CompuNotes
Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing
October 6, 1997
Issue 102

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CONTENTS
My Notes:
1=> How I was Murdered Electronically, mailto:pgrote@i1.net
2=> This Issue's Winner!

News:
3-> News of the Week, mailto:pgrote@i1.net

Columns:
4=> The Royal Flush, mailto:jbush@goodnet.com

Interviews:
5=> Who's Behind the Dummies Series, mailto:pgrote@i1.net

Reviews:
6=> Product: CRYSTAL REPORTS Professional.  Version 5 - business/application
Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca
7=> Product: Darklight Conflict - game/simulation
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
8=> Product: <designing web graphics.2> by Linda Weinman, book/graphics
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
9=> Product: PaperPort Deluxe Software for Windows, utilities/graphics
Reviewed by: Danny Williams, mailto:danny@packet.net

--- BEGIN ISSUE

1=> How I was Murdered Electronically, mailto:pgrote@i1.net 

I was Persona NonGrata or however that legal term goes . . .

It all started about 1:00am week ago. I was happily cruising around the net, reading and answering e-mail and working on the 100th issue of CompuNotes. All of the sudden my ISDN connection disconnected and I lost my connection.

No big deal, I tried to dial back into my ISP and was told I couldn't logon successfully. I've seen this before, so I rebooted and retried. Same error. Over and over and over again I tried with no luck. I decided to go to bed and try it in the morning. 

I woke up the next morning and called my ISP's technical support line. A lady answered and I asked her if they were having system trouble. She said no, so I tried to logon again with no luck. I told her about my problem and she said I had been deleted for spamming. What? I don't spam I told her. She said the sysadmin had deleted me last night at 12:41am for spamming. I asked her if this was a maul or automatic process and she said manual. I then asked to talk to the sysadmin. He wasn't available. I asked if she could beep him. She said he didn't have a beeper. I then questioned why the sysadmin of a large, regional ISP doesn't have a beeper. She then said she couldn't beep him. I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to. She said no. She said the sysadmin would be in in about an hour. Great, it's 8:00am now, they should be there by 9:00am . . .

Panic started to set in as I realized if I am deleted my EMAIL id id bouncing messages! I logged on to AOL and sent my ISP ID mail. Sure enough, it bounced. I called the lady back at technical support and complained. Again, she offered no help. I started sulking as I get over 300 messages a day. What was I missing?

As I started driving to work I thought what the hell is going on? I work in the business. I probably know more about networking than anyone at the ISP. Heck, I have helped the sysadmin work out a router issue in the past. The reason I liked this ISP is that their technical support people treat me like I know what I am talking about. I have referred over 6 people to their service just because of this! They don't question what I am asking and if they don't know the answer they give me the sysadmin. The sysadmin and I have a mutual respect for each other -- until now. 

The thing that irked me the most was being called a spammer. Is there a worse connotation in the Internet world now? I think pediophiles rank above spammers on some folk's lists. Sure, I run a couple of mailing lists, but I have been running them for two months without any issues. 

By 10:30am I still hadn't heard anything. By 12:00pm I was in major panic mode and went home for lunch. I called my ISP and a man answered. He said he was the Director of Sales and Marketing. Whew, I thought, finally someone will look out for me the customer. I explained my situation and right when I expected an apology this guy wigs out on me. He says I got what I deserved and that their TOS agreement says you can't send more than 20 messages at a time. I gain my composure and explain my mailing lists are for people who subscribe and for the 20 message limit, I have never seen that. He explains the TOS changes and the latest one is on the website. I complain that if they change it they should notify the users. He says they aren't legally obligated to do that. Great, so much for customer support. 

The Director takes my information, makes a snide comment about how I should have used MajorDomo (which wasn't available when I signed up for the ISP and since they don't send out their new TOS . . .) and he will "e-mail" the message to the sysadmin. I ask if he can call the sysadmin and he says no. 

I used the next 30 minutes surfing the net using my wife's 28.8k dial up connection looking for a national ISP to use. And yes, it was absolute hell using 28.8k after 128k . . . 

