
  
  






                       W  I  N  D  O  W  A  T  C  H








  
   Vol.2   No.3                                              April 1996
  


  page 2
                              WHAT'S INSIDE
   Vol.2  No. 3                                               April 1996
  

                                  Editorial
                        Internet Appliances   Herb Chong
                Milk Truck A Product Review   John M. Campbell
        PowerPoint vs Freelance: The Suites   Frank McGowan
                     Compute Horror Stories   Derek Buchler
  First Impressions:Procomm for Windows v.3   Gregg Hommel
                Shaping Tomorrow's Software   An Apple Corp.White Paper
        A Guide to Select BBSs Using Telnet   Rich Mark
                   The CDA Challenge: Day 2   Declan Cullagh
                       The Saga of WorldNet   Lois Laulicht
                        Try Before You Buy!   Peter Neuendorffer
   Windows Aspect: A Tutorial - Part Eleven   Gregg Hommel
                            A Hardware Note   Bob Blow
                           The Latest Thing   Peter Neuendorffer
                       It's That Time Again   Derek Buchler
               Reflections of a ModemJunkie   Leonard Grossman
                       The In-Touch Sampler   Lance Jones
                              Internet Gems
                               The LastWord   Ben M. Schorr
                     1995 Volume One: Index




  page 3
  WindoWatch              The Electronic Windows Magazine of the Internet
    Volume 2  No. 3                                          April 1996
  


Forgetting for a moment the proprietary stance that "my software is
better than your software," the Internet has forced all of us to learn
a little about foreign system platforms.

The Internet is pushing us to reluctantly acknowledge that systems other
than the one we happen to use, do have commendable strengths; strengths
we hope will be incorporated into the system of our own individual
choice. We also know that there are institutions and business which
regularly must cope with the problems of multi-platform connectivity.

With that said, WindoWatch is printing as a primer, an information piece
or a White Paper developed by and for the Apple Corporation on the
subject of OpenDocs. It was written about three years ago. Since that
time the movement toward the OpenDocs approach has been very slow. Not
dead in the water, but slow!

Recently Steve Jobs of the NEXT Corporation has begun spinning his web
(no pun intended) about objects for the WEB. WebObjects have everyone
very interested because it appears that Jobs has created another winner.
The Internet is beginning to show a semblance of commercial reality with
its illusive hope of very big bucks as the prize. Jobs has talked to
everyone from the TOYS moneymen to Microsoft while leaving a trail of
interviews directed at thee and me.

OpenDocs is a natural for the Internet. I was familiar with parts of the
OpenDocs approach but confess to an overwhelming ignorance about some
basic OpenDocs concepts. Given our commitment to provide our readers
substantial and thought provoking material, we hope that you'll give the
OpenDocs White Paper a solid look see and then tell us what you think.


                     Visit the WindoWatch homepage at
                        http://www.windowatch.com




   ww page 4
  The Internet Appliance Revisited
  

                           Internet Appliances

                       Copyright 1996 by Herb Chong


One of the more interesting, if less widely known, vision of the future
has to do with what our future computers will look like. If we take to
an extreme the concept of network-centric computing, some people predict
that the computers of the future will become much smaller, dumber, and
cheaper than what we use today. This includes taking into account the
drop in the cost of computing power accessories and connections to just
about everything and everywhere one can imagine using the various
network options.

This premise is offered because some people believe that the computers
of the future will contain little of permanence and will rely on
intelligent agents somewhere out in the network to do the real work.
Tomorrow's computers would be merely access devices, not actual
computing devices in the current sense of the word. They would become
more akin to personal digital assistants (PDAs), which we keep hearing
about as the next wave of computing, but have yet to arrive. One company
calls their version of these devices an Internet appliance.

I am skeptical that any of this will happen in the way that some people
are predicting. Yes, there will be appliances of the type people talk
about that you can buy, and yes, they will be compact, cheap, and
powerful. However, I doubt that they will become the preferred means of
computing for most people. In this article, I will cover some of the
predictions of future advances that people have made toward the
realization of Internet appliances. We will look at the various
obstacles that stand in the way of acceptance and wide usage of these
predicted appliances, and where the alternative trends in this area
might develop.


Hype

For a short time, there was tremendous hype in the media about Internet
appliances. Oracle went so far as to announce that they were developing
a small box to connect to the Internet that would cost about $500 and be
available in the summer of this year. Its apparent purpose was to
connect to the Internet cheaply and easily, permitting you to do
anything that a Web browser allowed, but much easier to set up and use
than an ordinary computer. To meet this price ceiling, the appliance
would connect to a TV set and use it for a display.

According to some proponents, this device was going to take the world by
storm just as personal tape players did more than a decade ago. Because
you and I are more computer literate than the target market for these
appliances, we can see several big stumbling blocks before this vision
of Internet computing can come to pass.

First, there has to be easy and ubiquitous high speed access to and from
the Internet or some similar network cloud. With the deregulation of
the communications industry, cable companies are jumping right in with
the accurate claim that they have more high speed bandwidth into homes
than anybody else. However, they have many problems getting data back
from the home to the network cloud. Also, cable companies have not yet
developed the infrastructure to efficiently handle one-to-one traffic
over their system. Telephone companies have high speed access between
parts of themselves and have the necessary infrastructure to allow
establishing and managing many one-to-one connections at a time. Even
so, their bandwidth into the home is still mostly limited to the
ordinary copper telephone line. ISDN is still expensive and not widely
available. Both sectors of the communications industry are rapidly
converging because they are both targeting the same market segment with
different technology.

Another complicating factor is that the first generations of Internet
appliances are planning to use a TV set as the main output device. If
you remember back to the beginnings of the personal computer revolution,
computers like the Commodore, Atari, and other home computers used a TV
for their output too. Today's TV sets are better that those of a decade
ago, but fundamentally, they are designed to handle the same signal
developed some thirty-five years ago when color TV was first
standardized by the FCC. This means they are limited to lower image
quality than what a VGA monitor is required to deliver. People are now
familiar enough with computer to expect a certain minimal quality. A TV
just won't deliver it!

The remaining obstacle that I am going to mention is usability. In a
prior article (WindoWatch Vol.1 No.3 ), I wrote at length about
computers in general and what they require to be defined as an
appliance. An Internet appliance, to meet the requirements to earn the
appellation appliance, needs to be no harder to use than a TV set or an
oven. It has to be just as reliable, rugged, and goof-proof as any one
of these more traditional household appliances. Admittedly, home
electronics has become more complicated , but the basics of operating a
TV are still fairly simple and can be figured out by most people
without the use of manuals. If you read between the lines of hype in
the press and marketing, an Internet appliance is expected to be a Web
browser, document viewer, and mail/newsgroup handler. The assumption is
that this set of interfaces will be so ubiquitous, be so simply
designed, and so reliable, that anyone can use one without formal
training or lots of experimentation. People who otherwise would not get
a computer could be expected to buy one of these Internet appliances.


Another Path

How many of you have a pager? Raise your hand if you have a cellular
phone. The percentage of people having either or both is rapidly rising.
In not too many years, there will be nationwide coverage even in
isolated areas and near saturation of the market. It doesn't take too
much to imagine the fusion of the two into one device. It would fit into
the palm of your hand without too many buttons, and runs on batteries
for a relatively long period of time. It's already now practical to put
into a device of that size, several megabytes of memory and run it off
of batteries. Derivatives of Intel's 386 CPU now drain tiny amounts of
power and are no larger than several lumps of sugar. It's certainly not
hard to see where this could lead. Essentially, I'm talking about the
melding of PDAs, cellular phones, and paging technology into one little
gadget not much larger than a personal stereo.

Further, I'll bet you haven't heard much about PDAs these days. Several
companies came and went, developing the idea and watching it crumble in
the marketplace. The reason that you haven't heard much about PDAs
recently isn't that they have failed and disappeared as much as the
manufacturers discovered that there were those who were interested in
PDAs and were willing to pay for them. But this interest was not coming
from consumers. If you've ever walked through a supermarket at night
when they are doing the daily spot inventory, you'll see gadgets in the
hands of the stock people. They're using PDAs for inventory management
and ordering. The same thing is happening in warehouses and shipping
offices of major companies. In essence, these devices are PDAs designed
for special purpose use and tightly focused for that use. They do their
job very well and are easy to run. The technology they use varies, but
the effect is the same.

There is a small electronic device that can call up data from a central
computer and display it. There is limited means for entering data into
the central computer from the device, all without wires. If you think
that this is beginning to sound like pagers and cellular phone, you're
right.


Looking into the Crystal Ball

The Internet appliance is just one version of a type of device that
probably first appeared to the public in the form of Dick Tracy's watch.
It's an easy to use, rugged, reliable, and highly portable computing and
communicating device. It might not be able to do a lot, but what it
does, it does really well. How soon will it be before Seiko sells such a
device? Timex's DataLink already is an ultra compact PIM in a watch.
Seiko has had a TV in a watch for years now.

Personal organizers with paging and cellular phone capability are only
as far away as having enough people wanting one to justify making a few
hundred thousand. The technology is here today. Small computers like the
HP 200LX, Zaurus, and other such personal devices are about to merge.
Will these devices be able to access the Internet?

Undoubtedly, someone is already doing it today. It'll be a few years
before many people will do it, but the devices will be based on
personal organizers, pagers, and cellular phones, and not dumbed down
PCs as some people believe.


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herb Chong does programming research. He is the Contributing Editor of
WindoWatch and has authored many articles for us representing the broad
range of his interests and expertise. He is the keeper and primary
contributor of the WindoWatch Art Gallery always available on the
WindoWatch home page.


   3/01/96-Copyright 1996 by Business Wire; CallWare Technologies
   connects over 200 telephone systems to the Internet; Corporations
   can deploy worldwide voice messaging without long-distance charges.
   CallWare Technologies, introduced its Internet integration, the first
   to link corporate telephone systems with the Internet allowing users
   of its voice system to retrieve and send Internet voice messages.

   The company plans to utilize the Internet as a partner -- complemen-
   ting its voice processing system by integrating over 200 existing
   telephone systems with the Internet. The technology introduced gives
   users two-way voice messaging through any Internet connection in the
   world, eliminating long distance charges. Until now voice messaging
   on the Internet occurred between individual computers having the same
   software application installed on both machines. CallWare is the
   first provider allowing the caller to leave Internet voice messages
   through a PBX or key system, with the ease of a telephone. Users can
   also speak through their computer with a multi-media device as a
   telephone to leave messages.

   Another example is when voice messages are in a mailbox, using the
   Internet, the employee can retrieve the message, pass it on to
   someone else and by turning on their message waiting light, giving
   them notification through a pager -- all at no charge. CallWare
   recently finished as a finalist in the McGraw-Hill/LAN TIMES "Best of
   Show" judging during the Fall NetWorld+Interop trade show. For more
   information call 801/486-9922.



   ww page 5
  Links to Links
  

                            MilkTruck Delivery

                    Copyright 1996 by John M. Campbell


"Surfing the Web" can be fascinating, but there are frustrations. Top of
the list are all of those links. Where do they lead? It isn't hard to
spend an hour, or more, exploring a myriad of links from a single Web
page. If only the computer could capture everything while you were
eating breakfast, so you could peruse the information at leisure (like
taping a favorite TV show to watch at a more opportune time). Still
another problem, once you have found an interesting site, and visit it
again, which links have changed content or even more crucial, lead back
to the original page? You are tempted to check them all again, just in
case! And then, perhaps the greatest frustration! One day you find the
ultimate Web page; one full of great links to a wealth of information.
If only you could show this wonderful stuff to your non-connected
friends.

Fortunately, there is a solution to these vexations. A new breed of
browser enhancements recently have appeared on the scene. These programs
can retrieve a Web page, and all links on that page, making it possible
to browse the linked pages offline. And since everything is stored on
your hard drive, you can transport pages and their links to any computer
for viewing, regardless of whether that machine has an Internet
connection. All that is needed on the other computer is a Web Browser,
such as Netscape or Mosaic.

One such program is "Milktruck Delivery," from Milktruck, LLC. This
software is still in beta. V 1.0b2 was released too late for this
article, so the version I will be describing is v 1.0b1.

The entire program is contained within a SETUP.EXE file of about 546K. I
installed Milktruck under Windows 95, but since this beta is a 16-bit
app, it should work equally well with Windows 3.x, except that certain
16-bit browsers are more difficult to configure for Milktruck. There is
an extensive help system, made up entirely of linked HTM files. These
guide one through the configuration process with a minimum of pain. One
nice touch - each help screen has links to all of the major features -
at both the top and bottom of the page. These features include: The
Doorstep, Maintenance, Package Design, Options, Special Delivery Sites,
and Help Contents.

The first step in using Milktruck is configuring your browser. When
first run, the program presents a list of browsers that can be
automatically launched and configured. These include Emissary, Spry's
Mosaic, NCSA Mosaic 2.0 or later, Quarterdeck Mosaic, and the 32-bit
versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape. Other browsers may
work, but they must be configured manually. The process is explained in
the documentation. While I don't pretend to understand all of the
technicalities, it works something like this. When you enter a URL and
click go, your browser must be configured to look for an http proxy
before accessing the Internet. With Milktruck, this proxy is set to be
your own computer. This means if the requested site is already stored
on your machine, Milktruck will return it to the browser. Otherwise, it
will go to the Internet to fetch the requested page.

Once configured, Milktruck brings up The Doorstep page. This is the
jumping-off point of the program. Here, you see details of the sites you
have subscribed to using Milktruck. Navigate these sites, see pages in a
site that haven't been read yet, look at an outline of a site's
contents, and request delivery of a site. What is involved in
subscribing to a site? For Milktruck to operate, you have to tell the
program's home site, milktruck.com, what you want to retrieve. That site
then connects to the requested URL's to retrieve the information, which
is then packaged and delivered to your computer.

Several pre-packaged sites are already available on the Special Delivery
page. These include, among others: ESPN, Hotwired, Infoworld, NBA
Basketball, PC Week, The Wall Street Journal, and Women's Wire. For
these sites, it is only necessary to click on a Subscribe button. If a
choice of linked pages is offered for a particular site, a box pops up
showing the selections available. You can then choose which links you
want to retrieve. Some sites, like The Wall Street Journal, require that
you first subscribe to them. For those, you must go to the site directly
and complete the required information, then choose a password. Your
username and password, once assigned, are then plugged into a dialog box
in Milktruck and sent to milktruck.com as part of the package for that
site.

Choosing non-packaged sites involves a bit more work. This is where the
"Package Design" page is used. Here, you provide Milktruck with the
following information:


1. A name for the new package. Choose any name you like. I decided to
   try a "Strouds CWS Apps" site, and named the package "Strouds CWS
   Apps - New."

2. The URL for the desired start page for the site. Normally, for the
   site O chose, this would be "http://cws.wilmington.net," but in this
   case, the "What's New" page for Stroud is a link on the home page -
   "http://cws.wilmington.net/new.html," so I used that instead.

3. The "Dig Level." Just how far do you want to dig into linked pages?
   Level 0 fetches only the desired start page for the site. Level 1
   retrieves not only the start page, but all hyperlink pages referred
   to on the start page. Level 2 will get you everything referenced
   above, plus all pages referred to on the Level 1 pages. Note that the
   number of hyperlinks increases very rapidly as you dig further, so be
   careful! Fortunately, you can limit the amount of information
   retrieved when you reach the final step below.

4. Digging Boundary. Here, you specify whether Milktruck is to limit its
   retrieval to links within the starting directory of the site, or
   reach into subdirectories, or include the entire site domain, or
   follow links across the whole Internet.

5. The final steps involve telling Milktruck whether to fetch inline
   graphics and sounds on pages. You specify the file extensions you are
   willing to receive, such as gif, mov, au, etc. As a last step, you
   have the opportunity to limit the overall package to a certain page
   or byte maximum.

I found that the product worked pretty much as advertised. There was one
glitch though. I could not retrieve anything past the first page of the
Wall Street Journal, even though I had plugged in my username and
password as directed. Infoworld came through with flying colors. I was
able to read everything in the current issue offline. The same with
Stroud's New apps. I was able to click on any link, read the short
description page, then go to the full review. It was nice to have all of
the links I clicked on appear almost instantly. Of course, they should
load quickly, since they were now resident on my hard drive.

A cute touch - milk jar icons display the state of each site after a
download. The jars are either downward (empty). running (delivery in
progress), or upright (full-site retrieved)

Milktruck has a maintenance page that provides all the statistics
relevant to every delivered site. Here, I discovered, among other
things, that the Stroud package was made up of 385 items totaling two
MB, and was transmitted in 14 min., 59 sec. This page is also the place
where you can update and change delivery options for sites, or
discontinue delivery of sites you no longer wish to receive.

One feature I haven't touched on yet is the Monitor Window. This window
is external to your browser, and shows the progress of the Milktruck
server in delivering information to your computer, and how many of pages
are being loaded for delivery. It also shows new and unchanged pages,
and aborted attempts to fetch a requested page.

All in all, Milktruck is a fascinating and useful adjunct to one's
arsenal of Web accessories. The one serious deficiency of the beta
release is that it is limited to only two sites that are not pre-
packaged. Of course, that is sufficient for testing.

For the software to be really useful, the commercial release will have
to permit users to specify a large number of sites of their own choosing
for delivery.


                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John M. Campbell writes about a variety of Internet issues. He earns his
living as the Manager of the Unemployment Compensation Office of Elkins,
WV. He is a regular contributor to WindoWatch and is the Co-Host of the
Ilink Browser Conference.



   ww page 6
  The Suites: Presentation Software
  

                         POWERPOINT VS FREELANCE

                     Copyright 1996 by Frank McGowan


Those who are keeping track of such things say that most people fear
public speaking more than they fear death. I suspect this has something
to do with death being more of an abstraction than public speaking,
making it somehow less real.

There is nevertheless a truth underlying this supposed fact: most of us
would rather face a firing squad than a live audience. Not known for
allowing a human foible such as this to pass without mining it for all
the profit it contains, software creators have been busily dreaming up
ways to persuade us to part with our hard-earned dollars. They promise
that their presentation application will

(a) create dog and pony shows so dazzling our audiences won't notice
    that we're suffering a near-terminal case of flopsweat and

(b) virtually assure us of a meteoric rise up the corporate ladder once
    our boss sees how brilliantly we've presented his product.

Phrases like "professional looking, appealing, easy to grasp," -
"stunning, powerful," even "jazzy" litter the users' guides of these
packages. Indeed, the blurbs barely stop short of promising glossier
skin, better muscle tone and a greatly enhanced love life.

While I've dabbled a bit with Bravo, and have a nodding acquaintance
with Harvard Graphics, I've spent the past few weeks intensely
scrutinizing PowerPoint and Freelance, looking for minute details that
might give one of them the advantage over the other. Feeling a bit like
the mountain that labored to give forth the mouse, here goes! I decided
to look at the following factors when making my evaluations:

       User documentation
       Learning curve
       Ease of creating a new presentation
       Ease in modifying an existing presentation
       Special effects
       Special features

Taking them in order:

  User Documentation

Again, my background in technical documentation requires that I put
this as the highest priority. Considering how few of us actually bother
to look at the manual until all else has failed, it may be time to
reconsider my priorities. Nevertheless, both manuals adhere to the
principle of second person, active voice. You are never left in doubt
about what to do, or who's doing what. Instructions are direct and
unambiguous:

"Click Choose Scheme," and "Click the Text icon" for example. I found
the Freelance manual well done; easy on the eyes, and quite readable
without resorting to Dick and Jane diction. In tone, it strikes a nice
balance between user-friendly and cloying. The Powerpoint manual strikes
me as business-like, bordering on plain vanilla. The tone is straight-
forward, and the book contains very few frilly touches. One nice one,
however, is the keyboard shortcut summary printed on the back cover. I
looked in vain for such a summary in the Freelance manual. Score one for
PowerPoint.

