The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

July 1995

Out and About (Con't from page 1)

presented to LA Fox that reads like a ‘Who’s Who”

in the Xbase/FoxPro development community:

Bill House

Lisa Slater

Les Pinter

Adam Greene

George Goley

Savannah Brentnall

Nancy Jacobson

David Anderson

Dick Bard

Mike Feitman

Beginning in August, by popular request, we’ll be

switching gears and spotlighting applications and

techniques by members of our own group:

August 21, 1995, 7:30 PM - Bill Anderson/Chuck

Williams. Bill and Chuck will discuss their experi-

ences in both building and managing the SITN

Registration System. This program (written with

FoxPro for the Macintosh) replaces a manual

system used to track all aspects pertaining to

televised courses held at Stanford University in Palo

Alto, California.

September 18, 1995, 7:30 PM - Microcomputer

Engineering Services (MES). Microcomputer

Enqineenng Services (MES) has been developing

custom FoxPro applications for clients all over

Southern California, as well as other parts of the

country, during the last several years. MES spe-

cializes in system analysis/design, third-party add-in

products, and quality/productivity improvement. On

this night, MES will be demonstrating tips and

techniques developed for applications running at

several client sites, as well as discussing user

interface issues, system design, design tools, RAD

and other development issues.

But wait a minute... .Les Pinter called me a few

nights ago and expressed an interest in coming

back to LA Fox to address the group on VFP. We’re

trying to work out the logistics of keeping at least

five or six balls in the air (Eat your heart out,

George!) while flying back and forth to Russia.

More news on this as it develops. We’re trying for

September or October.

Since We Last Met....

“Bubba” Pokes Fun at Microsoft’s Bob

Microsoft’s Bob, the lite graphical user interface for

home PC users, now has an irreverent heckler.

“Bubba,” a spoof of human interfaces that features a

cantankerous cartoon armadillo that guides you

through your Windows chores, is yours for the down-

loading in two ZiffNet forums.

A desktop shows a backwater office with an ancient

typewriter, a broken television set, and an unwieldy

stack of papers, while Bubba offers practical pointers

(“Why on God’s green earth are y’all clicking there

for? They ain’t nothing to see”) and philosophical

advice (“Don’t cuss out nobody you don’t know”). The

interface also includes WAV files that provide addi-

tional homilies and amusing sound effects.

Bubba is a fully functional Windows shell program

that lets you launch DOS or Windows programs. The

file BUBBA.ZIP is now available on ZiffNet in the

Windows Sources Forum’s Library 3, “General

Shareware” and the PBS Utilities Forum, Library 11,

“System Utils-WIN.” The file requires Windows 3.1,

2MB of RAM, and VBRUN300.DLL. To install

VBRUN300.DLL, the runtime required for programs

written in Visual BASIC for Windows 3.0, download

VBRUN3.ZIP in the PBS Utilities Forum’s Library 17,

“Information Desk.”

To access the Windows Sources Forum, GO

WINSOURCES. To access the PBS Utilities Forum,

GO PBSUTILS. ZiffNet is part of CompuServe’s

extended services and carries additional membership

fees. GO ZIFFMEM for details.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? In case you’ve

been hibernating in a cave or locked away in some

monastery, it’s common knowledge that Bill Gates is

now the richest man in the world, according to Forbes

Magazine. Estimated worth at $12.9 billion (up from

$4.7 billion a year ago) equates to $12.9 million a

day, $536,530 an hour, $8,492 a minute, and $149 a

second. Now the $64,000 question (or 7.15 minutes

of Mr. Bill’s time) is how much more he’s worth since

the report appeared in Forbes.

Mergers & Deals in the News Adaptec acquired

Future Domain for $25 million. NEC intends to

purchase a 20% stake, worth and estimated $170

million, in Packard Bell. Samsung extended its

June 30 deadline to July 28 in the purchase of 5.82

million shares ($128 million) of AST Research. Intuit

(Quicken) has forged an alliance with American

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