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There are now some Warpstock 99 photos on the VOICE Site:
http://www.os2voice.org/warpstock99/ws99pictures01.html
Unfortunately, a number of the Magic Moments photos didn't come out, or were
just too dark for viewing. If anyone has a few pictures from the Dinner and would
like them up at this site, send them to editor@os2voice.org
BLUEPRINT SOFTWARE WORKS, INC. ACQUIRES PMMAIL SOFTWARE FROM SOUTHSOFT, INC.
RELEASES NEW VERSIONS FOR ALL PLATFORMS.
New Version of Product Line Available October 15, 1999
Wilmington, NC - October 15, 1999, - Blueprint Software Works, Inc., a newly
formed software development and publishing firm, recently acquired the PMMail software
package from Southsoft, Inc. Both companies made the announcement today. An updated
version of PMMail, one of the most powerful email clients available, will be released
on October 15th, 1999 immediately following this press release distribution. The
latest OS/2 version (2.10) is available on Hobbes or at http://www.blueprintsoftwareworks.com
The PMMail product line is one of the most versatile email software packages
available. This powerful and flexible email application provides extensive support
for emerging Internet standards along with a user-friendly interface. PMMail is
a multi-platform application supporting OS/2 as well as Windows NT/95/98/2000..
PMMail offers users a way to manage unlimited email accounts, providing a cost-effective,
timesaving communication tool.
"We are excited about the acquisition of the PMMail product line. Southsoft
has developed an email application that is in a class by itself," said Thomas
Bradford, President, Blueprint Software Works. "The PMMail feature set is packed
with everything a customer needs to manage email and the interface is displayed
in a logical and intuitive manner. The program is designed for easy navigation,
setting PMMail apart from other email programs."
"We created PMMail over four years ago," said Robert Novitskey, lead
developer and President of Southsoft, Inc. "Yet even today, no product has
come close to PMMail's power and feature set."
"In the past six months it became apparent that Southsoft could no longer
provide the level of quality in service, support, breadth of features and timeliness
of upgrades that our customers deserve," said Novitskey. "As such, we
searched far and wide to fine someone to take over the reins and continue in the
tradition that we have set forth. We are pleased to have found a partner (in Blueprint
Software Works) who shares the same d=esire to see PMMail continue to grow and astonish
customers.
Blueprint Software Works is a privately held firm located in Wilmington, NC specializing
in software development, as well as publishing and marketing services for independent
developers. The aquisition and launch of PMMail announces Blueprint Software Works'
official entrance into the software development and publishing market. Negotiations
with leading developers in the Internet and multimedia market are currently under
way as well and Blueprint Software Works will be announcing these agreements as
they are finalized.
Contact: James S.McCorquodale info@blueprintsoftwareworks.com
http://www.blueprintsoftwareworks.com
Voice: 800-603-5684 (USA-Canada)
Voice: 001-910-452-4787 (Outside USA & Canada)
Fax: 910-452-9734
Blueprint Software Works, Inc.
5019 Carolina Beach Rd. Ste. 102
Wilmington, NC 28412
USA
I took the liberty of recompiling Tisean 2.0 to OS/2. Tisean is a bran-spanking
new set of utilities that analyze the data in non-linear (chaotic) systems. (If
you don't know what that means you don't need it :c) All the executables were compiled
with gcc and g77 straight from the original source, so it's 100% compatable functionally
with the *nix distributions.
You can find Tisean at:
ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/tisean-os2.zip
and later, at:
ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/analysis/tisean-os2.zip
IBM is conducting a survey of Notebook users on HD capacity. In the survey are
questions about what type of applications you use and what type of OS you're running
(Win 95/98 or Mac). While OS/2 is not listed, there is an "Other" category
with space to type in the name. If you use OS/2 on your notebook computer, fill
out this form and let IBM know that OS/2 users are still out here and we won't go
away quietly!
