If you've installed Service Pack 2 for Windows NT and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) doesn't support multilink, you may not be able to connect to the Internet. Microsoft's technical support is aware of the problem and provides the following workaround:
1. Run regedit.exe.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\PPP.
3. Right-click in the right side of the window, and choose New and DWORD Value.
4. Name the new value DisableMultilink.
5. Right click the new value, click Modify, and set the value to 1.
6. Exit and reboot the system.
—Greg McNichol and Valda Hilley
Netscape Redefines Its Vision and Direction
Netscape expects to derive a growing portion of its revenue from
server sales in the coming months. Netscape will focus more on the corporate
market (which company executives say is more lucrative than the declining retail
browser market thanks to competition from Microsoft's free Internet Explorer)
and Web server sales rather than Web browser sales. Despite its fundamental
shift toward the corporate client, Netscape isn't giving up the browser market.
Netscape is touting its new seven-component Communicator (Netscape Navigator 4.0
browser software, Netscape Composer HTML authoring software, Netscape Messenger
email, Netscape Collabra group discussion software, Netscape Conference realtime
collaboration software, Netscape Calendar scheduling software, and Netscape
AutoAdmin) and Constellation technology as the next-generation Internet client
tool.
To support its new efforts, Netscape signed an agreement with IBM whereby Netscape licensed IBM's Java-based Web-to-host IBM Host On-Demand Software and IBM licensed Netscape's Communicator Professional Edition. IBM Host On-Demand is a high-performance cross-platform TelNet 3270 solution for intranet and Internet users who need occasional access to computer applications or databases in their company's central computers.
Netscape also inked a deal with Oracle to make Oracle the preferred database vendor for Netscape's high-end commercial applications (the Merchant System, Publishing System, and Commerce System), which start at about $40,000. (The Informix Workgroup Server still ships with Netscape's LiveWire Pro.)
Finally, Netscape continues to promote its message of openness, especially vis-à-vis Microsoft, and continues to make its products generally available on more platforms than Microsoft. Netscape recognizes the importance of universally accessible directories and has successfully promoted its Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP--even Microsoft promises to support it). Netscape's JavaScript also has more universal appeal than Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB) Script thanks to Netscape's multiplatform philosophy.
One worrisome note about Netscape's redirection is that the company risks focusing on corporate and government developers to the exclusion of small, independent developers who are in a position to influence scores of browser and server adoptions. To find out more about Netscape's plans, you can view the proceedings from the Netscape Developer's Conference held last October in New York at http://developer.netscape.com/library/archivedconf/index.html.
—Karen Watterson
Microsoft Targets Consumers with Windows CE
Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows CE (short for Consumer
Electronics), is appearing on new handhelds from Casio (Cassiopeia), HP
(OmniGo), Philips (Velo 1), and others. These products compete with the Sharp
Zaurus and Psion 3a as carry-around, note-jotting communications devices, with a
familiar clamshell shape. Windows CE machines come standard with Pocket versions
of Word, Excel, and Calendar, and other applications are on the way. The new
handhelds aren't meant to replace your existing PC, but will complement it as
add-on devices.
Microsoft has big plans for Windows CE, which is the first of a series of embedded operating systems the company plans for everything from toasters to houses. Windows CE is a limited, stripped-down version of standard Win32 calls, and the limits go deep--even the screen size is limited to a 480 * 240 dot LCD. But Microsoft's partners in this deal have enough market presence to make Microsoft's third attempt at an embedded operating system standard stick.
Windows CE will affect NT users in three ways. First, because Windows CE runs on low-power non-Intel CPUs, development for the operating system must be cross-platform, and many will choose to use NT as the development platform of choice. Second, NT users will want to synchronize their Windows CE handhelds with their desktop PCs. Third, Windows CE devices will emerge as an emergency email and Web browser for users who need to call in and fix something from the field. At $300 to $400, this last reason alone may make the new handhelds worthwhile.
