Looking Back to 1995

From the March, 1995 Newsletter

SECRETARY'S REPORT
TPCUG MEETING 2/8/95, 6 PM
Ybor Room, Hillsborough Community College, Ybor Campus

Minutes and Comments by Bruce Register

President Harvey Bruneau called the meeting to order. Comments and information were given regarding SIGs, miscellaneous topics and vendors.

SIGS

Microsoft Access - February 16,1995, 6 PM Promptly, 3903 Northdale Boulevard, northeast corner of Mapledale and Northdale. Reservations are closed due to limited seating. Next SIG-Microsoft Access is same place, March 16, 1995, 6 PM (sharp-Security Officer must permit entrance at the rear entrance of the building). Sign up early.

OS/2 - February 28, Contact John Lucas for time, place and openings/sign-up.

Internet - February 28, 1995, 6 PM, promptly. Contact Charles Howe. As of February 8,1995, seven seats were available. You can use BBS to sign up. Promptness is required because security at Reflectone is tight and required. From North Dale Mabry, go west on Waters to TAMPA WEST sign on the south (left) side of the street (if you pass Anderson Road, you have gone too far), turn south at TAMPA WEST sign, go one block to dead end, turn right one block and take a "forced" left turn, go south about a half block to north entrance of Reflectone building. You must enter the north end and be prompt at 6 PM because security will unlock the door and escort us to the meeting room. It reminds me of the Pentagon; you don't stray or wander around.

ANOTHER SIG is under consideration. Let Harvey know your interest. A tax SIG was mentioned as a possibility. It is timely. Harvey wants your opinion. He reads BBS regularly. Send him a message.

MISCELLANEOUS

Harvey reported a monetary gift from GTE to TPCUG. GTE has a program for recognizing their employees who make a contribution of time and effort to community and educational activities. In recognition of Roger Waters’ many hours of devotion to TPCUG, GTE donated some $430 to TPCUG. Thank you, Roger! Thank you, GTE!

Harvey reiterated the goal of every member in 1995 is to bring in at least one new member.

VENDORS

IBM has recalled power adapters for IBM ThinkPad 360 & 375. If you have one, contact IBM for a replacement part.

HP DeskJet 500, 550 and 560C have glitches in rollers. Call HP for replacement parts.

Pentium prices have dropped and are expect to drop some more before the end of March.

Some surprises have been received by Pentium users who have replaced the old chip with the new chip. Spreadsheets run and calculated under the old chip will carry the same chip errors along with the spreadsheet under the new chip. Solution: when you load the spreadsheet, recalculate the entire spreadsheet under the new chip. Easy solution!

Many companies are tied so completely to Microsoft that they feel that they cannot change software when errors and software problems occur. Some feel that Microsoft, unintentionally, releases software with problems. When this occurs, serious difficulties could occur. Some companies (end users) are so critically dependent upon Microsoft's various packages that they feet it is better to suffer than to try to change it all.

Hardware vendors and software vendors are planning on the future world of Microsoft Windows 95, whenever it is released. IBM OS/2 Warp is the competition. Some feel that sufficient market acceptance of OS/2 would result in a much more healthy competitive market—one without monopoly.

Some feel that Microsoft Windows 3.1 will not only lose its state of the art position but will also become extinct to OS/2 and Windows 95-relatively soon after release.

PS2 mouse ports make your life easier.

Don't use Windows 3.11 32 bit File Access on Gateway, Compaq or Notebook computers. Problems may occur!

SOFTWARE VENDOR DEMONSTRATION

Mr. Robert Morgan of Gold Disk, presented two software products-ASTOUND AND VIDEO DIRECTOR. His general comments during the demonstration ran along these lines: ASTOUND was developed originally on a MAC platform. Since then, they have developed it on the Windows platform. Their market demand has been pleasing.

ASTOUND is chasing the PowerPoint (by Microsoft) presentation market. ASTOUND loves multimedia machines. ASTOUND is a presentation package. One can create/use handouts, slides and video clips. A cable connects the computer with video, camcorder and stereo for use in creating presentations. The process was demonstrated to be very fast. We watched a presentation being developed before our eyes!

ASTOUND for Windows allows one to integrate the power of multimedia. sound, animated texts and graphs, and digital video appeared to be easy to add into presentations. Import of files from other presentation packages and from other sources such as clip art, etc., are an emphasized feature.

"No special training is needed—just a few clicks", according to Mr. Morgan. Any object may be animated; you can add digital video animation, sound and synchronized narration. You can save to disk(s) and send or hand to your clients with a full demonstration of what service or product you offer. A user can even add interactivity by making any object button control your presentation. Slides, overhead projections and video tapes are computer based. On-screen presentations appear to be most welcome as tools for instructors and public speakers. The sophisticated production that we have seen on television news, TV advertising, etc., appears to be available now to anyone with inexpensive equipment. The cost of the software is unbelievably low.

ASTOUND has menu bars, and pull-down and pop-up menus. Robert Morgan feels that all the help that you need is on the screen available "for the clicking." ASTOUND can perform 3-D presentations (like you see with CAD). "The time-line is the heart of the presentation. Much time is saved compared to other programs." Voice-over editing is permitted. Mr. Morgan demonstrated by placing a graphics voice track on the screen. The "uhs" and "ahs" can be erased right on the graphics screen. Animation and graphics are very easy to do. One can put together a demo presentation disk to market your product or service and give out the disks. Minimum Requirement: ASTOUND; 486, 4MB (8 MB is better), 66 MHZ. Cost: ASTOUND: Retail, $399; Computer City $129. Gold Disk SPECIAL OFFER TO TPCUG $79.00 ASTOUND/Video Director bundle SPECIAL OFFER TO TPCUG $150.00

VIDEO DIRECTOR software. Plug your computer into your camcorder or VCR. Video Director has three modes: Icon, Text and Graphics. A tape library is nice to work with. The video clip that you developed with ASTOUND can be selected to be saved on tape (you have already saved it to disk in the ASTOUND software). Pull in the clips that you want. Click to make tapes. One can create the video clip, click the camcorder to make a video tape for replay on the VCR and go have a cup of coffee while your take is being recorded. Minimum Requirement: VIDEO DIRECTOR: 386, 2MB. VIDEO DIRECTOR: Retail, $199; CompUSA, $119, SPECIAL OFFER TO TPCUG $89.00.

Editorial Comment: See Kathrine Powell's excellent review article on Video Director, Ver. 2.0, in Bits of Blue. Jan., 1995 on Page 5. Yep! The prices are a correct quote of the Special Offer from Gold Disk.

Robert Morgan gave an excellent presentation of these two software programs. Comments were concise, understandable and meaningful. His demonstration was well planned. He is GOOD!

Robert Morgan and GOLD DISK donated the door prizes. We all appreciate this generosity. The following door prize winners appreciate them even more than the rest of us!

Jay Reese Multimedia Magic
M. N. Marteny Multimedia Magic
John Lucas ASTOUND
M. N. Marteny VIDEO DIRECTOR

Harvey thanked all for coming. He reminded all to return here (Ybor Room at HCC YBOR Campus, adjacent to the Administration Building) March 8, 1995, 6 PM. Bring a friend. Sign up a new member. Use the BBS. u