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, 1997 Announcements

Deja News Reader v1.0 Released.

High Boskage House has issued the first release of the Deja News Reader for OS/2. This news reader is an entirely new way to access Usenet ("news groups") because instead of relying on a local news server, where articles typically disappear in days, it uses the vast resources of the Deja News web site--but handles Deja News as if it were a traditional text-based Usenet server, facilitating much easier use than by way of a standard web browser.

Among the many advantages of using Deja News and the DNReader are--

. speed: you can go from program startup to reading an article in 30 seconds--no more endless background downloads of every group you're subscribed to;

. depth: Deja News can show you the posts to a newsgroup for as far back as you have the patience to look--even years;

. threads: no more missing links--see *every* article in any thread;

. authors: instantly look up a complete posting history for any article's author--spot the spammers;

. search: do an in-depth, cross-group search on any keyword or set of keywords;

. ease: DNReader is simple and intuitive to use--no complex UNIX files or commands in setting it up.

DNR was developed on OS/2 3.0 GA, but will likely run on any version from 2.0 up; all it requires of OS/2 is having REXX installed and, of course, a TCP/IP connection to the internet.

DNR also requires two other packages: one is the IBM EWS freeware RxSock DLL; the other is Quercus Systems' RexxLib DLL set, which is available as free 30-day demoware and then costs only $20 (and is well worth it). The DNR documentation explains exactly where to obtain those packages.

DNR itself is "honorware": if you e-mail the author that you have made a modest contribution to one of the charities on a list contained in the package, in accord with the guidelines therein, he will accept your word of honor and register you--which brings you as a bonus two other useful internet programs (a special-purpose binaries Usenet fetcher and a classical-music MIDI session-background fetcher) not available elsewhere.

Deja News Reader 1.0 has been uploaded to the following FTP sites:

HOBBES: ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/netwrk/tcpip/dnrd10.zip

CDROM: ftp://ftp-os2.cdrom.com/pub/os2/incoming/dnrd10.zip

Leo: ftp://ftp.leo.org/incoming/os2/dnrd10.zip

Feedback of all flavors is invited; respond to dnreader@highbskage.com.
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FUT 1.0 Available.

fut_1_00.zip is a set of utilities for manipulating text files when transferring between UNIX and OS/2 based machines. These routines currently have a command line interface. Utilities include a DOS to UNIX file converter, UNIX to DOS file converter and a file splitting routine for dividing a large file into more manageable chunks.

This software is available from:
ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/textutil/fut_1_00.zip

The software has been written by myself John Glover, jsglover@iee.org.
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YAWC Client for OS/2 Released.

There is a yawc client for OS/2 now,

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/network/tcpip/os2yawc.zip

It's like telnet but much faster, it's for yawc bbs's and it has several features telnet does not.
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Post Road News Reader Development Ceases.

Harrison, New York, January 23, 1997. InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc. announced today that it is withdrawing the Post Road News Reader from marketing and has suspended plans to enhance the product. Technical support for current customers will continue through the remainder of 1997 via email addressed to postsvc@ibm.net.

Commenting on the announcement, Dan Porter, the president of InnoVal said, "This is not something that I want to do. I had hoped that we would be able to find the resource and time to fix the problems that have plagued this news reader for some of our customers, particularly those using Warp 4. We failed with this product and we let customers down." Porter went on to say, " There are some who will interpret this as a move away from OS/2 by our company. It is not. It is, instead, a hard choice that all solid companies must make from time to time. This will allow us to focus our OS/2 development and support resource for our consumer products on those products that are most in demand. This includes the Post Road Mailer, NetExtra, Surf'nRexx and new consumer product that will be available this year.

Earlier this week, InnoVal released an updated version of Surf'nRexx (Release 1.3) and announced that it would release a new version of the Post Road Mailer (Release 2.5) by mid-February. The Post Road Mailer was recently honored by WarpOnline with an Editors Choice Award for one of the best OS/2 products in 1996.

