EvangeList Digest Thursday, April 9 1998 Volume 01 : Number 1151
In this issue:
PR - Pre-Order Electrifier Pro for QuickTime 3 Tidbit - 101 Ways to Hack into Windows NT $$ - FlightMath 1.0 PR - Freeway 1.0.2 Tidbit - This Week's Farr Site -- "Redmond Requiem" Followup - A Reminder about Mac Networking Tidbit - Windows NT Post Office Upgrade...NOT PR - The Fantastic War (Game) Tidbit - MIT Technology Review Author Loves the Mac Tidbit - When The MIS Department Wants to Take Away Your Mac
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:37 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: PR - Pre-Order Electrifier Pro for QuickTime 3
Keyword: Market by market, Internet, Multimedia
This announcement is from:
Lari Software News <news@larisoftware.com>
EvangeListas, you can now pre-order Electrifier Pro, the ultimate web multimedia product written from the ground up to take advantage of *all* the new QuickTime 3 features you've been reading about. Be among the first 100 to pre-order this Mac-first product available next month, and get a way cool Electrifier t-shirt (in Beefy-T black, of course!). You can also sign up to be notified when it ships.
Electrifier Pro provides unprecedented Freedom of Content(TM). Designers can work with over 25 different file formats and all types of content--GIFs, JPEGs, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files, video, audio, music(MIDI), virtual-reality panoramas, and 3-D objects. Go wild--ignite your site!
In the best Macintosh tradition, Electrifier Pro is powerful yet intuitive. Drag-and-drop "intelligent" Actions and Effects, accurate to 1/1000th of a second, make tedious frame-by-frame construction a thing of the past.
You can even add interactivity and apply special effects in real-time: fire, interactive ripples, and clouds, and over 140 TV-Style wipes and transitions--all under 1K in size. Deliver it all as streaming multimedia via Apple's industry standard QuickTime plug-in. This means that media-rich content, complete with sophisticated animation, sound, and video, can now be viewed without delay--even by people with 28.8K modem connections.
Check out the cool multimedia examples created with Electrifier Pro and delivered via QuickTime 3 on our site. Watch a Sorenson video clip fly across the screen, vector graphics scale to any size without losing quality, and 3-D objects spin out at you. Note the extremely small file sizes.
<http://www.larisoftware.com>
Electrifier Pro requires 680x0 or PowerPC-based Macintosh(R) or Mac(R) OS-compatible (accelerated for PowerPC). System 7.5 or higher. Available for an online price of $395 (educational pricing available). You can contact us by telephone at 919-968-0701, by fax at 919-968-0801, by email at <sales@larisoftware.com> or on the Web at <http://www.larisoftware.com>.
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:32 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - 101 Ways to Hack into Windows NT
Keyword: Advocacy, Windows Daymares
This tidbit is from:
Tony Yip, <Tony_Yip@acl.com>
This is from Shake Communications <http://www.shake.net/press/250398.htm>
101 Ways to Hack into Windows NT
"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A study by Shake Communications Pty Ltd has identified not 101, but 104, vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows NT, which hackers can use to penetrate an organisation's network.
"Many of the holes are very serious, allowing intruders privileged access into an organisation's information system and giving them the ability to cause critical damage - such as copying, changing and deleting files, and crashing the network. Most of the holes apply to all versions (3.5, 3.51 and 4) of the popular operating system.
"Shake Communications, an information and internet security firm, has compiled the statistics as part of an ongoing study and compilation of vulnerabilities in popular hardware, operating systems, applications and programming languages. "
FlightMath 1.0 By Enterprise Software and BattleAxe Software
As their first joint shareware software development project, Enterprise Software and BattleAxe Software are pleased to announce FlightMath 1.0, a Mac-first, Mac-only product aimed at private pilots looking to bring together their two loves: planes and Macs!
