The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 30

0 TH1 AO! TUESDAY 8 MARCH 1994 COMPUTERAGE 8 How does your garden grow First there 'Xplora r. was 'Sledgehammer', now there is the brilliant interactive CD-ROM disc, Peter Gabriel, former rock star, is now a multimedia "experience designer" intent on introducing us to a new musical frontier. i 114 niques for Developing Bug-Free Programs'. An unfortunate choice of words, considering the enormous publicity surrounding problems with DoubleSpace in the release version of DOS 6.0, the conflict between Scandisk and the VERIFY command in the supposed bug-fix release DOS 6.2, and the need for an OLE patch to be tacked on to the release sion of Word for Windows 6.0. 'Writing Solid Code' deserves better than to be caught up in the fallout from Microsoft's problems with the new releases of DOS and Word for Windows.

Maguire's book should be treated sympathetically because it provides excellent tools and techniques for programmers aspiring to higher standards. An emerging marketing strategy in the print world is the packaging of two books in one bundle a detailed reference work and a small, quick-reference guide. Sort of like a "Papa Bear" book and a "Baby Bear" book. The publisher Que is currently using this marketing ploy with its "Special Edition" books, but you can be sure others will follow. After all, monkey see, monkey do.

Three new releases in Que's bundled set series are 'Using MS-DOS 6.2' 'Using Word Version 6 for Windows' ($59.95) and 'Using Access 1.1 for Windows' RA The project, which from conception to birth occupied 40 people for at least a year, originated with Steve Nelson of the appropriately named Brilliant Media, a San Francisco-based multimedia company. Gabriel, one of life's natural multimedia men, took to it Instantly. "I ended up, fortuitously, at an AT planning conference (in 1986). I got on to this thing called Global Business Network, who advise corporations on their future. They had an anthropologist looking at the design for Nissan cars.

They were talking about laying the information highways using fibre optics. My opinion was that, if you put it down, the traffic will come." His techno-frontier attitude goes down well in the United States: "People believe it's possible over there. They get excited, they support it, run with it and hope some of the magic will rub off on them. Here we sit back, like a bunch of cynics." He recognises that his new project is just scratching the surface of a whole new medium and his Real World multimedia company is now aiming to have a dozen projects up and running within the next year. "The role of the artist is changing in a sense that there's always been a linear route through a work of art before, and now we are providing an environment which may contain a linear route, but which is also a playground for people to go off and explore for themselves.

So you can produce a finished piece of work and also provide collage kits. People may explore your MEDIA VISION'S 'Forever Growing Garden' CD tide is a gende introduction to that laborious task of gardening. If only gardening were that easy, and in some ways, the CD more than reflects the frustrations of the real world activity. It's slow, hard work. The user is presented with three colorful gardens to nurture and harvest: an ostentatious castle garden; a vegie patch; and your front yard flowering variety.

Having selected a garden to grow, users toddle off to a charming hardware store to buy seeds for planting. All the information on how to plant your corn, tulips or hedge is on the back of the seed packet, including best time to plant, harvest and watering instructions. That part is easily accomplished. Back in the garden, tools of trade are simple: a watering can, spade, and shears for cutting. When it comes to planting, the process is painfully slow.

Users click on seed packets and drag them ever so .1 .1 to their ready-made holes. Watering is a rather precarious game of hit or miss; it's not so much a matter of skilled coordination as it is one of inflexible mouse movement Plants seem to thrive whether you follow instructions or not. Impatient users can define the time it takes their gardens to grow, either in seconds or real time. Come harvest time, the fruits of the vegie patch can be taken to market, priced and sold. An interesting diversion, but again, a painfully slow process in changing environments and moving objects from the ground to weighing scales, to the stall.

Cut flowers go to the florist shop and while arranging flowers should be a time-consuming pleasure, it loses its appeal onscreen. There is a good selection of fantasy plants to foster, like winking tomatoes with toes, and a catch-the-gopher game where the varmint steals your vegetables. Media Vision (02 979 5791) says the tide offers "a pet rock kind of If you like pet rocks, this one's for you. 'Forever Growing Garden' has a recommended retail price, of $79.95. LM ETER GABRIEL Is at it again, transmuting himself into another medium, exploring yet another technological frontier.

