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November 15, 1997
News
In the spirit of interesting gift ideas for the holidays, here’s an interesting
one. How would you like to have the entire collection of National Geographics—all 108
years—including all the text, every photo, map and even every advertisement
that’s been printed in the magazine? Well, now you can. The Complete National
Geographic is a 30 CD collection that you can find for about $150 that includes every
single issue of National Geographic from the magazine’s beginnings in 1888 up through
the end of 1996. As you would expect, it’s completely searchable, so you can easily
find any information or favorite articles that want. Just think how many garages can now
be cleared out and how much paper can now be recycled! By the way, if you’ve ever
wondered why someone would want to do a DVD title (DVD discs can hold about 7 times a
normal CD-so this same collection could fit on five DVD discs).
Next week is the annual COMDEX show in Las Vegas, the mecca for the high-tech industry,
where all the big and little companies involved in the computer industry trot out their
new wares. I’ll be going and will give you a full report next week, but in advance of
the show, here’s some of what I’m expecting to see:
More and more little stuff: we’re finally starting to move toward our
science-fiction images of the 21st century, with Dick Tracy wristwatches and
various Star Trek-like technologies starting to take shape. In practical terms that means
lots of mini-subnotebooks, along the lines of the Toshiba Libretto
Also, lots more handheld devices; according to a report I just read, the handheld market
is finally starting to take off. The big winner there is the Palm Pilot, so look for lots
more Pilot products, software and knock-offs. Also, Windows CE 2.0 will make its formal
debut at COMDEX and numerous companies are offering new products based on the additional
capabilities of the new OS, including larger screens, color screens, built-in networking
functions and more
Low-cost computers. 25% of all computers now being sold are under $1,000, so this area
is red hot. Several good products are available already, but look for even better, more
capable machines falling into this price bracket soon.
3D video accelerators and more 3D software. As processing power and increasing amounts
of memory become available on today’s machines, high-quality 3D graphics, both for
games and regular applications will be much more prevalent.
Finally, lots and lots of web stuff. There’s more and more tools for creating
sophisticated web sites, new server products for offering more robust online commerce, and
all kinds of other interesting niches that are being developed as we speak.
Microsoft continues to be under the gun, but it’s clear they’re going to be
fighting back. The company reiterated its innocence in the recent Justice Dept.
investigation by filing its own counter-arguments to the claims that it is unduly using
its market-leading position to force vendors to install Microsoft’s Explorer web
browser. Microsoft instead is claiming that Explorer is simply an extension to the
operating system and points out that the 1995 consent decree with the government allows it
to make extensions to the OS. Of course, the rational person eventually has to say, how
far can they take this? Aren’t word processing and spreadsheets and general
productivity applications an extension of the OS as well? Whatever happens, it promises to
be interesting. The company also responded to Ralph Nader’s two-day forum on
Microsoft’s business practices by saying they refused to participate in the event
because virtually all the participants and speakers were well-known MS foes and the
company would have been a sitting duck. Maybe so, but I still think it might have helped
if someone was there.
In more mundane IE 4.0 news, the company announced that a security hole has been found
in the browser. Once again, a private firm discovered the error and once again the company
is claiming that no one has suffered from real-world attacks from the hole. As with all
the other security holes in Microsoft and Netscape’s browsers, this one could let
someone conceivably delete files off of a machine’s hard disk. An update is now
available for this and the previous security flaw on Microsoft’s web site, or check
out This Week’s Links on my web site.
Speaking of bugs, another flaw has been found in Pentiums and Pentium MMX processors
(the problem does not affect Pentium Pros or Pentium IIs, by the way). Unlike the infamous
math flaw of a few years ago, this problem doesn’t cause any miscalculations, but
instead can force a machine to lock up if it’s fed certain "illegal"
instructions. [explain illegal]. Though it doesn’t appear in any regular
applications, it’s possible that a virus or ActiveX or Java applet off the Web could
call the instructions and force your machine to lock up, which then require a reboot and
the possible loss of any data you hadn’t saved at the time. A small company in NY
claims to have a solution for the problem, but they’re charging $200 for
it—Intel said they will have a solution shortly.
Apparently reports are flying around the net that there are some potential computational
errors in the new PowerPC 750 chips, which is powering the line of new PowerMac G3 systems
introduced this week by Apple. But according to Motorola, the problems do not and will not
affect any real-world applications. So, I guess you probably don’t need to worry.
Speaking of Apple, if you’re looking for a good deal on Macs, you could try
Apple’s new online store, which debuted last Monday and offers prices equal to what
you’ll find at most major retailers (but also throws in the ability to custom build a
system to your needs). But the best Mac prices going are now from ClubMac and the Cyberian
Outpost (www.outpost.com), both of which have chosen to sell products at less than
Apple’s Minimum Advertised Price. Both companies, for example, are offering the new
PowerMac G3 233 system for around $1890, $110 less than Apple and most major retailers.
Some believe this development will lead to a price war in the Mac arena, but it’s
hard to say for sure.
Microsoft will be making a beta version of Outlook 98, their Internet e-mail and
organizer package for Windows 95, available on the web next week. The new version will
include support for more Internet standards as well as address issues with the
product’s interface and speed. The final shipping version isn’t expected until
the spring of ’98.
Finally, Symantec has introduced a new version of their flagship Norton Utilities 3.0.
Priced at $79, with a $30 rebate available for upgraders, the new version includes several
new utilities as well as enhancements to existing products. New to this version are
WinDoctor, a utility that tracks changes to important Windows system files, including the
Windows Registry, and helps fix problems such as missing DLLs. LiveUpdate Pro adds the
ability to get automatic updates for all the files and drivers on your system over the
‘net for free for six months. CrashGuard 3.0, which attempts to prevent crashes from
occurring on your system, is now included as part of the product, as well. Finally,
enhancements have been made to the Norton Disk Doctor monitoring application, as well as
the Speed Disk disk optimization utility. Sounds like a great upgrade.
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