

TO/2 Newsletter - January, 1996



Welcome to the Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter!

volume 1, issue 9


Bringing Toronto's OS/2 community timely information, quality speakers and a helpful forum for their questions. 









Return to TO/2 Homepage




 


Introduction/Administrivia

From the Warped Mind of the Editor
Meeting Schedules
Meeting Map



News of the Month

Group Announcements
Latest News from Vendors
Shareware/Freeware Information
Products in Review
Classified Advertisements




Tools, Tips and
Tricks

Tips for Users New and Old
Vital OS/2 Tools and Utilities
Fixes, Patches and CSD's



OS/2
Information

OS/2 BBS List
OS/2 Echoes and Mailing Lists
OS/2 Vendors
OS/2 Books
Team OS/2



Details and
Legals

This Month's Contributors
Request for Contributors
Request for Sponsors/Advertising
Disclaimer/Copyrights












Martin Moran
Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter






TO/2 Newsletter - Intro/Admin - 1/96






Introduction and Administration

From the Warped Mind of the
Editor
Membership Information
Meeting Schedules
Meeting Map




Return to Table of Contents


From the Warped Mind of the Editor


Now I know how Goliath felt when defeated by David.  Think about that as
you read through this editorial, which is longer than normal (I
apologize to those who don't like my rantings).  The future of OS/2 is,
in actuality, not very clear, and not very firm.  Personally, I've been
despairing about the future of OS/2 for several months.  Others have
been for much longer, others are just waking up to the facts.  If you
haven't yet, read on, because this is your wake up call.


I looked around the room last meeting, knowing what I did, and was
truly worried.  This group is made up of a lot of people who use Warp
in non-corporate environments - SOHOs or in their home.  Personally, I
fall into the later category.  As of January 2, 1996, although nothing
is official, anyone that uses OS/2 in these environments has been told
that they are not one of IBM's customers.  Thanks for supporting OS/2
and Warp, but we don't want you as one of our customers.


That's not to say that the products, eg. the yet to be beta Merlin, will
not be available at the retail level.  Far from it - all of IBM's
products go "through channel" so to speak.  Then again, will IBM give
you support when you're a single, "non-connected" (to a LAN) user?  Not
bloody likely.  They want the 100+ copy purchasers, and want to sell
them both Server software and Workstation software.


So much so, in fact, that I hear there has been a real shake up at IBM.
The development of future OS/2 products has been split - Warp Server,
and other server products, have all been transferred to the LAN Server
group, and Warp/Merlin has been transferred over to another unit working
on connectivity, likely the same bunch that produces Netfinity and such.
In other words, there is no Personal Software Products division.  Oh,
what great news.  Now I can't get support for future IBM products,
because the products I bought were personal, on my personal desktop at
my personal home.  No customer of IBM's runs their software at home,
apparently.


Whereas MicroSoft is pushing very hard for the home market, IBM (despite
it's claims) is giving up where it never even really tried.  They throw
their hands up, say they added "Multi-media" (which they sort of did),
and will now say that no one ever wanted home applications for OS/2,
if they did they would have used the game developer's kit, the DIVE
extensions, etc., etc.  Game titles and such are the home market, and
everyone knows it.  There's lots of games out there for OS/2 as long as
you want to play solitaire.  I don't see anyone porting MechWarrior2,
something that would take VERY well to DIVE extensions.  Of course, this
may be because IBM never seemed to ASK anyone to port to OS/2 - well, no
one except He Who Writeth the Mythical Beaste Doome for OSTwo.  Where are
the home applications?  Gone.  As the home user will be soon.


I performed another sting this week - this time at one of IBM's home
computing store.  It was quite interesting, to say the least.  Of the two
staff members, both of them knew how to spell OS/2, which was no mean feat.
One of them was not terribly literate with computers in general, but knew
his products.  The other was a Teamer if I've ever seen one.  This gent told
me that I shouldn't look at a Pentium Pro, I should get a PowerPC with OS/2
Warp for PPC when it is released.  I didn't have the heart to tell him -
WalterK tells me that Warp for PPC is dead, and that all of the product
development for the PPC has stopped.  But at least someone knew what
the hell was going on with OS/2 Warp.


Which brings me back to my David and Goliath principal.  IBM IS
Goliath, no matter how you slice it.  They are a huge company, and maybe
as many say a hardware company that should never have tried their hand
at software.  That may well be, but the software they have released is
excellent.  Go back and ask those MIS guys about Netfinity, they'll tell
you.  David, being MS, has obviously won the battle, or at least tired
Goliath.  Goliath is now pulling back, trying to cut his losses.  You
and I are his losses, the ones being cut.  Save for a few members of our
group who use OS/2 in a large corporate environment, we won't see
anything past Warp with support for the rest of the really little Davids
like us out there.