Fifteen years ago he began thinking of himself as an experience designer. Now, it's beginning to come into focus. The possible pretentiousness of that title is offset by his work in progress: a theme park ride, the multimedia CD-ROM disc and the Future Park in Barcelona. He is drinking tea in a peaceful dining room in one of the creamy stone houses that make up his Real World record company's complex in Box, set in the Wiltshire vales. Gabriel wears an oversizepatterned shirt and speaks softly.

"My dad came up with the first fibre-optic, wired-cable television system in the world, with an Italian. It was for Rediffusion in this country. He had a prototype in Hastings. I grew up listening to him trying to champion home shopping, pay-TV, electronic democracy. This was his battle, for this wondrous means of communication." 'The main topic he wants to talk about is the new Real World product, 'Xplora 1', one of the first interactive multimedia CD-ROM discs Issued by a leading musicianartist.

(Todd Rundgren is another). CD-ROM discs hold a vast amount of data not just words but video, stills and animation all of which are linked together in something that multimedia designers call an "entity You view them on your computer or on one of the new multiplayers linked to your television, like Philips's CD-I. The disc divides into four sections: US, Real World, Behind the Scenes and Personal File. Each is represented by an icon that you can activate. Inside US is all the art work from the album, much of it animated, plus video clips and music.

Real World allows you to examine and listen to the entire Real World recordcatalogue; to investigate and play some of the instruments used; and to visit the Real World studios and see work in progress. You can remix one of Gabriel's tracks by moving the levels on an on-screen mixer. Behind the Scenes offers a map of the Womad concert site which you can explore. Personal File is a suitcase full of Gabriel's past, including his family photo album (click on the photos and they come alive as Super 8 home movies) and his Eternal Passport (open it by clicking on the cover and you see his animated passport photo endlessly cycle from baby to old man to skull and back). Gabriel is your guide on the side to all this, perched angelically as a little talking icon in the top corner of the screen.

Compared with a number of other multimedia discs, it's fair to say that this one sets a very high SOME book titles can be misleading, while others can be "victims" of circumstance and bad timing. Let's start with misleading titles. 'Warp Speed Windows' Books, $59.95) is one of these. With a tide that suggests Windows running blindingly fast, and a front cover depicting two computer screens hurtling through space at warp speed (both looking ever so much like the starship Enterprise), this book would appear to be for power users. Surprisingly, it turns out to be for those who don't know much about Windows, and is concerned with "increasing Windows productivity quickly and Regrettably, it didn't tell me anything about Windows I didn't already know.

In fact, I could have told it a few things. What annoyed me most was a passage of text appearing under the heading "Choosing the Dream Machine" which, after advising readers not to upgrade their 286s, goes on to say, "A 386 is a much better investment. A 386 will have enough memory in it without having to use special memory cards and the video circuits and hard disk are probably passable." Another of its optimising tips was to "check the turbo My advice to the author is that while he continues to recommend 386s, he will be lucky if he can run Windows at supersonic speed, let alone warp speed. Now, moving on to books that are buffeted by forces outside their author's control. 'Writing Solid Code' (Microsoft Press, $45), by Steve Maguire, falls into this category.

A constructive piece of writing by the former Microsoft developer and troubleshooter, the book is in danger of not being treated with the respect it deserves simply because of the its sub title 'Microsoft's Tech Customisation Utility (PMGRPS.ZIP) can help make things a little less chaotic. It allows you to display program groups in the order you want, rather than the order that Windows decides a useful facility for those with numerous program groups. It only works with Windows versions 3.1 and higher. Looking for a replacement for the sleep-inducing screen-savers included with Windows? Seascape (SEAS.ZIP) is a fairly good addition to the aquarium screen-saver genre. If you haven't entered any input for a predefined time, a striped silver fish will swim across the screen chasing bubbles.

Although the fish looks The best of shareware forest or they may take your trees and put them in a dome. In trie same way that we have a dictionary in our heads which provides us with the tools for our communication through language, our kids or their kids will grow up with some kind of multimedia hieroglyphic capability." Interactive multimedia will, Gabriel believes, "find a huge place in the market in the same way that videos did" And he should know he was at the forefront of that development, too. "What is possible is affected very much by what is believed to be possible, he says. Peter Gabriel, experience designer, is just warming up for the next big show. Independent The Xplora CD is distributed in Australia by Sydney-based LeadaTek and sold through its Statusgraph retail outlet in Sydney on (02) 552 1388.

Statusgraph hopes to have a Melbourne agent within the month. Xplora is only available for the Macintosh and costs $105. Statusgraph expects a Windows version to be released later this year and anticipates the price will also drop over coming months. Bed World unexpectedly across the top of the screen) and care and attention are obvious at every level. Only Apple users will be able to sample its delights at present, but IBM versions will follow.

