
   Ŀ
   ͵
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                       W  I  N  D  O  W  A  T  C  H                     
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
             The Electronic Windows Magazine of the Internet            
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
   Ĵ
    March 1997                                            Vol. 3  No. 3 
   ;


  page 2
                            WHAT'S    INSIDE
   Vol.3 No.3                                                March  1997
  


                               The Editor's Soapbox   Lois Laulicht


                                       OfficePro 97:
  
                             Office 97: An Overview   Linda Rosenbaum
                                  Exploring Word 97   Jack Passarella
                    Microsoft Outlook: The Calendar   Stefan Assmann
                      To Buy or Not to Buy Office97   Jack Passarella
                      To Buy or Not to Buy Office97   Stefan Assman


                                  Featured Articles:
  
                         Motion Video in Windows 95   Herb Chong
   Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: HTML Tutorial No.V   Gregg Hommel
                                  Lunch: The HP Way   Stephen Harrison
                                                        and Noel Magee
                          The Electronic Instructor   David Kindle
                                You Seem So Distant   Frank McGowan
                         Two Useful NT4.0 Utilities   Linda Rosenbaum
                             Efficient Web Crawling   Lynn Alford
          The Internet Explorer: ver 4.0 A Preview!   Stefan Assman
                                    Home Networking   Jim Plumb
           A National Encryption Legislative Report
                                          Hate Mail   Daniel Christle
                                    The Art Gallery   Herb Chong



  page 3
  WindoWatch              The Electronic Windows Magazine of the Internet
   Volume 3 No.3                                             March  1997
  


                          The Editor's Soapbox


It was as smooth as a baby's bottom! There was a single BLUE SCREEN at
the very end of the process and Jerry in his take charge mode told it to
stop behaving like a spoiled child and to get on with the program! He
clicked the enter key several times with authority, and the sucker
timidly told him Setup was done and happy!

That was our experience installing Microsoft OfficePro 97, - after all
the hype, the many advertising words, the critics, the pundits, the
hangers-on, the groupies and the cowards like me! I confess to hedging
my bet until this issue of WindoWatch was released but then watch my
smoke!

I've looked just at Word because with Adobe's Acrobat, these are the
most important pieces of software on my computer. Word97 is clean
looking and fully powered. All of the tools are there and a few more.
The mapping feature, however, is the one I'm eager to try.

On a personal note: My dearly beloved is sold! He installed the whole
enchilada on his very fast 486 with lots of hard drive space. He hedged
his bet, too, by doing a proper uninstall using the Office Pro95 CD and
then using RegClean.Exe on the two hard drives he was going to use.
Norton's Speedisk and DiskDoctor did the optimizing and repair of lost
clusters and then the computer was finally ready!

As a low vision person he appreciates the crisp and bold screen fonts.
It took his settings of 14 point type and arranged the 17 inch screen
very well.

He played with the various components for a while wondering aloud if the
software was going to do two things that are crucial in his life. Would
it launch IShare, the Artisoft modem sharing program? That piece of
software allows him to function from our network to the Internet using
his big fonts on his big monitor in a normal and productive kind of way.
It did so without a single complaint. Zip, bang, up she came and the
connection was made.

Would Word 97 launch Netscape without carping about Explorer, - again
customized for him? These are time consuming tasks and he was able to
function, as he prefers, immediately.

Anyone of our loyal readers will tell you with certainty that WW panders
to no one. We have been critical of Microsoft in the past and will most
likely be so again. Take a long and low bow. Redmond, you've smacked
this one out of the ballpark!

As an aside, I think Jack Passarella is wrong. The animated paper clip
is not merely cute but is also adorable. Even more important, - it has
become a very good friend.



   ww page 4
  An Office 97 Overview!
  


                    Should You Upgrade to Office 97?

                             Copyright 1997
                         By Linda L. Rosenbaum,
                with Stefan Assmann and Jack Passarella


    [Editorial Note: Linda Rosenbaum took on the task of functioning
    as  team leader in this  Office97 enterprise pulling the various
    important  threads  together. As one  expects in a collaborative
    venture  there is a certain amount  of repetition as the writers
    make  their  points.  We  have endeavored  to  keep  these  to a
    minimum, notwithstanding our belief that it is the details of an
    evaluation and review which gives it substance! lbl]

Microsoft released their long awaited upgrade to Office 95 (Office 97)
on January 17,1997. Several WindoWatch writers, including Stefan
Assmann, Jack Passarella, and myself, have been using the new version
since that time or somewhat before, beta testing the pre-release
versions. All three of us were experienced Office 95 users. We thought
it would be useful to our readers to give you our impressions of whether
this upgrade is worth the cost of admission or not. Each of us uses
Office 97 in different ways and with varying amounts of familiarity with
the program and, as one would expect, each of us does have our own
opinion.

On January 17, 1997, MS released three flavors of Office 97. The
standard version comes with Word 97, Excel 97, PowerPoint 97, and
Outlook 97. The professional version adds Access 97 and Bookshelf
Basics. A third version is the same as the professional version but also
packaged with the new MS IntelliMouse. Both Stefan and Jack have the
professional version while I have the standard version.


Cost

The cost of the upgrade to Office 97 for the standard version is
approximately $220 in the US. This is before a $40 rebate coupon. The
rebate coupon comes in the Office 97 upgrade box and must be submitted
to MS along with proof of ownership of a prior version, as well as proof
of purchase of the Office 97 upgrade. I mailed my documents to MS on
January 20, 1997, but have not yet received my rebate. I guess there has
been a big demand for the rebates. The cost of the upgrade for the
professional version is approximately $300, again before the $40 rebate.
It is my recollection that the upgrade to the professional version plus
the new mouse is only another $20-30, which is a good price for anyone
in the market for a new mouse. Upgrades are also available for each of
the individual programs contained in Office 97.


Hardware Requirements

The box for the standard version of Office 97 states the following are
needed:

  Personal or multimedia computer with a 486 or higher processor.

  Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or Microsoft Windows NT
   Workstation 3.51 Service Pack 5 or later. It will not run on earlier
   versions.

  For use on Windows 95: 8MB of memory required to run applications
   individually; more memory may be required to run additional
   applications simultaneously.

  For use on Windows NT Workstation: 16MB of memory required to run
   applications individually; more memory may be required to run
   additional applications simultaneously.

  60-167 MB of available hard-disk space required; approximately 102 MB
   required for typical installation, depending upon the configuration.

  CD-ROM drive.

  VGA or higher-resolution video adapter.

  Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse or compatible pointing device.

The only difference from what is needed to use the professional version
of Office 97 is the hard-disk space needed. MS says: 73-191 MB available
hard-disk space required; approximately 121 MB required for typical
installation, depending on configuration. Both versions also indicate
other requirements that are necessary to use certain features. From what
Stefan says:

"A connection to the Internet is not necessary, but will make things
considerably easier and will enable you to use all of Office 97's
features to the fullest."

Unfortunately it is a little hard for any of the three of us to judge
how accurate MS's minimum requirements are, at least in terms of CPU
processor and needed memory. I run Office 97 on a Pentium Pro, in NT
4.0, with 128MB of RAM. It works just fine! Stefan also runs Office 97
in NT 4.0 with 128MB of RAM and with a fast CPU (P166 if I recall
correctly). Runs beautifully for him too! My guess is that a more
realistic minimum, particularly to be able to run multiple Office 97
applications as well as other applications at the same time, is a
Pentium 90 or 100 with at least 32MB of RAM, whether using Windows 95 or
NT 4.0. If using NT 4.0, it is also recommended that Service Pack 2 be
installed, with the needed hotfixes.

As for the extra hard disk space required as compared to Office 95, for
example, that is a bit harder to quantify with any certainty. In my
case, I installed the upgrade to Office 97 over my installation of
Office 95. I have the main program located on an NTFS drive that is not
the same as where I have Windows NT 4.0 itself located. I saw very
little change in the amount of space needed there but lost approximately
30MB of hard drive space on my C partition which is where NT 4.0 is
located. Office 97 has more shared components than the prior version,
which in general is a good thing. I also upgraded my husband to Office
97 professional (from Office 95 pro) and saw much the same effect on
additional hard disk space required. The drive with most of Office
itself did not lose much additional space but he did lose approximately
50MB on his C partition, where he has NT 4.0 installed. The CD-ROM for
Office 97 also comes with a variety of additional add-ons. Those too
take up more hard drive space. How much depends on how many of these
extra programs are installed. Overall Office 97, no matter which
version, is used, is big!


The Negatives

Jack states some of the negatives to upgrading to Office 97 as follows:

  "The applications seem marginally slower, noticeably in printing. If
  you are printing a document in Word with some graphics, there is a
  noticeable difference in speed.

  "Outlook, because it is so much more than the Exchange client and
  Schedule Plus, which functionality it incorporates, seems at first
  sluggish. This application requires 30MB of hard disk space, which is
  close to what you need for Winword!

  "Finally, opening an HTML file with several medium-sized graphics is
  excruciatingly slow in Word."


As for the speed of the applications, I have had a somewhat different
reaction than does Jack. Office 97 seems to run at about the same speed
as does Office 95 or maybe in some instances or occasions a bit faster.
My husband has seen much the same. I know of others though who do find
Outlook to be a bit slow. On my system it is slower to load and close
than other applications but nothing that makes me feel as if it is
sluggish. But then my hardware is a bit above the norm so my experiences
probably should not be used as a general guide.

All three of us view upgrading in a mixed environment to be a serious
issue for anyone contemplating an upgrade to Office 97 from a prior
version. Stefan summarizes the issues with respect to file formats,
etc., as follows:

  "All of Office 97's applications have new file formats to accommodate
  the array of new features. This, however, is bound to cause trouble in
  multi-user networked environments where one might use a combination of
  operating systems and different versions of Office. Luckily, Office 97
  includes sufficient converters to make the transition as smooth as
  possible. Nevertheless, there are still a few pitfalls to watch out
  for. One of the most serious is the "save as Word 6.0/95 option" in
  Word 97. You might think that saving your masterpiece in this format
  and sending it to your colleague who is using Word 6 will do the
  trick, but this isn't the case. Due to a bug in the word 6/95
  converter, Word 97 files get saved as RTF files. If the one you're
  sending the file to, doesn't have this converter installed, you're in
  for some trouble. There are two solutions for this:

    On the Office 97 CD, there's a valuepack folder. In this folder
     you'll find a Word 97 converter for Word 6/95 users. Just
     distribute/install this at the appropriate locations.

    Load your file into WordPad and save it as a word 6 file there.
     Now the document will be in true Word 6/95 format.

"In addition to saving in RTF format, it also saves the file with a .RTF
extension. This can cause confusion when another user tries to open such
a saved file and expects to see it with the standard .DOC extension used
for Word native format files. Such a user is not likely to realize that
the file is even there!"

Jack describes still another problem when trying to save a Word 97
document in Word 6.0/95 as follows:

  "If you save as you also lose a lot of the new features. For example,
  if you rotate text in a Word 97 table, this rotation is lost. Even if
  you save the table-containing document in HTML format, you lose the
  rotation, even though Word faithfully converts the Word table to a
  true HTML table."

Microsoft has released a document that explains the Word 97 file sharing
issues noted above as well as what they intend to do to help alleviate
the problems. This document can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/office/office97/documents /o97w9725. In it
Microsoft does not call the conversion problems a bug but rather gives
the impression this was done on purpose. Their logic is as follows:

   RTF can be read by any version of Word, including Word 2.0 making
    it an ideal file sharing format across multiple versions.

   Word97 users saving as Word6.0/95 RTF format do not lose new
    features like Office Art, Hyperlinks, UNICODE text, Table Drawing,
    or improved bullets and numbering. (Saving to a native Word6.0/95
    binary file format automatically deletes all new Word97 features).

   For many common documents such as letters and memos or documents
    that do not contain graphics or OLE Objects, RTF files can be
    smaller than native Word files.

   Saving as RTF eliminates the threat of spreading document-based
    macro viruses by removing all macros from the file.

Microsoft describes/explains the issue of file sizes when saving in Word
6.0/95 as follows:

   When long documents or any document containing graphics or embedded
    OLE Objects are saved as Word6.0/95 they are 20 to 50 percent larger
    than Word native files. This is caused by the following reasons, in
    order of file size impact:

   All graphics are converted from their compressed format in Word97
    file format (JPEG or PNG) to bitmaps, which can be up to 10 times
    larger, to enable Word6.0/95 users to be able to view and edit these
    images.

   RTF is an ASCII representation of a binary file, meaning that the
    built-in compression for text and embedded OLE Objects is lost.

   In some cases, when Word97 users Save As. Word 6.0/95, features like
    Office Art are actually represented twice in RTF to maintain the
    maximum level of fidelity across multiple versions of Word.

Microsoft will be providing by the end of March 1997, the following two
improvements:

   A Word97 converter that automatically compresses all graphics and
    embedded OLE Objects in the Word6.0/95 RTF file format. Previous
    versions of Word will be able read these compressed binary objects
    along with the RTF. This converter will compress all graphics in the
    document by 50 percent.

   Word97 will be updated to always preserve the .doc extension when
    users choose the File/Save As. for a document saved as Word6.0/95.

In addition Microsoft intends to distribute a converter that saves as
Word 6.0/95 binary format. This is expected by the end of the third
quarter of 1997. However Microsoft does caution that this converter will
remove features specific to Word 97.

Microsoft also states that the best solution for a mixed environment is
to install the Word 97 import converter on Word 6.0 and Word 95
machines. This converter is available on the Office 97 CD as well as on
http://www.microsoft.com/msword/ This converter allows Word 6.0 and Word
95 users to open and edit Word 97 files automatically. All three of us
have had to deal with the file format and size issues for Word 97. While
all three of us are using Word 97 for our articles, our editor is still
using Word 95. As a result we have had to in some fashion convert our
articles to Word 95 before sending to our editor as she has not
installed the converter noted in the previous paragraph. I have used the
steps detailed by Stefan. However I did smack up against the file size
issues in doing so. The size of the file grew by leaps and bounds! So
much so when using graphics, that for my last article I had to pull out
the graphics and send them separately. My article in the March issue is
175,104 in size in Word 97 format (with graphics). The same file, with
graphics, in Word 6.0/95 native format is 4,730,385 in size. I no longer
have the .RTF version of this same file but it was over 6MB in size. The
same article, with the graphics deleted, is 27,648 in size in Word
6.0/95 native format. I had three graphics in that article, each of
which is around 45k in size (.JPEG format). I had been using Office 95
since its release and have always noted how large files are with
graphics. I find it particularly interesting that Word 97 files with
graphics are so much smaller. I personally consider that a good reason
to upgrade.

Jack considers the inclusion of the Office Assistants as a possible
negative to upgrading to Office 97. His comments are as follows:

  "You may have heard/read/seen the animated Office Assistants, which
  represent a next generation help system: context sensitive and
  user-friendly. The context sensitive prompts are correct more than
  half the time. The user-friendliness translates mostly to "cute." And
  "cute" doesn't appeal to everyone. The good news is you can turn off
  the Assistants if you find they are eating up your resources or they
  just plain annoy you. You can press F1 or click on the question mark
  dialogue balloon to bring up the Assistant when you want he/she/it. Is
  an animated paper clip gender neutral? You tell me!"

Both my husband and I have left Office Assistant as active. I know of
other friends who immediately turned it off. I have found it to be of
help. I like its ability to make a search for help easier. I agree it's
"cute" but then again I kind of like cute. I am using the default paper
clip but did experiment with a few of the other choices. I personally
consider the Office Assistant as a reason to upgrade.


The Positives

All three of us believe there are numerous additions or improvements in
the various Office 97 applications. Office 97 contains a new program
called Outlook 97, which Stefan has been discussing in some detail in
both the February issue of WindoWatch as well as this issue (the March
issue). Jack has been describing Word 97 in detail too in both the
February issue and March issue of WindoWatch.

Jack details some of his findings with respect to Outlook 97 as follows:

  "Outlook incorporates your mail client, and replaces Schedule Plus
  with an extended set of tools designed to turn Outlook into a
  mid-range Personal Information Manager (i.e., PIM). You now have the
  equivalent of those "sticky yellow notes," dubbed comments. Also new
  is the Journal feature, whose complexities I have yet to completely
  unravel. The Journal can track by date documents and spreadsheets that
  you worked on, shown in a time line. Presumably, this allows you to
  search for a sales report you worked on a week ago and find the file.
  You can also Add journal entries of various types. Tasks can be
  assigned to others, while their completion status is noted on your
  system.

  One of the disconcerting features about Outlook is its new-fangled,
  vertical, toolbar. First of all, it looks different than all the other
  standard Office app toolbars. And, with a little Redmond chicanery it
  can turn into an Explorer type view of Your Computer. After using this
  toolbar for a few days, I turned it off, reverting to the Exchange
  client style tree. What Outlook does is incorporate the various PIM
  elements in with your other mail folders. I don't miss the vertical
  bar. Maybe something is wrong with me.

  My only regret in using Outlook instead of my plain-Jane Exchange
  client was that Outlook was missing the add-in third pane to preview
  messages without opening them. Microsoft had provided this feature for
  Exchange, but Outlook was shipped without it. Instead, the retail
  version boasts a three line message preview, which is only slightly
  helpful in learning what the message is about, almost like a three
  line subject area. Recently Microsoft added the pane to their web
  site, so that little inconvenience is gone.

  Outlook uses VBScript as a programming language instead of the Office
  standard Visual Basic for Applications 5. And it is possible to create
  powerful, standard forms for distribution. To demonstrate this,
  Microsoft provides some sample applications at their web site. I
  downloaded two: HelpDesk and Expense Report. My use of them was
  limited in that Outlook is the required client and my PC was the only
  computer at my site running Outlook.

  I have never used a full-bodied PIM, so it's hard for me to say how
  close Outlook comes to capturing all the features that would appeal to
  diehard PIM users. I do know that there is still a lot of untapped
  power there I have yet to use."

I too have experimented some with Outlook 97 but not as extensively as
Stefan or Jack. My experiences have not been as positive as theirs have
either. One issue with using Outlook 97 for email is the format it uses.
It is not quite compatible with other email programs. Netscape Mail,
which is what I usually do use, does not care for Outlook 97 email at
all. For example, I have not been able to detach any file attachments
sent to me via Outlook 97 mail in Netscape Mail. In addition any
formatting such as colors used in Outlook 97 email is lost when viewed
in Netscape Mail. On the other hand, writing an email in Outlook 97 with
WordMail as the email editor is quite nice. It is nice having a spell
checker and grammar checker readily available. I have been using Ecco
Pro for some time as my PIM. My PIM needs at home are very minimal so I
did experiment a bit with Outlook 97. However I ran into a big problem.
I was not able to convert my phonebook entries in Ecco Pro to Outlook
97. I am using Ecco Pro version 4.0. MS includes, in the Office 97 CD
and on their Web site, a few extra converters including some for
versions of Ecco Pro prior to version 4.0. I tried a few work-arounds
suggested by folks on the Internet or CIS, but with no real success. I
have given up trying to convert for now. This problem has also halted
any extensive experimentation with respect to the calendar features of
Outlook 97 or its other PIM related features. I continue to use Ecco Pro
4.0 but do hope to experiment further with Outlook when and if MS comes
out with a converter that works for version 4.0 of Ecco Pro.