As I disconnected the 28.8k connection I noticed we had a new voice mail message. It was the Director asking me to call him. I made the call expecting the worst. The man who answered the phone said he was the Director, but by the cordialness of his voice and the kid gloves he was using to talk to me I swear it was something else. He said he received a message from the sysadmin. The sysadmin didn't realize it was a mailing list and deleted me. I asked why the sysadmin hadn't called me. The Director said he didn't call because it was so late at night. I asked him if he would say the sysadmin didn't call me out of courtesy. The Director said yes. I said I expect that courtesy. It was over his head. The Director went on to explain that he would recreate my ID and the sysadmin said I could continue to send mail out. I verified that sending out the 3000 or so messages a week would be ok. The Director said yes. I said I would follow-up with the sysadmin to make sure before I sent any mail out. The Director got pensive and said everything was cool between me and the sysadmin and that I shouldn't send him mail. Hmmm, what an odd answer. 

The Director recreated my ID. I had to remind him I was 128k dial up and needed those permissions to dial into the ISDN bank. The Director said thanks for the reminder, again I help out, and then everything was fine. I decided to e-mail the sysadmin. I broke out how many messages I send. I sent him copies of the subscription forms. Everything. He finally replied that it was ok, so I started sending mail out. It has been fine since. 

I must admit when this first happened I vowed to change ISPs, start a I HATE THIS ISP webpage, e-mail all the users I could find to try to get them to switch and move the folks I could off their system. As the day went on I began to understand where they are coming from. Their SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER approach was a bit hasty, especially given my technical ability and reputation. They could have easily disabled my id and let my incoming mail queue. They didn't. We have made SPAM and SPAMMERS such a hated thought that an ISP panics and does this. What has happened?


2=> Winner!
This week's winner: stanfal@IBM.NET.

3=> News and Game Bits, mailto:pgrote@i1.net or mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

PG: Remind me not to tick my wife off . . .
<http://www.zdnet.com:31019/zdnn/burst11.html>

PG: One on One with Bill Gates and we aren't talking basketball . . . 
<http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,14704,00.html>

PG: Just looking at my e-mail I could of told you this . . .
<http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,14907,00.html>

PG: Ok, I have just about had enough of this branding stuff . . .
<http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/7400.html>

PG: It's good to see the long hours, old pizza and Jolt haven't affected their judgment . . .
<http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,14837,00.html>


4=> The Royal Flush, mailto:jbush@goodnet.com

The Royal Flush
By Jeff Bushman
TV or Not TV

For the next few weeks, I'll be spending less time at this keyboard than normal.

With apologies to Cliff Stoll, I won't be talking to a friend or taking a walk in the park or playing with a Frisbee.

Instead, I'll be watching a lot more television.  The new season is just beginning.

Several years ago, I was working in a new office and as the new kid (and I assure you, for no other reason), I was the object of some interest.  Whenever someone new begins to work in an office, all her/his co-workers seem to have a desire to figure the new person out (with apologies to all of the split infinitive mavens in the audience).

In the company lunchroom, I had just said something that a young woman incorrectly deemed clever.  A number of us in the group then began discussing something having to do with television.  She said that she'd bet I don't watch much TV.

I told her that she was wrong and that I love TV.  That I enjoy the medium is probably of little interest, and less consequence, but let me take a moment to tell you what I told her and more, as a recommendation to you.

From a purely academic/intellectual view, you can't say that you know anything about popular culture if you don't watch television.  While it's popular among those who like to be thought of as intelligent to call TV the "boob tube," that slur ignores much and magnifies little.

There is certainly a good deal of junk that appears on TV but there's a good deal that's illuminating, instructive, and simply entertaining.  I don't just mean PBS (which some wag suggested stands for "Pretty Boring Stuff"  OK, he didn't say "stuff") though that network has some excellent programming.

I'm also not limiting my comments to the Yuppie Havens of Bravo, A&E, CNN, Discovery and the History Channel, though they're good too.

I'm also talking about the commercial networks (OK, maybe not UPN).  If you hadn't watched TV over the last several years, you would've missed Hill Street Blues, King of the Hill (don't knock it 'til you've watched it), the Simpsons, the Critic (hilarious, even though I find Jon Lovitz difficult to stomach), St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, Seinfeld, etc., etc., etc.

Yeah, you also would have missed AbFab and Yes, Minister, and Are You Being Served.

I confess there are some things I watch that probably don't have wide appeal.  I enjoy the Sunday morning interview shows, This Week and Meet the Press.  I *really* like About Books on C-SPAN the McLaughlin Group on PBS (seen in some areas on commercial stations) and Capital Gang on CNN, though Crossfire leaves me cold.

I admit I don't like watching sports on TV, too much, other than professional basketball, but for those who like watching athletic endeavors more than I do, this essentially free program service provides tickets and great views of games and contests from all over the world.

Though how anyone can watch golf is beyond my comprehension.

