New product highlights from Comdex Fall '96

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): As far as I can remember, June was the month that Corel Corp. of Ontario, Canada, launched its yearly upgrade to its venerable graphics software suite, CorelDRAW!. Corel seemed to need more time this year to prepare its Version 7.0. It was finally announced Oct. 8 and was showcased during the recent COMDEX Fall '96.

We are very fortunate since less than two weeks after that big event in Vegas the people from Corel have come to Jakarta and will present a one-day seminar on their latest products at Aryaduta Hotel, Central Jakarta, on Dec. 3, 1996. If you happen to be a CorelDRAW! fanatic like myself, just make sure you get a seat there at nine in the morning.

In the meantime, here are some of the new features we'll find in CorelDRAW! 7.0: It is an optimized 32-bit version that has speedier Open, Save, Import Export and redraw operations. It will provide us with more guidance by giving advice and recommendations through its CorelTUTOR and Hints. There will be a context sensitive Property Bar, which works more like the Tool Palettes in PageMaker 5.0 and 6.0 and QuarkXpress. The interface will be more streamlined and customized than ever. We will also be able to drag and drop colors, fills, clipart, photos, and styles. Click and drag is also possible for transparencies, fountain fills and blends; this is the strength of CorelXara. This version also supports pressure sensitive line drawing if you have the necessary tool.

CorelDRAW will come bundled with CorelPHOTO-PAINT 7.0, CorelDREAM 3D and the other familiar utilities. The biggest news for Mac users is probably that CorelDRAW! 6.0 is now available for the Mac operating systems. Throughout the seminar, Corel will also demonstrate other great products in its line-up, including Corel Office Professional Suite 7.0, CorelVENTURA 7.0, Corel Web.Designer, Corel Web.Gallery, Corel Web.Data -- these three are bundled in Corel Web.Graphics Suite, CorelXara!, Corel Click&Create, Corel Visual CADD and CorelCADD, as well as a slew of fast-paced action games. Even NT 4.0 version of WordPerfect Suite will be available shortly.

Incidentally, according to PC Data, the sales of Corel WordPerfect 7.0 have exceeded those of Microsoft's Office by eight points. While this doesn't mean there are more WordPerfect users out there than Winword lovers (Winword has been around much longer), it does indicate a strong revamp of this word processor classic. Dying to see what's in store for you? Just be at the seminar tomorrow.

HPC is the word

As I wrote last week, the personal digital assistants were one of the main attractions at the last Comdex. But because of my limited eyesight, I will probably never use any of these cute devices myself. Still, I have to admit they have come a long way. And at this big exhibition they got a boost from the launch of Windows CE. And because they are essentially PCs that you can hold in your hands, the new buzzword is HPC for Handheld PC.

These PDAs do more than just wake you up with their alarms, they keep track of your expenses, schedule of appointments and list of phone numbers, they help you calculate exchange rates, and even record your voice notes. They allow you to surf the Web, send and receive E-mails and print to standard printers.

As you may have suspected, some of the new gadgets come with their own proprietary operating systems. But the majority now come with Windows CE, which ensures smooth data communication and data synchronization with Windows-based desktop or notebook PCs. These models also come with "pocket" versions of Word, Excel and Internet Explorer. Some even offer handwriting recognition capability.

To give you an idea of the pervasiveness of the HPC population, here is a short list of PDA makers that took part in the show: HP (OmniGo 100, OmniGo 200LX and Windows CE-based palmtop), Philips (Velo 1), Psion (Psion Series 3c), LG Electronics (Model GP 40M), Casio, Sharp, Hitachi, US Robotics (Pilot), Motorola (Envoy & Marco), Apple (Newton Message Pads 130 and 2000) and Compaq (Compaq PC Companion). Their prices range from US$150 to US$1,000.

I came across the prototype of a particular Zaurus HPC that was very interesting. It had a sharp, bright and colorful TFT display, and it came with a digital camera that connected to the Zaurus by a PC Card: Interesting, interesting.

More and more companies have come up with flat panel products. These include familiar names like CTX (you can see its product in the accompanying picture), NEC, Hitachi, LG Electronics and Sceptre. As I mentioned last week, these are welcomed products except for their price tags.

NEC also boasts its huge, 33"-color plasma display module which has a VGA resolution with 262,144 colors. It uses digital RGB input and has a wide viewing angle. Eventually, I guess, you'll have one of these for your home Web TV or for videoconferencing at your office.

Our choice of CD-writer drives has just expanded. Yamaha has come out with a fast quad speed writer and six speed reader, CDR 400. There is also the CDR 100 that delivers quad-speed writing and double-speed reading. Yamaha's CDR 102 writes at double speed and reads at quad speed. Philips has joined the growing crowd with its double-speed writer and four-speed reader, the CDD2000 recorder.

To my surprise, Philips has entered the PC industry in a big way. Its products range from MPEG cards to CD-ROM drives to sound cards. I could not believe that somebody really thought there was a place for peripheral makers now that the MMX technology is on the horizon.

By the way, are you looking for a very fast CD-ROM drive? LG Electronics has come out with its CRD 8160B and CRD 8161B drives, both of them will give you a maximum of 2.400 KB/sec data transfer rate, which equals 16 speed. The latter features a trayless mechanism. It has a slot instead of a tray. To play a CD-ROM, you just insert it through the slot. But I wonder whether this will scratch the surface of CD-ROMs.

To tell the truth, folks, I'm still overwhelmed by the range of new products -- 10,000 of them. I guess the important question is what shall we do with them. Do you have any suggestions?