"I won't deny that this decision to withdraw the news reader is a bottom line decision," said Porter. "It is. OS/2 is very important to us. We have every intention of remaining strong in the OS/2 marketplace. In the next few days we will be launching a campaign to promote the use of OS/2 and establishing an OS/2 Users Advertising Fund. Part of the proceeds from new sales of the Post Road Mailer and NetExtra will be used to support this campaign. Details will be released soon."

Customers who have questions about this announcement should write to InnoVal Customer Service. The address is innoval@ibm.net. For further information, see InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc.'s Web Site.
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OS/2 Supersite Online!

After months of planning and work, The OS/2 Supersite is now ready for use by the OS/2 community. The Supersite is planned to be the eventual replacement for the volunteer HOBBES FTP site, and will be a professionally maintained site for OS/2 software, news, information, and secure online shareware registration through BMT Micro. We grew tired of the slow connections to HOBBES, and the neglect that the site received at times in the past, so we decided to develop the OS/2 Supersite. At the moment the site contains a partial mirror of HOBBES (UNIX and multimedia directories have not yet been completed), but your support will enable us to add more features. Please stop by and give us a look when you are looking for OS/2 shareware and freeware.

The OS/2 Supersite is now online at http://www.os2ss.com/.
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EmTec Purchase Neologic Network Suite.

10 January, 1997 - Fuerth, Germany EmTec Innovative Software hereby announces that it has purchased the rights to the product formerly known as Neologic Network Suite.

"Neologic was looking for a new home for the Net Suite because of personal reasons (which I did not question), and I am glad that they entrust their work into our hands" says Markus Schmidt, the person behind EmTec Innovative Software and author of the successful communication program ZOC. "I know that no one can support a program like the person who programmed it can, but EmTec has a good deal of experience in working with 3rd party source code and we will use our best efforts to live up to expectations".

A new release is scheduled for mid-January. It fixes at least 7 major and 10 minor bugs in the news and FTP client and will reflect the name change and some minor cosmetic changes.

The new release will be posted to all major OS/2 FTP sites by January 15th.

Existing customers can transition to the new suite with their existing registration information. New customers can continue to purchase the EmTec Software Suite directly from BMT Micro, Inc. which will handle registrations and first level customer support.

"The main reason for hosting the Network Suite is that we want to keep this great product alive.", says Markus Schmidt, "Our first goal is set up a routine that will ensure the continuity of the product and we will consider it a success if people will see the whole affair as a name change and nothing else."

EmTec Innovative Software, a leader in OS/2 and Windows NT telecommunications software, is headquartered in Fuerth, Germany. For more information about EmTec Innovative Software please visit http://www.emtec.com/ or write to m.schmidt@emtec.com.

BMT Micro, Inc. is a leading OS/2 software distributor in Wilmington, NC specializing in high quality shareware and commercial software available via electronic distribution. For more information about BMT Micro please visit http://www.bmtmicro.com/.
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Binary News Gatherer v0.94 Released.

Binary News Gatherer is an OS/2 Warp VIO text mode application to download selected articles from binary news groups.

Home Page : http://web2.airmail.net/pcrown/apps.html#bnews

FTP : ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/network/tcpip/bnews094.zip

New features:

next, list, overall/overnew (replaces over) commands.
killfile with regular expressions.
other fixes/improvements.
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OS/2 FixPak Explanation.

In brief, if a FixPak appears on an IBM-run Internet site, and the FixPak is not otherwise marked "test" or "beta" in some fashion, then it is official. We will make announcements about the availability of officially released FixPaks. This information is collected on our Web site in our list of the latest service levels for all our software products. Our Web site is at http://ps.software.ibm.com/.

We do, however, distribute FixPaks for testing, and we would sincerely appreciate those people who are testing FixPaks *not* to redistribute the test versions. It's a form of piracy, frankly, that is causing quite a bit of confusion.

