(This is an HTML version of the LangaLetter. The content is identical
to the plain-text version, but this is a whole lot easier on the eyes. 8-) .
You'll also find an online variant of this letter here.
Not sure why you're getting this email? Please see the note at the bottom of the page.
Subscribe/unsubscribe and duplicate copy information also is at the bottom of the page
Want just the plain-text version? Please see the note at the bottom of the page.)

The LangaLetter

A free email newsletter about
BrowserTune, Web HotSpots, and other offerings
from Fred Langa

Week of 11/16/97

Does IE4 Blow Chunks?
In last week’s LangaLetter, I invited you to give your opinion on a new design I was trying on the HotSpots page at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//flanga/hotspots.htm. The response was great---I got a boatload of email offering opinions on the site. To all of you who tried the pages---thanks! (For the outcome, either visit the page or read the "HotSpots" section below.)

In fact, I dug up information on a disturbing number of problems---bugs, incompatibilities, and weirdnesses---with IE4. It's enough to make me swear off the Active Desktop altogether, at least for now, and to view the browser portion of IE4 with deep suspicion. See the details---including a list of some 30 known IE4 bugs--- in my weekly online column at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//bbs/columns/. (The column goes up on Monday and stays up all week).

As usual, previous weekly discussions can still be accessed at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//bbs/columns/.

Sneak Preview: WinTune98!
This is way cool stuff. It's a totally free, new-generation system benchmark that runs entirely over the Internet from inside your browser. That's right---not a browser test, but a true system benchmark that runs over the Internet! It's the first of its kind, anywhere: No software to install, no floppies or CDs to obtain, no hassles, no problems---just state-of-the-art information on how your system stacks up. It'll be made fully public in about a month, but LangaLetter subscribers can jump in early. You gotta try it! Click here: http://content.techweb.com/winmag//wintune98

Free Beta: Outlook98!
It's free--- a new beta of Microsoft's new PIM-like applet, Outlook98. It does email, scheduling, and more. And unlike the Ms-trosities of Exchange and Windows Messaging, Outlook conforms to Internet standards. It's definitely worth a look--- check it out here: http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/

Netscape Communicator Update!
A bugfix and feature extension of  Netscape Communicator---4.04---just became available. It now includes Netscape AOL Instant Messenger---"to instantly exchange messages with coworkers, family, and friends connected to the Internet"---(not to mention to split infinitives) and is available at http://www.netscape.com/.

About That Micron "Samurai" System:
A couple weeks ago, I told you about Micron's "Samurai" chipset,  which in its initial version let Micron produce what it claims is the "fastest Intel-based PC on the planet." And, in future generations, Samurai technology promises to allow Micron to manufacture "brick sized" fully-functional PCs (not hobbled "NCs" but real PCs) costing $500 or less.

WINDOWS Magazine has one of the very first Samurai-based systems undergoing formal evaluation in the Lab right now. But Micron also loaned me an eval "PowerDigm Xsu." This is a beast: a 300 Mhz Pentium II processor, 128Mb of RAM (!) an all-SCSI drive setup (SCSI hard drive, SCSI CD, and SCSI Jaz drive), and a monitor the size of a drive-in movie screen. Just looking at it makes my credit cards ache. 8-)

The system uses first generation Samurai chips and (of course) a Micron-made motherboard. The full-blown WinLab evaluation will be the final word on the system, but I'll test my loaner unit right after Comdex (see next item) and give you my personal take on the system and the Samurai technology.

Comdex:
This week, 150,000+ geeks (myself included!) will descend on Las Vegas for a huge, anachronistic trade show called "Comdex." (It started, about 20 years ago, as the "COMputer DEalers' eXposition.") Only the CeBIT trade show in Hannover Germany is larger; in North America, Comdex is the largest trade show of any kind.

In this age of connectedness, it's very silly for that many people to fly to a distant locale and walk around physical booths to see software and hardware---the whole show could (and I think should) take place on the Internet, with VR displays of physical objects (hardware systems, and such) and demoware copies of software. Video chat can do what most "schmoozing" events do, and the electronic exchange of contact info would be a heck of a lot better than collecting the pocketful of loose business cards that Comdex contacts normally produce.

But Ziff-Davis/SoftBank, the owners of Comdex, makes a fortune by selling physical booth space and reselling hotel rooms, and they don't want to give that up. So Comdex grinds on as a physical event each year.