I don't like being the one who disseminates this information.  Really,
I'd rather be compiling a multipage glossy newsletter about all the
stuff coming out for OS/2.  The harsh reality is that I'm not, and
because the entire newsletter is contained on Eddie, the content is what
I get sent to me or pick up myself.  There isn't much.  Nothing is
happening in the months of December 1995 and January 1996 on OS/2
fronts, folks - I would (and am) really worried.  Something is rotten
in the fate of OS/2, it seems.  No ISVs are announcing anything but
upgrades.  No word of new products from major vendors.  Not a peep out
of Lotus.  Nothing.


I have often said a that it wouldn't take much for me to switch to
Win95 (or preferably NT) - in fact, it would only take an application
like Zap-O-Comm and an application like Golden Commpass (already in Win95
development) for me to make the switch.  Remember back when Win95 was
first called Win95?  Right after the name change from Chicago, MS told
all ISVs that in order to have the "Windows 95 Compatible" logo for
their 95 apps, they had to be code compliant with the API set run by NT.
In other words, the programs had to work on both OSs.  About 8-10 months
later, MS retracted this restriction due to public pressure.  Don't be
fooled.  8-10 months represents a vast investment by any ISV in a
program, and if it had been co-compliant to that point, the ISV sure wasn't
going to tinker with code that was already written.  I'll be
SmartSuite96 runs on Windows NT.  Most other major ISVs would also
program for the API set, so that would give me a clear upgrade path.


Right now, unless you are on a LAN, there is no upgrade path if you use
OS/2.  Not if you want support.  And this is the crux of the future of
OS/2 - it will be vertical market, going for large LANs.  There will
only be two flavours of Connect, if even - the equivalent of "Red Spine
Connect" and "Blue Spine Connect".  If you're not connected, forget it.
Meanwhile Win95 is being installed on thousands of stand alone home
machines.  Go figure, someone is marketing and someone isn't.

Now I know how Goliath felt when the wimp came to town to become
a hero.



If there is something you would like to see in the NL, just drop me a note:




Martin Moran, Editor

The opinions expressed in this editorial are only those of the
editor, and do not reflect any opinions at IBM or with the Toronto OS/2
User's Group




Membership Information

Presently, membership in TO/2 requires only that you show up at the
monthly meetings.  Normally, we have a crowd of roughly 70 people attend,
but this swells and dips on a regular basis.

Please ensure that, should you attend to the meeting, you sign the
Sign-In sheets, so that we can properly account for you as a
member.

Presently there is no membership fee for TO/2, and the Executive is
currently debating this.  Until such time as a decision has been made,
all TO/2 meetings and events are free of charge.

For more information about Membership, please contact Kevin Quinn, Membership
Co-ordinator by e-mail.




Meeting Schedules

All TO/2 meetings take place on the second Thursday in the month, in the
Auditorium of 3600 Steeles Avenue East, Markham.  Meetings begin with a
half hour question and answer period with the New User SIG at 7:00 in room
D109, and then presentations start at 7:30 with the group news.  The
main presenter appears from 7:45-8:45, and then we have a 15 minute
break.  A number of smaller presenters, including members of TO/2 and
the Executive, will take us to conclusion at 10:00pm.

The Meeting will take place on .  The meeting will take place on
.




Meeting Map














Martin Moran
Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter









Communication Shoot-out
 Native OS/2 Communication Packages


 

INTERcomm (c) 1995 AdeptSoft

Presentation Manager, 32-bit
Drag-and-Drop Support for upload/download
VT100 and ANSI emulation
REXX Scripting
X,Y, and Zmodem file transfers

Contact: adeptsft@gate.net
Cost: $69US



LogiCOMM (c) 1990 LOGISTIQUE LMM

text mode, 16-bit
X,YModem, and CS Quick B protocol
keyboard macros, hotkeys
200 entry dialing library, dialing queues and automatic redial
VT100 and ANSI emulation

Contact: (514)-727-1368 (Voice)
Cost: $35US



LiveWire/WPS 3.1 (c) 1995 DataMirage
LiveWire 3.0 (text) (c) DataMirage


 32-bit PM or text mode application
host mode
cost analysis system
object oriented
support for Telnet
X,Y, and Zmodem support
REXX script language support
 TTY, ANSI, VT102, and RIPterm emulation

Contact: (Orders): 310-439-5567
Fax:    310-438-7888

Cost: $46US (just registration number and support via BBS)
Cost: $73US + shipping (shrink-wrapped package, printed manual, and disk)



MAGCOM Communication Program (c) 1993 Gilmore Systems


32-bit text mode program
FREEWARE
X,Y, or ZModem transfer protocol
stores 200 phone numbers
up to 50 lines per screen
16K buffer