We may make announcements with recommendations about a particular FixPak (such as recommendations that it only be used in certain circumstances). Also, we strongly recommend that no one install a FixPak unless it contains a specific fix which is absolutely needed or unless IBM (or a qualified partner) has specifically recommended its installation.

Finally, FixPaks often are designed for a specific national language version of our software, so make sure you're installing the right version. (We include checks with most of our FixPaks to make sure that only the correct version is installed.)

Please let us deliver quality software service. We appreciate how eager people are to receive the latest versions of IBM software, but we would appreciate our testers not redistributing FixPaks that are not yet officially released. Thanks!
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FixPak #1 for Warp 4.

IBM has FixPak 1 for Warp 4, but not for general release. For information call IBM at 800-992-4777. They only want to provide it to people who *need* it for a very specific reason. That's why it's not really public. If you get it from them, please don't post make it available on the internet or BBS's.
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LXOPT Withdrawn.

With regret I have to announce that on 31st of January 1997 LXOPT will be withdrawn from sale. After this date it will not be possible to obtain new LXOPT licenses or to extend existing licenses for additional users.

While LXOPT has been a technical success and is in use by many leading OS/2 development sites, it has never achieved the popularity required to secure its future. Recent events, such as the public repositioning of OS/2 away from the consumer desktop, removal of "Games" support, failure of OS/2 for PPC, the move to fee based support, disbanding of the EMEA DAP and poor distribution of the WARP 4 Beta have all contributed to a general decline in OS/2 development. While the current emphasis on OS/2 as a platform for JAVA is to be applauded, it does little to encourage OS/2 specific software.

Technical support for the demonstration version of LXOPT will end on 24th January 1997. Those maintaining ftp/web sites containing the demonstration version (LXOPTnnn.ZIP - where nnn represents the version number) are requested to remove this file on or before this date.

Registered users of LXOPT have already been contacted directly with details of future support arrangements. For purchasers of LXOPT who have not yet registered the software with Functional Software these arrangements are:

LXOPT Updates:
LXOPT updates have always been issued free of charge to registered users. After withdrawal there will be no further LXOPT releases. Maintenance versions will still be provided for individual LXOPT users in response to technical support queries but these will not be generally distributed.

Technical Support:
The withdrawal of any software product inevitably affects the availability of technical support. As a registered LXOPT user full technical support (including software fixes where needed) will be provided for a period of six months from withdrawal. After 30th June 1997 no further alterations to the software will be made. All other technical support will continue until 31st January 1998 after which all support will cease.

Technical support via the Compuserve Id 100325,3650 will cease immediately. Compuserve users should direct technical support queries to the internet address funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk.

I would like to thank the OS/2 development community for the enthusiasm, encouragement and support that you have provided over the last few years. I hope that you will find the arrangements described above reasonable in the circumstances. If you have any comments please contact me via funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk and I will attempt to resolve any problems you may have.

Mike Ruddy
Functional Software Ltd.
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Omnifile and Check+ Bundles Announced.

Natick, MA, January 10, 1997 - Computer Interface Corp., announces bundles of their most popular native OS/2 applications, Omnifile and Check+.

The new products, called Home Productivity Pack, list price $89.00 and Pro Productivity Pack, list price $149.00, bundle Omnifile and Check+ into one convenient package.

Omnifile a revolutionary Data Management Application, combines THREE applications, Database, Contact Management and Personal Information Management into ONE easy to use program.

Omnifile provides state of the art features including: Information Linking, letting users easily use or locate data anywhere in the program, and Customization, letting resellers and users customize any module, or simply create their own. Additional features include: Drag and Drop any record to or from any folder; Print to Screen lets you can see reports BEFORE you waste time and paper; Customized Reporting lets you print the reports you want. You're no longer constrained by your application; Works with REXX commands for custom imports or exports, automated batch processing, etc. The powerful Custom Design Tool Kit lets resellers or users customize or create any screen, report, database or module so that data is captured, formatted and reported exactly as required. You're no longer constrained by the application! Pre-formatted Modules make Omnifile ready to go right out of the box. Modules include Action Item List, Electronic File Cabinet, Inventory Manager, Contact Manager, Expense Reports, Notes Filing, Document Tracker, Personal or Meeting Planner, Electronic Librarian and more...

