Jaques Law Office

Jaques Law Bits 9701

© 1996 Kevin Jaques. All rights reserved excepting that this file may be copied for non-commercial purposes, unchanged. No warranties apply. I am just a user volunteering my observations and collecting those of others.

Table of Contents

Future Share

Exponential CPUs hit 500 mhz

NisusWriter 5.0 is OpenDoc Container

Working Papers - Cheap Document Archiving

Battle of the Low-End Clones

56 kbps Modems

Friendly Talk between Sun and Apple

Apple Introduces AudioActive

Microbrew CGI Development

Remote Start Over Internet

NetGorilla Competes with Internet Config

Internet Setup Monkey

OnLine Banking Update

Oh, all right, ONE Newton Article: The Message Pad 2000

OK Fine, ONE MORE Newton Article: The New eMate 300

Quicken News

Jaz Drives

My New Modem

MacUser Review of BeOS

MultiProcessor Macs

Get Your Slow Modems Now

Postscript Level 3

More Conflict Info Sources?

Browser Tips for AVI Video files

System Cleansing

Font Insight re .AFM files

Internet News from theNet 9701

OnLine Game Sites

OnLine Chat Formats

(Some of) Yahoo!'s Picks of the Week"

RAM Doubler 2.0.1

FileMaker 3.0v4

FileMaker 3 Needs Higher ObjectSupportLib

TidBits Thoughts On NextStep Acquisition

BeOS News - New Release and Mac Emulater

Now Apple is Really Pushing It - System 7.6

Sorry, that's all the time I have.

This Jaques Law Bits was delivered by:

This Jaques Law Bits was delivered for:

Future Share

• This new version of AppleShare, expected early in 1997 (public beta in January) will also be a full internet server. Apple is drifting towards TCP/IP, but system file sharing may still be based in AppleTalk.
• The interface will be an OpenDoc container, serving as control panel to everything.
• The Web Server will support CGI applications, but not plug ins (at first).
• The Mail Server will support POP3 and SMTP, and the new IMAP
• The Print Server will be beefed up and OpenTransport savvy.
• MacUser 9701

Exponential CPUs hit 500 mhz

• Weirdly, Exponential is not using PPC, but PPC compatible CPUs, their own X704.
• The X704 uses bipolar transistor technology, which requires a smaller voltage swing to cause a switch, which in turn, increases speed. PPCs use CMOS transistors.
• Oddly, they use a lot of power, and generate a lot of heat, compared to PPCs.
• Of course the rest of the computer will affect the actual speed experienced by the user.
• MacUser 9701

NisusWriter 5.0 is OpenDoc Container

• NisusWriter 5.0 from Nisus-Soft is an OpenDoc Container.
• New Features also include customizable style libraries and an HTML save option.
• $249US or $69US upgrade.
• 1-800-281-0101
• MacUser 9701

Working Papers - Cheap Document Archiving

• Lawyers always dream of this scheme: scanning, indexing, and then instantly retrieving any of thousands of documents. Some have even paid the tab, usually tens of thousands of dollars.
• Dominion Software claims Working Papers is all you need.
• MacUser 9701

Battle of the Low-End Clones

• APS Technologies (M*Power), Motorola (StarMax), and now UMAX (SuperMac), and of course, Power Computing, are all offering low-end systems.
• UMAX's 8/1200 C500/166 for $1349US uses a 603e, has 256k L2 cache, 1mb graphics DRAM, a pile of software, and some CDs.
• MacUser 9701

56 kbps Modems

• Rockwell Semiconductor and Motorola Information Systems Group are developing technologies to let the modems receive at 56 kbps and send at 33.6 kbps. That's half the speed of ISDN!
• USRobotics offers the same speeds with x.2 protocol. Is this the same or different? Its 33.6 Sportster model can be upgraded to x.2.
• MacUser 9701