- ----------------
Before any flight, a certain amount of (sometimes complex) math is always necessary, which most pilots don't want to manually trudge through. The usual alternative is the cumbersome E6B Flight Computer. However, this is nothing more than a circular slide rule. Surely there is a better way to perform these calculations.
Yes, you guessed it, there is now! FlightMath handles routine calculations like wind correction, speed and distance, fuel consumption, and temperature problems with ease. With the user-friendly Macintosh interface, these calculations take just a fraction of the time they take with conventional means.
FlightMath also will be available soon from Info-Mac and it's mirrors.
As a special offer for EvangeListas, you can purchase FlightMath for only $16, 20% off the standard price! To take advantage of this offer, do not register the standard way, but rather send a check or cash (in U.S. dollars) to:
EvangeList Special Offer - FM1 Enterprise Software 772 Stoneharbor Lane Maineville, OH 45039
Send questions/suggestions/comments regarding FlightMath to:
SoftPress(R) Systems has announced the release of Freeway(TM) 1.0.2. Freeway is the new award-winning software for Mac OS which has proved its popularity among graphic artists and designers who are looking for an intuitive and creative tool for Web design. SoftPress customers who have already purchased an earlier version qualify for a free upgrade to Freeway 1.0.2 which can be downloaded from the company's Web site.
In addition to incorporating many incremental improvements in version 1.0.2, SoftPress has upgraded the product by including ten European language dictionaries. The dictionaries will be supplied to all purchasers of Freeway 1.0.2 and provide spell checking and hyphenation facilities for US English, International English, Danish, Dutch, French, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.
SoftPress will also supply all customers with a new tutorial which describes in detail how to use Freeway to design the layout of Web pages published from FileMaker(R) Pro 4.0 databases. This powerful combination of products offers an intuitive approach to database publishing that many design companies now demand for this increasingly important aspect of Web design. To help users of Freeway evaluate this process, the company will provide a trial version of FileMaker Pro 4.0 to all Freeway 1.0.2 customers.
SoftPress provides additional value to their customers by incorporating many new extras on the Freeway 1.0.2 CD-ROM. These include:
* Microsoft(R) Internet Explorer 4.0 Installer * Netscape(R) Navigator 4.04 Installer * Free stock images from Photodisc(R) Inc * Free background image designs from Blenheim Colour, a UK repro and design company * PaceWorks(TM) GifDANCER(TM) 1.0 demo to create graphic animations for Web sites * Demo versions of PageSentry(TM), NetCloak(TM) and NetForms(TM) from Maxum(TM) Development * Peter N Lewis' Anarchie(TM) shareware software for ftp uploading of Freeway sites * Progmatics(TM) Mirror shareware to synchronize local folders with Web server folders on a remote site
The suggested retail price for a Freeway 1.0.2 single user license is $299 and the company offers discounts for purchases of multiple licences. Educational discounts starting at 50% are also available for qualifying customers. Details of these discounts and other offers can be found on the SoftPress Web site.
A free 30-day trial version can be downloaded from the SoftPress Web site <http://www.softpress.com>.
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:41 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - This Week's Farr Site -- "Redmond Requiem"
This tidbit is from:
Applelinks.com, <webmaster@applelinks.com>
This week's Farr Site is entitled "Redmond Requiem" and features Death in the Daffodils, Windows Masochists, Angry Gods, and Abusing the Elderly for Fun and Profit. Giant rots at the head and mutiny grows while the world pays a price, but not for long.
Each week Farr Site will have something to say or show about how computers, hopefully Macs, have changed the lives of everyone on the planet, whether they know it or not -- so expect just about anything from Farr Site: real people and issues, web sightings, occasional rants, strange tales from cyberspace, and more than a few leaps of faith. Publish different!
