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The LangaList

9-Sept-99
A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities

In This Issue:
A FREE Full-Blown Office Suite?
Speaking Of Discussions...
CMOS, BIOS, And Other Alphabet Soup
And Speaking of Poking Around...
Today (9-9-99) Is A Y2K-Type Milestone
Recommend It!
Windows Update: Wizard or Dunce?
Just For Grins
More!

A FREE Full-Blown Office Suite?

Sun's "StarOffice" is a well-developed, smooth-running, good-looking and nicely integrated package comprising a word processor and web-page editor, spreadsheet, database, calendar/scheduler, presentation maker, drawing and graphics tools, an email client, newsgroup reader, and a browser.

It's also 100% free.

Indeed, Sun made international news last week when it started giving away its StarOffice. It's a gutsy move that---despite Sun CEO Scott McNealy’s protests to the contrary---may do to Microsoft what Microsoft did to Netscape.

Let me explain: By giving away Internet Explorer, Microsoft knocked the legs out from one of Netscape's revenue streams. (Netscape allowed people to test-drive beta/evaluation browsers for free, but charged $50 for a license.)

Now, by giving away StarOffice, Sun is potentially knocking the legs out from Microsoft's lucrative Office line, which accounts for a hefty 40% of Microsoft's overall income.

I’ve been using StarOffice for several days now, and I have to say I like it. Because I just recently paid for Microsoft Office 2000, I’m not sure I’m ready to make the switch to Sun’s suite. But if I were just now approaching an upgrade cycle, I’d give StarOffice serious consideration. How could I not, at a price of exactly $0.00?

Price alone might be enough to attract many users, but there’s more. StarOffice also includes StarDesktop: a shell that replaces your Windows desktop. When StarOffice is running, you don’t see any of Microsoft’s offerings on your screen. Even the Start button and task bar look different. In fact, the only visual clue you have that you‘re still in Windows is the System Tray, which Star Office doesn’t interfere with.

In fact, StarOffice doesn’t remove or interfere with any part of Windows---it just disguises it. It’s an interesting echo of the tactic Microsoft used to promote its early versions of IE and MSN, when it placed its own browser and online service on the Windows desktop, and kept competitors available, but out of sight.

StarOffice is an interesting and real competitor to Microsoft Office in its own right; but given the fact that it’s free and that its operation weans its users away from Microsoft’s visual dominance of the desktop… well, if I were Bill Gates, I’d be worried.

Scott McNealy says it’s not his goal to unseat Microsoft. (Yeah, right.) I think McNealy actually hopes to put Microsoft in Netscape’s position, and Sun in Microsoft’s.

StarOffice and indeed Sun's whole giveaway gambit is the focus of my column this week at InformationWeek Online. There, you'll find lots more information on the product (including a much-more fleshed-out version of this column, a screen shot, and download and CD-ordering instructions) as well as more info on the tactic itself---which has the potential to be a turning point in the history of office-suite software.

What’s your take? Have you tried StarOffice, or do you plan to? How do you rate its features? What do you think of Sun’s gambit in giving it away, for free? Is McNealy only interested in selling servers, or is he trying to significantly weaken Microsoft? And, most importantly, will it work? Join in the discussion going on right now at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter !

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Speaking Of Discussions

We're in the final days of "System Setup Secrets" discussion over at
http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/fred/1999/0831.htm

There's a boatload of good information there---stuff that could save you tens or even hundreds of hours of labor over the life of your system. Check it out!

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CMOS, BIOS, And Other Alphabet Soup

In the "System Setup" discussion (see above) I mentioned that it's a good idea to make note of the system BIOS settings. The BIOS is the "Basic Input/Output System" that controls some of the very lowest-level operations in your computer. It's also one of the first things to start in your PC when you turn on the power: You'll almost always see a BIOS message on your screen: You'll usually see the BIOS maker's name (Phoenix, American Megatrends [AMI], etc.) along with some instruction on how to enter the BIOS setup program.

In some BIOSes, you press F1 or F2 as the system starts; in others you hit ESC or some other key combination. Whatever the specifics, pressing the appropriate key(s) at boot-time stops the PC from proceeding to a normal boot, and instead brings you to the BIOS setup program.

It's a great idea to step through the BIOS setup pages, one at a time, and make note of the settings when your system is working fine so you can restore the settings should they change in the future. I use a digital camera to take snapshots of the BIOS setup screens, but anything--- even plain old paper and pencil--- is fine.

The BIOS holds many settings about your system--- memory amount and type, hard drive types, security settings, built-in peripheral settings, power-saver settings and lots more. The BIOS is always alive, even when your PC is turned off: A small battery on the motherboard (usually a watch-type "button" battery in newer systems) feeds a trickle of power to the BIOS so it can hold its settings when your system is powered down. Some BIOSes don't need the trickle of current for themselves, but your on-board system clock does; the clock and the BIOS work very closely together.

Many BIOS settings can be changed. In newer systems, a Plug-and-Play enabled BIOS cooperates with a PnP operating system (such as Windows) and automatically updates the BIOS settings when you add or remove certain hardware. Less benignly, bad crashes can sometimes scramble the BIOS settings; and if that little battery dies (and eventually, it will) your BIOS may "forget" its settings, requiring you to re-enter them after you've replaced the battery.

Some settings are users-configurable, too. You can adjust your system's hardware-level security settings, for example, or tweak low-level power saving features or even manually enable or disable certain peripherals for troubleshooting purposes. More trivially, you also can adjust the "typematic" rate of your keyboard, determine whether or not Num Lock is enabled at boot, and so on.