I mentioned that television is instructive.  An artist I know learned several techniques from a show on painting that used to be on PBS.  She'd been painting for years, but she still learned some things that she found useful.

But so-called educational TV isn't the only way we learn things.  From an old Hill Street Blues episode, I learned how to do the Heimlich maneuver and actually applied it, several years later.  It was unfortunate that the lady on whom I used it wasn't actually choking, but she could've been.

And she said her ribs stopped hurting in only a few weeks.

So, as I said, we won't be at the keyboard as much during the next few weeks.  I'd love to hear from anyone who thinks they've found a great show that's worth watching, and I'll report here, what people have told me.

But let me tell you (yes, I know you didn't ask) what I'm planning on checking out.  First and foremost (although not necessarily in that order), I'll be looking at the two new Bochco series, Brooklyn South and Total Security. The former is a new cop show, and the latter is about a security service which is a drama with some comedy elements.  The comedy is provided, in part, by James Belushi.

I'll also be looking at new episodes of ER and Chicago Hope, as well as NYPD Blue and the Larry Sanders Show (if you can get HBO where you are and don't have it, this program starring Gary Shandling as a Tonight Show-type- host is worth the monthly premium).

In our area, we have more than 70 channels on our cable system.  I'd be the first to admit that there are times when we channel-surf and find nothing -- absolutely zero -- that's worth spending time with.  But with that many channels, we usually find a good deal to entertain and educate us.  And I'm not even considering or commenting on late-night programming on Showtime.

Now that's educational.

5=> Who's Behind the Dummies Series, mailto:pgrote@i1.net

The Dummies Series of Books has taken the world by storm. You can now get Dummies Tips of the Day by pointing your browser to <http://www.dummiesdaily.com/?SRC=pcwsite>

We asked IDG Books, the creators of Dummies, to participate in an interview and here are the results:

CN: The whole Dummies series has been very successful. Can you give a brief history on how it started?

IDG: In 1987, over dinner with a friend, IDG Books Worldwide CEO and co-founder John Kilcullen was kicking around some new ideas for computer books.  He kept coming back to a remark made by a customer in a Software Etc. store who requested a book in the DOS operating system. He said that he needed a simple, basic book because he didn't know anything about computers. "Something," he suggested, "like DOS for dummies."

Kilcullen filed away the idea until he was in California four years later as the co-founder and Publisher of IDG Books Worldwide. When he heard writer Dan Gookin speak humorously about DOS at a meeting, Kilcullen knew that he had found his perfect author . DOS FOR DUMMIES(r), by Dan Gookin, was published by IDG Books Worldwide in November, 1991. The  rest, as they say, is history with more than 35 million books in print and  350 ...For Dummies(r) titles on technology and general reference topics.

The latest addition to the growing ...For Dummies brand franchise is the new line of daily e-mail newsletters. Titled "Dummies Dailytm: The On-line Resource for the Rest of Us... Every Business Day", the new on-line product line provides a comprehensive "how-to" and productivity advice service for readers who want to learn more about almost any computing topic.

CN: Moving the ...For Dummies series to e-mail seems to be a natural progression. How many subscribers are receiving the tips?

IDG: More than 150,000+ subscribers have signed up to receive Dummies Daily newsletters, and hundreds more sign up every day.

CN: The Dummies Daily e-mails are very well written. Who produces them?

IDG: The award-winning editors and reporters of PC World magazine and PC World On-line produce the newsletters in cooperation with IDG Books Worldwide.

CN: Where is the material for the Dummies Daily e-mail culled from?

IDG: The Dummies Daily newsletters are all original content developed by an expert in-house team based on an editorial plan created by PC World On-line and IDG Books Worldwide.

CN: Describe the technical setup that allows you to send so many e-mails out on a timely basis.

IDG: PC World On-line has invested much time and effort in developing a broadcast e-mail system to deliver 1.7 million e-mails through the Dummies Daily and TipWorld product lines.  A dedicated server running both commercial and proprietary software, and located on an Internet backbone allows PC World On-line to deliver up to 200,000 e-mails per hour!

CN: Ok, the Dummies Man logo is a hoot! Who designed it and what look was the person going for?

IDG: The Dummies Man icon was the inspiration of John Kilcullen (with whom he shares an uncanny resemblance!). He wanted to create a character who symbolized the befuddled "everyman" (and everywoman) in us.  The Dummies Man is emblematic of the kind of smart, busy people who read our books. They're looking for information and they don't want to be intimidated by geekspeak and technical gobbledygook. What makes the ...For Dummies concept so successful is that we've created an endearing character and expression that speaks to the frustration people feel when faced with impenetrable technical talk when all they want is simple answers presented in a fun and easy style.