Friendly Talk between Sun and Apple

• They promise to work together to bring Java to the Mac.
• By the end of 1996, users should be able to embed Java Beans components in OpenDoc containers, as well as to fit Live Objects (OpenDoc parts) into Java Beans compatible applications.
• Then some time in 1997, you should be able to write LiveObjects from within the Java environment.
• IBM is already working on Blue Java Beans, which will integrate OpenDoc and Java Beans on the Windows platform.
• Also, Sun server computers are supposed to become more friendly to Mac client systems.
• MacUser 9701

Apple Introduces AudioActive

• Audioactive is an audio format developed by Telos for streaming sound files over the internet. You can play them with a Shockwave equipped browser, or, a player.
• MacUser 9701

Microbrew CGI Development

• Network Multimedia now owns the Product Formerly Known As Novell Appware. It calls it Microbrew, and is for developing CGIs (Common Gateway Interface (applications called by a web browser for some page-associated function)).
• $89US
• MacUser 9701

Remote Start Over Internet

• PowerKey Pro, from Sophisticated Circuits, is a device used to remotely restart or shut down or startup Macs. That is essential to any kind of a remote server (including ARA or even BBS servers), unless you live with it 24 hours a day. Previously, you connected it to a phone line. Now, PowerGate, a CGI application from Acme Technologies, provides a web interface.
• MacUser 9701

NetGorilla Competes with Internet Config

• It lets you store various internet related settings in one place, for use by any application. It stores more kinds, more of them, for more protocols, that the Shareware Internet Config.
• Internet Config is widely installed, but until recently, not widely used.
• $49US from Rockstar Studios, makers of FreePPP and Internet Setup Monkey.
• MacUser 9701

Internet Setup Monkey

• You may not have known it, but we, the Macintosh Users Group of Regina Saskatchewan (MUGORS) took on a task of preparing Internet installers for some local Internet providers. The notion was that it was both a service to Mac Users and good PR for the group. It is way harder than it first looked and we backed away.
• Evidently others found it hard, and Rockstar Studios, makers of FreePPP and Net Gorilla, came out with Internet Setup Monkey, which configures all the necessary preferences upon the installation.
• $1-$4/user, depending on the total number of users.
• MacUser 9701

OnLine Banking Update

• "Intuit traded its private electronic banking gateway for Quicken users, Intuit Services Corporation, to CheckFree, in exchange for a stake in that company." But, it intends to use OpenExchange, its own protocol, rather than the ISC for connecting with Quicken over the Internet.
• CheckFree is an electronic bill payment service. However, so few institutions are online, that it actually is printing and mailing about 60% of the payments.
• IBM and 15 major banks formed the Integrion Financial Network. The notion is that many transactions will be streamlined, by ensuring the banks have direct access to each other. However, it is supposed to have an 'open infrastructure' permitting users to get on from the internet or other online services.
• There is still an appallingly low number of banks offering online services right now, and even less for the Mac. Chase Manhattan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are exceptions.
• MacUser 9701

Oh, all right, ONE Newton Article: The Message Pad 2000

• It goes 10 times as fast as the Netwon 130, with a 162 mhz StrongArm CPU, a bigger backlit screen (480x320, 16 greys), Type II PC card slots (2!), internal modem slot, 1 mb system ram, 4 mb storage ram, has the new Interconnect high speed port (serial, LocalTalk, power, and audio in/out connections), bundled software (including a very basic web browser), and better handwriting recognition.
• It still sells for under $1000US.
• Keep in mind that USRobotics offers the Pilot, another PDA, which does fit in your pocket and costs $299US. See their web site
• See the web site.
• MacUser 9701

OK Fine, ONE MORE Newton Article: The New eMate 300

• This has a keyboard, and is targetted at students. It runs on a 25 mhz ARM 710a CPU and has less power overall than the MessagePad 2000.
• MacUser 9701