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:45 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Followup - A Reminder about Mac Networking
This follow-up message is from:
Ron LaPedis <LaPedis@apple.com>
I went to the Feedback page to send a message about this article:
"re:SANDRA MINGAIL's column about installing a home network. I can't believe it took a technician and 7 hours to install a home LAN. At my house, I have a PowerMac 9500, Quadra 840, Xante Accel-a-Writer-812 laser printer, Powerbook 3400, Newton and an ISDN line. Getting an Ethernet LAN running took me less than an hour. 1. Buy a 10BaseT minihub. 2. Connect 10BaseT cables from the back of each Mac (built in Ethernet, you know), a Farallon card in the Newton and the ISDN router to the hub. 3. Enable File Sharing using the Control Panel. 4. Set the TCP/IP control panel to use a DHCP server for IP addresses. All done in under an hour."
When I pressed SUBMIT, I got this error: HTTP/1.0 500 Server Error (/cpi/feedBACK.cgi is not a valid Windows NT application.)
Alas...
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:43 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - Windows NT Post Office Upgrade...NOT
Keyword: Advocacy, Windows Daymares
This tidbit is from:
Carl Carter, <ccarter@teleport.com>
I work for what shall be a nameless post office; we are upgrading to a new system where all the computers AND the clerks machine transactions will run through a server and connect to a server at regional headquarters. Faster data transfer, easier inventory control, etc...
Well, we now have a large, locked, glass-doored cabinet with a huge Digital server, the biggest Back UPS I've seen, and a cheesy 14 inch monitor; we also have a lot of cables and machinery in the furnace room. Rumor has it that it all cost about fifty thousand dollars. It runs as far as loading the Windows NT 4.0 server/Backoffice splash screen then dies. Five tech support people from various suppliers have been out this week. Still doesn't work!
After the last visit the postmaster was muttering about "two months" in an incredulous tone of voice...
Gotta love it!
__________________________ Digital Guy Sez:
Forgive me, Carl, for even THINKING the assorted "snail mail" jokes that came to mind upon reading this. ;-)
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:48 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: PR - The Fantastic War (Game)
Keyword: Market by market, Games
This announcement is from:
Kevin Quigley, <PR@groovysoft.com>
Peace, Love and World Groovyness Software is proud to announce that after three years of development, The Fantastic War is finally available to the public. I have always been a strategy gamer. In the days of my youth, I would take entire weekends out to play Stellar Conquest(tm), Dragon Pass(tm) and other strategy war games. When I got my Commodore 64(tm), I created a Fantasy War game and called it The Fantastic War. Written in BASIC, your pieces consisted of letters and numbers you moved around the screen. The limited abilities of the Commodore 64 unfortunately limited the abilities of the game. Now I own a PowerMac(tm) and I have rewritten the game for the Macintosh (68K or PPC). The letters have been replaced by Icons; there are computer opponents, and Zone of Control rules. Though the game has changed a lot from it's Commodore Days, the basic vision remains the same- To recreate the complex strategy found in those games of old using the enhancements a computer can give.
Many strategic war games have made their way to the computer. Unfortunately in order to appeal to the masses they need to in order to make a profit, they're watered down. Many of them are great games in their own right, but fail to achieve the same strategic goal found in the games of old. The Fantastic War is not a game I wrote for profit so there's no watering down of strategic concepts such as Zone of Control or Economics. There are certain loop holes designed to speed up play and make it more exciting but no detail was spared for the purpose of making it easier to play.
I realize this may limit the audience for The Fantastic War but like I said, it's not a profit venture. Play testing has shown that those people who take the time to learn the subtle intricacies of the game go on to play it for years. They get together with their friends and make a weekend of it, Fantastic War, Football, and beer. Just like we use to do when we were kids ('cept for the beer).
Strategic Concepts explored in the Fantastic War contain:
*Conquest of cities *Management of supply lines *Physical Warfare including missile (bows and arrows, javelins ect...) and melee (swords, axes, maces ect). *Magical Warfare *Leadership effects *Major Spells beyond magical warfare *Reconnaissance *Emissaries and mercenaries *Zones of Control *Terrain effects on emissaries, supply, movement and combat *Sneak Tactics and hidden movement. *Attacks by land, sea and air. *Raiding, pillaging and plundering
As with previous releases, The Fantastic War uses Electronic Commerce software from Aladdin Systems(tm) to make on-line registration easy.
