Conference 7.286::digital

	The following came from LIVE WIRE this morning. In addition, I heard
on our local radio stations that Digital is cosponsoring the event with 
Microsoft and some other company, not one of our competitors names like Dell, 
HP or Compac, at Boston's World Trade Center, starting at 1:00pm. I'm not sure 
about other cites.
	At least from here, I don't see any of our competitors sharing time 
and space like we are with Microsoft for this event.

==============================================================================

Worldwide News                      LIVE WIRE

Windows 95 debuts today; Digital supporting ...             Date: 24-Aug-1995
                        
		Windows 95 debuts today;  
            Digital supporting Microsoft's on-line launch event 
    
          Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 operating system debuts today 
   after nearly a year of hype.  Most of the buzz is because of 
   Windows 95's potential impact on so many users.  The software 
   replaces the DOS and Windows 3.1 operating systems that control 
   the basic functions of some 100 million personal computers.  
   According to the "Wall Street Journal," sales estimates for PCs 
   running Windows 95 range as high as 30 million units.
          As is fitting for the biggest event of the Internet Age, 
   Microsoft's splashy launch event today will be held on the World 
   Wide Web, as well as at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.   
          The launch is the largest on-line event in Internet history. 
   Digital is providing the hardware in the form of Prioris HX590DP 
   PC servers, and the software to support the launch.  The launch 
   event is located at http://www.windows.microsoft.com.
          An online "Product Pavilion" will feature a hot link to 
   Digital's Personal Computer Business Unit home page, which can be 
   found at http://www.pc.digital.com.
          In addition, Digital, which earlier this month entered into a 
   strategic alliance with Microsoft for Windows-based solutions for 
   enterprise computing, is today shipping the new Celebris GL family 
   of personal computers which runs Windows 95.  Five new Starion PCs 
   for small and home offices, also running Windows 95, are available 
   today as well.

	re: -.1

	unfortunately:

	a) the www.windows.microsoft.com name has apparently not
	   had sufficient time to propogate to all DNS servers;
	   although it resolves inside Digital (or DEC or whatever),
	   where I sit in harvard.edu's part of NEARnet, it
	   (and the address of its sub-page refs) are not visible...
	b) I connected (or attempted to connect) to the four
	   addresses that I found using nslookup "inside"; all
	   four servers were absolutely dog slow to the point
	   of almost uselessness...
	c) the main page makes no mention of the hardware on which
	   it is running (although with b above, that may be good ;-)

	maybe I'll try later...
	_kelley

    re: -.1
    
    
    Yes, it's painfully slow from here as well. But that seems to be the
    norm in reaching any server today.

I don't believe it!  (Or maybe I do.)  The http://www.pc.digital.com home
page is "Netscape enhanced for invisibility to other browsers"!!!!!!!

				Steve

    I wonder if the numerical value of the .HTML file you get for
    Digital out of the Product Pavilions page says anything about the
    new alliance ...

    re .0
    
    Our ad in this weeks PC Magazine is quite pathetic, IMHO.   This is the
    issue that's on the stands this week, the week Windows 95 comes out...
    and you can tell.  The issue is THICK (658 pages) with lots of big,
    splashy, exciting ads about Windows 95.
    
    Then there's our ad...
    
    A 1 page BLACK and WHITE (?!?!?!?).
    
    I had to LOOK for it to find it... I didn't even notice it on my first
    pass through the magazine.   Yes, maybe the info is relevant, but who's
    going to read it?
    
    We are blowing it BIG TIME!
    
    -Steve
    

    re .4 can you explain what this means?  Only use LYNX so can't
    visualize what you're saying.
    
    	Regards,

    re .4
    
    If I started out at http://www.digital.com, exactly what menu is
    http://www.pc.digital.com hidden in?  I looked for it for 10 minutes
    and gave up.  Either I'm blind or stupid, or it just isn't in an easy
    to find place.   How would our customers find it without us specificly
    telling them where it is.   
    
    The PC page is great though... finally... information.  I especially
    like the area code look-up for place to buy our PC.  Why is the
    starion listed under "retail products".  I realize that we sell it in
    retail outlets, but why should our customers care?  Shouldn't it be
    listed in Desktop PCs instead (or as well).
    
    
    
    

    Hm, the free prizes contest isn't open to employees of "Digital
    Corporation", is that us :-)
    

What it means is that the page uses Netscape-specific HTML extensions
(such as tables) which Mosaic doesn't know how to format, so it just throws
them away.  Lynx seems to ignore the tags it doesn't like so at least it
shows you text.  If you connect with Lynx it says that there is a "View this
site in text form" link, which works ok there, but Mosaic doesn't see this
(it's buried in a Netscape table).

If you're using Lynx and connectto the text-only page, what happens when
you select the "Welcome, non-graphics users" link at the bottom?  For me,
Lynx says it doesn't know what a .map file is...

				Steve

    Re: .8
    
    Click on Start and then This Way to The Event to get to the
    launch page and way down the bottom of that page is a link to the
    Product Pavilion.
    
    Am I the only person who finds graphic pages with links the Deity-
    knows-where hidden in them annoying as anything...

    I'm getting pretty darn tired of huge ISMAPs as front pages.  Even
    ISMAPs with text alternatives.  "Going with the pack" is hardly an
    excuse...
    
    jmho...
    

    Wow, bigtime NotesCrash!!
    
    :-)
    

    be nice if they had a place to send feedback.
    
    Error:  http://dec2.novalink.com/toolkit/mailto/recieved.htm

    re .11
    
    Ah... I get it.  You have to go to the MICROSOFT page first to get to
    our PC page, instead of having a link from www.digital.com.
    
    Yea, that makes sense.  Thanks for clearing that up.  8^)
    

No - there's a link to it from the InfoCenters directory at www.digital.com.

I just got off the phone with one of the designers of the PC page, describing
the problems I had with it.

				Steve

    Having just watched the Microsoft Win95 launch live featuring Bill
    Gates on my TV at home, When Bill Gates mentioned the many partners 
    involved in Windows 95, Digital Equipment Corp. featured right at the 
    top of the screen.
    						

    I was able to reach http://www.pc.digital.com directly although it was 
    very slow.
    
    Barry 
    

    
    	I hate to complain, in writing, but the new www.pc.digital.com
    homepage has another flaw.  When I use any decent background with
    colors, the bitmap gets robbed and the entire homepage is unreadable.
    In year(s) of crusing I have never seen a color robbery that causes
    total unreadability.  Was this tested for usability?  
    	Another point, it has old prices and no benchmark data.  
    
    Mark

    .16
    
    Ah... InfoCenters?  Not Products and Services ---> Hardware?
    
    What exactly would make our customers look in InfoCenters, other than
    perhaps stumbling across it?
    
    I'm not trying to be a pain here, just offering some constructive
    criticism.  I really think our www site can be an incredible resource
    for our current and prospective customers, but for now, it seems that
    the resources that went into creating the (impressive) PC page are
    being wasted.
    
    -Steve
    

Send comments about the www.pc.digital.com pages to Deb (PCBUOA::) Buckley -
I found her very responsive to my suggestions for improvements.

					Steve

    Great ad in the wall street journal yesterday.
    ken

    re .20 (me) and .21 (Steve Lionel)...
    
    The web server folks have contacted me to let me know that as of 1:00
    yesterday, the PC page had been added to both the Products and Services
    page, and the QuickIndex page.
    
    FANTASTIC!
    
    I guess I spoke too soon, huh?
    
    -Steve
                

Perhaps - but the pages are still invisible to Mosaic.

			Steve