Re: WinNews Vol. 2 No. 13, August 14, 1995
Microsoft(R) WinNews Electronic Newsletter
Volume 2, #13, August 14, 1995
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As we approach our launch date, key information continues
to be announced. Many people outside the U.S. and Canada
have been asking for information about when they can
purchase Windows 95. This issue provides the "release to
manufacturing" announcement for twelve localized languages
and Windows 95 street dates all around the world.
Remember there will be an issue sent out next Monday,
August 21, which will have various launch-related
information, such as how to access our World Wide Web site
"On-Line Launch Event". And after launch, remember to
look to WinNews for further products details, answers
to frequently asked questions and other important
information regards Windows 95.
1. "HINTS AND TIPS" - Our regular feature offering some
helpful ways to use Windows 95.
2. "TWELVE LOCALIZED LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF WINDOWS 95
RELEASED TO MANUFACTURING"
Here are some details on twelve versions of Windows 95
that should be available in stores in early September.
3. "WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY DATES FOR WINDOWS 95"
This is a list of Windows 95 street dates for over
40 countries.
4. "MICROSOFT EXTENDS WINDOWS 95 SUPPORT HOURS"
For the first few months after the Windows 95 release,
Microsoft will extend product support hours from the
current 12 hours a day on weekdays to 15 hours a
day on weekdays, plus 8 hours a day on weekends.
5. "UPGRADE INFORMATION FOR OWNERS OF
MICROSOFT MOUSE WITH INTELLIPOINT AND
MICROSOFT NATURAL KEYBOARD WITH INTELLITYPE"
Information is provided on software upgrades for these
products.
6. "NEW POSTINGS TO WINDOWS 95 WEB SITE AND FORUMS"
Our regular information of new postings to various
on-line servers locations - and how to access these files.
QUICK NOTES
A. Windows 95 is shipping to Microsoft Developer
Network (MSDN) Level 2 subscribers on August 24,
concurrent with the retail release. MSDN is Microsoft's
annual CD-ROM subscription program designed
especially for developers targeting any of the
Windows platforms, and it helps developers stay
current with the latest programming information
and systems technology from Microsoft. To find out
more about subscribing to MSDN please call
(800) 759-5474. Members will receive
Windows 95, the updated Win32 SDK, and official
developer information from Microsoft. For information
outside the U.S. and Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft office.
B. Among the many articles being written these days about
Windows 95, one you might want to check out is
PC/Computing's "Sneak Previews" of Windows 95 and
Microsoft Plus! in their September issue. It should
provide you with some useful evaluation of these products.
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.
This issue has tips on using the "Start" button:
A. Create new cascading menus off the Start Taskbar.
- An example: In the Start Menu folder in your Windows 95
folder, create a new folder and name it, exactly:
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
(All on one line, must include the ".", the curly braces, all four
hyphens, and the hex numbers exactly as shown.)
- After doing this, you'll get a folder in your Start Menu
that's called Control Panel with a cascading menu with
all of the Control Panels in it.
By placing a '.' after the folder name and putting the
sequence of numbers in brackets, it associates that
folder with a registry entry. You can run the regedit
program and do a search for the file you want to
get the number sequence.
B. Customize the Start button
Click and drag any object from the desktop and drop it on
the Start button to add it to the Start Menu.
C. Modifying Start Menu items
Right-click the Start menu and select Open or Explore to
view and modify its contents. Putting a new folder in your
start menu directory will allow additional hierarchies
off of the Start menu.
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2. TWELVE LOCALIZED LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF WINDOWS 95
RELEASED TO MANUFACTURING
Microsoft Prepares for Launch of Windows 95 Worldwide
REDMOND, Wash. - Aug. 9, 1995 - Microsoft Corp.
today released to manufacturing 12 localized language
versions of the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 operating
system. All 12 versions will be shipped simultaneously and
are scheduled to be available in stores worldwide the first
week of September. In an effort to support the growing
global market, Microsoft plans to release at least 30
localized language versions of Windows(R) 95. Most of the
versions will be available by the holidays, and all
versions are expected to be available within six months of
the U.S. ship date. This represents both a significant
decrease in development time as well as an increase in the
total number of languages offered. For Windows(R) 3.1,
Microsoft delivered 24 localized versions over a period of
two years.