---
IBM Market Research
Are you a notebook PC user? Take an online survey researching hard disk drive
capacities for the notebook marketplace. This valuable research will help IBM identify
future trends and needs of notebook users like you. Questions range from current
capacities to application usage and include the opportunity for feedback. All information
will be confidential and used for internal planning purposes only. We'll be grateful
for your participation. To take the survey just go to:
http://ssddom01.storage.ibm.com/hdd/hddsurvey.nsf/survey?OpenForm
There's a new release of Audio/Data-CD-Creator avaiable:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Sector/5785/cdrecord/cdrecordmain.htm#audiocdcreator
Audio/Data-CD-Creator is a set of WPS-classes working as a front-end for CDRecord/2
(a free CD recording program). Create your single/multisession data CDs and audio
CDs (only TAO supported) entirely via drag and drop. This front-end is of course
fully WPS aware and fits seemlessly into your system. Full source code is provided.
New with this version:
PillarSoft announces their participation at Warpstock 99 in Atlanta, GA on the
weekend of October 16-17. Pillarsoft is an independant software vendor that specializes
in software solutions for OS/2.
The big news for Warpstock 99? We will be releasing TWO new solutions for OS/2
users!
Our newest application should be of interest to personal and business users alike.
It is tentatively called "Data Shield" and provides secure deletion of
all sensitive data. It is important to know that merely deleting data does not actually
remove the information from your hard drive. It can still be recovered and your
sensitive information may be compromised.
Data Shield offers to overwrite selected data before deletion so prying eyes
will not see what you don't want them to see. It offers a choice of overwriting
X number of times before deletion or delete to DOD specification. Data Shield will
handle all freespace on a drive, a complete drive, TMP & TEMP directories, \DELETE
directories, individual files, individual directories, directory trees, as well
as cleanup of the Netscape cache and its history trails. Screenshots of Data Shield
and some of its skins are available at:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/pre_secure.html
As is the norm for most PillarSoft applications, much of Data Shield's work is
point and click, saving you the drudgery of locating your "TMP" directory
or "Netscape.hst", for example, manually. As much work as possible is
ferreted out by Data Shield automatically when the user asks for it.
Data Shield will be available for $25 for personal use and will be discounted
at Warpstock ($20). Site licenses will also be available.
PillarSoft Status Center (PSC) was originally an "in-house" tool to
track dll's loaded for each running process. As needs arose, the application gelled
to provide most info pstat gives in an easily browsed format as well as adding a
switch list, process killer, swapfile size, free RAM, total available virtual memory,
machine uptime, zombie processes, the list goes on... Because of the important utility
it has shown here, we are making it available to you. A "squished" screenshot
is viewable at:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/pre_psc.html
PSC will be priced at a moderate $15 for personal use and we will be offering
a discounted $10 price at Warpstock. Site licenses will also be available.
We look forward to meeting many of you at Warpstock and will be offering discounts
on our other software over the Warpstock weekend also. Our booth will be located
within the friendly confines of the Serenity Pavilion as you walk in the door. Stop
in, say "Hello" and take a peek at the other solutions we offer.
PillarSoft is the developer of WarpZip, DeskTop Backup (DTB), SFX Installer ShowTime/2
and the Enhanced E Editors. The PillarSoft web site is:
Junk Spy is the newest OS/2 software product from Sundial Systems.
"It's new technology and it intercepts your junk email," says Randell
Flint, President of Sundial. "You connect your favorite email program to Junk
Spy, and Junk Spy then connects to your mail server. Junk Spy sees your email before
your mail program does and watches for any trash messages. We've been in development
on this technology for two years."
There's a lot more inside Junk Spy than just a set of filters. "We also
supply a database of spammer clues which we continually update, the same as an antivirus
program," says Flint. "We watch the message titles, the contents of the
messages and the information in the headers. We've tested and tested and tested.
Spam messages are no match for Junk Spy."
Junk Spy is important technology, and a seminar on the product's underlying logic
plus a demonstration of the software is scheduled for Saturday at Warpstock.
