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TidBITS#74/29-Jul-91
====================

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Topics:
    MailBITS/29-Jul-91
    SevenBITS/29-Jul-91
    NewsBITS/29-Jul-91
    What Good is the Help Menu?
    DoveFax+ Hears Voices
    AppleLink in Space
    Reviews/29-Jul-91


MailBITS/29-Jul-91
------------------
  Adam and Tonya and their cats are busy moving this week! So that
  they can concentrate on finding a new place to live in the
  Redmond, WA area, settle into new surroundings and new jobs, and
  relax a little, I've volunteered to be your Guest Editor for a few
  weeks. Who am I? I'm Mark H. Anbinder, of STARNET's Memory Alpha
  BBS.

  For the next few weeks, any correspondence and information for
  TidBITS should be sent to one of my electronic or paper addresses,
  shown on the About TidBITS page of this issue. When Adam and Tonya
  take over TidBITS again, they will be providing new addresses that
  we can use to reach them.

  Attentive reader Bill Dugan noticed a lack of detail in last
  week's QuickTime article, on the specific subject of the MPC
  standard. Bill reports that the standard configuration is:

    286 processor at 10Mhz or 12Mhz (depending on who you ask)
    2 megs of RAM
    VGA card with a minimum of 320 x 200 resolution with 256
      colors
    AdLib or SoundBlaster sound board (or emulators)
    CD-ROM drive with transfer rate of 150K/sec

  Thanks for the correction, Bill! Readers who want to learn more
  about QuickTime should check out the September 1991 Macworld, in
  which Jerry Borrell's column is devoted to the topic. The column
  is entitled "Why I Love QuickTime: Not just because it's way
  cool."

  Rik Ahlberg also wrote, to let us know that Switch, which was
  mentioned in the 15-Jul-91 issue of TidBITS, is incompatible with
  Adobe Illustrator 3.0 under System 7. It apparently causes
  Illustrator to quit and return to the Finder as soon as its icon
  appears in the menu bar.

  You may remember the controversy surrounding MarketPlace, a pair
  of products from Lotus that would have provided a variety of
  information on American households and businesses. The product
  that contained information about private individuals and
  households was withdrawn due to the uproar, and the business
  product was cancelled as well. Recently, though, a new company
  named MarketPlace Information Corporation was formed by Lotus
  personnel who didn't want to see their project go down the tubes.
  They are now shipping MarketPlace Business 1.1, containing
  marketing data on over seven million U.S. businesses drawn from
  the Dun's Market Identifiers database. According to the company,
  there are no plans to release the Households database, which was
  at the center of the controversy, but this announcement does raise
  some of the same accuracy issues (it's very difficult to correct
  information on a CD-ROM) and might lead to increased popularity
  for this sort of desktop marketing... which could in turn bring us
  back to the same situation. If MarketPlace doesn't release a
  households database, someone else might.

  Speaking of which, a company calling itself variously "American
  Business Information" or "Online Information Network" was
  marketing products at the recent Comdex show along the same lines
  as MarketPlace. ABI is offering a dialup service whereby, for a
  $35 subscription fee, $1 per minute, and 17[cts] per name, users
  can retrieve names from databases of over ten million U.S. and
  Canadian businesses, or over 4.5 million "high income" families.
  The same databases will be available on CD-ROM as well.

  Information from:
    Mark H. Anbinder -- [e-mail]
    Bill Dugan -- [e-mail]
    Rik Ahlberg -- [e-mail]
    Adam C. Engst -- [e-mail]
    John G. DeArmond -- [e-mail]
    MarketPlace Information Corporation -- 617/225-7850
    American Business Information -- 402/953-4565


SevenBITS/29-Jul-91
-------------------
  Since the May introduction of System 7, Apple has been shipping
  all computers with a coupon that users can mail to Apple, good for
  a free copy of System 7. They recently announced that, beginning
  at the end of July or the beginning of August, new Macintosh
  computers (except for the 1Mb Macintosh Classic, the Macintosh
  SE/30, and floppy-only configurations of the Macintosh LC) will
  ship with System 7, either pre-installed on the internal hard
  disk, or in the box for CPUs without hard disks. The Mac Classic
  and LC will start shipping with System 7 a little later than the
  beginning of August, no doubt due to the long lead times for these
  products. The fact that the SE/30 won't be converted to ship with
  System 7 looks strange, unless you consider the rumour that the
  SE/30 is due to be replaced this fall by a new Classic '030
  machine.

