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March 14, 1998
News
- The guest today is Mark Weiser, chief technologist at Xerox
PARC, the company’s famous R&D facility.
- Microsoft has apparently picked a launch date for Windows 98, it’s going to be June
25, which is just a few days after the annual PC Expo convention in New York. No prices
have been announced yet for upgrades, but speculation is that it will cost around $100.
New systems bought after that date will probably have it pre-installed. Part of the reason
it’s taken so long to get out is that the company decided to add the ability to
upgrade straight from Windows 3.1, after receiving numerous requests from large customers.
As I’ve discussed before, many of the new features in Windows 98 can be added to
existing Windows 95 machines by simply downloading and installing Internet Explorer 4.0,
as well as a few of the service packs and other upgrades that the company makes available
for free on its web site. A few new goodies that you cannot get (and won’t be able to
get unless you upgrade) are support for multiple monitors, a standardized way of receiving
TV broadcasts on your PC (although you have to buy or already have a TV tuner card for
this to work), and an interesting new utility called Dr. Watson, that’s being
included as part of the OS. In theory, Dr. Watson sounds similar to some of the other
software conflict utilities you can now buy, such as First Aid 98, Norton Utilities’
WinDoctor utility, etc. How it really works will be the real test. More importantly,
whether these features and improvements are enough to justify an upgrade remains to be
seen….
- In other Microsoft news, the company announced this week that they will be offering
Outlook 98, which is the latest version of their full-featured e-mail package, for free to
anyone who wants it. The offer is good only for 90 days after they post the final version
on their web site, which is expected to happen at the end of this month. After that, only
registered owners of Office 97 will be able to upgrade for free. A lite version of
Outlook, called Outlook Express, is currently bundled as part of Internet Explorer 4.0.
- Intel branched off into a new direction this week with the introduction of their
AnswerExpress Service. Basically, the service combines tech support, information
resources, virus protection and online backup into a single package. For $49 you get a
CD-ROM that includes the basic software, which you use to access a special website that
will offer virus updates, additional product reviews and troubleshooting articles, as well
as up to 7 phone calls on any computer-related problem over a three-month period. You also
get up to 100 MB of offsite storage, where you basically copy your files over the Internet
onto special servers set up by the company for that purpose. All the data will be
encrypted and can be retrieved via the software included on the CD-ROM. After three
months, the service costs $14.95/month and includes 1 phone call and an additional 20 MB
of storage per month.
- Last week was the Internet World trade show down in Los Angeles and lots of interesting
web-related products and services were debuted. One of the most talked, but also confusing
new services was called the Real Naming System, which was developed by a new company
called Centraal out of Palo Alto. The company claims to offer the ability get rid of the
confusing web addresses, known as URLs, that we’re all so used to typing. So, instead
of typing say http://www.microsoft.com/outlook, you could just type "microsoft
outlook" if you use their new service. Of course, this sounds great and I don’t
think anyone would argue that web addresses should be more intuitive. The problem is,
companies will have to pay to register these real names all over again, and even more
importantly, the browser vendors and search engines will have to agree to include their
technology for it to be really useful. Right now, the only way it works is if you download
their special plug-in and install it in your browser. Given the way that most of
today’s browsers allow you to simply type a company’s name to get to their site
(without worrying about the http://www and the .com parts), I think it’s going to be
a tougher sell. If you want to find out more, you can head over to the company’s web
site at www.realnames.com.
- Lots of interesting new web development tools were also introduced including Macromedia
Fireworks, which is a graphics tool that’s designed specifically for creating
graphics for the web. Fireworks incorporates image editing, file conversion, file
compression, image map creation, Javascript and more. Basically, everything you can think
of with regard to web-based graphics. The final product is expected in a few months at a
price of $299, but a free beta preview is available on the company’s web site for
both Windows 95 and Power Mac users.
- Another interesting tool is called iWrite and it’s from a new company called
Xanthus International. IWrite looks and functions similar to a word processor but
it’s designed to create graphical web pages, without having to worry about knowing
HTML. It uses cascading style sheets to let your format your page as you would in a word
processor, but it’s native format is actually HTML. The company is also developing a
companion site development tool, which helps you organize and maintain entire web sites
made up of lots of individual pages called iSite. Iwrite, which will sell for less than
$150, should be available by the end of this month and iSite is due by the third quarter
of this year. A free beta version of the Iwrite is available now from the company’s
web site.
- Now here’s a product that I think lots of people will find interesting: a
voice-based e-mail retrieval program. Conversa Messenger, from a new company called
Conversa, lets you call in to your computer system and have your e-mail and messages read
to you with speech synthesis. Then, you can choose to file, delete, reply or do whatever
you want to that message with voice commands. You can even reply to those messages in
voice format, although what it does is creates a digital audio .wav file that gets
attached to a message. It doesn’t use speech recognition for that, which would be
ideal, but maybe someday it will. A free beta of the product is available for download now
and the final version is expected on April 1. The price is $99 if you download it from the
site and $125 if you buy it on CD-ROM.
- Symantec just introduced a new version of their contact management program. Act 4.0
incorporates better support for Internet e-mail, built-in web access, easier
synchronization with multiple users, enhanced faxing functions and a new utility called
SideAct that you can use to enter a few small bits of data without having to actually
launch Act. The price for the new version, which will be officially shipping March 23, is
$199 and upgrades are $89.
- Looking for a Windows CE machine with a bigger keyboard and screen? Well, starting next
month you’ll have two new options, one from NEC and another from Hitachi. Both NEC
and Hitachi introduced color-screen equipped handheld computers running version 2.0 of
Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system that also include larger, more
"type-able" keyboards. Both the Hitachi HPW-200EC, which will retail for $999,
and the NEC unit, whose price and product name haven’t been confirmed, offer 8"
640 x 240 pixel screens that support up to 256 colors. Both units also feature 16 MB of
RAM, a software-based 33.6 modem, and a built-in microphone and speaker.
- Finally, one last item just to show that us computer folks are no longer a tiny
minority. Industry research firm IDC released a report this week that showed that personal
computers are now in 45% of all US homes, up from around 40% just over a year ago.
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