CompuNotes
Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing
June 11, 1997
Issue 80

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CONTENTS
My Notes:
1=> Comments, mailto:pgrote@i1.net
2=> This Issue's Winner!

Reviews:
3=> Product: Internet Sidekick - internet/utility
Reviewed By: Gail Marsella, mailto:gbcmars@enter.net
4=> Product: M.A.X. - game/action
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
5=> Product: Ulead Photoimpact - graphics/utility
Reviewed By: Judy Litt, mailto:jlitt@qualitty.com

6=> Clickables!

--- BEGIN ISSUE

1=> Notes . . .

Thanks for all the support you have directed towards my family. We are 
on the road to recovering. 

We should have a second issue out tonight. 

Also, I apologize for the error where 5 issues were sent out last 
week. LSOFT, the makers of Listserv, manage our list. They have made 
it so only two items can go out on Wednesday and Saturday nights. 
Expect CompuNotes to be delivered then.

2=> Winner!
This issue's winner: None this issue.

3=> Product: Internet Sidekick - internet/utility
Reviewed By: Gail Marsella, mailto:gbcmars@enter.net

Starfish Software's venerable Sidekick program has been around for a 
long time, and now they've got a version for the Internet. Well, make 
that a version that does email. There are no real Internet utilities 
in this program except a browser/URL launcher, but it's still a useful 
package for the businessperson who either travels frequently or must 
manage people, resources and tasks in far-flung places. 

After installing conventionally, the program opens at first with some 
setup questions about your e-mail setup, POP3 connection, and 
password. Its email feature requires 32-bit access to the Internet, 
but I managed to make a 16-bit connection work for most tasks by using 
the 3.0D version of Trumpet Winsock (which "thunks" 32-bit programs 
down to 16-bit) and Netscape Navigator 3.0. To actually send documents 
written with the built-in word processor, you need either Microsoft 
Exchange or Eudora Pro. 

Actually, to use all the features of Internet SideKick in the most 
streamlined way, Eudora Pro with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 
looks like the best choice. Eudora Pro works with both the general e- 
mail scheduling feature and the word processor. If you have only 
Microsoft Exchange, you're limited to communicating with other 
Exchange users, not the larger e-mail population, and Exchange sends 
documents as text without preserving the formatting. If you use 
Netscape for scheduling, you'll need Eudora Pro anyway for documents. 

When you open Internet Sidekick, you see a dazzlingly feature-rich 
interface. There are six separate "views" -- Calendar, Earthtime, 
Cardfile, Write, Expense, and Activities -- many of them cross- 
referenced and accessible from each others' toolbars. There is also a 
calculator, a unit converter, a contact manager, a scheduling wizard, 
a resource wizard, a URL launcher, and a phone dialer that works with 
Caller ID if you have it. 

Just listing everything this program will do would take awhile. The 
Earthtime view allows you to see what time it is around the globe, and 
also gives a page of information on cities from each selected area. 
There is no currency converter, although you could add a URL to the 
cardfile for accessing an appropriate Web page. The Write view is the 
word processing area. It does basic formatting, and includes a list of 
templates (including suggested text) for everything from ad proposals 
to wedding invites.

The scheduling wizard is a good idea. You schedule an event, send a 
message to a list of potential participants via email and fax, and 
then collect the responses via email. (You can enter phone and fax 
replies manually.) In the message you can include a URL, so the 
recipient can just click on it to open his or her Web browser. The 
wizard doesn't let you forget anything, and provides a list of 
scheduled events, but Starfish did make some slightly goofy design 
choices here. 

Starfish clearly got this out fast to compete in the Internet market, 
and it needs some work in places, but in general Internet Sidekick 
combines a large number of competent business communication, 
organization, and scheduling utilities in one place. It works well, 
too. Have a look at it. 

Starfish Software
1700 Green Hills Rd.
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
408-461-5800
<http://www.starfishsoftware.com>

4=> Product: M.A.X. - game/action
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Requirements: 486/66, 8MB RAM for DOS (16 for Win95), CDROM, SVGA
MSRP: $59.99

Strategy gaming has been dominated in the last two years by real-time 
games from Westwood Studios (Command & Conquer) and Blizzard 
(Warcraft). The excitement over these games (and more importantly, the 
revenue) has generated a host of imitators. Most of these clones are 
not as well done, nor have the charm and finesse of these games. 
Interplay has already released one real-time game already, Blood & 
Magic, which is a good game but hardly the equal of Warcraft or C&C. 
Now Interplay has released M.A.X., another real-time game but this 
time the arrow is straight on target. M.A.X. is a fantastic game, 
equaling if not surpassing the most recent efforts out of both 
Blizzard and Westwood. When 1997 is over, I think M.A.X. will be 
remembered as "THE" strategy game of the year. 