Conclusion

Both Assmann and Passarella have taken this package through extensive
testing. Their articles are being published in their entirety in this
same issue so that you read their experience in detail.

While my use of Word 97 cannot begin to compare to Jack's, my conclusion
that it adds many useful features over Office 95 is much the same. I too
have left on the automatic grammar checker and find it is much more
helpful than being an intrusion. I am getting very fond of the overall
look and feel of this newer version of Word. This is very hard for me to
put into words, but does translate into my being glad I did upgrade.

As Jack so aptly puts it:

  "If you are running a 32-bit operating system - i.e., Windows 95 or
  Windows NT , you are still running a 16-bit incarnation of MS Office
  when using version 4.X"

Perhaps it is having the fully functional and integrated 32 bit tools of
Office that best describes our reasons for recommending this upgrade.


                          =========
Linda Rosenbaum is the WindoWatch NT Editor. It was she who had the
management responsibilities for the Office 97 articles. This was the
first collaborative effort of the magazine; It was her skill that made
it possible.



   ww page 5
  The Wonderful World of Word 97
  


                           Exploring Word 97
                  Copyright c 1997 by Jack Passarella


Introduction

The exploration of Word 97 along with the rest of MS Office 97
continues! Since last month Word 97: First Impressions, see February
1997 WindoWatch Vol.3 No.2 I have discovered a new or upgraded feature
almost every day. They are usually little revelations sure to bring a
smile to your face. With each day I become more convinced that upgrading
to Office 97 is a sound decision. The more I learn about the changes to
Office 97, the more I realize how little change really occurred in
Office from version 4.X to 95. Microsoft's only saving grace for how
little Office evolved then was that it was released simultaneously with
Windows 95. Keeping in mind that different programming teams had to stay
on the same/concurrent page explains the lack of innovation in Office 95.

If your system runs Office 95 with acceptable performance, Office 97
should fare almost as well. For instance, certain areas of Word 97 seem
to be slower than Word 95. Printing documents with graphics seems
noticeably slower and indeed, printing in general is slower. Loading an
HTML document with several graphics - as I mentioned last month - was
horribly slow. The animated assistant may place a drain on your
resources, but you can turn off the constant companionship Power Pup
provides. (My apologies for referring to the caped canine as Super Dog
last month.) When you need help, you can click on the question-mark-in-a-
dialogue-balloon button on your toolbar... or F1 if you want to leave
your mouse out of the picture.

If you are running Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 (Service Pack 5) or
Windows NT 4.0 and you are still using Office 4.3X, run do not walk to
your nearest retailer and grab yourself a copy. Don't forget to pay for
it on your way out the door. You won't regret it. Besides, there are
definite drawbacks to a criminal record.


The Other Quirks

Even if you find the Office Assistant useful and want it to stay open
all the time, you can never seem to find a place to park it where it
isn't in the way.

Sometimes it has a light bulb tip that is really out of context with
your current actions. And sometimes that out of context tip reappears on
regular occasions.

Sometimes a change of Assistants doesn't stick from one day's session to
the next.

Outlook sometimes forgets to put a new message icon on your taskbar, and
sometimes forgets to remove one even after you've read all your new
messages. Due to occasional sluggishness, click-and-drag move operations
can dump your message into the wrong folder.

Word handles graphics differently, and inserted graphics seem to have a
mind of their own when you place them on the page. By default, they
don't travel with the flow of text. And sometimes they don't even seem
to land where you drop them. You do have precise placement control via
coordinates on the Format Picture, Position tab, but getting used to
this, as well as the new drawing layer can be a little disconcerting.

But these are mostly minor quibbles!


HTML Support Revisited

I was fairly merciless in my bashing of Word's HTML open feature. Now I
have something positive to say about Word's web support. Saving a Word
document in HTML format (Note: The HTML file format is now a native
format of Office 97.) was slower than a normal save, but not that much
slower. Word 97 added all the HTML tags to turn the document into a true
web page, including the tags to convert a table to an HTML table, and it
saved pictures as separate GIF files with appropriate references in the
HTML document. Even though some of the graphics - when I viewed the page
in a browser - didn't line up quite where I had in mind, I was suitably
impressed.

There are, however, some limitations. You will still need to go into the
HTML document and tinker with tags, but a majority of the work is done
before you even get to this stage. Also, a WordArt logo was completely
ignored in the conversion. I had hoped that Word could extract the
WordArt object and turn it into another GIF, which is what I ended up
doing to make the page complete. The afore-mentioned table included
Word's new rotated-alignment text and this was not converted, mainly
because that kind of alignment is not supported by HTML. I used a screen
capture utility to turn the table into a GIF to capture the text effect.
Finally, some of Word 97's own text effects - some of which look like
Java applets and are no doubt intended to be viewed on Intranets - can't
be converted to HTML.

Clearly a simple web page with basic tables and a few graphics should be
no problem for the Save As HTML function. I haven't had a chance to try
Excel's Save As HTML function.


Fun With Fonts

It's a shame I can't show you the new animated font features of Word 97.
Then again, maybe it's for the best. These seem to be intended for
company picnic memos or Intranets, but most of the effects are hard on
the eyes after the gee-whiz effect quickly wears off.

For now you have your choice of six animation effects: Blinking
Background; Las Vegas Light; Marching Black or Red Ants; Shimmer; and
Sparkle. Also new to the Format Font dialogue box are some static text
effects: Outline, Double Strikethrough, Emboss, Engrave and Shadow.


A Little Background Information

Word 97 offers you background effects. Gradient patterns, solid colors
and HTML-like background textures are available to dress up your
document. I think this is in support of company Intranets. Some of the
textures are quite elaborate and attractive: water drops, wood grains,
colored marbles, basket weaves, etc.


Commentary

You can attach what amounts to those little sticky notes (otherwise
known as Post-It Notes) to your documents. No, I mean inside the screen.
When you insert a note, you select the text to which the note applies.
Then Insert Comment to add the note text. Here's something of an
example. When you place your cursor over the highlighted note area, you
see what is in actuality an annotation text tip.

This pop up comment/annotation functionality extends to footnotes and
endnotes as well. Just place the cursor over the reference and the text
of the note pops up for quick and easy viewing.


Making your Mark

You will now find better support for Watermarks in Microsoft Word.
Inserting a watermark in previous versions of Word was something of an
arcane ritual handed down through the oral tradition. In Word 97
actually find mention of Watermarks outside the help system. Even so, it
is hidden more than it should be. If you want a picture to repeat on
subsequent pages, you would still put it in the header of your document.
Otherwise, you can place a one time only watermark right on the page.
Insert a picture, then Format Picture; under Image Controls, select
Watermark from the drop-down menu. This will fade the graphic to make it
suitable for watermark printing, a feature missing in Word previously;
you still need to set wrapping to None to get your text on top of the
image. You might think that right-clicking on the image, and selection
Order, Send To Back would do the trick. But you would be wrong. You need
to set wrapping to None to finish the effect. Let's hope that in a
(near) future version of Word, this effect becomes a one-button
operation.


More Style Points

Word 97 slips in a powerful new style feature. If you regularly use
styles, you are aware that if you make a change to the Format Style
area, that change will effect all occurrences of that style in your
document. You can even save the change to the originating template so
that future documents will reflect the change.

Word 97 raises the bar on style control. I mentioned in my First
Impressions article that the new WYSIWYG, drop-down style list was an
impressive new feature. (One that begs for a similar WYSIWYG drop-down
Font face list!) You now have the ability to make dynamic changes to
styles in your document without having to go back into Format Style
Modify for every change. Under Format Style Modify/New, you can tell
Word 97 to Automatically Update a style changes that you make in the
document itself. Just check the Automatically Update box. Next time you
decide that Heading 3 looks better centered, rather than left aligned,
just change the alignment on any occurrence of Heading 3 in the
document. Simultaneously, every other Heading 3 changes to centered.
That will save you going three levels deep into the menu system every
time you change your mind about the look of a style! Without the Auto
Update checkbox filled in, the change you make will only affect that one
occurrence.


Avery Wizard Revisited

I mentioned last month that the Avery Wizard had trouble loading on both
my systems: Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. It bombed right near the end of
the install. Otherwise it seemed to install correctly.

This month I had occasion to use the wizard to print hardware labels.
Two different attempts, selecting two different list generations
resulted in a Word lock-up on my NT system. The first time, I selected a
one-time-only new list. I received an unsupported method error and Word
97 froze. I had to forcibly end the task. For my second attempt, I chose
a new list that would be saved. Unfortunately, the wizard let me get as
far as entering all thirty labels (one page), before I received a
similar error and a similar lock-up. Again I had to forcibly end the
WINWORD.EXE task. I was unable to recover the list and at that point,
decided to go back to my dedicated labeling program.


New Life for AutoText: AutoComplete

Microsoft must have suffered a fortuitous bout of AutoCompletion fever.
Whatever, the cause AutoText has a new lease on life. If you type the
first four letters of an AutoText entry, a text tip pops up with the
AutoText entry suggestion. All you have to do is press the ENTER key to
accept the AutoText entry. Pressing ENTER inserts the rest of the entry
but not a carriage return, so you can continue to type on the same line.
For example, if I start to type January, by the time I type the "u" in
January, a text tip pops up with the full word in it. If I want to
accept the suggested word, I just press ENTER and the rest of January
appears. Keep in mind that this could have been a much longer tip. It
does add one step over AutoCorrect, but it is a vast improvement over
having to remember what your AutoText trigger words or partial words
were, then pressing F3 to get them to appear.

Also, under the Insert AutoText menu entry, you'll find a handy sub menu
of preformatted AutoText entries for Salutations, letter closings,
headers, shipping instructions, etc.

AutoFormatting extends to hyperlinks or network paths that you enter in
a document. If you have this option turned checked in Tools AutoCorrect
on the AutoFormat tabs, the link becomes live. You can use this
hyperlink to access another file on your computer, a computer on your
network or one somewhere out on the Internet.


Run for the Borders

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Word 97 not only adds page
borders, in addition to the old paragraph border function, but it
dramatically increased the number or borders and the quality of the
selections. You're no longer limited to the boring single, double or
shadow category.


Missing Link: Found

If you create newsletters in Word, you'll be delighted to know that Word
97 can now link text boxes so that text flows from one to the other in
natural sidebar fashion. You can start the sidebar on the cover page and
have it flow to a text box on an interior page.


Not Just Your Average Toolbar

The menus and toolbars throughout MS Office 97 have changed their
appearance and the way they work. They have become a collection called
CommandBars. I got an inkling of just what this meant, when I saw that
you could add standard or custom drop-down lists to a toolbar, much like
the style, font and zoom drop-down lists. Also, you could just as easily
add buttons to the menus.


Conclusion

This article, combined with the Word 97: First Impressions article from
February's WindoWatch, covers much of what is new and improved in Word
97. Sure there are some slowdowns, some glitches and some highly touted
features that just don't live up to the full-court press marketing hype.
That's almost to be expected in a software product of this scope. At the
same time, there are plenty of productivity-boosting or just plain
entertaining reasons to upgrade to Word 97. The more I look around and
kick the tires, the more convinced of that I become.


                          =========
We asked Jack to explore the new features of Word97 so that our readers
would be in a position to be able to make an informed judgment for
upgrading purposes. Jack is a bonafide Word expert! We are very proud to
present his informed views on the subject. When not producing classy
articles for WW he works for a commercial printing establishment using
his considerable computer skills in a wide range of system tasks.



   ww page 6
  Microsoft Outlook: The New Universal E-mail Client?
  


                        Office 97 - The Calendar
                    Copyright 1997 by Stefan Assmann


Having already discussed how to connect to the Internet via Outlook to
retrieve your e-mail, it's time to move on and examine the other
features of this program. This time, we'll have a look at the calendar
component.

But first, a bit of updated news: you may remember that in my last
article, I talked about the work in progress on a rules wizard and a
three pane preview extension. Well, they've finally arrived. Point your
browser to http://www.microsoft.com/officefreestuff/outlook and download
away! However, be prepared to fill in a bunch of questions if this is
the first time you have done this. Also, keep your PIN-number ready.
Next up will be a major bug-fix for Outlook, reported to be ready
sometime in March. You will want to keep checking at the above address
regularly!

Now, on to business! The calendar view of Outlook looks like this [**]:


Currently, I'm in day-view. You can also switch to week, month or even
year view, depending upon your needs and/or tastes. If you're used to
Schedule+, you'll have no trouble at all operating the calendar, as its
behavior is the same.

In calendar view, you can make appointments, plan meetings and invite
other people to it (if you're on a network); check other's people's
calendar/appointments when you have the necessary network rights; and
manage your tasks. Let's make this clear with an example. The day I
wrote this article was on a Sunday. Let's say that I'm going to invite
Linda over to watch Star Trek: Voyager with me. This show runs between 8
and 8.45 PM, so the first thing I'm going to do is make sure others know
that I'll be unavailable during that hour.

To make an appointment, just double-click somewhere in the left portion
of the calendar display. The following dialogue box will pop up [**]:

Outlook immediately alerts you to something that isn't logical (I guess
Bill Gates is a big fan of Spock). In this case, the current time was
approximately 1 PM and I double-clicked on the eight 'o clock marker in
the calendar day-view to make an appointment. Outlook knows this is
ridiculous and lets you know this. Very handy indeed! Of course, there's
always the possibility of time travel, but I guess even Bill Gates
thinks this is too far-fetched for the time being. Anyway, the point I'm
making is that when you do this accidentally, don't worry about it. Just
change the start and end time and the warning will disappear. To do
this, just click on the arrow pointing downward at the right of the
start time and a list will drop down with different times in 30-minute
intervals. Avid readers might think: "Fancy program, I can't even set
appointments in 15-minute intervals or even by the minute!" Thankfully,
you can. We'll see how when we input the end time for our appointment.
For now, just select 8 PM (or 20:00 in my case).

Aha! Still a warning message! It seems that at eight o'clock in the
evening, I already have an appointment. The other thing you'll notice
is that Outlook, by default, thinks your appointments last 30 minutes.

As for the end time, you'll remember Star Trek ended at 8.45 PM. We have
already seen that selecting this time is out of the question. No
problem! We'll just type it in ourselves! Simply select the current end
time and type over it and Outlook will automatically convert it to the
right format. We'll fill in the subject line, so, that everyone knows
what the meeting is about. In this case "Start Trek: Voyager on
television tonight!" We want a reminder of course, so select it to
activate. The default is 15 minutes beforehand, but you can change this
to anything you like. If a visual warning is not sufficient, click the
sound icon and a box will pop up to let you select a sound-wave-format!
Now, all I have left to do is to invite Linda to join me. To do this,
click on the "meeting planner" tab. I'm the only attendee available,
since I'm not connected to any network right now. If you are, you can
select all the others on the network. But hey, you'll ask, then how are
you going to let Linda know that she should join you? Very simple
indeed! I'll send her e-mail! Just click the "Invite others" button, and
your personal address book will pop up. Then, just select Linda, click
OK and she'll be added to the list. Now I just press the send button and
she'll get my e-mail, asking her to join me by eight o'clock to watch
Voyager on telly!

Phew! That was not too tough, was it? Now, suppose she happens to like
the show and wants to come back every week. No problem at all! I'll just
make the appointment recurring. This way, she'll get a weekly invitation
by e-mail. To make the appointment recurring, press CTRL-G or select
"Recurrence" from the appointment menu. Fill in all the necessary
parameters, press OK and you're set!


To conclude, a golden tip that has nothing to do with Outlook, but may
be interesting to all the database aficionados who use Access 95 and
Access 2.0. There is apparently no way to convert an Access 95 database
to a 2.0 one. Or is there? Yes, there is! Just save the database to an
already existing 2.0 database and Access will convert it to 2.0 format.
If you have many of these conversion operations to do, you can even
automate the process. But that's for next month!

Next month, I'll be discussing the contacts feature. If you have any
questions, just e-mail them to me at Stefan.Assmann@club.innet.be


 [** The several graphic images illustrating the Outlook Calendar can be
 viewed in the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of this month's WindoWatch.]


                            =========
Stefan Assmann is an accountant who uses business tools extensively.



   ww page 7
  Making the Decision!                                The Passarella Spin
  


                          To Buy or Not To Buy
                   Copyright 1997 by Jack Passarella


Bottom Line

If you're the type who prefers to cut to the chase, here it is. I'll
qualify my remarks by saying I've only looked at Word97, Outlook97 and
Excel97. If you are running a 32-bit operating system -- i.e., Windows
95 or Windows NT -- and you are still running a 16-bit incarnation of MS
Office -- i.e., version 4.X, grab your checkbook and run to your nearest
competitive retailer and pick up MS Office 97. Consider it an order --
if that's what it takes to get you out the door.

If, on the other hand, you are currently using MS Office 95, you're
entitled to a little convincing. But I think you will be -- and you
should be convinced!


Skeptics Raise Your Hands

In mindless supplication to the buzzword gods, Microsoft is touting this
latest incarnation of their flagship suite as the be-all and end-all of
HTML (a.k.a., web) publishing. This is -- to put it mildly -- gilding
the lily. Besides, the marketing blitzkrieg obscures the fact that
Microsoft has packed some fine usability features inside Office. Worse,
if you have no interest in developing web pages/sites of your own,
you're left with the feeling that you can safely ignore Office97 in your
budgetary plans. That would be your loss.


How Many Horses?

If you want some ammunition for not upgrading, here it is. Unless you're
entitled to a free upgrade on a recent PC or software purchase, you will
have to lighten your wallet. The applications seem marginally slower,
noticeably in printing. If you are printing a document in Word with some
graphics there is a noticeable difference in speed.

Outlook, because it is so much more than the Exchange client and
Schedule Plus, which functionality it incorporates, seems at first
sluggish. This application requires 30MB of hard disk space, which is
close to what you need for WinWord!

Finally, opening an HTML file with several medium-sized graphics is
excruciatingly slow in Word.


Homogeneous?

Mixed environments may encounter problems with the new file formats.
This is most noticeable with Word, whose File Save As Word 6/95 doesn't
really do that. It saves the files in RTF format. You may get tied down
installing converters on other PCs running older versions of the Office
apps. If you save as you also lose a lot of the new features. For
example, if you rotate text in a Word97 table, this rotation is lost.
Even if you save the table-containing document in HTML format, you lose
the rotation, even though Word faithfully converts the Word table to a
true HTML table.