  Learning Curve

My volunteer subject (my wife, Sue) found PowerPoint easy to learn, but
we have to point out that she was using a book from an educational
textbook publisher, not Microsoft's User Guide. She was able to grasp
the essentials of creating and modifying a PowerPoint presentation in
about two hours. Unfortunately, I had no volunteer to test the ease of
learning Freelance, so I had to do it myself. I found that Freelance
also offers a shallow learning curve (that is, one that's easily
scaled). I enjoyed the animated tutorial, and also liked having the
QuickStart tutorial button on the startup screen, along with the usual
stuff. I also like the ? for Help, in case you're having trouble
understanding what the startup screen is supposed to do for you.

  Ease of Creating a New Presentation

Each makes it relatively simple to put together an uncomplicated
presentation. Interestingly, Sue found it easier to create a new
PowerPoint presentation without invoking the Wizard (sorry about that,
Wizard wizards). Neither Freelance nor PowerPoint get a clear-cut edge
here.

  Ease in Modifying an Existing Presentation

Again, there's no obvious winner in this area. Editing existing text and
objects, and adding new or different objects are done easily on both
Freelance and PowerPoint.

  Special Effects

In this category I include bending text and choosing transitions. In the
"bent text" class, I give the edge to Freelance. It's a much less
complicated process to specify curved text. Just select the text, go to
the Text menu, click Curved Text and choose your flavor. With PowerPoint
you have to use Word Art, type in the text, then go to the Word Art
toolbar to choose the effect. It seems a bit cumbersome compared with
the Freelance approach. While the selection of transitional effects is
easier in PowerPoint, the results don't seem as dramatic as Freelance's.
I really liked the Shade and Curtain transitions. It's also easier in
Freelance to make the transition 'global' across all slides in the
presentation. Once you've specified View, Screen Show, you can simply
select the transition you want and click the checkbox "Effect All
Pages." In PowerPoint you have to select all the slides, then apply the
transition to each. And, in my version at least, the choices vary from
the Transition dialog box to the slide sorter: there are few transition
effects when you opt to use the slide sorter view (Uncover is not among
those listed in the drop down list). Score another point for Freelance!

  Special Features

What PowerPoint calls Clipart, Freelance calls Symbols. A rose by any
other name will still be a picture or an object or a ? Freelance's art
categories are plentiful, but could have used more choices within some
categories - why not a bull and a bear in the animal category for
instance? And why a snake?? I don't think PowerPoint has a snake in its
gallery, nor can I see any reason it should! (I confess to an almost
morbid fear of these creatures: I set an unofficial land speed record
getting away from a half-frozen rattlesnake in New Mexico several
decades ago - I think I was almost to the Texas border before I slowed
down.) Score one for PowerPoint. I am inclined to give Freelance the
advantage in exporting text to other applications. I decided to jot down
my notes within the presentations I created with each package as I went
along, and then bring them over to the Word file when it was time to do
the actual writing. I found that Freelance let me do this by simply
clicking the object box that contained my text, and then copy/paste to
get the text to this Word file. To my pleasant surprise, the text was
pasted in in exactly the same font as the one I'm using for the Word
file.

PowerPoint on the other hand copied and pasted the object itself, not
the text contained within. I was able to accomplish this, but only by
selecting the text within the object first. It would seem that it never
occurred to anyone that somebody might want to take text from PPT and
use it in Word. You can do it, but you have to work a little harder.
Another point for Freelance.


Summary

I found a couple of areas where PowerPoint had the edge, and couple
where Freelance came out the winner. But overall, it's a draw. Sigh. Why
can't anything be clearly black & white? Well, actually, it can. See,
you have the option to... aah, never mind!


                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank McGowan is a teacher, computer consultant, technical writer and
editor. He is also a regular WindoWatch contributor. This is the last
installment of his series on the Suites from Lotus and Microsoft.



   ww page 7
  What a Software Bug Can Do!
  

                         Computer Horror Stories
                            From Derek Buchler


Software Engineering Notes (SEN), a journal of the Association for
Computer Machinery, regularly publishes lists of computer horror
stories. Some of these are well-known, while others have never been
independently verified. This summary gives the SEN volume/issue, and the
date of the event, if known. SEN also reports computer break-ins,
embezzlements, etc. Such malicious events are omitted here.


   SEN References            Description                    Date of Event
   
      4/4      Bug in brake computer system caused recall
               of all El Dorado automobiles

      5/1      Arthritis-therapy microwaves set patient's
               heart pacemaker to 214, resulting in fatal
               coronary

      5/2      Mariner 18 lost due to missing NOT in program

      5/2      F16 autopilot flipped plane upside down
               whenever it crossed the equator

      5/3      50 false alerts from NORAD defense system          1979

      6/1      Many computer system outages at FAA
               Air Traffic Control

      6/3      Air New Zealand crash in Antarctica when           11/1979
               computer data error detected but crew was
               not informed

      6/5      Backup computer synchronization problem
               delayed first Shuttle launch

      8/3      NORAD defense radar system mistook the Moon
               for a hostile incoming missile

      8/3      Computer bug showed ghost train near               5/1983
               Embarcadero station on San Francisco Muni

      8/3      Software bug caused F14 to fly off the end of
               an aircraft carrier into the North Sea

      8/3      HMS Sheffield radar system identified incoming
               Argentinean Exocet missile as non-Soviet and
               thus friendly; no alarm was raised and the ship
               sank.

      8/5      F18 computer opened missile retention clamp,
               fired missile and re-closed clamp before
               missile had had enough time to move away
               from aircraft

      8/5      San Francisco BART doors opened while train was
               at full speed; control system's inter-station
               delay time was too short for TransBay Tunnel

      8/5      United Airlines 767 iced up because                Aug 1983
               fuel-saving computer was over-efficient,
               causing engines to cool down too much on
               approach to Denver

      8/5      Mariner 1 launch failed due to period instead      1962
               of comma in FORTRAN program DO statement

      8/5      Computer error caused US naval vessel to open      Jul 1983
               fire 180 degrees off target, in the direction
               of Mexican merchant ship

      9/1      Gemini V splashed down 100 miles off target
               when program used 360 degrees for Earth's
               rotation in one day, i.e. ignoring it's
               movement around the Sun

      9/1      Vancouver Stock Exchange Index rose by 50%         1983
               when two years of round-off errors in
               computer program were corrected

      9/5      Viking spacecraft had misaligned antenna due
               to faulty code patch

      9/5      F16 computer deadlocked, confusing left & right
               while plane was inverted

     10/1      Faulty computer modeling of weather led to         1983
               ill-advised damming of Colorado River,
               resulting in severe flooding during spring
               thaws.

     10/2      "Compatible" teller machines of 2 British banks    Jan 1985
               handled leap years differently, witholding cash
               and confiscating cards during New Year holiday

     10/2      180 degree heading error caused Soviet test        Dec 1984
               missile to aim for Hamburg instead
               of the Arctic

     10/2      Faulty automatic dialup on Coke machines tied      1/1985
               up phone system in North Carolina
               municipal offices

     10/2      Department store anti-theft microwave device       Jul 1981
               reprogrammed heart pacemaker, killing its user

     10/2      Autopilot error caused China Airlines 747 to       Feb 1985
               stall near San Francisco

     10/3      Robot killed Japanese auto worker attempting       Jul 1981
               to repair another robot

     10/3      AT&T software bug knocked out all long-distance    1979
               phone service to Greece

     10/3      Shuttle laser experiment failed because computer   Jun 1985
               data was in nautical miles instead of feet

     10/3      Woman killed daughter & tried suicide after
               computer incorrectly diagnosed incurable disease

     10/3      Federal Reserve inter-bank transaction amounts
               multiplied by 1000 because data input procedures
               were inconsistent between client banks

     10/3      Computer error caused nuclear reactor in           Feb 1980
               Florida to overheat

     10/3      KAL flight 007 strayed, shot down due to           Sep 1983
               heading being mistyped into autopilot

     10/3      14000 Ford Lincolns recalled because a
               computer in air suspension system had
               overheating problem, causing automobile
               to burst into flames


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Derek Buchler contribution of interesting computer glitches, surprises
and humor.



   ww page 8
  First Impressions!
  

                           A Very Brief Look !
                      Procomm Plus for Windows 3.0....

                      Copyright 1996 by Gregg Hommel


What's Hot....

1) A more or less integrated QWK reader, based on the shareware reader
called WaveRider from author Doug Crocker. (Doug and Sue Crocker now
work for Datastorm). More or less integrated because it can be run
without running PCP/Win 3.0, but is integrated into the default tool bar
as an icon.

2) Improved Fax capabilities and reliability, along with OCR for fax
files, with integration via macros to most major word processors.

3) Full Internet capability, from WWW. A browser based on Spyglass
Mosaic 2.0, to email, newsgroups, FTP, and Telnet supporting Zmodem file
transfers.

4) The dialing directory now includes settings for all of the above, and
switching modes is as simple as clicking on a tool bar icon, and
selecting which mode you want.

5) Setup now mimics Win95, with tabbed dialogs for everything. Improved
navigation of setup items via those tabbed dialogs... if you want to set
a fax item, you select that tab, same for Internet, etc.

6) Likely most important.. it functions, apparently, well under any OS,
from Win 3.1 through Win NT and OS/2.

7) PCP/Win 3.0 is available on a CD-ROM, which makes installation a
breeze, much simpler than the eleven or twelve high density floppies
required...


What's Not....

1) The QWK reader lacks some of the functionality of the shareware
version put out by the Crockers. It is usable, but not as good as it
could be or regrettably, as good as it was.

2) Fax - fax files saved from PCP/Win 2.xx can not be read by PCP/Win
3.0. There has been a change in the fax header info, and the PCP/Win 3.0
install does not convert any fax files found. There is a script on their
forum on Compuserve (not a Datastorm script, but one written by a user)
which can convert your fax files to the new format, but it isn't an
automatic part of the install of PCP/Win 3.0, nor Datastorm supported.

3) The Web browser does not support a lot of the current stuff, like
frames, Java, etc. It does support a lot of the HTML 3.0 and Netscape
extensions, but is still behind the times when it comes to the latest
goodies on the Internet.

4) I found most of the Internet stuff slow, in particular the Web
browser, compared to the standards like Netscape 2.0 (16 bit) or MSIE
2.0 (32 bit), especially.

5) Setup still lacks in the intuitive department. It is better, but...

6) Scripts written under PCP/Win 1.0x or 2.xx are not compatible
(again!), and must be converted and recompiled. The converter does a
fair to middling job, but adds an enormous amount of extra code to do
so. As with PCP/Win 2.0, once you convert, look forward to a fair job of
cleaning up your scripts.

7) NO WASP MANUAL! NONE! It isn't even available at extra cost!
Datastorm has decided that the online help files are sufficient for all
levels of Wasp programmers, and they have ceased printing the Wasp
manual for anyone. For obvious reasons, this one is pretty important to
me!

8) A full install requires at least 35 megs of HDD real estate! I
suggest that anyone installing it use the Custom install option, and
install only what they need or want, to save the gobbling up of their
drive! Look carefully at what is offered, and choose what you want.

9) If you install PCP/Win 3.0 in the same directory as your current
PCP/Win 2.xx, and the install fails to complete for whatever reason, you
will end up without a working copy of either version, and likely will
have to re-install. The better choice, at install time for PCP/Win 3.0,
if you have the hard drive space, is the option which installs it in a
new directory, keeping your old PCP/Win 2.xx version installed, and
converts the dialing directories and script files to the new version.

10) In my opinion, compared to PCP/Win 2.xx which was, in truth, no
speed demon, PCP/Win 3.0 is slow, in all functions. Load times are much
extended, script execution for larger scripts appears to be slower, the
Internet applications are slow to load, and slow to run..... In overall
terms, slower than PCP/Win 2.xx in all respects.

In any case, there will be a full and complete review of the shipping
version of PCP/Win 3.0 will appear in this magazine at a later date...


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gregg Hommel is a regular WindoWatch contributor providing our
readership with his online Wasp tutorials. He was also a DataStorm beta
tester for this latest version of their product.


Editorial note:
   This popular communications software has not delivered the latest
   32bit tools! The loudest complaint about Procomm for Windows v.3
   is that it has been written for 16bit Windows operating systems.
   Yes, it does run under Windows95 but provides none of the bells
   and whistles that '95 users have come to expect. Although DataStorm
   has promised a 32bit version by the end of the year, it may be too
   late for this company to retain its reputation as a communications
   software leader and still land on its feet in this very competitive
   Internet oriented market place. lbl



   ww page 9
  What is OpenDoc?
  

                       Shaping Tomorrow's Software

             A White Paper copyright 1993 by the Apple Corp.


The OpenDoc Architecture

Apple, WordPerfect, Novell, Borland and IBM share a common goal of
making the user's computing experience as easy and productive as
possible, and that goal has become increasingly elusive. People are
using personal computers for more and more complex tasks, often
involving multiple programs and even a variety of media. In addition,
they are increasingly working together on computer-based projects. This
means that the earlier, individual desktop computer model is shifting to
one of shared, collaborative computing resources; a shift that demands
new capabilities. Finally, there is a growing demand for customization
capabilities to meet the increasingly specialized needs of today's
computer users.

The OpenDoc(tm) architecture represents Apple's approach toward reducing
the complexity of computing today, while supporting the development of
tomorrow's advanced, flexible applications. It is an open architecture,
designed to integrate software and enable sharing across multiple
computer platforms; providing users with a new level of computing power,
flexibility, and ease of use.

This approach evolves desktop computing by providing an object-based
framework for developing applications that are fully integrated and
interoperable across platforms and distributed networks.


Background

Ten years ago, most of what people did with computers centered around
text and numbers. The graphical nature of the Apple Macintosh computer
brought a new emphasis on working with graphics on the computer, because
the graphics-based user interface allowed easy manipulation, editing,
and integration of words and images.

Today, however, many computer users engage in the creation of what can
be called compound documents; documents with parts containing various
media, such as text, tables, movies, sound and graphics in a variety of
file formats. Currently, each medium requires users to work in different
ways, and often in separate applications or editors, demanding a
labor-intensive series of actions to move data from each creator
application to the final document. This lengthy and cumbersome process
tends to be error-prone and frustrating.

Today's computing world encourages an ever-increasing complexity in
successive releases of most applications, because developers are under
constant competitive pressure to add more features to their products.
The result is paradoxical: as applications become more powerful in terms
of features, they also become more difficult to use - and hence less
useful to people. In addition, they require more time and effort to
develop, enhance, and maintain.

OpenDoc is a compound document architecture that addresses these issues
by reducing the complexity and increasing the flexibility of software
for both end users and developers. It offers an evolutionary approach to
restructuring software into independent modules, or parts, which can be
flexibly combined in a variety of ways. The result is an entirely
different way of both using and writing personal computer software; one
that offers a number of significant benefits.


Benefits to the User

For end users, OpenDoc will simplify and streamline the computing
experience, while ensuring a much higher level of flexibility and
customizability. Specifically, OpenDoc offers the following user
benefits:

Easy creation of compound documents:

OpenDoc is designed to handle current and future types of media. Users
can place any kind of media into an OpenDoc document using the familiar
cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop manipulation.

Editing in place:

With OpenDoc, users can edit any type of content within a single
document, without having to cut and paste between different application
windows.

Powerful document management:

Rather than manually assembling the various pieces of a document, users
can let an OpenDoc document hold all of them. This reduces the task of
managing files, and facilitates document exchange and updating. As
documents are edited, changes are tracked through drafts, ensuring
greater data integrity and allowing users to work on shared documents
without content loss from version to version.

Cross-platform support:

Because OpenDoc is designed to offer full interoperability between
platforms, OpenDoc users will be able to share and interact with complex
documents, regardless of differences in software or hardware, or which
platform the document resides on.

Consistency of operation:

Because users can specify preferred part editors, they need learn only
one way to edit each type of data; for example, using the same text
editor for word processing, entering spreadsheet data, or labeling
diagrams.

Uniformity of interface:

OpenDoc defines a consistent user interface for embedding and
manipulating all kinds of media in documents.

Scalability:

The OpenDoc human interface addresses a wide range of users, from
novices to experts. No class of user has to understand the additional
functionality typically used at the next level; novices can create
compound documents easily, while experts can experience nearly unlimited
potential.

Plug-and-play solutions.

With OpenDoc, vendors will be able to assemble collections of parts into
solution sets that target specific tasks or work styles, such as a legal
publishing bundle, allowing users to choose the solutions most
appropriate to their needs.

Access to object services:

OpenDoc will be based on the industry-standard CORBA (Common Object
Request Broker Architecture) object technology. This will allow users to
take advantage of a wide range of distributed services working
consistently across many different CORBA-compliant desktop and server
systems.

To more clearly understand the benefits OpenDoc provides to the user,
let's examine a usage scenario that most computer users can relate to;
the use of text editors.

End-user scenario:

Most applications today -whether word processors, spreadsheets, data-
bases, or more specialized tools - include text editing capabilities.
Some rely heavily on text editing, such as WordPerfect or Claris
MacWrite. Some use text only incidentally, such as Claris MacProject,
WordPerfect Office or Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately for the user, all
differ in their details. For example, some allow text styles, some
don't. Some offer tab stops, some don't, and so on. In addition to such
details, they also differ in functionality and mode of operation. The
result? If you use six different programs, you need to learn six
different ways to do the same task: edit text.

With OpenDoc, a text paragraph becomes a software module, usable
wherever text is needed. You could take your favorite text editor and
use it whenever you needed to work with text. Applications built in this
way would have an important characteristic: they would simultaneously be
simpler and more powerful. They would be simpler because you would have
to learn only one way to do something. And they would be more powerful
because you always have the option of choosing a fully functional
module, replacing less capable ones.


Benefits to the Developer:

The OpenDoc architecture also offers developers a number of important
benefits:

Faster, more efficient development. Software developers can reuse
already developed parts, eliminating the need to start from scratch with
each development effort. This ability to reuse existing parts also means
that developers need spend less time on parts that are peripheral to
their main area of expertise.

Reduction of application complexity. Because OpenDoc parts are
independent of one another, a collection of parts that is less complex
than the large, monolithic applications of today can offer equivalent
functionality.

Diminished costs of software development. The fact that parts are
smaller than applications makes them both quicker and cheaper to write,
which reduces the penalties for failure.

Industry-standard object mechanism. Because parts can use a CORBA-
compliant object mechanism (see above), they can be written in a wide
range of programming languages and development will be supported by many
tool vendors. This mechanism gives developers high performance coupled
with great flexibility in the use of "plug-and-play" objects.

Developer scenario:


Today, a developer who wants to create even a highly specialized tool
such as a three-dimensional modeling and rendering program has to spend
time developing a text editor, so that users can enter specifications
and label their diagrams. But, as a developer of such a program, you
would much rather concentrate on your specific area of expertise.

In the OpenDoc world, you would have two choices for providing functions
that fall outside the primary focus of your application: bundle existing
parts with your product or rely on the user to provide parts to support
those functions. Either way, you are free to concentrate on the competi-
tive value of your product, rather than on peripheral issues. The result
is a much more useful, powerful program; developed in a fraction of the
time it would have taken using the conventional, monolithic approach.

The Technology:

The OpenDoc architecture is designed to enable the construction of
compound, collaborative, and customizable documents, which are inter-
operable across platforms and with other compound document architectures
such as Microsoft's OLE 2.0. It will be an open architecture, with
source code available to vendors who want to implement the architecture
in their products. The OpenDoc architecture is also flexible, providing
replaceable facilities so platform vendors can implement their desired
feature set.


Major concepts of the architecture include the following:

Documents

OpenDoc fundamentally changes the meaning of the term document. In
today's computing environment, a document has a type, which is tied to
the application that will let the user view, edit, and print its
content. With OpenDoc, a document is no longer a single block of content
bound to a single application, but is instead composed of smaller blocks
of content, or parts.