Quicken News

• Quicken seems to be emerging as the standard personal accounting package, since banks are adopting its formats.
• Quicken 7.0 is out in both regular and deluxe versions.
• QuickBooks 4.0 is the business version. It does not offer investment tracking as Quicken Deluxe does, but does offer better handling of accounts receivable, etc., and the Pro version offers job costing, time tracking, etc.
• But, outrage of outrage, Intuit has decided to stop developing further versions of QuickBooks for the Mac. It is stuck at 4.0 which does not offer online banking. PCs are on 5.0!
• MYOB got a better review in the prior MacUser than QuickBooks. Better still, it is promising multi-user versions, and already offers Canadian tax forms! Sadly for us lawyers, it has inadequate handling of accounts receivable (no automatic accrual of interest and only one calculation method), and no handling of trust accounts.
• See above under online banking for Intuit's deal with CheckFree.
• I checked out QuickBooks and it is so sweet to use. But! Import only in the Intuit Interchange Format and there are large chunks of things (time slips, transactions!) that can't be exported. Can you say 'data trap'?

Jaz Drives

• I got a Jaz Drive. It's as quiet and small and just nice to handle as the zip drives. I find it extremely fast.
• You can even get one at the Regina Future Shop, so availability is good. $669 including cartridge. It is the same box for Macs or PCs. It's like living in the real world. One gb Cartridges should be about $125.
• But! It doesn't offer partitioning, so the minimum file size is 16k. I partitioned it with FWB Hard Disk Toolkit Personal Edition v.1.?. It partitioned, but the file size didn't drop and the Jaz software got confused. Evidently HDT 2.0 ($29US for upgrade plus $20US for shipping) will handle them.
• SpeedDoubler 2.0 is supposed to speed up zip and possibly jaz drives.
• Iomega is the manufacturer.

My New Modem

• Just got a US Robotics 28.8/33.6 Sportster. Future Shop Regina $249.
• They will upgrade me for nothing to the new x.2 standard (55.8 kbps from the server, 33.6 to the server) but they will bill me for shipping.
• It was impossible from the box, the manuals, or online, to determine if it had FlashROM, but Future Shop agreed to take it back if it didn't. If I can ever determine it.