Who Needs Office Assistants?

You may have heard/read/seen the animated Office Assistants, which
represent a, ahem, next generation help system: context sensitive and
user-friendly. The context sensitive prompts are right more than half
the time. The user-friendliness translates mostly to cute. And cute
doesn't appeal to everyone. The good news is you can turn off the
Assistants if you find they are eating up your resources or they just
plain annoy you. You can press F1 or click on the question mark dialogue
balloon to bring up the Assistant when you want he/she/it. Is an
animated paper clip gender neutral? You tell me.


The Dog Ate My Office 97 Upgrade Coupon?

Sorry, that's about it for the negatives. If that short list wasn't
justification enough to rip up your upgrade coupon, then prepare to be
convinced to redeem it. Either that or blame Fido.


The Outlook is Good

Outlook incorporates your mail client and replaces Schedule Plus with an
extended set of tools designed to turn Outlook into a mid-range Personal
Information Manager (i.e., PIM). You now have the equivalent of those
sticky yellow notes, dubbed comments. Also new is the Journal feature,
whose complexities I have yet to completely unravel. The Journal can
track by date documents and spreadsheets that you worked on, shown in a
time line. Presumably, this allows you to search for a sales report you
worked on a week ago and find the file. You can also Add journal entries
of various types. Tasks can be assigned to others, while their
completion status is noted on your system.

One of the disconcerting features about Outlook is its new-fangled,
vertical, toolbar. First of all, it looks different than all the other
standard Office app toolbars. And, with a little Redmond chicanery it
can turn into an Explorer type view of Your Computer. After using this
toolbar for a few days, I turned it off, reverting to the Exchange
client style tree. What Outlook does is incorporate the various PIM
elements in with your other mail folders. I don't miss the vertical bar.
maybe something is wrong with me.

My only regret in using Outlook instead of my plain-Jane Exchange client
was that Outlook was missing the add-in third pane to preview messages
without opening them. Microsoft had provided this feature for Exchange,
but Outlook was shipped without it. Instead, the retail version boasts a
three line message preview, which is only slightly helpful in learning
what the message is about, almost like a three line subject area.
Recently Microsoft added the pane to their web site, so that little
inconvenience is gone.

Outlook uses VBScript as a programming language instead of the Office
standard Visual Basic for Applications 5. And it is possible to create
powerful, standard forms for distribution. To demonstrate this,
Microsoft provides some sample applications at their web site. I
downloaded two: HelpDesk and Expense Report. My use of them was limited
in that Outlook is the required client and my PC was the only computer
at my site running Outlook

I have never used a full-bodied PIM, so it's hard for me to say how
close Outlook comes to capturing all the features that would appeal to
diehard PIM users. I do know that there is still a lot of untapped power
there I have yet to use.


Excel-erated

I have only touched the surface of Excel97, and that mainly to see what
new features it has to offer. I did not attempt to use any of its
web/HTML features because of my experiences with Word97 -- see below.
Even so, I encountered a lot of interesting new stuff.

A minor improvement, but welcome, is the active cell display. As you
move from cell to cell, the row and column headers become bold and
expand. If you select a range of cells, the entire range of row/column
headers changes.

There are 16 levels of Undo, as with the other Office apps, you can add
existing or custom drop down menus to toolbars or -- and I haven't seen
this -- buttons to menu bars. MS Office has revamped the concept of
Menus and Toolbars into the Command Bars collection. This collection is
shared across Office 97. Sometimes, the change to the Command Bar area
is barely noticeable moving from one app to the next.

Excel can now use the standout 3D version of WordArt. I expect to see a
lot of WordArt designed company logos in the near future. The new Office
drawing tools are also available to Excel.

You can rotate text in cells, or a group of cells at almost any angle.
Rows can now number 65536, up from 16,384; the limit for characters in a
cell has been boosted from 256 to 32,000. Formulas can automatically
correct themselves; other errors bring up a suggestion from the Office
Assistant; you can also use column or row labels in your formulas
without having to name ranges, etc.

Cell notes -- now called comments -- now pop up for viewing if your
mouse cursor moves anywhere over the cell. In Excel 95 you had to have a
steady hand to position the cursor over the little note box in the upper
right hand corner of a `noted' cell.

Word style users might be interested to know that you can now define
range formatting based conditional values, changing font appearance,
background color, etc. You can also apply a background, similar to web
page backgrounds to your spreadsheets. For example, you can hang you
numbers up on a brick wall. You can also define formulas with
conditional sums, adding values that have certain conditions in common:
East Coast Division sales dollars generated by Salesman Smith.

Excel also introduces a lot of new charting features, including
backgrounds, improved Chart Wizard, etc.

A lot of the features I have come across seem designed with Intranets in
mind as well as the Internet. You can spiff up presentations even if you
never plan to put them on your web page.


A Few Words About Word

I talked a lot about the new stuff to be found in Word 97 in my Word 97:
First Impressions article in February's WindoWatch, but I've discovered
even more new features since then.

While the File Open of my HTML documents proved intolerably slow, saving
as HTML was a different and short story. If you create a new document
with headings and tables, inserted graphics, etc., and subsequently save
it as an HTML file, the results are a pleasant surprise. The inserted
graphics or screen-captures are saved as separate GIF files, with
appropriate tags in the main HTML document; tables are faithfully
converted to their HTML equivalents. Unfortunately, the new WordArt is
simply lost, and any non-standard text alignment in the Word table is
made standard. I was able to get both of these in a web page by
capturing their portion of the screen and saving them as GIF files. You
can get around the limitations, with a little work. At the same time,
Word 97 took care of a lot of the HTML drudge work. The HTML save took
longer than a straight DOC save, but it was doing a lot of extra work,
after all.

One of the best new features in Word 97 is the Document Map view, which
gives you a left-side, adjustable pane, with an Outline-type view of
your current document. You can customize the level of detail, the font,
the pane size, and best of all, you can use it to hop around your
document. Almost like a transporter in the world of Star Trek.

Of course, you've probably heard that WordBasic is Out, and Visual Basic
for Applications (version 5) is now In Word. The VBA5 Integrated
Development Environment is the same for most of the apps now, Outlook
being an exception. Most WordBasic macros will be converted successfully
so that they will run in WordBasic, but once converted and saved, they
will not run on older versions of Word.

Another nice feature is the improved drop-down style list. The new list
shows your styles in WYSIWYG view, including font face and size,
alignment and whether or not the style is character or paragraph.

I already mentioned the much improved version of WordArt. Tables have
been similarly overhauled. You can use a pencil and eraser to create
rows and columns to your heart's content. You have many new alignment
options and can rotate text in cells in 90-degree increments.

The Format Font dialogue box has a whole new tab: Animation. You can add
several gee-whiz type animations to your text. These resemble Java
applets but they don't convert to HTML. These are probably designed with
Intranets in mind or the Company Picnic announcement. You can also:
Outline, Emboss or Engrave your text. These effects are less distracting
(um, annoying) then the animations.

You can add comments to text. The comment is sort of like a pop up
annotation. You can tell the comment is there by different text
background coloration. Just move the mouse cursor over this to see the
body of the note.

The on-the-fly grammar checker is actually right some of the time, and
is less annoying then the end-of-job grammar checkers you may have used
in the past. I still have mine on to catch the unintentional slip of the
usage.

Word 97 is supposed to support versioning -- i.e., keeping several
versions of a document in a single saved document -- but I haven't tried
this feature. As a writer, I'm attracted to the idea of keeping a draft,
a revision and a final revision all in the same file, but I will wait to
be convinced. Word 97 also supposedly has a reliable master document
feature at last.

VBA5 has helpful AutoCompletion help, which prompts you along with
suggestions for properties, etc. But even if you never use the VBA5 IDE,
you will find AutoCompletion help in your everyday typing in Word 97.
AutoText will now prompt you with a suggestion after you type the first
four letters of an entry. If you accept the suggestion, press Enter and
the remainder of the text is inserted for you. Just typing the first
four letters of February above prompted me with "Febuary" in an
AutoComplete tip.

The list goes on and on. For example, network paths or web URLs entered
in Word are automatically formatted to live hyperlinks. You could click
on them to go there. "Where do you want to go today?" Indeed!


Office 95 vs. Office 97?

After coming upon one new feature after another in Office 97, I tried to
remember why -- and if -- Office 95 was ever a compelling upgrade
decision. Basically, Office 95 gave us a 32-bit suite for a new 32-bit
operating system. And Word95 introduced the on-the-fly spell checker.
Excel gave us a pop-up note if we put the little, red square indicator
in our mouse cursor crosshairs. That's about all that sticks out in my
mind. I have even read that Bill Gates was disappointed in the
improvements made to Office 95. Comparing 95 to Office 97, I can see
why.

With Office 97 -- once you strip off the HTML and Office Assistants
marketing glitz -- you will encounter many new and improved features.
Surprisingly, many of them are both welcome and useful. I'd recommend
that you start your exploration sooner rather than later.


                            =========
Passarella is one of a small number of people who can discuss word
processor features with authority. When he puts Word, in particular,
through his own exhaustive testing, it has been tested by a critical
expert. Enough said!




   ww page 8
  Making the Decision!                                   The Assmann Spin
  


                          To Buy or Not to Buy
                    Copyright 1997 by Stefan Assmann


This following article is a presentation of my assessment of Office 97.
With Jack Passarella and Linda Rosenbaum, we are presenting some
necessary information useful as a guide to determine whether you should
upgrade to Office 97 or pass this time. My personal view is that the
upgrade is worth its weight in megabytes! Your final decision may turn
on the judgment if you need this type of product at all.

First of all, the upgrade is a hardware hog, as is all top-of-the-line
new software. Don't even try it with anything less than a fast 486 with
16MB of memory. As always, the more installed RAM, the better!

Secondly, Office 97 requires either Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 with
service pack 5 or higher, or Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 2 or
higher.

Lastly, a connection to the Internet is not necessary, but will make
things considerable easier and will enable you to use all of Office's
features to the fullest. Given that you are reading this shortly after
the Office release, an Internet connection is a given.

Assuming that these two conditions have been met, we're left with the
following general remarks:


New user

If you've just acquired a computer and want an Office suite, Office 97
is certainly worth considering. It's one of the best-integrated suites
available, Further, you can do almost anything with it.


Upgrading in a Mixed Environment

All of Office's applications have new file formats to accommodate its
array of new features. This is bound to cause trouble in multi-user
networked environments where one would expect to find a combination of
operating systems as well as, different versions of Office. Luckily,
Office 97 includes sufficient converters to make the transition quite
smooth. Even so, there are still pitfalls to avoid. One of the most
serious is the save as Word 6.0/95 option in Word 97. You might think
that saving your masterpiece in this format and sending it to your
colleague who is using Word 6 will do the trick, but this isn't the
case. Due to a bug in the Word 6/95 converter, Word 97 files get saved
as RTF files. If the one you're sending the file to, doesn't have this
converter installed, for the short run at least, both of you will be
frustrated. There are two solutions for this:

  On the Office 97 CD, there's a valuepack folder. In this folder
   you'll find a Word 97 converter for Word 6/95 users. Just
   distribute/install this at the appropriate locations.

  Load your file into Wordpad and save as a Word 6 file. The document
   will now be in true Word 6/95 format.

And finally, any realistic discussion of a major and integrated software
purchase must look at what the competition is offering as a part of the
decision making process.

The following section of will examine what the other contenders in the
suites field: Corel Office Professional 7 and IBM (Lotus) SmartSuite 97
are offering.

All suites contain four programs: a word processor, a spreadsheet, a
presentation module and a database. MS Office 97 also contains a PIM
called Outlook already under discussion in separate articles. Soon,
Corel will add its answer to Outlook, called Corel Central and IBM has
Notes, of course!


The Word Processors

  WordPerfect 7.0

    Corel Office presents a major contender with WordPerfect 7.0. This
    application matches Word in nearly every respect, and outshines Word
    when it comes to paragraph formatting. For example, the tables in
    WordPerfect support 100 spreadsheet functions, which might come in
    very handy for quick and dirty reports.

    Like every other package in this review, the Internet has struck
    again: Corel uses its Barista technology to let users publish
    documents on the web. This technology saves your document as a Java
    applet, so that users with java-enabled browsers can see exactly
    what you've been up to. However, unlike the other packages under
    discussion, WordPerfect won't let you open a page directly from the
    'net. You have to save it first!

    As for basic outline and numbering functions, customizing them and
    integrating them into your document can be a pain in the behind.
    This should change in version 8, due in May, which will also include
    a context-sensitive toolbar, support for HTML forms and a revamped
    equation editor. Because this version retains the same file format
    as in version 6, files are totally compatible with previous Windows
    and DOS versions. However, this also means that you can't edit
    different parts of the document at the same time using separate
    windows, as is possible in Word and WordPro (and if you believe this
    feature isn't handy, ask any writer / editor).

    WordPerfect can't use the DOS printer drivers anymore, but includes
    unsurpassed control over the normal Windows printer drivers. You
    can, for example, specify a default font for each printer and save
    this setup for later use. You can also name collections of printers
    with use only specific fonts. Expect this feature to appear in the
    next version of Word as well. This is a critical feature for
    business with multiple and/or dedicated printers.

    One glaring omission in WordPerfect 7 is the total lack of GroupWare
    features. You get to send mail to someone and that's it. Corel has
    solved this in version 8 and supports every acceptable output option
    there.

    To summarize: if you're an avid WordPerfect user, this program will
    certainly appeal to you. If you have to choose a word processor for
    the first time however, look elsewhere or wait for version 8.


  Word 97

    From version 2 on, this word processor was the most intuitive and
    best balanced. Now, it also has become the most powerful. With this
    latest incarnation, you can perform almost every word processing
    function and more!

    Apart from the menu's, toolbar and keyboard assignments, Microsoft
    has enhanced every feature and introduced a few new ones. To name a
    few of the enhancements: multiple versions of a document are stored
    in a single file, Word now supports desktop publishing features such
    as text that flows from one frame to another frame on a different
    page, the document map shows you an outline of your document and
    creating tables is a snap thanks to the new pencil tool.

    As to the Internet, Microsoft lives up to its promises. If you want
    to create HTML pages, just go ahead and select the save as HTML
    option in the file menu. Nearly all of your page layout will be
    preserved, save the ones that are not part of the HTML language.
    Word also intelligently changes its toolbar and menus when you're
    creating HTML pages, so that features that are not supported are
    greyed out or simply not present in the menu. For example, the Drop
    Cap item in the format menu has gone. The only reason for not making
    it the number one HTML editor as well as the number one word
    processor is its inability to create frames and java applets. There
    is, however, FrontPage, a program that seamlessly integrates with
    Word 97, to do that!.

    Traditionally, you could change almost every feature in Word to your
    liking, from toolbar buttons to adding advanced macro's in the
    menus. This version goes even a step further by finally introducing
    Visual Basic for Applications as its macro language. Most macros
    from WordBasic are converted automatically, except for the most
    complex.

    However, Word 97 isn't complete purity yet: the master document
    feature still leaves a bit to be desired, and if you want to change
    a style you have to wade through many menus TIP: If you do this a
    lot, create a macro and make a button out of it. Lastly, Word 97
    needs plenty of horsepower to run efficiently. Don't try this with
    anything less than 16MB and a fast Pentium.

    Summary: this is one of the best-written windows programs ever. If
    you have the hardware for it, don't even think about the
    competition.


  WordPro 97

    WordPro had its geneses in AmiPro and carries with it a very loyal
    following. Traditionally, a small tight and efficient approach to
    the world of word processing it required the smallest amount of disk
    space for what it did, - and that was a lot!

    Additionally, WordPro 96 was the first word processor with advanced
    workgroup, versioning and display features! WordPro 97 still has
    these strengths. The improvements in the newest version include
    increased performance, better stability and enhanced document
    backgrounds. Its best features are still to be found on the
    workgroup front!

    As in the other products, the Internet is also driving the features
    in WordPro, and offers much the same capability as the others.

    WordPro also has flaws: the macro language is too complex and you
    can't simply make a keyboard macro unless you learn the difficult to
    master LotusScript programming language. Moreover, it lacks a whole
    bunch of very handy automation features present in both Word and
    WordPerfect. However, if you need the ultimate in collaboration and
    audit trails, give this program a serious look.


Spreadsheets

  Quattro Pro 7

    Quattro Pro broke some ground with it's tabbed interface in the DOS
    world and still contains the most functions, around 300 more than
    Excel. However, these functions are rarely used and can be put
    together in Excel in no time with the new function wizard.

    The program has been updated in the user interface department, it
    has support for PerfectScript, the macro language running
    throughout Corel's products, and now has equivalents to some Excel
    features like data mapping, support for Notes F/X, help queries in
    plain English, spelling on-the-fly and other things.

    As to the Internet, you can open tables from the web, FTP or Gopher
    sites. In Quattro Pro however, you're limited to read-only.
    Hyperlinks are not preserved as is done in Excel, but you can create
    one using a formula.

    Quattro Pro still outsmarts the competition in the area of
    functions. Over 100 new functions have been added in this release.
    Sadly, this is about the only thing setting Quattro Pro apart from
    the competition.

    Like in WordPerfect, workgroup features aren't present at all,
    except for sending a complete file as an attachment to an email
    message.

    If you're crunching numbers on your own, you might consider this
    program, but compared to the other programs, Quattro Pro is falling
    behind very rapidly.


  Microsoft Excel 97

    The only stiff competitors for this program are its predecessors,
    Excel 95 and Excel 5.0, so Microsoft had to find a way to convince
    customers to keep upgrading. As such, this latest incarnation is
    filled with powerful time saving gizmo's and gimmicks, while
    maintaining its previous unprecedented level of outstanding quality
    and value.

    Let's start with the new workgroup features: Excel now permits
    multiple users to edit and share the same files simultaneously, the
    only spreadsheet thus far to allow this. When different users are
    working on the same range and entering conflicting values, Excel
    either pops up a dialog box asking what to do or defaults to the
    last edit This feature is fully customisable. A change history
    routine records every edit complete with user name and date. One
    thing missing is a versatile scenario manager like in 1-2-3, but
    that's about the only criticism of this program I can come up with.

    Another area that has been worked upon is the chart wizard. It's
    much simpler to use, has more graphic types and is still more
    powerful than ever. You can now select charts for editing with a
    single click and a neat bounding box appears around those worksheet
    cells that contribute to the data series you're editing. This makes
    it super easy to modify the range as you just drag the handles as
    you do when copy cells.

    As for the Internet, new query types or web queries, make it
    possible to fetch your info from the net. A few have been provided
    in the package, and more can be downloaded from Microsoft's web site
    http://www.microsoft.com/officefreestuff/excel

    If you're in the number-crunching business as I am (Accounting),
    your choice is very easy and clear: you simply have to upgrade or
    buy this gem!


