Re: WinNews Vol. 2 No. 11, July 17, 1995
Microsoft(R) WinNews Electronic Newsletter
Vol. 2, #11, July 17, 1995
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The past week certainly had a lot of exciting news, and our
official announcements about shipping code, ordering the
product in advance and availability of Office for
Windows 95 are included in this issue. For many people
at Microsoft this is the culmination of years of hard work,
and when you use the final product we know you will
find the effort well worth it.
As additional important Windows 95 and related Microsoft
announcements are made in the coming months, you can
look to WinNews to provide them for you.
Articles included in this issue are:
1. "HINTS AND TIPS" - Our regular feature of the new
abilities that Windows 95 offers.
2. "MICROSOFT RELEASES WINDOWS 95 TO MANUFACTURING" -
The announcement confirming the availability of
Windows 95 on August 24.
3. "MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES WINDOWS 95 "COMING SOON" PROGRAM"
If you are interested in ordering a copy of Windows 95
in advance, details on the program are provided.
4. "MICROSOFT AND PROGINET TEAM UP TO PROVIDE HIGH
PERFORMANCE HOST CONNECTIVITY FOR WINDOWS 95"
Microsoft has licensed the Windows 95 client for
BackOffice SNA Server 2.11 to Proginet who will
bundle the client with its File Transfer Management
System - Fusion FTMS.
5. "MICROSOFT OFFICE 95 AND WINDOWS 95 SCHEDULED TO BE
AVAILABLE SIMULTANEOUSLY"
With this announcement Microsoft confirmed that
Office 95 will also be available on August 24.
6. "MICROSOFT FORTRAN POWERSTATION FOR WINDOWS 95
BETA PROGRAM"
Many readers ask how they can become beta testers.
Here is an opportunity to become a beta site for
Microsoft Fortran.
7. "NEW POSTINGS TO WINDOWS 95 WINNEWS SERVERS" -
Our regular information of new postings to
various on-line servers - and how to
access the servers.
QUICK-NOTES
* Windows 95 will be featured on CNN's "Computer
Connection" on Saturday, July 22, at 3:00 pm (ET).
This will include a demo of the software and an
interview with Suzi Davidson at the Windows 95
World Tour event in Atlanta. Many of you may have
seen Suzi present the World Tour at various cities
around North America.
Jay Goldstein
WinNews Editor
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1. HINTS AND TIPS
The following are a few useful hints and tips that will
result in a more productive work environment. These are
some of the most powerful features in Windows 95.
* Emptying the Most Recently Used Documents folder
Click Start, then select Taskbar from the Settings
folder. Select "Start Menu Programs" tab, and
click Clear.
* System Configuration Editor
From the Start button, choose the Run command. In the
command line type: Sysedit. This will launch the System
Configuration Editor which will allow you to edit the
following files: protocol.ini, system.ini, win.ini,
config.sys, and autoexec.bat.
* Copy/Paste Between Windows and the DOS
Command Prompt
To move information between a Command Prompt/
MS-DOS-based application, activate the toolbar in the
MS-DOS=96based application window. This will enable
point/click access to copy, cut and paste operations
from a Windows=96based app to an MS-DOS=96based app.
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2. MICROSOFT RELEASES WINDOWS 95 TO MANUFACTURING
Software on Schedule for Aug. 24 Availability; Industry Prepares
for Aug. 24 Launch
REDMOND, Wash. - July 14, 1995 - Microsoft Corp. today
announced it has released the Windows(R) 95 operating system
to manufacturing. Consequently, Windows 95 is scheduled
to be available in stores in North America on August 24.
Today's announcement also means that OEMs will be able
to offer Windows 95 preinstalled on personal computers
starting Aug. 24.
"The release of Windows 95 to manufacturing is the
culmination of many months of incredible effort by the
development and test teams at Microsoft," said
Brad Silverberg, senior vice president of personal operating
systems at Microsoft. "Hundreds of thousands of customers,
and the broadest spectrum of the personal computer industry
have participated in this effort. We're excited!"