Parts

Parts are the fundamental building blocks in OpenDoc, replacing today's
monolithic applications with smaller units of content dynamically bound
with related functionality. OpenDoc parts may be viewed in a number of
ways:

Content containers: Every part contains data; for example, text parts
contain characters, graphics parts contain lines and shapes, spread-
sheet parts contain spreadsheet cells with formulas, and video parts
contain digitized video. The particular type of data that each part
contains is defined by the developer and is known as the part's
intrinsic content.

In addition to its intrinsic content, a part may be able to contain
other parts. Every document has a single part at its top level, the root
part, into which all other parts are embedded. Again, the part developer
determines whether to support the capacity to contain other parts;
however, a key characteristic of OpenDoc is that if a part can contain
one type of part, it can contain all types of parts. This is in stark
contrast to the small number of standard data types supported today,
such as text, JPEG and TIFF.

Part editors: Part editors are independent programs that manipulate and
display a particular kind of content. OpenDoc part editors can serve as
components for solution building as well as document building. Plug-and-
play solutions assembled from several parts will replace today's
monolithic applications.

OpenDoc parts will allow developers to create new applications in a
manner similar to that of constructing a document template in today's
world.

Frames. Parts can also be viewed as the boundaries at which one kind of
content in a document ends and another begins. A key element of the
concept of parts is that each part of a document has its own content
model; the model of objects and operations that is presented to the
user. The content model changes at the frame between parts.

For example, a typical compound document could have as its root part a
MacDraw-style graphics editor that provides a letterhead template. It
might contain a chart part from one vendor that overlaps with a table
part from another vendor to illustrate financial information. The user
might embed a clock part, along with a text part that contains a button
part.

In addition, such a MacDraw-style part could contain shapes that are not
embedded parts at all, but were created by this specific graphics
editor; these are called content objects; data elements native to the
part. An embedded part is fundamentally distinct from ordinary content
elements such as simple shapes, characters, or cells.

Frames: Frames within OpenDoc are areas of the display that represents a
part. Frames provide a handle onto parts, allowing them to be manipulated
as a whole, as well as allowing the user to see and edit a part's
contents.

Although this description of a frame makes it sound much like a standard
application window, it is not. Where windows are transitory views, only
visible when the part is being edited or its content viewed, a frame is
persistent. When a frame is opened into a window, the frame remains
visible. When the window is closed, the part returns to the
representation from which it was opened. In addition, a frame can often
show only a portion of the entire content of a part. Opening a large
part into a window allows its the entire part to be viewed and edited.


Part handlers.

In the OpenDoc architecture, part handlers are the rough equivalents of
today's applications. When a part is being displayed or edited, a part
handler is invoked to perform those tasks. A part handler is responsible
for the following things:

Displaying the part both on the screen and for printing purposes.

Editing the part. The part handler must accept events and change the
state of the part so that the user can edit and script the part.

Storage management (both persistent and runtime) for the part. The part
handler must be able to read the part from persistent storage into main
memory, manage the runtime storage associated with the part, and write
the part back out to persistent storage.

Part handlers are dynamically linked into the runtime world of the
document, based on the part types that appear in the document. Because
any sort of part might appear in any document at any time, the part
handlers must be dynamically linked to provide a smooth user experience.

Part handlers can be divided into two types, editors and viewers:

An editor displays a part's content and provides a user interface for
modifying that content. This user interface may include menus, controls,
tool palettes, rulers, and other modes of interaction.

A viewer offers a subset of an editor's functionality; it allows users
to display and print a part's content, but not to edit it. Viewers can
be useful in two document sharing situations: when the recipient of a
document does not hold a license to some of the kind of parts included
in the document, or when the person sending the document does not want
the recipient to alter it.

Both editors and viewers can interpret the contents of the part and
display that content for the user. The idea is that, eventually,
developers will create both kinds of handler for every part. The editor
would be sold, but the viewer would be freely distributed, to enable and
encourage document interchange.


Storage.

Storage is a major feature of OpenDoc. The existence of multipart
documents necessitates a persistent storage mechanism that enables
multiple part handlers to share a single document file effectively.

The OpenDoc storage model, based on Apple's Bento(TM) standard, assumes
that the storage system can effectively give each part its own data
stream; an individual area inside document files specific to part
content; and reliable references can be made from one stream to another,
enabling parts to be integrated into a single document. Because OpenDoc
is designed to support cross-platform capabilities, it must also support
the ability to write multiple representations of a given part. Because
many pieces of code may need to access a given part, the storage system
must support a robust annotation mechanism; one that allows information
to be associated with a part without disturbing its format.

The storage system also yields another advantage: collaborative access.
OpenDoc provides an architecture that allows developers to create part
handlers that let users collaborate on document creation.

Object mechanism. Calling between objects is fundamental to the OpenDoc
architecture. OpenDoc will use IBM's System Object Manager (SOM) as its
object calling mechanism. SOM provides an efficient, flexible binary
standard for object interfaces that conforms to the CORBA industry
standard for distributed object messaging.

SOM lets developers create parts in a wide range of languages and lets
these parts call each other with no additional effort. SOM also allows
developers and users to take advantage of distributed services provided
through CORBA-compliant application programming interfaces (APIs.) SOM
and CORBA are widely accepted and are well supported by tool and system
vendors on many platforms.


The Competition:

Apple is not alone in recognizing the problems with computing today. In
fact, we are also far from alone in our efforts to define and implement
the OpenDoc architecture. Apple's experience with human computer
interaction, WordPerfect's experience in document-centric computing and
compound documents, and Novell's expertise in distributed, collaborative
systems are all playing a part in the definition and implementation of
this technology. In addition, input has been sought for and discussed
with many other systems and software vendors, including Borland and IBM,
and we expect support from many of these other companies for the OpenDoc
architecture. You can expect to see more announcements in the future
regarding companies that will be helping implement OpenDoc on additional
platforms and from software vendors who will be supporting OpenDoc APIs
in their applications.

We are working closely with independent systems vendors as well as
looking toward cooperation with recognized industry associations, such
as the Object Management Group (OMG), Open Software Foundation (OSF),
and X Consortium. Apple's stated intent is to make OpenDoc technology
not only cross-platform but also truly open; with both systems vendors
and independent software vendors able to obtain the source code easily.

In contrast, the other major effort along these lines, Microsoft's OLE
2.0, is a proprietary approach. Currently, the OLE 2.0 source code is
held by Microsoft, and provided only under Microsoft license. However,
OpenDoc will be interoperable with OLE 2.0, so developers can take
advantage of OpenDoc's broader feature set and additional supported
platforms without sacrificing OLE support.

Part of the work the WordPerfect and Novell OpenDoc teams will be doing
is an implementation of OpenDoc on Windows in such a way that it will
interoperate with OLE 2.0. Applications that also support the additional
capabilities represented in OpenDoc will have the ability to interoperate
at a higher level of functionality on Windows or Macintosh, and to
interoperate across multiple platforms and distributed systems as well.

Apple, IBM, and Taligent plan to design complete interoperability
between OpenDoc and Taligent, similar to the interoperability between
OpenDoc and OLE 2.0. This is intended to enable developers and customers
to migrate to Taligent without losing their investment in software or
legacy information.

In addition to being much more open, OpenDoc offers a number of specific
advantages to users and developers:

Human interface.

The OpenDoc human interface reflects Apple's user-centered approach to
product design. User testing indicates that OpenDoc is a more
comfortable, efficient model for users.


Cleanliness and simplicity of API.

OpenDoc is designed from a minimalist viewpoint; it defines as few as
possible, flexible features, with available source code and clean
application programming interface.

Network readiness.

OpenDoc handles networking support easily and flexibly. Through IBM's
System Object Model and the CORBA industry standard, it will provide
access to distributed object services. This aspect of its architecture
has been thoroughly reviewed by vendors concerned with distributed
systems, such as Novell.

Range of platforms.

OpenDoc will be initially released on the Macintosh and Windows
platforms. It is designed to be highly portable and will probably become
available on other desktop systems, such as UNIX. OpenDoc is also
designed with the future in mind: OpenDoc parts and documents are
designed to be interoperable with other compound document systems, such
as Taligent.

Consistent object model.

OpenDoc's object model is compliant with the Common Object Request
Broker (CORBA) specifications released by the Object Management Group
(OMG). OMG is a standards body that has defined CORBA as a common,
industry wide specification for access to object services. Because
OpenDoc is CORBA-compliant, OpenDoc documents and parts will be able to
use CORBA-compliant services and interoperate with other CORBA-compliant
architectures.


The Shape of the Future

The benefits of widespread adoption of the OpenDoc architecture are
revolutionary for both users and developers. Yet it will be a gentle
revolution; one without dramatic upheavals. Because the OpenDoc
architecture is designed to work with existing applications and
documents, users will benefits from OpenDoc features without disruption.
OpenDoc parts will behave much like current applications, enabling
customers to upgrade without having to go through a new learning
process. As customers become more familiar with the full scope of
OpenDoc capabilities; in-place editing, plug-and-play customizing, and
more; they will build new, convenient, efficient work environments while
maintaining their current computer software investment.

This is particularly true for users, who will at first experience little
or no change, as developers begin to take advantage of the new
architecture by binding together parts to form units that are virtually
indistinguishable from the applications of today. It is only over time
that the full benefits that OpenDoc brings; in-place editing within
compound documents, the ability to customize applications by adding or
substituting parts, and more; will become obvious.

For developers, the impact will be felt more rapidly. But here, too, the
change will not be sudden or disruptive in nature. Developers will
simply find that OpenDoc empowers them to work in new ways, enabling
them both to concentrate on existing areas of expertise and to develop
new ones. OpenDoc will also encourage the vertical market industry, with
applications increasingly targeting specialized tasks.

The primary concern for each of these companies remains the experience
of the user; not technology for the sake of technology. OpenDocs
represents that continuing commitment: to empower people through the
provision of technology that is both powerful and easy to use, helping
them to take full advantage of the growing capabilities of computing.


     (Copyright 1993 Apple Computer, Inc., Apple, the Apple logo,
      Macintosh  and  OpenDocs are  trademarks of Apple Computer,
      Inc.,  registered in the United States and other countries.
      Bento is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. WordPerfect is
      a   registered   trademark   of   WordPerfect  Corporation.
      MacWrite,  MacProject and MacDraw  are trademarks of Claris
      Corporation,  registered  in  the  United  States and other
      countries. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft
      Corporation.  Taligent and the Taligent logo are trademarks
      of  Taligent  Inc. UNIX is  a  registered trademark of UNIX
      System Laboratories. SOM is a trademark of IBM Corporation.)



   ww page 10
   A Guide to Select BBS's via Telnet!
  

    (Editorial  note:  Much  of  what you  read  here  will soon be
    published by a division of Prentiss-Hall. Please note the legal
    mumbo jumbo at the very end of the article. This is proprietary
    work and can only be reproduced with the author's permission.)


                      WHY ANOTHER INTERNET BBS LIST?

                   Copyright 1994-1996 by Richard Mark


The answer to this is simple - other internet BBS lists mostly contain
government or educational based BBS's. They are not what most BBS'ers
would usually call a BBS. BBSs are very diverse and colorful systems
that offer just about everything - messages, files, games, chat, and
other services - and up until recently, were mostly accessible via long
distance phone calls! This is a list of real BBS's accessible via
TELNET, RLOGIN, or WEB on the Internet.

We feel a good and FREE listing of these systems will not only help
promote BS's on the 'net, but also act as an invaluable aid to the new
Internet user trying (and sometimes desperately searching) for useful
and fun systems to visit out in cyberspace. This list does not contain
any opinions or editorials of the systems listed - it is merely a
listing, with details provided (where possible) by the BBS sysops
themselves.

  How Do I Access These BBS's via the Internet?

This guide is not designed to be a tutorial of how to use the Internet,
nor is it a guide to how to get access to the Internet. There are
hundreds of help files available on the network, or on your favorite BBS
to help you out. Most of the systems listed in this list offer Internet
access, and can be called using a modem and phone line. Once you get
setup on one of these systems (or gain access to the Internet through
some other means), you can access most of the systems listed by using a
"TELNET" client. This works differently for different systems, but one
common example would be:

         telnet <host name>   (ex: telnet boardwatch.com)
         or
         telnet <ip address>  (ex: 199.84.216.1)

Some systems integrate "telnet" into a menu prompt, which after
execution will simply ask you to enter the host name or IP address.

Some systems also offer the ability to use RLOGIN for the same purpose
as TELNET. I'd suggest you try TELNET first...

Another method is to telnet via a WWW page. If you have access to the
Web, you can use this URL - http://dkeep.com/sbi.htm You will also need
a "telnet" client. Some browsers have them built-in, but most don't.
Off of the SBI Home Page is a link to and FTP site with some decent
clients.

For Web-based BBSs, you can access them using any graphical WEB browser.
I'd recommend Netscape for the highest level of compatibility. Some
BBSs require "special" proprietary clients to access them via the net.
See the BBS description for details on these systems.


Special Note About File Transfers:

Even though most of the BBS's listed support "outgoing" FTP, many of the
"PC" based systems listed here do not support FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) TO their PC-Based file systems (which is where most of the
files are). One solution for those that use dial-up accounts for their
internet access (where the user dials into the service with a PC using a
communications package such as Procomm or Qmodem), is to use ordinary
"Z-modem" once telnetted into the BBS. However, in order for this to
work, you MUST USE 8-BIT BINARY MODE for your telnet session, or rlogin
using the -8 command line parameter. Different telnet and rlogin clients
handle mode settings in their own way, so check with your service,
documentation, or look thru your help files to see how this is done.
Many telnet clients use "toggle binary" to set 8-bit mode.

I've accomplished transfer rates of 1800 cps via telnet on a 14.4
connection - so it IS possible. Granted, the Internet is a fickle place
when it comes to throughput, so your actual rates will vary.

If you are on a "dumb" terminal that is logged into a Host computer
(like a mini or mainframe), then you have no file transfer protocols
(other than FTP) available to you while in a telnet session, so regular
BBS file transfers will not be possible.

  File Transfers with SLIP/PPP

For those users with a SLIP/PPP connection, a great program called
"ComT" allows you to redirect a comm port to be a telnet socket! This
allows you to use ANY standard Windows-based communications software to
telnet to a an SBI BBS and then use a regular download protocol (such as
Zmodem) for file transfers! The ComT program is available at the
dkunix.dkeep.com FTP site as COMT.ZIP.

  Shareware.

Another package called "CommNet" has just become available. Unlike ComT,
it is a complete communications package in itself, specializing in
SLIP/PPP telnet connections. It features a phone book for dial-up AND
telnet connections, and supports high speed Zmodem and Ymodem-G file
transfers. You can get a "demo" copy via FTP at ftp.radient.com
Registration costs $34.95.

For OS/2 users, there are communications drivers called "SIO", and a
communications interface program called VMODEM. VMODEM, along with the
SIO drivers, create a "virtual comm port" (similar to COMT for WIN),
that allows any OS/2 communications program to "dial" a telnet address
(ie, ATDT129.45.10.2). The drivers and programs can be found at most
any OS/2 FTP site, including "hobbes.nmsu.edu" and "ftp-os2.cdrom.com".

There are also several new SLIP (Winsock compatible) TELNET clients with
built-in Z-modem! The best of these is Neterm, and is avialable from the
SBI Home page on the WEB. Neterm also has some of the best ANSI-BBS
terminal emulation out there. HIGHLY recommended!

NEW for 1996: NetTerm now includes ALL SBI BBSs in a telnet-phone
directory for easy telnetting! Netterm and the telnet-phone book are all
available at the SBI home page.


              "QUICK" GUIDE TO SELECT BBS'S ON THE INTERNET
                             (SBI QUICK LIST)**

             Copyright by Richard S. Mark (cerebus@dkeep.com)
                    Stephen Grande, SBI List Verifier
        Featured in BBS Magazine, Boardwatch and West Coast Online
                    SBIQ0396.LST  (rev date: 03/01/96)

WHERE TO FIND THE SBI FILES:

WWW:    http://dkeep.com/sbi.htm - Includes a Guided Tour of I'net
        BBS's from around the world.

FTP:    gcomm.com (in /internet) - login: anonymous
        ftp.netropolis.be (Belgium) (in /pub/sbi) - login: anonymous

FINGER: sbi@dkeep.com         (Information about the SBI List)
        sbiq@dkeep.com        ("Quick" Guide to Select BBS's on Internet)
        sbi-info@dkeep.com    (Revision Information for current list)
        sbi-sysop@dkeep.com   (How to Become a Part of the SBI list)

EMAIL:  info@dkeep.com  - put the word "SBI" in the

TITLE/SUBJECT   (Info will be sent within 24 hours)

BBS:Dragon Keep - dkeep.com / (352) 375-3500 (login: sbi, pass: list)

Or call you Favorite BBS and download SBI0396.ZIP

  [**See Page 23 of this issue of WindowWatch for complete SBI Quick list.]


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In response to the WindoWatch request for a bio we got the following:

                       The Genesis of the List

A bio... hummmm.....

I dropped out of law school in 1982 at the beginning of the PC
revolution to work in a local computer store. In 1984 I entered into
partnership with a thoroughbred horse industry professional to offer
horse sales data electronically to banks and insurance companies. This
was my first experience with "online services". After the business
failed, I started work with a local network and computer reseller
setting up LAN's for law offices across North Florida. I eventually
became the Network Support Manager for four regional offices, and became
a certified Netware engineer (CNE). In the meantime I started up a
1-line BBS with my friend Paul "The Dragon" Martin called Dragon Keep in
1987.

The first system ran on an Atari 1040ST with a single floppy drive and a
300 baud modem. When we added a 150MB SCSI drive to the BBS, we became
the largest Atari-based BBS in the world <g>. Back then, the online
world was made up of computer enthusiasts and hackers - and most were
heavily into fantasy-role-playing, which became the theme of the board.

In 1989 we made a huge leap of faith and jumped on the Galacticom
bandwagon moving the BBS to a DOS-based platform running an incredible
14 phone lines. This was not only the first true multi-line interactive
system in our area, but also the only system to require payment for most
features. The hackers hated us, but the general public must have liked
the idea because we were in "the black" the very first 30 days of
operation. Meanwhile, I took a position at the local State Attorney's
office as their "Information Resource Manager" for their 6 county
offices across North Central Florida. In the time that's passed since, my
office network has grown to a 120 users, 6 county WAN, and my BBS
has...well...exploded into a 64 node mega-system with over 5,000 paying
members.

In 1994 we hooked our BBS up to the 'net, and became one of the first 15
"real" BBSs on the Internet. And that's when I started the list.
Originally I tried to get my BBS listed on some of the "other" lists
floating around, but discovered that in 1994, no one seemed to want to
list a "commercial" system. It didn't matter that we were a
not-for-profit BBS that merely took in enough money to operate. If we
weren't burning tax-payer dollars, then we were not a legitimate system.

So I started my "select" list of BBSs...."select" because it only listed
privately owned and operated systems. The first list was publicly
distributed in November of 1994, and had 35 BBSs on it. By December I
put the list up on the WEB. Since then the list has grown at the rate of
approximately 30-40 new systems each month. Now with about 500 systems
on the list, my "select" list is actually a comprehensive guide of true
content providers on the Internet.

Let me conclude this bit of rambling with the true moral of the story.
The rumor that BBSs are on death's bed is greatly exaggerated, and the
reality is quite the opposite. Many BBSs have become full blown internet
service providers - and Boardwatch magazine has renamed their annual
gathering of BBS operators from "BBSCON" to "ISPCON". There will be very
few sysops at this year's gathering. BBSs that forget about content will
fail, there can be no question about this. BBSs dedicated to doing what
they have always done - provide interactive online communities at a low
cost - will succeed like never before. New advances in BBS technology,
such as Galacticom's Worldgroup and Wildcat's Annihilator, will continue
to keep BBSs at the forefront of the online industry.

