Re: NotaBene acquisition of XyWin

[prf@xxxxxxxx (Paul R. Falzer)]

>On Wed, 29 Nov 95 11:23:00 PST, Doug Beeson wrote:
>
>>Paul, where did you see this message? Did it sound credible?
>>
>The message appeared on the Humanist, a moderated discussion list. It
>was extensive and detailed; on its face, the message appears credible.
>I have written to the person who posted the message and requested his
>permission to post it here.
>
Doug,

Marc Bregman's message follows, in full. First, let me take a
stab at a question you posed about what it means for a program to
be "32 bit"
(you will notice that Marc has a similar question).

A 32 bit program is written to take full advantage of 386
architecture. Thus, it requires at least a 386 CPU. For instance, my
DOS text editor, Vedit Plus 4.2, is a 32 bit application. A 32 bit
*Windows* program may be 32s or 32c. The former (Netscape, for
example) is a hybrid -- a 16 bit application that requires a set
of 32 bit extensions. If you are running Windows 3.x and have
these extensions, they are located in the "win32s" subdirectory under your
\windows \system directory.

The 32c spec is a requisite for all native Windows 95 applications. A
Windows 95 app is also native to Windows NT and will not run
under Windows 3.x. A Windows 32s application will run under Windows 95,
but not as a native application. The designation "Windows 95
compatible" generally refers to a 16 bit or 32s app that will run
under Windows 3.x and Windows 95.

Gauging from my conversation with the staff at the Note Bene
Corporation, the Windows version under development is a Windows
95 application. The question you may want to ask TTG is: will the
next version of XyWrite for Windows be a Windows 95 application?
If the answer is "yes," it will be a 32c application. If you hear
that it's
"Windows 95 compatible," it likely is 16 bit or 32s, but not 32c.


Regards,

Paul

--- message begins ---

On Sunday late afternoon I had an hour and a quarter conversation with
Pat Kelley (James Patrick Kelley), General Manager of NotaBene.
We met in Philadelphia at the annual joint convention of the American
Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature;
NotaBene had a booth in the book exhibits area. Steve Siebert
was also at the booth, as was Steve Semple, but I did not have
time to meet them.

My conversation with Pat became scheduled for a time when the
exhibit hall had closed for the day, and it took place at some remove from the
NB booth. I asked Pat questions that denizens of the Internet
NotaBene list sent to me, and some that I remember from the list
or from users at my university. I regret that I did not have
more time to talk with him and with other NotaBene staff.

Windows. A version of NotaBene for Windows 95 is in the works.
NB bought rights to XyWrite for Windows, and has farmed out
programming components to five programmers. The timetable and
the budget are set.
NB's commitment is to "maximally use all improvements in Windows '95."
Such 'maximal use' is Pat's response to questions about 16 or 32 bit.
[I do not know enough about such differences for NB, and I
understand that Windows 95 is a hybrid in this regard. I can
surmise important further questions.] Release date: "certainly
in 1996." The first release of NB for Windows may not include
Lingua. Windows95's abandoning of standard alphabets has
compounded problems for Lingua.
Pat Kelley outlined the procedures and timetabling for development of
NBfWin95, and to my unpracticed ear it sounded like plausible
planning; he also indicated that the programmers are not behind
timetable expectations. It is too early to indicate pricing for
this substantial upgrade.

NB and high memory use. Pat Kelley told me that at the booth the
NB staff had on display a version of NB for DOS that made use of
high memory. It is nearly finished. They had hoped to have it
available for the AAR meeting; it will be the next upgrade
offering. Pat told me, for example, of the wonder of having the
F7 key report 2,836k of available memory [!]. [Since our
conversation took place well away from the busy NB booth, and I
did not have time to spend at the booth itself, I did not see
this.]

IBID, version 2. IBID version 2 will be implemented for Windows 95.
There is not a commitment to implement IBID 2 for DOS. Pat
regrets that this is an unfulfilled promise, but does not see an
easy way to fulfill this promise of past years. Those of us who
have paid for an ungrade to IBID version 2 for DOS should be able
to get a credit for what we paid for that upgrade.

NB for OS/2 and OS/2 Warp. Pat did not have any advice about
what I could say to those who sent me several questions about NB and OS/2.
He would welcome advice about what could be done to make NB
easier to run under OS/2, especially what is an ideal
configuration of OS/2 is to make NotaBene work best. [I think
there has been some discussion of this on the list.]

Web Page. A World Wide Web page for NotaBene is being set up.
It will permit people to download a fix; it will give access to
NB people for technical support. It will make information
available for sales.
The plan for launching this is before the end of 1995.

IPA fonts. International Phonetic Alphabet fonts were advertised
at the booth. I did not take time to glean how to get these, and
at what cost.

Lingua monospaced fonts for laser printers. With the IPA fonts
done, this is the project those workers are now turning to. I
did not ask the timetable. Pat observed that NB is now
developing a methodology for developing printer drivers.

Chinese-Japanese. With Windows 95 dropping Unicode, there is no
short-term prospect of NotaBene including Chinese-Japanese.
NBfW95 is dependent on what Win95 includes.

Biblio 2. There is a feature of Biblio that is not well documented
(or undocumented), to enable a user to send and receive text
files over the Internet. [I have not yet acquired Biblio, but I
understand that Internet access is already part of that program.
I did not get the full import of this feature, but it seems to permit accessing
Internet from within Biblio, and sending and receiving text.] It
was described as the ability to save unformatted text off the
Internet--I presume from within NB.

Biblio and various libraries. Libraries have customized Notis,
and this necessitates introducing customizations in Biblio, so
as, for example, not to lose or misposition a field. If NB users
have effected a customization that the NB office could
incorporate, please let the NB office know. Biblio is also
available for Citation;
Citation is a bibliography program for WordPerfect and for Microsoft
Word.

Support and Sales in the UK and Europe. There is a new support
arrangement in the planning for the UK, involving support from
New
York; details will be announced to UK users. In Europe, the
difficulties in reaching Mr. Werner Go"ken (Goeken) should ease;
keep trying; his facilities are undergoing some construction.

Pat Kelley indicated that suggestions and needs of those on the
list are not reaching him in the most effective way.
Communications should be sent to his attention. This is
especially true for expressions of what NB users need, such as a
printer driver for the HP 5L printer, or the HP DJ 560 printer.
If one of us knows just what is needed, for the DJ 560, for
example, please let Pat Kelley know. [I am aware of the list
discussion in the HP DJ 560, and I myself am interested in this.]

From:
           Marc Bregman
 Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion
         13 King David Street
          Jerusalem 94101
             Israel
Voice: (+972-2) 203-234 (office)   E-Mail
msmarco@xxxxxxxx

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