Most attendees hate it. The city can barely accommodate that many people. It's common for hotel switchboards to be so busy (150,000 geeks all trying to collect email at the same time) that you don't even get a dialtone when you pick up the phone; cellphone service is also usually maxed out. The city tries to handle the crowds by bringing in extra buses and taxis from Los Angeles, but you still have 30-60 minute cab lines everywhere. And you need cabs because the show sprawls across several locations in the city, and you have to scurry from venue to venue to make your appointments. I'll be there Mon-Wed, and have over 30 formally scheduled appointments in that time, for example, plus a bunch of floating "drop by" appointments and events as well. It's nuts.

Geeks tend not to be big-time gamblers so the hotels make up for the huge drop-off in gaming revenue by jacking up prices an order of magnitude. A room that cost $30 a night last month will be over $300 a night during Comdex week. The rooms tend to be barren, too, because they're deliberately designed without many amenities so you won't spend time there---the hotels want you out of your room and spending money in the casinos.

High prices, mob scene crowds, bad food, crazy schedules, sore feet, bleak hotel rooms----ah, the joys of Comdex.

But there always is computing news from Comdex, so it's a necessary evil for computer journalists to attend. I'll be there, as will a whole crew from WinMag. Check the WinMag news pages (off the main page at http://content.techweb.com/winmag/ ) all through the week for the latest from Comdex. And think of our sore feet when you read the reports. 8-)

LangaLetter:
Almost 1000 new subscribers last week. Whew!

I don't know how long the newsletter growth can continue like this, but welcome (and thanks!) to all the new readers. And if you think a friend or coworker might be interested in the newsletter, why not forward this copy to them? They can sign up for free too! Please help me spread the word--- getting new readers makes it all worth the effort!

Another Free Newsletter You Might Enjoy:
If you're even remotely interested in the online wars--- AOL/CompuServe/MSN/Prodigy/WorldNet etc.--- then Robert Seidman's newsletter probably ought to be on your list. He does a great job of tracking what's happening among the online service giants, often cops great interviews with the major players, and in general shines bright lights into otherwise darkened corners of the online world. Well worth a read. To subscribe, send e-mail to LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM and in the BODY of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE-L FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
(example: Subscribe Online-L Fred Langa)

I think you'll like what you see.

BrowserTune:
I worked this week with Art Brieva, WinMag's superlative web tech guy, to get some much-needed site management tools working on the server. BrowserTune has simply outgrown the tools we had. (Just two years ago, the very first version of BrowserTune was done with NotePad and Windows Explorer!) Installing the new tools is a fairly ugly process because we want to enable remote management without compromising the security of the system. When the management software is running properly, I'll start uploading test pages of BrowserTune98---and you can start testing them!

HotSpots:
Again, many, many thanks to all who responded to my request for opinions. You folks are great!

Most of you---actually, an overwhelming majority---liked the proposed new design. Some of you didn't like it (and said so 8-)  ); others didn't like it but had suggestions for improvements. Several of you even went so far as to send in code snippets or actual whole pages to illustrate what you thought would work better. I was blown away by the quantity and quality of your responses.

So I modified the proposed new page to incorporate some suggestions, and it's now live---temporarily---at the HotSpots site: http://content.techweb.com/winmag//flanga/hotspots.htm. It's "temporary" because I'm hoping to modify the page much more frequently than in the past. This will help keep things fresh and also let me try some of the other suggestions you made. No page can please everyone all the time, but with your active feedback, I'll do my best to make the page pleasing to as many as I can.

Design issues aside, here's this week's HotSpots lineup:

• Sunday: One of the quirkiest home pages I've seen.
• Monday: A link to the Outlook98 download site (so non-LangaLetter readers can find the download)
• Tuesday: A very nice, free update of the web's #1 streaming content player
• Wednesday: ... and a great resource for finding streaming content to receive!
• Thursday: Interesting hacker-type site---with some great content too
• Friday: Cool full-text search engine, and an interesting front end to other engines.
• Saturday: From a great cult movie---to this!

Last week's rich lineup of HotSpots is available at: http://content.techweb.com/winmag//flanga/phs.htm . Some of you have asked for a better front-end to access those archived pages---it's on my to-do list!

Can I Borrow Your Bookmarks?
Everyone has several pages they visit all the time. Could you take a second and tell me your favorite sites? I'd like to possibly include them as future HotSpots. It'd just take a sec--- email your favorite URLs to hotspots@langa.com  No explanation is needed---just paste the raw URLs into the body of the mail message, ideally, 1 URL per line. I'll sift through them and queue 'em up for possible inclusion as future Hotspots. Thanks!

See you next week!

A live web version of this note is online at http://www.langa.com/whats_new_at_langacom.htm .