Manufacturing Plan
Planning for the manufacture of Windows 95 began more
than a year ago. Full-scale production of manuals, product
packaging and other materials began in June 1995.
Microsoft has signed duplication and assembly agreements
with five production companies throughout the country.
The agreements give Microsoft the ability to complete more than
1 million units of Windows 95 each week, more than seven times
Microsoft's internal capacity. The production sites include 12
facilities in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee,
Utah and Washington state, in addition to Microsoft's two
facilities in Bothel, Wash., and Puerto Rico.
Redmond Kickoff, 40 Events, Internet Site to Celebrate
Product Launch
Microsoft will celebrate the retail availability of Windows 95
with a limited-attendance customer event at the company's
Redmond, Wash., campus on Aug. 24. Other software and
hardware companies will participate and demonstrate new
hardware and software that takes advantage of Windows 95
innovations. Guests will have the opportunity to visit
product pavilions on the campus featuring exhibits of
more than 150 products designed specifically for
Windows 95.
The Redmond event will be downlinked via satellite to
more than 40 cities across the United States. Customers
wishing to participate can attend local events or an Internet
online launch event. Details about these activities will be
available in early August on the Microsoft World Wide
Web page at: http://www.windows.microsoft.com.
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3. MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES WINDOWS 95 "COMING SOON" PROGRAM
Retailers Kick Off Windows 95 Promotions and Begin Accepting
Customer Orders
REDMOND, Wash. - July 12, 1995 - Microsoft Corp. today
announced the kick off of its "Coming Soon..." cooperative
marketing program for resellers of the Microsoft(R)
Windows(R) 95 operating system, the highly anticipated new
version of its best-selling Windows(R) operating system.
As part of the "Coming Soon..." program, promotional
materials as well as automated demonstrations of
Windows 95, are scheduled to appear in retail stores
beginning July 15. In addition, many retailers will begin
accepting customer orders for Windows 95 on July 15.
Customers should contact their local computer software
retailer for detailed information.
Many top resellers, including Best Buy, CompUSA,
Computer City, Egghead Software, Office Depot, Sam's,
Staples and Walmart are participating in the "Coming Soon..."
program. Windows 95, which will be available for
approximately $109, is expected to spark increased sales of
complementary products. More than 100 computer software
and hardware vendors are expected to ship products designed
to run with Windows 95. Many of these products are
scheduled to be available simultaneously or within 60 to 90 days
of the release of Windows 95.
"We expect demand for Windows 95 to be strong and we're
pleased to be able to offer our customers the opportunity to
reserve their copy early," said Pete Janssen, vice president
of merchandising and advertising for Egghead. "We're also
providing upgrade options for our customers who obtain
Windows 3.1 between now and the scheduled release of
Windows 95 in August."
"We're very excited about the arrival of Windows 95,"
said Larry Mondry, executive vice president of merchandising
for CompUSA. "Our retail salespeople are knowledgeable
and well-trained and are prepared to assist our customers in
evaluating Windows 95 for their computing needs."
For more information about the Coming Soon Program and
participating resellers, please call 800-426-9400.
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4. MICROSOFT AND PROGINET TEAM UP TO PROVIDE HIGH
PERFORMANCE HOST CONNECTIVITY FOR WINDOWS 95
Proginet to bundle the Microsoft SNA Server 2.11 client
software with its 32-bit high speed data transfer
applications for Windows 95 and Windows NT
REDMOND, Wash., and UNIONDALE, N.Y. - July 10, 1995 -
Microsoft Corp. and Proginet Corporation today announced
a new licensing arrangement which benefits Windows 95
users requiring high performance file transfer management
to their MVS hosts.
