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Note: This website is using CSS and other modern web techniques. Just as you migrated from DOS to a more modern operating system, perhaps it is time to use a newer browser. Anyway, we have tested this site with a variety of old browsers (even a 1.0 browser) and all of them will display the site's content, but it may not be very pretty.
I hope everybody enjoyed the 1998 holiday season. Best wishes are extended to everyone for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year in 1999.
The holidays were also very good for OS/2 users. Several updates were released by IBM, Lotus released an update for SmartSuite, and a number of new applications and utilities were posted by several ISV's.
Additionally, there were reports of plans being made within IBM for a possible Aurora client product development.
We had a truly memorable meeting in December, featuring a presentation of the Java "Moneydance" Personal Finance Manager by author Sean Reilly followed by a gala Holiday and OS/2 11th Birthday party.
Another special treat is in store for January. Our two resident gurus, the Two Davids, will present and demonstrate a simple network.
More detailed information on these items will be found below.
DECEMBER MEETING REPORT
The December meeting started off with the customary announcements of news of interest to OS/2 users, new products, etc.
The membership was advised that sufficent contributions were made to permit ordering of the Imation SuperDrive for The Episcopal Academy. All vendors who were contacted reported that their inventories of this item had been exhausted. The selected vendor will ship as soon as a new supply is received from the manufacturer.
David Moskowitz was back with us in December, after being away at Comdex during the time of the November meeting. Prior to beginning his usual Q&A session, David briefed us on his impressions of the 1998 Las Vegas Comdex. He reported that total attendance seemed to be somewhat less than in the preceeding years, and several of the major companies (IBM, Compaq, Intel, among others) didn't participate as Comdex vendors. 3COM's Palm Pilot booth seemed to be the major attraction.
Immediately following the Comdex report, we went into the Q&A session. Several good questions and comments arose in regard to PMI News, Netscape 4.04 problems, open source possiblities for future OS/2 (not very likely), Warp Server, possible future Linux presentation. The Q&A session was shortened somewhat to make time for the feature presentation and the annual party.
After the Q&A session, Sean Reilly was introduced to the group. Sean is the author of "Moneydance," a Personal Finance Manager written completely in Java. Although still in an advanced Beta stage, "Moneydance" is already quite usable for most personal home-type applications, and since it's writtem in Java, it can be run on most all current operating system platforms.
Sean gave us an excellent presentation/demo of the most recent Beta version. Along the way, many good questions were raised by the audience, including a large number of questions in regard to tracking of investments. Many good ideas for future added features were also discussed with Sean, along with the pros and cons of open source code. As of this time, the most recent release is v.2.0b5. You can download it from http://seanreilly.com/java/
A large round of applause was accorded to Sean at the completion of his presentation. We were most fortunate that he was able to drive up from Virginia to join us at the December meeting.
Upon completion of the "Moneydance" presentation, we went into holiday/ birthday party mode with a gala celebration: cakes, ice cream, soft drinks, and a raffle of a goodly number of software products, T-shirts, and assorted party trinkets donated by IBM, Lotus, Sundial Systems, Aviar, Indelible Blue and PowerQuest, all accompanied by lots of good holiday cheer.
Happy 11th Birthday, OS/2. We're looking forward to the twelfth in 1999.
Meeting was adjourned, the room cleaned up and lights turned off around 11:00 pm.
OS/2 NEWS
A new SmartSuite for Warp 4 v.1.1 has been released by Lotus. Some of the new features are:
- Microsoft Word 97 and Excel 97 import filters are available in 1-2-3 and Word Pro for data integrity.
Additional Y2K Support so that SmartSuite for OS/2 Warp 4 Release 1.1 is Year 2000-ready. It has been fully tested and SmartSuite Release 1.1 is capable of correctly processing, providing and/or receiving date data within and between the 20th and 21st centuries when products used with SmartSuite can properly exchange accurate date data with it.