Many settings can be changed at will but let your own skill and knowledge level be your guide: Don't change things at random or blindly because the BIOS affects how your system performs at a very fundamental level. Clever BIOS tweaking may make your system perform better than when it was shipped from the factory; a bad setting can leave you with a system that's hosed. My rule of thumb is that if I know what a BIOS setting does, and if I have a record of what the original setting was, it's OK to try a change.

After making a change, you reboot to see the effects. If a setting doesn't work or makes your PC perform less well, simply reboot, re-enter the BIOS setup program and restore the setting to what it was before. (Your owner's manual should have additional information on user-changeable BIOS settings.)

By the way: Some people know the BIOS by another name: CMOS (pronounced "see-moss"). Actually, this is an incorrect designation--- an example of how an error can become a permanent part of the vocabulary.

When more-or-less modern BIOSes first appeared, they were made with a technology called "Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor" and were first known as CMOS BIOSes. When people spoke in shorthand, they sometimes truncated the wrong half of the two-acronym phrase, using the generic "CMOS"  instead of the specific BIOS. In reality, lots of things are made with CMOS technology, but only the BIOS is the BIOS.

Look for the startup message from your BIOS the next time you boot your PC and take a look at the BIOS setup program; record what the BIOS settings are, and if you know what you're doing, try adjusting some of the settings.

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And Speaking of Poking Around...

OK, by now you know I'm a firm believer in poking around your system. It's really the only way to really know what's there. Even today, from time to time, I'll still uncover some nifty little doo-dad, gizmo, tweak or improvement that I hadn't seen or noticed before.

Quick Windows example: Use Explorer to look inside your \WINDOWS directory, and use FIND to select all the .TXT files there. Chances are, you'll find a couple dozen files there--- a FAQ on setting up Windows, a whole explanation of the CONFIG.SYS file, system recovery information, troubleshooting tips, general tips, and lots more. Poke around--- you may be surprised at what you can find!

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Today (9/9/99) Is A Y2K-Type Milestone

Back in the 1960's, when the Y2K bug (caused by using a 2-digit date shorthand) was being created, programmers also took another shortcut: They would sometimes use the then-unimaginable date of 9999 as a flag to mark files or records for deletion; to mark error conditions; and so on.

Y2K scaremongers suggested that today--- 9-9-99---would cause a sort of mini-Y2K meltdown for us all as old mainframes incorrectly interpret the date as some internal system flag.

Well, if you're reading this, clearly not too much has happened. In fact, I'll bet that today passes with as few date-related software hassles as did the date last month when the worldwide GPS system had *its* date problem: the GPS satellite clocks ended a 1024-week cycle and restarted from zero. A few very early GPS systems were affected, mostly in Japan, but everything else breezed on without a glitch.

And you know, that's exactly what I think will happen on January 1st of next year: a few relatively minor glitches, and that's it.

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What Is The Sound Of One Palm Being Won?

If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a Palm III organizer for your trouble (full details also available via this link):

http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1

The "Recommend-It" service is an ad-based site (you’ll see banners and such). The advantages to you of using the Recommend-It service (above) are that you can win a Palm III and that you can add a personal message to your LangaList recommendation.

But if you’d rather use the tried-and-true, ad-free recommendation form, you’ll still find it at: http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 .  You can’t win anything there—except my thanks for helping the LangaList to grow!

In fact, either way, thank you!

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Windows Update: Wizard or Dunce?

Reader Elaine Marmel wrote:

I've been following your "patches for Windows" stuff pretty regularly. In
the September 6 issue, you provide a link for us to download the patch for
Fragmented IGMP Packet Vulnerability. I followed the link and saw the
patch...and then noticed other stuff I hadn't noticed earlier. For kicks, I
clicked Start, Windows Update, to look at the "personalized" Windows Update
sight for my machine. The patches I saw at your web link weren't even listed
for my computer--and I'm sure I don't have them all installed.

I'm using Windows 98 Second Edition. Do you know of something that might
explain the discrepancy?

Well, the Microsoft update-checker is easily fooled. Plus, the update process is complicated by the fact that some patches that are listed separately in one place on the Microsoft site will be bundled together in others. This means you may download patch "X" but really get patches X, Y and Z all at once. When you go to the Update site looking for patches Y or Z, the site won't tell you about them because you already have them, without knowing it.

In general, unless you're having a specific and traceable problem, I'd suggest you trust the Windows Update site's recommendations.

If you prefer to manually control what's installed, see

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp

or for even more options, see

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/June-1-99.htm#Patches

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Just For Grins:

Some Bests and Worsts of New Hampshire

I live in New Hampshire; it isn't a large state, with just over 1 million total population. In fact, fully 41 of the US's 50 states are larger. But NH was in the news last week: You may have caught it on the news last week (if you live in the US) when the results of the annual nationwide "SAT" (scholastic aptitude tests) were announced.

Among states in the US where at least 60% of high-school students go on to college, New Hampshire students' SAT averages in both the Math and Verbal portions of the test were #1. No state's students scored higher.

OK, that's the good news. On the flip side, there was a recent news report of a guy arrested for drunk driving in Conway, a small town nestled in the White Mountains in the north-central part of the state. OK, that's sad, but hardly noteworthy in itself. Except that this mental giant was driving a household lawn mower on the highway, open bottle of vodka in hand.

Turns out his automobile license was revoked a while ago (for driving while intoxicated) so he figured he'd drive the four miles to the liquor store on his lawn mower.

Not just once, but *three times* on the same morning.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, puttering along at maybe 4 miles an hour.... I assume he'd buy a bottle and discover it was empty by the time he got home, so he'd turn around and head back to the liquor store, getting increasingly sloshed with each return trip until (finally) a policeman noticed something was awry and took the gentleman into custody.

I don't know what this guy's SAT scores were, but he might have single-handedly been able to bring down the entire state's average. 8-)

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See you next issue!

Best,

Fred

(fred@langa.com)

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