"I'm speaking on the technology we developed during the creation of Junk
Spy," says Rollin White, Development Manager for Junk Spy at Sundial. "We'll
cover the methods that Junk Spy uses to connect between your email program and the
mail server, the research we did to make the product easy to use, and of course
the Junk Spy engine itself that uses the database of rules and knowledge that catches
the spam messages. We paid particular attention to the problem of 'false hits',
since we don't want mail you are really interested in to be misidentified as junk."
Junk Spy can be fine tuned as much as the user desires. The Junk Spy control
panel lets you adjust the individual detectors inside it, and you can define exceptions
such as the acceptance of any spam messages that contain the string "OS/2".
You can even create your own detectors. The user keeps total control of exactly
how trash messages are handled.
And the Junk Spy database can update automatically if the user chooses. "We've
set up monitoring facilities to search for new kinds of junk mail," adds Flint.
"Our database gets better and better, and you can set Junk Spy to automatically
update from our database. That's a user option. Plus, Junk Spy also uses the Realtime
Blackhole List of known spam origination sites."
Sundial has the answer for the world's nastiest spammers, and that answer is
Junk Spy.
Bring Junk Spy into your own office to watch over your email. Let it be your
own personal secret agent, spying on your incoming mail for the dastardly junk that
steals your time. Junk Spy will do a quick and easy 007 on the trash you don't want
in your neighborhood.
Sundial wants you to fire up Junk Spy and get back to using email the way you
want it to be - in your control and well-protected from the dregs of spammerworld.
If you have a 120 MB external floppy disk drive EASYSTOR ("http://easystor.com">http://easystor.com)
seem to have shuttle drivers to run 120 MB imation compatible drives on the parallel
port.
Hi! Tired of the comets from Netscape? You can change them! The Throbbers archive
is now online.
We have converted the animations of the famous WebExplorer animations (150+)
and are awaiting your creations. You can find it here:
http://www.os2forum.or.at/TeamOS2/English/Special/Throbbers/
(It can be reached only directly using the link above)
You can preview the animations as animated GIFs (and you should have JavaScript
enabled). The site is currently only in English, a German version will follow. The
site is currently "beta", more enhancements will be added later.
If you have animations you want to be added to the archive, please email them
to e9125065@student.tuwien.ac.at.
More detailed instructions will be on the pages in the future.
Thanks to Micheal Kaply (IBM) and Tim Martin for their help.
Please note that this feature works only with the OS/2 version of Netscape. For
support of the other platforms please contact Netscape directly.
Best regards,
TeamOS/2 Austria
File Freedom, a powerful freeware file manager for OS/2, has just received a
small Y2K update so that file sorting order will be maintained in the new millenium.
You can find the new package as "filef202.zip" on Hobbes, or on my
web page at http://www.kw.igs.net/~brhenry.
Also, for the first time the source code is now available. Now you can add all
those weird little features you wanted!!! So far the source code is found only on
my web page, but feel free to distribute it elsewhere.
Hi I have uploaded 3 more DIVE modules for my screensaver, PowerUtilities 'Screen
saver for OS/2'.
It contains 3 DIVE animations:
Complete info can be found at:
One of the highlights of the recent Warp Expo West was the Vendor 100 program.
Not only did it show the richness of applications available to OS/2 users, it also
demonstrated OS/2's robust desktop capability.
At Warp Expo West, the Vendor 100 exhibit ran on Managed Clients(r) from Serenity
Systems. We thought it was such an effective demonstration of what a Managed Client
can provide that we asked the Southern California OS/2 User Group if we could reprise
the exhibit at Warpstock.
So... if you missed Warp Expo West, here is an opportunity to see this powerful
demonstration of OS/2 power and the range of OS/2 applications available. It will
be featured in the Serenity Systems pavilion in the exhibit area.
In addition to the Vendor 100 exhibit, Serenity Systems will also be working
with the Warpstock 99 Vendor Pro exhibit.