Microsoft will license the Windows 95 client software for
its BackOffice SNA Server 2.11 host connectivity gateway
to Proginet Corporation. Proginet will bundle the
SNA Server Windows 95 client software with its 32-bit
File Transfer Management System called Fusion FTMS, which
exploits the advanced features of Windows 95 and Windows NT.
SNA Server 2.11 for Windows NT is a robust, scaleable, and
easy-to-manage SNA gateway, not only for the Windows NT and
Windows 95 environments but also for most other operating
systems, including Novell's NetWare. Developed and
marketed by Proginet Corporation, Fusion FTMS is Proginet's
new generation of LAN-to-Mainframe integration software
that exploits the advanced capabilities of Microsoft SNA
Server 2.11, a BackOffice component. Fusion FTMS is the
result of a collaborative effort between Microsoft and
Proginet to provide advanced IBM host integration to
Windows NT and Windows 95 LANs, using the robust
functionality of SNA Server 2.11.
The bundling arrangement between Microsoft and Proginet
will particularly benefit those organizations which have
an investment in large IBM systems and are considering
migration to Windows 95 and BackOffice. "SNA Server
is a sophisticated host communications gateway which
insulates LAN administrators and users from SNA
complexities. Fusion FTMS utilizes the rich features
of SNA Server 2.11, giving users and administrators an
intuitive, high performance data transfer capability to
the mainframe and allowing organizations with IBM
mainframes to migrate to Windows 95 immediately,"
said Vesa Suomalainen, general manager of the SNA Server
product unit at Microsoft.
As large organizations gear up to migrate to Windows 95,
host connectivity becomes an increasingly important and
complex issue. The combined Fusion FTMS-SNA Server
solution provides Windows 95 users with a very fast,
reliable and integrated mechanism to move large amounts
of data, effortlessly, between their desktops and
legacy hosts. "By bundling the Microsoft SNA Server
client software with Fusion FTMS, Proginet has
eliminated all the complexities of host file transfer
for Windows NT and Windows 95 users," said Meyar Sheik,
Proginet's vice-president of marketing.
Designed Expressly for 32-bit Windows NT and Windows 95
Fusion FTMS incorporates the multi-tasking, multi-
threading capabilities of the 32-bit Windows
architecture, providing greater reliability and
performance for "time-critical" enterprise applications.
Some of the unique Fusion FTMS capabilities include
support for: OLE 2.0 server on MVS, Windows NT and
Windows 95 registry, Remote Access Service (RAS),
Universal Naming Convention and Long File Names.
Availability
Fusion FTMS for Windows 95 bundled with the SNA Server
client software will be ready to ship by Proginet
immediately after the official release of Windows 95
by Microsoft and will bear the "Designed for Windows 95"
logo. Fusion FTMS for Windows NT, available on all
Intel, RISC, MIPS and PowerPC platforms, will bear
the "Designed for BackOffice" logo. Also available
from Proginet are Fusion FTMS for Windows and MVS/ESA.
Proginet is offering special introductory pricing on
all Fusion FTMS platforms, for a limited time.
If you are a corporate Windows 95 users who is interested
in Beta testing Fusion FTMS for Windows 95, please send
your name, address and phone number to:
76770.2211@compuserve.com.
Founded in 1986, Proginet provides its customers with
software solutions that integrate the information on
mainframe computers with Microsoft and Novell
distributed networks. Many of the world's largest
corporations and government agencies are currently
employing industry-leading software developed or
owned by Proginet Corporation.
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5. MICROSOFT OFFICE 95 AND WINDOWS 95 SCHEDULED TO BE
AVAILABLE SIMULTANEOUSLY
REDMOND, Wash., July 10 - Microsoft(R) Office for the
Windows(R) 95 operating system is scheduled to be
available in the reseller channel in the United States and
Canada at the same time as Windows 95, which is on target
to ship Aug. 24.