Euro Currency Support for a code page that supports the Euro symbol or a font that contains the Euro symbol as a currency format in 1-2-3, Word Pro and Approach.
Integrated to work with IBM's a WorkSpace On Demand
Indelible Blue is now taking orders via phone or Internet. Part numbers and prices* are as follows:
AN648NA Academic SmartSuite OS2 Warp 4 v1.1 cd - $81.00
AN645NA SmartSuite OS/2 Warp 4 v1.1 cd - $379.00
AN646NA SmartSuite OS/2 Warp 4 UG v1 to V1.1 cd - $158.00
AN647NA SmartSuite OS/2 Warp 4 Upgrade v.1.1 - $20 Proof must be furnished of license for SSW4 v.1.0. CDROM only is included. No license, no manuals.
* Note: Add $5.00 for S&H via UPS ground. More for air.
In reponse to many unanswered user messages and dead silence from InnoVal since mid-November, InnoVal's CEO, Dan Porter, finally posted a new announcement on January 2nd, as follows:
"We are still supporting our customers but clearly not as effectively as before. And I agree, it is not good customer relations "on our part." I have discussed the matter before and I will add some clarifications:
I hate it. I really do. Customer support was something we have been proud of and if there was any way I could simply restore it to an excellent level, I would do so. We had some tough choices to make because of the declining OS/2 market. The most cost effective way (and the preferred way by our investors) was to withdraw from the OS/2 consumer marketplace altogether. We lose money every day in this niche. Yet, this is something I have promised not to do so long as I am CEO. So I have had to trim our OS/2 expenses and re-focus resources. Custom development and large corporate contracts is where we make most of our money. So that is where I have had to focus resource and dollars.
Even in the Java segment of consumer products we lose money because Java applications (as product) have not caught on enough YET. So here, too, I have had to impose restraints. The fortunate thing, I hope, is that Java and OS/2 customers need less technical support then, say, typical Windows users (we provide considerable support for Web Willy Watch for Windows). And, too, OS/2 and Java users are pretty good about helping each other. I have been encouraging users to go to the newsgroups. We are watching the groups and there has not been much activity. There has been some and people in our company have responded. I have.
We are just finishing up a maintenance release of J Street Mailer and this will hit the streets very shortly. We are also looking at ways to increase Windows sales of Web Willy Watch and some of our other Java stuff in hopes of getting some additional-incremental revenues that I can spend on our OS/2 customers.
If everyone who is on release 2.5 and 2.6 of the Post Road Mailer would upgrade to release 3.0 (only about 55% have) we would have the much needed revenue. But, when I talk to customers I hear significant reluctance to spend more on OS/2 products. That is too bad but understandable.
We will continue to stick it out with OS/2 and Java (no matter how bad we look to you). You'll still see me at OS/2 users group meetings and online every now and then. And we'll still try to get to as many of you as possible when you have a problem. Do come to the newsgroups. Fellow users will try to help out, I hope.
Thanks, Dan Porter, President, Innoval
Dr. David Shields of IBM's Watson Research Lab recently advised me that the new Jikes compiler v.0.41 is now available in source form from the IBM Alphaworks web site: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com.
He went on to indicate that the OS/2 version is still somewhat buggy, and suggested that fixing the problems might be an interesting project for our group.
Shortly thereafter, Aaron Williams reported (on his OS/2 Java Page) that he had made a Jikes port for OS/2 which seems to work quite well. In addition, Aaron indicated that John Price of Australia has also made a successful OS/2 port.
For additional information and download of the OS/2 binaries, refer to Aaron's Java Page at http://os2java.ml.org/Java/
The following item was posted Dec 30th on Loren Bandiera's OS/2 News and Rumors web site (http://www.os2ss.com/news/) from the IBM planning database regarding a new client based on Aurora (from an anonymous source).
"The Aurora Client (OS/2 Warp Client for e-business) is the client counterpart of the Aurora Server (OS/2 Warp Server for e-business). The Aurora Client differs from the Aurora Server in that the Aurora Client is void of LAN Server functionality.