Managed Clients by Serenity Systems are a superior way to deliver applications
to users. Responsive, secure, reliable, with an ease of adminsitration and an ability
to control costs which is unmatched in the industry. The proof behind these statements
will be there for all to see at the Serenity Systems pavilion.
Serenity Systems can be found at:
http://www.serenity-systems.com/
The OS/2 Central Forum:
http://go.compuserve.com/os2central
will be providing live coverage of the 3rd annual Warpstock '99 OS/2 Users conference
in Atlanta (http://www.warpstock.org/) on October 16-17, 1999. For those that are
unable to attend this conference in Atlanta, the CompuServe OS/2 Central forum will
be providing live broadcasts of the main sessions, as well as updates and pictures
on a regular basis throughout the weekend. Details will be provided on the OS/2
Central home page.
Visualizer PE will be demonstrated at Warpstock this weekend (October 16th and
17th) in Atlanta, GA.
Visualizer is a data presentation application which is well integrated with DB2.
Data can be created, modified and combined, and presented as charts, reports, and
statistical analyses. Visualizer also includes a Workplace Shell environment for
prototyping and creating applications.
Visualizer was one of the first applications available on OS/2. It was released
in August 1988 by IBM as PAS or Personal AS. ASTRAC took over the support, and development
rights in 1997, and have produced monthly new releases, a new version V5. and a
the newly announced Personal Edition VisPE,
See Visualizer PE demonstrated at Warpstock 99 and get one of a limited number
of copies on CD (at the special price of $50)!
See:
for complete info on the Visualizer OS/2 product.
Serenity Systems International of Lewisville, TX, and Orion Solutions of Victoria,
Australia, have entered into an agreement which allows Orion to manufacture and
market Managed Client(r) products in Australia. The agreement includes all Serenity
Systems products, including CTI, but the initial focus will be the Managed Client(r)
as administered by WiseManager(r). In addition to OEM activities, Orion will also
be permitted to develop a channel of authorized service oriented VARs.
Bob St.John, Business Development Manager of SSI, said "We're delighted
with Orion's technical skills and marketing philosophy. We have had requests from
potential channel partners and users who are participating in our Evaluation Program.
Our relationship with Orion allows us to develop an infrastructure to support these
requests."
The first activity to be undertaken by Orion will be a Managed Client and WiseManager
presentation to the South Australia OS/2 User Group on October 28 in Adelaide:
http://www.os2.org.au/home.html
More information about Orion Solutions is available at:
http://www.orion-solutions.com.au/
Serenity Systems is presently focused on support for Warpstock, but is in negotiations
with other companies regarding distribution in other geographies. Kim Cheung, Executive
Director of SSI, said, "OS/2 is our Managed Client platform. Interest in Managed
Clients is strong ... so you have to say that interest in OS/2 remains strong."
I talked to some people from StarOffice at Warpstock Europe and they told me,
that they have a serious problem with the OS/2 port of it. Until now they used to
compile the code with VAcpp 3.65 on OS/2 but now they use "namespaces"
in the code and because VAcpp 4.0 does not support commandline compiling, they can't
compile it on OS/2 anymore (the project is simply too big for the VAcpp 4.0 workframe).
On Linux they use the Pentium optimized version of the GNU compiler and they tried
the same on OS/2. But unfortunately there is a problem in the OS/2 port:
(Taken from http://www.goof.com/pcg/os2/#Bugs)
Known bugs:
emxomf now traps (sometimes?) when compiling with -g (debug) switch. This is
due to new format of debugging info (DWARF2). I do not know how to fix this. Use
A.OUT format (no -Zomf) for debugging and pmgdb.
Solution: This happens because pgcc uses new stabs format (-gstabs+) while emxomf
understands only the standard stabs debugging info. I've partialy fixed this by
adding a tiny command-line preprocessor to gcc. It scans argv[] and looks for both
-Zomf and -g# where # is a number. If it finds one, it replaces -g# by -gstabs#.
This doesn't always help, however.