  Information from:
    Mark H. Anbinder -- [e-mail]


NewsBITS/29-Jul-91
------------------
  Novell is supposed to buy DRI (Digital Research Inc, makers of
  C/PM in the past and DR DOS in the present). This will give Novell
  a network OS and a desktop OS, which competes with Microsoft's
  inclusion of networking hooks in DOS and Windows. Also interesting
  is that IBM has a deal with Novell that lets the Blue resell
  NetWare, and that might carry over to reselling DR DOS. Many
  people think DR DOS is technically better than MS-DOS, so IBM
  could show its displeasure with Microsoft even more than before by
  ditching the agreement with Microsoft (which produced PC-DOS) in
  favor of DR DOS. Also interesting is the fact that these large
  companies are gradually clumping together, which the newly
  aggressive FTC certainly won't like and which may bode ill for the
  small, innovative, developers.

  Information from:
    Bob Cringely
    Adam C. Engst -- [e-mail]


What Good is the Help Menu?
---------------------------
  by Rick M. Holzgrafe -- [e-mail]

  "So what good is the Balloon Help menu? I already know how to use
  my Mac!"

  I've been hearing this question a lot lately, as I eavesdrop on
  the networks and bulletin boards. A lot of people seem to think
  that:

    - It's only for system software.
    - It's only for turning the balloon display on and off.
    - It wastes space on the menu bar.

  These are all misconceptions. Let's take them in order.

  "It's only for system software." Actually, any application can use
  the Help menu. Applications can have their own balloons to explain
  their own menus, windows, and controls. We haven't seen much of
  this yet because most of us haven't yet gotten our System 7-savvy
  upgrades and new applications. But the developers are all jumping
  on the bandwagon: I haven't heard of a single upgrade or new
  product since the release of System 7 that will not include
  Balloon Help.

  "It's only for turning the balloon display on and off." Click over
  to the Finder for a minute, if you're running System 7. Pull down
  the Help menu. There's an item at the bottom called "Finder
  Shortcuts". You may have thought that was a special hack just for
  the 7.0 Finder; it's not. Any application can add its own custom
  menu items to the Help menu. (And by the way, that's its proper
  name: not the "Balloon Help" menu, but just the "Help" menu. It's
  not just for balloons!)

  Apple intends for the Help menu to become the standard place for
  users to go for on-line help: not just for balloons, but for the
  manual pages that you currently have to turn over all the rocks to
  find. ("Is there a menu called 'Help'? No... maybe it's in the
  Apple menu, under 'About MacFoo'. Rats, not there. Check ALL the
  menus, looking for an item called 'Help'. Rargh! Uh, maybe there's
  a 'Help' button in the About box....") Just think how nice it will
  be when most apps have online help, and all in the same place!

  "It wastes space on the menu bar." Well, yes and no - mostly no.
  In System 7, there can be as many as three iconic menus at the
  right end of the menu bar: the Keyboard menu, the Help menu, and
  the Application menu. (The Keyboard menu is for users who must
  change the keyboard layout for typing in different languages. Many
  users don't need it, and never see it.) Both the Keyboard and Help
  menus will automatically disappear whenever your regular menus
  need the room, so normally these menu icons don't waste space.

  The only conflict is with menu bar clock INITs. Many people use
  them, and some apparently can't live without them. They make two
  kinds of problem. First, older INITs don't know about the Help and
  Keyboard menus, and don't move over to make room for them. Second,
  a menu bar clock is not a menu: the Menu Manager doesn't know it's
  there and can't make room for it when space gets tight. A menu bar
  clock on a 9" screen can find itself helplessly squeezed between
  the Help menu on the right and MS Word's menus on the left!

  Some people, wanting to keep their menu bar clocks, have figured
  out ways to remove the Help menu altogether. They figure that they
  won't ever need it, or that they can use one of the new freeware
  or shareware hacks to turn on Balloon Help from the keyboard. I
  don't recommend this. I hope I've convinced you by now that the
  Help menu is important and will soon become very useful to you,
  and that the balloons are not the only important feature.