Microsoft Office for Windows 95, Standard Edition, will
include Microsoft Excel 95, Word 95, the PowerPoint(R)
presentation graphics program for Windows 95, and
Schedule+ 95. The Professional Edition of Office 95
includes all of the applications included in the Standard
Edition plus the Microsoft Access database. The
Professional Edition also is scheduled to be available at
the same time as Windows 95 and will include a coupon for
a copy of Microsoft Access 95 that can be redeemed for the
product when it is available. Microsoft Access 95 is
scheduled to be available within approximately 60 days
of Windows 95.
Microsoft Office Technology Guarantee
In addition, Microsoft announced that anyone who obtains
Microsoft Office 4.x for the Windows(R) version 3.1 or
Windows NT(TM) operating systems between July 15 and
Dec. 31, 1995, is covered by the Microsoft Office
Technology Guarantee, which entitles licensed users to
upgrade to Office 95 at no cost (shipping and
handling charges will apply).
The Technology Guarantee also applies to customers who
obtain Word 6.0 for Windows, Microsoft Excel 5.0 for
Windows, PowerPoint 4.0 for Windows and Microsoft
Access 2.0 and who want to upgrade to the corresponding
versions for Windows 95. To upgrade, customers must send
to Microsoft their dated sales receipts (as proof of
purchase), Technology Guarantee coupons (available from
resellers), plus the cost of shipping and handling
($7.50 U.S.; $10.00 Canada).
"We are seeing phenomenal interest in Office for
Windows 95," said Rose Hultgren, director of marketing at
Software Spectrum. "Our customers are excited about
Office's full support for Windows 95, its enhanced ease of
use and robust solutions capabilities. The Coming Soon
Program is a great way for our customers to be sure that
they have a copy of Office 95 waiting for them on day one."
"Our customers are eager to obtain Office 95 and the
Coming Soon Program is a great way for them to have
product on the day it ships," said Peter A. Janssen,
vice president of merchandising and advertising at
Egghead Software Inc. "Microsoft has worked closely with
the reseller channel to develop transition tools and
services, such as the Coming Soon and Office Preview
Programs, which enable us to provide customers with the
information and experience they want for a successful
migration to Office 95."
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6. MICROSOFT FORTRAN POWERSTATION FOR WINDOWS 95
BETA PROGRAM
The Microsoft Fortran group is looking for people to
will evaluate the next release of Fortran PowerStation.
This release will host and target Windows 95 and
Windows NT, and it will fully support the Fortran 90
standard. It includes a state-of-the-art integrated
development environment and will be interoperable
with Visual C++ and Visual Basic.
Fortran customers currently using mainframes,
minicomputers and Unix workstations are welcome to
participate. If you are interested please fax your
request to Microsoft Fortran at (fax) 503-778-1004.
Please put at the top of the fax: "Fortran Beta Program."
Remember to include your company name, street address,
job title, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address and
platforms currently used for Fortran computing.
Your fax must be received no later than July 31.
If you are unable to participate in the beta but would like
to receive information when the product ships, please fax
to (fax): 503-778-1004. Please write at the top of the
fax: "Interested in information about Fortran."
Please include your company name, street address,
job title, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address and
platforms currently used for Fortran.
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7. " WINDOWS 95 WINNEWS POSTINGS"
There are no new postings for this issue, but many people
wrote in asking where they could find the file FTSrch.zip
mentioned in the last issue.
Please find it at:
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/WinHelp/ftsrch.zip
For past postings, you can find WinNews servers at:
On the Internet -
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/PerOpSys/Win_News
(files above in "Docs" folder; past WinNews
issues in "Newsltter" folder)
On the World Wide Web http://www.microsoft.com
On The Microsoft Network: From Main Menu:
Categories\Computers and Software\Software\
Microsoft\Windows 95\WinNews
On CompuServe: GO WINNEWS.
On Prodigy: JUMP WINNEWS.
On America OnLine: Use keyword WINNEWS
On Genie: MOVE TO PAGE 95
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