This page of Niakwa's On-Line News Briefs Archives contains Volume 1 issues (1997) of
the On-Line News sent via e-mail to authorized resellers. If you are not receiving
the On-Line News Briefs via e-mail, contact sales@niakwa.com to sign up! Don't miss out on the latest news in the NPL developer community! Click on the issues below, or scroll down to see the News Briefs, starting with the
most recent issue, and going backwards. Use the Previous, Next and Top buttons to
navigate. - On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 11 - Holiday Shipping Schedule
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 10 - Instant Vinny Now Available!, Have You Visited Niakwa's Web Page Lately?
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 9 - Announcing Maintenance Release 4.22.21, NPL/Windows TrueType Font Set Released
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 8 - Day Light Savings Time Ends
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 Special Edition - Happy 13th Birthday NPL!
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 7 - If You're not on the NPL List, You're Missing Out!, Instant Vinny
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 6 - Xenix/Unix Revision 4.22 Now Shipping, NPL Rev 4.22 for AIX now in Beta Test
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 5 - NPL E-Mail List Up and Running, Year 2000 Certification
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 4 - Intel Based Unix Platforms Moving to 1.44MB Media, Niakwa Maps Future Development at NPL Strategic Workshop
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 3 - NPL Strategic Workshop Deadline Approaching, Vinny 2 is Now Shipping
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 2 - Unix Platforms Update, NPL Release III for DOS/Windows to be Discontinued, Niakwa Strategic Workshop Agenda and Goals, Conference Deadline for Amerisuites Room Reservations
- On-Line News Brief, Vol. 1 No. 1 - Niakwa Strategic Workshop, NPL Revision 4.22 Now Shipping
  
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 11 Community News & Information December 18, 1997 In This Issue: *HOLIDAY SHIPPING SCHEDULE It's that time of year most of us look forward to and we all need some time off to
celebrate. During this holiday season Niakwa will operate during our standard business hours from
8AM to 5PM (U.S. Central Time) with the following exceptions: Dates/Times Closed:
*1:00 PM Friday, Dec 19th
*Noon, Wednesday, Dec 24th
*All Day, Thursday, Dec 25th
*All Day, Friday, Dec 26th
*All Day, Thursday, Jan 1st Niakwa will close at 1:00pm on Friday, Dec 19th. All orders received by Thursday,
Dec 18th will ship on Friday, Dec 19th. Orders received after that date will ship on
Monday, Dec 22nd. Niakwa's office will be closed on Thursday, Dec 25th and Friday, Dec 26th. All
orders received by Tuesday, Dec 23rd will ship on Wednesday, Dec 24th. Orders
received after that date will ship on Monday, Dec 29th. Niakwa's office will also be closed on Thursday, Jan 1, 1998. Orders received by
Tuesday, Dec 30th will ship on Wednesday, Dec 31st. Orders received after that date
will ship on Friday, Jan 2nd. We want to let you know our business hours during this holiday season so you can plan
ahead for any shipping or support needs you have. As Always, if you have an urgent
order, every effort will be made to ship the order as you request. All of us at Niakwa would like to wish the very Happiest of Holidays and a very
prosperous New Year!
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 10 Community News & Information November 25, 1997 In This Issue: * INSTANT VINNY NOW AVAILABLE!
* HAVE YOU VISITED NIAKWA'S WEB PAGE LATELY?
* THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY OBSERVED THURSDAY & FRIDAY INSTANT VINNY NOW AVAILABLE! Most of you have heard of, and many are now incorporating, Vinny 2, the Visual NPL
development tool which provides the ability to integrate a Visual Basic
"front-end" into your existing NPL applications in order to achieve the fully
modern Windows look needed to compete in most markets today. Those of you who attended Niakwa's Strategic Workshop this summer also saw an early
demonstration of a new add-on tool to Vinny 2 which allows you to deliver a Vinny-ized
product to market sooner ... appropriately named Instant Vinny! Instant Vinny lets you drop your existing input screens into a Windows container. With
the addition of a few buttons and the ability to add colors, you can effectively reduce
your development time to a matter of minutes and hours (depending on the number of
screens), rather than days or weeks. Instant Vinny provides a quick yet effective way to deal with the 80% of your screens
only viewed occasionally by the end-user. Meanwhile the more in-depth functionality
available in Vinny 2 is likely the best answer for your most often viewed screens to get
the full Windows effect. Whether you use Instant Vinny as the only solution, or as an interim release while you
further Vinny-ize additional input screens, it serves the valuable function of getting an
updated product in a deliverable form sooner, thus allowing you to realize revenue
benefits sooner. This exciting tool is now completed and available on-line to existing Vinny 2 users!
Everything you need to know about Instant Vinny can be found on our web site from the
documentation to the downloadable files. You can experience Instant Vinny's true flavor
through the quick-start tutorial program that can also be downloaded. It contains a
step-by-step project that is easy to follow, allowing you to quickly become comfortable
with the concepts of Instant Vinny. Instant Vinny requires Vinny 2 and NPL Revision 4.22.21 (a no charge update to any Rev
4.2x RunTime available only from our web page.) For more information regarding Instant Vinny watch for the Instant Vinny Marketing
Bulletin and Data Sheet mailing soon!