The disc, called 'Xplora 1' (like some Martian space probe) contains, we are told, 100 minutes of video, more than 30 minutes of audio, over 100 full-color photographic images and the equivalent of a book's worth of text 600 megabytes of data. in the standard. What is particularly pleasing are the design and colors. The use of natural textures for the background screen, like the sky and water, is extremely restful on the eye. There are lots of little tricks (a dinosaur wanders Coticdj The following special interest groups of the Melbourne PC Users' Group are meeting this week.

The Turbo Pascal SIG will meet tonight; the Communications SIG will meet At 7.30 pm on Wednesday; and the Computer Music SIG will meet at 7 pm on Thursday. All of the above SIG meetings will convene on the second floor, 66 Albert Road, South Melbourne. You can fax details of upcoming conferences or user group meetings to ComputerAge (03)8665486. and moves quite realistically, it gets a bit tiresome observing this lone fish. The Volume Library File Manager (VLFM11.ZIP) is an alternative to the Windows File Manager.

It uses icons to represent files and directories, and enables you to execute basic file operations such as copy and rename. VLFM automatically sets up associations based on extensions, enabling you to open or run almost any file by double-clicking on it. A trashcan icon, familiar to Mac users, allows you to delete files. Jed Bowtell These titles are uploaded weekly to the Melbourne PC Users' Croup BBS. WHERE ARE YOU GOING? ChrrkmUheWwU.

Analyst Programmer Four positions Salary Range State Revenue Office VICTORIA World Class System Software Organisation NEW POSITIONS require to be filled IMMEDIATELY! Yen, it's a 'State of the Art' team environment where your talent and drive will be rewarded. Join a dynamic, COMPUTER SUPPORT ENGINEER For UNIX Soitwira DtvtlofXTHMt one Eigwt Co have telecommunications software support experience mln 2 yre HP-UX, Windows, shell networking, MS INGRES, system performance analysts, problem and programming skills. Excellent written, verbal, training skills reqd. Fax rtsrame alts Trlcla 146 tm EOE. professional small group who have a range of skills including; UNIXMotif, DOSWindows, OCt.

SOFTWARE TESTER Ground floor opportunity for a bright GRADUATE or experienced system tester UNIX and DOS knowledge is mandatory. Excellent career path. EXPERIENCED SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORLIBRARIAN Challenging key role. UNIX, DOS and NETWORKS skills are essential. Exposure to QA and AS3S63 desirable.

ISLDOES $7. tiVcKHizADo EE Resumes should be forwarded to the address below or contact Eve Howard direct on 018 385 455 between 8am and 9pm for further details. Eve Howard Associates International Recruitment Level 50, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. Telephone 828 2866 CSOftPOfZATB rMA43E3 bUfSSNESS 43RAPHICS Unt Aa Scyxascrxao Stroll South MUnjoumo) saosl S6S777 aggj If you want to play Street Fighter on your PC but don't want to part with hard-earned dollars, you may be interested in Street Fighter Crazy Edition (SFIGHT.ZIP). A name is not the only thing this game shares with the immensely popular Street Fighter II.

The graphics are very similar some may say too similar to those of SFI1. There are differences of course: different moves, move names and ways of executing these moves. The Crazy Edition is no where near as slick as its commercial cousin, but it is free. A disorganised desktop is a fact of life for many Windows users, but the Program Manager Technicians Unlimited MOBILE Computer Repairs 7AM to 10 PM Service Call $38 Northern Sub. 01S 399 196 Eastern Sub.

Oil 993 144 CllrlnnerWeit 013 331 663 SoulhBayslde 0IS 033 346 Trslalna Hotline 016 010 243 Network Support 015 351 663 Hardware Technicians lot- SoftwareNetwork Engineers1 CTMarjUSFtACt II PflHAU STREET CARUON VC10FM 30S1 rwtonT4M in tm i 4 Must with Windows, solving Training Services The State Revenue Office is the major revenue collection agency for the Government of Victoria. In the 199293 financial year, the Office collected over in taxes, duties and levies through the administration of 17 Acts. Funds collected are used by the Victorian Government to provide services for the benefit of all Victorians. The State Revenue Office has just implemented a major new-Generic Revenue Collection System within an IBMC, DB2, 'Age' readers use this directory to plan their activities and purchases. For details on rates, deadlines, etc.