  Lotus 1-2-3

    Once the market leader in the DOS days, 1-2-3 quickly lost this
    position in the Windows era to Excel, and with good reason. In fact,
    Lotus has been catching up since its first version and has
    introduced innovations that Excel later also included, but better!
    Lotus was the first, for example, to include data mapping as one of
    its features. I'm sorry to report that, despite all the Internet
    hoopla, the only real new features are its printing preview
    function, unsurpassed to date, and that it has finally become a full
    fledged 32-bits program.

    1-2-3 does have its charm, however. Its versioning wizard still
    beats the one in Excel, and 1-2-3 has almost achieved all
    functionality of Excel, be it in a slightly different manner.
    Developers beware: support for the C API add-in has been dropped,
    forcing you to either rewrite the thing in LotusScript or drop
    support for 1-2-3.

    All in all, a very nice program. Notwithstanding, if you want the
    absolute best in ease of use and power, go for Excel !


Databases

  Paradox 7.0

    Paradox bears little resemblance to the other programs in Corel's
    suite because the product is typically Borland regarding operation,
    user interface and programming language. Once a very powerful
    program (it still is, but less so than the competition) and a bit of
    a trendsetter, it has withered recently. Even so, there is still
    hope for it. Corel licensed the source code as of October 21, 1996
    and promises to bring the program on par with the other programs in
    its suite beginning with version 8 in May.

    Currently, the program only supports ActiveX controls regarding
    Internet functionality, making it a bad choice for database-based
    web sites. Its once innovative query-by-example editor lacks the
    functionality, speed and ease of use of Access's Query Designer. The
    object-based programming language is very robust indeed, but
    extremely difficult to master.

    As to on-the-fly database creation, the product comes with a startup
    expert to lead you through the process of creating, opening and
    generating databases. The predefined templates are of very good
    quality, as are the sample applications.

    Presently, this program is in a transitional period. For now, it's
    geared towards developers and not as accessible as the other
    programs reviewed. In view of this, I recommend you wait for version
    8 to be released.


  Access 97

    Professional power, superb tools and excellent integration with
    Office 97 make this program the leader in the pack for novices as
    well as expert programmers.

    Its built-in Internet functionality lets you manage a database on
    the web with ease. You can output tables, queries, forms and reports
    to static HTML files with or without templates or send output to a
    web server to create live output. You can even create databases that
    are dynamically updated on web sites hosted by Microsoft's IIS or
    personal web server! Working the other way around (importing data
    from HTML documents) is a snap. The replication technique, which
    first debuted in Access 95, has been enhanced for the Internet as
    well, so you can keep your databases in sync using FTP. You can now
    also select portions of your table to replicate, instead of the
    entire table.

    All data, regardless the source, must pass through MS's Jet engine,
    ensuring data integrity.

    Writing up a report or making a form? No problem. Tabbed property
    sheets, click-and-draw control palettes, drag-and-drop fields and
    right-click pop-up menu's will make life much easier. Add to this
    one wizard after another, plenty of auto functions and a powerful
    programming language, and you're set.

    To improve performance, some modules like the programming component,
    only get loaded when necessary, i.e. as soon as you begin writing a
    line of code, and not a moment sooner.

    If you have a question, you can begin using filter by form, which
    lets you use your form for querying your database. Next is filter by
    selection, which lets you highlight the text you want to search for.
    If you want it done professionally, you can use the query designer
    and graphically join tables for multi-table queries. To top it all
    off, filter by input lets you right-click and enter your search
    criteria in a text box on the resulting menu.

    For developers, there's a very advanced version of Visual Basic for
    Applications at your disposal. With this, you can create very
    powerful applications with relatively little effort.

    All in all, impressive power at your fingertips and still easy to
    use. A surprising combination!


  Approach 97

    This application integrates very well with the other SmartSuite
    applications and uses the SmartSuite Internet technology. The
    program concentrates more on data access and ease of use than other
    database features such as data integrity. As such, it's more suited
    for the simplest personal applications, quick and dirty browsing of
    the data and editing of any of its supported formats. However, don't
    try to build some nice tailor-made business application with it.
    Also, the program is the slowest of the pack, particularly in
    searching and updating.

    Because this program is targeted towards personal use, it's filled
    with ready-made templates, big icons that access the features you
    use most and various product assistants. For searching you can fill
    in a blank form or use an SQL assistant for searching through
    multiple tables. You can also use LotusScript to refine the working
    of your databases.

    A nice program, but as said, only for personal use with hardly any
    expansion options when you've grown out of its personal features.


Presentation Graphics

  Corel Presentations 7

    For a member of a suite, this program will perform adequately, as
    long as you don't need those fancy multimedia presentations we've
    become used to today.

    Creating simple presentations is straightforward. You select from a
    number of templates, layouts and backgrounds and then enter your
    data. However, Presentations was the slowest among the contenders
    during its creating process. For example, importing data into graphs
    lets you select the ranges you wish to graph, but neither the table
    nor the range is shown, so must switch back and forth between this
    program and the one that holds your data. Cumbersome to say the
    least. You'll also have to edit considerably when working with lines
    and arrows to get the desired effects due to the clumsy way
    Presentations works.

    As to multimedia, Presentations doesn't directly support video
    playback, except through OLE, which isn't very intuitive.

    As to Internet features, your presentation converts easily to HTML
    with the built-in wizard. Your links are preserved and you can
    assign objects to link to other web sites.

    Output is mixed. Outputting backgrounds on a laser printer for
    example, produces smooth gradients but makes some of the text
    unreadable because the package fails to alter the grey scales for
    contrast, something the other programs did.

    Leaving the minor annoyances behind however, this package still
    manages to hold its own, albeit with less speed and innovation.


  PowerPoint 97

    PowerPoint 95 was largely a translation of the 16-bit version to the
    Windows 95 environment. This version, however, comes armed with
    built-in HTLM capabilities and very impressive features for making
    all kinds of presentations in no time. Add to this a very
    intelligent interface and comprehensive help features and you have a
    winner on your hands.

    The built-in HTML translation lets you export your presentation to
    the web without having to use an add-in as before. The conversion
    takes place with a wizard, which provides you with intelligent
    options and graphical feedback to show you your progress.
    Presentations can also be saved in a special format so that
    transitions, sounds, and video effects are retained. All you have to
    do on the client side is to download and install the free PowerPoint
    Animation Player, which you can also find in the ValuePack folder on
    the Office CD- ROM.

    For simple presentation creation, PowerPoint comes with a large
    collection of templates, backgrounds and styles. You can also use a
    generous collection of clipart. If that's not enough, you can log
    onto Microsoft's clipart gallery on the web to download more. If
    you're importing data, the program will let you select a range from
    a preview window.

    PowerPoint is the only program that lacks a print preview function,
    but the output is very good indeed, with smooth gradients. Moreover,
    the text was quite readable in grey scale form because PowerPoint
    automatically adjusts grey scales if you output to a black-and-white
    printer.

    While Freelance retains a slight edge concerning workgroup support,
    PowerPoint has caught up with it in every other aspect. If you're
    mainly creating stand-alone presentations, this is the way to go.


  Freelance Graphics 97

    Freelance Graphics, was until last year the clear winner for
    presentations, has finally has some real competition. The package
    still has a slight edge on PowerPoint regarding workgroup features
    and interface, but if you're looking for superior multimedia, look
    to PowerPoint.

    Freelance's SmartMasters (the equivalent of wizards) let you create
    a presentation in no time and add data with only one click. In its
    previous version, it was the only one with HTML conversion, and its
    features are on par with PowerPoint's.

    The program still lacks a preview window that views transitions and
    animations as you assign them and doesn't have the variety of clip
    art and multimedia prowess found in PowerPoint. However, it is still
    the strongest in workgroup features. With TeamReview, groups can
    participate in a review of a developing presentation and you can
    embed comments for the designer. These reviews can be made via Lotus
    Notes, e-mail or floppy disk.

    On the printing side, Freelance performed very well and
    effortlessly. But IBM (or is it Lotus) should make some adjustments
    in the next version to make up for the lack in multimedia power,
    otherwise it might very well be possible that it'll loose its
    presentations crown to PowerPoint.



                          =========
Stefan Assmann sings like Pavarotti when discussing these components,
particularly the data base offerings. A prolific writer, accountant,
computer expert, beta tester and more! His contribution to this issue
has been enormous. If you want to see the full complement of new
features, check out the Office 97 section on his homepages at
http://www.stefan95.net



   ww page 9
  Understanding and Working with Motion Video Formats!
  


                       Motion Video in Windows 95
                      Copyright 1997 by Herb Chong


PC users since Window 3.0 have been able to create and play back motion
video. However, few people ever bought the expensive Multi-media
Extensions add-on to do so. With Windows 3.1, Microsoft made the runtime
Video for Windows freely available. This was the first way to play
videos on a computer used by most people. Nowadays, in Windows 95, there
are three main motion video formats, Video for Windows, Quicktime, and
MPEG. All three share some common characteristics but there are also
some significant differences. I'll try to take some of the confusion out
of understanding and working with these motion video formats.

People who design motion video file formats face two dilemmas when
deciding how to arrange sound and video on the hard disk. The first is
that anything approaching TV quality video and sound requires about
1Mbyte/s or higher of video data to be sent to the display and about
176Kbyte/s for stereo audio. A full length movie would require many
gigabytes of disk storage and very fast hardware. In the days of high
end 386 computers with 4M of RAM and 100Mbyte hard drives, this was
clearly impossible. Storing a short movie of reasonable quality on
CD-ROM was practical but CD-ROM drives then were slow. Single speed
drives of 150Kbytes/s were the norm.

The second is that for video of any reasonable length, there is seldom a
possible way to load the entire video or sound information into memory.
This was even more unlikely during the time a 4 Mbyte system was
considered huge. Something had to be done to shoehorn video movies into
systems with slow processors, small amounts of memory and slow drives,
that did not require expensive hardware. Even today's Pentium Pro
systems would have trouble if video was stored without doing special
things to the video format.

The first problem was the hardest and many people have built careers on
doing better and better jobs of making videos smaller. The obvious idea
of compressing the images or frames that make up a file or computer
movie has its limitations. Except in the case of uninteresting pictures
with little detail, 2:1 or 3:1 compression is about all that most
ordinary compression programs such as PKZIP can do over a wide variety
of image content. This is still short of what can be fit onto a single
speed CD-ROM drive by a factor of three or four. Something different had
to be done.

There are three basic ways to make video files smaller: reduce the
number of colors used, reduce the image size, and finally, throw away
information. The three major motion video formats in Windows allow the
creator of the content to make tradeoffs by choosing a particular
technique and then choosing parameters for the programs that create the
videos. The author first must choose a compressor/decompressor (codec)
for their video. Examples of codecs are Intel Indeo and Supermatch
Cinepak.

Reducing colors changes how many bits are required to store a pixel's
color. Most original videos are created with 24-bit color to get
maximum color fidelity. If you reduce the movie to 8 bits or 256 colors,
the movie automatically becomes one third as large. However, 256 colors
isn't many and you can easily see the difference between the original
and the color-reduced version if you have a display that can show more
than 256 colors. Choosing a color depth of 16-bits or 64K colors is a
compromise, but only saves one third of the size. High quality image
video codecs such as Indeo and Cinepak don't make this sacrifice and
instead give up other things.

Reducing image size is a highly effective way of reducing the amount of
data, but the tradeoff is that it can make the movie too small or too
coarse to be viewable, even when it fills the whole screen. A typical
NTSC TV set can show approximately 750 pixels wide by 500 pixels high of
information. Reducing the frame size to 160x100 to preserve the 4:3
aspect ratio reduces the data rate by more than 25 times, but it becomes
impossible to view all but the coarsest features. People who work with
movies transferred to computers usually will go no smaller than 320x240
if they want to preserve most of the detail.

Throwing away information is how most video codecs achieve their magic.
Arbitrarily throwing away information might lose important parts of an
image. The codecs have to be very smart about what they keep and what
they throw away to preserve as much detail as possible while meeting
their data rate requirements. It is the responsibility of a codec to
take individual image frames from the input movie and process them to a
format that takes less room while preserving as much of the original's
quality as possible. The codec also must take this compressed
information and recreate the original image for placement on the video
display. There are many ways to do this and, as a result, there are many
different codecs from different vendors. Although there are both
hardware and software codecs, unless you have a motion video capture
card, you do not have a hardware codec. I will concentrate exclusively
on software codec technology.

Although there are many differences between individual codecs, they all
share some common properties. The most important one is that almost all
codecs are asymmetric time codecs. What this means is that they take
much longer to compress a video frame than to uncompress it. For an
average adequately configured Pentium system, compression can take two
or three seconds per frame while playback is typically 15, 24, or 30
frames per second, depending upon the movie.

The next important property is that, except for special archival codecs,
most throw away information from the original frames to meet the data
rate requirements. A movie, if it is going to be played back on a system
with a 2X CD-ROM drive, can't have video information requirements faster
than the 300Kbytes/s that it can deliver.

Similarly, a 4X drive can deliver data no faster than 600Kbytes/s. These
are optimistic numbers under ideal conditions, so actual data rates have
to be slightly less to give a reasonable margin for drives not
performing up to specifications. The only way these restrictions on data
rate can be met is to throw away information.

Each codec has its own special tricks to reduce the amount of data. A
common trick is to take advantage of the fact that although there is
lots of detail in a single frame, groups of frames in a movie have many
parts in common. So long as there are no abrupt changes in content,
recording changes between frames is usually much smaller than recording
the frames themselves. Another common trick is that a scene usually has
parts where there is high detail and parts where there is low detail.
Describing a shape of a certain color also usually takes much less space
than recording all the pixels that make up the shape. So far, no
information is being discarded. To discard information, a codec has to
decide what to throw away. This is where proprietary techniques abound.

A codec first compresses the image using its normal lossless techniques
and compares the data rate of sending that image to the file to its
target data rate. If it's smaller than the author's limit, the data is
sent through unmodified. If it is larger, then the codec has to start
removing data. Although no two codecs remove data in the same way, they
all try to find information that is important to preserve and
information that is less important to discard. For instance,
backgrounds in movies can usually be made fuzzier and, consequently,
compress better. After discarding some information, the codec will
compare again and continue until the data meets the target rate. Then,
the frame information gets written out.

At playback time, the codec knows how to reassemble the information and
present the frames to the video drivers when needed. An audio codec does
the same thing for the sound that is part of the movie. Arranging just
what parts of a movie get written where in a file is where the different
video formats differ.


Video for Windows

During the time when Microsoft was still working on OS/2 with IBM, they
cooperated and designed a multimedia file format to handle the special
limitations of playing back many different types of multimedia content.
These files are collectively known as Resource Interchange File Format
(RIFF) files. AVI is an acronym for Audio Video Interleave and is a
particular type of RIFF file that describes how to combine motion video
with synchronized sound for full motion video playback. When Microsoft
and IBM parted ways, they each chose to continue their work on
multimedia applications and file formats in slightly different ways.
Thus, although OS/2 and Windows both use AVI file motion video files,
there are only a specific subset of them that can be transferred from
one operating system to the other and still play back properly. For the
rest of this article, I will ignore all the other varieties of RIFF
files and concentrate only on AVI files.

Just as RIFF is an acronym, so is AVI. It stands for Audio/Video
Interleave and describes how most computer video systems actually write
their data into a file. AVI is a very flexible file format. It allows
mixing of sound and video in chunks so that not a lot of memory is
needed for playback. So long as the media containing the entire movie is
fast enough, an AVI player can read the file from beginning to end and
not have to backtrack to play video and sound. The interleave makes sure
that there is always some sound and video ready to play. Windows 95
normally comes with Media Player installed. If you double click on an
AVI file, Media Player will load and play the file. If you install
ActiveMovie or some other AVI file player, it might play the file
instead.

Inside an AVI movie there can be one of a large number of video or audio
codecs. The ones that you will likely run into are various versions of
Intel Indeo, Microsoft RLE, Microsoft Video 1, and Supermatch Cinepak.
If you upgraded from an older version of Windows or you installed the
Video for Windows 1.1e runtime for Windows 3.1, you will also get Indeo
Raw. In addition to the software-only codecs, there are some hardware
codecs. They require special hardware to play back. If you double click
on an AVI file and get a message that there is a missing codec for the
file, it means that whoever created the AVI file did not use one of the
standard Windows codecs or that your Video for Windows configuration
isn't right.


Apple Quicktime for Windows

Apple developed a motion video format for their Macintosh systems and
eventually ported it from the Macintosh to Windows. When you install one
of the two Quicktime for Windows runtimes, you will be able to play
Quicktime MOV files. Apple's MOV file format is similar in design to an
AVI file. Even some of the codecs are the same. Quicktime uses Cinepak
and Indeo just as in Video for Windows. However, the differences are
such that you can't play a MOV file without installing the Quicktime
drivers and player.

There are two versions of Quicktime for Windows. With Windows 95, you
should install both the 16-bit and the 32-bit version of the run-times.
These are available from Apple's web site. You need both because
different software uses different interfaces to call Quicktime. Older
software uses the 16-bit interface while newer uses the 32-bit one. Many
games and multimedia titles come with their own version of Quicktime.
These days, you should always keep a known working version handy so that
if an old game installs its own version without checking, you can get
back to a working state.

Double clicking on a MOV file will bring up the Quicktime player. You
then need to click on the Play button to begin the movie. Other players
might work differently. If you have installed ActiveMovie, it might be
used instead.

Currently unique to Quicktime is Quicktime VR. This is a special format
of movie where instead of watching a scene play, you can manipulate and
navigate through a space while seeing realistic detail. The most well
known place where Quicktime VR is used is in the Star Trek: The Next
Generation Technical Manual. You can navigate through the Enterprise
using only Quicktime VR.


MPEG

MPEG is unlike the other video formats in common use in that it was not
developed by a software vendor nor was it developed for a particular
operating system and hardware. MPEG was designed from the beginning as a
format to store audio and video information in digital form for use in
CD-ROM and other such digital applications. MPEG-1 is the most popular
of the current variations. MPEG-2 is just becoming available. Because
MPEG is designed primarily for video work based on digital television
standards, many things seem peculiar to us. For instance, a digital
video frame for broadcast television in the US is defined to be 720x576.
This actually exceeds the maximum data rate allowed by MPEG-1 so that
most MPEG-1 videos made from material originating in the US is reduced
to 352x240. Also, because different video sources from different
countries use different frame rates, the MPEG file must cope with these
differences. There actually is no special external description of the
MPEG file format. Instead, there are rules for what chunks follow what
other chunks and something that identifies each chunk.