The Aurora Client offers to our customers a companion to Aurora Server that is built from the same source base and has capability of executing the same (non-server oriented) applications because of the common application programming interface.
Other than the removal of the LAN Server functionality and the name change from "OS/2 Warp Server for e-business" to "OS/2 Warp Client for e-business," the Aurora Client is the "same" as the Aurora Server.
This Aurora Client is owned by the OS/2 PDT within NCSD. A Concept DCP is in the process of being written (completion target - 01/29/1999). The Aurora Client product is neither approved nor funded for development."
Later reports indicate that the database has been updated and plans have changed somewhat since, and that the overall picture hasn't changed much, but the details are different. There is still one important fact to keep in mind: The client is still not approved or funded. There are a lot of IBM folks working hard trying to get it ready for the approval process.
Joseph Panettieri of Ziff-Davis's "Sm@rt Reseller" published an Aurora Client follow-up story on Dec 31st, based on Loren Bandiera's news item. He added further elaboration based on his own sources. You can find the article at: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2181004,00.html
The Aurora Client news item has also elicited a brief paragraph on ZDNet's AnchorDesk pages. Readers are asked to take a quick poll entitled "Does OS/2 have a future?" (Note the order of choices, negative first):
I personally don't think the tone of Enbysk's paragraph was appropriately neutral and unbiased for purposes of an intro to a reader poll; nor do I think the two choices are the best such which could be posed to represent the current situation. Moreover,this poll shouldn't even be offered to all readers. It's relevant to OS/2 users only and exclusively!
Nevertheless, I voted on Jan 2nd at 10:40am EST. At that time, OS/2 had a slight lead: vote results were:
1892 (57%) Yes, ... Don't give up
1419 (43%) No, ... Pull the plug.
Since then, the Yes vote margin has increased substantially. As of a couple of days later, it stood at about 67% to 33% in favor of OS/2.
If you haven't voted yet for OS/2, please do so ASAP. It's important for all OS/2 users to log on and vote to prevent the Ziff-Davis OS/2-bashers (posing as responsible computer journalists) from using the poll results to crow that even the "users" want the plug pulled on OS/2. So, please, get out there and vote. You can find this OS/2 poll at: http://www4.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2943.html
Mike Kaply of the Netscape Communicator Team has provided an updated NEO3240.DLL file which fixes the problem of crashes when the user has a large number of news headers. Thanks to SIG member Murray Weismer for telling me about this.
Go to the Communicator for OS/2 Bug-Tracker web site (listed below) and download archive NS40.ZIP (the 2nd item in the problem listing). Backup the original NEO3240.DLL file as some other name, and replace it with the new file.
Dave Evans of the IBM UK Laboratories has posted an updated javaprob.zip file which will give about a 10x speedup in the performance of ICATJVO.
To download the new file, ftp to 198.17.57.81 as username "icat1" and password "m5paring." Replace the original javaprob.zip file in your system with the new one. In my system, it's located in G:\JAVA11\ICATJAVA\DAEMON.
USEFUL WEB SITES
Each month, we list a few web pages which may be of benefit and/or interest to OS/2 users. This month's selections include ...
Note: I downloaded and installed the new Swing 1.1 JFC, replacing the earlier v.1.03 and ran tests on some of Sun's samples. Everything worked well. See Aaron's Java Page (http://os2java.ml.org/Java/) for installation advice.
NEW SOFTWARE RELEASES
Update files for TCP/IP 4.0 were recently posted for download at ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/tcpip/fixes/v4.0os2/latest/apps/
ftplat.exe 350KB 12-16-98
lprfiles,exe 386KB 12-16-98
telnetlatest.exe 428KB 12-16-98
tftplatest.exe 240KB 12-16-98
The above files update the TCP/IP stack to v.4.02w 1998-12-16. After installation, type "INETVER" at an OS/2 command prompt to verify the version.