  I'd recommend that you live without your menu bar clock, either
  for a while (until System 7-savvy menu bar clocks appear), or
  forever. The menu bar clock can be replaced by a watch, a wall
  clock, a five-dollar stick-on digital clock, the Alarm Clock DA,
  or any of a half-dozen nifty freeware window-clock applications.
  But the only substitute for good on-line help is a paper manual,
  and I doubt whether you enjoy getting them out and flipping their
  pages any more than I do.

  So, that's what good the Help menu is! In about a year, you may
  wonder how you ever lived without it.


DoveFax+ Hears Voices
---------------------
  One of the more interesting modem spin-offs recently is the
  DoveFax+. I'm personally not all that impressed with fax
  technology, but I think sticking fax capabilities in a modem is a
  good way to avoid killing more trees. What makes the DoveFax+
  stand out though, is its ability to do limited voice-messaging.
  You probably wouldn't replace a huge voice mail system with the
  DoveFax+, but for an individual or a couple of people it looks
  quite good. The DoveFax+ is the first voice messaging system for
  the Mac, at least in the normal-person price range. It can
  differentiate between voice calls and fax calls when in the Voice
  Mode, and it sports several other modes, the Data Mode (2400 bips)
  and a straight Fax Mode (I assume that in Fax Mode the DoveFax+
  doesn't try to differentiate between voice and fax calls, but
  there may be more differences too). If you have really complicated
  phone setups, the DoveFax+ works with phone line managers as well,
  and Dove has tested it with the Phone Line Manager from La Cie and
  the SmartMax II from MaxTrax.

  The DoveFax+ simulates the "Press1 to talk to a VP, Press 2 to
  talk to the CEO, etc." with a Caller ID feature. Unlike anything
  to do with the phone company, this is merely an ID that you assign
  to a caller, so if they call and punch in their ID, the DoveFax+
  plays a specific message for them. You can record different
  messages and link them to different Caller IDs, which gives you a
  lot of flexibility in the sort of messages you leave. You can also
  save messages and reuse them, a technosend (I'm not religious, and
  the word godsend didn't seem appropriate) for those who hate
  creating messages. The DF+Manager program even keeps track of
  people who called with a Caller ID and will auto-dial that number
  when you get back and want to return the call.

  Since the DoveFax+ records messages digitally onto the hard disk,
  I was concerned about the amount of space it could consume. Page
  Gilley of Dove Technical Support said that a 30 second call takes
  about 150K of disk space. That would only cause problems with a
  few of my friends who like to talk to the answering machine at
  length. You probably wouldn't want to leave for vacation without
  clearing some hard disk space, but in general it doesn't sound
  like disk space will be a problem.

  The main problem I personally have with the DoveFax+ is that it's
  not all that impressive as modems go. At the moment, it is merely
  straight 2400 bips Hayes compatible, but that can't compete with
  the 9600, v.everything modems that come in at about the same
  price, $549. Page said that Dove was working on implementing v.42
  and MNP, which could increase the throughput significantly, though
  I'd still prefer a full feature 9600 bips modem with the fax and
  voice features of the DoveFax+.

  As far as the details go, the DoveFax+ can work in the background
  as a fax modem and is a Group 3-compatible 9600 bips fax. Included
  are the QuickFax DA, customizable cover sheets, an activity log,
  and automatic phone directory updating. The voice messaging part
  of the DoveFax+ can import SoundEdit, snd, and AIFF sound files
  (so you can use all those great sounds as phone messages, and if
  you've got SoundEdit, you can have a lot of fun with manipulating
  your messages). Two other useful features for when you're away
  include remote retrieval of messages and message forwarding to
  another number. So if you are in the market for a modem and a fax
  machine with some sophisticated answering machine capabilities
  thrown in, you might consider what the DoveFax+ will do for you.