To Play you'll need a Macintosh with 8MB RAM, a 640x480 256 color monitor, and a 68020 or faster processor. PowerPC recommended for computer opponent
Kevin Quigley - Peace, Love and World Groovyness Software Ink
<http://www.groovysoft.com>
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:57 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - MIT Technology Review Author Loves the Mac
This tidbit is from:
Devon Jenkins, <devongj@aol.com>
The March/April 98 issue of MIT'S TECHNOLOGY REVIEW has a feature article starting on p. 46 titled TO MAC OR NOT TO MAC? by David Shenk. He has been a Mac owner, but facing the purchase of a new computer, decides to compare a new Mac with some Windows 95 computers. He finds Win 95 to be wonderfully intuitive and likes the Start button, among other features. Finally, though, he brings the comparison between the 2 systems down to this: Is buying a new Mac this year like buying a Porsche 911 or a Sony Betamax? He decides there are at least three good reasons why the Porsche analogy works and the Betamax analogy fails. One is the 20 million current Macs in operation. Another is that like the Porsche, our Mac has superior aesthetics, superior performance. We drive not just because we have to, but because we want to. We not only get to where we want to go; we also enjoy the ride. Mr. Shenk ends up by buying a new four pound 2400/180c PowerBook. He is a freelance writer and finds its features worth having.
It was encouraging to me to read such a positive feature article about Macs in a major university tech magazine. Maybe this will open the gate for others to do the same.
__________________________ Digital Guy Sez:
At last, a decent response to that tired "betamax" argument that anti-Mac types trot out every other week. Let's see, Beta was around for how long? I think it was around 5 or 6 years, and lingered in a few places after that for a few years more. Does anyone remember how many BetaMax decks were actually sold before they gave up on them?
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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:56:50 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - When The MIS Department Wants to Take Away Your Mac
Keyword: Advocacy, Guerilla Tactics
This tidbit is from:
Julie Roberts, <jroberts@xtender.com>
This was originally posted to the QuarkXpress (sic) mailing list, but it has a considerably broader appeal. When I read it, I thought of the EgangeList, even though I've not been an EvangeLista in quite some time because of time constraints. The original author, Anne-Marie Concepcion <AMarie@SDandC.com>>, kindly gave me permission to submit it to the list, and she says she might post it to her web site at <http://www.SDandC.com> "if she gets to it this weekend", which would save some bandwidth for the EvangeList.
At any rate, the content of her very sensible advice follows:
In addition to being a Quark maven, <grin>, I'm a Mac consultant specializing in design/publishing networks. Let me tell you what I know, maybe it will help.
I have lots of clients who are in a "Mac island" in the midst of tens, hundreds, or thousands of PCs. They usually are existing happily alongside their PC brethren because the MIS people have taken the time to learn a bit about how Macs work, and how to best hook them into the PC network and PC servers. (I even know of MIS people who were hired partly because they knew how to support the Macs as well as the PCs-the CEOs understood how mission critical the Macs and Mac support was to their enterprise.) Macs are full citizens on these networks, having access to their own (and other) partitions on the Novell fileserver, getting their files backed up along with the PC files, sharing the company's T-1 line, Intranet, and company-wide e-mail and calendaring system.
In some cases, such as Mac users needing to access PC-only server software, MIS has simply added a PC to the Mac network for their use, or installed SoftWindows or Virtual PC so they can run Windows off their Macs. Both these software solutions support PC networking and access to PC-only peripherals. In some other cases, MIS sets up a PC server that's dedicated to the Mac group, and only the PC server is networked to the other PC servers company-wide; it acts like a PC gateway. In yet other instances, they've installed software on the PCs that allow them to access Mac file servers and peripherals, or to set up cross-platform, peer-to-peer filesharing.
