Gateway continues to be a leader in computer sales, but many report their sales are growing faster than their capability to provide technical support. Some report that it is very hard just to get through to them, and with their taped leave-a-message answering facility, it is harder to be able to talk with anyone. But it is also reported that when you finally get to talk to a human, you are given excellent service. Gateway says it is working on the problem and is adding many new support lines and some 75 additional tech support personnel. Look for tech support at Gateway to improve.

Harvey reported that a premier issue of PC Novice magazine is available at many of the computer stores - like Comp USA, Work Place, Office Depot, Computer City - that contains a lot of basic PC info. It is free at Comp USA (and probably at all the locations) and is a worthwhile pickup.

PRESENTATION -- CorelDraw

Corel Corporation was kind enough to send a knowledgeable and professional representative -- Denise Zutrauen -- to give a presentation of CorelDraw 3.0 to our User Group. And the turnout for the presentation -- like the program --was quite good.

CorelDraw 3.0 is a Windows program. I have never used CorelDraw nor any other similar graphics package, so I have no basis for comparison. As CorelDraw users already know -- it is a very powerful program and it seemed to me that it can do just about anything that one might want to do in the way of creating graphics and presentations. I can’t imagine anything one might want to do with text, for example, that this program will not do -- bearing in mind, of course, that CorelDraw is a graphics package, not a word processor (though it does include spell-check, hyphenation, columns, a thesaurus, and other word processing features). As Denise noted, she could spend days covering all the features of the program; I do not propose to even cover the highlights of this very powerful program in the limited space of this newsletter.

Denise stated that CorelDraw consisted of 12 applications, and it does. From a user standpoint, however, I would say it has four major applications -- Draw, Chart, Photo-Paint and Show for illustration, charting, bitmap editing, and presentations -- with the other 8 applications supporting these majors. The other 8 include:

CorelTrace, which allows bitmap graphics (photos, etc) to be converted to vector graphics; CorelMosiac, a visual file manager which gives the capability to preview application files, view Kodak Photo CDs, print catalogs of artwork and Draw files; Capture, which allows the capture of anything created in CorelDraw and export as a .WMF; and Show Run-time, which gives the capability to run presentations on computers that do not have CorelDraw installed.

Version 3.0 uses TrueType fonts, but will support the proprietary fonts used in the previous CorelDraw versions. It imports text from all the major word processors and PCX, TIF, EMP, Al (EPS), GEM, PlC, HPGL, CGM, PIF (GDF), PICT, WMF, GIF and TGA graphic formats. It will export in these same formats, as well as EPS, SCODL, WPG and TTF. It will export in color and grayscale, with user definable resolution, and it has a 24-bit color capability. CorelDraw includes over 150 True Type fonts, over 4500 clipart images and symbols, and a host of templates, bitmaps and special effects. A bonus CD that comes with the package includes 250+ True Type fonts and 12000 clipart images and symbols, along with more templates, animation flics and CorelPaint samples. It is also network ready.

The program appears to be well connected with consistent and intuitive interfaces and appears to be relatively easy to learn. It uses roll-up menus throughout and reportedly includes excellent context sensitive online help. And, it supports OLE, DDE and MDI.

Denise and Corel, a great big THANK YOU for a super presentation of a super powerful program, and for Corel goodies you left with us. We are more enlightened on and impressed by your program -- CorelDraw 3.0.

The meeting adjourned at about 8:40 PM  u