M.A.X. is set in the distant future, in which M.A.X. (short for 
Mechanized Assault and Exploration) commanders are robots with human 
brains. M.A.X. commanders work for clans, refugees from Earth that 
have separated into various factions competing for worlds as 
mercenaries for alien masters. Each clan has its own unique abilities, 
giving it various advantages on the field of battle from faster units 
to expertise on the high seas. In essence M.A.X. resembles the old 
granddaddy of real-time games, Dune II, while providing rich new 
elements (different worlds for conquest, new units, and many others) 
and a new way of doing battle. 

In order for M.A.X. to surpass C&C- Red Alert and Warcraft II M.A.X. 
must bring a lot to the table. And it does. There are so many bells, 
whistles, and other delights in M.A.X. that it is going to be 
difficult to mention them all in the span of this review. The 
designers of M.A.X. realized that strategy gamers these days fall into 
two camps - real-timers and traditional turn-based gamers. M.A.X. 
attempts to offer something for both: games can be played in either 
turn-based mode or in a quasi-real- time simultaneous turn mode. What 
this latter mode means is that you and your opponent both move at the 
same time during your turn; turns can be time- limited and when the 
first player pushes their end turn button the remaining players have a 
drastically reduced amount of time left. This adds some tension to the 
game, as you are always racing about trying to complete your turn so 
that your opponent doesn't cut you off before you get everything 
done. 

And believe me, youll have a lot to do! M.A.X. does a superb job of 
breaching the gap between the two strategy camps, but believe me you 
will find yourself playing in the simultaneous mode almost 
exclusively. Ive never been an incredible fan of real-time game 
because of the relentless pace of the game - I have a hard time 
remembering every unit I sent off to do whatever, and all too often 
end up leaving units scattered across the map sitting with nothing to 
do. This is not the case in M.A.X., where the simultaneous mode does 
move things along but still gives you occasion to pause and take stock 
of whats going on. 

M.A.X. also offers an incredible array of units. The premise of the 
game is that you are attempting to establish colonies for your clan 
while your opponent does the same. You must establish factories, mine 
raw materials including fuel and gold, and destroy your enemy. To 
carry out your assault you have a wide variety of units available for 
land, sea, and air. Land units include everything from the ubiquitous 
scout and tank to the mine layers, assault guns, and the missile and 
rocket launchers. Sea units include submarines, corvettes, and missile 
cruisers (among others), while air units include fighters and bombers. 
Air, sea, and naval transports are also available, as well as 
surveyors, constructors (for building mines and factories) and 
engineers (for building power plants and defense installations). Two 
types of factories are required for building these units, a light 
vehicles factory and a heavy vehicles factory (naval units require a 
shipyard and air units require an air plants yard). In the build 
screen for each factory you can set the number and types of units to 
build, and can also select to rush construction. Rushing construction 
of one unit type means that additional raw materials are required, 
restricting the amount of supplies available for other things. In 
addition you must build an ammo depot to restock the ammo for units 
that fire guns, rockets, or missiles. Wow - I dont know if your jaw 
has hit the floor yet but every time I stop to consider all of this I 
still have to stop and shake my head. And I didn't even mention the 
Infiltrators, devious human units that can only be spotted by infantry 
and can wreak havoc quickly. 

Interplay must have realized that all of this would tend to overwhelm 
the new player and designed for it accordingly. There is an incredible 
number of tutorial missions, each one building on the previous 
mission, adding more to do and teaching each of the various portions 
of the game. Even if you are a hard-core strategy gamer like myself I 
highly recommend that you work your way through all of the tutorial 
missions before actually playing the game itself. The tutorial 
missions are still fun - you still get to blow away your opponent - 
but if you dont finish them you may miss important little points that 
can make a big difference in the single missions or campaign games. 

Once youve completed the tutorials youll find that there are three 
separate ways to play M.A.X.. There are a number of stand-alone 
missions that you can play in which you can play for one or all of the 
various clans in the game. You can also play a custom mission in which 
you select various parameters and have at it. Finally, there is the 
campaign game as well, a series of missions that get successively 
harder as you go along. If that wasn't enough, M.A.X. can also played 
against other human opponents. Four opponents can play over a LAN or 
two can play over a modem or serial connection (M.A.X. can also be 
played over the Internet using Kali but only as a two-player game). So 
once youve trashed the computer (or if you completely disdain playing 
the AI) you can reach out and crush your friends as well. 