And then you occasionally run into MIS/management like yours. They're not familiar with the Mac (if you're on your own as far as Mac troubleshooting goes, you know what I mean), and they regard any issues that have to do with cross-platform concerns as added work, and another reason to "standardize" on Windows (I'm diplomatically trying to avoid calling them "lazy" and "unprofessional," here, you understand). In fact, they're often actually "fearful" more than anything, because they don't know the answers to cross-platform problems and they're afraid to try...they have enough problems supporting the damn PCs. Solving Mac-specific or cross-platform problems would mean they'd have to actually read something new, talk with companies they've never talked to before, visit booths at COMDEX they've never set foot into, etc.
They are trying to lessen their risk of failure, and to reduce their workloads, plain and simple. They use Apple's shrinking market share as their primary weapon in convincing the CFO/CEO to replace the Macs with PCs.
[Now, for all you PC users reading this that do design and publishing just fine, thank you very much, and are firing up their Reply commands to blast me to oblivion <grin>, believe it or not I don't mean to imply that PCs suck. I'm implying that some MIS people suck. When you're used to working on a platform for nine years, as Matthew stated, and you're very productive in that environment, and the MIS support staff has no experience with other platforms used for your specialized niche but still wants you to use them; then you should fight for the platform, because it's key to your satisfaction in your worklife...regardless if it's Mac, PC, Amiga, UNIX, whatever. ]
Back to Matthew's situation...
When you combine forceful, but secretely Mac-fearful MIS management, with CFO/CEOs who are naieve enough to accept their MIS guy's computer opinions as gospel, and toss in a Publishing/Design Manager who hasn't been promoting the importance of their department to the company's bottom line enough, or who doesn't have enough clout or is intimidated by MIS-types, you end up in your situation. My heartfelt sympathies are with you.
You should know that you'll probably lose this fight. Once it starts, it's like a juggernaut--hard to stop in its tracks. It's not fair, of course--witness the thousands of other PC-heavy companies who are having no problems supporting their Mac design/publishing networks--but it happens a lot.
In my experience, the *one* strategy that has any hope for you is to challenge the central assumption here: Your Macs are interchangeable with the types of PCs and Windows software which MIS has a proven track record of supporting in your company.
In actuality, of course, your Macs are your/the company's publishing/typesetting system, and not just another brand of PC. Publishing departments have *always* required specialized hardware and software, from hot lead to stat cameras to Fontographer. In your situation, Macs are used not as a result of a long-ago decision of which OS to use, but as a replacement of the old-style proprietary publishing systems like Atex, Dewers, etc. So what if there's only 11 Macs and 1800 PCs? The reason for this is because there's only 11 people in the design/publishing department. Would the MIS people ever have suggested you replace your ATEX system with PCs, because ATEX had only 11 users?
I doubt it--your publishing system has a great variety of specialized functions that just aren't being carried out elsewhere in the company's PCs. A decree from MIS to toss out the Macs and use PCs would be like a golfer getting rid of his putter because the other clubs are cheaper and they hit balls too.
Your MIS/CIO people are undoubtedly "unclear on the concept" since they're not in the publishing field. It would behoove you, your staff, and your management to do some powerful education here. Convince the powers that be that while PCs might easily replace Macs that are being used for word processing, spreadsheets, or web browsing (and vice-versa, of course, but that's beside the point <g>); they cannot replace ones that are used for high-end publishing without a helluva lot of pain, money, ongoing additional in-house support costs, vendor and staff turnover.
They should, in fact, count their blessings that the company's publishing/design deparment can get away with desktop Macs and off-the-shelf-software, as opposed to those hugely expensive proprietary systems that required custom software and expensive maintenance contracts. Cross-platform networking issues are easily resolved, comparitively speaking.
Is the MIS department prepared to support Quark/Photoshop/Illustrator on the PC? Ask them what other PCs in the company are currently running that software--if they can't tell you any of any significance, then they *really don't know* what they're getting into. You need to emphasize this to the decision makers...then come up with a list of the costs involved, and the unknowns.
