3/24/95 CyberNews, Mini Edition, #2 Issue #2 Patrick Grote, Publisher CyberNews is a monthly publication available in ASCII, Windows and ReadRoom editions. We feature reviews, interviews and commentary concerning the PC industry. To subscribe, send a message to cyber.news@supportu.com with subscribe in body. To unsubscribe, send a message to patrick.grote@supportu.com with unsubscribe in body. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> Windows 95 Fatally Flawed! <=- SAN MATEO, Calif., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- InfoWorld Magazine today announced that it will report in its March 27th issue that the most recent and purportedly final beta version of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) long awaited Windows 95 operating system contains an architectural flaw that limits its functionality for business use. According to a "First Looks" product review written by Nicholas Petreley, InfoWorld's executive editor, reviews and testing, the M8 beta version of Windows 95 quickly runs out of system resources when running multithreaded 32-bit applications. The ability to run such applications is one of the critical advantages that Windows 95 was designed to offer current users of Windows 3.1. "I fear that unless Microsoft goes back to the drawing board on this operating system, only light users will get anything out of it," Petreley said. Petreley uncovered the flaw while examining the M8 beta release, discovering that a 486 system with 32 megabytes of RAM was unable to reliably run the 32-bit version of Microsoft Word 6.0 and the Microsoft Network, which makes use of multithreading. In a news story by Jason Pontin also in the March 27th issue, InfoWorld reports that Microsoft officials acknowledge that a problem exists with the M8 beta's ability to run 32-bit multithreaded applications. David Cole, general manager of Windows 95 product development for Microsoft, concedes that it discovered the flaw when it began testing Windows 95 with the Microsoft Network earlier this year. Cole says the company has developed a fix for the problem, and Microsoft does not expect it to delay the shipment of Windows 95 past its current August deadline. Microsoft chose not to incorporate the fix in the M8 beta however, and decided to ship the flawed Windows 95 this week to about 50,000 sites and will ship the flawed code to another 400,000 IS managers in two weeks as part of the Windows 95 Preview Program. "We decided to fix it after M8 and take the publicity heat," Cole is quoted in the InfoWorld news article as saying. InfoWorld's Petreley reports that the fix, which Microsoft provided him a copy of for review earlier this week, could cause as many problems as it corrects. "Microsoft claims it can fix the resource problems by moving the Windows class out of the 64KB user heap and into the 32-bit address space," explains Petreley in his review. While that approach does appear to alleviate the resource problems with multithreaded applications to a degree, it causes the fixed version of the Windows 95 to be less stable , Petreley said. Microsoft's Cole says it will deal with any new bugs created by the fix. "Windows 95 is very complex, and shifting the Windows Class will probably create a few new bugs, but we'll fix them," he is quoted in the InfoWorld news article as saying. "Since Microsoft has known about the resource problem for some months now, I have to question why it is trying this 'fix' on one of the most fundamental aspects of the architecture after the release of what it is calling the final beta," Petreley writes in his review. "And if Microsoft does intend to make this change a part of the shipping version of Windows 95, then the 450,000 people who participate in this final beta will be reporting levels of stability and compatibility based on a version of the o operating system that does not exist." InfoWorld also reports in its news story that independent software companies developing for Windows 95 are encountering similar problems with the operating system. Windows 95 performance begins to suffer even before user resources are completely consumed, they say. Independent developers might therefore be forced to reconsider their plans for Windows 95, perhaps choosing to develop less powerful applications that do not take advantage of multitasking or multithreading. CONTACT: Nicholas Petreley, 415-312-0670, or cellular (for contact over the weekend), 415-264-7882, or email: nicholas_petreley@infoworld.com, or Steve Stamates, 415-312-0678, or home, 415-345-8827, or email, steve_stamates@infoworld.com, both of InfoWorld; or David Politis of Politis & Associates, 801-569-2592, or home, 801-572-1371, or cellular, 801-599-0435, or email, dpolitis@altatech.com -=> Lotus Just Won't Give Up <=- Mar. 24--Lotus Development Corp. yesterday said it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower-court ruling that vindicated Borland International Inc. in a 5-year-old copyright lawsuit brought against it by Lotus. Lotus' announcement follows the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling two weeks ago, which overturned a 1993 decision by federal Judge Robert E. Keeton of Boston. That earlier decision could have earned Lotus more than $100 million in damages, industry analysts have estimated. At issue is whether Borland, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., infringed on copyrights of Lotus' popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. The appeals court panel of three judges said the disputed software features, known as menus, which Borland incorporated in its Quattro Pro spreadsheet are an "uncopyrightable method of operation." Lotus' vice president and general counsel, Tom Lemberg, said yesterday "it is important to all creators of innovative software products - large and small - that original expression contained in user interfaces, including menus, be protected from plagiarism." Borland general counsel Robert Kohn called Lotus' move "strange." He said that Lotus' "extremist" position on copyright protection would work against Lotus' own purposes because it would make it difficult to create products compatible with the tens of millions of computers controlled by rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. "They would only be making the world safe for Microsoft," he said. Should the Supreme Court elect to hear the case, a decision could set broad precedent for the litigious software industry. Lee Gesmer, a software copyright specialist with the Boston law firm Lucash Gesmer & Updegrove, says that while the odds are always slim of winning a Supreme Court hearing, Lotus has a "good chance" because the case involves a fundamental issue of law. He said the appeals court ruling of March 10 narrowed the scope of software copyright protection "more than any other court has done to date." Ironically, the case relates to a virtually obsolete feature that enables computer users to issue commands by highlighting word-based menus on the screen using arrow keys on a keyboard. Most personal computers today are operated by clicking on graphical pictures known as icons with a mouse pointing device. Nevertheless, Gesmer and others believe a Supreme Court ruling would be equally pertinent to today's software. "It would have implications for all user interfaces," said Steven Henry, managing partner with Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, a Boston intellectual- property law firm. The court is expected to decide by October on which cases it will hear during its next session. Lotus' decision did not appear to affect its stock price. Shares closed up 15/16 to 40 15/16 in moderate trading. -=> Cray Down. Out? <=- COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Cray Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: CRAY) announced today that it has filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. The company has suspended work on its supercomputer systems and laid off its engineering, manufacturing and marketing personnel. The company has been unable to complete a planned $20 million placement of common stock with foreign and institutional investors. This placement was required to finance development and market introduction of the company's CRAY-4 supercomputer system and of its hybrid massively parallel/vector CRAY-3/Super Scalable System. CONTACT: Cray Computer Corp., 719-579-6464/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RUMORS OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to rumors . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The mighty seer of technology predicts the following: Someone is close to breaking the $100.00 price barrier for office suites! The SOHO Market Is Inflated ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the most useful web sites we have come across in a long time can be located at http://www.intel.com/. Yep, this is Intel's own home page. You have to see it to believe it. Many resources with pretty cool graphics! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ KLAUNCH is the perfect task manager replacement for Windows. With many user configurable options, as well as resource conserving operation, this program is for all Windows users! You can find KLAUNCH as KLAUNCH.ZIP on the following FTP site: WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/windows ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INFO ON THE NEXT ISSUE OF CYBERNEWS | Just so you are ready . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next issue will be published on April 1, 1995. We will feature an interview with Fred Brucker, author of {COMMO} and an interview with Beth Brooks, probably the mother of all BBS lists. We will review Windows NT Workstation, OS/2 Warp. Microsoft Office Professional Bookshelf, Perfect Office and many more products. Tune in! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This issue was brought to you by Readables, the publishing house that understands you! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tired of pumping money into your BBS? | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |THE BBS CASH MACHINE is a book written by a sysop who has experience | |running a profitable BBS. With over 10 years sysoping experience, | |you'll gain the knowledge and know-how to attract .- ~ ~ -. | |and keep paying customers to your BBS! .~ ~. | | / \ | |Even if all you want is for your BBS to break | .o~o~o~o. | | |even, the author shows you how! 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