Hot new programs that make Win95 worth the upgrade
Stanford Diehl
It was classic. At last June's Reviewers Workshop in Seattle, the Microsoft spin doctors downplayed the hype (that they had helped fuel over the last two years or so) surrounding Windows 95 and tried to lower expectations. It's just an OS, the line went, "not a cure for cancer." They are right, of course: It is just an OS, and -- as IBM learned -- no OS can thrive in a vacuum.
Only powerful productivity applications can infuse a new platform with value. And Windows 95 has the applications to bring it all together. By the traditional definition of a killer app -- high-profile productivity software that drives the acceptance of a new technology or system -- the beta applications covered here can rightly claim killer-app status. This new so
ftware taps into the unique features of Win95 and performs tricks that weren't possible under Windows 3.1.
Microsoft Office for Windows 95
The updated Microsoft Office suite delivers all the basic applications you'll need to become immediately productive in your new operating environment. The applications not only conform to Windows 95 -- 32-bit architecture, multithreading (printing in Word, queries in Microsoft Access), consistent Win95 interface across all applications, long filenames, cross-application drag-and-drop, shortcuts (including creating shortcuts to a specific page in a Word document or a worksheet in Excel), and Briefcase support -- but they also include new features worthy of version-number upgrades.
The most striking enhancement to the suite is the new Microsoft Office Binder. The Binder is an enhanced OLE 2 container that lets you keep related documents within a single file structure. You can organize a project's electronic files within a binder, much as
you would organize paper within a three-ring binder. Each section of the binder can contain a different file type (a Word document, a PowerPoint presentation, or any other file format that is Binder -- not just OLE 2 -- compatible). You can then reorganize the sections by dragging the section icons (
see the screen
), dragging a section into another binder, adding an existing file to the mix, or printing all the documents in a binder using consecutive page numbering. Application vendors are already joining the Binder bandwagon, including Visio, Micrografx, and 3D/EYE.
If you already use Office, there is no learning curve, accept when dabbling in new features like the Binder. Given the remarkable market penetration of Microsoft Office, the jump it now has on the competition in supporting Win95, and third-party Binder support, Office 95 is clearly the suite to beat.
32-bit OLE Custom Controls
Microsoft's promise of an open, standard interface for reusable o
bject components will finally blossom under Windows 95. Microsoft has announced that all its development tools will support 32-bit OLE controls across Windows 95 and NT, and it's worked hard to ensure a healthy component market with such incentives as Custom Control Wizards and extensive developer support. Soon an explosion of OLE controls is sure to hit the market, delivering reusable components for telephony, imaging, communications, and other add-on functionality.
Long at the forefront of component technology, Stylus Innovation has announced its 32-bit OLE implementation of Visual Voice.
Visual Voice for Win32
provides the developer with interfaces for recording and playing voice files, sending and receiving faxes, prompting for dial-pad input and processing the touch tones, answering and placing calls, and integrating with PBXes and multiline telephony boards. Visual Voice enables a wide variety of telephony-based applications, including fax-on-demand, Interactive Voice Respons
e, and multilayered voice mail.
Windows 95 will greatly extend the capabilities of Visual Voice applications. The new OS will ship with native TAPI support, unimodem drivers, and multithreaded telephony services.
TriSpectives Professional
If you're looking for brand new software that deserves the killer-app label, check out TriSpectives Professional. It combines 3-D modeling, 3-D illustration, and 3-D animation with the drag-and-drop template model of Visio. TriSpectives implements OLE 2 from the ground up, is fully compatible with the Microsoft Office Binder, and relies on the improved performance of the Windows 95 graphics architecture.
You start with a 3-D scene (or a 3-D page) and a multitabbed catalog (
see the screen
). You can select objects from any of the catalogs and drop them onto the scene. You can then drop colors or surfaces onto the object or rotate the object freely in 3-D space. Right-click on the object, and you get a tabbed dialo
g box for changing the object's properties: Give it a shinier finish, reflect a bit-map image off it, or add a decal of your choosing. Once you've created a model, you can drag and drop animation effects onto it (e.g., Y-move, Z-move, Fly In, or Grow) and access motion properties with a right-click.
The TriSpectives workspace acts as an OLE 2 container, and all the catalog items are independent OLE 2 objects. You can drag OLE objects -- such as an Excel chart -- from other applications and drop them into a 3-D scene or into a TriSpectives catalog. Once you've devised your own models, you can drag them into a catalog for future use or export them to other modeling formats (including exporting them as Visual Basic text files to generate code for creating models in Visual Basic).
Feature for feature, TriSpectives stacks up well against some high-end 3-D packages like 3D Studio, but its broader appeal stems from the ease-of-use features. It may help move 3-D illustration into the mainstream, enabling
nonengineers to incorporate 3-D logos and animation effects into business presentations or product brochures.