BBS sysops know a secret shared by very few in the online world. Fancy
3-D Web pages, and other trendy gee-whiz technology is not a replacement
for plain old human interaction. A user might glance at a WEB site, and
maybe even drop by occasionally to see if it's changed since last month,
but that user will drop by their favorite BBS hangout several times a
day to say hi to friends, make their chess move for the day, and see if
that new shareware game is online. Just like the real world, you cannot
interact effectively on a global scale - we don't "live" on earth, we
"live" in our town or city. BBSs are, in fact, the towns, villages, and
cities of the Internet - small enough to cultivate the only real
"content" that's meaningful. The secret is people, not pictures. It's
not the number of nodes, the amount of drive space, or the cleverness of
the games - it's the members that make a BBS a special place users like
to call home.

The moral of this story is that as BBSs migrate to the Internet, it's
not that they have joined the so-called global village, it's that the
world now has the opportunity to join these real villages.
     - richard mark - 3/96



   ww page 11
  Decency and Telecommunications Revisited!
  

                        The *CDA Challenge: Day #2
                           By Declan McCullagh
                             declan@well.com
                           Redistribute freely


PHILADELPHIA -3/24/96- At 2:21 PM today, one of the judges hearing our
challenge to the *Communications Decency Act finally got it.

"The folks in Luxembourg don't give a damn what our laws are. So my son,
who's 10, can still view 'Sexy European Girls?'" asked U.S. District
Court Judge Stewart Dalzell.

"That's correct," replied Scott Bradner of Harvard University, who took
the stand today to describe net.technology. Bradner told me afterwards
he thought Friday's hearing went well -- he had come to Philadelphia to
testify because this "is such an important issue."

Judge Dalzell's remark hints that he, at least, is starting to
understand the Internet -- and the consequences of the court's eventual
ruling. This comes not a picosecond too soon for those of us who have
been fidgeting in our seats, wincing as Department of Justice attorneys
misuse technical terms and hoping the judges can sort through the
cyberconfusion in just six days of hearings.

Dalzell has a keen sense of humor and seems sympathetic to our
arguments. In fact, I'd guess he's been doing some out-of-court
web-surfing himself. In an _astounding_ question at the end of the day,
he asked Bradner: "Isn't it true that the exponential and incredible
growth of the Internet came about because the government kept their
hands off of it?"

Bradner gladly agreed. (What else would he say?)

The other two judges aren't quite as reflective. In an incomprehensible
decision last month, Judge Ronald Buckwalter granted us only a
_partial_restraining order preventing the Feds from enforcing the CDA.

Now he's justifying his original mistake by taking a critical stance
during this hearing -- that is, when he's not dozing. During one of his
more alert moments, Buckwalter asked if labeling all online content is
possible: "Your problems are technical and financial? If these problems
are solved and we agree on the definition of indecent, is it possible?"
"Yes, it is," our witness replied. Buckwalter also asked earlier: "What
do you mean by saying the Internet is a very democratic medium? Isn't
there someone who steers discussion?" As proof, he held up a copy of a
recent Atlantic magazine article that claimed the most popular USENET
newsgroups are moderated and are therefore "quasi-authoritarian."

I suggested to our attorney, Chris Hansen from the ACLU, that he clarify
what percentage of newsgroups were moderated. On redirect, Hansen posed
that question to Donna Hoffman of Vanderbilt University. She replied
that most newsgroups are unmoderated. Later, Bradner of Harvard
University added that moderated newsgroups amount to less than 10
percent of the total.

Dolores Sloviter is the third judge on the panel. As the chief judge of
the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, she penned a sparkling decision
upholding free expression in a phone sex case. In this hearing,
Sloviter's questions are the most pointed and incisive. When Robert
Cronenberger of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library was testifying, Sloviter
asked him if under the CDA "would something have to be removed from your
collection?" Cronenberger replied: "We don't know. We would be afraid
that someone might find something indecent or patently offensive."

The Department of Justice attorneys are an interesting lot. Jay Baron is
a short, heavyset man who tries hard to land roundhouse punches during
cross-examination but instead comes across as prone to malapropisms. I
think he was the DoJer who confused <http://www.eff.org/> with
<http://www.itef.org/> and "ISP" with "IP address." Before the hearing
resumed for the afternoon, I introduced myself to him. He recognized me
as a plaintiff and said he included one of my articles on Marty Rimm as
evidence (!) and used it during depositions.
<http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/rimm/>

Tony Coppolino is more reserved and didn't say much when we chatted,
except to say that his office is busy enough with this case that they
won't be sending anyone to the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference
next week. I was impressed by the poise of Patricia Rosado, the DoJ's
point person on porn. Yesterday she floated the MacKinnonesque theory
that porn is harmful not just to minors, but also to women. Today she
greeted our witnesses with a barbed, stinging cross-examination.

Unfortunately for Rosado, she was up against Cronenberger, a likable
gent who came across as a traditional librarian close to the judges' own
ages -- not a net.geek like Donna Hoffman and Scott Bradner. (At one
point, Judge Sloviter demanded that Bradner explain URLs and linking in
English, not net-ese.)

The judges gladly related to Cronenberger's description of the Net as a
library -- finally, something they could grasp! The ACLU's Chris Hansen
expanded on this in a brilliant redirect, pointing out that the concept
extends beyond that of a traditional library, allowing a user to link
"from the fourth floor of Wiedner Library in Boston to the third floor
of the Carnegie Mellon University library in Pittsburgh."

Rosado from the DoJ rallied with questions like:

  DoJ: "You can do a keyword search on the seven dirty words?"

  DoJ: "Would a search on Abraham Lincoln turn up articles about sex?"

  R.C: "I've read many articles about his sex life, or lack of sex life.

  DoJ: "Would a search on travel turn up articles about sex?"

  DoJ: "Would a search on geology turn up articles about sex?"

  R.C: "Only if rock is put together with roll!" <laughter>)

  DoJ: "Would a search on food turn up articles about sex?"

  DoJ: "You exercise discretion as to what you make available. You don't
        carry everything, do you?"

  DoJ: "You select materials that reflect the local community standards?"

Not surprisingly, the DoJ is trying to keep the hearing focused on porn
and sex. (At least it keeps Buckwalter awake!) Not the truly extreme
stuff that obscenity laws already ban online, but the softcore
Playboy-style cyberpix that would be permitted in the absence of the
CDA. The Justice Department asked Vanderbilt's Hoffman:

  DoJ: "You stated in your deposition that you were generally familiar
        with the web page called Bianca's Smut Shack?"

  Judge Dalzell immediately looked up, startled: "Bianca's WHAT?"

  DoJ: "Bianca's SMUT Shack."

  Judge Dalzell: "Oh, okay."

Other DoJ questions included a passing reference to would-be cyber-porn
researcher Marty Rimm, who claimed that pornographers were using the Net
to recruit customers. (Last month, the DoJ attached Rimm's study as an
exhibit in their response to our complaint and cited it as evidence of
the pervasiveness of nasty stuff on USENET.)

Some examples:

  DoJ: "You will concede, will you not, that this law will not have a
       profound adverse effect [on password-protected smutty sites]?"

  DoJ: "Pornographers are using USENET newsgroups to advertise, are
       they not?"

  DoJ: "Tell us about bots and spiders."

  Judge Dalzell, trying hard: "That's an acronym, right?"

My fellow plaintiffs are wonderful. Kiyoshi Kuromiya testified the first
day, followed by Patricia Nell Warren. Warren and I had dinner on
Thursday with Jonathan Wallace of the Ethical Spectacle; we talked about
the political and social forces behind the push for the CDA. I asked
Wallace why he came down from New York City -- he told me because "this
is the most important free speech case in 60 years."

Today I sat next to the DoJ's net.experts, who kept leaning forward to
whisper technical data into the ears of the Justice Department's
attorneys. One of the two experts was from Brigham Young University. The
other was Steve Nesbitt from the Department of Defense. One or both
likely will be testifying as expert witnesses for the DoJ, but Justice
isn't releasing the list until April 3.

Stay tuned for more reports.



   ww page 12
  What AT&T Should Have Known But Forgot!
  

                          The Saga of WorldNet!
                     Copyright 1996 by Lois Laulicht


When AT&T was forced to break up its monopoly, it turns out they
relinquished a biggie: control of local access! Just ask the baby bells.

When thinking about the newest AT&T offering and its potential national
and international impact perhaps one should contemplate with nostalgia
and giggle at simple beginnings: Could it be that indigenous Americans
did get it right the first time? Without media hype early local services
of low tech smoke signals worked unless of course it rained. Even so,
when those guys built a fire they built a fire and then went on to
something else, - like carrying on trade with partners thousands of
miles away.

In truth, it's been the offensive hoo-hah-hah of the national and
computer press making too much of the AT&T announcement of an Internet
freebie for long distance customers by mid-March! That time has come and
gone and not even software. It could be the greatest service in the
world but we'll never know the truth. At least not now!

Promises! Promises! Promises! Such is typical marketing practice of
Internet and software services c.1996.

A call to AT&T right after the announcement took me from speculation
mode to open mouth-dropped jaw mode. Who'd a-thunk that such a smart
company, with an earlier downsize of 40,000 minus a reprieved 12,000
workers, would come up with such a shallow and costly sleight of hand.

Zinger One: They started WorldNet on March 15 with 200 local telephone
numbers across the country. Last time I checked with Channel One, Brian
Miller had provided his customers many more than that... and he and Tess
once described their service as a Mom and Pop operation.

Zinger Two: The AT&T model was invented by CompuServe, embellished by
Prodigy, expanded by AOL and now abandoned by H.R. Block, Sears Roebuck,
GE and NewsCorp. The smart boys are bailing out while they still have
something sell.

Zinger Three: I spent some time with one of the AT&T sales reps. The
favored response to the barest of implied criticism was "Well, we're
new!" You'd think they were selling Tupperware with only the meagerest
knowledge of telephony.

Zinger Four: Anyone who uses the Internet to do real work is acutely
aware that five hours a month is stoopid-silly. That $19.95 fee for
non-long distance AT&T customers is the base charge PLUS the long
distance charges using the AT&T long distance service...of course. Why
would any sane, free speechifying Internetter give up their local ISP at
$25 per month with unlimited access?

The Zinger of all Zingers! Why bother? To scare the teeny-tiny local
Internet Service Providers into a state of immobilization to mebbe sell
out to the first carpet bagger who sends a fax?

Case in point: John Stebbins of Bloomberg Business News began his column
on March 26 with "A.T.& T. SUES SMALL INTERNET PARTNER". It seems that
Dhiren Rana the founder of and partner with AT&T of the "tiny" Synet,
Inc an Illinois ISP, is being sued by the old lady "for trademark
infringement, breach of contract and unfair competition". Is this as big
a belly laugh to you as it is to me?

And then, says Clari.net News on March 27, "after announcing with great
fanfare its intention to offer Internet service to the masses, AT&T now
is saying its technical system still needs some work. The long-distance
giant still needs local computer nodes to collect data traffic and is
lacking Internet software for Mac and Windows 95 operating systems. The
service now probably won't be available until mid-April or May......"

We all know that this is just the beginning. Everyone makes mistakes but
this goof is so sad I want to sob into my pair of empty soup cans
connected by a thin fishing line. Tele-what?


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lois Laulicht is the publisher editor of WindoWatch



   ww page 13
  Alice: The Retail Giant
  

                            Try Before you Die
                   Copyright 1996 by Peter Neuendorffer


I bumped into Alice, the retail giant, and my friend, at Downtown
Crossing - a Boston shopping district. At first I thought she was
directing traffic, then I saw she was handing out pamphlets. I took one,
and read it:

"Share-Wear Emporium: try before you buy clothes. C'mon in and cart off
whatever you want without paying. If you end up wearing the clothes you
got, drop by with some money. Otherwise just destroy the sweater, pants,
suit, undergarments, or whatever Share-Wear you have taken. You need not
return them, and there is no charge. Our motto is "what you wear is what
you get."

We trust you if you trust us!

Inside the Share-Wear Emporium, many customers were complaining about
certain colors not being available, and certain sizes were poorly
represented in the "Cart it off on Us" room. Alice was flying about
explaining that if you bought it, you would then get what you want.

Outside a throng of protesters were chanting "Share-Wear's a Rip Off!"
and "Try before you die." Alice was noticeably moved, and decided to
arrest them for trespassing. and slander. She picked up several placards
on the ground that read "Alice in Restraints."

After several suits and counter suits in court - all the way up to the
Supreme Court, which refused to look at the case - it was found that
Alice was in fact falsely advertising, and was remanded to provide all
clothes free of charge.

"The buyer knows best," she told the press, while in tears; "but I never
said my product was free. This will ruin me, and have a direct effect on
the leveraged buyout of Company X. It just shows us there's no free
lunch," then added contritely. "But what about the sale of your
skyscraper?" asked the reporter from Woman's Wear Daily. "I have no
further comment now or in the future," cried Alice.

Meanwhile, the little man who wasn't there smiled secretively, scribbled
a quick note, and ascended via helicopter to a board room.

To be continued:


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter Neuendorffer is a Windows programmer and a shareware author. He
and Alice have had an usual relationship over the years which makes for
wonderful reading. He and Alice can be found at
petern@users.channel1.com



   ww page 14
  Programming Notes                                 A WindoWatch feature
  

                   Window Aspect: A Scripting Language
                 A Tutorial: Part Eleven Ghost BBS v3.20
                      Copyright 1996 by Gregg Hommel


Before we go on to anything else, let's get this out of the way....

This column will be slightly different than others, simply because
PCP/Win 3.0 has now been released. I do not want to spend this column
talking about that programme, however, there are a couple of things that
I would like to cover about upgrading in this column. Even before doing
that, I want to finish our discussion of the PCBMail code used to log on
to a generic PCBoard system, and then we will cover some notes on
PCP/Win 3.0....

So where were we?? Oh, yes.. our generic log on code for PCBoard systems
from PCBMail.....

Remember this code??

   proc get_prompt
      termgets $ROW 0 prompt_str $COL
      if CheckPrompt("Command")
         if CheckPrompt("Qmail")
            send_cmd()
         else
            taska=1
            if taskb
               watchfor=0
            endif
         endif
      elseif CheckPrompt("Enter)=yes?") ||
   CheckPrompt("More?") || /
   CheckPrompt ("Enter = Yes?")
         transmit "N^M"
      elseif CheckPrompt("=no change?") && lang==0
            transmit "^M"
            lang++
      elseif CheckPrompt("Enter)=no?") ||
   CheckPrompt("continue?") || /
   CheckPrompt("=none?") || CheckPrompt("Enter =
   No?")
         if CheckPrompt("graphics") ||
   CheckPrompt("Color?") && graph==0
            transmit "N Q NS^M"
            graph++
         else
            transmit "^M"
         endif
      elseif CheckPrompt("Password (Dots")
         transmit pword
         transmit "^M"
      elseif CheckPrompt("name?")
         transmit userid
         transmit "^M"
      elseif CheckPrompt("new user?") ||
   CheckPrompt("new caller?")
         transmit "r^M"
      endif
   endproc


I promised to explain some of the more obtuse code here this month, so
that's what I'll do...

This code...

   if CheckPrompt("Command")
      if CheckPrompt("Qmail")
         send_cmd()
      else
         taska=1
         if taskb
            watchfor=0
         endif
      endif

On a PCBoard system, there are various times when the word Command will
appear, mostly when you are at the main menus of the system. But, since
PCBMail was designed to log on, and handle the mail, I wanted the code
to go beyond just the PCBoard prompts, and into the mail door, which,
(for PCBMail), was a Qmail door. However I had to distinguish between
the main PCBoard command prompt, and those which appeared when we were
within the mail door to elect appropriate action. That is part of what
the code above does.. checks for the keyword Qmail along with the
keyword Command (i.e. the Qmail Command prompt), which invokes a special
procedure to handle instruction within the door.

However there was something else which had to be handled in that script
when we finally got past the login to the PCBoard Main Board Command
prompt. What was the script to do when it got to that place? PCBMail was
written to allow for some flexibility in this for the user, so it used a
dialog box immediately upon a successful connection, to ask the user
what he wanted to do this time. That dialog is under a timer routine so
that, if nothing happens in it within ten seconds, it defines certain
defaults, and closes down.

But on many PCBoard systems, ten seconds is more time than it takes to
login, especially using a script. Remember, while this options dialog is
on screen in PCBMail (and PCB Freedom), the script is continuing to
login to the BBS. So, when the script got to the main board Command
prompt, it had to have some way to determine whether or not the options
in the dialog box had been set, either through user interaction, or by
default on timeout.

Therefore, I defined two variables, taska and taskb, in PCBMail to keep
track of the actions of both tasks the script was running
simultaneously.. the login to the BBS, and the selection of options via
the dialog box. Both variables were initialized at 0, and when the task
they applied to completed, they were set to 1.

The above code, then, determines that, since we are at the main board
Command prompt, taska is complete, and gets set to 1. It then checks the
value of taskb (the user option dialog) to see if it is completed (i.e.
a value of 1), and if it is, it stops a wait loop, to let the script
continue past this point.

There is similar code in the procedure which runs with the dialog box,
except in reverse, and which handles items the same way, if taska (the
login) completes before taskb (the dialog).

I assume that this makes the above code segment clear as mud now, and
we'll go on to the next obtuse section...

      elseif CheckPrompt("Enter)=no?") ||
   CheckPrompt("continue?") || /
   CheckPrompt("=none?") || CheckPrompt("Enter =
   No?")
         if CheckPrompt("graphics") ||
   CheckPrompt("Color?") && graph==0
            transmit "N Q NS^M"
            graph++
         else
            transmit "^M"
         endif

On PCBoard systems, several prompts can be triggered by a series of
keywords, and receive the same response, which in the case above, is
normally a simple enter. However, one prompt, although still a negative
answer, can use a more complicated response to avoid a lot of nonsense
when you are logging into a PCBoard system. That prompt is the graphics
prompt, which, if answered with "N Q NS" results in a speedy, less
complicated login.

That response represents N - no graphics, Q - quick login, NS - news
skip. It eliminates the viewing of news and bulletin files, and speeds up
the login process. This is a desirable thing when a script is in
control. So, I wanted PCBMail to make that response to the graphics
prompt, but I didn't want to have to add a whole set of elseif commands
to do so. The graphics prompt only appears during login, and appears
only once and can be distinguished by either the word graphics or Color
in the prompt. Thus, the code above, when it catches a prompt which MAY
be the graphics prompt, checks for those keywords, and then checks to
see if we have already answered the prompt, i.e. is graph==0, which
means we haven't answered the graphics prompt.

If this is true (i.e. graph==0), then we respond to it, and set
graph==1. If we then run across another prompt which contains the
keywords for graphics in it, PCBMail will treat it as a non-graphics
prompt. This would be true since we have already responded to that
particular prompt.

That about covers the code for the generic PCBoard login, from PCBMail,
unless, of course, any of you have any questions?

Since I don't see any hands raised <G>, we'll go on, albeit briefly
only, to PCP/Win 3.0...


PCP/Win 3.0 is Datastorm's latest attempt at being all things,
communication-wise, to all people. This version packs a wallop, both in
features/enhancements, and hard disk real estate needed to hold them.
The outside of the box for PCP/Win 3.0 says that it requires at least 35
meg of hard drive space if you do a full install. So be prepared.

Let me offer some tricks/tips regarding the installation of this newest
version...

1) Before installing PCP/Win 3.0, BACK UP ANY PCP/WIN 2.xx FILES WHICH
CAN'T BE REPLACED EASILY!. I mean things like your custom scripts (WAS
files at a minimum), your PCP/Win 2.xx dialing directories (in the
\PROWIN2 directory, file extension .DIR), any custom or modified tool
bars you use (same directory with the extension *.PWB), keyboard layouts
*.KBD), meta key files *.KEY)! If you have your download and upload
directories under PCP/Win 2.xx UNDER PCP/Win 2.xx (i.e. in
subdirectories under the \PROWIN2 directory), make backup copies of any
files in those subdirectories also.