—Alex Pournelle
Video Capture and Production on Your Desktop
Unless you had expensive purpose-built hardware, you had to exit NT
and boot Win95 to grab a frame of videotape. Fortunately, Play listened to
users' demands for NT drivers for its Snappy Video Snapshot, which captures
high-quality color still images from any NTSC or PAL source. For $200, Snappy is
a popular way to acquire pictures in Win95--your camcorder simply plugs into
your PC's parallel port. Play promises that its Snappy 2.0 drivers (a
software-only, NT-compatible upgrade) will provide better capture preview and
sell for $39.95 to current Snappy owners by first quarter 1997. Play will also
throw in Kai's Power Goo and other goodies at no additional charge.
Play's people started out at NewTek, where they helped pioneer the Amiga-based Video Toaster video-switching and -generation product. Play's new video box, Trinity, continues the Video Toaster revolution. When it's released (probably second quarter 1997), Trinity will provide video switching, virtual sets, high-quality titling, realtime digital effects, warping, and the like, starting at less than $10,000 ($20,000 with nonlinear editing features). This level of production currently starts at $1 million. If Play can deliver these features at this price, the company will completely change the nature of high-end video production.
Trinity requires a host computer system for storage, and it's NT-friendly. In fact, NT will likely be the platform of choice because realtime production will demand redundant servers and storage. The video production suite of the near future will look a lot like the server closet of today, only with better speakers.
—Alex Pournelle
A Place for Your Stuff: Disk and Storage News
A cynic recently asked me how I can write about something as static
as disk storage: "How is a 2.3GB drive more exciting than last month's
2.2GB model?" What the cynic didn't know is that storage is growing on a
steep curve. Maxtor showed off a 5.1GB 3.5" IDE drive and Seagate previewed
its ST423451 family of 23.4GB SCSI drives at last fall's Comdex. You can expect
a waiting list for the later 5.25" behemoth while data warehouses and video
editors vie for two and one-half times more storage per spindle than the current
9GB champs. You can expect to see more people using NTFS to put that capacity on
one drive.
Storage technology is also getting more mature. Mainframe-level technologies are rapidly heading down-market in the form of RAID arrays, hot-swap chassis, environmental alarms, and faster interfaces. Data security and integrity are no longer foreign concepts in the NT market, although they're still secondary to interface speed and access times, in the words of the advertisers.
These improvements aren't just for servers. On workstations, Fast and Wide SCSI is no longer a top-end plaything. The price difference between Fast and Wide and regular SCSI-2 PCI adapters has dropped to about $70, and the differential for hard disks is as little as $50 (all with standard NT drivers). However, the price difference between IDE and Fast and Wide is still considerable, but anyone needing that last 20 percent to 40 percent of extra disk speed should also consider how many useful SCSI peripherals, such as the Iomega ZIP drive and the Olympus 230MB magneto-optical drive, are on the market.
In other storage news, 12-speed and 16-speed CD-ROM drives are now routine, with IDE 12-speeds under $175.00 from Teac and others. SCSI CD-ROM drives made by Plextor and Toshiba continue to be a bit more expensive than their IDE counterparts, but prices are falling across the board. With few exceptions, most new drives will go right into an NT machine (check with the manufacturer's Web site to be certain). Similarly, CD-ROM burners are now priced below $500.00, although selecting an NT-compatible model remains a minefield, more because of software than hardware.
Even the cynic would have to be impressed by the most recent revolution in storage, the much-hyped DVD. DVD used to stand for Digital Video Disc, then Digital Versatile Disc. Now it's an acronym without content, so DVD just stands for the demise of CD-ROMs, which will read directly in a DVD player. Pioneer also has a DVD model that plays back laserdiscs. DVD standards are still evolving. Standalone DVD players will be in stores by first quarter 1997, with PC-based devices thereafter.
NT supporters may have to wait a while before they can use DVD. Although Microsoft has been writing DVD drivers for some time and planned to include DVD support with NT Service Pack 2, Microsoft needs another couple of months to thoroughly test the drivers and release them.