    Dove Computer Corp. -- 919/763-7918

  Information from:
    Adam C. Engst -- [e-mail]
    Page Gilley -- [e-mail]
      DoveTech or PageG1 on AOL

  Related articles:
    MacWEEK -- 19-Mar-91, Vol. 5, #11, pg. 16
    Macworld -- Sept-91, Vol. 8, #9, pg. 223


AppleLink in Space
------------------
  The upcoming flight of the space shuttle Atlantis, which has been
  delayed a couple of times this month, will be a first for the
  information age. NASA's astronauts will be carrying aboard a
  Macintosh Portable that has been outfitted with an off-the-shelf
  modem and a customized version of the AppleLink software, and
  they'll be connecting to AppleLink and sending electronic mail
  from space.

  While this isn't the first time e-mail has been sent or received
  from space (earlier missions have included packet radio BBS
  experimenting), it will certainly be the first use of Apple's
  online service from space (assuming everything works as planned).
  Not only will the astronauts be able to exchange data files and
  mission reports with ground control personnel, but they'll also be
  able to communicate with their families during the trip.
  Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the astronauts and their
  sanity, the shuttle's AppleLink address is being kept
  confidential.

  Connections to AppleLink already involve a complex data network,
  but this time things will be a bit more convoluted. Here's the
  path as described by Apple's Michael Elliot Silver:

  "The digital X.25 packet goes through the GE IS ww network to a
  modem pool (converts to analog) which is connected to a ROLM
  telephone switch (converts back to digital), then to a data phone
  at Johnson Space Center.

  "The data phone is connected to a Mac Portable through its Printer
  port. The packet then goes through a 'Data Forwarder' application
  written by our own Byron Han (the genius behind this project)
  which sends the packet out the Modem port using 'NASALink,' a CTB
  tool specially written for this event (also by Byron).

  "The packet then goes through a PSI Fax Modem (back to analog)
  operating in v.27 terr (half duplex, ungodly, and evil) and is
  then routed through an ATU (Audio Terminal Unit) which digitizes
  the signal (converts to digital).

  "The packet is then sent up to an orbiting CommSat (Commercial
  Satellite) then back down to White Sands, New Mexico TDRSS
  (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System).

  "It is then sent up again to another TDRSS Satellite which is
  orbiting geosynchronously with the space shuttle, and that
  satellite sends the packet to the space shuttle (still digital)
  which sends it through its voice subsystem and converts it back to
  analog.

  "It is sent through another ATU to another PSI Fax modem (back to
  digital) through the modem port, through the NASALink CTB tool and
  finally into AppleLink 6.0.2s1 (a special version of AppleLink
  6.0.2)."

  Information from:
    Rick M. Holzgrafe -- [e-mail]
    Michael Elliot Silver


Reviews/29-Jul-91
-----------------

* Macworld
    Word Processors, pg. 160
      Microsoft Word 4.0
      WriteNow 2.2
      MacWrite II 1.1
      WordMaker 1.01
      FullWrite Professional 1.5s
      WordPerfect 2.0
      Nisus 3.05
      Taste 1.01
      Microsoft Works 2.0
    Budget Hard Disk Drives (40-120Mb), pg. 184
      Too many to list (73 drives!)
    Microsoft Excel 3.0, pg. 204
    DVA-4000/Macintosh and Mediator, pg. 206
    Animation Works 1.0, pg. 208
    PixelPaint Professional 2.0, pg. 209
    RoboSport, pg. 217
    LocalSwitch, pg. 219
    Infini-D 1.0, pg. 222
    DoveFax+, pg. 223
    Aldus Digital Darkroom 2.0, pg. 226
    MacPro Plus Keyboard, pg. 228
    DynoPage 1.0, pg. 230
    TouchBase 1.0.2, pg. 233
    Last Resort 1.0, pg. 235
    LiteShow II, pg. 237
    MacPhonebook 3.0, pg. 239
    MyAdvancedDatabase 2.0, pg. 242
    Ray Dream Designer 1.01, pg. 244
    Loom 1.0, pg. 245
    Adobe Photoshop 2.0, pg. 248
    KaleidaGraph 2.1, pg. 253
    CD ROM discs, pg. 255
      Ecodisc
      Dictionary of the Living World
      Sherlock Holmes on Disc
      U.S. History on CD-ROM
      The Orient
      Birds of America
      Learn to Speak Spanish
      Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf

References:
    Macworld -- Sep-91


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