You will most likely encounter MPEG files on the Internet. That is
because there are software and hardware players for MPEG across a wide
variety of systems. AVI is limited to Windows and OS/2, while Quicktime
is limited to Macintosh and Windows. Before you can view an MPEG movie,
you must have an MPEG player installed. If you use Microsoft's Internet
Explorer as your Browser, you can install ActiveMovie to play back MPEG
files. Otherwise, there are several shareware and public domain players.
Because of the international standard support for MPEG, many current 3D
and motion video accelerator cards will come with MPEG-1 players that
will take advantage of the hardware to ensure smooth playback.

If you shop carefully on the Internet or at computer shows, you will
come across CD-i format CD-ROMs. These frequently contain full length
feature movies that debuted on the big screen. CD-i is a variation on
MPEG-1 that can be played back on a special player with the CD-video
logo or hardware and software for your computer that is CD-i compliant.

MPEG-1 is noticeably less accurate in playback than a reasonably good
VCR. If you play an MPEG-1 movie, full screen on your computer, you will
see some smoothing and flicker artifacts that are a limitation of the
format. MPEG-2 is designed for broadcast quality video. As such, it
requires higher capability hardware and larger storage requirements.
When DVDs finally hit the shelves, they will be able to support MPEG-2
data rates without requiring many disks for a single movie.


Playing Motion Video Movies

Most computer systems capable of running Windows 95 will be able to play
the majority of AVI and Quicktime files. This is because most files in
these formats are deliberately limited in data rate so that they can be
played back on a moderate system. The most crucial factors in successful
playback without flicker are a fast video card and fast drivers. A fast
CPU can overcome slow video, but a system configured that way is an
unbalanced system. If you decide to play back movies at sizes other than
what they were mastered at, you will need both a fast video card
designed for motion video acceleration and a powerful CPU. Otherwise,
the system just won't be able to play the frames back fast enough.

MPEG is usually more problematic than AVI or Quicktime movies. That is
because some of the people who master these movies are working on
systems with very large and powerful graphics hardware bolstered by one
or more powerful CPUs. You have to just play an MPEG file and see what
happens. A good motion video accelerator will make the playback less of a
problem, but the fastest 486 systems are usually barely able to keep up.

CD-i movies are terrific gadgets. Before you rush out and buy one, most
vendors are selling the movies for about $30US each and you need serious
hardware to play the movies back well. First, you need a CD-ROM drive
that supports CD-i. Not all do. It needs to be at least a 2X drive and
preferably 6X or faster. Next, you'll have trouble playing the movies
without flicker unless you have something faster than a Pentium 100 with
at least 16M of RAM. Finally, you need a fast video card, preferably one
with motion video acceleration. Many less expensive video cards are just
too slow to play properly or with reasonable resolution. Finally, after
you have all that hardware, you have to want to watch a movie on the
computer. That by itself may not be something you want to do. However,
it's a great toy to show to your friends.

It's lots of fun to work with and play movies on your computer, even if
they are just short clips, but to play larger ones having more detail,
you need to be prepared to make sure your hardware is capable. This same
hardware is used in making 3D games render faster and with more detail
and generally speeds up your video display even when you are doing work.


                            =========
Herb Chong does research for a major hardware and software developer. He
is a programmer with the unique talent of writing about complex issues
in language most people can understand, like the one above. He is the
Contributing Editor of WindoWatch, computer artist extroadinaire, and
the author of many articles for a wide range of computer magazines.



   ww page 10
  Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks!           The HTML Tutorial Series Part V
  


                             I Was Framed!
                     Copyright 1997 by Gregg Hommel



Where Do We Go From Here?

Without a doubt, there are many things regarding a plain jane and basic
HTML page that we can continue to discuss, because, in fact, we have
discussed very little of the myriad of HTML tags available for use.
However, long ago, when I first started this series, I promised that it
would actually be about frames in HTML. I think we have waited long
enough.

There are many other aspects of HTML programming of Web pages that we
will cover, but we'll try to do them in the context of our framed Web
page, rather than discussing them item by item. So, let's begin with
some discussion of frames on World Wide Web pages, and my rules for
using them.

First, as in most other HTML tags, don't get carried away. Look at your
page as a visitor would, and try to remember that not all your visitors
will be using the same video resolution, etc., as you do. A page with
six or eight frames may look fine at 1024x768, but if someone visits and
is using 640x480 resolution (and there are many who do) they either
won't see everything, or what they see will be distorted. Such a page is
so confusing that visitors will get nothing from it, and will very
likely never come back again.

As a rule of thumb, I have found, while exploring many framed pages on
the Web, that a maximum of four frames to a single page seems to be a
safe number. If you put more than four frames on the page, it looks
cluttered and confusing to a viewer. Sometimes less is more, and in the
case of frames on a page, this appears to be the case.

Again, try to remember that a complete stranger is going to be viewing
your page, and ultimately, it is what he/she wants to see that is
important for your page. To keep his/her attention, use one frame which
is the central point of the page, with any other frames small and
unobtrusive, using them as navigating or informational tools only.

Look at your page from a stranger's point of view, and try to see what
he/she may be coming to your page to see. If every frame is the same
size, and jam-packed with graphics, information, tools, and other noise,
the main content of your page will be invisible, just as it would on a
non-framed page with too many fancy things cluttering it up.

Finally, remember that not all browsers are frames capable. Currently,
the two major browsers in use by the vast majority of people on the Web
are indeed frames capable. Netscape and Internet Explorer, being those
two, of course, but, not all are. Frame capable browsers are currently
limited to those two, and even then, not necessarily on all platforms.
This is important to remember, because if you don't, anyone not using
one of those two browsers, and/or not on a platform which supports
frames, will see absolutely nothing when they view your site. However,
you can prepare for this, and handle the problem for them. We will, of
course, discuss this later, but for now, just try to remember this fact.


Onward and Upward?

Some of you may be wondering what frames are. I know that to some, this
appears obvious, but it isn't to all. I suppose the easiest way to
describe the approach is to say that frames allow a Web site developer
to put more than one page of display on a single page of the Web.
Further it allows the developer to selectively change any or all of
those multiple displayed pages for a remote user, at any given time,
using various tools to do so. But why would you want to? To answer this,
or at least, to make an attempt at explaining it, let's use my personal
Web site at http:\\www.ionline.net\~gregghom as an example.

When I first began, my Web site consisted of a couple of pages. The
first was the one you saw when you first arrived at my site, with a
brief introduction about me, as if anyone really wanted to know! There
was also a link to my other page, which contained some information on a
couple of shareware applications for Procomm Plus for Windows that I had
written. This worked reasonably well because navigation was simple. From
the first page, you could click on a link to the second page, and once
there, the forward and back arrows of your browser would take care of
navigation between the two pages easily.

However, it didn't take long for the site to outgrow this simple form of
navigation between pages. People wanted more information about my
applications than the single page I had prepared could offer them. So I
expanded that one page into one for each of the applications.

At the same time, I was writing a column for WindoWatch Magazine on
Aspect programming for Procomm Plus for Windows. People were asking if
my various tutorial items posted on the BBS nets prior to that time were
available, and indeed, if my columns from WindoWatch were available for
downloading so that they could read or re-read at their leisure. This
added a third page to my site.

I was also beginning to find various interesting sites on the World Wide
Web, and thought that these same sites might be of interest to those who
were visiting my pages. Maintaining my own rules about clutter and noise
on Web pages, particularly the first one on a site, I decided to create
still another page which would contain these links. They would be
available to my visitors without getting in the way of those who weren't
so inclined.

I was now up to five pages, and obviously, using the forward and back
buttons on a browser to navigate from page to page was no longer as
viable an option as it had been with only two pages. This meant that I
had to add some method of navigating around my site to each of the five
pages, and that I had to ensure that, when I updated any single page in
some way, the navigation method on each of the other pages remained
valid.

In addition to all of the above, I think it quite important that on any
given Web site, there is some sort of consistency between pages. It
seems to me that they should be recognizable as being parts of one unit.
Consider this a sort of style for the site, if you will, where all of
the pages on a site are similar in appearance and have continuity. They
should blend one to the other without jarring the consciousness of the
visitor to the site so that he/she can know they are still on the same
site or house but in a different room.

This wasn't that difficult to achieve: It simply meant using similar
title graphics on each page, locating the navigation tools in the same
place on all the pages, using a consistent background graphic, and so
on. Nothing too fancy, but still, a consistency between the pages. The
problem with this approach is that each of those title graphics had to
be loaded when a page was changed to, and the pages had to be stored on
my site, along with the graphics for each. Since each page used it's own
graphic title, this began to add up in both storage area and download
time. It became especially apparent at 14.4 and somewhat impaired by the
multiple graphics needed when switching pages.

This wasn't yet a severe problem, but rather, one that as a Web site
developer, concerned me. Around the time I became concerned about this,
my eldest daughter became a host of a conference on the ILink BBS
network. She wanted a page of her own on my site, adding to the
situation with the increase of another page. At about this same time,
framed pages began appearing on the Web, due, in part, to Netscape 2.0
which supported them and the betas of Internet Explorer 3.0, which also
began supporting them.

As a result of having multiple pages and the problems of consistency and
navigation that this entailed, I began looking at frames as a possible
solution. However, the pages I visited on the Web which were framed did
not particularly thrill me as they were used. Even so, I was left
wondering if this was the solution to my problems. Luckily, I had
monitored the ILink HTML conference, and about the time I started to
look into frames, a discussion of them began there. To give credit where
due, the early frames on my site were, in a large part, a result of
those discussions in that conference. Since coding of frames was rather
new and strange to many, even the code used originally to set up frames
on my page was, for the most part, derived from those discussions. The
people in that conference, especially Kelly Rogers (now Legault), the
host(ess), were of great help assisting in the code development.

The consequence of those discussions of frames was what eventually
became my rules for frames. It is because of those rules, that I decided
that, if I was careful, and designed individual items properly, frames
could, indeed, be a solution to my problems of maintaining my site.

In the end, I developed a single page for my site, which consisted of
four frames. The largest of them takes up most of the central area of
the viewable page, and contains what used to be the contents of my
various multiple pages in the old arrangement.

The first frame runs across the top of the page, taking up about 15% of
the display area, and it contains my title graphics, making them
consistent, as they never change. The bottom frame, also taking about
15% of the display area, contains my counter for the site, along with a
link to send email to me using an HTML mailto: tag.

Of the 70% of vertical area remaining, about 10% of the width is used by
a frame on the left, which contains a table of links to the various
pages on my site, while the remaining 90% of horizontal width in that
central area is the frame mentioned above which displays the page
itself.

For our purposes here, we won't get into anything that complicated --
yet! What we are going to start with is a simple two frame design,
splitting our page vertically by using the top frame for our title, and
navigation tools, and the second, and main, frame, for the content of
the page itself.


The Code Itself

The following code was written using the frames wizard of HomeSite 1.2,
a freeware, HTML editor. Such tools make writing HTML code much easier
than it once was because they actively assist in writing that code
through the use of wizards. Later versions of HomeSite are shareware,
and much more powerful than the freeware version used initially to
generate this code. For a start, however, the freeware version has more
than enough power for the average personal page developer. At
http://www.dexnet.com/homesite.html one can fine the shareware version
of HomeSite. In a later column, we will look at some of the available
HTML editors and tools, but for now, let it suffice that this is the one
I have used for this code. Now, to the code itself, followed by an
explanation of it.


   <HTML>

   <!-- This document was created using HomeSite 1.2 HTML Author -->

   <HEAD>
        <TITLE>WindoWatch HTML Tutorial Page</TITLE>
   </HEAD>

   <!-- This sets the frames for browsers that can
   use them -->

   <FRAMESET COLS="100%" ROWS="20%,*">

        <FRAME NAME="FTitle" SRC="wwtitle.html" SCROLLING="AUTO">

        <FRAME NAME="FBody" SRC="wwmain1.html" SCROLLING="AUTO">

   </FRAMESET>

   <!-- This sets a page for browsers that don't allow frames -->

   <NOFRAMES>

   <BODY BACKGROUND="images/wall.gif">

   If you are seeing this text, then your browser does not support the
   use of frames, which is what this tutorial page is all about. <P>If
   so, please obtain and install a browser which is frames capable, such
   as Netscape or Internet Explorer, and try loading this page again.

   </BODY>

   </NOFRAMES>

   </HTML>


You might notice some few differences between this page, and those which
we have designed and used previously in this tutorial. The simplest
reason for this is that, in reality, the main page of a framed site is
not really a page, but code that tells HTML that this will be a framed
site, and which pages are to be used for those frames.

One first thing to note is that the page which defines the frames for a
site does not require a <BODY></BODY> construct. Since the only thing
that the page does is display a title in the browser title bar, and set
up the frames for the page, such a construct is not necessary.

However, you might also have noted a construct consisting of
<NOFRAMES></NOFRAMES>. You will recall earlier in this column that I
cautioned to try to remember that not all browsers support frames on all
platforms, and that you had to take this into account, when designing
your site. Well, that is what this construct is for. Basically, what
happens is this. if the browser supports frames, it sees the
<FRAMESET></FRAMESET> construct, and draws the frames on the display of
the remote, displaying the pages defined for each frame. If the browser
does not support frames, it doesn't see that construct at all, and
displays either nothing, or whatever is on the page in a <BODY></BODY>
construct.

For this to happen, the <NOFRAMES></NOFRAMES> construct is not
necessary, as the non-frames capable browser couldn't care less about
that construct, and only looks for <BODY></BODY>. But, the frames
capable browser does see that <NOFRAMES></NOFRAMES> construct, and does
not display whatever appears after it in the <BODY></BODY> construct
within the noframes construct.

In this fashion, a non-frames capable browser will display the contents
of a page within the body construct of this initial page, but the
noframes construct will prevent a frames capable browser from seeing
that same body construct and displaying it. Thus, you have a "page"
which is viewable by either type of browser. And it is even possible to
use that body construct to develop and display a complete set of pages
for the site, using the older, single page at a time methods.

The more observant amongst you may see based upon this comment, that, in
reality, a framed page did not actually lessen my concerns about
navigation, etc. on the non-framed pages, since, to allow for a
non-frames capable browser visiting my site, I still have to maintain
those pages. And you would be right of course, but I didn't find this
out until after I had begun working on my framed site, and by that time,
did not want to abandon the work I had put into it, so instead of easing
my work load, I doubled it, more or less.

Why, then, would anyone want to use a framed page, is something we will
leave for a later discussion. For now, we will assume that we want to
continue with the framed site, and go from there. And to do so..

If you recall, a normal page, written in HTML, must have two sections,
one using the <HEAD></HEAD> construct, and the other using the
<BODY></BODY> construct. A framed site is no different in some respects,
except that the two sections required, at least for the first page, are
<HEAD></HEAD>and <FRAMESET></FRAMESET> The body construct, and noframes
construct, are optional on this page, but can be used, as in the above
code, to account for browsers which are not frames capable.

For a framed site, it is that <FRAMESET></FRAMESET> construct which is
critical, and which we will look at here and now.


   <!-- This sets the frames for browsers that can use them -->

   <FRAMESET COLS="100%" ROWS="20%,*">

        <FRAME NAME="FTitle" SRC="wwtitle.html" SCROLLING="AUTO">

        <FRAME NAME="FBody" SRC="wwmain1.html" SCROLLING="AUTO">

   </FRAMESET>


Please note the use of a comment tag in this HTML code. If I haven't
mentioned this before now, it is a method of commenting your source code
so that you know what you have done, without having it displayed for any
remote browser to see, and uses a special HTML tag, which is <!--- --->
which is a tag opener (<) followed by an exclamation mark (!), three
dashes (---), then a space and your comments. To close the tag, you put
a space at the end of your comments, then three more dashes (---) and
finally, an HTML tag closing (>). This is used above to remind me at
some later date, which code in the source is used for what purpose.

In our code above, what we are telling a frames capable browser is that
we want the page it will display, split into one column (COLS="100%")
and two rows, one above the other, with the first one being 20% of the
total display area, and the other being the remaining whatever %, as
indicated by an asterix (ROWS="20%,*").

The first 20% of the "page" has the name "FTitle" (the importance of
which remains obscure at this point, but which will be clarified in the
next column, when we begin working on what will be displayed on the
page), and displays the file "wwtitle.html".

The remaining 80% of the page has the name "FBody", and contains the
file "wwmain1.html". Neither of these two files has yet been created by
us, so we can't really use a browser to test this code yet, but we will
take care of that in the next column. As it is now, I am being rather
long-winded, and will likely face a lecture about this from our Senior
Editor, Devil Lois , but the basic idea is there for you to study now as
there will be an interactive exam in the next column - and yes, I am
joking!

The only other thing that we will concern ourselves with today is the
final remark in each <FRAME> construct, that being SCROLLING= In our
example, we have set this to AUTO, which means that the browser can
decide if scroll bars are necessary on a frame, and if so, put them
there for the remote viewer's use to see any portion of that frame's
contents not visible to him. This is a useful setting, in that it allows
for variations in screen resolution for display, however, as is usual,
it too has drawbacks, some of which we will discuss in later times,
including the other options available for this parameter, and how they
can be used.

But that is it... we now have a framed page to begin working with. It
isn't fancy, having only two frames, both splitting the page vertically,
and right now, they don't display anything, since we haven't yet written
the code for the pages to be displayed in the frames, but it gives you
the basic idea. It, also, sets us up for our next few columns, which
will be used to further develop our framed page, and to introduce some
new HTML tags.


                            =========
I would bedevil Gregg Hommel but his fans would boycott the magazine! He
has counseled many on the BBS nets for quite some time on the finer
points of communications programs and Procomm for Windows. Well known
for his ASPECT scripting programs and his original software, his
tutorials continue to be very popular items on the WW homepage.



   ww page 11
  Internet Humor
  


                           Lunch: The HP Way
                   by Stephen Harrison and Noel Magee


This is the story of a different kind. No melting CPU's, no screaming
disc drives, just the kind of psychological torture that scars a man for
life.

I had a 9:00 meeting with my sales rep. I needed to buy an entire new
series 70, the works. He said it'd take about an hour. Three hours
later, we'd barely got the datacomm hardware down on paper, so he
invited me downstairs for lunch.

This was my first experience in an HP cafeteria. Above the service
counter was a menu which began... MMU's (Main Menu Units)


     0001A   Burger. Includes sesame-seed bun. Must order condiments
               00110A separately
      001    Deletes seeds.
      002    Expands burger to two patties.
    00020    A Double cheeseburger, preconfigured. Includes cheese,
               bun and condiments.
      001    Add-on bacon.
      002    Delete second patty.
      003    Replaces second patty with extra cheese.
    00021A   Burger Upgrade to Double Cheeseburger
      001    From Single Burger.
      002    From Double Burger.
      003    Return credit for bun.
    00220A   Burger Bundle. Includes 00010A, 00210A and 00310A
      001    Substitute root beer 00311A for cola 00310A.


My eyes glazed over. I asked for a burger and a root beer. The waitress
looked at me like I was an alien.

"How would you like to order that, sir?"

"Quickly, if possible. Can't I just order a sandwich and a drink?"

"No sir. All our service is menu driven. Now what would you like?"

I scanned the menu. "How big is the 00010 burger?"

"The patty is rated at eight bites."

"Well, how about the rest of it?"

"I don't have the specs on that, sir, but I think it's a bit more."

"Eight bites is too small. Give me the Double Burger Upgrade."

My sales rep interrupted. "No, you want the Single Burger option 002
'expands burger to two patties'. The double burger upgrade would give
you two burgers.

"But you could get return credit on the extra bun," the waitress chimed
in, trying to be helpful, "although it isn't documented."

I looked around to see if anybody was staring at me. There was a couple
in line behind us. I recognized one of them, a guy who merely mowed me
down in the parking lot with his cherry-red '62 Vette. He was talking
to some woman who was waving her arms around and looking very excited.

"What if... we marketed the bacon cheeseburger with the vegetable option
and without the burger and cheese? It'd be a BLT!"

The woman charged off in the direction of the telephone, running
steeplechases over tables and chairs. My waitress tried to get my
attention again. "Have you decided, sir?"

"Yeah, give me the double burger - excuse me, I mean the 00020A with the
option 001. I want everything on it." She put me down for the Condiment
Expansion Kit, which included mayonnaise, mustard and pickles with a
option to substitute relish.

"Ketchup." I hated to ask. "I want ketchup on that, too."

"That's not a condiment, sir, it's a Tomato Product." My sales rep
butted in again. "That's not a supported configuration."

"What now?"  I kept my voice steady.

"Too juicy.  The bun can't handle it."

"Look. Forget the ketchup, just put some lettuce and tomatoes on it."

The waitress backed away from the counter. "I'm sorry, sir, but that's
not supported either, the bun can take it but the burger won't fit in
the box. The sales rep defended himself. "Just not at first release."
"It is being beta-tested, sir."

I checked the overhead screen. Fries, number 000210A, option 110. French
followed by option 120, English. "What the hell are English Fries?" I
turned to the sales rep. "Chips they call them. We sell a lot of them."

I gave up. "OK, OK just give me a plain vanilla Burger Bundle." The
confused the waitress profoundly. "Sir, Vanilla as an option is
configured only for series 00450 Milkshakes." My sales rep chuckles.

"No ma'am, he just wants a standard 00220A off the shelf. I wondered how
long it had been on the shelf. I didn't ask.

"Very good, sir." The waitress breathed a sigh off relief. "Your meal is
now on order. Now how would you like it supported?"

"Support?" She directed me to the green shaded area at the bottom of the
menu, and I began a litany with my Sales Rep that I'll never forget.

"Implementation assistance?"

"You get a waiter."

"Implementation analysis?"

You tell him how hungry you are and he tells you what to eat."

"Response Center Support?"

"He brings it to your table."

"Extended materials?"

"You get refills."

I stuffed some money at the waitress and told her to take it. She gave
me my check on three sheets of green-bar paper. I studied it on my way
to the table, and decided it'd pass as an emergency napkin.

Table? My Sales Rep had been bright enough to order us a table. He
hadn't been bright enough to check on a delivery date. The table waiter
slouching in his corner surveyed the crowded room, looked at me and
said, "Two weeks. But I can get you a standalone chair by the window
right away." I handed him the tray. A woman rushed up to me with two
small cups of chili and sauerkraut for the hot dog somebody else had
ordered. The room began to grow dim, my eyesight faded...

I woke up clutching the water-glass at my bedside table. It was five AM,
four hours till my meeting with HP. I had had a vision, I did what it
told me to do. I dialed my office, and I called in sick.


                            =========
From the RHF archives as selected by Brad Templeton, Maddi Hausmann and
Jim Griffith. This newsgroup posts former jokes from the newsgroup
rec.humor.funny.



   ww page 12
  The Computers' Role in Instructional Technology
  

                       The Electronic Instructor:
                 An article on Computer Based Training

                     Copyright 1997 by David Kindle


What is a program? How do we make computers become useful tools in our
every day lives? Many people cannot answer these questions even though
today's workforce relies extensively on computers.

Computers have found a place within the workforce because they have the
capability to accept our instructions and perform exactly how we tell
them to. What are programs? Simply put, a program is nothing more than a
set of instructions that empower the computer to perform our desired
tasks.

Fifteen years ago, the computer was primarily used to perform complex
math equations. Today, we are developing software that allows PC users
to perform numerous tasks. Human instruction performed at and by the PC
is one of the newest tasks. With this in mind, I would like to introduce
the computers role in instructional technology.

We have all heard of the teachers that design their courses outline
early in their careers and then use them throughout the rest of their
careers for their stand up curriculum. With today's technology times are
changing and the need for up-to-date information is becoming
increasingly more important. If the computer can accept instruction,
would it be illogical to assume that it could repeat instruction? No, in
fact it is intuitive.

The practice called Computer Based Training is now becoming commonplace
in most of our lives today. Much of what was traditionally taught by
stand up instructors is now being taught through the computer. We now
sit at our terminals and stare at them as they teach us what we do not
know or understand. However, this should not concern the out of work
teacher. Remember, the computer still needs the initial instruction
inputted into it. This requires the work of curriculum developers, teams
of programmers, and of course qualified teachers.

Today organizations such as the military, major airlines, large
franchises, and other industry leaders are using Computer Based Training
to their advantage. C.B.T., as it is commonly referred to, can be
beneficial in many ways. First of all it can be updated very easily.
Once a program is created the updates can be fed into the program rather
easily because the program does not have to be written from scratch. One
of the most effective methods of updating material is through the use of
the World Wide Web. The web can provide up-to-the-minute updates to the
program through downloads directly to the users computers.

Another advantage of the C.B.T. medium, is the interactivety involved.
It has long been proven that most people gain more of their knowledge
though experience than lecture type instruction. The computer offers
interactivety when it teaches a course to a student through the use of
multimedia. Multimedia involves the incorporation of text, audio,
graphics, animation, and video into an interesting display which the
student can interact with. This technique allows the student to not just
stare at the screen but to also take part in the form the course takes.
The student can control what comes next, what they want to learn about,
and the order of instruction through real time interactivity. One of the
most important features of multimedia is the fact that the student is
capable of controlling the flow of the course.

In a standard classroom course, there is always the student that is well
ahead of their fellow classmates and conversely there is always the one
who lags behind. This forces the instructor to slow down to an average
pace to try and accommodate the majority of students. Unlike the
limitations of the standard classroom, C.B.T. can be sculpted to the
needs of the student. The computer can take responses from the student
at their own pace. When the student feels they have reviewed the
information well enough, they choose when they are ready to move on to
the next part of the course.

My goal in the next few articles is to share the value of multimedia and
C.B.T. and how it can be effectively created and used. I will offer my
experience and knowledge in the field as reference for my suggestions. I
have over eight years experience in the C.B.T. development field and
have overcome many obstacles during my conquest of the creation of
multimedia. I will divide this article into many useful topics. I plan
to start with the actual developing of an idea and incorporation into
computer instruction. I will then expand to such topics as graphic
development, palette creation, video and animation development, audio
development, CD-ROM distribution, and even Internet training.

The first step in developing C.B.T. requires the work of a curriculum
developer. The experience of the curriculum developer can come from many
areas such as; qualifications in curriculum design, professorship,
professional teacher, or subject matter expert in the course subject.
The developer must first layout the course in a logical manner. This can
be done using menu titles, lesson titles, and topic outlines, much the
way a book is divided. Once the course is outlined the content must be
storyboarded. This allows the programmers to see what it is the
instructor is intending the computer to present. The next step is to
actually program the computer to deliver the course material as per the
instructor's storyboard.

Many authoring programs have been developed to assist programmers in the
task of developing C.B.T. All of these programs are similar in their
goal, to allow for easy input of instruction into the computer, and they
all have different functions and features. Some of the more common
programs are Visual C++, Toolbook, Icon-Author, Authorware, Quest, and
Visual Basic. Some of these programs offer more object-oriented features
than others. Object-oriented refers to the degree of code required.
Object-oriented language, such as that provided by Icon-Author, offers
the programmer a means of providing instruction to the computer through
graphical objects instead of writing lines of code as was commonly done
in the past. Today object-oriented programming languages are growing
more popular at a rapid rate. The main reason for this is their speed.
They allow the programmer to finish his task much faster than if they
were required to write "pure" lines of code. In the multimedia arena
these programs are almost exclusively used because of their speed,
flexibility, and reliability. Object-oriented programming makes it
easier for the developer to incorporate graphics, animation and other
multimedia features into their application.

All of the development process has not been easily learned. There have
been both hurdles and growth in the area of knowledge in the production
process of C.B.T. Although easier and faster to program in
object-oriented languages, it does not eliminate the presence of "bugs."
These are occurrences that happen to the program which the programmer
did not intend. They can be minor things such as text not showing up or
major things that may cause the users system to crash. These problems
must be attacked and solved on a one-by-one basis. They may prove time
consuming and can cost valuable development time. A good programmer
insures proper strategy and planning to minimize the number of "bugs" to
be worked out at the end of production.

This concludes my brief overview on the development of C.B.T. In the
next article I will discuss graphics and the many problems that can
occur when creating and displaying them. If you have any questions or
comments involving C.B.T. or other issues relating to this upcoming
series drop me an email at aceman@erols.com or visit my website at
http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~acey1


                          =========
David Kindle has developed numerous Computer Based Training (CBT)
applications for many Computer Education programs. He is currently
earning a Masters degree in Business Administration from the George
Washington University. He is a contributing writer to WindoWatch.



   ww page 13
  A New Spin on an Old Concept
  


                         You Seem So... Distant
                    Copyright 1997 by Frank McGowan


In my continuing journey along the byways branching off the information
superhighway, pursuing knowledge and wisdom regarding educational uses
for computers, I have found a fascinating detour to a burgeoning field
that is subsumed under the rubric (how long I've wanted to use that
phrase!) distance learning. Putting aside all the high-tech jargon and
folderol, this resembles an online version of what we knew as
correspondence courses, harking back to the days of snailmail. Of
course, this being the Age of Internet, there is much mention of virtual
classrooms and, in the case of colleges specializing in distance
learning, virtual campuses.

Overcoming my initial skepticism, I decided to plow on, and after a
couple of weeks of semi-concerted effort, have concluded that there may
be much merit to the notion of distance learning, albeit with a few
reservations. My chief reservation is in the area of interactiveness:
students need the immediate feedback afforded by a teacher who's right
there in the room with them, monitoring what they're doing and
correcting them before they go too far off the track. The presence,
physical, not virtual, of other students is also missing in distance
learning. The synergy of mutual learning and of sharing a real-time
educational experience can't be replicated when all the students are
seated at PC's separated by hundreds of miles. It can be helpful to see
the white hair of a fellow student when assessing how much weight you
should give their comments regarding the subject at hand. Either they're
a wiser person for their age and experience, or they're a silly old fool
with notions that haven't been upgraded since the Eisenhower
administration.

I'm sure I'll come up with a few more reasons to be suspicious of this
newly-minted panacea (it's redundant to point out the lack of access
many students suffer from), but for the moment, let's get on to the
goodnesses. I find it highly exciting to be able to jump out to sites
that contain rich veins of data relevant to area that interest me. I am,
for instance, a major fan of writer Tony Hillerman, whose Joe
Leaphorn-Jim Chee mystery novels, combined with my 3-year Air Force
hitch in New Mexico, got me started researching the history and culture
of the Navajo nation. I recently executed a search on Navajo, using
WebCrawler, and got over 1100 hits. One of them took me to the homepage
of Analisa Massanari, who teaches 5th grade at the Kayenta Intermediate
School, located in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and
New Mexico.

It turns out that Ms. Massanari also uses the Net as a teaching tool for
her 5th grade class of nearly all Navajo children. They are able to
visit sites to study geological phenomena like volcanoes, a link I also
followed. Besides learning more about vulcanism (or is it volcanism?)
than I needed to, I also was able to read several reviews of the movie
Dante's Peak, most of them positive, with the usual quibbles you'd
expect from experts in the field, such as the production of a lava flow
from a non-basaltic volcano. I haven't seen so much volcanic data in one
place since I took Geology 101 at Boston University back in... well,
suffice to say the earth was a lot younger then, so maybe there's been a
lot more data unearthed since I was a freshman in college.

Fascinating as all this may be, or maybe not, it turns out I'm
misguided. Upon more digging into the topic, I discovered that in the
five years since Distance Learning has come to be recognized as a
distinct branch of pedagogy, a number of definitions and criteria have
sprung up. Accordingly, my explorations of Navajo culture and volcanic
lore don't count, because they didn't constitute a "...formal approach
to learning in which the educator and the learner are at a distance from
each other." Gosh, I've had that feeling on occasions when I was only a
couple of feet from my students. Nothing like the blank catatonic stare
in the pupils of their eyes to let you know you're not connecting with
your pupils' brains! Apparently, just jumping from site to site isn't
formal enough to be counted as real Distance Learning. This lack of
formality would also exclude the "hey Joe" method when you peer over the
top of your cubicle and shout "Hey, Joe, how do I attach a file to my
email message"?

Also, it seems that the Distance Learning is supposed to begin at the
educator, not at the learner, because a later definition is: "Taking
instruction to the student through technology." That's all well and
good, I muttered under my breath, but what about getting feedback? What
if the student has questions? Read on, o skeptical one: among the
criteria for true Distance Learning is that there must be provision for
"two-way communication." Just how "two-way" this is, or how much of a
time lapse is acceptable is left to the discretion of the Distance
Learning educator. Turns out I was correct in my earlier assessment of
Distance Learning as a high-tech version of correspondence school. Would
you believe that we're celebrating its 105th anniversary? Bet you didn't
know the Internet had been around that long!

The official start of Distance Learning is set at 1892, when the
University of Wisconsin, always in the vanguard of progressive
movements, published a catalog of its correspondence courses. Somehow,
Pittman's having offered a correspondence course in shorthand in 1840
wasn't deemed weighty enough to count. Could this be another example of
anti-feminist sentiment? Whatever! Considering how long it takes to send
a letter and receive a response via US mail, the time lapse in this
2-way interaction can be considerable! Hardly what you'd call
"real-time."

Many of my readers will also cheer the proclamation recently issued from
the United States Congress, specifically from the senior senator from my
home state (Ted Kennedy, for those of you scoring at home) setting the
week of March 17 as "Distance Learning Week," and encouraging all of us
to "plan activities" appropriate to the occasion, which, it happens, is
coincident with the 5th annual conference of the International Distance
Learning Association, of which the US Distance Learning Association is a
subset.

It is truly a wonderful thing that educators are awake to and using the
facilities of the Internet to provide learning to students on a global
basis. I can only hope that the adjective soon turns from global to
universal in that no one who wants it will be denied the opportunity
because of their socio-economic status. The world can't afford to
perpetuate a permanent underclass forever.

On that ponderous sentiment, I'll close for now. More anon.



                          =========
Frank McGowan is a science writer, computer consultant, teacher, and
regular contributor to WindoWatch. Our editorial cup runneth over!



   ww page 14
  NT 4.0 Utilities                                        Product Reviews
  


                      Two Useful NT 4.0 Utilities:
                   Norton AntiVirus 2.0 and Diskeeper

                         By Linda L. Rosenbaum


NT Tools, which was released by Symantec prior to the release of NT 4.0,
came with version 1.0 of Norton AntiVirus NT. In addition, Symantec had
posted on their Web site a free version of the NT AntiVirus program
prior to the actual release of NT Tools (spring of 1996). Last fall
Symantec released a new version of Norton AntiVirus for NT, version 2.0.
It is being sold as a stand-alone product at an approximate $69 street
price.

The features added by version 2.0 of Norton AntiVirus NT are as follows:

(1) Full protection for both servers and workstations under both Windows
    NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0.

(2) LiveUpdate, which provides one-button access to the latest software
    and virus definition updates.

(3) Striker, which Symantec describes as its patent-pending, next
    generation polymorphic virus detection engine.

(4) Auto-Protect background protection, which automatically scans local
    and remote files as they are downloaded, opened, created, modified,
    or run.

The Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC) supports Norton AntiVirus
NT. SARC provides support for all of the Norton AntiVirus products. This
team's sole mission, according to Symantec literature, is to provide
swift, global responses to computer virus threats, proactively research
and develop technologies that eliminate such threats and educate the
public on safe computing practices. As new computer viruses appear SARC
develops identification and detection for these viruses, and provides
either a repair or delete option, thus keeping users protected against
the latest virus threats. SARC also maintains Symantec's anti-virus web
presence (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter) and posts updates regularly
on the first of each month - or more frequently in the case of an
emergency.

The installation of Norton AntiVirus NT version 2.0 went as smooth as
can be. I inserted the CD and AutoPlay started it right up. I selected
Install Norton AntiVirus NT. The installation program found the version
of Norton AntiVirus that came with NT Tools and defaulted to upgrading
that version. It also asked if I wanted to keep my existing settings or
replace them using the default settings. I opted to keep my current
settings. I also chose to install NAV as a helper application in
Netscape. And last, I registered online during the installation process.
I had no problem with the installation program detecting my modem and
connecting to the Symantec site to do the registration. I was impressed
at how smooth this all went.

I then fired up NAV and took a look around. The opening screen looked
very similar to version 1.0.

Options are where you make changes to how you want Norton AntiVirus NT
to work. I took a look at all the various settings but do not recall
making many changes. I did invoke AutoProtect and after selecting that
button, I learned that it will inform me if it is active or not and
additionally, allow me to enable or disable it. AutoProtect also runs in
the system tray and I can do the same things directly from there. Virus
List shows a listing of all viruses and comes from the most recent
update for the virus definitions that have been downloaded from the
Symantec site. As of the time of writing this article, my latest
definitions were from March 1, 1997. According to SARC's AntiVirus News
Update dated February 1, 1997, virus detection support for Office 97
datafile structures and viruses written in the Visual Basic 5.0 macro
language will be available to Symantec customers as free definitions
available by March 3, 1997, on Symantec's website and other locations.
Unfortunately I cannot tell if the definition update from March 1, 1997,
includes this new support or not.

Activity Log records all activities related to NAV. Mine includes
activities from Norton AntiVirus version 1.0 that came with NT Tools.
The size of the activity log as well as what is logged can be set in
Options. LiveUpdate is the button that gets selected to get updates for
both the program and the virus definitions.

After setting my options, I selected the LiveUpdate button. I wanted to
get the most recent virus definitions as well as see if there were any
program updates available. LiveUpdate detects an Internet connection or
a modem and automatically connects to a Symantec server. It then
downloads and installs the latest virus definitions. With Norton
AntiVirus NT version 1.0, I had to go to the appropriate Symantec site
myself, download the file and then run the patch myself after the
download was done. All this was done for me automatically with
LiveUpdate, once I hit the button. The only thing I have to remember to
do is hit the button at least once per month.

I then did a manual scan of my entire hard drive as well as all of the
network drives. That took about 30 minutes and no viruses were found.
This worked quite similar to version 1.0. I did set up scheduler to scan
my hard drives once per week, on Sunday mornings. However it only will
scan automatically my local hard drives. I need to manually invoke
Norton AntiVirus and scan the network drives. I am not sure why the
network drives cannot be scheduled to be scanned but it appears there is
no way to do so in this version of the program.

As indicated above, I enabled AutoProtect when I first explored the
various options contained in the new version. AutoProtect provides
continuous, unobtrusive, background protection. It runs at the kernel
level of Windows NT and uses NT services and file system filter drivers
to provide secure, 32-bit, native NT file scanning, active when NT
services load at system start up. It protects against viruses incoming
from Internet, Intranet, email attachments, floppy diskettes, hard
drives, CD-ROMs, network drives and peer drives. AutoProtect
automatically scans files when they are downloaded, opened, created,
modified or run. If it detects a virus, AutoProtect blocks access to the
infected file.

I cannot verify what happens if AutoProtect detects a virus because so
far it has not. It has been auto scanning most of my downloaded files
from the Internet as well as all attached files in email. When the down
load starts in Netscape, it "looks" as if a viewer has been invoked.
After NAV has scanned the entire download, I get a dialogue box telling
me the file has been scanned and asking me where I want to save it. I
then can actually save the file anywhere on my hard drive that I want.
This save is instantaneous because a copy has been saved in my temp
directory as the scan is taking place. I have learned, though, that if I
try to save, after the scan is done, in my temp directory, it will be
deleted when I close up Netscape. I normally save most of my downloads
in the temp directory and move them elsewhere later on. I now save them
in whatever location I had intended them to go from within the NAV
dialogue box, rather than in my temp directory. I have also discovered
that NAV AutoProtect does not seem to be invoked when I download using
EasyFTP from Symantec Internet FastFind. I was a bit surprised by this
fact, given both products are from the same company.

I have been warned that I might need to stop the AutoProtect Service
prior to doing an installation of a program. It seems that NAV
interferes with some program installations, which can lead to that
particular program not being properly installed and hence not running
properly after being installed. I have not installed much since starting
to use NAV 2.0 but the few programs I have installed did not require me
to disable AutoProtect nor stop the NAV Auto-Protect Service from
running.

NAV 2.0 comes with a Repair Wizard. I am happy to report that I have not
had the pleasure of witnessing the Repair Wizard in action. It appears
only if a virus is detected. The Repair Wizard takes you step by step
through the process of cleaning the detected virus. Although NAV can
detect an infected file contained in a compressed file, it cannot repair
the file in its compressed state. The file must first be uncompressed in
order to eliminate the virus.

Norton AntiVirus NT version 2.0 comes on CD and with a manual. The
manual does a very good job of describing the features of NAV 2.0 and
how to activate them. However I found that I rarely needed to refer to
the manual since the online help was also quite good and a lot became
obvious with very little upfront learning needed. Diskeeper, from
Executive Software, is a disk-defragmenting program. It comes in a
Server version (street price approximately $295) and a Workstation
version (street price approximately $49). The Diskeeper version 2.0
CD-ROM contains both version 2.0 that works in NT 4.0 and version 1.0
that works on NT 3.51 systems. The product itself comes with a manual
and the CD-ROM. There is also a coupon to get the program on floppy
diskettes, which costs $9.95 in shipping and handling.

Both the Server and Workstation versions of Diskeeper 2.0 support the
Intel x86 platform, the Digital Alpha platform, and the PowerPC platform
for Windows NT. Both versions of Diskeeper support the NTFS and 16-bit
FAT file systems, but not the 12-bit FAT file system. Diskeeper supports
a wide range of SCSI and IDE disks, including:

       Primary Partitions
       Extended Partitions
       Logical Drives
       Volume Sets
       Mirror Sets
       Stripe Sets (with and without parity)

As used by the Diskeeper manual, the term disk defragmentation means two
things:

 A condition in which pieces of individual files on a disk are not
  contiguous, but rather are broken up and scattered around the disk;
  and

 A condition in which the free space on a disk consists of little
  pieces of space here and there rather than a few large free spaces.

The effects of excessive fragmentation are two-fold as well:

 File access takes longer because a file must be collected in pieces
  here and there, requiring several disk accesses instead of just one;

and

 File creations take longer because space for the file must be
  allocated in little pieces here and there instead of just one
  contiguous allocation.

When Microsoft first released NT 3.1, they claimed publicly that the
NTFS file system does not have defragmentation. Since then there have
been many tests performed, including those done by Executive Software,
that dispute this claim. The defragmentation that occurs on an NTFS file
system versus a 16-bit FAT file system is different, but it exists none
the less.

Executive Software released the very first version of Diskeeper for NT
3.51 in May 1995. In order to function, it was necessary to replace
ntoskrnl.exe, ntdll.dll, ntfs.sys and fastfat.sys, all of which are
integral NT system files. This meant that each time a new Service Pack
(or new version of NT was released) Diskeeper had to be updated in order
to work properly. If Diskeeper was installed on a system, it had to be
removed before a new Service Pack could be installed.

NT 4.0 does not include a disk defragmenter. However it does include the
necessary hooks, or API's, for a third party disk defragmenter to be
seamlessly integrated into the new Windows NT environment. In theory at
least it should not be necessary to uninstall Diskeeper each time a new
Service Pack for NT 4.0 is released and installed.

Last fall Executive Software released a non-expiring version of its free
Diskeeper Lite. The version can only be run manually and as a result
does not contain one of the main features of the retail version, which
is the ability to Set It and Forget It. The retail version of Diskeeper
runs as an NT Service. It can optionally log a variety of
defragmentation information into the Windows NT Application Event Log.
In addition it can be set to run as often as one would like with an
ability to chose the priority levels it runs at

I installed the Server version of Diskeeper 2.0 on my system, which is
using NT 4.0 Server with SP2. I installed the Workstation version of
Diskeeper 2.0 on my husband's system, which is using NT 4.0 Workstation
with SP2. The installs went smoothly on both systems and were quite
easy. However, it is important to note that you must have Administrative
privileges in order to be able to install and run Diskeeper. AutoPlay
kicked in when the Diskeeper 2.0 CD was inserted in the CD drive. The
only change I made to the default installation was for the location of
the Diskeeper files themselves.

The main difference between the Server and Workstation versions of
Diskeeper is that the Server version can also analyze fragmentation and
control the defragmentation of disks on computers connected to the
network. However, the network computer must also have Diskeeper
installed. You have to specifically connect to a computer before using
the server version of Diskeeper. After selecting which computer to
connect to, the Diskeeper screen looks much the same as the Workstation
version.

Diskeeper comes with both the ability to analyze the fragmentation on
the hard drive partitions as well as the ability to defragment the
partition. Analyze can only be done via this screen, manually. It is
useful to run the analysis the first time you start up Diskeeper so you
can get an idea of how much fragmentation there is. And then it is
useful to periodically run it to see how your settings for Set It and
Forget It was working (i.e. are they too often, not often enough or just
right). I run Analyze on all the partitions on both systems after I
installed Diskeeper and I also ran a manual defragment for each. We have
been using the Defrag utility that comes in Windows 95 on both NT
systems about once per week on our FAT partitions. As a result none of
them were too badly defragmented and the manual defragment I ran from
Diskeeper was relatively fast. I have also been using the free version
of Diskeeper Lite on my system for a few months although I had not run
it in some time. As a result my NTFS partitions were badly defragmented
and it took quite a bit longer to run the manual defragmentation.
However, I had not run any defragmentation program on my husband's NTFS
partition since we reinstalled after a hard drive crash in June of 1996.
As a result his NTFS partition was even more badly defragmented than
mine were and the manual defragmentation took quite some time.

In Options one can set the priority levels for both Set It and Forget It
and Manual Defrag. I set the level to normal for Set It and Forget It
and to highest for Manual Defrag. In Options one can also set what is
logged in the Event Log. I do not have all files defragmented or moved
being logged because that can fill up the event log awfully fast. The
Diskeeper manual also nicely explains now to change the default settings
for the Event Log so you can have more events logged before you need to
overwrite what is kept in there.

There are two different views that can be used with Diskeeper - a
graphical one and a text based one. I have tended to favor the graphical
based one but it is very easy to switch back and forth via the pull down
menu or the icon on the toolbar.

Auto Defrag is where you select the Set It and Forget It options as well
as activate them. This is done partition by partition. You can have
Diskeeper run by multiple of hours (ranging from continuously to
increments that start at every two hours and double after that up to
every 72 hours). In addition you can select the time of day you want
Diskeeper to run. I found though that doing both (i.e. how many hours in
between each run as well as trying to limit it to a certain time of day)
did not work exactly as I had expected. I tried to set Diskeeper to run
every 24 hours but only between a one-hour time period in the wee hours
of the morning. I found that this caused Diskeeper to run every other
day. I changed it to run every 12 hours, but within same time period and
it now has been running once per day at same time every night.

Diskeeper has been running happily on both systems and has been
defragmenting our hard drive partitions while we sleep. I also like how
I can access the Workstation network system from my system with the
Server version of Diskeeper. This makes it so much easier to manage a
series of computers who are utilizing Diskeeper. I have however run into
two anomalies with Diskeeper version 2.0.101. The first is that the
screen that should appear after a manual defragmentation is run does
not always appear. I can find no pattern, so far, as to when this does
happen. The second is that if I run Analyze, Diskeeper Set It and Forget
It acts as if Diskeeper defragmentation has been run and resets it to
the next time period. This means that even if I just want to do an
Analyze, I may inadvertently end up extending the true time between
Diskeeper defragmentations. It is possible that this behavior is tied
into how I have Set It and Forget It implemented.

I have also found that Diskeeper cannot completely defragment the
partition/drive that contains pagefile.sys, which is NT's virtual
memory. Diskeeper instructs one to move the pagefile elsewhere and
restart the system. Then one is to defragment the partition/drive it
used to be on overnight and then the pagefile back to its original
location. I have not tried to do this on either system yet and for now
have left it such that the particular partition with the pagefile on it
is not completely defragmented, at least according to Analyze.

I think that both Norton AntiVirus for NT version 2.0 and Diskeeper 2.0
are very useful utilities programs. Both are reasonably priced (at least
the Workstation version of Diskeeper) and enhance the usability of NT
4.0.

I must warn my readers, though, that next month I will be reviewing
Norton Utilities for NT. This program includes Speed Disk for NT, which
is a competitor to Diskeeper, as well as several other utility programs
for the NT environment.



                          =========
Linda Rosenbaum lives and works in a suburb of New York City. She is an
assistant controller at the World Headquarters for a large global
manufacturing company. She has two young children and a husband whose
full time job is to take care of the kids. When not working, Linda can
be found on a variety of online services and the Internet reading and
writing about her experiences with NT, networking, and multimedia. She
maintains a home network of four systems using a combination of NT and
Windows 95. Linda is the NT Editor for WindoWatch and can be reached via
Email at either lindar@cyburban.com or 71154.2622@compuserve.com.



   ww page 15
  Take a Look and Complain Bitterly That Some Should Learn to Proof!
  


                         Efficient Web Crawling
                     Copyright 1997 by Lynn Alford


Searching the Web

This month's article is on searching the web. Finding information that
you need on the web is a skill, given that there are 50+ million web
pages, as estimated by HotBot. The vast majority of them will not
contain the sort of information that you need. Frequently, if you can
find just one site that has the information you want, it will also point
to other sites that will interest you.

I will tend to talk primarily about the tools I am most familiar with.
This does not mean that these are the best for what you need to find.
This is not a small part of the problem when dealing with the web since
it can take time just to get to the proper starting point.

There are two major ways to find things on the web. The first is to use
an online directory or cataloguing service. If I have a general topic in
mind that I want to find more information about, (herb gardening,
computer game companies, online web magazines, etc.), I would go to a
catalogue service. To be specific, I'd go to http://www.yahoo.com/ and
start my search there. Yahoo! was one of the first services of its kind
to exist and has always been very good.

Using Yahoo is very simple. Starting from the main menu, you can just
keep clicking on more and more specific topics until you find the one
you are looking for. They have cross-referenced some of the topics so it
doesn't matter if you start looking either in business or in
entertainment. You will be able to find a list of companies that produce
computer games in either category. Yahoo also has a search facility
which allows you to search for Yahoo sites or connect to the AltaVista
database.

Getting listed by Yahoo is equally simple. You need to find the category
that best describes your site and click the Add Url button. Follow the
instructions and then be prepared to wait. It will generally take a
month or more for you to receive email that your site was accepted.

The other major way to search the web is by using a search engine. There
are a large number of search engines, and they all have their strong
points and weak ones. My suggestion is to get well acquainted with a few
of these online engines and consistently use them. I usually use
http://www.altavista.com/ or occasionally use http://www.hotbot.com/ or
http://www.excite.com. There is also a meta search engine which allows
you to submit your query to a number of the most popular search engines
which can be found at http://www.metacrawler.com/


Things to Think About

  There are several tricks to using search engines, and some of them
  respond in different ways. Things to think about when you enter your
  query. Is there a specific phrase that you are looking for? How would
  you tell the search engine that you want to find a "net-mad maniac"?

  Do capital letters matter? If so, you are much better off properly
  capitalizing names (Frank Zappa, NeXt Computer) then using just lower
  case.

  Is it possible to exclude terms from your search. I want to search for
  banana recipes but no banana bread recipes?

  Is it possible to limit your search to one web site or URL?

  Can you trace links to a specified URL?

This is why I recommend getting to know one or two search engines very
well. All of the search engines that I've seen have help pages that
describe how to do complex queries. However, most of the engines have a
different way to specify the query. I'll give a few examples to start
you off.


Finding a Phrase

For AltaVista, you use the double quote mark " to surround your phrase.
Other search engines, such as MetaCrawler or Hotbot all you to specify
you are looking for a phrase. If you query AltaVista for a "net-mad
maniac", you'll most probably find me. Actually, this is untrue. If you
do this specific query, you will only find me!


Using Capital Letters

In general, when you are looking for a real name, capitalize it as
normal. If you aren't looking for a name, then keep your query in lower
case. In particular, some search engines would know that your query term
of Sharon Stone is a name and search their index accordingly. If you
left the name as lower case, you would may get information on stones of
any kind and perhaps a page or more on the rose of Sharon.


Excluding Terms from the Search

This function can help you quickly narrow your search down to the
documents that you need. The problem is that this is probably one of the
most variable functions of searching; most search engines can do it, but
they each have a different way. AltaVista goes for simplicity, a + sign
is a term that must be in the document, and a - sign for a term that
cannot be in the document. So if you found too many pages on an actor,
you might want to try, +Tim Curry -RHPS - Rocky as a query to eliminate
all pages that mention one particular movie.


Is it possible to limit your search to one web site or URL?

This is highly variable between the search engines. AltaVista can look
for links, hosts or sites that conform to a URL. Other search engines
are not able to limit this fact at all. I've only really found this
useful when I want to know how much of a given site has been indexed.


Can you trace links to a specified URL?

In Hotbot and Altavista, this is fairly simple. Hotbot has a menu option
which allows you to do this. In AltaVista, you can query on link:url to
find who has links to a specified place. This is most useful if you want
to track who is linked to a site you know or maintain.


Follow up Tips

I find it useful to be as specific as I can when starting a query. It is
generally easier to relax a few items then to wade through too many
documents. Or it is so for me, I keep thinking that what I need must be
in those 200 documents the search engine found, if only I'm patient. But
a search engine is supposed to help make life easier, so try to limit
the search as much as you can.

When you do find a good site, always bookmark it. It is much better to
have bookmarks that you don't use then to keep needing to find a site
that has information you are interested in.


Fun Things to do When Searching.

Search for your name or the name of a friend Search for your URL and do
a backtrace to see who links to you. Enter the URL of your favourite
site and see what links they have.



                            =========
Lynn Alford is the WebMaster for the Centre for Interactive Multimedia
in Australia. She has already won several awards for her excellent web
pages. She can be reached by email: lynn.alford@jcu.edu.au, her pages
can be viewed http://www.jcu.edu.au/~imla/ The Game Review pages are
very interesting and can be found at
http://www.jcu.edu.au/~imla/games2.html




   ww page 16
  An Exclusive Preview
  


                    Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0:
                    Copyright 1997 by Stefan Assmann


By the time you read this, it will probably be just a few days before
the new Internet Explorer is to be released to the Microsoft's web site.
In this exclusive preview, I'll give you an overview of what's to come
and some of what you haven't already heard or read.

First, it's a monster file of approximately 30MB in size and will
contain the following components:

 The browser: this is not only a brand new explorer but will change
  your entire desktop as well if you so desire. Actually, there are
  three components to this: a new taskbar, a new start menu and a
  changed desktop. More on this in a minute.

 FrontPad: this is a stripped-down version of FrontPage 97 for editing
  and/or composing your own HTML files.

 Netmeeting 2.0: the release version of Microsoft's telephone
  application. With it, you can conduct international telephone calls
  for the price of a local call. The package also supports video, has
  a whiteboard and very good chatting capabilities (text-based).
  Collaborating in a conference is possible as well.

 Outlook Personal: a stripped-down version of Outlook, the new PIM in
  Office 97. Outlook Personal only has e-mail and news functionality.
  Added bonus if you have the full Outlook: the newsgroup service can
  also be used in Outlook, so Outlook can function as your Usenet
  newsreader!

 Active desktop metaphor: especially useful if you have a permanent
  Internet connection. Your desktop will be divided into two halves
  initially, whereby the right half will display updated content to your
  liking: news, lottery, shareware updates, etc.

 Channels: these are to be used in conjunction with Active desktop.
  Pointcast and NBC will broadcast news on your desktop for free, all
  day long, so you can stay on top of events all the time.

 Dynamic HTML: a bunch of DLL's that will make it possible to create
  interactive HTML pages in minutes. To give you an example: a 17KB HTML
  file can contain a complete interactive multimedia movie or story.
  Dynamic HTML will also support the push technology, meaning that the
  browser will be able to do something in idle moments, like alert you
  that you're wasting precious time and money (if you have a dial-up
  connection and pay for the minute, this is handy!)

As for the browser enhancements, if you choose to do so (and I recommend
it) the explorer you're familiar with now will be seamlessly integrated
with the Internet explorer, which will enable you to browse through your
local computer as if it were a web site of its own. It takes some
getting used to, but I find it very neat. The second enhancement you'll
notice is the change in the start menu. It will now also contain a
"favorites" command, with the same functionality as in the current
Internet explorer 3.0. As a bonus, the start menu finally supports
complete drag and drop with the explorer. The third enhancement is the
taskbar: it has been changed to a completely configurable toolbar like
the ones in Office 97.