ABC Graphics Suite
Micrografx is the latest software vendor to become possessed by value-bundle mania. The company is packaging Micrografx Designer, ABC FlowCharter, Picture Publisher, and a new media-manager utility as an integrated suite and marketing it as an ideal companion product for Microsoft Office. The applications now conform to the Office 95 interface (as with all the Office 95 applications, only the application-specific menu item is unique), and all but FlowCharter are compatible with the Office Binder.
The applications are all 32-bit, and they fully support the Windows 95 interface. The Media Manager is an OLE 2 container for holding libraries of clip-art images and symbols. In fact, ABC FlowCharter uses the Media Manager as its symbol palette. You drag symbols from the palette and drop them into your flow charts, just as you can drop Media Manager cli
ps into any OLE-compatible application. You can also drag any image (e.g., the company logo or a bit-map signature file) onto the Media Manager for use in other applications. The Media Manager supports a wide variety of formats, and it imports and exports them on the fly.
ABC FlowCharter now includes SnapGraphics, a template-based utility for building such business diagrams as time lines, pyramids, and target charts. Drop a diagram into Word or PowerPoint and edit it in place. FlowCharter incorporates OLE 2 automation, so you can build custom applications or use FlowCharter objects in any application that supports Visual Basic.
Of all the new applications we've seen so far, Picture Publisher has the best Windows 95 implementation of multithreading. Time-intensive processes like loading files or applying special-effect filters get their own thread. The Image Task Manager (
see the screen
) tracks the progress of each thread as you go about your work. The architecture showed up f
irst in Picture Publisher for NT but could not be deployed under Windows 3.1. With elegant floating (and dockable) toolbars and intelligent interface design, Picture Publisher and Micrografx Designer meld smoothly into an Office 95 environment.
CorelDraw 6
Corel has always been the Swiss Army knife for Windows-based graphics design. Corel 6 bundles four integrated applications -- CorelDraw, Corel Photo-Paint, Corel Presents, and CorelDream 3D (Corel has pulled Ventura from the bundle and will release a new version of the desktop publisher in November). All of the applications sport a 32-bit multithreaded architecture and conform fully to the Win95 interface: long filenames, uninstall modules, wizards, extensive right-mouse-button shortcuts, tabbed dialogs and property sheets, dockable toolbars, and rich OLE 2 functionality (in-place editing, drag-and-drop across applications, and OLE automation through CorelScript). The Corel suite goes a step further, enhancing the interface wi
th dialog roll-ups, an excellent desktop-saving feature (
see the screen
).
As always, the package includes utilities (a 3-D logo creator, a multimedia file manager, font management, an OLE 2 scripting language, a dialog editor, and four other utilities) and a gaggle of extras (e.g., 25,000 clip-art images, over 1000 fonts, photos, templates, 3-D models, sounds, objects, animation actors, and backgrounds). Windows 95 may solve one common complaint about Corel: its nonstandard interface. The bundle finally comes together nicely, delivering an integrated solution to Windows-based designers and illustrators.
The Gaming Platform
No bones about it: Microsoft wants Windows 95 to be a killer games platform. As a gaming environment, Windows 3.1 was a big, fat flop. Hard-core PC gamers are still firmly planted in DOS. But the Windows 95 architecture will change all that. Early betas of new games clearly portend a thriving Win95 games market.
Pitfall: The May
an Adventure (
see the screen
), is an arcade-style adventure game from Activision that has been hugely popular on Nintendo and other gaming systems. Pitfall now works like a charm under Windows 95. It is exactly the kind of game that once required DOS to run effectively. There's lots of fast motion, real-time interactive responses, and intensive graphics. Under Windows' old Graphical Device Interface (GDI) architecture, this level of responsiveness was not possible, but the Win95 DIBEngine lets game developers blast device-independent bit maps (DIBs) directly to the screen. Confirming its faith in the Win95 game market, Activision plans to release eight Windows 95 games by the end of the year and will no longer develop for the MS-DOS platform.
Educational titles should also prosper. The Freddi Fish title (
see the screen
) uses auto-run (a Win95 feature that automatically plays a CD-ROM when it is loaded) to avoid installation hassles altogether. You load the CD, and
a splash screen pops up automatically. Click on the play button, and the game starts. With auto-run, Freddi Fish implements a "zero-footprint" design, moving files to the hard disk as needed and then removing them when the game exits. The graphics are sharp and colorful, the animation smooth.
An impending upgrade to Display Control Interface (DCI) will further enhance Win95 as a gaming platform, adding automatic support for multiuser games, MIDI sound, and digital joysticks.