---
As you can see this is a limitation in EMX, we now have to find people who are
able to fix this (which will not be an easy task I think). We are already in contact
with Eberhard Mattes but we need more support. If you think you are able to fix
this, please get in contact with Oliver Braun obr@stardivision.de.
Please JUST reply if you really think you can help StarDivision.
A StarOffice without debug informations can not be tested and if noone can fix
this limitation, Sun can not provide a new version for OS/2 ! So you see this is
important for the future of StarOffice on OS/2.
Thanks for your support
After the Stardock/IBM announcement regarding an "Aurora" based client,
I stated that Serenity Systems remains interested in a similar project. But our
client requirements are a significant departure from Stardock's.
On Sunday (10/17) morning,8AM, at Warpstock, Kim Cheung will discuss our vision
of an new OS/2 Super Client. There is no doubt that an Aurora based client is capable
of playing multiple significant roles and the leading client platform in the industry...
everything from a general business desktop to the "PC farm" doing financial
analysis or "search engine" tasks on the Ineternet.
More information can be found on the Warpstock site:
See the Sunday schedule.
The first beta version of PTime is available.
Developer Web Site:
http://www.elosoft.de/ptime/index2.html
Product Description:
PTime is a OS/2 program for project time capturing and evaluation. With PTime
you are able to record easily and rapidly the time expenditure for various projects
or orders. Thus you always have an overview, also when dealing with several diverse
projects simultaneously.
The feature of PTime:
Limitations in the beta version:
The SysBar/2 Utility Set is back after a year of silence!
This new release (considered to be a maintenance release) contains various bug
fixes, including the MS Exchange Server compatibility and a number of new features
such as dynamic cell colorization schemes and more application support for the Pipe
Monitor!
Now you can paint your system information cells using any colors you like! Moreover,
these cells are now able to change their color dynamically as their contents reach
certain values. For example, you can paint your swap file red when it grows too
big. Or make the mail peeker appear dark grey when there's no mail, but shine as
gold when the mail arrives.
Three more applications are supported now by the Pipe Monitor. You can watch
your AICQ client status, SETI@HOME completion percentage and monitor your motherboard
and CPU temperature, voltage and other important parameters with 19 pipes supplied
by the ThermoProtect environment monitor.
There's also a "lazy shrink" feature which prevents frequently updated
monitor cells to grow bigger and smaller too often, and a pop-up track list menu
for easy track access in CD Player.
This new version is currently available at Hobbes and at the SysBar/2 support
site:
ftp://sysbar:sysbar@ftp.lab321.ru/sbr2_017.zip
http://www.lab321.ru/~dip/sysbar2/sbr2_017.zip
SysBar/2 Utility Set is a high quality OS/2 product which has been developed
and supported for over 4 years. The main idea of the project was to design a product
which will save your so valuable Desktop space and system resources bringing as
much functionality and flexibility as possible. The average size of a SysBar/2 component
doesn't exceed 30 or 40 Kb. Everything is highly configurable and easily fits in
any corner of your screen.
It only takes seconds to fall in love with SysBar/2 components and you'll wonder
how could you live without them.
Components are:
The last thing which makes the product unbeatable is the price. All the above
comes ABSOLUTELY FREE! Support is available via email: sysbar@lab321.ru.
The SysBar/2 homepage is:
http://www.lab321.ru/~dip/sysbar2/
Updated demos of FileStar/2 and UniMaint are available at:
http://www.filestar.com/pages/download.html
The UniMaint demo is 'UniSafe', a UniMaint that can do most functions but does
not change anything -- which is a good way to see the features and evaluate your
INI files.
The FileStar/2 demo is the latest GA version totally uninhibited in any manner,
except it will die 30 days after installation.
If you don't use these programs, you ought to try them. FileStar/2 has many users
that claim it is indispensible when working with their files in everyday use. And
UniMaint provides an easy way to back up your Desktop and keep the INI files cleaned
out!