Check+ V2.11 is the premier NATIVE OS/2 Personal Finance Management Application. It's very simple to use and understand, providing users with "Quicken TM like" functionality and native OS/2 performance. Check+ manages bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments and property. Users can have unlimited accounts and prints checks and customized reports. Check+ also has an investment manager to track portfolios and a loan and mortgage manager to prompt for payments, calculates interest, and more! Check+ also comes with a comprehensive User's Guide.

More product information and free demos are available on the CIC web site, http://www.computerinterface.com/. For Dealer information, or to order, call 800-992-3428 or send E-Mail to sales@computerinterface.com. All CIC Products come with a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.
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Oberon Software Releases TE/2 Pro! v2.1.

Oberon Software, Inc. today released version 2.1 of its flag ship product, TE/2 Pro! Oberon Software will make a full featured demonstration version of the program publicly available later today and will begin shipping the new version on all new orders immediately. Everyone who has purchased the prior version of TE/2 Pro! is entitled to a free update which can be obtained either electronically or by mail directly from Oberon Software.

TE/2 Pro! is Oberon Software's newest product; an object-oriented, Workplace Shell aware, telecommunications program for OS/2 Warp. TE/2 Pro!, based on the same telecommunications engine, file transfer protocols, and terminal emulations as Oberon's very successful, original TE/2, adds the desktop object behaviors and drag and drop interfaces which OS/2 Warp users are used to while maintaining the robustness and reliability of the original product.

In addition to long-standing TE/2 features such as robust, high-speed telecommunications support, seven terminal emulation modes, fast, reliable file transfer protocols, and extensive REXX scripting capabilities, some of the new features for TE/2 Pro! include: Object Oriented User Interface, Support for multiple, simultaneous sessions, Asynch, TCP/IP, and Named Pipe support built in, and multiwindow chat and scroll back. This latest version adds features which greatly simplify connecting to the Internet as well as to standard, dialup connections, a new built-in diagnostic tool which allows the user to continuously monitor the modem status, and several problem resolutions.

Demonstration copies will be available on the company's BBS (507-388-1154) and WorldWide Web page (http://prairie.lakes.com/~oberon/). Oberon Software will provide copies of the demonstration program on diskette by request. Licensing for TE/2 Pro! is $79 per copy or per workstation and is available directly through Oberon Software, from Indelible Blue, Inc., BMT Micro, Inc., IBM Desktop Direct, and Norloff's OS/2 BBS. Registered users of TE/2 Pro! may use this new demonstration version to update their registered copies of the program; their registration will carry forward to release the demonstration version of its restrictions.

Indelible Blue, Inc. may be contacted by phone at 800-776-8284 or 919-878-9700. Demonstration copies of TE/2 Pro! are also available on the Indelible Blue BBS at 919-790-2489, or via their World Wide Web page at http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/.

BMT Micro may be contacted by phone at 800-414-4268 or 910-791-7052. Demonstration copies of TE/2 Pro! are also available on the BMT Micro BBS at 910-350-8061 or via their World Wide Web page at http://www.bmtmicro.com/.

Demonstration copies of TE/2 Pro! are also available at Norloff's OS/2 BBS which can be reached by modem at 703-385-4325 or via the Internet at telnet://bbs.os2bbs.com or their World Wide Web page at http://www.os2bbs.com/.

IBM Desktop Direct may be contacted by phone at 800-426-2255, by e-mail at ibm_direct@vnet.ibm.com, or via their WorldWide Web page at http://ibm-direct.e-com.ibm.com/us/.
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