CN: What is your relationship with PC World?

IDG: PC World On-line Services Group launched Dummies Daily through a licensing agreement with IDG Books Worldwide.

CN: Will there be new Dummies Daily e-mail tips added that aren't tied to computers? An example would be personal finances, etc.

IDG: We are already addressing a variety of non-computer topics via our "Dummies Daily: Web After Five" newsletter. Within the Dummies Daily charter as a computer/web-oriented newsletter service, we seek to appeal to the broadest range of on-line readers.

CN: How computer literate are you? Do you use the Dummies Daily tips?

IDG: Everyone is a dummy at something; over 35 million Dummies readers have proven that. And we've found that even expert users can find something to use in the newsletters. In addition, people tend to pass along tips they receive through their daily newsletters to co-workers and friends.

CN: Share a couple of funny stories related to Dummies . . .

IDG: What's really fun for us to see is how deeply embedded the ...For Dummies concept has become as a cultural icon.  People like Jay Leno and David Letterman make up funny ...For Dummies titles to play into current events, like the cover "Cloning For Dummies" when the first animal clone hit the news. And the media loves to cover our expert authors like Dr. Ruth, who wrote Sex For Dummies(r). She even made Conan O'Brien blush.

6=> Product: CRYSTAL REPORTS Professional.  Version 5 - business/application
Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca
MSRP $395
Requirements: Windows 3.1+, Win95 or WinNT 3.51 with a minimum of 8MB RAM but a recommendation of 16MB RAM and 87MB disk space for the 16-bit full installation of the professional version.

INSTALLATION of the Crystal Reports program takes some time but goes flawlessly.  With this caliber of software the setup can be relied upon to take you through all the steps without much more than a few questions about drive and sub-directory choices, minor changes to the autoexec.bat and config.sys files and the request of whether you want to see the readme file. While I loaded it into Windows 3.1 the CD-ROM contains the software for Windows 95 and Windows NT(3.51 or 4.0).  In addition it can be installed asa standalone machine or a network workstation. 

The DOCUMENTATION both in hard copy (751 pages) and on-line is extensive, well organized and readily accessible through the paper index or on-line help function.  The User's Guide covers both the standard and professional editions of the software but notes which parts of the Guide applies to the latter so you don't get confused in trying to apply professional functions in the standard version.  There are 26 chapters and 2 appendices but these can be broken into several groupings.  The first group is composed of chapters 2 to 4 in which there is coverage of the new features of version 5 and learning how to navigate around Crystal Reports.  In these chapters as in all the most of the others there are hands-on sections which walk the user through the functions and uses of the software.  The second group, chapters 5 to 7, provide developing a customer list and understanding reporting.  With these first two groups you are ready to work with your own data and prepare reports. 

The third group consists of chapters 8 through 22 in which there are more detailed explanations and hands-on examples.  These chapters are the heart of the software.  They cover such topics as formatting, formulas, parameter fields, sub-reports, queries, dictionaries, graphing and OLE.  The fourth group, chapters 23 to 25, provide specific coverage of the commands (definitions, uses and references back to the text), functions (arguments, returns and action) and operators and variables (usage and examples).  The Glossary can also be included in this group.  The last group, chapter 26 and the appendices provide supplementary materials that describe the Crystal Reports engine and how you might use it in your other applications (e.g., ActiveX or Delphi), the report processing model and the various products and support.  All in all, this is an excellent guide especially for those new to Crystal Reports.  Notwithstanding, the depth provides insights and suggestions for the advanced user as well. 

The INTERFACE is clear and specific.  As you change functions the icons on the tool bars change from grey to colored so that you can use them.  Using chapter 5, Tutorial - Customer List, shows very easily how to set up a report from a database of your choice.  Working with the default database loaded with the system allowed me to setup a report and print out data in about 20 minutes.  As you work with the report you can click the Print Review icon and see what your report looks like.  You can then go back to the layout screen by clicking on Design.  At this point you can change the type fonts of the column titles, increase or decrease the type size and/or move the fields around.  If you want you can even do much of the fine tuning of the layout in the Print Preview window.  A very slick piece of software!  Oops?  With the capabilities to UNDO commands you can restore your work in progress with little difficulty.  Of course, working in the Print Preview window takes more time than in the Design window but you get to see the data move into place as you change each layout feature.  I can't emphasize enough the intuitive nature of the software and the clarity of the documentation and hands-on units in the Guide.  Even a novice will be able to produce high quality reports from their data without delay. 

REPORTS note only lets you design reports for sorting database information from many of the most common database programs but also provides facilities for exporting data in formats readily accepted by these databases. 

There are minor PROBLEMS.  The first CD-ROM that came with the Guide arrived in six pieces.  The replacement had slight changes from the documented illustrations in the Guide.  Put that down to continual revision!  The Guide however, had discrepancies in pagination between the indexes and table of contents and the actual pages on which the chapters appeared. Put that down to sloppy editing.  So as you can see I've not a lot to complain about!! 

Check out the HOME PAGE for a tour of the products available and what the future has in store for those of you using CRYSTAL products.  To summarize, version 5 increases functionality over earlier versions by having a much better interface, a greater flexibility in placing objects anywhere in the report, multiple and sub-reports to expand usefulness, conditional formatting and parameter fields permit reports with only those data that you want at the moment, and use of newer functions such as the ability to edit OLE objects and convert to HTML for web activities.  The information at webpage http://www.img.seagatesoftware.com/Creports/verscom.htm outlines these features and the databases formats that CRYSTAL REPORTS can manipulate. 

Ratings are:   	
Installation - Gold
Documentation - Gold
User friendliness - Gold
Quality of product - Gold

Company:       
Seagate Software Information Management Group, Inc.
<http:// www.img.seagatesoftware.com>

7=> Product: Darklight Conflict - game/simulation
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Requirements: MSDOS, Pentium-60, 4x CDROM, 16MB RAM, 60MB HD, Vesa 2.0- compliant graphics card, mouse, sound card
Recommended: Windows 95,  Pentium-133, joystick, network card (IPX/SPX)
MSRP: $49.95 (street price $29.95)

Darklight Conflict is an odd little addition to a genre that in the last few years has been dominated by two titans.  LucaArts Star Wars products and Electronic Arts Wing Commander series (made by Origin) have been virtually the only players; Interactive Magic took a quick stab at it last year with Star Rangers, a game with fantastic graphics but little to offer in the way of a plot.  I like Star Rangers and found it to be a fun and enjoyable game with lots to offer; unfortunately it came out amidst the Tie Fighter Collectors Edition from LucaArts and Wing Commander IV from Origin, thereby dooming Star Rangers potential in the marketplace.  Now Electronic Arts (yes, the same guys who market Wing Commander) have introduced Darklight Conflict.  Darklight comes with some rather heavy hardware requirements; take the recommended configuration as what is really the minimum. Darklight also shares the distinction of being one of the last games designed for MS-DOS.  There is a lot of potential in Darklight, and with a little better marketing and design the game could have been a big hit.  Sadly, this is not the case and as reflected by the street price I mentioned above, Darklight is already heading quickly for the bargain bin.

As I mentioned, Darklight is hardware intensive; this is primarily due to the use of what have to be the most impressive graphics I've seen for a space combat game. LucaArts recently released X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter (XvT), the multiplayer version of the popular series with spectacular graphics, but take it from me that the graphics in Darklight are better than those in XvT.  I was constantly with impressed with the look of the game; the ships and explosions are quite beautiful.  In a very nice touch, the game does not take place in a complete vacuum, ala Tie-Fighter or Wing Commander; battle near planets and stars is a possibility.  Luckily your screens are tinted; staring at a star makes it difficult to pinpoint the enemy but doesn't blind you.  Further, unlike Tie- Fighter or Wing Commander, the ships in Darklight actually seem to obey at least some of the rules of spaceflight.  For example, it is not necessary to continuously accelerate! Your body has supposedly been genetically modified for high-g acceleration and turns, so feel free to make maneuvers that would normally be impossible.  There are some discrepancies - ships still explode noisily, impossible in the vacuum of space.  Of course, I'm sure that the designers felt that to leave out the explosions would disappoint gamers. It's a minor point only - all space combat games seem to have noisy explosions!

On to the plot!  Unlike the Star Wars games, Darklight has no preconceived universe to be designed for.  The designers had to create it from scratch, and unfortunately, this is the first place where things get a little odd.  The premise is that two alien species, the Reptons and Ovons, have been fighting things out for control of the galaxy.  The Reptons are losing, so in desperation they start "recruiting" (kidnapping) human fighter pilots that they then genetically modify to fight their battles.  No real explanation of why Repton pilots weren't good enough, or why they couldn't genetically modify themselves for combat, which is kind of hole in the plot.  Your enslavement does eventually, however, become a focal point of the "story" in the campaign game.   It's a strange universe after all, isn't it?