Recently, we posted an announcement about SciTech and IBM joining hands to provide
video driver support to users of OS/2:
http://www.os2ss.com/warpcast/wc4228.html
For a bit more info, including some features of SciTech's drivers, see SciTech's
official version of the press release:
http://www.scitechsoft.com/in_press22.html
My web site (http://www.haynes97.freeserve.co.uk)
has been updated. Blimey. And I've even done one of the things I said I would -
a page on OS/2 to NT connectivity, focusing on automatic logon assignments.
The information on modem sharing is being worked on. Honest. Coming up is easy
installation of printer drivers and also a page on easy installation of OS/2 from
another PC.
Thanks to all who have emailed me with encouraging messages.
Sundial Expands Warped Jeopardy, Announces Celebrity Contestants
The dazzling Warped Jeopardy! live game show produced by Sundial Systems and
scheduled for Sunday at Warpstock has been expanded with new sound, new video clips
and new multimedia.
Warped Jeopardy! debuted last month on the west coast "and was great then"
says producer Randell Flint, "but now it's even better."
The on-stage contestants are three well-known OS/2 users of high stature. Author
David Moskowitz of OS/2 Warp Unleashed fame will be first to tackle the questions
as Sundial poses the answers. OS/2 advocate Judy McDermott, driving force behind
VOICE and the Warpstock Board, brings her OS/2 knowledge to the front of the Warped
Jeopardy! theater. And Larry Finkelstein, respected OS/2 developer and President
of Warpstock Inc., holds down chair number three.
The stage show is bigger, better, louder and brighter. The multimedia is greatly
expanded "with more full-motion video playbacks, tighter production, an enhanced
projection system for our expanded trivia list" says Flint. "We've rounded
up some absolutely great clips from the tape vaults of OS/2 nostalgia," he
adds. The entire multimedia show is controlled by a single machine running Warp
4, a custom system created by Sundial.
"And we've doubled the amount of audience participation, since we found
that everyone likes a chance at the questions when we give them the answers."
Warped Jeopardy! is based on the Jeopardy television show. The computer driven
game board offers different topic categories, the host gives an answer, and the
contestants must give a correspondingly correct question. In effect, the three celebrity
guests have the questions and Sundial has the answers.
"This is meant to be a fun time," says Sundial President Randell Flint.
"The Sundial crew and I have spent several months creating Warped Jeopardy!
so that major OS/2 gatherings such as Warpstock can have a unique, enjoyable and
OS/2-oriented special attraction. The people who come to Warpstock are deeply involved
with OS/2, and we've created an entire multimedia gameboard with some truly wonderful
and delightful trivia questions for the three Warped experts we've scheduled for
Sunday."
Sundial's Warped Jeopardy! show starts right after Sunday lunch. Seating is limited
and you'll need an admission ticket, so pick up your free tickets early at Sundial's
exhibitor booth, where "Sundial Has The Answers".
Sundial Systems supplies OS/2 users with a number of high-quality software products
covering spreadsheet, database, desktop enhancement, time management, word processing
and email needs and consisting of Mesa 2, Rover Pack, Relish, DBExpert, Clearlook
and a new product to be announced at Warpstock.
Grab an early seat with a good view and watch these three celebrity contestants
guess the questions as Sundial has the answers.
There has been another update (as of Oct. 11, 1999) at the IBM Device Driver
Pak On-Line:
http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/
One of the updates is for scroll-mouse drivers.
I may have the possibility to make an OS/2 port of the very extraordinarily good
MP3 decoder known as AMP 1.0. Unfortunately, Brian Litman, president of PlayMedia
(www.playmediasystems.com) needs to know if "there are serious, "industrial"
applications for an OS/2 MP3 port [of AMP 1.0]".
AMP 0.76 was used in many MP3 players before it became commercial. AMP 1.0 is
even better than XAudio. It sounds great and uses little CPU time.
If anyone knows anybody interested in using OS/2 AMP in a profitable product,
please let me know at guardia@cam.org.