Contact:(805) 379-3210 
Cost: FREE



PMComm 2.33 (c) 1996 Multi-Net Communications

32-bit PM program
read/write scrollback buffer
on-line GIF viewer
multimedia enabled
ability to use FTP to transfer files
host mode
REXX and internal scripting
X,Y,ZModem, Kermit, CompuServe B protocol

Contact: sales@multinet.com or phone (541) 883-8099
Cost: $99.95US + $5 S&H



QVT/PM (c) 1989 QPC Software

16-bit PM program
DEC VT220/102/52 Terminal Emulation
Kermit, X and ZModem protocol
autodial, autologin

Contact: via mail only
Cost: $40US



ProTalk 1.0 (c) 1994 Brian Fisher

built-in script language
X,Y,Zmodem, Kermit, CompuServe Quick B protocols
TEK 4010 terminal emulation

Contact: via mail only 
Cost: $70US + 8% PST (Ontario)



 RhinoCom Home 1.1 (c) 1995 Rhintek Inc

uninstall feature!
ANSI, VT52/100/320, DG217/411/413 emulations
host mode
REXX Scripts
object oriented
autodetection of modem
X,Y,ZModem, Kermit, and ASC transfer protocols

Contact: (410) 730-2575, http://www.rhintek.com/rhintek or heeth@rhintek.com
Cost: $99US



Softerm Plus (c) 1993 Softronics 

is the upgrade for the comm program bundled with OS/2 2.0 and 2.1
script language
X,Y,ZModem, CompuServe
host mode

Contact: (719) 593-9540
Cost: $35US ($50US incl printed manual)



TE/2 1.31 (c) 1995 Oberon Software

REXX Script
text mode application
ANSI, VT100, and IBM3101 emulation
X,Y,ZModem, ASC protocols
half-screen chat feature

Contact: 507-388-7001
Cost: $99.95US + S&H



ZOC 2.13 (c) 1995 Markus Schmidt

transfer over modem or telnet (ISDN available)
TTY, VT102, and ANSI terminal types
X,Y,ZModem, CompuServe protocols
online JPG and GIF viewer
autodial with autologin (REXX scripts)
chat and host mode

Contact: m.schmidt@emtec.com
Cost: $72US to v2.99, $92US to v9.99 (manual $20US, ISDN $35US)



















TO/2 Newsletter - News  - 1/96





News of the Month

Group Announcements
Latest News From Vendors
Shareware/Freeware Information
Products in Review
Classified Advertisements




Return to Table of Contents


Group Announcements


We are presently looking for a member of the group to step forward and head up a Communications
SIG.  This person would work with a member of the Executive, likely Martin Moran, for the first 
meeting or two, and their only duties would be to run the meetings and provide brief minutes to 
the Executive.  Please note that this would be a Datacomm SIG, and would cover the Internet
and local service providers, CompuServe, Bulletin boards, and general datacomm software help.


Anyone interested in this post should contact the group at to2@io.org




This month we're having a special presentation - the Executive will battle it out over
their favourite communications packages for OS/2, and if you follow this link, you'll find a preview
of what's to come:







Latest News from Vendors

 Once again, 
follow to get the latest vendor information.

 For 
a list of what Kevin and Martin will be talking  about at the meeting, follow the other link.




Shareware and Freeware Information


I have just released CD in a Box v1.61  ( Filename CDBox161.zip )

You can find it at:

   http://www.hsr.no/~jonny
or Compuserve at Go OS2SHARE in LIB 1

I will also upload it to some FTP sites in the near future.

Features.
CD in a Box is a CD Player based on a folder from OS/2.  Tracks appear in
the folder as icons and you can use standard OS/2 methods to manipulate the
data.
- Use direct editing to change the Disc and Track Titles.
- Change Play order by Drag and Drop.
- Change the status of a track to play only the tracks you want.
- Control the player by popup menus, keyboard or from 1 of 3 Control Panels.
- Add Tracks to a Disc to create Custom CD's.
- And lots more...

This program is Cardware.  Send me a postcard if you like it.

Also available on the WWW page are Small CD ( another CD Player for OS/2 ),
a file containing some icons you can use to represent the Tracks in the
folder and other free software from the Nighttime Hackers.  Don't forget to
fill in the guest book!!




Products in Review

Unfortunately, we do not have a product in review for you this month.  We'll have one once we
hunt down all the deadbeat members (big grin!) to give us reviews of the
software they've won in the draws.

Please see the Request for Contributions section for more
information about submitting articles to the TO/2 Newsletter.




Classified Advertisements

TCH Consulting Services would like to advertise the following services:


 Web page design/creation/advertising
 OS/2 WWW Server Setup
 OS/2 Internet Setup and Customization
 20% Discount to Attendees of TO/2 Meetings




Terry Hamilton - Owner TCH Consulting Svcs.
tch@io.org














Martin Moran
Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter






