Cover by Mike Gorman
MyMac Magazine #21, Jan 1997

This Month: Email, Email, and More Email. This Month’s Topic is Email!

Hello, once again, and Happy New Year to everyone out there. I hope 1997 proves to be prosperous and positive for all of you. This month’s topic (yes, I do have one this time around) centers around my favorite Internet use, electronic mail. Let’s get started.

More Than Just Virtual Letters
One of the best things about email is that it allows you to write letters, notes, or memos to friends, acquaintances, and associates. You don’t have to pay postage for these messages, and you don’t have to worry about the postal service delivering it, either. Email is fast, cheap, and efficient. But if the only thing you’re using email for is to keep in touch with friends, you’re missing out.

Email: Keeping You Informed
Email can be used to quickly provide people with information that would otherwise take more time and research to find. Since saving people time can enhance productivity and is just generally a good thing, it makes perfect sense that this great feature of email be taken advantage of to give people access to news, notifications, updates, and other tidbits of information. There are a number of ways in which you can get news and more via email, and I can’t even begin to touch on them all, or even pick the best ones. Instead, I’ll mention the ones I’ve had experience with, and tell you what I think of them.

PlayMaker Football 2.1.4
Company: PlayMaker, Inc.
Shareware: $20.00
E-Mail: playmaker@aol.com

Mike: Even the more casual readers of My Mac have probably picked up on the fact that I am a huge football fanatic. That’s why I have always been disappointed with the lack of sports games available for the Macintosh, both in terms of quantity and quality. Since Electronic Arts and Front Page Sports refuse to port their PC games over to the Mac, I’ve always relied on some other platform, such as the Super Nintendo game system, for good sports games to play.

With PlayMaker Football, that reliance on my old SNES has decreased a little. PlayMaker Football has garnered quite a following among Mac football fans, and after spending a few hours with it, it’s easy to see why. Although it doesn’t quite provide the amount of action and features that games such as the John Madden NFL Football series do, PlayMaker does boast a large variety of options, with an emphasis on strategy, and gives Mac gamers a low-cost, quality gridiron offering.

Adam: Before I say anything about PlayMaker Football, I want you to know that I am not a football fan. Far from it, actually. But I do know a good game when I see one, and PlayMaker Football is a good game! I feel that all Mac gamers should know about this great game. Those who don’t already, that is!!!

Mike: You can tell right from the start that this is a polished game. PlayMaker gives a great first impression, with a well-done splash screen and nifty theme music. In fact, the music and sounds are some of the best features of the game. Great sound effects, such as the cheering and booing of the crowd and the crunching tackling noises, really add to the game play.

Adam: When I first launched the game, I was greeted with a great splash screen and music. WOW! I knew this was going to be a great game. After I clicked “game” under the file menu, I began a new game. I got to select my team and play book, a real plus! There were so many options that it was a bit overwhelming! But I quickly figured it out, and started a new game. As I continued to play, I figured out that I have to call my own play each time. Great. What do I know about plays? Here’s one area that was really hard for me to figure out. I wish there would have been a drawing of what each play does! Once you finally figure out what each play really does, that game becomes a lot of fun. You really have to think. The computer’s intelligence is very good, and you have to find the right play to call at the right time, or you will have to punt! (See, I do know something about football!) When the play is over, a window pops up with a reporter guy telling you all the stats on the play. How many yards were lost/gained, etc…

As is true with most games, if there isn’t sound, it’s not fun! The guys at PlayMaker didn’t forget to add sound! The sound effects are awesome. The crowd cheers and boos, the football players grunt and groan, the referees blow their whistles, and the helmets and bodies crunch together. Any football sound you can imagine is in here! Without the great sound effects, PlayMaker Football wouldn’t be as good as it is. As for the graphics, they are nothing to scream about, but they aren’t bad. They’re actually better than I expected.

Mike: Before you start a game, you choose your team and your opponent’s team. PlayMaker comes with five teams, each with their own unique play book, and you can create your own teams and plays with the Draft and Chalkboard Editor options if you register your copy. It takes a little getting used to the naming schemes that each team uses for its plays, but once you figure it out, you appreciate the unique play books, which really add to the realism and variety of the game.

Adam: You can play a two player game, play against the computer, or even let the computer play against itself. Letting the computer do it is really what I like! When I’m tired or really don’t feel like doing anything, I can watch the computer play against the computer. Cool.

Mike: Even better, you can get involved with other football enthusiasts over the Internet. As I mentioned before, PlayMaker Football has garnered nearly a cult following of Mac users around the world, and fans and players alike get together online to compete with each other. There are PlayMaker leagues available on America Online and over the net, and there’s also a PlayMaker Football news group and mailing list. Addresses and information about all of the above are provided in the DOCMaker-based instruction manual, which isn’t flashy, but well done and informative nonetheless.

The play itself is surprisingly realistic, in some ways even more so than leading arcade football simulations. The computer intelligence is good enough that you can’t run the same play all day and get away with it, one of the most glaring problems with other games. Since the game is heavy on strategy, you need to be able to pick the right mix of runs and passes, and call the appropriate defensive formations for each situation, if you’re going to be successful. Even if you’re an armchair quarterback guru, don’t expect to blow out your computer opponents from the start. The game is often a challenge, and if you walk away victorious when the final whistle blows, you do feel a sense of accomplishment, somewhat like what a real head coach might feel after calling a great game and seeing it pay off on the scoreboard.

With a number of options, a variety of teams and plays, good graphics, great sounds, in-depth statistics, and good Artificial Intelligence on the part of the computer, PlayMaker Football is a winner on the Mac-gaming gridiron. While action-oriented pigskin fans may still want to keep their Nintendo or Sega machines handy, anyone who’s ever second-guessed the play-calling of their favorite football team would do well to check out PlayMaker Football. Armchair quarterbacks everywhere will love this game. I advise you to pick it up now, just in time for the Super Bowl.

Adam: I’ve really enjoyed playing PlayMaker Football. Even though I’m not a football fan, this is one game that I can enjoy. If football isn’t your game, you might not like it as much, but for any avid Mac gamer that is looking for a good sports game with great sound and a great concept, PlayMaker Football is a touchdown.

PlayMaker Football is available on America Online by doing a keyword software search for “PlayMaker Football,” and on the internet, at the My Mac Software Library, http://www.mymac.com/software in the games section. The $20.00 shareware price is more than worth it. I actually believe that with some more graphics and a little touch up, that this game could go commercial and sell for $40.00 or more!

Mike Wallinga (mlwall@mtcnet.net)
Adam Karneboge (webmaster@mymac.com)

World Wide Web Weaver v2.0
Company: Miracle Software, Inc.
Estimated Price: $89.00
http://www.miracleinc.com

If you’re a long time reader of My Mac, you may remember my review of World Wide Web Weaver v1.1.2 back in issue #17. You may also remember that I was not as pleased with Web Weaver as I thought I would be. Web Weaver 1.1.2 had some missing features that hindered its potential as a champion HTML editor. Well, I have to say that I am nothing but pleased with version 2.0. With version 2.0, Miracle Software has definitely taken a step in the right direction.

New Features
Probably my favorite feature in the new version is that it’s now PowerPC Native. The 68k emulation was really killing me, but that has been fixed now! Web Weaver 2.0 is super fast, and thus has become much more powerful. Another feature that was absent in Web Weaver 1.1.2 was a spelling checker. Web Weaver 2.0 includes a special version of Casaday & Green’s Spell Catcher, a wonderful program for catching all kinds of errors in your spelling and punctuation. Since I have been using Web Weaver 2.0 with the spell checker, I feel that my spelling and punctuation have improved. You may be asking: “How do you know?” Well, I have it set to beep any time a word is misspelled. It beeps quite often!!!

The main feature in v2.0 is a totally redesigned interface. The interface is now “Copland” style, with the 3-D shaded push buttons and all! The main window has been separated into 3 sections, the Header, the Body, and the Footer section. This allows you to know where special code like Java scripts go. There are four mini windows to the side of the main window. Two of these windows include key features like graphic and link editors, and when you click on one of those buttons, the editor is opened, presenting you with loads of options and attributes so you can get exactly what you want. The other two windows are customizable, whereas you can put whatever shortcuts you want in them. Other new features include New table, frame, form, list, link, and graphic editors. Following the Copland style interface, they’re now a lot easier to work with and to understand.

Tags, Tags, Tags!
Web Weaver 2.0 supports Anchor tags, body tags, form tags, glossary and definition tags, graphic tags, head tags, horizontal line tags, link tags, list tags, mail-to tags, table tags, and all of the format, header, size and style tags. Also supported are forms, frames, tables, lists, and a whole slew of special characters. Speaking of those special characters…. there are some characters that I never even knew existed!!!

As I said above, there are now two windows which you can customize to your needs. When you click on an item in one of those windows, such as the “Center” command, it automatically types the center tags around your selected text or right in the document. Very clever!

The Preferences
On a whole, the program is much more customizable, letting you choose everything from the color of the text, to whether you want it upper case or lowercase!!! You can have more than one preview browser defined, and you can switch between them at any time. You can add new colors for your links. You can choose whether you want the tags to display in semi-WYSIWYG style, that is, if you want something to be in font size=5 it will be displayed in the window exactly how it will be shown in the browser. One more thing, you can now edit tags or create new ones directly in the main application.

Pricing and Availability
World Wide Web Weaver 2.0 sells for $89.00 plus tax, and an upgrade from version 1.x.x is $35.00 plus tax. You can download fully functional demos of Web Weaver 2.0, without the spell checker, at Miracle Software’s web site, http://www.miracleinc.com.

The Summary
The money that I spent for Web Weaver 2.0 was worth every penny. It is my HTML editor of choice, and will be for a very long time. I have tried other text editors, and though they’re nice, none of them really compare to the speed and power of Web Weaver. If you don’t want to learn HTML, or you like a WYSIWYG interface, there are some great editors out there such as Claris Home Page. But if you want an HTML editor that can work for anyone from a beginner to an advanced webmaster, Web Weaver is the way to go.
-Adam Karneboge

Announcement:

This issue marks my one year anniversary of writing for My Mac. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tim Robertson for giving me the chance to try out my writing skills, and continuing to permit me to write for My Mac, and to be My Mac’s Webmaster, which I have enjoyed more than anything. Over the last year, I have been working with some of the greatest people anywhere, the staff and readers of My Mac. He has also become a very good friend. Thanks, Tim.

Adam Karneboge

Speech is, by far, one of the neatest features of Macs. It’s also one of the least used. It seems that everybody turns off speech recognition for one reason or another. Some people say it’s too slow while others say it uses too much memory. Not only is it useful, but it’s a lot of fun.

There are two types of speech uses on a Mac. One is Text to Speech (TTS) while the other is Speech Recognition. Combined, these form PlainTalk. Text to Speech is the easiest to use. If you open any speech savvy application, such as SimpleText, you can type and have it read back to you in a variety of voices depending upon your system. There is also a Mexican Spanish TTS system available off the Internet. This allows your computer to read back Spanish with an accent. In PlainTalk 1.5, TTS can read alert boxes that pop up.

While having your Mac talk is fun, it is limited in its use. Speech recognition, the second part of PlainTalk, is where the real fun begins. With this on, you can open files, empty the trash, find out the time and date, close windows, zoom windows and even change the view of windows. Those are just a few of the things the Finder will do. If you have any speech savvy applications, many will be able to be controlled with speech.

Such is the case with Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. There is an application called SurfTalk that works in the background, adding speech recognition to your Web Browser. These include opening bookmark pages, adding bookmarks, opening hyperlinks, going back and forward, stopping and reloading of pages. The only thing you can’t do is speak an address; you still have to type that.

Now you can see that PlainTalk can be useful. The memory requirements are about one megabyte, varying somewhat according to your system setup. The speed depends on how much noise is in the room and your computer. If there’s a lot of background noise, the chances of having it work are reduced. The other part is the speed of your computer. The faster it is, the faster speech will run. My 6100 with 16 megs of RAM has never run into memory problems and speech recognition isn’t that slow. I would suggest trying it on your computer to see what it’s like.

The more technical of you may be wondering how PlainTalk works. It’s a fairly straightforward process that takes in the voice, transforms it into usable data, and matches it with a preset word or phrase.

To take in the voice, the Mac uses the microphone. All you have to do is talk and the Mac will listen. After getting this information, it changes it into digital values. Then it processes it further. Known as signal processing, this step takes the digital values and makes it into a sequence of patterns. These are much like those used by the human ear.

The next step, recognition search, takes the patterns and compares them to preset words and sounds. These are used by the application to see what is allowed or expected and triggers a command to do something.

The good part about the Apple recognition is that the software needs no training period to be used well. Unless you have a deep accent, it will work very well on the first try.

To make the computer talk requires a little more work. The first step is known as text processing. What this does is to make some text readable by the computer, including abbreviations.

The next step is to create the rhythm for the text. This is known as prosodic processing. This makes the computer sound real instead of just saying words. When a comma is placed, the computer has to pause. This step is how the computer knows when to pause.

The last step is the signal processing – actually creating the sound. This takes the words and the rhythm and computes it to sound like the desired voice. This is completely software based, but requires many computations.

You can get all of this software, as well as links to third-party developers at Apple’s Speech Web Site, http://www. speech.apple.com

Brian Koponen (briankop@mail.idt.net)

You think your Macintosh is cool now? Wait till you’re done reading this report! Then you’ll really know what a cool Mac is!

All of the following information comes from the “Macintosh Think Tank,” an organization that brings together the latest and greatest minds in the world of Macintosh computing.

The Macintosh Think Tank recently completed its first symposium, which was held in Kent, Washington. The topic of discussion was, “What to expect from the Macintosh Operating System in the year 2007.”

Although attendance at this first gathering of the greatest Macintosh minds in the world was disappointing – possibly due to the fact that the symposium was held on Christmas Day, 1996, the resulting consensus of all participants was astounding, if not earth shattering.

Attending the first annual Macintosh Think Tank Symposium were:

Symposium Chairman: Pete Miner
Think Tank members attending: Pete Miner
Minutes of the symposium recorded by: Pete Miner
Coffee and doughnuts served by: Pete Miner
Post symposium cleanup and floor sweeping donated by: Pete Miner

A short list? Perhaps. However, revelations coming out of this meeting of the mind(s) should be sufficient to keep the Macintosh community bustling with excitement for the coming decade.

Realizing that predicting the future is, at best, a risky business, Think Tank member(s) feel confident that by 2007 the Macintosh OS will be as advanced compared to present day operating systems as today’s computers are to an abacus or a child’s coloring book with crayons. They further predict this new OS will be named Double-Oh-Seven (007), and will also finally mark a departure from the tired convention of using incremental system (x.x.x) version numbers.

Think Tank member(s) predict that Microsoft will still be trying to work the bugs out of Windows 95 and that Bill Gates, on the verge of bankruptcy because he was too stubborn to give up on a loser OS and continued pouring his vast fortune down the Win95 rat hole, will be seen cruising around Cupertino looking for a job.

The Think Tank assures us that the big breakthrough will come in 2005, when a little known publishing and computer consulting company called My Mac Productions (MMP) heads up a well-engineered hostile takeover of Apple Computer Co.

The MMP staff will immediately take over all R&D projects underway at the former Apple Computer headquarters. The major results of their labors will be released in 007. These results will include :

Memory Pulse Collector (MPC)

Memory Pulse Reader (MPR)

Memory Pulse Distributor (MPD)

Reverse Memory Pulse Handling (RMPH)

Molecular Data Identifier (MDI)

Molecular Data Stabilizer (MDS)

Molecular Data Compression (MDC)

Molecular Data Transference (MDT)

Super Duper Handy Dandy All Purpose Molecular Data Math Co-Processor (SDHDAPMDMCP)

As chairman of the Think Tank symposium, I will attempt to give you a brief overview of what these developments and inventions by the crack MMP staff will mean to the average home computer user, come 2007.

First and foremost, computing as we know it today will cease to exist. In order to take advantage of 007 you will need to buy the new generation Mac, as 007 will not run on today’s or for that matter, tomorrow’s computers. Due to the vast quantity of these new units that are expected to be sold, the Think Tank member(s) predict(s) a street price on these new machines to be in the $800 range. The name of this new line of computer’s will be “My Mac.”

What the “My Mac” will do:

The first thing people will notice about the “My Mac” computer will be its lack of input devices. The “My Mac” will not have a keyboard or mouse. Replacing these devices will be two 1″ X 3″ sensors built into the monitor casing, one at the top of the screen and one at the bottom. The top sensor being a receiver and the bottom one, a transmitter.

As we all know, our brains emit a steady stream of electronic pulses that are in fact our thoughts. For years scientist have tried to corral these brain emissions and decipher them. Corralling these brain pulses was fairly simple. However, reading them and in essence, reading someone’s thoughts has eluded the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century. Not so in the 21st century , when the heretofore unknown MMP staff arrived on the scene.

Without getting too technical, the receiving sensor surrounds the user’s head with an invisible collector beam preventing the user’s thought emissions from escaping into the atmosphere. These emissions are funneled back through the receiving sensor and into the Memory Pulse Collector (MPC) attached to the motherboard. The MPC sorts out any unrelated or garbled thoughts that the user has sent. The MPC then sends what it has collected over to the Memory Pulse Reader (MPR). The MPR converts these emissions into binary code and puts it all into a user readable format and shoots it over to the Memory Pulse Distributor (MPD). Still with me? Good.

Let’s say the user is working in a graphics program and the MPR translates the user’s thoughts into something like, “Gee, I think this area over here should be a darker shade of blue.” What the MPD does is send the pixel coordinates of the area the user is focusing on, along with the shade of blue the user has in mind, to the back of the monitor to be pasted onto the screen in the exact spot the user wants to make his changes. I don’t need to tell you that all this takes place in the blink of an eye. Pretty cool, huh? But wait! There’s more!

The computer to user transmitting sensor at the bottom of the monitor will be a truly amazing breakthrough. This sensor will allow complete and total computer-to-user interaction. Using the same scenario as above, let us assume the user has a major problem when it comes to matching up colors, in fact he’s the type who thinks that a light blue suit over a dark orange shirt with a paisley tie and red socks is a perfect match! This will be where the sensibilities of the “My Mac” will take over. By Reverse Memory Pulse Handling (RMPH) the “My Mac” (knowing the user is about to make a bad choice in color selection) will send a jolt of juice back to the user’s brain via the transmitting sensor, suggesting a different color than the one the user has chosen. What enters the user’s brain from the “My Mac” will be a simple thought, one that the user assumes is his own. The user will then either go with the new suggestion, or not (but 99.9% of the time he’ll go with it). Simple as that! No muss, no fuss!

If all this sounds too sci-fi futuristic to you, remember that this will not be available until 2007. Remember, too, that science fiction is usually the precursor of reality.

With that in mind, hold on to your socks or panty hose, cause they’re about to be blown off!

The development by the MMP staff of the Memory Pulse based hardware and software that will be introduced into the “My Mac” computer and the 007 operating system in the year 2007 will be heralded as one of mankind’s greatest advances, ranked right up there with sliced bread and putting a colony of earth people on the surface of Mars (which incidentally will take place on Jan. 4th, 2018). But the MMP staff, not satisfied with just one once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment, will astonish the scientific community by unveiling yet another startling advancement in the computer industry (or anywhere else, for that matter) to be included in the “My Mac” and the 007 system. This second advancement will be a molecule manipulation technology that the world’s most famous and knowledgeable scientist on the subject considered unattainable for at least another 150 years! Fortunately, this famous scientist forgot to tell the R&D staff at MMP.

This molecular manipulation will go something like this:

Scenario: It’s the year 2007 and you’re sitting in front of your My Mac computer, mentally dictating the first draft of your memoirs in the new word processing program from My Mac Productions called Think Write. You suddenly realize you’ve been at this project for the better part of 5 hours and, by golly, you’re getting hungry! You don’t feel like cooking, so you decide to order a steak dinner with all the fixin’s from that steak house you enjoyed so much the last time you were in Amarillo, Texas. You are presently in Seattle, Washington, but this is not a problem because you own a My Mac computer. You can’t remember the name of the steak house but you can picture what it looks like in your mind. Still no problemo! Based on the mental image you send into your My Mac and using the proper finder software already installed inside your My Mac, you mentally instruct the computer to locate this steak house, retrieve a phone number and make a connection via your modem to the steak house’s shipping computer, also a My Mac. The next thing you will do is think about what you want. Your My Mac will sort through your thoughts and convert your images of a fresh salad, a 16 oz. medium-rare T-Bone, a Texas-sized baked potato, an ear of hot buttered corn on the cob, a small helping of Texas beans and a pitcher of beer, into binary coded computer data and send this data to the steak house computer, along with your credit card number, of course.

You go back to work on your memoirs while your order is being sent (true multi-tasking!). About 3 minutes after your order has been sent, confirmation of your order is flashed up on the screen along with a reminder and a caution:

“Your order has been received and is being prepared. Your pitcher of beer will arrive in 16 seconds. Your salad will arrive in 52 seconds. Your entree’ will arrive in 5 minutes and 22 seconds. Please keep the molecule outlet on the side of your My Mac clear during this transmission. CAUTION: Your meal will arrive with a temperature of 162 degrees. Burns are possible: Use Caution. Thank you for dining at The Big Texan.”

What happens next is no less than ingenious.

Your order is prepared in the kitchen of the Big Texan restaurant and put on a conveyor that passes through a sensor attached to the restaurant’s My Mac server computer. This sensor is connected to a Molecular Data Identifier (MDI) inside the My Mac which identifies the molecules passing through the sensor as being animal, vegetable, or mineral. Your meal then passes through another sensor connected to a Molecular Data Compressor (MDC). This device breaks down your meal to the molecular level and compresses these molecules to a suitable size for transfer to your computer via fiber optic phone line, which is handled by the Molecular Data Transference (MDT) Chip.

Once the meal arrives at your My Mac, it travels through the molecule outlet and sort of hovers there while the Molecular Data Stabilizer (MDS) takes over and decompresses and stabilizes the molecules and returns them to their original form. Presto! Time to eat!

None of this would be possible without the Super Duper Handy Dandy All Purpose Molecular Data Math Co-Processor (SDHDAPMDMCP) of course. This little chip keeps everything running smoothly and in the proper sequence. Most of the time!

That last statement is the reason the “My Mac”, in 2007, at least, will have not yet evolved into a full-fledged transporter of human beings and/or large machinery. Although it will seem to work fine for small items, it still had a few bugs and glitches in it that make it unsafe or impractical to use as a do-all, send-all transporter. Take the meal we just received from Texas; it will be just as tasty as if we were sitting right there in the restaurant. However, we may notice little inconsistencies, such as maybe a few kernels of corn imbedded in your T-Bone and small pieces of meat in the holes where the missing corn-on-the-cob kernels should be. Not really a big deal or inconvenience when talking about a steak dinner, but you can see where there might be a problem if a human being were to transfer himself and show up on the other end with an eye located where his ear should be or maybe a thumb and nose trading places. See what I mean? The Molecular Data Stabilizer will not quite yet have been perfected to the zero tolerance mistake level necessary for human transportation. One other small drawback with the MDS is its lack of an Undo feature; what you get is what you get.

So, there you have it, the Macintosh of the future as seen by the Macintosh Think Tank member(s). For any of you cynics out there who refuse to believe the symposium’s predictions or just wonder how the Think Tank member(s) can feel so absolutely certain that this will be the Macintosh of the future, I have just one question and one statement for you.

Question:
Have you ever seen the movie, “Back to the Future?”

Statement:

Been there. Done that.

Trust me! Have I ever given you false information before? Of course not!

Cheers!

Pete Miner (pete@mymac.com)

PlayMaker Football 2.1.4
Company: PlayMaker, Inc.
Shareware: $20.00
E-Mail: playmaker@aol.com

Mike: Even the more casual readers of My Mac have probably picked up on the fact that I am a huge football fanatic. That’s why I have always been disappointed with the lack of sports games available for the Macintosh, both in terms of quantity and quality. Since Electronic Arts and Front Page Sports refuse to port their PC games over to the Mac, I’ve always relied on some other platform, such as the Super Nintendo game system, for good sports games to play.

With PlayMaker Football, that reliance on my old SNES has decreased a little. PlayMaker Football has garnered quite a following among Mac football fans, and after spending a few hours with it, it’s easy to see why. Although it doesn’t quite provide the amount of action and features that games such as the John Madden NFL Football series do, PlayMaker does boast a large variety of options, with an emphasis on strategy, and gives Mac gamers a low-cost, quality gridiron offering.

Adam: Before I say anything about PlayMaker Football, I want you to know that I am not a football fan. Far from it, actually. But I do know a good game when I see one, and PlayMaker Football is a good game! I feel that all Mac gamers should know about this great game. Those who don’t already, that is!!!

Mike: You can tell right from the start that this is a polished game. PlayMaker gives a great first impression, with a well-done splash screen and nifty theme music. In fact, the music and sounds are some of the best features of the game. Great sound effects, such as the cheering and booing of the crowd and the crunching tackling noises, really add to the game play.

Adam: When I first launched the game, I was greeted with a great splash screen and music. WOW! I knew this was going to be a great game. After I clicked “game” under the file menu, I began a new game. I got to select my team and play book, a real plus! There were so many options that it was a bit overwhelming! But I quickly figured it out, and started a new game. As I continued to play, I figured out that I have to call my own play each time. Great. What do I know about plays? Here’s one area that was really hard for me to figure out. I wish there would have been a drawing of what each play does! Once you finally figure out what each play really does, that game becomes a lot of fun. You really have to think. The computer’s intelligence is very good, and you have to find the right play to call at the right time, or you will have to punt! (See, I do know something about football!) When the play is over, a window pops up with a reporter guy telling you all the stats on the play. How many yards were lost/gained, etc…

As is true with most games, if there isn’t sound, it’s not fun! The guys at PlayMaker didn’t forget to add sound! The sound effects are awesome. The crowd cheers and boos, the football players grunt and groan, the referees blow their whistles, and the helmets and bodies crunch together. Any football sound you can imagine is in here! Without the great sound effects, PlayMaker Football wouldn’t be as good as it is. As for the graphics, they are nothing to scream about, but they aren’t bad. They’re actually better than I expected.

Mike: Before you start a game, you choose your team and your opponent’s team. PlayMaker comes with five teams, each with their own unique play book, and you can create your own teams and plays with the Draft and Chalkboard Editor options if you register your copy. It takes a little getting used to the naming schemes that each team uses for its plays, but once you figure it out, you appreciate the unique play books, which really add to the realism and variety of the game.

Adam: You can play a two player game, play against the computer, or even let the computer play against itself. Letting the computer do it is really what I like! When I’m tired or really don’t feel like doing anything, I can watch the computer play against the computer. Cool.

Mike: Even better, you can get involved with other football enthusiasts over the Internet. As I mentioned before, PlayMaker Football has garnered nearly a cult following of Mac users around the world, and fans and players alike get together online to compete with each other. There are PlayMaker leagues available on America Online and over the net, and there’s also a PlayMaker Football news group and mailing list. Addresses and information about all of the above are provided in the DOCMaker-based instruction manual, which isn’t flashy, but well done and informative nonetheless.

The play itself is surprisingly realistic, in some ways even more so than leading arcade football simulations. The computer intelligence is good enough that you can’t run the same play all day and get away with it, one of the most glaring problems with other games. Since the game is heavy on strategy, you need to be able to pick the right mix of runs and passes, and call the appropriate defensive formations for each situation, if you’re going to be successful. Even if you’re an armchair quarterback guru, don’t expect to blow out your computer opponents from the start. The game is often a challenge, and if you walk away victorious when the final whistle blows, you do feel a sense of accomplishment, somewhat like what a real head coach might feel after calling a great game and seeing it pay off on the scoreboard.

With a number of options, a variety of teams and plays, good graphics, great sounds, in-depth statistics, and good Artificial Intelligence on the part of the computer, PlayMaker Football is a winner on the Mac-gaming gridiron. While action-oriented pigskin fans may still want to keep their Nintendo or Sega machines handy, anyone who’s ever second-guessed the play-calling of their favorite football team would do well to check out PlayMaker Football. Armchair quarterbacks everywhere will love this game. I advise you to pick it up now, just in time for the Super Bowl.

Adam: I’ve really enjoyed playing PlayMaker Football. Even though I’m not a football fan, this is one game that I can enjoy. If football isn’t your game, you might not like it as much, but for any avid Mac gamer that is looking for a good sports game with great sound and a great concept, PlayMaker Football is a touchdown.

PlayMaker Football is available on America Online by doing a keyword software search for “PlayMaker Football,” and on the internet, at the My Mac Software Library, http://www.mymac.com/software in the games section. The $20.00 shareware price is more than worth it. I actually believe that with some more graphics and a little touch up, that this game could go commercial and sell for $40.00 or more!

Mike Wallinga (mlwall@mtcnet.net)
Adam Karneboge (webmaster@mymac.com)

THE BE BUZZ THAT WAS
All the hollering over the Apple/NeXT deal can’t get rid of some previous developments on the Be front. The attention Be was getting from the world as a result of the attention it was getting from Apple led to some interesting developments. Some of the recent reporting on Be: (from Information Week, Dec. 2):

WHO KNEW?
What a nightmare! Actual, true-life research was required for me to write this month’s column! But these things happen with late breaking news. Of course, late-breaking is a relative term when you write for a monthly e-zine. One of the dangers of writing a monthly column concerning a fast-developing industry like the computer industry is that the words you write can become outdated before anyone but your editor reads them. Which is, of course, just what happened to me this month. I had been proud of myself for once again sending off my column to Tim, our publisher, within a day or so of the actual deadline (rumor has it I am often the last of the My Mac staff to submit my work). And then AOL’s News Profile system quietly slipped the news into my e-mail box: Apple Computer had pushed Be Inc. out of the spotlight and bought up NeXT, the computer software company established by the Apple’s founding father, Steve Jobs. I had my suspicions as I scrolled through the first few articles that perhaps this would call for a small addendum to my column. A correction. A tweak here or there. But in the back of my brain, an idea was fighting for attention. It was the idea that I needed to do some actual research to leave my column some integrity. Yes, I would have to pursue the story, not simply let it be delivered to me with the rest of my office mail. As past readers of my column know, I make a column every month by splicing together comments and editorial that the PC press has made about Macintosh and Apple and then throwing in my own humble critiques on those articles. For deadline purposes, however, I took to the Web to rewrite my column this month. Visiting the Websites of some of the major PC publications, this is what I found….

JAZZED. THRILLED. ENERGIZED. ELECTRIFIED….
These four subtle words glowed up at me from the web pages of PC Week. From that publication came this quote concerning the return of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to the casual-dress offices of his once and future company: ‘”It’s great. People are totally delighted,” said Ann Wrixon, the executive director of BMUG, a Berkeley, Calif., Macintosh users group. “If anyone can preach beyond the choir, it’s Steve Jobs. He created the choir.”‘

Back in still-friendly reality, PC Week pointed out that perhaps the best quality that Steve Jobs brings back to Apple is star quality. The media has fond memories of him (that being the mass media press which still fills it’s publishing and graphics departments with Macintoshes) and likes to point back to him as one of the visionaries who made personal computing possible.

PC Week also took note of comments by the 9 billion pound gorilla, Microsoft. Yes, Microsoft has been quite the cheerleader in Apple’s corner these past few months. Let’s not forget that Bill Gates was right near the top of Slate ‘s list of top charity givers in 1996. But there is a reason why 9 out of 10 computers on this planet run Microsoft’s operating system … because Bill wanted it that way. So it will be important to see how Microsoft continues to relate to Apple in the coming months. Microsoft is the company everyone loves to hate, and if Bill sees something on the horizon that threatens the glories of Windows 97, expect to see a great big gorilla roaming the streets of Silicon Valley clutching a recipe for mom’s Apple pie.

So what has Microsoft Corp. said about the NeXT buy? PC Week reads: “…the largest developer of Macintosh applications (yes, that’s Microsoft) expressed cautious support for the next-generation operating system that comes out of Apple’s labs. ‘Microsoft has always been a customer-driven company and if it makes good business sense, we will support it,’ said company spokesman Mark Murray.” O.K., let’s review 1.) how much good-business sense Bill Gates has and 2.) how much he likes helping out his competitors. [Hints: 1.) Bill Gates is the most successful businessman in American history and 2.) In order to compete against Netscape Navigator, Microsoft created an equally wonderful browser ... and decided to give it away for free.]

So why would Microsoft care? Apple is still a small player, and just taking the NeXT step doesn’t mean world domination. But, in another article from PC Week, Ellen Hancock, chief technology officer at Apple, pointed out that the new Apple/NeXT software will be fit to run on Intel chips. It’s a place no smiling Mac OS logo has gone before. The focus, she said, would still be the PowerPC chips, but the compatibility will be there. What about the compatibility we’re most concerned about? i.e., backwards compatibility with the software you and I run now? Hancock declared that the new Apple system will be compatible with System 7 systems. But, “How far back we can go is something we will figure out later.” So don’t bother her with that now. She’s busy.

As for Be Inc., well, Hancock made it clear that those talks are over. Be will now fade from memory (my prediction, not her words).

And what is PC Week ‘s take on the industry reaction? “Analysts had mixed reactions to the news, although many seemed to be pleased that NeXT was chosen over Be.” Seems NeXT is more established than fifteen minutes of fame could make Be.

OpenStep
Let me introduce you to an operating system you may never have heard of before. The name is OpenStep, and that’s the $400 million dollar name of NeXT’s Apple-acquired product. OpenStep was chosen over the BeOS by Apple. One of the reasons, as alluded to above and reported on the web pages of Infoworld, is that OpenStep already runs on Intel hardware. Infoworld writes: “‘Apple recognizes that the PowerPC isn’t the only hardware platform out there, and (Chief Technology Officer Ellen) Hancock is really pushing the idea of expanding the platforms the Mac OS can run on,’ said one source close to Apple.” Several questions remain to be answered: How exactly will the integration of these operating systems take place? How soon will the results be available? How readily will software developers take to the new hybrid? The first two questions should be answered by Apple in January. The third will take time. One question that has been answered, however, is that Intel will be a part of the Mac OS future … but PowerPC will be the focus.

Infoworld had to include (for that journalistic balance) some negative comments about the Apple/NeXT combo. Developers like the idea but are wary. And the business world is happy with the news, but don’t expect those stockbrokers to replace their ThinkPads with PowerBooks any time soon; according to some skeptics, Apple has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to return to the land of major players.

SPEAKING OF PREDICTIONS….
I don’t report on the Macintosh publications of the world. I write for one, so I focus on the Wintel-friendly magazines and poke fun at them when they poke fun at us. You may be astonished to learn this, but My Mac is the only Macintosh publication I do subscribe to … I can wrangle up Mac news when I need to. But I do like to pick up a stray copy of MacWeek or Macworld when I have the chance, and all the goings-on with NeXT and Be have reminded me of an article I read long ago in MacWeek. My apologies to the author, but I don’t know who wrote it. Whoever it was, though, wins my computer industry prediction award of 1996. The article was a pre-Gil Amelio editorial on what Apple needed to do to get back in the game. This was in the days the Sun Microsystems was making loud noises, to the industry’s approval, about buying Apple and taking over the Mac OS. The writer of the commentary made the then-astonishing declaration that what Apple needed was not to be bought by another computer company, but to buy a smaller company of it’s own. In those days, Apple seemed to be hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, so it was a shocking idea. I day-dreamed about the possibility for a few minutes and then dismissed it. On occasion, it is nice to be wrong.

Grant Cassiday (GBCassiday@aol.com)

Dear Readers:

As you’re reading this month’s column, I’ll be on the sunny and warm island of Puerto Rico, taking a much looked-forward-to vacation. Sun, museums, warmth … I recommend it for anyone needing a break from your normal (or not so normal!) day to day activities.

To help you in your quest for knowledge, I will be creating a ClarisWorks database containing all the helpful hints you will be reading in “My Mac.” So, if you miss something or want to have your own reference file, just e-mail me with a request. All I ask is that you give me a few months to build the database! Also, it will be an ongoing project. As each issue of “My Mac” comes out, more hints will be added.

Now, on to the good stuff! Last month, I left you with a couple of basic helpful hints that I hope have already helped improve your computer skills. Here’s a couple more…

Helpful Hints

HH #3: Magnets – Keep away! Don’t put any type of magnet near your hard drive or diskettes! I can’t emphasize this enough. Since computer drives are magnetized, (it’s how they keep data intact), putting a magnet near one will wipe it clean. Let me tell you a couple of stories to drive home my point.

Story one: A woman was using her computer at home and saving the information to disk to bring to work. She clipped the disk to a magnet on her refrigerator so she would not forget it. Guess what? Each time she did that, the disk was wiped clean. She didn’t know about the magnet taboo. It took weeks before she was able to figure out what was happening.

Story two: I was moving my computer from one room to another. Because of all the peripherals and associated junk that seems to collect around any computer, I had to break it down. Someone (I won’t say who!) put the hard drive on our carpeted floor. HUGE mistake! The static electricity went to town on my hard drive. Needless to say, when Humpty Dumpty was put back together, the hard drive flashed the nasty question mark! Ugh! Nothing worked except reinitializing the hard drive and reloading the system software, and then all my applications. Not fun at all.

So, please, please! Keep magnets away. You and your Mac will be much happier for it.

HH #4: Soft returns. What is that, you ask? Say you are typing away and look back at your paragraph. Aesthetically, it looks pretty bad due to all the hyphens your word processing program inserted at the end of each line. To get rid of all the hyphens, you can use soft return to clean up the look of the document. Simply insert the cursor before the word that is hyphenated, hold down the shift key and press return. This keeps the word intact and doesn’t incorporate any paragraph styles you may have in place.

Soft return can also be used to keep a person’s first and last names on the same line, phone numbers together, etc. Remember to use this little ‘trick’ as a tool to help keep documents looking nicer and your text well-formatted and easy to read.

Now, at this point, I would normally be moving on to the Q&A and Open Forum sections, However, since the column is so new (and I’m not hooked up to the internet at home yet!), I don’t have any questions to answer! However, I’m not worried (and I will keep repeating that until I get some questions from you folks out there).

I will give you one more HH instead.

HH #5: Buy, beg, borrow, or steal a copy of Robin William’s book, The Mac is not a Typewriter. A quote on the back cover of the book says it all:

“Ever wonder why some type looks more professional, more sophisticated than other type? The answer lies in the rules and techniques developed for professional typesetting. Not surprisingly, those methods are far different than the training given in Typing 1A.
This book not only lays down the principles governing traditional type, but explains the logic behind them. By following the guidelines explained here, anyone using a personal computer to produce type can create beautiful, sophisticated pages.”

You can pick this helpful book up at just about any bookstore. And while you’re at it, you can gloat over the fact that the companion book, The PC is not a Typewriter, is twice as big. Why? Because everything is so much more complicated on the PC side and consistency among the programs is still a myth. Don’t take my word for it, though. Look for yourself! If anything, it will reinforce the fact your decision to purchase a Macintosh was the right one.

One last note: If you cannot, or don’t want to, find the book, don’t worry. This is one of my reference manuals and I will always be pulling helpful hints from it. So, you won’t miss anything.

Adios and good computing!

Barbara Bell (pr@mymac.com)

PowerOS. Another cool name for a free operating system, much like OpenOS on the page before. However, PowerOS is in fact a different operating system, and when this issue went to press, Ben Martz, PowerOS creator, had much more available on his web site. Thanks go out to Ben for taking the time for this interview.

My Mac- With all the talk of a new operating system from Apple and/or Be, and with
the new crop of PPCP machines able to run multi-OS’s, where do you see your OS fitting in?

Ben: I would guess that there will still be a large number of people with the current batch of Power Macintoshes, just as people still have 680×0-based machines these
days. I think that the open architecture and public availability of PowerOS and other projects like it will make them attractive to hobbyists and (I would hope) educational institutions.

My Mac- If someone from the PC side came to you asking for a Intel port of PowerOS, would you be willing to do that?

Ben: I couldn’t do it without a great deal of research, but I would be happy to help someone else do it.

My Mac- Will Mac applications run under your OS?

Ben: Not immediately. There has been some talk of writing a library to ease the transition from the Macintosh Toolbox to PowerOS, but that’s purely speculative right now and isn’t an issue until the system has been distributed and tested.

My Mac- What are the key benefits your OS will have over System 7.5.x?

Ben: Speed, reliability and ease of expansion. I believe that by designing the system from scratch, with none of the legacy code that weighs down the Mac OS, significant speed increases can result. I would target reliability with protected memory and preemptive multitasking, two phrases that have been thrown around far too much these days. Protected memory means that if a user program does something horrible, it won’t bring down the entire system, like in the Mac OS. Preemptive multitasking means that even if a user program tries to hog system resources, every program will still get its fair share of time since the system preempts the impolite program.

My Mac- How many people are involved in this now and what has the response been?

Ben: I’ve had offers of help from about 30 or 40 people and I’m actively working with about 5 of them now. I must have gotten about 8,000 hits on the PowerOS web site
the day that its URL got posted to MacInTouch. In the following days, I received between 400 and 500 pieces of email pertaining to PowerOS.

My Mac- Being a “free” OS, how do you feel about users getting into the code and changing things?

Ben: The OS will be free. I don’t believe that the kernel source code will be freely available since it should be possible to add just about any feature you want via the
PowerOS plug-in APIs. I will, however, make the kernel source available to people who have the knowledge to fix serious bugs or make significant improvements.

My Mac- PowerOS will feature a “plug-in” type architecture. What does that mean?

Ben: This means that any major sub-system will be replaceable with your own code. For example, it you don’t like the file system that PowerOS has, you can develop your
own and have it coexist with PowerOS’ or replace it entirely, all without having to touch the kernel source! A big one that a lot of people have expressed interest in is the GUI plug-in API. This will be similar to what Apple originally announced that Copland’s Appearance Manager would have been, allowing you to change the entire look and feel of your system on the fly!

My Mac- You state that PowerOS will support TCP protocols. Will this be part of the OS, or will this, too, be a plug-in?

Ben: I believe that “basic” networking protocols, like the TCP/IP suite, are an essential part of any major operating system, so they will be built in.

My Mac- What’s your programming background? Any schooling, or are you self- taught?

Ben: My programming skills are entirely self-taught (with the help of many friends and helpful people on the Internet). I’ve been using the Mac since the Macintosh 128K came out so many years ago, and have been developing for it since the Macintosh Plus came out.

My Mac- What was it that prompted you to start this?

Ben: I hate the Mac OS (it’s slow and buggy) and I hate Windows. No one else was doing anything, so I thought I’d work on a solution to the problem. Of course, a year later,
MkLinux came out and everyone started using that, but I think that there’s definitely still interest in this system.

My Mac- MkLinux is, indeed, becoming popular. Do you use it?

Ben: I currently have two 1GB drives set up with MkLinux DR2 and the beta of the 2.0.x linux server. I’ve found it very useful to be able to link my system code in ELF format using gcc under MkLinux.

My Mac- Java and ActiveX are all the rave right now. Will Java have a place in PowerOS?

Ben: I’ve had several people suggest that PowerOS needs a built-in Java VM (virtual machine) and I agree that it would be terrific, but I have to put it on the backburner until the core OS is stable. I would like to mention that Java applets would probably be able to run with the help of a Java loader plug-in, just as there will be a loader for ELF binary files and maybe even PEF later.

My Mac- Last question. If you could have five people of your choosing, each with a different skill, working on the OS, what would you want most?

Ben: I would like to have someone who has in-depth knowledge of operating system development for PowerPC-based Macintosh computers. (Any ex-Apple OS developers would be welcomed!) I could use someone who has experience designing quality APIs. I could use someone who has proven experience with scheduling algorithms to implement something better than round-robin scheduling. I could also use someone who has extensive knowledge of implementing modern memory management on a PowerPC 60x processor.

For more on PowerOS, check out their home page at
http://poweros.branch.net/

Tim Robertson (publisher@mymac.com)

OpenOS. Cool name for what we hope will be a successful and great new operating system for your Macintosh computer. Kevin Avila, creator of the OpenOS, took some time to answer some questions for My Mac.

My Mac- With all the talk of a new operating system from Apple and/or Be, and with
the new crop of PPCP machines able to run multi-OS’s, where do you see your OS fitting in?

Kevin: I see the OpenOS on a floppy disk. While all the other OS’s are starting to get bigger and bigger, we’re doing our best not to ship OpenOS in a CD pack. We’re trying to keep the base install around 5MB. I came to this decision after hearing that Harmony (Mac OS 7.6) will have a base install of around 90MB. My System Folder is already 200MB+, I don’t need more crap.

My Mac- 5MB would seem a tall order to stay under for a modern operating system. Do you think this can really be done?

Kevin: I think, for a minimal install that this goal is possible, the users will then have a choice to install more “packages.”

My Mac- Macintosh computers refer to the Operating System, rather than the computer itself. (Which is why Power Computing cannot claim they sell Macintosh
Computers) If someone is running your system software, what, then, is that computer called?

Kevin: Really? I did not know that. Well, the only thing I can think to call it is a PowerPC. (To me, a Mac is a Mac.)

My Mac- Will Mac applications run under your OS?

Kevin: Yes, in time. We’re not sure how much time, but I doubt it will be available in the first release.

My Mac- If no Mac applications will run under OpenOS, do you plan on creating any yourself, or are you hoping that other programers will pick up the slack and create some for OpenOS?

Kevin: Along with the PowerOS project, we are trying to develop an ELF linker
for Metrowerks Codewarrior so that the ports of application is easy.

My Mac- Who is the target user for your OS?

Kevin: At this time, anyone really. The OpenOS is just a “Hobby OS,” we are not trying to compete with Apple, Be, or anyone else. It’s just always nice to know you have an alternative.

My Mac- What are the key benefits your OS will have over the System 7.5x?

Kevin: Well, we’re shooting for the main things like protected memory, multitasking, and speed. “If my calculations are correct,” OpenOS should be anywhere from 500 to 2000 times faster then MacOS 7.5.5

My Mac- How many people are involved in this now? And how has the response been?

Kevin: Right now we have about 15 daring men and women helping out with various
things. The funny thing is that the last few days, people have been really wanting to help, I’m hoping that by the end of next week there should be about 50 developers.

My Mac- Being a “free” OS, how do you feel about users getting into the code and changing things?

Kevin: They can do whatever they want to the code for their own use. All the copyrights will remain mine, so they can’t change stuff and release a new OS claiming to be their own. I must warn people, due to the fact that some features of the OpenOS require to run in a special CPU mode, you can easily lose files, etc. if you don’t know what you’re doing…. but the compiled version is perfectly safe to the normal user.

My Mac- OpenOS will feature a “plug in” type architecture. What does that mean?

Kevin: Like PowerOS, we also plan to use the plug-in approach. This means that
developers can add services, and we can even do upgrades to the OS via a small plug-in, much like those use with WWW browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer.

My Mac- How long do you feel it will be until users will be able to boot and use your new OS on their computer?

Kevin: We’re trying to get a beta out by Macworld SF in January, if not shortly after, so something in the first quarter of 1997.

My Mac- Will your OS only work with Apple systems, or all PowerPC based systems, such as the BeBox or IBM machines?

Kevin: At first, only Apple systems. We are, however, planning a version that will
run on any PowerPC machine.

My Mac- What was it that prompted you to start this?

Kevin: Well, one night on IRC, we and a few buddies were just talking about how bad Apple has let their OS get so outdated, and were talking about how Be would not be able to handle the Mac platform, so I just yelled out “That’s it! I’m going to write my own damn OS. ” That’s how this whole mess started.

My Mac- So from one IRC, you got the idea to create your own OS? Pretty daunting for one person. Are you a self-taught programmer, or have you had any schooling?

Kevin: Yes, I am self taught in both BASIC and assembly (68K/PPC) and learning C/C++

My Mac- Putting on the “Let’s pretend” hat for a moment, what would you do if, say, in five years OpenOS becomes so popular that Apple tries to buy it from you. Would you sell?

Kevin: That’s kind of hard to say. I think that if we sell out, then that will destroy the whole purpose of this project. S0 no, I don’t think I would sell out.

My Mac- Same question, but rather than Apple, it’s Microsoft. Now would you?

Kevin: Same answer as above.

My Mac- Anytime you add an extension or control panel to the Mac OS , you have to restart. If someone simply adds a new plug in to OpenOS, does a restart need to take place? And how long, do you think, boot time for OpenOS will be?

Kevin: We’re trying to make it so that you’re not required to restart, however, if
you do need to restart, boot should not be more then around 30 seconds.

My Mac- Last question. If you could have five people of your choosing, each with a different skill, working on the OS, what would you want most?

Kevin: Does this mean who would I want developing for the OpenOS?

My Mac- Yes

Kevin: I don’t know names, but I would take 4 people from the Mac OS crew, because the Mac OS is a great OS, just a little slow catching up As my 5th person, I would take Gil (Apple’s CEO) so he can catch up when we fall flat on our face.

For more on OpenOS, check out their home page at:
http://www.sb.net/kevin/OpenOS/index.html

Tim Robertson (publisher@mymac.com)

(This article, and the following interviews, were written before the Apple/NeXT deal was made public. Deadlines being what they are, we decided to run these as is.)

Hype

That’s the first word that comes to my mind when thinking of the next OS (Operating System) from Apple. Everyone, it seems, wants it and with good reason. The Mac OS, while still the easiest, most productive, and most customizable computer operating system ever made, is woefully out of date. Yes, out of date. One small bug in the tiniest program can bring your whole system down. Everyone, save perhaps the most newest of users, have had their Mac crash on them at least once. Or, if you use your computer as much as I have, many more times than that. I bet I crash my system, on average, at least five times a week or more. And when you’re trying to get work done, or even play the latest game, that crash will often upset you.

Hype. Apple has been giving us nothing but hype for the next Mac OS for well over two years. When System 7.5 was released, Apple had already leaked information to the press on how great System 8.0 (Copland) would be. Now, more than two years later, we all still sit and wait. And truth be told, we’ll be waiting longer still. Apple has effectively killed Copland, and is now talking to other software companies, such as BE, about porting their operating system to the Mac and calling it good. Who’s to say if this is a good or bad thing? All I know is I’m still out here waiting, and all I hear from Apple is hype.

Enter two people, who on their own decided that what Apple is doing is not good enough. Two people who decided that, rather than wait for Apple, they would themselves create a new operating system for Macintosh computers. And that both these operating systems would be free for all.

When I first learned of both these projects to create a free Mac OS, I was very excited about the projects. And, as the owner/publisher of a Macintosh magazine, I decided that since I can’t help with the actual programming end of things, I would offer something else. I would help get the word out on both projects, and perhaps help find others who can help with the creation of these operating systems.

OpenOS and PowerOS. Two cool names for two cool, yet somewhat different, free operating systems. Both Kevin Avila of OpenOS, and Ben Martz of PowerOS, took time out of their busy schedules to answer some questions for My Mac. On the following two pages, you will learn more on both projects. I have supplied both the Web site and email addresses so that, if you have the knowledge to lend help, you know how to contact them.

I want to thank both Kevin and Ben for the time they took helping me with this feature. And I want to urge all of you to support these projects. We live in a time when it’s big corporations like Microsoft and Intel who dominate the computer market, and it’s only through the support of the “little guy” that we can help bring the Macintosh that much further ahead of the pack. This is also why Shareware is so popular. As a popular commercial goes, sometimes good enough is not good enough. And that’s why both PowerOS and OpenOS have my support. The current Mac OS is, simply put, not good enough. And there’s no excuse Apple has that is good enough why we have such a outdated computer operating system. Hey, if these two guys, with some help from other private users, can create a better operating system than Apple, with almost no resources or big financial backers, why can’t Apple?

Thanks, Kevin and Ben. Here’s hoping both OpenOS and PowerOS are a big hit. You have my support, and with any luck, a few My Mac readers as well.

Tim Robertson (publisher@mymac.com)

NASCAR Racing
Company: Sierra
Estimated Price: $54.95
http://www.sierra.com

By Tim Robertson

First, a little background. In the summer of
1995, I worked as a race track announcer on
the Winston Cup NASCAR circuit. Up until this
time, I didn’t have much experience in racing,
but some as an announcer. I learned much in that
three months, such as Winston Cup racing is the
#1 spectator sport in the USA, who the drivers
were, and more. I also met some of the nicest people I have ever met in the NASCAR fans, as well as some drivers. And, more importantly for this review, I also became a fan.

That said, I can say that as soon as I learned of this game, I decided I had to try it. As I write this, I haven’t yet bought the game, but I plan to. So, for this review, keep in mind that I’m referring to the demo version.

NASCAR Racing is a GREAT game. If you’re a racing fan at all, you’ll enjoy this game. If you’re not, no need to worry! This game is fun for all. And I do mean fun!

I learned, very soon after playing this game for the first time, that when I do buy it, I plan on also acquiring a steering wheel controller. It will help! But, alas, all I had to use was my trusty mouse and keyboard. Sufficient to play the game and have fun, but not for some really serious competitions! I used the “4″ and “6″ key for right/left, the ” ~ ” key for acceleration, and the “5″ key for braking. I also left the gear shift on automatic, as I can just imagine how tricky THAT would be on a keyboard! Yes, I could have simply used the mouse for driving, but I found better control with my keyboard.

The Demo has three tracks you can race on, the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martinsville, and Sears Point. While these are great, I know that the full version has all the big tracks, and I would like to race at Darlington and Michigan, myself:-) You can also race in either an actual race, warm up, qualifying, and practice runs. The down side is that you can’t pit, change anything about your car, change drivers, etc… But don’t let this stop you from trying out the demo. Even if you’re no good at racing, it’s always fun to turn around on the track and smash a few cars. (I remember one really good hit I gave Terry Labonte, in which his hood and front tires came off, causing Rusty Wallace to crash into Dale Earnhardt. Like I said, fun stuff here!)

You can drive from inside the car, or out. I myself liked the inside view for the realism, but you can see more of the track from the outside view. The graphics, while very good for a game, could be better. I ran this game with 100MHz, 32MB Ram, as well as a 200MHz Motorola Mac. Both were about the same as far as graphics and motion goes, but I think that this game may be too much for a non-Powermac machine.

Likewise, the sound was fairly simply, if not out right great. Perhaps the full version has announcers? I have no idea, but the demo is a little weak in this area. About the only thing you hear is when you speed up, crash, and other racing noises. Of course, in a real race, that IS all you hear other than your pit crew on the headset radio.

My favorite feature of this game might sound silly to some, but it’s a blast. After the race (or when you run out of fuel) you get to watch a replay of your race. However, you don’t simply watch the race from inside the car, but from a televised viewpoint. It’s like watching a race on ESPN or TNN. You can watch from different TV angles, a behind the car view, in front of the car, above the car, from the blimp, and more! Really great stuff! You can fast forward, rewind, watch other drivers, and generally have a great time laughing yourself silly as you crash into everything from the high bank wall to the pace car or even Jeff Gordon! The full version will also let you save your race as a Quick Time movie.

NASCAR Racing is really a fun game; one you can enjoy over and over again. It’s worth trying out the beta version, and if you like it even half as much as I did, you’ll plan on buying the full version in no time!

MacMice Rating: 3

Tim Robertson (publisher@mymac.com)

This month’s article will deal with something I am frequently asked to do to a client’s Mac – tune it up. We’ll discuss what pieces of software your System Folder may or may not need, where to look for them, and what to do with them. Standard disclaimer: “If you are even slightly uncomfortable with any of the following “tasks”, please don’t attempt do it.”

The System Folder contains the software parts that your computer needs in order to boot up (turn on), and other software that is used to give your computer certain functionality (such as printing, video and sound). By removing or disabling certain unnecessary parts of it, you can increase the speed of certain functions as well as making other programs much more reliable.

On newer Macs, with System version 7.1 and greater, the System Folder is categorized into several main parts:
Finder
System
Extensions folder
Apple Menu Items folder
Control Panels folder
Preferences folder

Two main things to keep in mind as we move along:

I’m back from several months of surfing in darkest Africa and have returned an older, wiser Webhead.

In the last year the Web has grown exponentially. It has taken some of the questions I posed in my first few articles and made them reality. (I was jazzed about Real Audio 1.0!) It has also exposed some of the ideas that I might have held in high esteem at that time to be downright silly.

One of the biggest concerns that I had as an Internet retailer was how to lure customers into my store. The prevailing idea a few months ago was that “content was king”. Although this is still one of the main tenets of Web retail, it is no longer a race to put up the biggest site with the most bells and whistles. The focus has shifted–the stores now try to just sell product. If you need help in another area, such as adding content, you look for help. The Web has begun to crystallize. Where there were sites that
did it all a year ago, now we have started to see that Web sites can specialize in what they do best.

Naturally, this specialization only helps all of us surfers.

One of the best examples of this is the advent of Web-TV. For $330 for the unit & remote, and another $80 for the wireless keyboard you get a Web ready television. For each terminal, you will get up to six email addresses. This will do two things. First, it will open the market up even more–88% of this country still isn’t online. Second, it will take some of the mystery out of the Internet. After all, we won’t have to deal with a nasty old computer anymore; it’s just our old friend the TV! This will let the couch potatoes of the world do what they do best–participate without much
effort. And this is why WEB-TV is the next big thing.

Participation is the main thing, regardless of what the techie elite might say. Bringing information to the masses is the goal of the Internet anyway–and this is the idea behind Web-TV.

It will bring connection only to the Web, not the entire Internet. This means Usenet and its 17,000 ongoing conversations won’t be available to the Web-TV user. But with the estimated 60 million Web pages out there–let’s face it–there’s a lot to look at!

One of the main complaints against using a TV to view the Web is the lack of
interactivity. Even now, much of the Web is text based. Will this text be enough to bring users back? I think so. Wen Liao, senior analyst at Jupiter Communications in New York, isn’t so sure. “The Internet is great for information, and you can use it to find out a lot of things. But you’re going to be doing it (surfing) from a TV set, which is an entertainment device–not an information device.” Wen is banking on the fact that consumers will want the Web-TV to be like regular TV, just because it comes
from the same TV set. I think that the important phrase in Web TV is WEB, not TV. The connectivity and the participation are important, not so much the bandwidth or the browser.

Another reason I think that Web TV is a winner is the advent of Marimba. Marimba is a company formed by four members of Sun Microsystem’s Java Team. Headed by (remember this name) Kim Polese, Marimba pledges to: “Focus on providing developers with the tools they need to develop, deploy and maintain robust network-managed applications, multimedia experiences and dynamic information systems within enterprises and across the Internet.”

Marimba’s product is called Castanet. Using Castanet, developers can now build and easily deploy full-featured, media-rich applications over the Internet that are unrestrained by platform dependency, limited bandwidth or the traditional HTML browser framework. Translation–Castanet is a good way to use Java to bring the much ballyhooed interactive component to the Web and to Web-TV users. Users will browse by switching Castanet channels. If you’re familiar with IRC chat lines, then you have an idea of how Castanet works. On the user’s desktop, the Castanet Tuner is used to ‘tune in’ to your area of interest. Castanet channels will include a children’s storybook, updated nightly, an expense report application, a news feed customized for the user, or an interactive game incorporating global participation. It doesn’t use HTML to read Web pages. Castanet uses ADP or Application Distribution Protocol to
distribute itself over the Web. This patented process runs in the background and takes up very little bandwidth. It also re-uses components.

So if you download a game that is 2 megs, the next object you download may use some parts that you’ve already got. Rather than having to wait and download these again, Castanet is smart enough to grab just the pieces that you need. It can use what you already have to run the new application. This will save our Web-TV buddies on download time and keep them happy.

So there you have it…If you don’t believe in Web-TV yet, you will. With the gains made in technology and Marimba’s new Castanet tools, I think we will see a whole new version of the old Web surfer out there. It’s about time.

For more info:

WeCare@webtv.net
or call 1-800-GOWEBTV
or go to: http://www.marimba.com

Brian Harniman (harnie@hotmail.com)

“Hmm. . . It just quits on its own?”
“Yup.”
“Well, have you tried rebuilding the desktop?”
“Three times.”
“Well. . .” (long period of silence.) “Have you read the READ ME to see if there’s
anything in there?”
“Yes, many times. There was nothing about this.”
“Hmm. . . Well, let me switch you over to another representative.”
(Elevator music plays for thirty-five minutes.)
“Hello, this is Joe. How can I help you?”
“My application unexpectedly quits on me. This has only started happening today.”
“Hmm. . . Have you rebuilt the desktop?”
“Yes!”
“Have you read the manual?”
“Yes, that’s why I called you. That didn’t help at all.”
“Well. . . Could it be that you installed the program the wrong way?”
“I don’t know, you tell me.”
“Hmm. . . I’m not sure. Sunspots?”
(Click)

How many times has something like that happened to you? If you’re like me, it happens every other time you call for tech help. You run into a problem, panic, call the tech help line, get put on hold for about an hour, get thrown around the support department until you know everyone by name, and end up accomplishing absolutely nothing! So you call again, and the same scenario happens all over. Eventually you end up throwing your Mac out the window, hitting the postman on the head, and being carted off as a loon.

If that happens so often, why do we continue to call those numbers? Well, it is supposed to be easy. It seems so nice to sit down in your comfortable chair, dial a toll-free number, and get quick answers that will solve your problem. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. You have to wait in a long line of aggravated users who are all sick of the same annoying music playing over and over and over again.

Of course, this isn’t always the case. There are technical support numbers that can offer quick help. There are also some very well trained, knowledgeable staff members that can quickly answer your questions. The problem is, you hardly ever get one of those.

So, what on earth do you do when you need help quickly? Dial the tech number? Read the manuals? Perform exotic ceremonies over your Mac?

First things first. Write down all the specifics. What were you doing that caused the problem? What program were you using? What Mac do you have, and what version of the system software does it use? Were you getting any signs of problems (low memory messages, bizarre behavior)? Have you thought of the possibility of an extension problem? Do you like oats?

Of course, there are always the obvious things. Don’t jump to conclusions. It could have been a simple glitch, and nothing serious. Read through those manuals and READ ME files for clues (although I find most manuals are fairly pathetic when it comes to troubleshooting). It could be a memory problem (you ran out of the RAM). Try restarting and doing the same actions that lead to the problem? Does it happen again? Try restarting with extensions off (hold down the shift key while the Mac starts up) and see if things improve. Rebuild the desktop and zap the PRAM with TechTool (you can download this off the My Mac web site). Run Disk First Aid (on your System Backup disk) or Norton Utilities (highly recommended commercial software) on your Mac, and see if they can fix any problems. If all else fails, you can reinstall the software that caused the problem (remembering to install all software with extensions off).

Why do all of that before you call? Those are the things the technical representatives will ask you first. They automatically consider the fact that you have tried nothing. Basically, they are supposed to think the person on the other end is a fool. That’s usually helpful, because they never speak over your head, and you typically understand what they’re saying. So, if you do all of that before you call, you’ll be more likely to get everything accomplished in one swift call.

Let’s say that you are now ready to call that tech help number! There are a few more things to remember. Let’s go over those: