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October 24, 1998
News
- Today’s the final day of the AT&T WorldNet giveaway.
I’ve still got a copy of the Tom Clancy game, Landscape Designer software, and
PrintMaster Deluxe, plus the grand prize: one free year’s worth of Internet access
via Worldnet.
- Make sure you watch for me on the "Silicon Valley
Business" show, which airs Sunday night at 6 and 10 p.m. on KICU-TV, Channel 36. Or
if you’re outside the Bay Area, it’s on the Knowledge TV cable channel Tuesday
night at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
- The Microsoft trial got underway this week, with both the
Dept. of Justice and Microsoft making their opening arguments and then the first witness,
Netscape chairman Jim Barksdale, taking the stand. Both sides tried to make their primary
points—DOJ that Microsoft has unfairly used its monopoly in desktop operating systems
to extend to other products, and Microsoft that the company has simply vigorously competed
in the market with products that contain features users are demanding—and then
Microsoft began trying to take apart the specifics of a critical Microsoft-Netscape
meeting that the DOJ claims is typical of the type of illegal tactics Microsoft has used
against potential competitors. It’s too early to tell what’s going to happen
yet, but one of the more interesting potential outcomes I found out about when preparing a
piece for this Sunday’s "Silicon Valley Business" TV show is that if
Microsoft loses, it could be force to "second source" Windows. What that means
is, they would have to license the Windows source code to other companies who could then,
in turn, sell their own versions of Windows. In some ways, that’s similar to how
different distributions of the Linux operating system are now sold by a variety of
different companies. In the Microsoft case, however, the source code would not be free.
Nevertheless, that could be a very interesting development, should it come to pass.
- Speaking of Netscape, the company officially launched version
4.5 of their Communicator Internet software suite this week for Windows 95/98/NT and the
MacOS. As previously reported, Communicator 4.5’s main features are an enhanced
version of the Navigator browser with features such as Smart Browsing, which lets you type
search words directly into the browser’s address line, and a What’s Related
feature that automatically finds sites that are similar to the sites you visit. In
addition, the new version fixes a number of security holes that had plagued various 4.0
versions of Communicator. The software is free and available for download from
Netscape’s site. I’ve got a link to it on my This Week’s Links page.
- Hot off of last week’s low-cost notebook introductions,
IBM is expected to announce a new $599 desktop PC within a week or two, one of the lowest
from any major PC vendor. The IBM Aptiva machine will apparently be based on a 300 MHz
Cyrix chip design and will offer 32 MB of RAM, a 3.2 GB hard drive, CD-ROM and 56K modem.
It will not, however, include a monitor.
- HP announced a new group of Pavilion home PC models this
week. The desktop machines, which are all part of the 6000 line, range in price from the
$899 6355 to the $1,299 6370Z, all without monitors. For around $900, the 6355 features a
333 MHz Intel Celeron A processor, 64 MB of SDRAM, 4 GB hard drive, 24x CD-ROM and a 56K
modem. The 6370Z, on the other end, features a 350 MHz Pentium II, 96 MB of RAM, a 9.6 GB
hard drive, 32x CD-ROM, a 56K modem and a built-in Zip drive. All the machines include
HP’s special Internet keyboard, which offers quick, one-button access to certain
Internet-based software and services.
- Look for more lower-cost PCs over the coming
weeks—essentially in time for the holidays—as the result of 20 to 30% price cuts
that both Intel and AMD are expected to announce this coming week. Intel is expected to
cut the prices on their high-end Xeon chips, as well as their bread-and-butter Pentium IIs
and Celerons. For example, a 400 MHz Pentium II will drop from about $482 to $375, and 333
MHz Celeron A will drop from around $192 to $159. As per their oft-stated policy, AMD will
then drop their prices to 25% less than Intel equivalents. A 350 MHz K6-2, for example,
drops from about $224 to $150. In some cases these chip price cuts aren’t immediately
reflected in system prices, but over the next few weeks, they should contribute to some
drops in PC prices.
- HP announced their entry into the mini notebook-sized Windows
CE-based product category with the $999 Jornada 820, a 2 ½ -pound device that features an
8.2", 256-color dual screen with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The Jornada is
powered by a 190 MHz version of the StrongARM processor, includes a 56K V.90 internal
modem and offers a battery life of 10 hours. As with other Jupiter-class devices—as
these new types of machines are often-called—the Jornada has Windows CE Professional
version—otherwise known as 2.1—in ROM. The Jornada also has 16 MB of RAM,
upgradable to 32, a PC Card slot and Compact Flash Card slot, and standard VGA output,
which lets you display standard PowerPoint presentations on external projectors. The
keyboard is not quite full size, but large enough that it can be used for touch-typing.
- ADSL, or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, technology took
a step towards acceptance this week with the ratification of a preliminary G.lite ADSL
modem standard. As with the V.90 56K modem process, the final standard won’t be
approved for several months, but now at least there’s an agreed upon standard that
companies can use to start making ADSL modems. Part of the problem with deploying ADSL,
which promises to offer T1-like data rates—about 1.5 Mbits/second—over standard
phone cables is that there hasn’t been a common standard. The other issue is that
certain types of DSL—there are many different flavors of it—requiring installing
an expensive splitter in each person’s home. The G.lite standard, however, does not.
As with cable modems, you can’t necessarily get ADSL unless you live in an area where
the phone company is providing the service.
- Microsoft has introduced a new product suite based on their
popular Works integrated software package for Windows. Works Suite 99, which has a
suggested retail price of $109, includes Works 4.5, Word 97, Microsoft Money 99 Basic,
Encarta 99, Streets 98, and Microsoft Studio Greetings 99, which you can use to create
your own greeting cards. If your software needs are relatively simple, and you’re
primarily interested in a word processor, but would like a bit more value for your dollar,
this looks like it could be a good choice for PC users.
- Finally, Microsoft has a patch for any Office 98 users who
upgrade to MacOS 8.5. As with most OS releases, there have been several reports of
problems with the new Mac OS—including some obscure situations where people have
actually lost all the data on the hard drive. In the case of Office 98, there are some
problems with Word’s Fast Save feature, and some display problems, such as an
inability to properly display the new Euro currency symbol, and some menu display issues.
You can now download the patch for free. Check the link I provide on my This Week’s
Links page.
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