I am not saying that anything will happen to any of these files, but it
is far better to be safe, than sorry...

2) When you install, like PCP/Win 2.xx, you will be offered a choice of
where you want to install PCP/Win 3.0.

**DO NOT INSTALL V.3.0 IN YOUR V.2.xx DIRECTORY UNLESS YOU HAVE
  ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF EVER RETURNING TO PCP/WIN 2.xx!!**

The best, and safest choice is, if memory serves, the third one on the
list or installing PCP/Win 3.0 to a new directory, and updating/
converting your PCP/Win 2.xx files. This requires more hard drive space
since it is being installed in a new directory, rather than replacing
old files. It will, however, leave your PCP/Win 2.xx installation in a
usable state, allowing you the choice of which version to run. And that
choice may be critical to you, for a while, at least, because....

3) Once more, scripts written in previous versions of PCP/Win and Wasp
are not compatible with the new versions in 3.0. All of your so
carefully written scripts will have to be converted to Wasp 3.0.
Actually, the install option mentioned above does that for you, but some
clean up of the source code will still be required and then recompiled
before they can be used. Even so, there is no guarantee that they will
function as you want after you do a recompile due to changes in
functionality, etc. in PCP/Win 3.0.

Just in case they don't work, you want your PCP/Win 2.xx installation in
a still usable condition, so that you can run your scripts from there,
until you can get them working under PCP/Win 3.0.

Additionally, the conversion process during the install will only
convert SOURCE FILES, i.e. WAS files. If any of your scripts are in
compiled version only (i.e. a WAX extension, without the matching WAS
file), those scripts will not be converted, and will not run under
PCP/Win 3.0. You will need to run them under PCP/Win 2.xx until you can
obtain the source code to convert, or an updated WAX file from the
author. (This includes PCB Freedom 2.0, and GHOST BBS 3.20... both are
PCP/Win 2.xx scripts, and will not run under PCP/Win 3.0. Additionally,
they will not be converted to Wasp 3.0, since they are WAX files only.

4) *DO A CUSTOM INSTALL!!* - and be selective, when installing, and/or
be prepared to re-install PCP/Win 3.0 later when you decide which
components you want to keep, and which you want to get rid of.

As noted above, a full install of PCP/Win 3.0 will take up at least 35
megs. of hard drive real estate. In that space will be OCR software for
faxes, a QWK packet reader based on Doug Crocker's shareware WaveRider,
16 bit TCP/IP stack and WINSOCK.DLL (from SuperTCP), FTP, Telnet, Email,
and News Group clients, and a Web browser based on, and licensed from,
Spyglass Mosaic (2.0). There will also be scripts for Host, MCI Mail,
Compuserve, and samples of other scripts.

You may not want all of these things.. if you already have access to the
Internet, you may prefer to continue using your current Web browser, or
Email reader, or whatever. If you regularly use QWK mail, you may
already have a reader for those packets which you would prefer to
continue using. You may have no need for OCR for your incoming fax
files.

The point is that, in spite of trying hard to be, PCP/Win 3.0 may not be
all things to all people. And *NOW* is the best time to handle that
fact. PCP/Win 3.0, like PCP/Win 2.xx before it, does not ship with an
"uninstall" that handles removing individual components from your
install.. it gets rid of the whole thing *INCLUDING* your custom
scripts, etc. If you have your up and download directories stored under
\PROWIN3, it will get rid of anything in those directories also!

If you install the whole kit and caboodle, and then later, change your
mind, and want to eliminate some of the features, perhaps to save hard
drive space, or for whatever reason, the only way to do this, in truth,
is to remove PCP/Win 3.0 entirely, and re-install without the "goodies"
you don't want, and hope that, in the process, you don't lose anything
you need when PCP/Win 3.0 uninstalls itself. It is possible (and fairly
easy) to, later, add items that you leave out now. Just re-install,
using CUSTOM, and select only those items you left out, but it is much
more difficult to remove any you install now, and don't want later.

There's more about PCP/Win 3.0, of course, and we'll cover that, one way
or another, later, but the above thoughts should get you safely past the
install. Once past that, we can worry about the rest later, since you'll
at the least, still have a working copy of PCP/Win 2.xx on your system
to run until we do cover more about PCP/Win 3.0.


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gregg Hommel is a much respected Aspect script writer and programmer. He
is well known on the various nets hosting any number of conferences. He
is applying his considerable programming talents to the construct of his
own homepage and ours. Gregg sits on our Editorial Board and is a
regular WindoWatch contributor. Gregg can be reached at
gregghom@ophelia.waterloo.net.



   ww page 15
  The IWill MotherBoard
  

                             A Hardware Note

                        Copyright 1996 by Bob Blow


    (Editorial  Note:  I had been following  this thread in the Ilink
    Hardware  conference  and  asked  Bob  if  I  might reproduce the
    following. This is not to be construed as plugging this board for
    compensation of any sort by either Bob Blow or WindoWatch!)


As you will recall, I wanted to upgrade my existing 486DX2/66 VLB
system. I initially went with the NexGen VLB 90MHz motherboard as the
least expensive move to a 586 class machine while retaining my existing
investment in VLB cards.

The NexGen VLB board did not work out for me. It does not comply with
standard VLB clock speeds and I never could get it to work with my
Hercules VLB Terminator. Therefore, I returned the NexGen.

I then decided to bite the bullet and move to PCI and a genuine Intel
Pentium. That would mean not only replacing the motherboard, but getting
PCI replacements for both my VLB graphics card and VLB SCSI controller.
A co-worker recommended the IWill motherboard for several reasons...

   o Supports all Pentium CPUs from 75MHz through 200MHz
   o Uses the Intel Triton PCI chipset
   o Two EIDE interfaces for up to four IDE devices
   o 2 16550 UART serial ports
   o Parallel port with EPP/ECP support
   o Bus mouse port
   o Award Plug & Play BIOS
   o Support for EDO RAM and Pipeline cache
   o Audible alarm for CPU overheat/cooling fan failure
   o Built-in Adaptec AIC-7880 SCSI-I and SCSI-II Wide/Ultra Wide

The last feature really caught my attention. This was the first mother
board I had encountered that had both EIDE and SCSI built-in. That meant
I could use my existing SCSI hard drive and CD-ROM drive without having
to replace my old VLB controller card.

I bought the bare motherboard at a local computer show for $419.00.
That's high for a bare board, but this is truly a premium motherboard
and consider it worth every penny. I then bought the 256k pipeline cache
for $49 and a P150 CPU for $539 from another vendor. BTW, this was the
weekend when the P150 chips first became available and prices have
dropped since then.

The motherboard was a dream to configure. I only had to set one
jumper... the setting for CPU clock speed. Even the CMOS BIOS setup
defaults were right on. I only had to enable the built-in SCSI
controller which then interrogated my devices and came back with the
correct identification of the hard drive and CD-ROM.

This motherboard comes with every cable one could need, including the
hard to find SCSI-II cable. The CPU alarm is neat... it connects to the
system speaker (if you touch your finger on the fan to stop it rotating,
the alarm immediately goes off). I replaced my graphics card with a PCI
Hercules Terminator Pro and have been happy since.


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bob Blow can be found on the popular Ilink network. As you can see he
is a very helpful person willing to take the time to answer questions.



   ww page 16
  The Cutting Edge!
  

                             The Latest Thing

                   Copyright 1996 by Peter Neuendorffer


Somehow I always stay a generation behind the latest personal computing
advances. I have been unable to install a single-speed CD-ROM to Windows
95. My printer will only print in high quality mode - much too slow for
me! My forays surfing the World Wide Web are unenhanced by my 14.4
modem. Multimedia means I have a keyboard, a mouse, and a super VGA
monitor.

It was just a year ago I was pounding my desk in rage over my pokey
80286. I found myself doing just that the other day with my new 80486.
Evidently the swap file in Windows 95 is a very busy item.

Is it my imagination, or are programs taking longer to load?

My friends, thinking that my programming bent makes me an expert and ask
me to solve various installation horror stories. After installing games
off the Internet, one friend lost the use of his CD-Rom drive. Another
man had gotten a new monochrome monitor for his 8088. He called me up to
say that there was only strange words up on the screen. I blithely said
"Oh, it's a driver." Turns out he had the brightness control turned
down, so only highlighted words were visible.

Barely a couple years ago, I had constant problems with my phone line.
It seemed to happen on rainy weekends and it rained a lot of weekends
that year. When the repair people came to the house, as soon as they saw
the computer, they would say "Oh, it's the computer!" Very quickly,
since then, the NYNEX repair department became much more aware of
problems relating to the computer. Going back to my bad line, I started
calling the phone company President's office on a daily basis.
Eventually a man who looked a lot like Robert DeNiro arrived, saying
"I'm the one who fixes the problems no one else can."

The other day I spent $30.00 on a software tech support line, and they
didn't know the answer to my question. Such calls have all the hallmarks
of the obsessive compulsive behavior of those of us who call sex lines.

I picture some day a gigantic help desk you can call for any software or
hardware support question, or any Jeopardy type question. "Wild Bill
Hickock's sidekick". Answer "Who was Andy DeVine?" But I suppose they
would have to charge a lot for the service.

My experience with Plug and Play has been dismal. Also, has anyone else
noticed that it very hard to configure Netscape for Windows 95 with your
own provider? I still don't have it up! The ads on TV show pc's which
must be rather fast, judging from the graphics. And they don't seem to
churn and churn, like my hard drive does. In fact, correct me if I'm
wrong, direct film/video filming of a CRT screen looks terrible, so the
image is usually pasted on digitally to the view of the box.

When I got my first computer, I took a cab from the store, feeling like
a million dollars. My second, third and forth computers arrived package
express, and I had to sit with my legs propped up on the box. Talk about
adrenaline rush. The last one, I had a premonition that my 486 would
arrive on a certain day (I had a check for C.O.D.) and tracked down the
nearest FED Express van on the street, assuring him I was not robber. He
radioed his partner and found the boxes. When they arrived, I sat down
and propped up my legs on the main box. It doesn't get any better than
that.

Everyone else does it so here are my Top Ten signs that you are a
computer nut:

     10. You have a closet full of obsolete equipment
      9. You put scotch tape on disks to re-use commercial disks.
      8. You lose your house keys in the house regularly.
      7. At least one boy/girl friend (or wife/husband) has shouted:
         "You don't love me, you only love your computer."
      6. You often post angry messages then delete them, praying
          that no one saw them.
      5. You are able to obtain legal promotional software copies.
      4. You regularly get hangup calls on the phone.
      3. You regularly get chain letters or credit card offers in the mail.
      2. You sometimes end your work day by having coffee at 8:00 AM
      1. When you hunt bugs in your software, you think that you are
          really inside the computer.


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter Neuendorffer is a Windows programmer. Several of his programs are
available on the World Wide Web at http://www.channel1.com/user/petern
Peter is a regular WindoWatch contributor.



   ww page 17
  Attention !
  

                          It's That Time Again!

                       Copyright 1996 Derek Buchler


As many of you know, each leap year the Internet must be shut down for
twenty-four hours in order to allow us to clean it. The cleaning
process, which eliminates dead email and inactive ftp, www and gopher
sites, allows for a better-working and faster Internet.

This year, the cleaning process will take place from 12:01 a.m. GMT on
Feb. 29 until 12:01 a.m. GMT on March 1. During that twenty-four hour
period, five powerful Internet-crawling robots situated around the world
will search the Internet and delete any data that they find.

In order to protect your valuable data from deletion we ask that you do
the following:

1. Disconnect all terminals and local area networks from their Internet
   connections.

2. Shut down all Internet servers, or disconnect them from the Internet.

3. Disconnect all disks and hardrives from any connections to the
   Internet.

4. Refrain from connecting any computer to the Internet in any way.

We understand the inconvenience that this may cause some Internet users,
and we apologize. However, we are certain that any inconveniences will
be more than made up for by the increased speed and efficiency of the
Internet, once it has been cleared of electronic flotsam and jetsam.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Kim Dereksen
Interconnected Network Maintenance staff
Main branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sysops and others: Since the last Internet cleaning, the number of
Internet users has grown dramatically. Please assist us in alerting the
public of the upcoming Internet cleaning by posting this message where
your users will be able to read it. Please pass this message on to other
sysops and Internet users as well. Thank you.

AAAAA - American Association Against Acronym Abuse


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Derek Buchler has been providing WindoWatch with bits of humor from the
very beginning of the magazine. He is a systems administrator and an
Internet Watcher par excellente! He can be reached at derek@tecogen.com



   ww page 18
  Aitch Tee Tee Pee Colon Forward Slash Forward Slash !
  

                       Reflections of a ModemJunkie

                    Copyright 1996 by Leonard Grossman


H T T P: / /  The characters stare down from giant bill boards, stretch
across full page adds in the New York Times, and appear with seeming
significance in t.v. commercials. Radio announcers struggle with
pronunciation: "Aitch tee tee pee colon forward slash forward slash..."
Everyone who is anyone seems to have his or her own Web page. So, after
a year and a half of surfing it was finally time for this ModemJunkie to
try his hand at HTML too.

Actually, its all Mike Scher's fault. It was about a year ago. I was
experimenting with my internet service. I had heard there was a way I
could upload my old columns to a directory on the server at MCS and the
public could use FTP (the File Transfer Protocol) to access and download
them. So I played around and uploaded a few. I even announced their
existence in a couple of internet newsgroups. No one ever asked me how
to get them. I promptly forgot all about it.

Then a few weeks ago I was playing around with a new search tool,
AltaVista. Modest though I am, I searched for my own name. There were
lots of hits with Leonard or Grossman. But one surprised me. It linked
to a site maintained by Mike called Chicago Internet Attractions. I
clicked on the URL (Universal resource locator),
http://www.tezcat/web/chi-internet.html, and there was a description of
my columns and a highlighted link. I clicked and there appeared a list
of the filenames I had uploaded so long ago. I clicked on one and !POW!
There on the screen before my eyes was an article I had written three
years ago.

Mike had taken advantage of the fact that the FTP protocol can be used
as a URL and linked like any other web address. By the way, lately I've
heard URL pronounced "yourl." I don't think its much of an improvement
over U-R-L, said quickly. What we really need is a short hand for
http:// !

Now I could tell my friends to go to Mike's page and click. There was
only one problem. Due to a limitation on the MCS server, I don't
remember whether it's hardware or software, only 36 simultaneous
anonymous FTP requests can be processed at any one time. With over 8,000
accounts, there are many times when it was impossible to reach the files
through that route. I left Mike a note and he suggested I set up access
using the HyperText Transfer Protocol. Now you know what 'http' stands
for. With a few suggestions from MCS users -- one even sent me a few
lines of HTML (hypertext markup language) which could be used as a
template for the index -- I was on my way.

I quickly realized I was actually creating my own web page and I got
carried away. I decided to add an introductory paragraph. Then I decided
to talk about syslink and CACHE and Nicol. Then I went to Harold
Driscoll's page and pirated the language necessary to incorporate the
blue ribbon from the Campaign for First Amendment Freedom. When I did
that I didn't know it was being offered to anyone. A few more steps and
I was ready to upload the files to the server. I entered the URL in
Netscape--NOTHING.

A few quick lessons in Unix permissions form helpful MCS regulars and
WOW!! My primitive first page appeared, the collected "Reflections of
ModemJunkie." Just a simple introduction and a list of file names but it
was a start.

The blue ribbon didn't appear but a broken image icon did. (Readers: Is
there a name for this??) I clicked on it and it took me to the page
sponsored by the groups that have come together to oppose the
anti-obscenity provisions of the new telecommunications bill. There,
available for download, were several images I could incorporate in my
page. A few more steps and the blue ribbon graced my page.

I soon realized that this was just an index, however. Not something
worth reading in its own right. But now I was hooked. I began creating a
real page - one with links to other places, search tools, news groups,
even eventually, a counter that shows how many "hits" my page receives.
I got indexed by the AltaVista. Search on ModemJunkie and you'll find
about 40 references to my stories, with the first 25 words or so of each
appearing on the screen. Click and you are reading my past.

Another addiction.. Now I walk around planning pages. But I am not very
patient and creating a page takes patience. Everything must be correct
or the page won't work. And of course what looks good on my browser,
Netscape, may not look so hot in Mosaic.

And I am learning about the philosophy of HTML. Should I use a plain
text editor or one especially configured for HTML... and if so should it
be WYSIWYG or not (reminds me of the old arguments between DOS and
Windows). For the time being I am doing it all manually--so that I can
learn what I am doing. I suspect I'll be using one of the more advanced
editors before long, however.

There are even debates about form. White backgrounds vs undefined,
preformatted text vs allowing the text to flow in the document. Even
political correctness. It is considered bad form to say "click here" on
your page. Arguments about this rage in the newsgroups. There are sites
where you can have your page validated. Mine passed all but the most
stringent tests but, in my opening paragraph I indicate that my columns,
the "_Reflections_ _of_ _a _Modemjunkie_ are collected _here_." Both
"Reflections of a ModemJunkie" and "here" are links to the index page.
The validator solemnly informed me that this was bad form. Tough, I say!
There are times when convention makes sense and times when it does not.

For the curious, my page is at http://www.mcs.net/~grossman
Click there!


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leonard Grossman in an attorney who works for the government. He is a
WindoWatch regular and has been contributing "Reflections" for some
time. Comments can be sent to grossman@mcs.com or
leonard.grossman@syslink.mcs.com



   ww page 19
  The Newest Software!
  

                           The InTouch Sampler

                      Copyright 1996 by Lance Jones


Name:          ActiveX Add-On For Internet Explorer
Version:       3.0 Alpha
File Date:     03/16/96
Size:          1.5 Mb
More Info:     http://www.microsoft.com/ie/appdev/controls/default.htm
File Location: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ie/activex.exe

Description:   ActiveX Technologies makes it easy for the broadest range
of software developers and Web designers to build dynamic content for
the Internet and the PC. Through ActiveX Technologies, today's static
Web pages come alive with a new generation of active content, including
animation, 3-D virtual reality, video and other multimedia content.
ActiveX Technologies embrace Internet standards and will be delivered
on multiple platforms, giving users a rich, open framework for
innovation while taking full advantage of their investments in
applications, tools and source code. More than 100 companies immediately
supported the initiative and announced their intent to develop content,
applications and tools based on ActiveX. Netscape Communications has
agreed to support ActiveX and will soon be offering an ActiveX plug-in
for their Navigator Web browser.


Name:           Change File Type 96
Version:        1.0
File Date:      03/13/96
Size:           63 Kb
Download Time:  Approx. 1 minute with 14.4 modem
Developed By:   Jack Mathews
Registration:   Freeware
File Location:  http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~jm66626/filetype.zip

Description:    Change File Type 96 is a great Win95 shell extension
which allows you to alter file types quickly. After you install the
program, it adds "Change File Type" to the right-click menu of any kind
of file (except Shortcuts), followed by a dialog box which provides you
with several options for making the necessary changes. This application
seamlessly incorporates a very useful tool into your Windows 95 desktop.


Name:           iSeek
Version:        1.0
File Date:      03/15/96
Size:           973 Kb
Download Time:  Approx. 16 minutes with 14.4 modem
Developed By:   InfoSeek Corporation
Registration:   Freeware (expires April 15/96)
File Location:  http://download.infoseek.com/download/issetup.exe

Description:    iSeek is an interesting application which brings the
popular InfoSeek search engine and utilities directly to your Win95
desktop. An iSeek query bar resides on your desktop, allowing you to
make search requests on InfoSeek without opening your browser or
visiting InfoSeek's Web site. The program then returns search results in
your default browser. You can enter your search as you would ask a
question in normal conversation, and for more powerful search options,
you can use the same syntax you use to search with Infoseek Guide.
Notable features of the program include the ability to store searches
that you may want to use again as icons in the iSeek window, the ability
to assign a graphical icon to represent the search (and then visit the
locations by double-clicking the icon), and the ability to embed iSeek
icons in word processing or spreadsheet documents for others to use.
There is an Explorer-style toolbar with the standard Edit and View
buttons, and buttons for inserting searches and locations and changing
their properties.


Name:          Look@Me
Version:       1.0
File Date:     03/12/96
Size:          1 Mb
Download Time: Approx. 16 minutes with 14.4 modem
Developed By:  Farallon Computing, Inc.
Registration:  Free Beta Evaluation
File Location: http://collaborate.farallon.com/www/look/look@.exe

Description:   Look@Me is a real-time Internet collaboration tool which
allows you to edit documents, review presentations, examine graphics, or
provide training/support on another PC. The program enables you to watch
activity taking place on another Look@Me user's screen, and it can be
run either as a standalone applet or as a Netscape Navigator plug-in.
Collaboration over the Internet can occur between Look@Me users (or
Timbuktu Pro users -- the commercial version of this program) on either
a Windows PC or a Macintosh. The concept is quite simple but the
applications of this technology are limitless.


Name:          Moondo
Version:       1.0a
File Date:     02/27/96
Size:          2.5 Mb
Download Time: Approx. 40 minutes with 14.4 modem
Developed By:  Intel Corporation
Registration:  Freeware
File Location: http://tucows.niia.net/files/moondo.exe

Description:   Moondo is a 32-bit application which pushes the boundaries
of Internet technology. The program allows you to visit 3D multi-user
virtual worlds and create your own virtual worlds for others to visit.
Moondo features VRML rooms and avatars, audio chat, customizable
avatars, multiple views of the virtual world (different "camera
angles"), and URL-based browsing of distributed Moondo servers
world-wide. Once your Moondo client is connected to a room, it enables
you to view the virtual room and all its occupants, move around in the
virtual environment, and chat (audio, text or both) with others in that
same virtual space. Everyone's avatar position is updated as they move
around. Unfortunately there were no occupants in the main Moondo room
when I visited, but the features of the program were simply incredible.
The application is RAM-hungry, so please remember to close any open
windows if you're running 8 MB, or your hard disk will tire quickly of
continual swapping.


Name:          Safety Net
Version:       4.4
File Date:     03/11/96
Size:          153 Kb
Download Time: Approx. 2 minutes with 14.4 modem
Developed By:  CT Software
Registration:  Shareware $15.00
File Location: http://members.aol.com/ron2222/sftynt44.zip

Description:   Safety Net is a great utility for backing-up critical
Windows system files. The program has a default setting, which will copy
all "DAT" (registry) files, "INI" files and "INF" files from both your
windows and windows\system directories (the copied files can be placed
either in a separate directory or onto a floppy diskette). Safety Net
will also copy your "config.sys" and "autoexec.bat" files for
safekeeping. When used in conjunction with a virus scanner, this
application can help prevent countless hours of grief in the unlikely
event of a total system "meltdown"!


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lance Jones is the owner of the Intouch 32bit Windows95 newsletter. His
effort continues to grow as he provides an authoritative resource for
Windows95 users on the Internet and beyond. If you wish to subscribe to
his free list send an Email to <listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com> with
SUBSCRIBE IN-TOUCH YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME as the body of the E-mail

To unsubscribe, type "SIGNOFF IN-TOUCH" and send it to the above
address.



   ww page 20
  Internet Gems:
  


McKinley's Magellan does a fine job of reviewing and rating Web sites.
Their service certainly saves this surfer lots of time because their
reviews are to the point and although brief - quite thorough! They gave
WindoWatch three stars... we give them four! Http://www.mckinley.com/

One of the handiest tools on the WEB is the Internet Address Finder by
DoubleClick (http://www.iaf.net/). It's the greatest gizmo since the
wire Slinky. If you're looking for an email address, checking the
accuracy of an email address, or just finding old friends, spouses, or
people you've lost touch with, this is the place to look first. The
supplied form makes it easy and intuitive to use.

BrowserWatch (http://www.browserwatch.com/) is the place to go if you
want to keep up on what is new in the realm of plugins. The page not
just describes each plugin but makes clear the appropriate platform and
the development status of the software, if it is beta or a finished
product or in progress.

Switchboard (http://www.switchboard.com) is a data base of both
residential and business telephone numbers. So long as your search
target is listed your prospect of success in excellent. Not good for new
telephone numbers or women who have their phone listing under their
spouse's name.



   ww page 21
  Where are we going?
  

                             The Last Word...

                       Copyright 1996 by Ben Schorr


The computer industry seems to have a benchmark for everything. There
are Winmarks, Megahertz, access times, seek times, transfer rates...you
name it and there seems to be a measurement for it. A measurement for
everything except perhaps the most important factor: Productivity.

Let's face it folks, upgrades, enhancements, new software, new hardware
all of this - in fact, - the whole darn computer - exist for one simple
reason: To help the user do their job faster, easier and/or better. Does
it really gauge a user's productivity that the latest version of Word
has floating toolbars or that WordPerfect for Windows will let them view
a graphic in the document in the editing mode? Maybe. Maybe not. The
bigger problem, in my opinion, is that not enough IS (Information
System) professionals are asking those kinds of questions before
suggesting upgrades.

Far too often I see people roll their eyes or exclaim with indignation
upon being told that a company isn't running Windows 95 or maybe not
even Windows 3.1. Some OS/2 users brand as heretics anyone who dares to
suggest that Warp isn't the best solution for every computer need...
after my last encounter with one of them, I had to check with my doctor
to verify that OS/2 doesn't cure cancer!

Of course I know that most applications and operating systems have their
fans. Certainly there are applications that I like to work with and
enjoy recommending (I've been trying desperately to find a client who
needs Lotus Notes!). But it always comes back to the too often forgotten
piece of the system: The User!

I have a client, a law firm, that runs about three dozen 386SX-16s.
These systems boot MS-DOS 6.22, are connected with a LANtastic 6.0
network where the last line of the AUTOEXEC.BAT loads WordPerfect 5.1+
for DOS. In fact, most of these machines sit in WordPerfect for DOS
twenty-four hours a day. When I present this scenario to consultants and
IS professionals one of the first things that happens is that the wheels
in their heads start turning; you can see the flutter in their eyelids
as they start contemplating and calculating:

"Hmmm...new motherboards, mice, Windows 95, Microsoft Office 95, 16M of
RAM each, Diamond Stealth 64 Video, 4X CD-ROM drives, 1Gig EIDE hard
drives..."

They start adding and calculating, mentally surveying the cyberscape to
see what they can fix. The problem is, they haven't asked any questions.
They don't know if anything is broken, and more importantly, they don't
even know what the users do with their computers.

Next time you're contemplating an upgrade or change, ask this question
first:

"Am I fixing a problem or just spending money?" If you're just spending
money, then more power to you. Go buy that latest gee-wiz product. Get
the keyboard with the scanner in it, even though your use is to play
Wing Commander. Upgrade to Windows 95, even though you aren't sure what
a mouse is. However, if you're fixing a problem, you have lots more
questions to ask before you push the shopping cart through CompUSA.

1. What is this computer used for? The computer is a tool used to make
the user more productive. Reread that last sentence, it's important. Go
ahead, I'll wait...good! Productive means that it helps the user do a
task faster, easier or better than before. Almost anything you can do
with a computer you can do without a computer. It just might take a lot
longer, more skills, more thought, more space, more help. The computer
is supposed to expedite, simplify, and improve. Faster, easier, better.

2. What problem am I fixing? Is this upgrade a solution in search of a
problem? If so, you're just spending money for the sake of it. I still
haven't found a client who really needs Lotus Notes. It's a cool
product, looks like lots of fun and profit to work with... but it's a
solution in search of a problem for me, right now, at least. If you can
clearly identify the problem you are trying to solve, you are ready to
move on to question #3. If you can't...keep thinking about it and
talking to your users.

3. Now you've clearly identified your problem or have you? Before we
proceed to the next step we need to get as much information about the
nature of the problem as possible. For example: Let's say that your user
is experiencing "Out of Memory" errors in Windows. If you don't know
what kind of memory they're out of, how can you fix the problem? If you
add more physical memory to the system, and they were running out of
conventional memory, you've spent time and money, but probably haven't
done much to solve their problem.

4. So, - you know what the problem is and you've gathered as much
information as you can about the problem. Can you now choose a solution?
Chances are there will be at least one alternative approach to the
problem, and anywhere from two to a dozen competing products. How do
you, then, make a choice? The best way is to have first-hand experience
in solving these kinds of problems even though that's not always
feasible. There's a first time for everything, as the story goes.
Barring first-hand experience, my preference is to tap the experience of
others.

Find a consultant or technician that you respect and ask them what
they've done to fix the problem in the past. What solutions did they
choose, what options did they consider and how it turned out for them.

Talk to end users who've experienced the problem and see what solutions
were implemented and find out if they were happy with the results.

Don't rely too much on vendors or manufacturers except for easily
verifiable information like standard specifications and features;
remember that the marketing department puts together most of the sales
sheets and their primary interest is to sell a lot of that solution.

If the solution is a new piece of software or hardware that the user
will have to interact with (like a printer or scanner), keep the user
involved in the process. Remember that it's the user who will have to
use this tool on a daily basis. Long after you've gone back to the
office, they'll be living with the system. It's crucial that the user
feel good about the solution, it's implementation and the end result.

5. Now that you've chosen a solution, it's time to implement that
solution. Carefully document the steps you take to implement it. If
there's a problem, this documentation could prove valuable to you in
retracing your steps. If you need to repeat the solution for a different
user in the future, this documentation could prove to be a valuable
reference resource.

6. After the solution is in place, track the results. Did you solve the
original problem? Is the computer faster, easier or better than it was
before? More reliable? You know what you spent in time and money, what
did you get for it?

How does the user feel about the results? Check in with the user at
predefined intervals, maybe the next day, the following week, the week
after that, and then perhaps a month or two later to see how the
solution held up over the long term.

The follow-up is important. You will, occasionally, implement a solution
that does not have the desired results. The follow-up, and how you
handle the feedback, can mean the difference between having an unhappy
and unproductive user and making the adjustments necessary to turn that
result around.

I realize that the temptation to run the fastest, latest and greatest
leads many people down the road of constant upgrades, but unless you're
made of money or like to be frustrated, it pays to have a practical
approach to getting your users to their destination.


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben Schorr is a working consultant and partner with a Los Angeles
consulting firm. He is regular contributor to WindoWatch along with his
hosting duties in the ILink Consultants conference.



   ww page 22

                      The WindoWatch Volume 1 Index


Author               Title                              Vol  No      Date

Anonymous            Beta Bits                           1   3    February-95
Anonymous            Is There A Logo In Your Life        1   8     October-95
Anonymous            Making the Connection!              1   2     January-95
Anonymous            Our Obsession with Gates            1   8     October-95
Anonymous            Surfing the Net                     1   0     October-94
Anonymous            Surfing the Net                     1   4       April-95
Bayles, Len          Polling the Web                     1   1    December-94
Bentkowski, Kent D.  The Windows95 Registry              1   9    December-95
Bernie               Why WinZip: A Retrospective         1   6      August-95
Boggan, Scott        Creating Documents with Word        1   2     January-95
                       for Windows
Buchler, Derek       A Christmas Carol                   1   1    December-94
Buchler, Derek       Derek Discuss '95                   1   7   September-95
Buchler, Derek       If Operating Systems Were Beer      1   8     October-95
Buchler, Derek       On Windows95                        1   2     January-95
Buchler, Derek       Smart House                         1   0     October-94
Buchler, Derek       The Engineer's Song                 1   8     October-95
Buchler, Derek       The Geek                            1   4       April-95
Buchler, Derek       The Many Faces of Santa             1   9    December-95
Buchler, Derek       The Skeptic                         1   3    February-95   
Buchler, Derek       Twas the Night Before Christmas     1   9    December-95
Campbell, Ambrose    32Bit Fax                           1   2     January-95
Campbell, Ambrose    An NT Update                        1   3    February-95
Campbell, John M.    Change of Address: A Review         1   7   September-95
Campbell, John M.    Getting Warped                      1   5        June-95
Campbell, John M.    OLX Offline Reader Goes             1   4       April-95
                       Windows: A Review
Campbell, John M.    Pipeline Internaut for Windows      1   3    February-95
Campbell, John M.    Surfing the Net from the Sticks     1   9    December-95
Campbell, John M.    System Commander: A Review          1   6      August-95
Campbell, John M.    Test Driving QModemPro for          1   7   September-95
                       Windows95
Campbell, John M.    The Breaking CIS Story: A Quickie!  1   4       April-95
Chong, Herb          A Delphi Tutorial                   1   6      August-95
Chong, Herb          Herb's Computer Art Gallery         1   7   September-95
Chong, Herb          Needles and Haystacks               1   4       April-95
Chong, Herb          Programming for the Masses          1   4       April-95
Chong, Herb          Software Bloat - Is It Here To      1   1    December-94
                       Stay
Chong, Herb          The Computer as an Appliance?       1   3    February-95
Chong, Herb          The Many Faces of Windows: An       1   3    February-95
                       Introduction
Chong, Herb          VB & Delphi: Separate Views of      1   5        June-95
                       Component Programming
Chong, Herb          VRML: Worlds of Imagination         1   9    December-95
Chong, Herb          Win95 and OS/2 Warp                 1   7   September-95
Freeman, Kyle        A Consultant's Catastrophe          1   4       April-95
Freeman, Kyle        A Trip to All Points...             1   9    December-95
                       Everywhere
Freeman, Kyle        Is NetCruiser by NetCom in your     1   6      August-95
                       Future?
Freeman, Kyle        Thanks for the Memory               1   5        June-95
Grossman,Leonard     A Windows User Reports on           1   5        June-95
                       Windows95
Grossman,Leonard     Reflections of a Modem Junkie       1   6      August-95
Grossman,Leonard     Reflections of a Modem Junkie       1   8     October-95
Grossman,Leonard     Dear Santa                          1   9    December-95
Grossman,Leonard     Reflections of a Modem Junkie       1   7   September-95
Gunn, Jim            A Brief History of the Computer     1   6      August-95
Gunn, Jim            DriveSpace3                         1   9    December-95
Gunn, Jim            The Fine Art of Techno-Gibberish    1   5        June-95
Henschell, Todd      Coming Soon                         1   8     October-95
Hommel, Gregg        ProCommPlus For Windows: A Review   1   0     October-94
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 1     1   1    December-94
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 2     1   2     January-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 3     1   3    February-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 4     1   4       April-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 5     1   6      August-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 5     1   7   September-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 7     1   8     October-95
Hommel, Gregg        Windows Aspect Tutorial, Part 8     1   9    December-95
Jones, Lance         The In-Touch Sampler                1   9    December-95
Kanner, Stan         A Note From The Middle East         1   8     October-95
Kanner, Stan         A Report from Israel                1   9    December-95
Kanner, Stan         What is CompuHigh?                  1   7   September-95
Kinnaly, Paul        Before You Plunge                   1   7   September-95
Kinnaly, Paul        HTML Shareware Tools: An Overview   1   6      August-95
Kinnaly, Paul        Norton Utilities for Win95          1   8     October-95
Kinnaly, Paul        The Authoring Series: WordPerfect   1   1    December-94
                       Envoy Review
Kriz, Harry          Windows and TCP/IP for Internet     1   2     January-95
                       Access
Laulicht, Jerry      Education Tools for Kids            1   0     October-94
Laulicht, Jerry      Fun and Games                       1   5        June-95
Laulicht, Jerry      New Approaches to Computer          1   1    December-94
                       Assisted Training
Laulicht, Jerry      Quarterdeck's Web Author: A Review  1   6      August-95
Laulicht, Jerry      The Chinese Game of Strategy        1   7   September-95
                       and Chance
Laulicht, Lois       Acrobat Compression                 1   3    February-95
Laulicht, Lois       At the Forum                        1   3    February-95
Laulicht, Lois       Bellying Up To The Web for Fun      1   6      August-95
                       and Profit
Laulicht, Lois       Gregg's Page                        1   5        June-95
Laulicht, Lois       It's Bare Fisted Mayhem             1   1    December-94
Laulicht, Lois       Plug of the Month                   1   3    February-95
Laulicht, Lois       Plug of the Month                   1   5        June-95
Laulicht, Lois       Plug of the Month:                  1   2     January-95
Laulicht, Lois       Potholes and Detours in the         1   2     January-95
                       Electronic Highway
Laulicht, Lois       Quicken 4 for Windows: A Review     1   1    December-94
Laulicht, Lois       Shareware Plug of the Month         1   6      August-95
Laulicht, Lois       Surfing the Net                     1   2     January-95
Laulicht, Lois       Surfing the Net                     1   3    February-95
Laulicht, Lois       You Forgot The Dot Dummy            1   0     October-94
Lee, Thomas          Accessing the Internet Using        1   5        June-95
                       Windows95
Leonard, Phil        A Windows95 TCP/IP Tutorial         1   8     October-95
Leonard, Phil        Disaster Prevention and Data        1   9    December-95
                       Recovery
Leonard, Phil        More HTML Authoring Tools           1   6      August-95
Leonard, Phil        ProCommPlus For Windows Internet    1   7   September-95
                       Tools
Lillystone, Angela   askSam for Windows: A Review        1   2     January-95
Lillystone, Angela   BOB: Microsoft's Home Market Entry  1   3    February-95
Lillystone, Angela   Crossties: A Review                 1   0     October-94
Mabry, Robin         What is a Winsock?                  1   7   September-95
Mabry, Robin         Why Wizards Aren't So Wonderful     1   9    December-95
Marchi, Jeff         Windows95: A Beta Report            1   3    February-95
Marchi, Jeff         Windows95:Virtual Memory - An       1   4       April-95
                       Interim Report
McGowan, Frank       An Essential Utility for            1   7   September-95
                       Win95: FDFormat
McGowan, Frank       Doc-To-Help: A Review               1   3    February-95
McGowan, Frank       I Have Seen the Future              1   8     October-95
McGowan, Frank       Micro Cookbook for Windows: A       1   4       April-95
                       Review
McGowan, Frank       Plug-In for Windows: A Review       1   5        June-95
McGowan, Frank       Plug of the Month                   1   4       April-95
McGowan, Frank       Time and Chaos: A Review            1   6      August-95
McGowan, Frank       Word Processing and the Suites      1   9    December-95
Miller, Bob          Cousin Mike                         1   2     January-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   4       April-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   5        June-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   6      August-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   8     October-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   9    December-95
Miller, Bob          Idiots Redux                        1   7   September-95
Miller, Bob          Stanley Does Windows                1   5        June-95
Miller, Bob          Stanley Does Windows                1   6      August-95
Miller, Bob          Stanley Does Windows                1   7   September-95
Miller, Bob          Stanley Does Windows                1   8     October-95
Miller, Bob          Stanley Does Windows                1   9    December-95
Miller, Bob          The Cat's out of the Bag            1   4       April-95
Moderator            A Windows95 URL List                1   8     October-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Address to the Foundation           1   8     October-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice Confesses                     1   4       April-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice Cooks Data                    1   3    February-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice Delivers Mail                 1   5        June-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice Goes Surfing                  1   4       April-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice Writes a Column               1   9    December-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice's Doors                       1   9    December-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice's New OS                      1   8     October-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Alice's Travels                     1   1    December-94
Neuendorffer, Peter  Borland's Delphi: A Review          1   5        June-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Computer Programming Without        1   7   September-95
                       Spaghetti
Neuendorffer, Peter  Moving to Windows                   1   2     January-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Multi-Alice                         1   7   September-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Search and Ye Shall Find - Maybe!   1   6      August-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Shareware Shenanigans               1   3    February-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  Software Update: Bugs               1   0     October-94
Neuendorffer, Peter  Super Programmer                    1   6      August-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  The Disposable Database             1   2     January-95
Neuendorffer, Peter  The Interview                       1   0     October-94
Neuendorffer, Peter  Visual Basic 3: The Transition      1   3    February-95
                       from DOS to Windows
Plumb, Jim           A Web primer                        1   8     October-95
Plumb, Jim           Acrobat Tutorial, Part 2            1   5        June-95
Plumb, Jim           Creating Acrobat Files: An Acrobat  1   4       April-95
                       Tutorial, Part 1
Plumb, Jim           Jim Gets His Dream Machine          1   9    December-95
Plumb, Jim           Microsoft's Internet Assistant      1   6      August-95
Plumb, Jim           The Authoring Series: Acrobat       1   2     January-95
                       Review
Schorr, Ben          Approach: A Review                  1   2     January-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   1    December-94
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   3    February-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   4       April-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   5        June-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   7   September-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   8     October-95
Schorr, Ben          The Last Word                       1   9    December-95
Williamson, Paul     Backup with Software with           1   8     October-95
                      Long Filenames
Williamson, Paul     The Future of DOS                   1   1    December-94
Williamson, Paul     Understanding PC Memory             1   5        June-95
Williamson, Paul     Where is Windows95 in Corporate     1   7   September-95
                       America
Williamson, Paul     Windows for Workgroups: Is It       1   3    February-95
                       In Your Future?
Wright, Jim          Upgrading the Box                   1   8     October-95




   ww page 23

              SELECT BBS'S ON THE INTERNET (SBI QUICK LIST)

* = New since last revision

 A Clockwork Online              clockwork.com            (204.215.118.1)
*A Pseudo Laissez-Faire BBS      computrs.com             (204.130.225.2)
*Abingdon Online                 abol.com                 (206.31.102.12)
 Absolute Connection             a-c.in.net               (199.0.62.164)
 Abuse! Online                   ABUSEME.COM              (206.96.178.241)
 Access Nevada                   spillway.accessnv.com    (199.2.253.3)
 Access One Online Services      access-one.com           (204.95.83.100)
 ACE InfoSystems                 aceinfo.com              (199.190.76.2)
 AdeptXBBS                       adeptsoft.gate.net       (199.227.57.1)
 Adult Fantasy BBS               ADF.COM                  (205.148.233.2)
 Advanced Data Services BBS     (AD  bbs.adsinc.com       (199.190.70.3)
*Adventure Connectio             advconn.com              (204.71.182.161)
 AECNET (tm)                     aecnet.com               (204.89.131.100)
 After Hourz BBS                 ahbqs.com                (204.134.204.10)
 Afterimage Information Matrix   aim.novasys.com          (204.178.181.2)
 Aladdin's Palace BBS            aladdin.bc.ca            (204.174.112.253)
 The Alamo BBS                   the.alamo.com            (206.161.5.34)
 Albuquerque ROS                 abq-ros.com              (204.68.29.244)
 Alien's SpaceShip BBS           aliens.com               (199.190.82.2)
 Alien's World Wide Chat         chat.aliens.com          (199.190.82.10)
 Alternate LifeStyles Internet   alt.email.net            (204.181.110.4)
 Amateur Erotica BBS of Chicago                           (205.164.6.169)
 Amateur Radio INTERNET BBS      wb3ffv1.abs.net          (206.42.80.130)
 America's Suggestion B          asb.com                  (165.254.128.1)
 Anaheim Hills Online            aho.com                  (199.89.140.114)
 Anarchy Online                  anarchy-online.com       (199.1.91.250)
 Anarchy-X BBS                   bbs.ax.com               (199.184.188.10)
 Andrew's BBS                    bbs.dcbalt.vernet.lv     (159.148.150.124)
*Ann@polis Online                anapolis.com             (anapolis.com)
 The Annex!                      annex.com                (204.74.67.1)
 Another World(tm)               awol.com                 (204.160.88.13)
 AOP BBS                         aop.org                  (198.232.144.101)
 AppleWize OnLine                applewize.com            (206.181.98.2)
 Aquarius BBS                    bbs.goldengate.net       (206.8.8.6)
 Aquila BBS                      aquila.com               (204.95.88.5)
 Argus Online                    argusbbs.com             (204.255.103.222)
 Arizona InterActive Systems     azi.com                  (199.190.114.2)
 ASERTEL Servicios On-line       hermes.asertel.es        (194.140.141.5)
 Astro Online Services           astonline.com            (205.245.9.224)
 The Atlanta Windows BBS         bbs.atlwin.com           (155.229.44.2)
 Atlantis BBS                    atlantis-bbs.com         (199.4.124.69)
 Atlas BBS                       gilroy.com               (204.189.37.1)
 Auggie BBS                      bbs.augsburg.edu         (141.224.128.4)
 Austin Clubhouse BBS            club.fc.net              (198.6.198.98)
 Banished CPU                    banished.com             (205.219.208.2)
 Barney's Rubble                 rubble.fidouk.org        (194.70.36.10)
 The Behavioral Health Network   behavnet.com             (199.3.67.253)
 Believers BBS                   believers.org            (205.186.137.49)
 The Big Easy                    bigeasy.com              (204.251.2.10)
*BitNova                         bitnova.com              (205.162.62.3)
 Black Gold BBS                  bgbbs.com                (198.65.131.18)
 Blastertronics BBS              blast.neta.com           (204.177.236.30)
 Blitzkrieg Information BBS      blitzinfo.com            (199.190.90.2)
 Boardwatch Magazine BBS         boardwatch.com           (204.144.169.1)
 Boston Dungeon Society          bdsbbs.com               (206.119.103.1)
 Bound for Pleasure BBS          bfp.com                  (205.247.33.3)
 Bryant Software                 bryant.com               (199.45.158.193)
 California BBS                  calbbs.com               (198.68.158.3)
 Canned Ham Bulletin Board       anarky.tch.org           (199.74.220.1)
 The Canton Connection BBS       tccbbs.com               (199.18.245.39)
 Capital City Cyberlink          DClink.com               (206.136.82.2)
 Carolina Chat                   carolina-chat.com        (205.148.236.2)
 Carolina Online                 nconline.com             (204.215.211.211)
 Castle Holt BBS                 castleholt.com           (199.0.62.176)
 The Catacomb                    Thecatacomb.com          (199.190.65.3)
 Catania On Line                 ctonline.it              (151.99.143.3)
 CCS World                       ccsnet.com               (199.172.47.2)
 CedarNet Online                 bbs.cedarnet.com         (205.148.200.3)
 Cetys BBS                       cetysbbs.mxl.cetys.mx    (158.122.1.9)
 CHANNEL 1 (R)                   bbs.channel1.com         (204.96.33.5)
 ChatMaster BBS                  cmaster.com              (199.190.80.2)
 Cheersoft                                                (206.20.13.100)
 Chicago Internet MatchMaker     chicago.email.net        (204.181.110.14)
 Christian Internet MatchMaker   christian.email.net      (204.181.110.11)
*Christian Pursuit - The Fellow  cpursuit.com             (199.201.96.85)
 Christie's Internet Matchmaker  christie.email.net       (199.33.241.97)
 Chrysalis Online Services       chrysalis.org            (204.96.6.98)
 Cinci-Net                       cinci.net                (199.6.38.4)
 Cincinnati Multi-Player Connec  cinmpc.com               (206.112.195.10)
 The City Lights                 tclbbs.com               (204.246.107.4)
 Cleveland's Worldnet            worldnetoh.com           (204.248.180.53)
 Close Encounters Adult          Close.packet.net         (199.1.77.17)
 Closer To Home BBS Systems      closer2.brisnet.org.au   (203.4.149.130)
 Cloud City                      cloud.com                (199.190.94.2)
 Club Met                        clubmet.com              (198.69.223.103)
 Colossus Box                    colossus.com             (204.96.2.144)
 Columbus Online                 cols.com                 (205.133.92.2)
 COMM Port OS/2                  juge.com                 (199.100.191.2)
 Community Online                chamber.worcester.ma.us  (146.115.172.2)
 Comp-U-Find Online                                       (199.79.146.33)
 ComPart BBS                     compart.fi               (193.64.198.201)
 Compu-Plane                                              (198.68.17.57)
 The Computer Factory            tcf.com                  (204.212.163.1)
 The Computerized AIDS Ministri  hwbbs.gbgm-umc.org       (198.139.157.121)
 ComputerLink Online, Inc.       mbbs.compulink.com       (199.166.254.2)
*The Connecting Point BBS/ISP    tcpbbs.skyenet.net       (204.95.231.59)
 The Connection BBS              connection.com           (204.138.111.2)
 Connections                     connections.ultranet.com (199.232.102.151)
 CONNECTions BBS                 chaos.connect-bbs.com    (206.53.103.3)
 Connections! BBS of Southern H  msmatch.com              (205.218.114.10)
 ConXtion                        ConXtion.Com             (199.190.84.2)
 Courier Online                  col.evansville.net       (204.120.30.100)
 COWZ - The Cattle Crossing on   cow.net                  (204.96.52.4)
 CRIS (Concentric Research Corp  cris.com                 (199.3.12.187)
 The Crystal Barrier             bbs.tcbi.com             (156.46.162.20)
 Crystal Quill                   cq.cqi.com               (199.125.162.3)
 CSI Online                      csionline.com            (205.148.205.2)
 CybaLink BBS Internet Services                           (204.120.177.178)
*CyBER HoUSE                     cbrhs.gp.magick.net      (198.68.11.135)
 Cyber Warrior Network           outland.cyberwar.com     (204.97.1.4)
 Cyber/Chat!                     cybercom.com             (199.171.196.2)
 CyberCity USA                   cybercityusa.com         (206.181.68.34)
 Cyberdelic BBS                  johnson.cioe.com         (204.120.165.210)
 The CyberDen                    cyberden.com             (204.182.11.180)
 Cyberia                         cyberia.com              (205.160.224.1)
 CyberKorea                      cyberkorea.com           (165.113.175.2)
 Cyberlink                       lin.cbl.com.au           (203.7.198.205)
 Cyberspace BBS                  cyberspace.grnet.com     (204.96.30.25)
 CYBERSPACE HQ                   cyberhq.com              (205.147.11.35)
 Cyberspace7 BBS                 cyberspace7.ptd.net      (204.186.5.1)
 Cyberverse                      cyberverse.com           (204.140.176.2)
*CyberZone Online                cybrzn.com               (206.162.27.2)
 Dallas/Fort Worth MatchMaker P  dallas.email.net         (204.181.110.2)
 Data Highway                    dth.com                  (199.227.90.1)
 DataSafe Publications BBS       dsafe.com                (199.190.74.3)
 Del's Place BBS                 delsplace.com            (204.245.241.76)
 Delaware Online!                dol.net                  (204.183.91.2)
 Delaware Valley On Line         dvol.com                 (206.20.144.10)
 deltaComm Online                delta.com                (204.32.41.2)
 Dental-X-Change                 odont.com                (199.190.92.2)
 Denver Exchange                 bbs.tde.com              (199.45.158.210)
 Desert Jewel                    dj.kern.com              (204.212.36.4)
 Designlink                      designlink.com           (206.14.15.3)
 Dialdata Systems                bbs.dialdata.com.br      (200.246.225.7)
 Digital Rain                    digital-rain.com         (205.206.107.2)
 Digital Velocity BBS            nortel.net               (137.118.5.4)
 The Dirty Hacker BBS                                     (205.161.119.237)
 Disk Jockey Online              djo.com                  (204.245.198.230)
 Doctor's Office BBS / Falken S  docs.dgsys.com           (204.97.64.6)
 The Doll House BBS              bbs.dhsys.net            (206.66.104.2)
 The Downtown BBS                dwntwn.com               (205.148.204.2)
 Dragon Keep International       dkeep.com                (205.245.16.10)
 Dream Link Online Information   auburn.maine.com         (204.176.0.14)
 Dreamscape BBS                  future.dreamscape.com    (199.64.128.3)
 Dreamscape Entertainment Servi  dscape.cyberstore.com    (204.244.18.12)
 DSC BBS / Voicenet (Datamax/Sa  dsc.voicenet.com         (192.204.28.9)
 DSP Information & Entertainmen  dsp.com                  (199.4.121.1)
 Eager Beaver Computers MBBS     beaver.com               (204.188.52.20)
 Eden BBS                        edenbbs.com              (199.190.73.2)
 Edex                            rainbow.galviz.co.uk     (193.117.217.1)
 The EDGE BBS                    bbs.the-edge.com         (205.162.96.179)
 Edward Lowe Foundation BBS      bbs.lowe.org             (192.195.202.2)
 The Electronic Universe BBS     e-universe.com           (206.101.206.3)
*The Elevator                    elevator-bbs.com         (204.97.12.40)
 Elysian Fields                  castle.elysian.net       (204.181.47.5)
 Emergency BBS On-Line Services  emergency.com            (205.243.133.2)
 Empire BBS                      empire.bbs.net.au        (203.20.80.1)
 Empty Spaces BBS                bbs.empty.com            (198.30.235.51)
 ENCIS-NET                       bbs.encis.es             (194.179.69.10)
 The Endless Forest              forest.novia.net         (204.248.24.8)
 Endless Mountain CyberSPACE     emcyber.com              (198.70.189.74)
 The English Palace BBS          palace.com               (199.171.54.2)
 Entertainment and Consumers Ne  ecn.ecn.com              (198.211.192.146)
 Escape                          Escape.com               (198.6.71.10)
 eSoft Support and Demo BBS      esoft.com                (199.45.143.2)
 EuroGate                        eurogate.iit.nl          (193.67.253.33)
 EveryBaudy's BBS                busstop.com              (192.80.84.229)
 Exec Talk BBS                   bbs.mpcs.com             (204.215.226.2)
 ExecPC                          bbs.execpc.com           (169.207.2.3)
 Executive Network Information   gateway.execnet.com      (206.181.98.136)
 EXiT 13                         vegas.roc.servtech.com   (204.181.3.147)
 Exoticomm BBS                   bbs.exoticomm.com        (204.181.179.2)
 Eye Contact BBS                 bbs.eyecon.com           (204.94.37.2)
 The Eyes of Time BBS            eyesoftime.com           (198.6.201.206)
 EZLink Internet Access          ezlink.com               (199.45.150.1)
 EZNet                           eznetny.com              (198.4.60.100)
 Fairfield Community Connection  fcc.com                  (199.190.101.2)
 Familytown Online               familytown.com           (157.151.201.3)
 Farm Information Services       fis.awp.com              (163.123.162.2)
 Fast! BBS                       bbs.fast.co.za           (196.23.34.2)
 The FastLane BBS                flbbs.com                (198.60.81.193)
 The Fetish Network BBS          fetish.wisenet.com       (204.160.226.5)
 The File Bank BBS               bbs.tfb.com              (204.212.132.12)
 File Gallery Online Service     fgallery.com             (204.183.116.2)
 Final Frontier BBS              ffbbs.seanet.com         (199.181.166.212)
 The Fire House Inn              fhouse.org               (205.199.189.2)
 the FiX                         the-fix.sos.on.ca        (199.212.143.2)
 Flag Net Amiga BBS              garlic.esc.k12.in.us     (165.138.151.8)
 FlOaTIng PAncReAs               pancreas.com             (198.69.101.180)
 The Flower Link BBS             flowerlink.com           (199.234.116.2)
 FOUR.net                        FOUR.net                 (198.70.45.3)
 France Online                   france.com               (199.4.122.2)
 The French Connection BBS                                (206.170.76.1)
 Full Access BBS                 fab.bossnt.com           (198.150.37.210)
 Future Frontier                 fft.com                  (165.247.241.2)
 GaiaNet BBS                     bbs.gaianet.net          (199.3.117.69)
 Galacticomm DEMO System         gcomm.com                (206.30.202.14)
 Galacticomm UNIX Demo System    unix.gcomm.com           (206.30.202.26)
 The Game Master                 gm.gamemaster.qc.ca      (199.84.216.2)
 Game Power Headquarters Online  gamepower.com            (204.183.165.2)
 GaRBaGe DuMP BBS                dump.com                 (199.190.74.2)
 Gateway Online                  bbs.gatecom.com          (198.87.17.102)
*Gay Menage BBS                  gay.ca                   (205.206.49.167)
 Genesys BBS                     genesys-bbs.com          (205.252.72.249)
 GenStar On-Line                                          (206.26.67.1)
 The Global Blind Exchange (GBX  gbx.org                  (165.90.138.192)
 Global InfoNet                  california.com           (140.174.210.4)
 GRAFIX                          grafix.com               (166.82.150.31)
 Grand Rapids Online             gronline.alliance.net    (198.110.232.3)
 The Granola Board BBS                                    (204.188.1.17)
 The Graphics Alternative        tgax.com                 (192.215.97.35)
 Great Gig in the Sky            greatgig.com             (199.201.191.102)
 The Great White Northerner BBS  gwn.org                  (@205.138.53.99)
 Green and Yellow                greenandyellow.btm.com   (199.199.195.7)
 GREX (tn)                       cyberspace.org           (152.160.30.1)
 GRN BBS                         BBS.GRN.ES               (194.179.47.5)
 The Grotto of Dreams            thegrotto.com            (206.24.42.130)
 Ground Zero BBS                 gzero.com                (204.251.133.2)
 HACOM BBS                       bbs.hacom.nl             (193.67.233.1)
 HAL9000                         hal9k.com                (152.160.13.1)
 Hamptons Online: life on a vir  hamptons.com             (204.141.112.2)
 HeartBeat BBS                   heartbeat.org            (199.190.113.2)
 Helix : Houston's Electronical  helix.xiii.com           (198.65.131.145)
 Hi-Teck's Place                 htp.com                  (199.171.4.3)
 High Society                    hs.wisenet.com           (198.69.101.2)
 Hispanet                        bbs.hnet.es              (194.177.1.134)
 The Hobby Line! BBS             hobbyline.com            (205.245.211.1)
 The Holodeck BBS                wwcomm.com               (165.227.61.230)
 The Hot Spot BBS                bbs.hspot.com            (204.249.107.120)
 Hotel California                kincyb.com               (165.90.141.2)
 Huntsville & The Tennessee Val  www.huntshome.com        (206.151.244.254)
 IACC ONLINE BBS                 iacc.housing.umich.edu   (141.211.151.30)
 ICA Canada On-Line Inc.         bbs.icacomp.com          (205.210.59.3)
 Idaho Interactive               idibbs.com               (199.190.75.2)
*Illusions II (Adult's ONLY)     ilsoft.com               (206.215.192.2)
*Independence Online!            inde.com                 (205.148.231.2)
 The INDEX System (tm)           index.com                (206.14.194.1)
 (I)ndustry BBS                  industry-dm.com          (204.157.46.2)
 INFIMA BBS                      bbs.infima.cz            (194.108.205.150)
 Infinite Data Source On-Line S  bbs.idsonline.com        (204.157.204.157)
 Infinite Space Online           ispace.com               (204.149.254.10)
 Infinity Online                 ionline.com              (199.176.249.62)
 InfoNet Bulletin Board System   infousa.com              (205.245.167.2)
 Information Highway On-Ramp     on-ramp.com              (199.190.96.2)
 Instant Access                  instbbs.camba.com        (204.180.234.2)
 INTERACT                        diversion.com            (204.189.48.1)
 Interact! BBS                   bbs.ohana.com            (204.182.45.3)
 Intercom Online                 InterCom.com             (165.254.1.205)
 INTERCOM Spain                  intercom.es              (194.179.21.3)
 Interludes Online               bbs.hwsys.com            (204.74.71.1)
 International MBBS Sysops Asso  imbbsa.org               (204.74.67.100)
 IntheNet OLS and Virtual Marke  inthenet.com             (205.228.202.10)
*The Invention Factory BBS       factory.com              (199.183.47.133)
 IONX                            ionx.com                 (192.148.174.20)
 IPlay On-Line                   iplay.interplay.com      (199.182.210.2)
 Iris BBS                        iris.mother.com          (198.93.80.120)
 Isle-Net                        islenet.com              (206.205.84.2)
 Jaguar BBS                      jaguar.pue.udlap.mx      (140.148.4.100)
 Janis II - Tokyo                asianet.net              (202.32.39.111)
*Jassyca BBS                     jassyca.tu-chemnitz.de   (134.109.48.2)
 The Jungle BBS                  Jungle.net               (206.137.16.2)
 Juris.com BBS                   juris.com                (205.159.153.10)
 KBBS Los Angeles                kbbs.kbbsnet.com         (204.96.25.7)
 Kingston Online Services        bbs.kosone.com           (199.246.2.200)
 Kitsap Information Network      kinn.com                 (204.250.146.2)
 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Kn  online.knoxnews.com      (204.71.5.10)
 The Kobayashi Alternative BBS   tka.com                  (204.117.63.1)
 Kompleat Internet Services, LL  bbs.kis.net              (206.26.158.10)
 The LabyrinthOnline             labyrin.com              (205.148.234.2)
 The Laser Connection            laser.trilogy.net        (204.141.102.5)
 LaserBase Communications        laserbase.com            (205.251.32.62)
 LegacyNet                       lgn.com                  (199.190.102.2)
 Legends Online                  legendsonl.com           (204.186.4.1)
 Liberty BBS                     liberty.com              (199.89.140.111)
 LIFESTYLE ONLINE                lifestyle.com            (166.82.150.22)
 LINQ BBS                        linq.com                 (204.19.224.1)
 Liquid Sky BBS                  liquidsky.com            (165.212.242.2)
 Livewire                                                 (198.53.239.3)
 Logic Circuit                   Logicom.com              (199.190.88.2)
 LOIS: the Link Online in Santa  lois.org                 (199.74.141.105)
 Love Bytes                      bytenet.com              (204.96.26.2)
 Lunatic's Asylum                lunatic.ak.net           (204.17.241.132)
*Macatawa Multi-line             bbs.macatawa.com         (204.177.185.2)
 Magic Bus                       magicbus.com             (204.193.157.249)
*MagicVillage                    hh.magicvillage.de       (194.120.171.64)
 Magnetic Fields                                          (204.252.234.44)
 Magnus Online                   online.magnus1.com       (204.97.15.6)
 The Male Box BBS                                         (166.93.11.77)
 The Male Forum                  mforum.com               (166.82.150.41)
 Maloca BBS Toronto              bbs.maloca.com           (198.53.160.20)
 Maloka BBS Warsaw               bbs.maloka.waw.pl        (193.59.67.10)
 Malum Information Network       malum.ab.ca              (206.116.148.8)
 Marvin                          tycho.com                (206.55.21.1)
 Masterpiece                     masterpiece.com          (204.30.116.11)
 MATRiX de Puerto Rico           MATRIX-PR.COM            (204.183.157.6)
 Meeting House BBS               tmh.bbsnet.com           (199.1.41.22)
 MEME BBS                        meme.bellingham.wa.us    (198.182.208.66)
 Metro Online BBS                nycmetro.com             (206.14.119.2)
 Metro Slave Online BBS          metroslave.com           (204.248.55.2)
 Metropoli / StarPort BBS        unix.mpoli.fi            (193.210.15.65)
 Metropolis serving the cities                            (198.69.223.104)
 Metropolis serving the cities                            (198.69.223.102)
 MHVnet                          mhv.net                  (199.0.0.10)
 Micro Village BBS               mvbbs.siae.com.sg        (202.42.230.10)
*Midnite on the Net              midnite.net              (206.98.128.4)
 Mike's BBS                      bbs.gar.no               (192.150.211.10)
 Miller's Party Board            mpb.com                  (199.190.89.2)
 MindVox                         phantom.com              (198.67.3.10)
 mixBBS                          mixbbs.commdesign.com    (204.164.84.22)
 Mnematics Videotex              vtx.mne.com              (198.178.154.1)
 Modem Madness                   madbbs.com               (199.190.126.2)
 The Modem Nation                bbs.modemnation.com      (157.134.219.1)
 Monolith BBS                                             (130.89.228.12)
 Moonflower                      moon.iea.com             (198.17.249.11)
 The Motherboard                 motherboard.com          (204.74.100.3)
 MPI Online Services             bbs.mpi-net.com          (204.71.44.3)
 Multi-Comm Las Vegas            mcomm.mclv.net           (204.95.95.253)
 Multicom-4 BBS Network          multicom.org             (199.190.113.3)
 Multiverse                      telnet.multiverse.com    (199.218.112.3)
 NAK                             nak.com                  (199.190.119.2)
 NandoNet                        camelot.nando.net        (152.52.2.82)
 Nasty Playmates                 np1.com                  (204.94.47.1)
 National Modem Pool (formerly   nmp.net                  (199.89.140.116)
 Needful Things BBS              needfulthings.com        (199.221.95.12)
 NeoNexus Systems                bbs.neonexus.com         (205.148.244.20)
 Net-link Online                 net-link.com             (204.254.156.2)
 Netropolis Entertainment Serve  bbs.netropolis.be        (194.137.61.14)
 Networks Online Service         nworks.com               (205.246.114.130)
 New Jersey Computer Connection  pluto.njcc.com           (165.254.117.52)
 New Power BBS, Inc.             np.newpower.com          (204.96.24.2)
 New York MatchMaker Pen-Pal Ne  newyork.email.net        (199.173.74.39)
 NFE BBS (Naperville File Excha  nfebbs.nfe.com           (199.89.235.68)
 Night Vision                    nightvision.inetnebr.com (199.184.119.228)
 1990 MultiLine BBS                                       (203.5.127.2)
 1990 MultiLine Games Machine                             (203.5.127.230)
 NiteLife - The No-Skanks Adult  nite.intermac.com 3004   (206.65.200.4)
 Nitelog BBS                                              (165.227.94.25)
 North*Star BBS                  norcom.mb.ca             (205.200.3.2)
 NTIS FedWorld                   fedworld.gov             (192.239.92.3)
 The Nucleus                     nucleus.atom.com         (204.49.61.25)
 Nucleus Information Service     nis.nucleus.com          (199.45.65.130)
 Nucleus!                        nucleus.atom.com         (204.49.61.5)
 Nurse Net Nederland             bbs.nursing.nl           (193.78.222.138)
 Odyssey Online                  odyssey.ody.com          (204.94.37.100)
 On-Line Entertainment           connect.on-line.co.uk    (193.130.168.1)
 One Link                        onelink.com              (206.148.229.2)
 The One Stop BBS                the.one-stop.com         (205.133.113.131)
 1USA.COM                        1usa.com                 (205.148.243.4)
 Onix BBS                        onix.com                 (198.70.176.1)
 Online Computer Distribution    MAIN.ONCOMDIS.ON.CA      (204.101.15.3)
 Online Data Systems             ods.ods.net              (204.95.172.4)
 Online Illusions                lusions.com              (205.218.80.37)
*OnLine Now                      oln.com                  (204.50.181.1)
 Online Orlando                  oo.com                   (204.215.243.15)
 The Online Pitstop (Top.Net)    bbs.top.net              (204.214.28.129)
 ONline WElcome                  bbs.onwe.co.za           (196.7.192.2)
 OS/2 Shareware BBS              bbs.os2bbs.com           (204.194.180.10)
 The Outpost                     pclogiconline.com        (198.70.191.73)
 Pacific Connections             paccon.com               (199.74.141.67)
 Pacifier Online Data Service (  pods.pacifier.com        (199.2.117.106)
 Paradigm Online                                          (202.33.54.66)
 Paradise BBS                    pplnet.com               (205.240.194.3)
 Paragon Online                  pgos.com                 (206.26.197.2)
 Party Line Entertainment        bbs.party.com            (166.82.196.2)
 Party Line Entertainment Netwo  partyline.net            (198.140.161.1)
 PCS Online Services             bbs.pcsonline.com        (204.251.132.2)
 PENN-COMM BBS                   mailer.pennet.com        (199.234.141.3)
 Pennsylvania Online!            paonline.com             (198.69.90.250)
 Penultimate BBS                 bbs.penultimate.com      (199.190.112.241)
 Phantasy BBS                    phantasy.com             (156.46.216.10)
 Phoenix Online                  phxbbs.com               (206.42.218.25)
 Pics On-Line BBS                bbs.pics.com             (192.135.189.200)
 Pink's Place BBS                pnx.com                  (199.190.97.2)
 Point Blank                     pointblank.com           (204.117.211.3)
 The Porch BBS                   bbs.theporch.com         (199.150.244.1)
 The Power Exchange              tpe.com                  (199.190.65.10)
 Powersystems BBS                pwsbbs.com               (205.148.196.2)
*PreRapture BBS                  prime.org                (152.52.127.130)
 The PressRoom                   pressroom.com            (198.69.131.1)
 Principle of Obscurity BBS      obscurity.pd.mcs.net     (204.137.229.20)
 PrinterNet                      printer-net.com          (199.227.41.3)
 Prism BBS                       prism.com                (199.190.77.3)
*The Property Line               wg.proline.com           (206.42.83.115)
 Prostar Plus Information Netwo  prostar.com              (204.57.131.1)
 Proton Palace                   proton.com               (198.53.206.68)
 Public Data Network             bbs.chatlink.com         (205.139.105.2)
 Pure Energy BBS                 pure-energy.com          (165.254.183.2)
 Radio Wave                      radiowave.com            (206.67.132.2)
 RCI (Ripco Communications Inc)  foley.ripco.com          (198.4.164.3)
 The Readiness Operation BBS     trobb.com                (204.188.70.3)
 Realm of Legends                legends.net              (205.198.246.3)
 The Rec Hall                    rec.ocala.com            (204.117.196.8)
 RIconneCT                       riconnect.com            (205.228.242.1)
 Rippers BBS                     rippers.com              (199.190.105.2)
 River Styx BBS                  Riverstyx.com            (206.66.34.244)
 Rock Garden                     garden.hvs.com           (165.247.49.130)
 Rock Pile BBS                   rockpile.com             (199.173.32.200)
 Rose City Online                rosey.com                (204.119.59.210)
 Rusty-N-Edie's BBS              rne.com                  (204.179.147.2)
 S & H Computer Systems BBS      sandh.com                (204.181.142.11)
 S-TEK Gay and Lesbian BBS in M  stek.com                 (204.19.225.1)
 Sacramento Exchange BBS         iccse.com                (204.87.174.10)
 Santa Fe Online                 sfol.com                 (204.134.59.1)
*Secret Services Limited BBS     n/a                      ()
 Silicon Matchmaker BBS          silicon.email.net        (204.152.80.17)
 Sim-Net Online Services                                  (205.158.35.3)
 SIO Support BBS                                          (199.248.240.2)
 SM Board                        telcen.com               (206.14.147.20)
 Smurph Land BBS                 smurph.com               (199.250.197.34)
 Social Misfits - yabbs          yabbs.phred.org          (128.2.74.238)
 Software Connection Online      sco.softconn.co.za       (196.26.228.4)
 Software Creations              swcbbs.com               (204.68.200.2)
 Someplace to Start              s2s.com                  (205.219.130.3)
 SonCrest BBS                    soncrest.giant.net       (204.71.106.30)
 The Sorcery Board BBS           warp1.weschke.com        (204.91.224.3)
*South Shore Secrets BBS         n/a                      ()
 Southern California Onramp      Socalonramp.com          (205.148.252.2)
 Southern Star BBS               sstar.com                (204.27.72.2)
 The Spa!                        the-spa.com              (204.97.227.2)
 Space BBS                       bbs.spacebbs.com         (192.216.53.4)
 SPACECON/Braveheart BBS         spacecon.ids.net         (155.212.20.2)
 Spider Island BBS               spiderisland.com         (199.35.3.99)
 The Spring Guide                spring.com               (204.177.161.115)
 Starship II BBS                 bbs.usi-1.com            (206.98.178.1)
 Starship Sirius                 sirius.america.com       (199.170.102.6)
 Strategic Online                bbs.sts.net              (156.46.30.2)
 Studio PC Information Services  studio.citicom.com       (204.251.133.3)
*Sugar River Valley BBS                                   (206.20.130.3)
 Sun.One                         news.jou.ufl.edu         (128.227.230.225)
 SuPaCom                         supacom.brisnet.org.au   (203.4.149.193)
 Superlink                       bbs.superlink.net        (204.97.220.18)
 SuperStation BBS                dias.diro.com            (204.94.164.130)
 Surfboard!                      surfbbs.com              (205.148.218.2)
 SVIS                            svis.org                 (198.77.8.11)
 Synergy Entertainment Network   sen.com                  (199.190.79.2)
 Synergy Online Communications                            (204.117.97.2)
 Sysop News BBS                  sysop.com                (199.67.33.53)
*System Support BBS              ssbbs.org                (204.132.123.172)
 The Nest BBS                    netsbbs.pretech.com.au   (203.22.22.2)
 TnT Online                      TnTonline.com            (204.145.237.2)
 Toledo's TBBS                   toltbbs.com              (204.120.66.2)
 Top Secret BBS                  topsecret.com            (204.180.236.101)
 Topgun BBS                      topgun.cvinet.com        (204.97.71.2)
 Total CHOAS! BBS                Build-Net.com            (205.199.50.2)
 TPL                             tpl.com                  (199.3.240.65)
 Trader's Connection (TCON)      trader.com               (204.120.67.2)
 Tri-State Digital Imaging BBS   tsdi.com                 (205.148.211.2)
 TRIBnet                                                  (199.2.128.3)
 Trilogy On-Line Service (tm)    trilogy.net              (204.141.102.3)
 TVOntario OnLine                fc.tvo.org               (204.41.126.10)
 The Ultimate Connection         freebbs.com              (198.70.174.2)
 The UPS Depot                   depot.netnet.net         (198.70.69.9)
 Urbanite BBS                    urbanite.com             (204.71.182.2)
 Vail OnLine                     vailonline.vailnet.org   (199.45.148.25)
 The Virtual Gateway             vgateway.com             (199.227.60.2)
 Vortex                          vortex.greycat.com       (165.90.185.4)
 Voyager Infotainment            voyager.com              (204.188.129.2)
 The Warehouse                   bbs.twh.com              (205.219.138.111)
 The WELL                        well.sf.ca.us            (198.93.4.10)
 West Coast Online BBS           bbs.wco.com              (199.4.94.8)
 The Wild Onion! BBS             onion.syn.net            (205.243.101.10)
 WildCard Online                 wce.com                  (199.190.116.2)
 WildChild Photo BBS             wildchild.com            (204.181.110.8)
*Window Shopper                  n/a                      ()
*Windows OnLine                  wol.com                  (199.3.100.145)
 The Wizard's Realm BBS          wizrealm.com             (204.134.71.2)
 World Data Network BBS          wdn.com                  (198.232.144.1)
 WorldCHAT BBS                   bbs.wchat.on.ca          (204.138.239.84)
 WorldClub Online                wcb.com                  (204.117.168.100)
*Worldport Online                bbs.wport.com            (204.122.18.162)
*WORLDVIEW BBS                   worldview-bbs.com        (192.215.96.37)
*The Worm Hole                                            (206.42.219.18)
 Wyld On-Line                    wyld.com                 (204.77.163.15)
 Zeitgeist Bulletin Board        bbs.zgnews.com           (204.181.120.31)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL SYSTEMS LISTED:    474

LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO
-----------------
THIS LIST IS COPYRIGHT BY RICHARD S. MARK.

THIS LIST MAY BE ELECTRONICALLY DISTRIBUTED FREE OF CHARGE AS LONG AS IT
IS UNALTERED OR UNMODIFIED IN ANY WAY. THIS INCLUDES BBS-ADS WITHIN THE
MAIN ZIP FILE! (IF YOU HAVE THE COMPULSION TO ADD AN ADVERTISEMENT, PUT
IT IN A ZIP COMMENT.) WE ENCOURAGE USERS AND SYSOPS TO DISTRIBUTE THIS
LIST AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

THIS LIST, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, MAY NOT BE SOLD OR BECOME PART OF A
SALE OF SERVICES, EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, OR DATA WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
WRITTEN CONSENT OF RICHARD S. MARK. I PROVIDE THE LIST FOR FREE, AND
EXPECT EVERYONE ELSE TO AS WELL.

THIS LIST, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, MAY NOT BE REPUBLISHED IN
NON-ELECTRONIC FORM, OR BE JOINED AS PART OF ANY OTHER PUBLICATION
(ELECTRONIC OR OTHERWISE) WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF RICHARD
S. MARK.

BBS SYSTEMS INCLUDED IN THIS LIST ARE INCLUDED AT THE SOLE DESCRETION OF
THE AUTHOR, RICHARD S. MARK. THE AUTHOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE TO
LIST ANY SYSTEM SOLEY AT HIS DESCRETION. ANY SYSTEM APPEARING IN THIS
LIST THAT DOES NOT WISH TO BE LISTED NEED MERELY CONTACT THE AUTHOR BY
INTERNET EMAIL (cerebus@dkeep.com) AND REQUEST THAT THEIR ENTRY BE
DELETED.

THIS LIST IS PROVIDED AS A *FREE* PUBLIC SERVICE TO THE BBS AND INTERNET
ELECTRONIC COMMUNITIES. INDIVIDUALS ACCESS AND USE THE SYSTEMS ON THIS
LIST COMPLETELY AT THEIR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR AND DISTRIBUTORS OF THIS
LIST BEAR NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENT OF THE THE SYSTEMS ON THIS
LIST, NOR DO THEY BEAR ANY RESPONSIBLITY FOR FILES DOWNLOADED FROM ANY
OF THE SYSTEMS ON THIS LIST. THERE IS NO WARRANTY, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE,
FOR ANY OF THE SYSTEMS ON THIS LIST OR ANY OF THEIR SERVICES. LOOK, IF
YOU WANT TO CALL A BBS, IT'S UP TO YOU. YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE A GREAT AND
WONDERFUL TIME. BBS'S ARE FANTASTIC RESOURCES. BUT YOU ARE 100%
RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS - SO DON'T BE A WEENIE.



   ww 

EDITORIAL

Editor:                   Lois B. Laulicht
Contributing Editor:      Herb Chong
Home Page Editor          Paul Kinnaly
Ascii Edition Editor      Lin Sprague
Contributing Writers:     Derek Buchler, John M. Campbell, Leonard
                          Grossman, Gregg Hommel , Stan Kanner, Jerry
                          Laulicht, Phil Leonard, Bob Miller, Frank
                          McGowan, Peter Neuendorffer, Jim Plumb, Ben
                          Schorr, Paul Williamson

EDITORIAL BOARD

Herb Chong, Gregg Hommel, Lois Laulicht, Paul Williamson, Paul Kinnaly

SUBMISSIONS and REQUESTS

Email using Internet      lois.laulicht@channel1.com
                          windowatch@ins.infonet.net
                          winwatch@user1.channel1.com
                          Editor WindoWatch
                          Valley Head, WV 26294

Submissions remain the intellectual property of the author. Manuscripts
will NOT be returned if not used.

Electronic File Access    FTP>ftp.channel1.com/pub/WindoWatch
                          FTP>oak.oakland.edu/pub3/Simtel-win3/winwatch

WindoWatch is found on Channel One in several formats by calling
617-354-3137 (28800) or 617-354-3230 (9600 and 14.400).

We publish in a Windows compatible format and in HTML on our home page.
The DOS format uses ReadRoom (*.TOC) One can also read online from the
Reader Room itself - Door 48. Non-members of Channel One can download
the latest WindoWatch issue by typing J Free from the main board prompt
Annual shareware subscriptions at $20 per year for electronic delivery
of the ASCII or Acrobat edition. Sponsorship and contributions at
various levels.

Comments, letters, and requests can be sent to us at various locations.
Postlink to Lois Laulicht ->15 tagging the message "receiver only" and
on the Internet lois.laulicht@channel1.com

WindoWatch (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 all rights reserved, is the property of
Lois B. Laulicht and CCC of WV Valley Head, WV 26294


   ww End