Software: Are they prepared to set up and troubleshoot PCs that need to manipulate 40MB images in Photoshop, while Quark and Word and Netscape and whatever are still open in the background, along with the hundreds of application-specific and system-wide Extensions they require? Are they ready to install 64MB to 512MB on each of the new PCs? Are they ready to invest in a new font library, since Mac fonts can't be used on PCs? How do they propose to replace the Mac-only Quark Xtensions and Photoshop/Illustrator plug-ins you're currently using? (If you're using any Mac-only software that's critical to your workflow, it would help your case.)
Hardware: How many PCs they're supporting right now can accept without hassle all the SCSI devices you currently have hanging off your Macs? Ask them to demonstrate how easy it would be for a regular PC user to hook up a scanner, ZIP, Jaz, Syquest, and external hard drive to a PC, and get them all accessible and working right in the space of a morning. What if, for some reason, a peripheral isn't showing up--Mac users would check SCSI IDs and termination, end of story-how would a PC user troubleshoot that? (Or will they be requiring you make a service request from their tech support staff every time you need add a peripheral or troubleshoot a SCSI chain?) If any of the staff is currently using two or more monitors, ask them what would be involved in hooking up a second monitor (and getting the two to work as one unbroken desktop) on a PC?
Are they ready to replace Mac-only printers with PC ones, and upgrade the printer's RAM to handle the size and complexity of your files? Can they resolve PostScript printing problems-are they even aware of the significance of PostScript, how the entire design/publishing workflow centers upon this language?
What is the MIS department proposing to do about the lack of system-level color management in the Windows/NT OS, which the MacOS has had since 1990? (I'm not an expert at this aspect, but I have been to plenty of publishing conferences where this glaringly missing functionality on Windows is acknowledged by users of all platforms. If color is a major issue in your DTP department, you might want to search the Net for more technical info.)
Equipment and software aside, ask them about staff training. Mac users with a minimum of OS knowledge can install software, add/delete fonts, troubleshoot extension problems, add a printer to the network, read and write to MacOS and PC peripherals. What level of Windows knowledge will the staff require for the same functionality?
And then the vendors, and by extension, the industry. Make a list of the vendors you've used in the past couple years (the ones you've sent computer files to or gotten computer files from). Call them and let them know your company is considering switching to the PC platform. Ask them if they'd still be able to work with you. Undoubtedly, some will have no problem-many service bureaus, some freelancers. Ask these people about their level of experience in working with PC files--what's the ratio of Mac vs. PC jobs that come in? Any special requirements you should know about if you'll be sending PC files? Any extra costs?
For the ones who won't be able to support you, ask for referrals for their PC brethren. Are there any? Is the field of PC-savvy publishing/design vendors as wide as Mac-savvy ones? They're out there, of course, but you should start doing your homework now. If you lose this battle, you'll need them.
What about staffing issues? What's the local field of PC-based graphic design, production, illustration, and photography professionals look like? Check out Human Resource's file of resumes that came in over the transom...how many high-end design/publishing candidates list PC experience vs. Mac experience? Call some temp agencies...what's their ratio of PC vs. Mac-based temps in design and publishing? Call the local colleges--what platform are they using to teach design and publishing?
For all these vendor and staffing questions, if the PC-qualified group is significantly smaller than the Mac-qualified group, how does that bode for the company's bottom line? The field of choices is smaller...might that not imply longer turnaround, higher fees, lower quality (due to fewer people at the top)?
Present the results of your investigation to the decision makers. If there's any favored, long-term vendors who will not be able to handle your PC files with confidence bourne from experience, point that up. Extra costs, point that up too. What the hell, throw in the fact that Microsoft showed its commitment to the publishing industry by choosing not to show up to Seybold. (IOW, fight dirty if you have to.)
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End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1151 *********************************