Additionally, if the Y2K fix hasn't yet been installed into your TCP/IP 4.0, it's a good idea to download the read.me and v40y2k.exe now from .../v4.0os2/year2000/ and install it.
Several new TCP/IP 4.1 updates were recently posted by IBM in various subdirectories under the following ftp address. All files are dated 12-16-98. ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/tcpip/fixes/v4.1os2/
.../apps/
.../latest/apps/ (Files here appear identical to files above)
.../dhcpddns/client/
.../stack/
Installation of *.sys files contained in .../stack/ update the TCP/IP 4.1 protocol drivers as follows (as per "INETVER"):
SOCKETS.SYS ... 5.3008
AFOS2.SYS ..... 5.3001
AFINET.SYS .... 5.3006
You should exercise caution with installation of other files in this group of updates. They may not all be of more recent vintage than the files contained in V41RSU.ZIP of October 26, 1998.
Here's a selection of a few new files, released since last month's article, which are thought to be most useful or interesting to many of our OS/2 users. These files can be downloaded from hobbes, BMT, OS/2 Supersite, IBM sites and other of the usual OS/2 Internet and BBS file distribution sources. Many more new software products for OS/2 are being continually released. These are but a small sample. Users should do their own perusals for new releases relevant to their personal interests and needs.
FUTURE MEETING PLANS
Please note that the January meeting will return to our normal schedule on the fourth Wednesday of the month, January 27th, 7:00 pm at The Episcopal Academy, in Merion, PA.
Mark your calendars and plan to attend. And bring an interested friend or associate along to hear all the good news about OS/2 and Java. A system will be on hand for live demos of OS/2 Warp 4, a variety of OS/2 apps, Java, Internet, etc., if time permits.
For the benefit of anyone who may not yet have the recent releases of FixPak-9, Java 1.1.7, Feature Install v.1.2.3, Star Office 5.0, or other recent large files, copies can be made to your ZIP disk (or portable SyQuest drive) on a first come/first serve basis, as time may permit. Please call me prior to the meeting date to make sure that I will have the requested files on my hard drive, ready for copying.
Members without cars can take SEPTA's R-5 (Paoli Local) to Overbrook, or the R-6 to Bala. Call me to make arrangements to be picked up at the RR Station. Since Episcopal Academy is so close to public transportation, why don't you Philadelphia Center City folks who don't have cars call ahead of time to be picked up at the train station.
Everybody should keep up to date by logging in to our OS/2 SIG web site at frequent intervals: www.pasug.org/
Please try to be on time. The meeting will start promptly at 7:00 pm, as per the following agenda and schedule.
Planned January Agenda:
General SIG business session: (7:00 - 7:15 pm) Announcements, news of interest, new OS/2 products, future plans, etc.
Q&A Session (7:15 - 8:15 pm): If you have questions, this is the place to bring them up. Someone is sure to have the answers. Or if you have something of interest to contribute, please don't hesitate to share it with the others.
Intermission and Raffles (8:15 - 8:45 pm) In addition to our regular 50/50 raffle, there will also be some additional software products for raffle.
Feature Presentation (8:45 - 10:00 pm) Many of our members have expressed a high interest in small, simple, networks of perhaps 2 or 3 computers, suitable for home or small business applications. You asked for it, so here it is!
At the January meeting, our two gurus, David Gentzler and David Moskowitz, who recently conducted our acclaimed buildathon, will demonstrate how to install and setup a simple home network with two or three computers. They'll talk about selecting and installing network interface cards (NICs) as well as how to establish proper configuration. Once that is done they'll demonstrate what you can do with the network and how to share files and devices.
Although they don't plan to demonstrate it, they will also talk about installing OS/2 over a network.
Additionally, after they've covered basic OS/2 networking, they'll also show you how to network OS/2 with Windows 95.
This promises to be a very special treat. Nobody should miss it. Hope to see you all on January 27th.
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