MacUser Review of BeOS

• "On identical hardwareŠthe BeOS leaves the MacOS in the dust.Šyou'll be stunnedŠit's amazingŠDon't try this on a Mac.Šour jaws droppedŠevery one of us at MacUser who worked with the BeOs was left with the same impression. If we could get our daily work done on the BeOS, we'd all have BeOS enabled Macs in no time."
• Power Computing has signed an exclusive agreement with Be to bundle the BeOS on its clones.
• You may recall that former Apple guy, Jean-Louis Gassée, formed Be, wrote a modern system from scratch, which runs on the PPC, and also a BeBox containing PPCs. You may recall that Apple denied being interested in buying it, but suddenly bought the NextStep, saying Be was too expensive.
• Multitasking
  • Apple tried to sell 'cooperative multitasking' as better than pre-emptive multitasking. The former expects the software to courteously share the machine's CPU time with the other programs unless it is absolutely necessary. In a perfect world, that might be better. But nobody plays nice, especially Microsoft. They keep it when they don't really need it which slows overall performance down, or they just hog it, which speeds some things at the expense of others, spoiling the 'feel' of the system. Further, not every program is completely debugged. Consequently, the system can wait forever for a hung program to return control. On the Mac, every time you hold the mouse button down on the Menu bar, everything stops, waiting centuries in computer time, for you to let go. Even on multi-processor machines.
  • The BeOs uses Pre-emptive multitasking, so it just snatches control back whenever it wants to. The BeOs, gives each application turn a 0.003 second turn. So, the processor is working more of the time, greatly improving speed. Of course the program can return control to the CPU voluntarily before that.
  • Windows NT 4.0 has pre-emptive multitasking, but lets older 16 byte apps run cooperatively.
  • You need a 'microkernel' to run pre-emptive multitasking, as I understand it. We don't have one.
• Protected Memory
  • I never was sure whether we had it or not. We don't. Buggy programs, and they all have some bugs, leak data into memory used by other programs and the system. Which causes data corruption and crashes which are nearly impossible to track down, for the user anyway.
  • BeOs has Protected Memory. So does Windows NT 4.0. People say they just never crash. Apps do. But the system and the other apps stay up. In my humble opinion, for the first time since the Mac came out, it can no longer say it is the best system. Surely we can live with that for a few months. Like Hell! I am already considering the budgetary effects of a switch.
• Re-entrancy
  • Simply put, if one program is using the system's toolbox for a task, can another program begin using it for the same task.
  • Apple promised it, not for Copland, which as you know, is grossly behind, but for the succeeding system, Gershwin.
  • I don't know if the others have it, but we sure don't.
• Virtual Memory
  • Sure, the MacOS has it. Sort of. You can use the system of RamDoubler to increase your effective ram by temporarily writing infrequently used portions of ram to the disk. The system version is slow and unfairly consumes hard disk space. RamDoubler has a ceiling.
  • The BeOS and Windows NT 4.0 both have 'modern' virtual memory. This means that you just need a certain minimum amount of ram, and after that, it is dynamic. It allocates more as needed until you run out of all forms of memory storage.
  • The BeOS also doesn't require programs to have an allocated amount of memory. They use what they use and take more when they need it. They neither run out nor waste space. On the Mac, we just balance those. I couldn't tell if Windows NT 4.0 did this.
• MultiProcessing
  • The MacOS permits it. However, the program must be written to take advantage of it by referring a task to be done by a processor besides the main processor. Rarely will this happen, I am guessing, as Yoda would say. Even when it does, the load is not distributed evenly, wasting computer time.
  • TheBeOS system does it. So any app is automatically capable of multi-processing. However, it only supports two processors. However again, it's standard box comes with two processors!
  • Windows NT does it best. The system does it, and if there is a limit, I don't know it.
• Multi-Threading
  • The MacOS supports it. All three systems do. It permits multiple things to be on the go at once. But applications must be written to take advantage of it. Shockingly, the Finder itself, is a prominent application which does not!
  • The BeOS components are all multi-threaded. Not so for Windows NT.
• Object Oriented Programming Style (OOPS)
  • Objects, in programming, are a little hard to explain. They have inheritance, which means that if you program for a parent class of objects, its subsidiary objects will already have that capability. For instance, you program how to draw a window object. A scrolling window would be a subsidiary or descendant object. It already knows how to draw the basic window. The advantages include speed of development, ease of debugging, and compactness of code.
  • The MacOs has been, until now, in the forefront of OOPS. But not all of it is, and most critically, not all of the Application Programming Interface. Windows NT is racing along in this area, and 4.0 may have caught up.
  • The BeOS is 100% OOPS.
• Specific Implementations and Applications
  • For sheer variety, Windows is king of this category. We loyalists suggest that those the Mac supports have been, at least until recently, better.
  • The BeOS doesn't have much. No scripting, not much multi-media, not many drivers for hardware, not many network capabilities (primitive file sharing, TCP/IP and PPP, promises of AppleTalk by spring), and just a few applications.
• Interface
  • Well, the MacOS still rules here, not counting speed and stability.
  • The BeOS does have nice context sensitive menus, and, what may be critical, a system level database. I have previously raved about what a great idea that is, but this article doesn't contribute much. The BeOS database is relational (a must) and widely used by the system software. Flexible and dynamic searches are available and fast.
• Required Hardware
  • The MacOS needs its special little ROM chip to run.
  • Windows NT 4.0 will run on the Intel processors of sufficient power, or on the promised new PPC spec.
  • The BeOS runs on the BeBox, or practically any PPC model.
• Emulations
  • My opinion is that each system software ought to always develop an emulater set of software, to increase its hardware and software flexibility. Apple should be a leader, due to its impressive emulation of 68000 machines on the PPC.
  • Software flexibility means you permit emulation of other systems, so your system can run apps written for other systems.
  • Hardware flexibility means your system will run on other hardware.
  • Be wants Mac Apps will run on the BeOS. First it will have to license a lot of key technologies, like QuickTime, ColorSync, QuickDraw, etc. Will Apple and Microsoft make them available?
• MacUser 9701

MultiProcessor Macs

• You will recall from above, that the MacOS supports it, but the program must take advantage of it by allocating desired tasks to the subordinate processors.
• MacUser credits DayStar for this. First, they developed the multiprocessor API (Application programming interface) and then debuted the first line of multiprocessor macs.
• DayStar's Genesis line is expensive. The base model is $8,499 US without anything. But it can accomodate 1.5 gb of ram. That's right. Gigabits of ram. And it comes with two or four processors. It can accomodate internal RAID arrays.
• DayStar also offers a $1,499US nPower 360+ multiprocessor upgrade card, with two 180 mhz 604e processors. It works on the Power Mac 7500, 7600, 8500, and 9500 systems, and UMAX clones. It uses the ram on the motherboard.
• Apple offers the Power Mac 9500, which includes that card.
• Neither the Genesis nor the card can use virtual memory.
• Adobe Photoshop supports multiprocessing for both the Mac and Windows NT. But the Windows version was less stable. Haw haw.
• Of course, as described above, the lack of pre-emptive multitasking on the Mac will restrict the gains we experience. But, the API imposes pre-emptive multitasking on those tasks which are done on the subordinate processors! It imposes turns of 0.01 seconds. Of course the program can return control to the CPU voluntarily before that.
• MacUser 9701

Get Your Slow Modems Now

• MacWarehouse is selling 14.4 modems, in use by myself until one week ago, for $29US.
• MacUser 9701

Postscript Level 3

• It's 5 years since Level 2.
• New Features
  • Enhanced Image Technology, to speed up image processing
  • handle 3D
  • add grayscaling
  • smooth gradients
  • add image compositing
  • incorporate parts of Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format), so pages will be more independent.
  • expands the resident font set.
  • will process HTML directly. Supposedly. But HMTL changes all the time!?
  • adds web based printer management
  • Planet Ready Printing (i.e., more internationalize)
• MacUser 9701

More Conflict Info Sources?

• Try Manual.com, Bendigo, and a list on AOL.
• MacUser 9701

Browser Tips for AVI Video files

• Chad Bloom says he doesn't like Explorer's conversion of AVI to QuickTime, so he drags the movie box to the desktop, which magically converts it to QuickTime. The system maybe? But you still must open the clip with MoviePlayer or SimplePlayer and save it as a self-contained movie.
• Mell Eadie says Netscape shows and converts AVI files fine with Knowledge Engineering's MacZilla plugin, but it is tricky to save them. Open the System:Preferences:MacZilla folder. Drag it out of there before the next AVI movie loads. Set the plug in preferences as follows from within MacZilla: Options menu:Helpers tab:Microsoft Video from the list: Edit button:save to disk check box.
• MacUser 9701

System Cleansing

• Sound Manager - Out or In?
  • System 7.5.3 began building Sound Manager in. But QuickTime 2.5 installs a SoundManager 3.2.1, to sort out a few conflicts it has with System 7.5.3. But get rid of it on a PowerBook 500.
• Getting Rid of AppleGuide?
  • Some of those guide files, hidden in preferences, are big (e.g. 1.8 mb). You could turn off the AppleGuide Extension, then compress them. They compress well. Then, if you want them, you needn't reinstall.
• LaundroMac
  • $69.96US List from Excelsior Group (Peter Caylor) can find help files of many sorts, trim fat binary apps, delete unused prefs and empty folders and lost aliases, and de-install apps with all their components. Free Demo.
• MacUser 9701

Font Insight re .AFM files

• AFM stands for Adobe Font Metrics. Often, when you download a postscript font, you get a file with that suffix. It contains special info about the font, but few programs use it. Framemaker and InterLeaf are exceptions, whatever they are.
• MacUser 9701

Internet News from theNet 9701

• Microsoft Network is relaunched
• Some hacker can disguise Navigator as Explorer to servers to get exclusive content. See the page.
• Panasonic has a portable 8x CDROM for the Mac or PC. 6 AAs drive it 8 hours. $499US.
• Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format was officially recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium in October. A Lycos search found only 58 pictures in that format though. Photoshop 4.0 supports it. It offers better compression, full alpha blending, and other stuff we can't understand. Neither Browser supports it yet.
• Starting Point offers a meta-search of 15 other searching services. Find it through theNet's Search Central.
• Good review to The Food Zone, a reference site on nutrition and digestion.
• Provides address for Roger Ebert's Movie Reviews.
• Children's Express is a site with news and opinions by kids 8-18.
• Hungry Mind Review is the web version of the free quarterly journal by the HMR bookstore.
• Parent Soup is recommended as a site for parents.
• LawCrawler is a special searcher for authoritative legal material, probably american.
• Ask Dr. Science gives wrong answers: e.g. The Fifth Force is the force of habit.
• CNN SciTech is recommended as a high quality science site. So is History of Science Musuem - Florence and Visible Human Project, which allows you dissect humans. Apparently, its model suggested the existence of a previously undescribed facial muscle.
• Word Mill Used Book Store lets you pay after you receive the book. $2.50/book, but delivery is costly and slow.
• AirLine of the Web is part of the Internet Travel Network, which lets you make flight reservations. It will save your preferences (like window seats at the back) if you register and will, for a fee, contact local businesses like hotels to make your reservations. See also Preview Travel Reservations and Roadside America, a guide to the alternative sites in the US, like the Stripper's Hall of Fame.
• Fodor's popular travel guides are available online.

OnLine Game Sites

• FIBS Internet Backgammon Server (with photos!?)
• DraughtsWeb Checker site
• OK Bridge - $50/yr gets you a UNIX shell account. $79/year gets you a Windows graphical interface.
• Sportsite Chess - You can play with a friend, or email a registered player for a game. Site features other sports (?) too.

OnLine Chat Formats

• UnixTalk
  • You must have a UNIX shell account. Use some sort of terminal or Telnet software. To talk to Dave, type "talk dave@hisdomain.com". Dave, also in a UNIX environment, will get an alert. If he also enters that command (e.g. "talk you@yourdomain.com"), your windows will divide in half, and you can type on your half and he can type on his.
  • Not multi-user
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
  • Text based leader since released in 1988.
  • Pick a 'channel' on which any number of users may be communicating.
  • There are various text commands. For instance, /msg sends a private message, and /who gives information on a person, /list gives a list of channels, and /help gives a list of commands.
  • Get the faq.
• TelNet Based Chat
  • Very much like IRC but with a supposedly easier command set.
  • /a lists all the people logged on.
  • /p sends a private message
  • /c lists the people on your channel
  • /? lists the commands
  • Start by TelNetting to spacebar.com (launch TelNet client, use 'open connection' command, and enter spacebar.com as host, and 7227 as the session name (or, where combined, enter "spacebar.com 7227". Name your session window and follow instructions. You will wind up on the Newbie channel. You must email for access to other channels and a bigger command set.
  • Or use VRAVE, or one of the others from a list.
• MOOS (Multi User Object Oriented)
  • adds text commands for navigation and manipulation of 'objects' Much like a shared text adventure game.
  • Lambda MOO was the first online community to develop written bylaws and a voting system.
  • You must define your character and the objects you possess.
  • To try Lambda, use TelNet to lambda.parc.xerox.com 8888, or see the list of MOOs at Yahoo, or a list of MOOs with web gateways.
• Web Based Chat
  • Typically, not as robust as IRC or TelNet, but easy.
  • Just navigate your web browser to the right page. If you don't have Java, you must continually click the listen button.
  • Try the free WebChat Broadcasting System.
• The Palace
  • This is a cartoon universe where people pick images for themselves (avatars) and words appear in dialogue bubbles. Sometimes there will be sounds or animation, and sometimes you can animate your avatar (e.g. wave at another avatar).
  • You must have the client software (big). Navigate to the Palace Mansion (you can get the software there too, I think), and the software will load and take over.
  • Unregistered users will start as a smiley face and a name like "Guest 345". Type your messages into a preview window. Hit return and they will eventually appear.
  • Click on entryways in the cartoon to navigate. Hold the control key to see them outlined.
  • We MacUsers get a bonus. It speaks aloud if you have Speech Manager installed.
  • The Palace Mansion has over 145 hyperlinks to other environments.
• Video Conferencing
  • CU-SeeMe was developed in 1993. The video lurches even at 28.8 kbps.
  • If you have a microphone, you just talk.
  • You need a camera on your computer, like the Connectix QuickCam, and either the free original version, or the $69US souped up version from WhitePine (or its demo).
• 3D Chat
  • Like MOO, and The Palace, the concept is that communicators have a virtual environment. This group uses some version of the Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML). The result is like meeting for chat in a DOOM or Marathon environment.
  • As discussed before, VRML is brief code commanding your VRML player to do immensely complex things. Despite this, VRML is slow.
  • Black Sun's Point World
    • Black Sun Interactive is prominent, with special server software and free client software. It hosts Point World.
    • Point World puts you in a hall with doors. One is labelled "Avatars." Gradually various choices for your Avatar begin to appear. You have a text window in which to type your chat. You fly around the world.
  • Alpha World
    • It uses a proprietary standard, and theNet claims the result is richer texture and smoother motion.
    • You can walk and wave and use emotive expressions like in The Palace.
    • Again client software is free.
    • It claims 100,000 citizens.
• theNet 9701

(Some of) Yahoo!'s Picks of the Week

• IBM Patent Server.

  Peruse twenty-six years worth of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent descriptions. Search the site by keyword, inventor or specific patent number.

• CineMachine - more movie reviews
• Simplicity - Online catalogs and tips from the sewing patternmaker.
• Castle Rock Entertainment - most recently bringing you Hamlet, Some Mother's Son and The Ghosts of Mississippi.
• Moody's Investors Service - credit ratings, research and financial information for the capital markets.
• PBS Online
• Speedtrap Registry - a worldwide look at where it's best to drive the speed limit - and then some. You know? (Featured April 1, 1996.)
• Collegescape - apply online to over 50 colleges, for free.
• Discovery Channel Online - discover an all-new look for the popular web site.
• Ratings.org - software that's been rated by and for the people. That means you.

RAM Doubler 2.0.1

• Connectix has released an update to RAM Doubler 2.0 [barely released itself], its popular utility program that doubles (or triples) the amount of memory your Mac thinks it has available (see TidBITS-351_). The 2.0.1 update fixes a problem using Retrospect 3.0 to restore data to removable media on PCI Power Macs, and is required update for the faster networking copying feature in the soon-to-be-available Speed Doubler 2.0. [GD]
• TidBITS#360/06-Jan-97

FileMaker 3.0v4

• Claris has released an update to FileMaker Pro 3.0, which fixes a number of memory leaks using Apple events and other minor problems with record selection, portals, printing, and more. The updater works on any U.S. version of FileMaker Pro 3.0; localized versions of the update are expected shortly.
• TidBITS#360/06-Jan-97

FileMaker 3 Needs Higher ObjectSupportLib

• FileMaker Pro 3.0 has problems responding to Apple events when ObjectSupportLib 1.1.1 is installed. (ObjectSupportLib 1.1.1 can be installed by a number of applications, including previews of AOL 3.0). Claris has made ObjectSupportLib 1.1.6 available, which seems to work fine with FileMaker but has been reported to cause problems with other applications, including Eudora. If you have trouble using Apple events with FileMaker, you may wish to revert to version 1.1 (1.1 should have come with your System software) and place a copy of version 1.1.6 in the folder that contains FileMaker. [GD]
• TidBITS#360/06-Jan-97