The game itself is designed for MS-DOS, no Direct-X drivers are used when playing in Windows 95.  In an odd quirk, the game was more stable for me while running in Windows 95 (with all TSRs shut down) than in DOS - the game crashed on me twice in DOS, but never in Windows 95.  Weird!  Another oddity was that when I tried to configure the sound in a MS-DOS box after installation, it continuously crashed, yet when I played the game under Windows 95 the sound played just fine.  Controls feature the use of either the keyboard alone, the keyboard and a mouse, or the keyboard and a joystick.  Much like any jet simulator or space combat simulator, your spacecraft is capable of a large number of functions.  This means that until you become familiar with the game, you will have to spend a lot of time looking up what key to press. Unfortunately, the manual contain a keyboard layout so you have to exit the mission and open up the console configuration menu to find out what to push.  Bad, bad, bad, and totally inexcusable!  This isn't Doom, where you have maybe 5 keys to push - this game has more than 20, far too many to remember of the top of your head and far too many to have to write down yourself.

The game has two graphics modes, low-res and high-res, based on the capabilities of your graphics card.  There is no support for 3-D cards, unfortunately, but you can also adjust the level of ship detail in each mode to increase the speed of the game.  Even on my Pentium-166 with 24MB of RAM and a Nitro3D card, running in hi-res with max- detail slowed the game to an unplayable frame rate.  I had to set the game to high-res mode and then adjust the detail down to less than half of maximum to get an acceptable frame rate.  What you see at max detail is very pretty, but is still very nice at half detail and the game is much easier to play.  You can play with a mouse or just the keyboard but I recommend a good joystick; in my experience the mouse moved too slowly to keep up with turning enemy ships and I was constantly outmaneuvered.  Switching to a joystick solved the problem.

The game offers the choice of playing the campaign or playing in arcade mode, which gets increasing difficult as you progress.  I don't recommend that you hop right into arcade mode - you need to start the campaign game and complete the first few missions which are the basic training to teach you how to pilot and fight.  The manual boasts that the campaign features some 50 different missions, some of which have multiple "levels" that have to be completed.  This is a game that you will play for quite some time.  You can exit the game between missions and it saves your score and where you were, but only for one campaign at a time - start a new campaign and it wipes out the previous one.  Yet another example of bad design - I thought we had left this style of save games behind us with the end of the Starflight adventure games.  Also, much like X- Wing and Tie-Fighter, you have to successfully complete a mission to move to the next mission; there is no branching campaign tree.  After you complete training, be prepared; the missions are difficult and will often require playing more than once to complete. Darklight does offer the ability to play a human opponent over a LAN, and even includes an extra copy of the game ala Missionforce Cyberstorm.  A nice touch, and one can only hope that this trend for multiplayer games will continue.  Unfortunately, the manual leaves you completely in the dark about how to set up and host/play a network game, or what the conditions are.  For example, can you play against one another or as a team? Can you play more than one person - it says you can join a network game but doesn't say what the limit is for the number of opponents.   The manual doesn't tell you, and unfortunately only one of the PCs on my LAN is capable of running the game so I can't tell you either.  But it gives the impression that multi-player was added as an afterthought.

I'm a big fan of space combat games; I thoroughly enjoyed the Star Wars series and Star Rangers as well.  Darklight is fun, albeit difficult game to play that suffers from small design errors that detract from the full enjoyment of the game.  If it was still selling at the MSRP, I'd have a hard time recommending the game.  I certainly wouldn't recommend it to a novice, even as a bargain.  Darklight is strictly for those of us that qualify as hardcore space combat junkies.  Now, where did those pesky little Ovon ships go?

Electronic Arts
http://www.ea.com

Installation: Silver
User-friendliness: Bronze
Quality: Bronze
User: Hardcore space combat pilots

8=> Product: <designing web graphics.2> by Linda Weinman, book/graphics
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Requirements: Graphics software (Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or Picture Publisher recommended)
MSRP: $55.00 US/$77.95 Canada

<designing web graphics.2> is the second edition of Linda Weinman's popular book about creating graphics for web pages.  If you've seen this weighty tome, you'd remember it: the book is taller than most, thick, and has the brightest yellow cover on the planet.  Linda Weinman says in the book's introduction that the reason she wrote this book was that when she wanted to design web graphics, she could very little information on how to do so!  Now we're not talking about whether to save the graphic as a GIF or a JPEG file, no, what we are talking about is issues such as file size, color dithering, and how to create good looking pages & images on any browser. <designing web graphics.2> is a success at this task; for beginning web designers there is no greater resource than this book.  Advanced web designers could also choose this book, or they could also choose Linda's other books, such as <deconstructing web graphics> and <coloring web graphics> which are more in-depth and focused on specific issues.