Windows 95 Componentware
Componentware -- small applets that deliver focused functionality to desktop applications -- has been a hot topic, and an expected trend, for some time now. And yet fatware continues to thrive. Again, the clunky mechanism of OLE 1 and DDE under Windows 3.1 must assume part of the blame. Now, with its full integration of OLE 2 and OLE Automation, Windows 95 delivers an environment that will support robust component utilities. Some early announcements prove the viability of comp
onent technology; it's now up to the market to determine the success of the componentware design philosophy.
Alphablox, a new company derived from Alpha Software, is shipping a set of five utilities, called Officeblox, that adhere to the componentware model. With Noteblox, you can post sticky notes onto any application or directly onto the Windows 95 desktop. Embed Calcblox into an application to enable quick calculations at the click of a button. Listblox lets you jot down to-do items, generate a quick expense report, or embed a simple list manager into your word processor.
Toolblox is the most interesting component. You can launch applications from the toolbar or drag objects (applications, documents, images -- i.e., any OLE object) onto it. You can even specify an application's exposed objects as a Toolblox item; for instance, when you drag the Excel icon onto the toolbar and edit the entry, a list box displays Excel's components. You can then select the Excel's calculation engine or its charti
ng module as the launchable component. The toolbar's template icon brings up a wide variety of Officeblox templates for quickly creating agendas, phone messages, meeting requests, or other memos.
Workblox will ship as a "trial" application in Officeblox. Workblox, a tabbed OLE 2 container, gives you a convenient place to store objects or catalog your work.
The Applications Cometh
When all is said and done, Windows 95 won't require a few killer apps to succeed. It is the shear breadth of supported applications that drives the popularity of the Windows platform. But a wave of significant upgrades and new product announcements can only help fuel the acceptance of Windows 95 across the enterprise and in the home.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
ABC Graphics Suite $495
Micrografx, Inc.
Richardson, TX
(214) 234-1759
http://www.micrografx.com
CorelDraw 6 $695
Corel Corp.
Ottawa, Ontario
(613) 728-8200
fax: (613) 761-9176
Freddi Fish $39
Humongous Entertainment
Woodinville, WA
(206) 486-9258
fax: (206) 486-9694
http://www.humongous.com
OfficeBlox $69
AlphaBlox Software Corp.
Burlington, MA
(617) 229-2924
fax: (617) 272-4876
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure $49
Activision
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 473-9200
fax: (310) 479-4005
http://www.activision.com
TriSpectives Professional $499
3D/Eye
Ithaca, NY
(607) 257-1381
fax: (607) 257-7335
h
ttp://www.eye.com
Visio 4.0 $249
Visio Corp.
Seattle, WA
(206) 521-4500
fax: (206) 521-4501
Visual Voice for Win32 (2 lines) $495
unlimited lines $2995
Stylus Innovation
Cambridge, MA
(617) 621-9545
fax: (617) 621-7862
info@stylus.com or
http://www.stylus.com
Windows 95 $209
upgrade, $109
Microsoft Office for Windows 95 $499
Microsoft Corp.
Redmond, WA
(206) 882-8080
fax: (206) 936-7329
http://www.microsoft.com
screen_link (58 Kbytes)
screen_link (51 Kbytes)
Visual Voice for Win32 enables more robust telephony applications under Windows 95, thanks to an integrated TAPI interface, multithreading, support for more telephone lines, and unimodem drivers.
screen_
link (77 Kbytes)
TriSpectives Professional offers easy-to-use, sophisticated features. From the tabbed catalog on the right of the screen, you can drag objects onto either 3-D scene on the left. Right-click on an object to bring up tabbed dialog boxes for model properties and style properties.
screen_link (75 Kbytes)
The ABC Graphics Suite includes Micrografx Designer, ABC FlowCharter, Picture Pu
blisher (above), and the new Media Manager (right, sitting on top of a PowerPoint presentation). From the Media Manager, you can drop objects onto any OLE-compatible application or drag new objects into the Media Manager palette. It's a great way to manage clip art, logos, or other reusable objects. Picture Publisher's Image Task Manager tracks the progress of active threads, such as file loads or complex special-effect filters.
screen_link (65 Kbytes)
CorelDraw 6 includes four integrated applications, nine utilities, and a boatload of Corel extras. Shown is Photo-Paint with its roll-up dialog boxes and object palette
for tracking objects in the active image. CorelScript is an OLE automation script editor and debugger.
screen_link (86 Kbytes)
The new DIBEngine graphics architecture in Windows 95 should spawn a thriving games market that has long eluded Windows. Game developers can now bypass GDI and blast device-independent bit maps directly to screen. This architecture enables fast-paced arcade-style games like Pitfall (far right) and educational titles like Freddi Fish (right) to run smoothly under Windows 95.
Stanford Diehl, director of BYTE product reviews, has been evaluating computer products for ove
r 10 years. He holds degrees in English literature, computer science, and electronics technology. You can reach him on the Internet or BIX at
sdiehl@bix.com
.
Applications 95 Arrive