TidBits Thoughts On NextStep Acquisition

• " frankly, I'm still clueless now that Apple has bought NeXT instead of Be."
• " OpenStep (NeXT's current application environment) is essentially middleware, in that it sits between a kernel and applications. Give OpenStep a different kernel, and it can run on different platforms, such as Windows NT. The fact that OpenStep is designed to run on top of multiple kernels may give Apple the technological flexibility it needs to modernize the Mac OS while maintaining compatibility with existing Macintosh hardware and software." Presently it runs on various flavours of Unix, including Mach, and Windows NT.
• "...may not have all the modern features of the Be OS"
• "tried-and-true...NeXT's bugs and limitations are likely to be better known than the Be OS's."
• Next has WebObjects, a CGI that enables a company to connect its database to its Web server. It is "industrial strength" and offers support for "legacy data". It's expensive and aimed at big business, which Next has always targetted.
• It's unclear how Apple will merge WebObjects into its existing stable of Internet tools and technologies, but WebObjects has a clear market and solves obvious problems, something that's not true of many of Apple's Internet efforts.
• The Chronology
  • * Aug-96: Apple shelves Mac OS 8, codenamed Copland, in favor of biannual incremental system updates that will incorporate some Copland technology. Developers and users clamor for more details, but aside from talking up the incremental updates, Apple is tight- lipped. Be demos a version of the Be OS for Power Macintosh, and rumors of Apple-Be talks emerge.
  • * Sep-96: Rumors of Apple-Be negotiations ignite press speculation about Apple's OS future. NeXT is mentioned in passing.
  • * Nov-96: Speculation about Apple and Be is fueled by mostly- unconfirmed stories in mainstream and trade press. Though Apple and Be struggle with rumor control, Apple's silence on its operating system plans leaves more questions than answers.
  • * Dec-96: Major Macintosh publications like MacUser and Macworld, struggling to say something about Apple's OS plans, run extensive features on the Be OS.
  • * 19-Dec-96: Serious rumors begin to circulate that Apple and NeXT have reached an agreement.
  • * 20-Dec-96: Apple announces its acquisition of NeXT for $400 million; Steve Jobs is to return to Apple as Advisor to the CEO. Significantly, Gil Amelio commits to having a Mac/NeXT hybrid OS running on Apple hardware in 1997, and Metrowerks announces it will support Objective C runtimes in CodeWarrior in time for the 1997 Apple World Wide Developers Conference in May.
  • * 23-Dec-96: Apple and NeXT executives meet with the press to answer questions not covered at the initial announcement. Although some answers were helpful, some were vague or contradictory.
• Apple hopes for initial releases of the hybrid system for developers and beta-level sites running on Apple hardware at the end of 1997.
• According to statements from Gil Amelio and Ellen Hancock prior to Macworld Expo, backward compatibility for current Macintosh applications would be present in consumer releases of a Mac-NeXT hybrid system, expected in 1998
• "Apple has been sponsoring development of a version of Linux for Power Macintosh based on the Mach kernel. Since OpenStep is already available for Unix, many people believe Mach is an obvious, best path for Apple." Besides, Apple has already put a lot into MAE (MacIntosh Application Environment) which permits you to run Mac Apps on Unix.
• Apple was working on NuKernel
• NeXTstep relies on Display PostScript to generate its screen display. That was one of Next's big features, but Adobe owns it and collects royalties. Apple already owns a QuickDraw GX.
• "Several development tool companies (including Metrowerks, Symantec, Altura, and Tenon Intersystems) have already announced intentions to support a Mac-NeXT system"
• TidBITS#360/06-Jan-97

BeOS News - New Release and Mac Emulater

• Be OS DR 8 for Power Macintosh is now available for developers via the CodeWarrior for Be OS package, the January issue of MacTech magazine, and with Power Computing systems beginning this quarter. Furthermore, Be is widely expected to demonstrate some Macintosh applications running under a Mac OS emulator from fredlabs for Be OS on Power Computing machines.
• TidBITS#360/06-Jan-97

Now Apple is Really Pushing It - System 7.6

• System 7.6 is out, the first of the quarterly releases which are the lame alternative to Copland. And Apple wants to sell them. See the file of Apple's web page on the subject.

Sorry, that's all the time I have.

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