From ns.itep.ru!Radio-MSU.net!Gamma.RU!srcc!satisfy.kiae.su!news1.relcom.ru!demos!news1.best.com!news.texas.net!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!cssun.mathcs.emory.edu!nntp.msstate.edu!nntp2.backbone.olemiss.edu!postmaster Thu Jul 4 19:15:20 1996 Path: ns.itep.ru!Radio-MSU.net!Gamma.RU!srcc!satisfy.kiae.su!news1.relcom.ru!demos!news1.best.com!news.texas.net!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!cssun.mathcs.emory.edu!nntp.msstate.edu!nntp2.backbone.olemiss.edu!postmaster From: aburns@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu (Alan Burns) Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.beta Subject: Merlin after 2 weeks (Long) Date: 4 Jul 1996 08:10:21 GMT Organization: University of Mississippi Lines: 113 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4rfu9d$cqr@nntp2.backbone.olemiss.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: ox1_11.teclink.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Newsreader: NeoLogic News for OS/2 [version: 4.5d] I just realized it's been nearly two weeks since the Merlin beta officially started, and we're coming up on the halfway point for this beta cycle. I didn't realize I had been tinkering with it for that long. When I posted my first comments about Merlin, I said there were some things I would have to live with for a while to see if they might grow on me. Well, it's been two weeks now and some of them have, but some of them haven't and probably never will. I think I've lived with Merlin long enough now that I can really say what I like and don't like about it with some level of certainty. (One reason I'm doing this here is because I'm not sure if I should use B/G Report to make general observations and suggestions, or if it's just strictly for defect reports. A lot of these things aren't really defects per se, just things that I like and don't like. Who at IBM should I direct these things to? Should I use B/G Report for this?) The installation program has been pretty thoroughly roasted in this group, so I won't re-hash that except to say that it has a LOT of wrinkles that need to be ironed out. I think I join with the majority by saying that the networking installation needs to be simplified for the average user who doesn't know a whole lot about network configurations. The easy installation is pretty simple, but it's also pretty limited, and the network part of Advanced Install is probably a little over most users' heads. There should be some middle ground in there somewhere. The new desktop is pretty much a mixed bag. Some of the new icons are nice, and some of them... well, aren't. The folder icons are marginally better than the Warp 3 folders, but I don't like them nearly as well as the similar ones that are floating around the 'Net. The new command prompt icons are really nice because I can now tell the difference between an OS/2 session and a DOS session with just a quick glance. With one or two exceptions, all of the icons in the system setup folder suck. Some of them (like the Win-OS/2 Setup icon) are unchanged from v3 and are absolutely screaming to be changed, while others (like System) have been changed but just don't look any better. A multi-billion dollar company like IBM ought to be able to do a lot better than that, especially with so many great icons floating around the Internet for free. The new title bar buttons have got to go. I wasn't sure at first, but now I am. On the one hand, they're distinctive, which is good. But on the other hand, they're butt-ugly, which is bad. I was showing Merlin to a friend (a Win95 user, BTW) shortly after I got it, and he said, "It looks very business-like." Right at that moment, I was able for the first time to pinpoint exactly what it was I disliked about them. The "industrial" look is what we're trying to get away from, and that look just isn't going to cut it in a flashy Windows 95 kind of world. Go back to the drawing board. I'm just talking about the Min, Max, and Close buttons here. Keep the scroll bars and all the rest of it because they're fine. The IAK was always fairly strong, and it's pretty much unchanged from Warp 3. I had, however, hoped that there would be some real enhancements to apps like NR/2 and FTP-PM that haven't had any significant changes since their introduction 2 years ago. OS/2 still has the best Internet connectivity package of any OS on the market today, but you guys can't rest on your laurels. Internet apps are getting mighty nice these days, and NR/2 looks more and more shaky with each passing day. Ditto for WebEx. The multimedia enhancements are very nice, and I love the irregularly shaped controls. It's nice to finally see a basic thing like an image viewer, especially one with native GIF and JPG support. (It *really* needs a way to save the options, though.) It's also nice to be able to right-click on an image and convert it to another format without a third-party application. I also noticed that they finally fixed the problem where sounds recorded at non-standard sample rates were getting chopped off. Good job. However, there are still some things missing, mostly in the video department. IBM *MUST* support MPEG videos. MPEG is rapidly becoming the standard video format on the Internet, as well as in home entertainment systems like DSS, and it's only a matter of time before the two technologies meet. I've noticed that there is an MPEG icon for the files, but the files themselves are still unsupported. Does that mean it just wasn't ready for this beta? It's also very uncool that OS/2 still doesn't support Windows-encoded AVI files. I still have to get that AVI patch from Hobbes if I want to view certain kinds of AVIs. What's the point of having a video player if every format I come in contact with is unsupported? VoiceType is very cool, though I haven't found quite as much day-to-day use for it as I had hoped. However, I'll be starting my first year of law school in the fall, so I'm sure it will become my best friend by then. :-) Accuracy was a problem right out of the box, but once I went through the enrollment, accuracy shot up pretty high. And it learns very quickly, too. VTD is one of the very few things that I haven't really had any problems at all with. It runs reasonably well on my 32 MB P-90, but there's a lot of swapping when I start dictating. I'd like to see them get the code down to where it doesn't start swapping as soon as I say "Begin dictation." I might as well say "Begin swapping." :-) But like I said, it's acceptable, though. Dos/Win compatibility leaves a lot to be desired. Actually, I'm being nice. It's pathetic. I've only been able to get a handful of Windows apps to run properly, and the ones that do run are unstable and hang the WPS pretty frequently. None of my DOS games will run in a VDM. Doom, Doom 2, Dark Forces, Descent, Rise of the Triad, Hexen, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D.... none of them will start. (And it's not because of the sound problems.) Merlin chokes on DOS4GW every time and throws up all over my desktop with error messages. The only one that will start is Rebel Assault 2, and it crashes all the time. Now, before anybody feels obligated to say it, I'm well aware that everybody else's stuff is running fine. I seem to be the only one having these problems. Is it possible that some of us got different builds or something? Oh, well. It's late, I'm tired, and that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I'll have more to say in the near future, but in the meantime, if anybody can point me toward the appropriate place to send these kinds of comments, I'd be grateful. I've already reported the defects, but not the general suggestions. Oh yeah, there was one other thing. The Warp Guides. Turn them off by default instead of on. It's like a mosquito buzzing around my ear and I just want to slap at it. :-) Regards, Alan Burns aburns@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu http://www.olemiss.edu/~aburns