Linda Weinman is first and foremost a graphic designer, and it shows.  This book is no dry tome with tons of writing; bright, colorful graphics dominate the pages along with good doses of white space to break up the text and pictures and make the book a pleasure to read.  Linda also writes in a very friendly, conversational tone, which also makes the book very easy on the eyes and brain.  The inside cover provides a brief glimpse at the inside contents by chapter, and a quick glimpse will convince you that this author is serious when she says she wants the book to be the definitive resource.  Every issue about designing web graphics is covered here, including file formats, color palettes, typography, animation, and even WebTV.  Yes, believe it or not, the way in which WebTV displays colors and graphic images is an important consideration (assuming that you want anyone and everyone to be able to visit your page).
	
Although well-laid out and progressive in terms of the topics covered, <designing web graphics.2> is not really meant to be read cover-to-cover.  For example, say you want to know about typography; just skip to chapter 11 and start reading. There is no need to have read the previous 10 chapters to understand what is covered.  In fact there is some (but not too much) redundancy between the chapters which acts as a tool to remind you of what you may have read in other chapters and to help you remember it.  Beginners will still want to read it cover-to-cover, but it isn't necessary.
	
After the introduction, Linda begins the book with a discussion of what it entails to become a full-time web designer, including how to learn to design web sites and how much to charge for the sites you do design.  Also covered is the thorny issue of what platform to design on - Mac or PC.  This is a fairly serious issue as until recently most design work was done on the Mac while the majority of web surfers use Windows.  These two operating systems have very different ways of displaying color and can seriously affect how your site looks to your audience.  Linda also mentions the issue of software; although the book provides plenty of examples of how to do things in Paintshop Pro and Painter, Linda heartily recommends that you buy Adobe Photoshop.  Given the rather steep cost of Photoshop, I would be more inclined to put it on the list of things to buy as the business becomes more successful (but you will want it, make no doubt about that!).  The third chapter then goes into a lengthy (but necessary for beginners) explanation of the Web environment and the various issues that will confront a web designer, such as monitor resolution, gamma correction, bit-depth, and browser differences.  
	
Having gotten those issues out of the way, the book progresses into the nitty-gritty of designing web graphics.  First up is the all-important issue of choosing file formats.  Of course, GIF and JPEG rule the day, but PNG is coming and Linda does spend some time talking about this new entry in the world of graphics design.  With GIF and JPEG the issues are primarily resolution & file size.  GIF files are typically smaller, but JPEGs can support higher resolutions.  There is although a very good and lengthy discussion of the compression algorithm used by the JPEG format, and why files saved at a high compression don't look as good as those saved at a lower compression amount.  There is also a brief discussion in the chapter about using digital watermarks and WebTV.  Chapter 4, "Low-bandwidth graphics", continues this discussion by going in-depth about how to make your images as small as possible with as little loss of information as possible.

Other topics covered in this book include color, from hexadecimal values to browser-safe palettes that insure that color-dithering will be minimized by the web browser.  Rules, bullets, and buttons get an entire chapter to themselves, as does how to create navigational tools, typography, sound, animation, and successful layout techniques.  As I mentioned above, this book covers everything you need to know about how to design graphics for the web.  I found it to be a pleasure to read, providing an immense number of tips, tricks, and suggestions for creating better looking web graphics.  No doubt about it, this book belongs on the shelf of anyone wanting to be a successful web site designer.

New Riders
http://www.newriders.com

Legibility: Gold
User-friendliness: Gold
Quality: Gold
Users: Web designers, from beginner to professional

9=> Product: PaperPort Deluxe Software for Windows, utilities/graphics
Reviewed by: Danny Williams, mailto:danny@packet.net
Reviewed on: Pentium 75, 32 MB RAM, Windows 95, Microtek Scanmaker E3
color flatbed scanner Requires: 486 PC, 8Mb RAM for Windows95, 12MB
RAM for Windows NT, 25Mb disk, Windows 95 or NT, see
http://www.visioneer.com for a list of supported scanners, digital
cameras, and multi-function peripherals. 
MSRP: $100

When I first plugged in my scanner a year or so ago, I had great fun dropping all sorts of things on the glass and watching the images magically appear on the screen. After a while, though, I found I had an unmanageable collection of .GIFs and .JPGs and .TIFs, still had no way to easily type information on a scanned form, and hated the gyrations required for the simple task of faxing something from a piece of paper using my scanner and fax modem. PaperPort software finally provided the missing pieces that turned my scanner from an amusing toy to an easily useful, organized business tool.