"The international market is incredibly important to
Microsoft," said Brad Silverberg, senior vice president of
personal operating systems division at Microsoft. "We
have put an enormous amount of time and effort into
preparing for the launch of Windows 95 and making
Windows 95 a great international product. A key part of
that preparation is ensuring that localized versions of
the operating system are available to users worldwide as
soon as possible. Microsoft has been adding to the level
of support for international languages and cultural
conventions since design work began on the operating
system. The amount of language support of Windows 95 is
unprecedented."
Windows 95 has been released to manufacturing in the
following 12 languages: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French,
German, Italian, Norwegian, Pan European (an English
version with the capability to run Eastern European
applications), Portuguese (Brazilian and Iberian), Spanish
and Swedish.
International Features Included in Windows 95
In both the Windows 95 and Windows NT(TM) operating
systems, Microsoft has included the National Language
Support (NLS) API, which is a part of the Win32(R) API
set. This support adds functionality that provides
solutions for using software and exchanging documents
around the world. Providing international language support
services in Windows 95 also makes it easier for application
developers to solve international language issues related
to presenting or manipulating information in their
applications.
Included in the CD-ROM version of Windows 95 (all
languages) is multilanguage support, which lets many
applications write text in not only Western European but
Eastern European languages. Multilanguage support makes
it easy to display and edit text of various languages in a
single document. Users can create and edit documents with
content in multiple languages and exchange these documents
with users of other language systems. For example, this
feature is important within the European Union where Greek
and Latin-based languages must coexist in documents.
Users who want to run Eastern European applications, such
as the Russian version of Microsoft Excel, will need either
the Russian version or Pan European Edition of Windows 95.
The Pan European Edition provides all the benefits of
multilanguage support in addition to extended keyboard
support for Eastern European locales.
Microsoft plans to release other localized versions of
Windows 95 in the following languages: Arabic, Basque,
Catalan, Chinese traditional and simplified (mainland),
Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Polish,
Russian, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish and
Vietnamese (English-enabled).
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3. WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY DATES FOR WINDOWS 95
Please find below the dates that Windows 95 will be
available in other countries.
Country Windows 95 Street Date
Argentina 24 August 1995
Australia 24 August 1995
Austria 5 September 1995
Belgium 24 August 1995
Brazil 24 August 1995
Canada 24 August 1995*
Caribbean 24 August 1995
Chile 24 August 1995
Colombia 24 August 1995
Costa Rica 24 August 1995
Denmark 5 September 1995
Ecuador 24 August 1995
Finland 5 September 1995
France 24 August 1995
Germany 5 September 1995
Greece 15 September 1995
Guatemala 24 August 1995
Hong Kong 24 August 1995
Italy 4 September 1995
Jamaica 24 August 1995
Japan November/December 1995
Korea November 1995
Malaysia 29 August 1995
Mexico 24 August 1995
Middle East 7 September 1995
New Zealand 24 August 1995
Norway 5 September 1995
Panama 24 August 1995
People's Republic of China 1st Quarter 1996
Peru 24 August 1995
Portugal 24 August 1995
Puerto Rico 24 August 1995
Singapore 24 August 1995
South Africa 24 August 1995
Spain 5 September 1995
Sweden 5 September 1995
Switzerland 5 September 1995
Taiwan 28 November 1995
Thailand 28 August 1995
Turkey 24 August 1995
UK 24 August 1995
Uruguay 24 August 1995
Venezuela 24 August 1995
* French Canadian version available 1 November 1995
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4. MICROSOFT EXTENDS WINDOWS 95 SUPPORT HOURS
In our anticipation of strong customer demand for
Windows 95, Microsoft will extend its hours of no-charge
product support for Windows 95 during the first few months
of product release. The extension of support hours for
Windows 95 will allow Microsoft to handle more customer
calls at launch, when call volume is at its peak.
The current no-charge support hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
(PDT) Monday through Friday will be extended to 5 a.m.
to 8 p.m. (PDT) Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to
3 p.m. (PDT) Saturday and Sunday (regular telephone toll
charges apply). The extended hours begin Aug. 24, 1995.
