= --- === --------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= -L- -I- -B- -E- -R- -E- -T- -T- -O- OCTOBER 1997 ========= ======= The iMatix Newsletter Volume II Issue 10 --- === --------------------------------------------------------------------- = Copyright (c) 1997 iMatix - distribute freely Back issues at http://www.imatix.com Comments to: editors@imatix.com Programming - Technology - Finite State Machines - News - Other Stuff == COMMENT ---...-.-...-.--...-.--...-.-...-.....---..-....--.--..-.-.---.-- The King Is Dead, Long Live The King! Not a reference to the English Royals, but to the end of another era and the start of a new hegemony. Yes, King Billy has toppled Netscape, the old king of the Net. The battle is more or less over, although Netscape will probably carry on kicking for a while yet. The MS penal squads are out putting bullets through the heads of the brave but outgunned Netscape troopers. It's hard to fight against human wave tactics, where so many people are thrown at something that some are bound to get through. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 was already faster and smaller than Navigator 3 (which is no great compliment). While Netscape has been working hard on important things like protocols and committees, Microsoft has been pushing, hard, to win control of the desktop. Netscape's trying to keep up but not doing a great job. IE is free, and rich. It will come with every new PC including Macs. It takes the 'PC as browser' metaphor to the limits, and often beyond, if you have enough RAM. Looking at this unfolding drama, I think the Web Wars are more important than we sometimes imagine. Bill Gates does not throw this much money at something because he had a tough week and felt like dropping a billion or two. Basically, my humble opinion is this: the next generation of PCs will be Internet Terminals, with the ability to play Solitaire on the side. This is probably a natural and good thing. PCs are just too complex and expensive, no matter how sophisticated the OS becomes. When people prefer Windows 3.11 over Windows 95, the Great Leap Forwards looks more like a fantastically expensive and noisy leap somewhere sideways and backwards, down a rabbit hole, and into the Wonderland. What is more worrying is that we will be working with a browser-like interface that has developed more from a religeous conversion (Bill Meets God, and God says "The Net") than from sound principles. When design is imposed by dogma, the results are usually junk. Recently I installed MS Visual C/C++ 5.0 on a natty new NT system with a fast CPU, 128Mb RAM, UltraWide SCSI disks, etc. This system should *fly*. Right? Nope. MSVC 5 acts like it's written in Basic. Screen updates dribble down the screen; when I press F1 for Help it tries to connect to my Internet Service Provider, since it's really starting a copy of IE. I finally kicked-out MSVC 5 and re-installed version 4.2. This causes the NT to freeze-up twice a day or so, so I'm thinking about moving to 4.0 instead. Somewhere along the line, we're getting conned. And when there are no alternatives, that spells trouble. Pieter Hintjens Antwerpen 1 October 1997 == NEWS .-...----.-.----....-.--...----.-.---...-.---...-.--.-...---.--..-.. Xitami Beta Escapes! Red Faces At iMatix HQ! An iMatix spokesman denied today that megabytes of unpronounceable software had been broadcast to the entire Internet. "We only sent it to several hundred users", he claimed. "And that was a computer fault!" Yeah, sure. The guilty parties (an Intel 386DX and a very shady-looking Overdrive processor) were given a fair trial before being condemned, and now face a long and painful future running beta versions of Office 97 on top of Windows 98. == LETTERS -..-.----.-.-...-.-.----.-.-.-...-.-----....-.--.-..-..-..--.-.-. >From: freiheit >Subject: OS/2 >Hello, >I found your site from the Tucows list of server softwware for OS/2 >(Xitami in particular). I'm pleased to see so much OS/2 software on >your site, however on many of the information pages for individual >apps/tools you list multiple platforms and OS/2 is not listed, yet >farther down somewhere in the full text description you wind up >mentioning OS/2. I'd just like to ask that you make OS/2 more noticable >by naming it in the short descriptions where you currently name DOS, >Windows, Unix, VAX, etc. >Sincerely, >/------------------dON eITNER------------------\ >| published author, web publisher, OS/2 user | >|----------------------------------------------| >| freiheit@tstonramp.com | >| http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/styx.html | >\----------------------------------------------/ Yes, indeed. Well, that's seven more mentions on the iMatix website! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >Subject: "BetterState Pro" >From: "John M. Klassa" >Hi, >Just wondering if you've ever heard of "BetterState Pro" by Integrated >Systems (ISI, at www.isi.com)? The glossy says it's a "graphical >environment for application specification and implementation based on >StateCharts and Petri Nets"... Generates code in C, C++, Perl & a >variety of other languages. >The concept sounds very much like Libero, except with a GUI (thought >there is the VB GUI tool for Libero, for Windows). >Anyway, didn't know if you'd ever heard of it... >Keep up that good work at IWWHQ (that's "Imatix World-Wide >Headquarters")! :-) >-- >John Klassa / Alcatel Telecom / Raleigh, NC, USA I think the word 'glossy' gives it away. One of those Serious FSM code generators. Clearly they've also understood the benefits of targetting arbitrary languages. The main differences as far as I'm aware are (a) support for more kinds of formalism, and (b) prettier printouts. The weak point of such tools is that they tend to assume they are the primary workbench for a developer, while Libero can be integrated into any kind of environment by dint of writing schemas for the purpose. Libero is also highly favoured by coke-machines, partly because they are highly formal creatures with a mathematical bent, and like to make hyperspatial Libero schemas for an evening's amusement, but mostly because they like the jokes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: "Alexandre Gregoire" >Subject: Pro-Pulses >Priority: urgent >Bonjour, >Quelqu'un(e) ds la maison a-t'il une connaissance de Pro-Pulses >(logiciel de gestion d'entrainement sportif)? >It isn't a joke. Merci >Alexandre Gregoire No, but you should take a look at Microsoft's website; the new "MS-Pulse Explorer '98" is fully Active X enabled and comes with IE 4.0 included. It is free and runs on any NT 4.0 with at least 128Mb memory. The download file is 230Mb, for the minimal install, or 502Mb for the full install. Microsoft say that "Pulse Explorer '98 will bring the richness of the Internet to every fitness room". Any application that can handle the new NPAP (Networked Pulse Administration Protocol) can read pulses from any location on the intranet or internet. Industry analysts note that Netscape has already released a competitive product, "PulseRate Enterprise", aimed at coporate training systems. The Netscape protocol, "LPRAP" (Lightweight Pulse Rate Access Protocol) also provides for on-line modification of any pulse rate. Meanwhile the first 'virus antisportif' has been found in a French computer network: it infects every system it finds and sends illegal LPRAP messages to all users, increasing their pulse rate to 1,000,000 per minute, which is not fast enough to run "MS-Pulse Explorer '98" but still makes a nasty mess on the screen. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >Date sent: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 21:34:57 -0400 >From: RooT >Subject: hi >U guys rule! U kick ass! Thanx for all the software! :) Gee, thanx! :-) iMatix Kix Ass!! We're seriously considering this as a logo for our website. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: Rainer Glaap >Subject: werbserver >hi, >i just installed your webserver. easy. small footprint. i like it. >but how do i get it to replace the frontpage server(S) that come with >it out of the box? >best regards >rainer glaap >software ag, product marketing Let's see... got the manual here somewhere... ah, yes. You type 'format c: /s' and press Enter, then press 'y' a few times. That should do the trick. Hang-on, one of the techies is saying something. Okay, here it is. You can normally stop the FrontPage server from one of the control panels or the Internet Server manager, depending on what version of Windows you've been cursed with. If that does not work, you can run Xitami on another port (e.g. 8080). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: John Kniewasser >To: info@imatix.com >Subject: HTTP/1.0 400: Bad request >Hi there, >I am just starting the process of writing applications for the >web and I stumbled onto your Webserver. I tried quite a few >and yours worked right awway! >Congratulations on a job well done, and thank you. >Where can I find a list of the http errors? Any idea would >be appreciated. >With thanks >jhk@radiant.net The HTTP errors are noted in the doc, somewhere. You can configure the text for any message. This is quite useful: instead of the boring '404 Not Found', you can say something like "Wow! You're in a small cave, deep undergound. Twisty passageways leads north and east." Then, a '401 Unauthorized' can become "A large rock falls on your head. You have two lives left. Click 'Home' to continue." Slang alert: "Where's Bill?" Answer: "He's gone 404", means he went for a coffee and has not been seen since, like Lord Lucan. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: Roy Barnard >Organization: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council >Subject: admin >Dear support, >I have installed XITAMI on an old 386 with 4mb Ram using Reflection RNS >TCP/IP stack. The speed is brill! but I can not seem to get the browse >admin to work I just get the message "document contains no data" >Is this to do with win311 not being able to run cgi scripts? >Roy Barnard, Network Services Two things. First, part of the iMatix web site got caught in a localised temporal disjunction, so that the doc for version 2.0 (which has not yet been released) got put onto the site. To put it another way, we screwed up. (Been happening a lot around here recently, since we installed Windows NT.) Second thing: the admin functions won't work in the 16-bit version of Xitami. Despite what some people might say about Win95 (not us, we love it!!), at least it runs programs of a decent size. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: "Gail Wiltmaes" >Subject: Stop bashing Microsoft > >To whom it may concern, >Why are you always criticising Microsoft? Don't you know they make >some of the best software around? I thought Libretto made up its >own opinion instead of just following fashion! I love Windows 95!! >Gail Wiltmaes Yes, indeed. By the way, it's "Liberetto", and we also love Win 95!! Seriously, it's a damn fine product, considering the design limitations that were imposed: must run 32-bit software, 16-bit software, DOS games, Office 97, quickly, on 8Mb RAM, and look pretty [At this point Ed's Windows 95 system started to react v e r y s l o w l y, and finally had to be reset]. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >From: "Allen Evenson" >Subject: Libero and Xitami >Hello, >Just a note to say Thank you for developing two extremely useful >products. >Xitami worked perfectly on install ... In order to make my machine >(Win95 box) recognize my virtual hostname. I setup IE4.0 to connect >using a LAN (just a terminated BNC connection) and added an address to >the 'host' file (127.0.0.2). This way, 'localhost', 127.0.0.1, and 'my >virtual hostname' work perfectly. I just now connect to the net through >Dial up Networking before going Live...(I don't trust that new connection >manager anyway ) >Libero in a word is SUPERB. After reading the excellent documentation >and examples (love the humor .. course, I like Douglas Adams alot, and >the wife think its nuts). Before now I had very little experience with >FSM's. I have been learning Perl for awhile so this is my first language >of choice although with Libero I might tackle some C projects. The point >is with Libero it doesn't really matter what language I write it in >because I Libero gives me a tool that I can express a general solution >to whatever problem im faced with and worry about the details of the >actual modules later. Included as attachments is my first working dialog >and resultant perlscript for your enjoyment or ridicule. :) >Thanks again for developing fine software (and making it free!) >Allen S Evenson, Seattle, Wa Thanks, Allen. We like you too. == IRRELEVANT STUFF -..-.--.-..-.--...---.-.---...-.----....-.---....---..-. Book of the Month "Excession" by Ian M Banks. The kind of book you read once, without pausing to eat or sleep, then turn back to page one, and start again. CD of the Month "Everything is Wrong" by Moby. Okay, a year or two old by now, but unstoppable. If you buy just one CD before lunch, buy this one. Weekend of the Month Second weekend of the Munchen Oktoberfeest. You never saw so many people completely and totally tanked, yet behaving themselves. The glasses hold 1 litre (that's about 15 US gallons, or twenty-three Imperial cubits). Each day the half-million visitors drink about an Olympic pool full of beer. This gives new meaning and depth to the phrase 'queue for the toilet'. Oh yeah, Munich is the only city I know that has 24-hour free surfing facilities in the main park. == MACHINES OF STATE -..-..--..-..--.-.--.-.--.-.-..---.-.-..-.---.-.-.-.-.. We apologise for all those who were offended by our gross lack of taste and common decency last month. No more off-topic, purile humour. (To those of you who wrote asking for more of the same, shame on you!) == TERMINATE THE PROGRAM -...---...-..----....-.---..---...-...---.-...---.- If you've had enough, okay, we understand. Just send your cheque to the usual address, and don't forget to sign the back. Unsubscriptions are available for a limited time at the special price of US$299, which includes a year's supply of beta release's. Just think - you can give one to Granny!!