You may have heard of PaperPort scanners - the little page-feed scanners that fit between your keyboard and monitor. Although those scanners are great - they are small and automatic and make it very easy to eliminate some paper from your life without eating up a toaster-oven size slab of your desk - in this article I'm talking about just the software. Thank goodness they come separately, because although the PaperPort scanners are nice, I already had a scanner and happily found the software worked great with my flatbed non-PaperPort brand scanner. Anyway, don't be confused - they PaperPort scanners and the PaperPort software are separate and distinct products and here we are talking about only the software.

PaperPort software comes on one CD, and with only a thin manual. That's all you'll need, this is one of the rare programs that is easy enough to use immediately yet flexible enough to be reconfigured later for more complex needs. Installation is straightforward, and although there is no uninstall program, PaperPort will show up in the Windows "Add or Remove Programs" section of control panel. One arrogant aspect of the installation that is a pet peeve of mine is that it added itself to my desktop AND to the top of the "Start" menu. If I want it there, I'll add it myself, thank you very much. How about just leaving the programs in a program group until I decide where I want my icons? Some consolation to the promiscuous installation is that I really did end up wanting the icons out in front, because I use the program regularly. 

Opening the main program shows a 4 paned window. The top button panel control the main functions that administer the program like Rotate, Duplicate, Find, and Settings. The documents that need administering are in the largest pane, called the desktop. Most items scanned are dropped there for further processing. Individual pages can be "stacked" to form a multipage document. Everything you scan will not be left in one large heap, though. There is an Explorer-style folder hierarchy on the left side that lets you create folders and subfolders for arranging documents shown in the main pane. On the bottom is the Link Bar which sends documents directly and quickly to whatever applications you have that can accept a file as input. 

The Link buttons have proven a powerful tool for me. They effectively create scanner awareness in any non scanner-aware applications. Documents send to a word processor are automatically run through OCR so text shows up in the word processor. If the word processor supports HTML, PaperPort can even convert directly to HTML for instant posting on your Web page!

Link applications are also available without loading the entire PaperPort application. A smaller program, called ScanDirect, can very quickly move an item from scanner to application by bypassing loading of the larger PaperPort program.

PaperPort includes some simple markup and editing features that let you make annotations on a document before sending it on to someone else. This is really slick for faxing revisions of a document back and forth - you never have to reach for a highlighter or black pen. Just type your changes and fax it straight back!

If there is one item in PaperPort that made me jump out of my seat and call everyone over - "you've GOTTA see THIS!," it's the form filler feature. PaperPort can scan a form like you might fill out for an application, insurance claim, whatever; and make a reasonable guess where you are supposed to put information (actually, it looks for long horizontal lines, so forms with boxes need some touch-up), and makes those lines type-able fields. I've pined for such a program for a long time, and now it's here. No more hand editing in a drawing program for me! Now I can type, tab to the next field, type, tab again...finally it's easier to fill out any form on the computer than it is to walk across the room to the typewriter to fill out the form!

PaperPort can also help you find documents based on searches of text in the document. You don't have to type a bunch of keywords and such to stand a reasonable chance of finding your document 6 months after you've forgotten the filename. In fact, PaperPort will OCR and index your documents automatically in the background while you work on other things. Just leave PaperPort running minimized and it will use idle CPU time to build its searching database. It's really quite good at doing this without interrupting your other work. It's running as I type this, and I've yet to see a hesitation between keystrokes as I've seen with most other applications running in the background.

Images are stored by PaperPort in its own format, but are exportable to the usual TIF, GIF, PCX, DCX, and JPG. Images are stored efficiently. The sample documents - 4 pages of book text, a business letter, a picture, a handwritten note, an insurance claim form, 3 business cards, and about 12 column inches from a newspaper are only 709Kb. When compared to a GIF file, PaperPort stores a gray scale picture about 10% larger than a GIF, but documents are about half the size in PaperPort as they are in a GIF.

Visioneer
Internet: http://www.visioneer.com

Installation  -     Gold
User friendliness - Gold
Quality of product- Gold

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