similar utilities including CD-ROM performance titles dTime10, dTime95, and dTimeMac. A free download called Netscape Accelerator will enhance the performance of Netscape 3.x, and allows you the opportunity to evaluate the basic technology used in SuperFassst!
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by John Ogilvie
PATENT law in the United States forbids a utility patent on any invention
which is "obvious," and patent laws in other countries often
have a similar requirement. There is general agreement that obvious improvements
in technology are not entitled to patent protection. For instance, the
U.S. Constitution authorizes patents only to "promote the Progress"
of technology. Patents provide powerful legal rights which should not be
awarded unless doing so encourages technical innovation that benefits society.
But there is much less agreement on whether particular improvements are obvious. As the U.S. Supreme Court stated in the leading case on obviousness, "What is obvious is not a question upon which there is likely to be uniformity of thought in every given factual context." Graham v.John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1 (1966). Patent applicants and their patent attorneys rarely agree with patent examiners, at least initially, on what is and what is not an obvious combination of previous technologies. Before a patent is granted it is often necessary to offer the examiner detailed explanations of differences between the claimed invention and prior approaches, to amend the legal definition of the claimed invention, and to otherwise deal with obviousness concerns. Of course, a lack of obviousness is not the only requirement for patent ability, but it is one of the most commonly raised requirements.
The Graham case and other legal authorities provide a framework for assessing obviousness. Understanding the Graham framework will help you understand why a given patent claim was rejected or allowed, and will help you make credible arguments about the patent ability or validity of particular patent claims. Understanding the Graham framework will also help you realize that evaluating obviousness requires judgment and that even reasonable people can therefore reach different conclusions about obviousness.
Under the Graham framework, obviousness is assessed as follows. First, one determines the scope and content of the prior art; "prior art" is the existing body of technical information, such as patents, publications, marketed products, and such. In patent terminology, "art" refers to a technical subject or field, not to painting, sculpture, or other fine arts. The differences between the prior art and the patent claims are then identified; the claims are numbered paragraphs at the end of a patent or patent application which define the invention. The level of ordinary skill in the relevant technology is also determined. Finally, one asks whether the claimed invention, as a whole, would have been obvious at the time of invention to one of ordinary skill in the technology who had access to all relevant prior art.
One's decision may be influenced by "secondary considerations" that indicate a lack of obviousness. For instance, obviousness is less likely if the invention has had great commercial success, if it provides unexpected results, if it solves long felt but previously unmet needs, if others tried and failed to provide such an invention, or if others have now copied the invention.
In summary, obviousness is evaluated by comparing the claimed invention to the prior art from the point of view of someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention. As a practical matter this means you may disagree with a decision maker's conclusion even when you and the decision maker are both reasonable and well-informed. To advance your position you must be prepared to provide persuasive explanations that answer the decision maker's questions or concerns about the prior art, the level of ordinary skill, the scope of the patent claims, and the history of the invention.
John W. L. Ogilvie is a Registered Patent Attorney and founder of the Computer Law++ law firm. He can be reached at (801) 355-0828 or email jwlo@LAWPP.com.More information is available at http://www.lawplusplus.com. Computer Law++, LAWPP, and lawplusplus are trademarks, and Law++ is a federally registered trademark of John Ogilvie. Copyright 1997 John Ogilvie. All Rights Reserved.
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