and advice on how best to cornrrHmicate to your potential customers, teraphone 601 2613 or 601 2946 during business hours. Analyst Programmer Our Schweppes Cottee's Information Technology team located at St KUda Junction is responsible for the development and effective operation of computing facilities at sites throughout Australia. We are looking for an enthusiastic, keen professional to work In a support role, assisting a diverse range of users. Specific duties will include: development and modification of application software using Progress 4GLRDBMS; interpreting programs; database analysis and interrogation; program testing; and provision of systems to the user base at distributed locations in major capital cities. Our ideal candidate will have three to five years Progress experience preferably obtained from a manufacturing or distribution environment The role will suit a confident and well presented person who Is sensitive to user needs and comfortable communicating with all levels of management If you are seeking a rewarding career with our successful business as well as outstanding opportunities for personal development, this role is tailor made.

An attractive salary package with great Company benefits will be negotiated with the best candidate. Written applications should be sent to Valda Lavoipierre, Recruitment Manager, Cadbury Schweppes Pry. P.O. Box 6134, Melbourne, Victoria 3004 or te (03) 620 7400. Registration of Interest The Board of Studies is seeking Registration from outsourcing companies capable of developing an Integrated, open systems solution for its current Information systems needs.

The Board of Studies has general responsibility for the design and management of curriculum and assessment In Victoria, its particular current responsibility Is for the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). The Board seeks a systems solution which includes hardware, systems software, application software, Implementation services and project management. Brief submissions to register Interest, outlining experience, approach, technical environment preferences and rates for consultants must be received at the Board of Studies, St Nicholas Place, 15 Pelham Street, Carlton Vic 3053 by 4.00 pm, Tuesday 15 March 1994. is from the Registrations of Interest received that selected outsourcers will be Invited to tender. An outline of the requirements for the Registration of Interest is available via contacting Mr Jim Hayes at the Board of Studies (03) 651 4380.

TRAINING CICS, LU6.2, WINDOWS environment. These positions offer a highly attractive and rewarding career opportunity for talented and business minded IT professionals to take an active role in the development and maintenance of the State Revenue Office's major revenue collection systems. Successful applicants will possess the following qualifications and experience: Extensive experience in the analysis, design and implementation of information systems in a mainframe computing environment. Comprehensive experience and proven ability in COBOL and SQL programming in an IBM or IBM compatible mainframe environment. Well developed written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to liaise effectively with technical and administrative staff.

An appropriate tertiary qualification will be highly regarded. Additional information can be obtained from Warren Collins on telephone number (03) 628 0377. Computer CUSTOMISED SOFTWARE ACCESS VISUAL BASIC Teleohone support sfKe Phone Ktvm Srup on 10l132 6 7ta anytime. PC DEVELOPER Firm 0tk or contract raft. FACSIMILE SERVICES FAXING the urn rntsuoo to mufttpl dtstifuiionit Do it thf -mm wir.

nl' fAaiHK444 FOR SALE UMO PCS AND AMIGA J6? NichoUoj it. "ntglitord BonanrJ Ouonro Pro 1190 cadcotr a CA NrtmanPC 1993 CA SoporprorM 1295 Lotus anprov 1250 MS Dos 6.2 $99 MS PuMrsnsr 1169 Poitcoot tor 649 WrmHUf 1.0 for Wn 660 Works tor Dos 30 UN Windows NT 3.1 6450 Wet Bootsto CO 6260 Windows Ofhct 3 0 CO 6450 Win lot WGroups 3.11 (190 Fax and Sotost Cards MCUUS GOHfUTIM 'l Morwa Csfssats 1 163 PIMM 1K6 MtM16 Spaoaieiff Ccryum tkpmn COURSES oroup trtiMTM): ruminins TRAINING a72 4S0Ci photo. COMPUTER IftdurOUwl of ik iqp puttft. (Hfinm, SOFTWARE SUPPORT know where to turn tor Hf. LP.

For soltware admce nd support. 7 days woefclor lest than It ptr SUPPLIES ol now ntltKHw cost SWAP MEETINGS 'ON written applications quoting position numbers 852509246, 852509257, 852509268 and 852509279 should be submitted to the Services Manager, State Revenue Office, GPO Box 1 64 IN, Melbourne 3001 no later than 18 March 1994. NOTE: Successful applicants will be required to enter into an employment agreement. tyC0(QONmA1OVF 8S.