Concerning the channels feature, it isn't likely that it'll be included
in the first Platform Preview Release, since big boss Brad Silverberg is
not very satisfied with its functionality and has ordered a complete
rewrite of its functionality.

Next, we come to the important part: the release dates!

 The first platform preview release is mainly aimed at developers and
  should be treated as such: most of the things discussed above will
  function, with the exception of the channel functionality. Don't
  expect a fleshed-out help file. Release date is set for March 17.

 The first public beta will contain fewer bugs, hopefully, and is said
  to contain the channel functionality. Originally it was set at the end
  of March, but given the code rewrite I don't expect it before mid
  April.

 There might be a second beta if necessary at the end of June, with the
  actual release following very close behind.

So, you're wondering if you're ever going to be able to complete the
30MB in one download? You can sleep on both your ears. Microsoft has
developed a new setup feature called "Active Setup", so that the
program will begin installing while you're downloading. If the
connection to your ISP happens to be severed, you can just continue next
time where you left off -- at least, that's the idea! There are still
some bugs to iron out at this writing.



                            =========
Stefan Assmann is a prolific writer. With the rest of the OfficePro 97
team, he has contributed a number of important articles to WindoWatch.
We haven't seen the last of him!



   ww page 17
  Networking!  Even at Home
  


                            Home Networking
                      Copyright 1997 by Jim Plumb


As a follow-up to my last article "Building Your Home Computer," I
wanted to discuss several other topics on networking and software at it
relates to networking at home.

I chose Windows 95 to run on my home computer. If I didn't have children
it would have been Windows NT. Kids equal games and Windows 95 is the
gaming platform right now. Therefore, that became the overriding and
deciding factor! It also helped that it runs the 32-bit software I need
to use at home and has built-in network support as well. Everything
being developed now for the home market has Win95 as its primary
platform.


Network Setup

1) Hardware

   First, of course, you need a network adapter for each computer, and
   for home use an Ethernet type of setup is well suited. Ethernet
   supports the types of networks you would have running at home,
   TCP/IP, and the Microsoft Network.. A network adapter, formally known
   as a Network Interface Card (NIC), can be picked up cheaply used
   (they last almost forever), or new from a computer store or mail
   order house. Unless you wanted to go all out and spend $150-$200 for
   the latest PCI adapter, you can do well with something like a 3Com
   Etherlink III (3c509) ISA card at $75 or so. This is a fast and
   efficient card, is Plug and Play compatible, and runs at a top speed
   of 10 megabits/second, usually called 10Base-T. The more expensive
   cards can run up to 100 megabits (100 Base-T).

   There are two ways to wire your Ethernet network . One is by using
   thin-net wiring, similar to coax cable used for cable TV, called
   10Base2 or 10Base5. The cables twist on to your network card, and you
   can connect (daisy chain) several computers with this method. Cables
   and cable connectors can be purchased at any local computer store.

   The other method is to use Twisted Pair wire which uses phone-type
   jacks called RJ-45 connectors which plug into the NIC. One problem
   with this wiring is that you can only network two computers, you
   cannot daisy-chain computers with this method. However, you can get a
   central network hub which the computers in the network plug into.
   Low-end hubs start at $50 I believe. There are two types of cable to
   use. When using hubs, use straight-through category 5 wiring. When
   using a cable to connect just two computers without the hub you need
   a crossover cable. Both of these can be purchased at a computer
   store.

   Which way you want to wire it will dictate which type of NIC to buy.
   You can get them with the twist-on connector (known as BNC), RJ-45
   connector or both.

2) Software

   Network software is installed through the Network icon of the Control
   Panel. If you had gotten something like the 3c509 card (or other Plug
   and Play card), it will be detected at boot-up time and the Network
   control panel will display network choices. Otherwise, open the
   Network Control Panel. Most of you probably have some network already
   setup to get onto the Internet.

   If your Dial-Up Adapter for Internet dialing is already installed
   then you have TCP/IP installed. However, you will have another TCP/IP
   setting for your network adapter.

   Under the Configuration tab, open the properties box for the TCP/IP
   connection on your NIC and assign individual IP addresses to your
   computers. Under the Identification Tab, fill out the Computer name
   (unique name), Workgroup (same for each computer) and Computer
   Description fields. Once you've done that for each computer, and
   restarted, open up the Hosts file in your windows directory. I
   believe you get a sample file when installing TCP/IP. You can fill
   it out with your computer's IP addresses and computer names in the
   following format:

         200.200.1    mycomputer
         200.200.2    yourcomputer

   Make sure you use a text editor when doing this. The file needs to be
   text only. Then open up a DOS prompt and try pinging the other
   computer. Sitting at mycomputer, simply type ping yourcomputer. If
   everything is setup correctly, you should get a reply back. Another
   way to check your network is to look under Network Neighborhood.
   Network Neighborhood will look out over the network and report back
   any responding nodes.

And so, let the games begin! The good thing about Windows 95 networking
is that for some games which need to be run in DOS, the network drivers
are loaded when you startup in Windows 95 mode and stay loaded when you
go to your game. The games must be started either from Windows itself or
from the MS-DOS prompt window. If you restart in MS-DOS Mode from the
Shutdown menu, all your drivers will be gone and you would have to load
DOS network drivers. Most of the games I've seen use the IPX network
protocol. Once the game starts, it will detect the network and begin to
look for other players on the your net wanting to play.

I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of Nascar II which is the first
driving game to run over a network. Those of you who need more detail
let me know. I'd be happy to answer any questions about any of this.


                            =========
Jim Plumb is a network administrator for a commercial printing
establishment. His toys are computers of different platforms. He is one
of the wizards that makes their communication, one to the other,
seamless and reliable. He is a regular WindoWatch contributor.



   ww page 18
  Hate Mail
  


                             The Dark Side
                   Copyright 1997 by Daniel Christle


You read about it once in a while. You hear about it -- seldomly. It
exists. Hate mail is, simply put, attacks upon people because of their
belief system: race or color through the means of electronic mail. In
recent news stories, reports by the Wall Street Journal, Internet World
and various other news magazines, you can read about people receiving
hate mail from parties unknown. I set out to get the lowdown (pun
intended) on hate on the Internet and ended up on one of my more
interesting journeys across cyberspace.

Like other forms of abuse this is really a tough issue to crack. There
doesn't appear to be any public statistics available with regard to hate
mail, it is just known to happen. The FBI and RCMP have not published
any statistics on how many hate crimes are committed each year through
email, but they do investigate them. With that in mind, I decided to
cruise the net to get an idea of how much hate is on the Web and the
kind of activity taking place. That sounds like a big order, however, it
was amazingly simple to find many web sites that were dedicated to hate
messages. If I learned one thing on this trip, it is that hate groups
are very well organized. Groups with common beliefs are linked and
communicate well with each other. This in itself is a threat to society
in general. If you follow history, it wasn't until the brownshirts were
organized that the Nazi party became a reality. Among the sites I
visited were Aryan Nation, Stormfront, White Nationalist Resource,
Skinheads of America and of course, various members of the religious
right. The message presented here is simple. If you do not fit their
definition of a white America, you are not welcome there. Some sites
even tried to rewrite history, deny the Holocaust, recreate the history
expansion of civilization or giving a wide variety of interpretations of
the bible in order to justify their beliefs. There were sites dedicated
to the destruction of Jews, blacks and Native Americans. One site even
had a sound clip playing the Stars and Stripes Forever while you read
how whites needed to take back all that was lost to other races as they
threatened to over run the United States of America. On many sites there
are calls to action ranging from helping their lobbying efforts to
furthering the cause to incite outright acts of violence or harassment.

Another interesting phenomenon is the existence of hate remailers. On a
good number of the sites established by various hate factions, there
were links to remailers that specialize in hate mail. Some of these
services were free or charged a modest fee to remail hate messages to
any recipient any where in the world. With a good deal of anonymity you
can terrorize anyone for any reason you chose. One remailer I visited
even offered to stuff (mail bomb) the recipients mail box with your
message if you so desired. Another offered to harass anyone for a fee as
long as they were not a WASP.

So with all this machinery available, what can you do about it? Unless
you are a victim there really isn't much that can be done in terms of
preventing hate groups from existing. However, Internet companies such
as Geocities have taken action on their own by removing offensive pages
from their hosting service as soon as they are reported or discovered.
One hate site was eagerly pointing this out in an effort to boycott the
ISP as it had, at one time, been removed from the Geocities service.
Informing the service provider of this highly offensive activity when it
is discovered, is one thing that can be done.

As an individual you can write to the administrator of the hosting
service where the offending web site is and request that it be removed.
State why it is offensive to you. There are many companies that are not
happy about being associated with a radical group, especially if they
are catering to the corporate world. Remember to stay polite when you
are tackling these issues with a systems administrator. Making rude
comments or threats not only puts you on the same level as the group
that offended you, it can make you liable as well.

The other issue involved here is the right of freedom of expression. Any
group or individual is entitled to have an opinion even if it is a
stupid or dangerous one. In Canada hate crimes and the spreading of hate
literature is actively investigated and prosecuted. Reporting a web site
that exists on a Canadian server to the RCMP can possibly make a
difference. In the US I am not certain as to the laws in this regard but
suspect they are somewhat different as evidenced by the number of hate
groups with web sites there. In Canada the law is against those that
commit hate crimes which includes the spreading of hate literature. It
is the action these people take that bring them in conflict with the
law, not their opinions. To actively pursue a web site for spreading
hate you would have to prove that they have committed or incited (much
harder to prove) a crime by posting such material. In the end you can
only do what the law allows and perform your civic duty within that
framework.

Hate mail will continue to exist and may even increase if the people who
perpetrate these crimes are allowed to fester in their own ignorance.
Deleting the message and forgetting about it is not the answer. Society
has to face these issues head on in order to grow beyond it. The
Internet is just a microcosm of society. The fact that hate groups can
flourish on the Internet is just a symptom of the fact that hate exists
in all forms in the real world. Report it, talk about it, just never
forget about it. Apathy has given rise to many worse things as witnessed
by history.


                            =========
Dan Christle is a regular WindoWatch contributor with deep interests in
the Internet. He has contributed many articles in this vein as well as
providing crucial assistance maintaining the WindoWatch homepage. He
works for a proprietary network providing services for the trucking
industry.



   ww page 19
  Two New Senate Bills:          A National Encryption Legislative Report
  


                     PRO-CODE BILL ANNOUNCED TODAY
                  BILL WOULD LIBERATE ENCRYPTION FROM
                    ANTIQUATED COLD-WAR REGULATIONS

                           February 27, 1997


          From the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT),
             the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and
                the Voters Telecommunication Watch (VTW)

CONTENTS: The Latest News
          Background On Pro-CODE
          What's At Stake
          What You Can Do Now
          For More Information / Supporting Organizations



THE LATEST NEWS

Today, a bi-partisan group of seventeen United States Senators, led by
Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), introduced the Promotion
of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act, a bill designed to
promote privacy and security on the Internet by relaxing government
controls on encryption technologies.

Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age --
enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as
it is transmitted over the Internet. Pro-CODE aims to enable this by
removing some of the regulations that currently prevent Americans from
using this technology.

A short summary of the bill and background on the encryption policy
debate are attached below, along with information on what you can do to
help ensure that Congress takes action on this important issue.


BACKGROUND ON THE PRO-CODE BILL

The Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act is
similar to a bill introduced by Senators Burns (R-MT) and Leahy (D-VT)
last year (then S.1726). Pro-CODE enjoyed broad bipartisan support in
the Senate and was the subject of three hearings, including two which
were cybercast live on the Internet.

This year's Pro-CODE bill (no bill number yet available) is designed to
encourage the widespread availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption
technologies to protect privacy and security on the Internet.
Specifically, Pro-CODE would:

1. Encourage the widespread availability of strong privacy and security
   products by relaxing export controls on encryption technologies that
   are already available on the mass market or in the public domain.
   This would include popular programs like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
   and World Wide Web browsers like those made by Netscape and
   Microsoft.

   Current US encryption policy restricts export of encryption products
   with key-lengths of more than 40 bits. A recent study by renowned
   cryptographers including Whit Diffie, one of the fathers of modern
   cryptography, Matt Blaze, and others concluded that 40 bits is
   "woefully inadequate" to protect personal and business
   communications. Over the last eighteen months, several examples of
   the weakness of 40-bit encryption have been demonstrated by college
   students with spare personal computers.

2. Prohibit the federal government from imposing mandatory key-escrow or
   key-recovery encryption policies on the domestic market and limit the
   authority of the Secretary of Commerce to set standards for
   encryption products.

3. Require the Secretary of Commerce to allow the unrestricted export of
   other encryption technologies if products of similar strength are
   generally available outside the United States.

For more information on the Pro-CODE bill, background information on
efforts to pass encryption policy reform legislation last year, and
other materials please visit: http://www.crypto.com/


WHAT'S AT STAKE

Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age --
enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as
it is transmitted over the Internet. As more and more individuals and
businesses come online, the need for strong, reliable, easy-to-use
encryption technologies has become a critical issue to the health and
viability of the Net.

Current US encryption policy, which limits the strength of encryption
products US companies can sell abroad, also limits the availability of
strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies in the United States. US
hardware and software manufacturers who wish to sell their products on
the global market must either conform to US encryption export limits or
produce two separate versions of the same product, a costly and
complicated alternative.

The export controls, which the NSA and FBI argue help to keep strong
encryption out of the hands of foreign adversaries, are having the
opposite effect. Strong encryption is available abroad, but because of
the export limits and the confusion created by nearly four years of
debate over US encryption policy, strong, easy-to-use privacy and
security technologies are not widely available off the shelf or "on the
net" here in the US. Because of this policy, US companies are now at a
competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace.

All of us care about our national security, and no one wants to make it
any easier for criminals and terrorists to commit criminal acts. But we
must also recognize encryption technologies can also assist law
enforcement and protect national security by limiting the threat of
industrial espionage and foreign spying.

What's at stake in this debate is nothing less than the future of
privacy and the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for
commerce, education, and political discourse.


WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

 CALL THE Pro-CODE SPONSORS AND THANK THEM FOR THEIR EFFORTS

Members of Congress tend to hear from their constituents only when they
do something constituents don't like. Today however, several Senators
have taken a stand on an issue of critical importance to Internet users.
It's crucial that we encourage them with phone calls of support.

If you live in any of the states listed below, please take a moment to
give these Senators a call.

  Allard (R-CO)      Ashcroft (R-MO)  Boxer (D-CA)      Brownback (R-KS)
  Burns (R-MT)       Craig (R-ID)     Dominici (R-NM)   Dorgan (D-ND)
  Faircloth (R-NC)   Grahms (R-MN)    Hutchison (R-TX)  Inhoffe (R-OK)
  Kempthorne (R-ID)  Leahy (D-VT)     Lott (R-MS)       Murray (D-WA)
  Nickles (R-OK)     Thomas (R-WY)    Wyden (D-OR)

Dial 1-202-224-3121

A brief message of thanks will do similar to the following example:

I heard that the Senator introduced Pro-CODE to add more privacy on the
Internet. Please thank the Senator for me as I support efforts to fix
antiquated encryption export laws. I live in <your state>.


 ADOPT YOUR LEGISLATOR

If you were one of the thousands of people that have adopted their
legislator at http://www.crypto.com/ you would have received a
personalized letter telling you that your legislator announced his or
her sponsorship of Pro- CODE today.

These personalized letters contain all the phone numbers you need, and
we'll send them to you any time your legislator takes any action that
would have a significant impact on the net.

The Adopt Your Legislator campaign is the most effective method of
mobilizing grass-roots support available today. Since late last year,
VTW and CDT have been building a network of thousands of Internet users
who are active and engaged in the fight for privacy and security on the
Internet. By focusing our efforts on the constituents of specific
legislators as well as on the net as a whole, we can ensure that members
of Congress know that they have support within their district as well as
throughout the Internet community.

You can adopt your legislator at http://www.crypto.com/adopt/


FOR MORE INFORMATION / SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

This alert was brought to you by the Center for Democracy and
Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Voters
Telecommunications Watch.

  http://www.cdt.org    http://www.eff.org    http://www.vtw.org

There are many excellent resources online for information on the
cryptography issue including the following WWW sites:

       http://www.crypto.com      http://www.privacy.org

Please visit them often. Press inquiries should be directed to:

 Jonah Seiger of CDT at jseiger@cdt.org or +1.202.637.9800
 Stanton McCandlish of EFF at mech@eff.org or +1.415.436.9333
 Shabbir J. Safdar of VTW at shabbir@vtw.org or +1.917.978.8430 (beeper).



   ww page 20
    The WindoWatch Art Gallery
  

                        Another Herb Chong Image


  Herb's original digital art work, EnGarde, is available to be viewed
  in the WindoWatch Art Gallery, and downloaded in the Adobe Acrobat
  edition of WindoWatch, available at the WindowWatch home page,
  http://www.windowatch.com/.


EnGarde copyright 1997 by Herb Chong




   ww 

EDITORIAL

Editor:                        Lois B. Laulicht
Contributing Editor:           Herb Chong
HTML Editor:                   Gregg Hommel
Ascii Edition Editor:          Lin Sprague
NT 4 Editor:                   Linda Rosenbaum

Contributing Writers:          Lynn Alford, Stefan Assmann, Vlad Balak,
                               John M. Campbell, Dan Christle, Leonard
                               Grossman, Jon Helis, David Kindle,
                               Jerry Laulicht, Frank McGowan, Peter
                               Neuendorffer, Jack Passarella, Jim Plumb,
                               Ben Schorr, and Paul Williamson

EDITORIAL BOARD                Herb Chong, Gregg Hommel, Lois Laulicht,
                               Paul Williamson.


SUBMISSIONS and REQUESTS

Email:                         editor@windowatch.com
                               lois.laulicht@channel1.com

                               Editor: WindoWatch
                               Valley Head, WV 26294

Submissions remain the intellectual property of the author.
Manuscripts will NOT be returned if not used.

Electronic File Access         All back issues are available from the
                                 WindoWatch homepage. See Back Issues
                                 or anonymous ftp site at:
                               FTP://WindoWatch.com
                               www.shareware.com - Search under the
                                 "All Windows" category
                               FTP>Simtel.Net/pub/simtel.net/win95/winwatch
                               FTP>coast.net/Simtel/Vendors.html

Comments, letters, and requests can be sent to editor@windowatch.com

WindoWatch (c) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 all rights reserved, is the
property of Lois B. Laulicht and CCC of WV Valley Head, WV 26294


  
  Vol.3 No. 3 ww End