Communications and the 56Kbps
I recently came across a two-month-old article that said analog
modems had about reached their limit of 33.6 kilobits per second (Kbps) over
standard phone lines. Critics said faster speeds would have to wait for more
exotic technologies such as Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Link (ADSL). Most
important to the user, telephone companies will have to invest in new telephone
central office equipment for ADSL and similar technologies.
Faced with this challenge, U.S. Robotics (USR) announced its x2 program, a way to squeeze 56Kbps from standard analog lines. Suddenly, four competing 56Kbps initiatives emerged, led by USR, Rockwell, Motorola, and Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T). All four initiatives are incompatible, but work basically the same way.
With 56Kbps, the maximum speed you can achieve when you dial into a remote computer will still be 33.6Kbps. However, if the system you call receives its dial-in calls over a digital interface, you can achieve download speeds approaching 56Kbps. The 56Kbps standard will be, for the moment, an asymmetrical standard (much like 9600bps was, early in its life). For the 56Kbps download speed to work, only one digital-to-analog conversion must take place on the path between your computer and the machine you are dialing (most central offices are that way today). This new standard requires no changes in the public switched telephone network.
The real-world problems of 56Kbps will be manifold. First, the four initiatives won't interoperate. Lucent (a big manufacturer of chips for PC Card/PCMCIA modems) and Rockwell (the biggest manufacturer of modem chips, period) promise that their standards will work together. USR (the biggest modem manufacturer in the world) and Motorola haven't made any promises about interoperability to date.
Second, 56Kbps will require a significant investment in new technology for the call center. (I see no reason why Remote Access Service--RAS--or other parts of NT will need changes; this standard is only a hardware issue for now.) Small ISPs will find the 56Kbps upgrade for their modem racks ruinously expensive, especially if they bet on the wrong standard.
Third, the speed of the final leg to your computer is often not the pacing item for communications; the rest of the Internet is congested, too. Fourth, you'll have to buy a new modem to use 56Kbps, or at least upgrade where feasible. Only a few companies have details on upgrade paths. USR promises that all its recent Courier modems, its Sportster modems built from August 1996 on, and its Total Access modem racks will use a software-only upgrade to 56Kbps, but the company's recent record on its Sportster models makes me reserve judgment. Other companies such as Cardinal have recently displayed 56Kbps-upgradeable modems, and every modem manufacturer has promised new products soon. As for your existing modems, check with your manufacturer.
The fifth, and most technical, problem with 56Kbps is important to ISPs and corporate call centers. Most access providers receive calls from the phone company on T1 lines that have to do bit stuffing for timing reasons and don't get all 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth. This limitation doesn't matter with 28.8Kbps and 33.6Kbps speeds, but to get full bandwidth for 56Kbps, these providers will probably have to upgrade circuits to Primary Rate Integrated Services Digital Network (PRI), a significant expense.
Another caveat is that you won't get 56Kbps out of many hotel phone systems and business PBXs because they convert the signal from analog to digital and back for the phone company interface. These multiple conversions mean that you won't be able to use 56Kbps for casual NT-to-NT system dial-up because of the one-conversion rule.
So why is 56Kbps worth discussing, with all these flaws? You might call it Parkinson's law for surf speed: "Demand for bandwidth rises to meet all available estimates, and asks for more." Many users still perceive ISDN, the all-digital way to connect to the Internet, as difficult to install (ISDN is certainly more expensive than analog circuits).
Watch for more on 56Kbps to come. For now, large firms might consider a pilot program. Certainly, if you purchase a new modem, consider a 56Kbps-ready model and don't throw out your existing stock.
—Alex Pournelle
Pushing the 1Gbps LAN
WideBand's LAN will push 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network speeds
over standard twisted-pair network cable. At $400 per PCI or ISA adapter and
$2000 for an 8-port concentrator, it compares favorably with 155Mbps ATM and is
only about twice as expensive as 100Mbps Fast Ethernet. Further, the company
claims its cards will drop into any NT system. This claim will get a lot of
notice from the data warehouse and video production companies, especially if
they can use the company's technology for digital cameras and disk farms.
—Alex Pournelle
