June 12, 1999

·        I’ve got a great show today, including free game-related goodies to give away from Microsoft as well as a guest who will be talking about speech recognition software. Daniel Newman, author of several books on the topic, will be here later this hour to discuss what’s really involved in getting speech recognition to work on your PC.

·        At long last, Microsoft’s Office 2000 in all its various permutations shipped this week. I installed Office 2000 Premium on my main home machine and everything seemed fine. The installation went well—although it takes forever—and all my important settings made it through just fine, which means, for example, that all my Outlook data was readily available and I didn’t have to re-enter any account information. The interface of the main applications is pretty similar to previous versions—almost like moving from Windows 95 to 98 in that regard—but you’ll notice a few different buttons on the toolbars and some other goodies under the hood. The problem is, however, I can’t see justifying the enormous price tag for all the various upgrades. If it comes on a new system you buy, then great, but if you’re a typical home PC user who’s perfectly happy with Office 97, then I wouldn’t necessarily feel a compelling need to rush out and buy a copy. Interestingly, based on several reviews I’ve read, it turns out that one of the most hyped features of the new Office—the ability to save files from any application in HTML format for the web and then be able to view them with all their formatting intact and even edit them later—doesn’t really work as advertised. First of all, saving, say, a Word file in this new HTML format can generate multiple individual files, particularly if you have any graphics in the document. Second, you won’t necessarily be able to view all your Office HTML documents in anything other than IE 5.0 with all formatting intact. I’ve seen several instances where efforts to view the files in Netscape Navigator yielded very poor results. On the positive side, FrontPage users are bound to like the new integrated interface of FrontPage 2000—which is available in the Premium edition of Office or available separately. The new version combines the Front Page Editor and Front Page Explorer into a single application, which makes it much easier to deal with the program. I’ve hadn’t had a chance to check out some of the other apps in the suite, but I intend to over the next few weeks.

·        The other big Microsoft news also occurred on Thursday of this past week, although it didn’t get a whole lot of publicity. Nevertheless Windows 98 Second Edition is now available as a retail product, essentially replacing the original version of Windows 98. You can buy it to upgrade any PC to Windows 98 as well as find it pre-installed on many new computers. If you’re already a Windows 98 user and you’re dying to get the few new features in this version, you can even pay $19.95 and get the Windows 98 Upgrades CD directly from Microsoft’s web site. Unfortunately, you cannot as of yet download the free Service Pack bug fixes that are incorporated into this new release. Microsoft says it will still be a few weeks before that’s available. The only really significant new features in Windows 98 SE, as it’s sometimes called, is the Internet Connection Sharing feature, which lets multiple users on a home network attach to the Internet through a single account. Other benefits include more robust USB and IEEE 1394 support.

·        Another big e-mail virus/worm program hit this past week and caused problems for lots of big companies. Worm.ExploreZip, like the recent Melissa e-mail virus, is sent by double-clicking on an e-mail attachment you receive from someone with whom you correspond. Unlike Melissa, Worm.ExploreZip doesn’t automatically send messages with the virus to other people—it just sends messages to those who are in your inbox—but also unlike Melissa, it causes destructive damage by finding and deleting program files for Microsoft Office applications. The messages it sends may say something along the lines of, “I received your e-mail and I promise a response ASAP. In the meantime, here are some Zip files for you to look at.” Again, the best—and only—way to stay protected is with an up-to-date anti-virus product. Also, as a general rule, don’t open attached applications from anyone, unless you know someone’s going to you send you a file via e-mail.

·        If you’ve been anxious to sign up for a web site domain name, such as everythingcomputers.com, you finally have a choice. Until this week, all registrations were handled by Network Solutions, otherwise known as Internic, which was originally granted an exclusive contract by the government. As a result of some agreements of a few months back, however, there will now start to be competition for this service. The first company to offer the service is Register.com. Unfortunately, the price is still the same--$70 for two years—but that’s bound to change as the competition heats up. Just to clarify, by the way, both companies still work from the same master database so that if someone signs up with Register.com or Network Solutions, the other company (and users of its service) will immediately know and see that reflected in their searches.

·        If you’re looking for a simple e-mail appliance, you may want to check out Cidco’s new MailStation. The MailStation is a $99, two-pound device that lets you send and receive e-mail messages through a Cidco-provided e-mail account. The device looks kind of like an electric typewriter with an LCD display and that’s essentially how it works. You can type messages on the keyboard, see them on the 6” x 2.5” screen and then send them off through the device’s integrated analog modem. Along with the initial price, the MailStation also has several available monthly fees to support your e-mail account, or a $99 additional option that pays for 1 year of e-mail service. Existing e-mail accounts can be forward to the MailStation if you just want the convenience of an e-mail appliance, but the MailStation does have some important limitations. The device cannot read nor open attachments, nor can it surf the web at all. It’s an e-mail-only piece of gear.

·        S3 and other graphics chips vendors have been supplying tremendous 3D graphics for desktop users for some time now but notebook owners have been left out of that loop—until now. Starting over the next month or two we should start seeing notebooks that provide sophisticated 3D rendering for computer games and other titles that, while it can’t match the best available desktop solutions, will provide a huge improvement over what has been available.

·        Apple this week unveiled the official shipping version of QuickTime 4 for both Mac and Windows users. The new version includes support for streaming media formats a la RealAudio and the new Windows Media Player from Microsoft.

·        IBM this week unveiled a slew of new Aptiva desktop system and Thinkpad i.Series notebooks. The Aptivas start at just $799 including a monitor. This particular model, the 175, which is available only at Best Buy for now, includes a 380 MHz K6-2 processor, 64 MB of RAM, 4 GB hard drive, 40X CD-ROM, 56K modem and copy of Lotus’ SmartSuite Millenium Edition. The new additions to the i.Series notebooks run from $1,699 to $2,699 after a $100 rebate. The least expensive model includes a 366 MHz Celeron, 32 MB of RAM, 12.1” active matrix screen, 4.3 GB hard drive, 24X CD-ROM and integrated 56K modem. In addition to all this, IBM will apparently unveil a new 3 lb mini-notebook to compete with Sony and Toshiba’s offerings, sometime next week. I’ll let you know more when I find out.