EvangeList Digest Saturday, April 25 1998 Volume 01 : Number 1166
In this issue:
PR - Aladdin Spring Cleaning 2.0 Japanese ;-) - David Letterman "Man On Fire" Followup - Yahoo Favorite OS Survey Results Tidbit - Praise From the 'Other Side' ?? - Looking For A great Mac Thesaurus ?? - Need to run Windows-only DB on Mac ?? - Computer Aided Communication for Neurological Disease ;-) - Taking a Positivie Look at NT
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:08:59 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: PR - Aladdin Spring Cleaning 2.0 Japanese
This announcement is from:
PR, <pr@aladdinsys.com>
Aladdin Systems, Inc., developer of the worldwide Macintosh compression standard StuffIt(r), announced today that it is shipping Spring Cleaning(tm) 2.0 through its Japanese master distributor, act2. Spring Cleaning is the best-selling uninstaller for Macintosh users and helps them clean up their hard drive by searching for and removing redundant and unnecessary files, applications, folders, and fonts.
New Features For Spring Cleaning 2.0
Document Finder A new search button has been added to search for all documents of the same type, allowing the user to view "like" files. This allows users to easily group files together, move them to a storage folder or take other actions.
Duplicates Remover A new utility, Duplicates Remover, finds and lists all duplicate fonts and files. Since duplicate files can quickly add up and waste disk space, this feature is beneficial for freeing up disk space.
Archiving with StuffIt Compression Aladdin's world-renown compression technology has been added to Spring Cleaning. Users can now move or uninstall their files to StuffIt archives to allow more space on their hard drive.
New Interface Spring Cleaning features a new easy to use interface to help users navigate through the cleaning process. The new interface also matches OS 8's platinum interface.
Storage Folders New storage folders have been added to help avoid accidental deletion of files by the user. The folders are also a handy place to keep files until the user decides what action to take on a particular file.
Other Features The original Spring Cleaning features include: MacUninstaller, Fat App Slimmer, Orphaned Prefs Remover, Orphan Adopter, Alias Fixer, Font Remover, Help Remover, and Empty Folder Remover.
These powerful utilities help remove applications and associated files, delete unnecessary code from applications, eliminate unneeded preference files, assign orphans to new applications, repair invalid aliases, and remove unnecessary fonts, help files and empty folders.
Availability and Requirements Spring Cleaning carries a Japanese retail price of #180#9,800 for orders direct from act2. For more information go to: <http://www.aladdinsys.com/springcleaning/index.html>.
Spring Cleaning requires a Macintosh-compatible computer running System 7.0 or later. Four megabytes of RAM is recommended. Spring Cleaning is 680x0 and PowerPC native, and takes advantage of features in System 7.5 or later.
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:08:55 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ;-) - David Letterman "Man On Fire"
This tidbit is from:
Andy Skuse, <askuse@execulink.com>
Last night [April 21st 98] I watched the David Letterman show, and Dave announced that for $3000, a man would run on stage, on fire, shouting the name of your product or place of business as a way to pay for the expense of hiring the Man on Fire. The Man on Fire then ran on stage a few moments later minus the flames, shouting "WINDOWS 98! WINDOWS 98! YOU'LL LOVE IT!" as an example of the advertising possibilities.
Apple... are you listening? Just $3000!!! Get the Man On Fire to wear a Toasted Bunny suit and save megabucks on advertising at the same time!
Well, I know *I'd* like to see it :)
BTW: The Top Ten list that night... Top Ten Ways To Irritate Bill Gates ;) __________________________ Digital Guy Sez:
Whew, the timing could have been worse...can you imagine Microsoft getting the guy to run out carrying a 5300 and yelling...oh never mind. Anyway, it's a cute idea, but I don't think Apple would go for it. Besides, I think Dave is doing a fine job on his own. ;-)
I think someone spammed up the Nintendo 64 numbers, and Yahoo eventually saw it and fixed it. I looked at the results today (before I saw your followup above), and here is what they have now:
Of 149834 votes so far (note this is lower than above)
Windows 3% Macintosh 47% UNIX 28% BeOS 17% Palm Pilot 2% Nintendo 64 0%
By the way, from the text in the original note on the Evangelist, that was my email that I sent around inside Apple with the intro paragraph stripped. I guess someone forwarded it for me. :) I was behind on reading digests at the time, so I was not sure whether it had been on the list yet (that was the gist of the intro paragraph). __________________________ Digital Guy Sez:
Well, John, I always like to make sure proper credit is given. How's this? :-)
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:09:01 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - Praise From the 'Other Side'
Keyword: Advocacy, Why Macs Are Better
This tidbit is from:
The Digital Guy <mailto:evangelist@apple.com>
Hi folks! This was actually from EvangeLista Tim Williams, <mail@williamsmunck.co.uk>, who spotted this tidbit in the *PC* magazine PCPro. Jon Honeyball was kind enough to allow us to reprint the article in its entirety to the EvangeList! I think you'll agree it's well worth the read. :-)
Epilog Column, by Jon Honeyball. PCPro Magazine Issue 43
As a consultant, I'm often asked by businesses to recommend hardware for evaluation and deployment. And while it's true to say that no-one got fired for buying Compaq, IBM or HP, there's one name that's often strangely missing from business' shopping lists.
I have this beast sat in front of me right now. It's very fast. It's easy to use. It runs office 98. In fact, I'm typing this article into Word 98. It runs FrontPage. And there's Microsoft Outlook for connection to my Exchange Server email backbone, and I can see my inbox just fine. It has Internet Explorer 4 on it, and Netscape 4 as well. And a big suite of Adobe tools like PageMaker, Photoshop and so forth. In fact, in terms of software, it has everything a business needs. It has an Ethernet network connection, peer to peer networking, a l7in monitor, full Internet connectivity. Stereo sound too, and a microphone. And a CDROM drive and a big hard disk. And a very sensible floppy disk arrangement too. The keyboard isn't bad and the mouse is perfectly workable.
It's the very essence of a modern multimedia computer for the office or home. It runs all of the software that I need to work with, and works with all the other machines in the office. The price/performance is competitive too. So it should be on my recommendable list.
And yet you're not buying it.
It has plug and play that works far better than the PC to its left. Hardware expansion is no problem it has room for plenty of storage, and the internal PCI bus takes brand-name industry-standard cards. You can plug in several monitors at once, and get a desktop that spans all of them. It doesn't suffer from stupid limitations like 16 IRQs and being unable to use a modem on a port near a mouse.
And yet you're not buying it.
This machine has brand-name current version software dripping out of its hard disk. It's from a company that has, arguably, done more over the last 15 years to further desktop computing than all the mainstream PC vendors put together.
And yet you're not buying it.
I look at it and, to be honest, I'm baffled. This is a product with a staggeringly bright future, whose operating system today, although creaky in places, is very competent at performing the business and home tasks you throw at it. It runs all that software and integrates with your Novell or NT network, so what's the problem? And the next major release of its operating system, due months before Windows NT 5, will bring back into the fold some fabulous, tried and tested work that was initiated nearly ten years ago. It will be industrial strength, and best of all this new OS will run on the native hardware and there's a complete Intel build of the OS too. But if you want to stick with Microsoft OSes, there's a run-time for NT and Win95 too so you can run the apps there.
And yet you're not buying it.
If I worked for this company, I'd be tearing my hair out. You, dear reader, are quite happy to buy hardware that's backward, where 'prehistoric' doesn't even begin to do justice to some of its more 1960s, let alone 1970s, thinking: when was the last time you thought rationally about that parallel printer plug? How can we justify column inches and learned discussion about the pros and cons of Intel's Slot 1 for the Pentium II processor when the surrounding machine architecture is full of legacy design and twisted, nonsensical design? The parallel plug, a keyboard bus that requires a separate mouse port, shared IRQs for the serial ports, the AT bus, base port addresses the list is endless! Hardware configuration and BIOSes that look Byzantine in their complexity - - just what is a 'post-refresh burst rate delay' anyway, and do I want one, two or four of them? 'Plug and pray' speaks For itself and is often a bigger headache in the corporate support world than the problem it was attempting to solve.
We still have ISA; EISA failed and PCI64 has gone nowhere. Limited, if any, hot plugging or fault tolerance can be found in mainstream machines. Where is the industry push for good technology like Firewire or even USB? And look at the operating systems - one wrong configuration and you're in trouble. 'Have you tried reinstalling the OS?' brings tears to the eyes of an IT manager. PC98 spec is a decent enough step, but why is this specification PC98 anyway: why wasn't it PC90 or even PC87 when the 386 shipped?
In the PC market, this is just more 'me too' so-called engineering wrapped up in 'all tinsel and no Christmas tree'. A lowest common denominator 'it will do' illness and a cost-cutting frenzy par excellence pervades almost everything most vendors do. When the ingredients are like this, it's no wonder PCs are so costly to maintain. Ask yourself why total cost of ownership is such an issue now: when did you last think about TCO on your fridge? And you wilfully give money for this stuff.
Maybe there was a reason in the past not to buy into this computer, but it's hard to find one today. My mother wanted a computer to 'browse that Internet thing'. She now has one of this brand I'm referring to, and <mum@woodleyside.co.uk> is now a live email address. She browses the Web, and is reassured by the smiley face she sees when she turns the machine on (go easy on her).
Now I'll accept that this company has done some rash things in the past.
But that was then; it's now making money. I accept that there were good reasons for corporates not to buy into this platform in the past but that was then. Maybe, just maybe, it's time for a fresh look?
I have a brain. I have an Apple Macintosh. What's your excuse?
Copyright 1998 PCPro Magazine and Jon Honeyball. All rights reserved. Authorised for distribution on the EvangeList mailing list via <evangelist@apple.com>.
Contacts:
Jon Honeyball (Contributing Editor, PCPro) <jhoneyball@woodleyside.co.uk> <http://www.woodleyside.co.uk<
Avril Williams (Editor PCPro) <avrilw@pcpro.co.uk> <http://www.pcpro.co.uk>
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:09:07 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - Looking For A great Mac Thesaurus
This request is from:
Radcliffe A. Joe, <wordstar@erols.com>
Can someone direct me to a source for a great computer based thesaurus for the MacIntosh?
The last good one for the Mac was released by Deneba Software, it was named The Big Thesaurus. However, Deneba has since moved on to focus on its more lucrative products and no longer supports "The Big Thesaurus." There was also one released by Mcrolytics, but they too have abandoned it.
The others that I have encountered so far, are puny, inadequate and do not even come close to filling my needs.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:09:08 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - Need to run Windows-only DB on Mac
This follow-up message is from:
Chris Knape, <cknape@net-link.net>
My wife works for a group that does consulting for non-profit organizations. Two of her company's clients have only Mac systems but need to run a database called Donor 2 to track donor information. The problem is Donor 2 is only available for Windows. She has asked me to help find some options so these organizations aren't forced to switch to Wintel machines. Are there any Evangelistas who know of a Mac-based DB that is compatible with Donor 2? Also, is there anyone using Softwindows and/or Virtual PC to run Donor 2? A solution will help save at least two Mac-based offices.
Please email me with your suggestions and experiences: <mailto:cknape@net-link.net>
Thanks, Chris Knape
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:09:12 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - Computer Aided Communication for Neurological Disease
This request is from:
Scott L. Horton, <shorton@lr.net>
My Brother-in-Law was just diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's Disease) which is universally progressive and fatal. While his nerves degenerate leaving him victim unable to move and eventually communicate, the mind is unaffected potentially leaving the patient "trapped" inside a useless body prior to death. Of note, eye movements are usually spared, in case this is useful for existing technology. With this grim picture in mind, here is my request.
What hardware and software is available to facilitate his communication abilities as his condition deteriorates? I recall recently seeing that renown professor of physics, Steven Hawking, who also has this diesease was able to "speak" recently to a group of scientists. Of course, any Macintosh solutions are preferred as I will then be able to help assure that it works with a minimum of fuss.
Please feel free to reply directly to me at <shorton@lr.net> (Scott Horton) and I am willing to complie a summary of responses for reposting to this list.
Thank you, Scott Horton
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 02:09:13 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ;-) - Taking a Positivie Look at NT
This tidbit is from:
AlphaDog, <AlphaDog@aol.com>
I teach at an elementary school and also am the site technology coordinator. I support about seventy Macs and teach full time as well as being team leader. We've been entirely Mac until the office recently converted to Windoze. I don't know anything about supporting Windoze and don't care to learn. So when there are technical difficulties with the office computers (which there have frequently been) our school must call down to the school district tech support office.
I've been seeing a lot of our tech support person since the office's conversion to Windoze. Last week he told me an interesting story. A friend of his who sells Windows NT stations offered to give him one to use at home. Since our tech support person would need at some point to work on NT computers, he agreed. He got the computer home and decided to try some software out on it. He loaded Mavis Bacon Teaches Typing and started it up.
"It was pretty strange," he said to me. "At first I thought it was in a demo mode, but the computer did all of the typing for me. NT just went ahead and took my place in the drill."
"That's terrible," I told him.
"Well, not really," he replied. "I got a really good score."
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End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1166 *********************************