The AI, however, is another area where M.A.X. shines. Real-time 
computer opponents tend to attack in one of two ways - either as a 
horde of stock-piled units or piece meal, one at a time. With the 
former strategy you simply have to weather the assault and then you 
can easily destroy the AI; in the latter you can take your time and 
plan your assault any way you please. M.A.X.s AI is a little smarter 
than that - it knows how to assault and withdraw, probing for 
weakness, and when to assault en mass. Usually I tend to send out 
scout 
in all directions looking for my opponent. Once encountered, I stack 
my best units in that direction, waiting while I build my assault 
force and then moving out. Ive seen M.A.X.s AI plan its assault - 
finding my units and backtracking to my factories and mines, then 
selecting routes so that they get as close as possible before being 
detected - thereby achieving surprise and destroying my mines and 
factories before Id even had time to react appropriately. And this 
happened in a tutorial mission! I learned fast - expect assaults from 
any direction. I also learned that the piddly little scout unit can be 
deadly when wielded in numbers by the AI - I lost several tanks 
learning the hard way that in a real-time game a lot of scouts can 
easily defeat a tank and peel off out of range before his buddies can 
even respond. 

I could go on and on about M.A.X. This is a superb game, one that I 
think Ill be playing for a long time to come. The graphics (oh yeah, 
it does have them!) are beautiful, with clever little animations 
(rotating radar turrets) and breath- taking explosions. Even the sound 
is great, filled with bits of ominous music to get your blood pumping. 
The sound effects are even better - the movement of the scouts and 
tanks, the explosions, even the female computer voice that informs you 
Enemy scout destroyed. M.A.X. has plenty of polish to go with the 
gameplay, making it an easy candidate for game of the year. If youd 
like to try it before you buy it, Interplay has a demo available that 
lacks air and sea units but does include some of the tutorial and 
stand-alone missions, enough to gauge whether youll like the game. 
But Im certain that you will. Terrific job, Interplay! 

Interplay Productions
16815 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine, CA 92606
(714) 553-6678
<ttp://www.interplay.com>

5=> Product: Ulead Photoimpact - graphics/utility
Reviewed By: Judy Litt, mailto:jlitt@qualitty.com
Reviewed on: Pentium Pro 200, 64 MB RAM, Windows 95, 12x CD-ROM
MSRP: $99.99

One of these days, I plan to start a Web design FAQ on my site. One of 
the questions it will answer is what programs are used to make web 
graphics. One of the answers is Ulead's Photoimapct. 

Photoimpact is actually a suite of products: album, capture, cd 
browser, explorer, viewer, and photoimpact (the main program) itself. 
There are also a couple of modules you can download off of the Ulead 
website (www.ulead.com): gif optimizer and gif animator. Also included 
are web extensions: background designer, button designer, frame 
designer, gif smartsaver, and jpeg smartsaver. The web extensions were 
one of the main reasons for my interest in this program. 

Probably the best image editing program on the market is Adobe 
Photoshop, which I use. But it carries a price tag of approximately 
$600. For $99, Photoimpact does much of what Photoshop does - 
sometimes more - in a very intuitive way. 

When you install Photoimapct, you have the choice of four different 
installations: 

Typical (37 MB)
Full (75 MB)
Custom
Minimum - run off cd

I chose the custom option, but then decided to install everything. I'd 
like to see the separate programs in separate folders, rather than all 
jumbled in one folder. That way it's easier to go back and delete 
modules you don't want. 

One of the things installed is the Photoimpact tour. It walks you 
through a lot of the basic operations. Photoimpact makes it incredibly 
easy to try out its many special effects. You can tile your graphic 
with the easy palette. Double click on the effect you want in the 
effect gallery, and it's applied to the graphic. Or you can right 
click on the effect and modify its properties (and see the effect 
immediately on a thumbnail). Or you can arrange it so that the effects 
display thumbnails of your open graphic (although I found with this 
option the thumbnail was often too small to truly see the effect). 

Photoimpact supports layers and objects, like both Photoshop and 
Painter. You can customize the interface by putting up a quick command 
bar: this gives you one click access to your most used commands. 
There's a property bar that changes its options depending on the tool 
you've selected. 

For scanning, there's an autoprocess option. This allows you to 
automatically correct scans: straighten, crop, remove moire, focus, 
brightness, contrast, and balance. You can apply all those options at 
once, or just pick the ones you need for a particular scan. As you 
click on an option, you'll see a preview of the correction. 

The batch manager allows you to perform the same command on multiple 
images (close, minimize, print, change resolution, select, save, save 
to album, save as gif, save as jpeg). I'd like to be able to customize 
this function and add to it the commands I want. 

Although Photoimpact comes with a manual, I didn't receive it. 
However, the program comes with an excellent help file, and I was able 
to find the information I needed. 