No-charge support hours for other Microsoft products
remain unchanged. Microsoft's Priority Support offering
for Windows 95 will continue to be available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Additionally, as a convenience to
customers, no-charge product support will be available for
customers of Windows 95 over the Labor Day holiday.
Hours of support on Labor Day will be 7 a.m. to
3 p.m. (PDT).
"We are doing everything we can to be ready to support our
customers during the Windows 95 launch," said Deborah
Willingham, vice president of support at Microsoft.
"Early product orders are up, so we may get more calls
than originally expected. To increase customer access to
technical support, we are extending our standard hours
of support."
Windows 95 comes with 90 days of no-charge, toll-telephone
technical support (for non-networking issues). Customers
also can access technical product information through the
Internet and other online services, as well as Microsoft
FastTips, a free automated service for answers to common
technical questions delivered by recording or fax.
FastTips for Windows 95 is available 24 hours a day,
seven days a week at 800-936-4200.
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5. UPGRADES FOR OWNERS OF MICROSOFT MOUSE WITH
INTELLIPOINT AND MICROSOFT NATURAL KEYBOARD
WITH INTELLITYPE
Customers who own a Microsoft Mouse 2.0 with IntelliPoint 1.0,
a Microsoft Home Mouse with IntelliPoint Home 1.0, or a
Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType 1.0 can upgrade
at no charge to the IntelliPoint 1.1, IntelliPoint Home 1.1, or
IntelliType 1.1 software. Customers will be asked to
provide their PID number which will be used to validate
that they have a copy of either IntelliPoint 1.0,
IntelliPoint Home 1.0, or IntelliType 1.0. Customers
should contact the MS Order Desk at 1-800-360-7561, or the
MS Product sales team at 1-800-426-9400. Outside the U.S.
and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft office.
PART NUMBERS:
IntelliType 1.1 upgrade, NA 286-050-042
IntelliType 1.1 upgrade, multilingual 286-050-042bl
IntelliPoint Pro 1.1 upgrade, NA 135-099-389
IntelliPoint Pro 1.1 upgrade, multilingual 135-099-389bl
IntelliPoint Home 1.1 upgrade, NA 135-051-022
IntelliPoint Home 1.1 upgrade, multilingual 135-051-022bl
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6. NEW POSTINGS TO WINDOWS 95 WEB SITE AND FORUMS
New files posted since the last issue of WinNews:
Dates.doc - The dates available above for street dates
around the world are also available from our forums. On
the Windows web site and ftp site, this is a top level
document.
Please find the following new postings, grouped by folder.
WINDOWS 95 INFORMATION
---------------------------------------
There are two self-extracting executables for
data sheets and fact sheets.
"datashet.exe"
"isfact.exe"
TECHNICAL INFORMATION AND SUPPORT
----------------------------------------------------------
"Win95app.hlp" is an updated Software Compatibility List,
which is also in "Third Party Product Information" and
the "Migration Planning Kit". Please note a readme
file "swcompat.txt" goes with this file.
NEWS AND EVENTS
----------------------------
"Aug895.doc" contains the article "Windows-to-Macintosh
Connectivity Now Available for Windows 95".
"Vol2#12.txt" - Has last week's WinNews Electronic
Newsletter.
"Pcweek.doc" is an update of the document of the same
name that was previously posted.
"Rwscreen.exe" is a self-extracting zip file that contains
more information regarding the Registration Wizard. It
also provides screen shots.
"Traincst.doc" provides a list of dates and times for free
"Traincast" tapings on Windows 95 along with information
on how to get copies of shows you may have missed.
"Australi.doc details information about a seven-city
Windows 95 tour in Australia.
YOU CAN FIND THE ARTICLES LISTED ABOVE,
AND OTHER WINDOWS 95 INFORMATION:
On the World Wide Web at:
http://www.windows.microsoft.com
On the Internet -
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/PerOpSys/Win_News
On The Microsoft Network:
Categories\Computers and Software\Software\
Microsoft\Windows 95\WinNews
On America OnLine:
Use keyword WINNEWS
On CompuServe: GO WINNEWS.
On GEnie: MOVE TO PAGE 95
On Prodigy: JUMP WINNEWS.
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