Photoimpact includes a quick access bar. It's a small button that goes 
on the taskbar & allows you to access all the other programs in the 
suite. It seems redundant, however, since there's a switch menu in 
each of the programs that allows you to easily switch back and forth 
between programs. Photoimpact Album is a good image cataloging 
program. Photoimpact Capture is an adequate screen capture utility (I 
like SnagIt, another program I've reviewed recently, better). 
Photoimpact Explorer is similar to Quick View. Open a directory with 
it, and you'll see the directory tree, and thumbnails of all bitmap 
(tif, bmp, gif, jpg, etc.) files. You can right click to see the file 
in the Photoimpact Viewer, or use it to drag and drop files into 
Photoimpact or between folders. It works with any folder - including 
CDs. It does write a file to the directory - in some cases, that file 
can be as large as half a MB. Even though I have several photo CDs, I 
was unable to get the cd browser to recognize any of them. 

The web extensions are what really makes this image editing program 
different, in my opinion. The Gif smartsaver is a wonderful utility. 
It allows you to batch process an image from 16 to 256 colors, for a 
maximum of 30 random intervals. You get a list of the various files, 
including the file size, resolution, and number of colors. Click on 
the file size, & you'll see a thumbnail of the graphic. It's easy to 
put the gif smartsaver & the original graphic side by side. This makes 
it easy to decide what is the best file size/color depth tradeoff. You 
can also choose a transparent color, save the picture's palette, 
choose among four different palette options (optimized, netscape, 
internet explorer, and previously saved palette file), diffusion 
method, interlacing - and preview the results of each option. 
Unfortunately, every time I tried the jpeg smartsaver it crashed the 
program. 

The button designer lets you quickly and easily create a variety of 
embossed buttons. The background designer lets you quickly design new 
backgrounds. HTML image assistant lets you easily look at and assign 
colors to text and links (for web pages), and view them against the 
background file or color of your choice. It automatically generates 
the proper codes, which you can cut and paste into your HTML editor. 
It also allows you to view an image file, and automatically generates 
the code for that, too. You can add an alt attribute, choose an 
alignment, decide on border, hspace, and vspace amounts. 

Gif animator is a nifty gif animation program. It's simple to use, and 
includes neat effects like wipes. Unfortunately, I found that if I 
used one of those effects, it resulted in a gif that was so large it 
was unusable in a web page. This program is also available as a 
standalone program from Ulead for $29.95. 

Gif optimizer analyses your gifs and finds ways to save them even 
smaller. In most cases, it was unable to compress my gifs any smaller, 
but in some cases it did - and every little bit helps. It shows you 
actual file size saving, and a percentage. You have the option to 
write over the old gif or save it as a new file. This program is also 
available as a standalone program from Ulead for $29.95. 

Photoimpact won't replace Photoshop on my system. I don't think Ulead 
has aimed its product at design professionals: for instance, Type 1 
fonts cannot be used with Photoimpact. However, you can buy a version 
of web extensions for use with Photoshop (which I personally would 
recommend) For those who have a need for image editing, but can't 
afford or don't need the power of Photoshop, Photoimpact is an 
excellent choice. Watch out Paintshop Pro. There's a "new" kid on the 
block. 

Ulead Systems, Inc.
970 West 190th Street
Suite 520
Torrance, CA 90502
310-523-9393 Voice
310-523-9399 FAX
mkt@ulead.com
<http://www.ulead.com/>


6=> Clickables!

Sites Doug and I have come across this week you may be interested in:

Duke Nukem Forever to use Quake II engine
http://www.3drealms.com/press/0428971.html

Quakeworld Information
http://qwcentral.stomped.com

Quake2 Screenshots
http://www.idsoftware.com/quakeii

Microsoft's Gif Animator & Other Downloads
http://www.microsoft.com/sbnmember/download/download.asp

Talk to God on the web! (whichever one is on duty at the moment)
http://www.sidedish.com/god.html

Speaking of God - visit Bill Gate's website
http://www.microsoft.com/BillGates/column.htm

Windows 95 shareware & drivers
http://www.windows95.com

Click and Clack Car Talk
http://CarTalk.msn.com

New Comics Release List
http://www.ccse.net/~ncrl

Windows 95 Shareware Web Page Index
http://SliceOfLife.com/Shareware/Windows95-NT
 From: Gleason Sackman mailto:gleason@rrnet.com

Web Page Monitoring Service - some free accounts available
http://www.javelink.com
 From: Gleason Sackman mailto:gleason@rrnet.com

Free Web Counters
http://qstats.dreamcraft.net
 From: Gleason Sackman mailto:gleason@rrnet.com

Free True Type Fonts for the Web
http://www.microsoft.com/truetype

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Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net
Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed--
mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/
Website: <http://www.geocities.com/~compunotes>
e-mail: mailto:notes@inlink.com
fax: (314) 909-1662
voice: (314) 909-1662
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CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the 
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END OF ISSUE