HAVE YOU VISITED NIAKWA'S WEB PAGE LATELY? "I just wanted to let you know I checked out Niakwa's website to find out the
length to the $OPTIONS string and the answer was there... GOOD JOB!!! VERY Helpful! I wish
I had visited it sooner. I will make more use of it now I'm aware what's there..."
Sue Sutter - Hyde Bucchi Niakwa's Home Page, http://www.niakwa.com is an excellent source of information for
anyone from our everyday resellers to orphaned end-users. It serves as a great point of
reference which is frequently updated with the latest information regarding technical
support issues, new product highlights, a complete listing of Niakwa supported platforms
and much more. FOR 24-HOUR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: Our customers, as well as our end-users can benefit most from the technical support
information provided on the Home Page. A reseller has the autonomy of locating answers to
their questions 24 hours a day, without making a phone call to Niakwa's Technical Support.
Some of the topics discussed include general hints and tips for installations and
upgrades, instructions on downloading SHOWNPL, a complete listing of current revisions, a
complete listing of online tech notes and updated bug reports. TOOLS FOR NPL DEVELOPERS: On the Development side, the Home Page provides developers access to Niakwa's Library
Forum, where they may find third-party libraries to work with and complement their NPL
applications. The use of these libraries can greatly reduce development time of new
programs and yield state-of-the-art functionality to existing programs. FOR THE LATEST SALES & MARKETING NEWS: Niakwa's Home Page is not just for programmers and developers. Sales people can also
benefit from its practicality. It is a vehicle for keeping up-to-date with the most
current sales and marketing information. Newsletters, Marketing Bulletins and Data Sheets
are updated with every new mailing.
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY OBSERVED THURSDAY & FRIDAY In observance of the US Thanksgiving Holiday, Niakwa will be closed Thursday and
Friday, November 27th and 28th. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your many years of
patronage and we hope we have the pleasure of serving you for many more years to come.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 9 Community News & Information October 24, 1997 In This Issue: * ANNOUNCING MAINTENANCE RELEASE 4.22.21
* NPL/WINDOWS TRUETYPE FONT SET RELEASED ANNOUNCING MAINTENANCE RELEASE 4.22.21 Yes, NPL Revision 4.22.21 is now available from a Web Site near you-namely ours. This
is not just your ordinary "bug fix" style maintenance release to tide you over
until a formal update is available. This maintenance release is made available to allow
you to take advantage of the "latest and greatest" NPL developments including: * Instant Vinny - Working in conjunction with Visual NPL 2.0, this is the fastest way
to move your code to a Windows environment. Instant Vinny requires Release 4.22.21
and will be released within a few weeks. * Improved Mixed Network Support - NPL security on Release 4.22.21 has been changed to
accommodate Niakwa Network RunTimes running on a mixed Windows NT and Novell Network
environment. Specifically, eliminating past problems of RunTimes installed on Window NT
servers that detected and failed to pass security due to the presence of a Novell server. * NPL WIN 32 (alpha version) - Yes, NPL WIN32 is well on it's way to becoming a true
32-bit environment (along with the additional 32-bit components of NDM and ODBC.) While we
wrap up our development on 32-bit Vinny, you can begin testing your code with NPL WIN32.
But beware... this is an alpha version and absolutely not intended for installation at an
end-user site. Now you know. In fact, the bottom line is, while we are delighted to be bringing you this software
"preview." Please be aware that each of these products are intended to give you
a heads-up and head-start on your development needs, while we prepare the upcoming NPL 4.3
for Beta test and final release a short time from now. All of these goodies are now available FREE from our Web Site. This is the only way you
can receive these pre-releases. The only exception is Instant Vinny, which will be
automatically shipped to any current Visual NPL 2 licensee and will become part of the
standard product. Please check out our Web Site (http://www.niakwa.com) and enjoy these tools we are
making available to you now!
NPL/WINDOWS TRUETYPE FONT SET RELEASED Frankly, the man-months of effort we spent producing the NPL/Windows TrueType Font set
has yielded mixed results. The purpose of this font is to provide a completely scalable fixed-pitch font for NPL
character-based applications running under Microsoft Windows. Our results have shown that
the quality of the font seems directly related to the monitor/video card in use. On most
systems, running at 1024x768 using large fonts yields a good look and feel. Results are
similar at 800x600. However, using the font on some of our older systems internally seems
to yield a very blocky character set. The only difference seemed to be the age and quality
of the monitor/video card in use. While this TrueType Font doesn't completely meet our high standards for software we
distribute, we chose to release it anyway because there are applications for which it will
be a better display font than our existing NPL/Windows font. We have also chosen to stop
trying to improve the font, at least for now. Why? Two reasons: 1. The tool we used to develop it (Fontographer) has proven to be quite difficult to
use (it shouldn't take an experienced developer more than two months to produce a font.) 2. Our Vinny (Visual NPL) product takes NPL applications away from the text-mode world
into a true-Windows, graphical environment. More and more of our developers are moving
away from text-based systems. In any case, the font as it exists is available at no charge as part of our NPL 4.22.21
controlled release. We will be happy to provide the source files for the font to any developer who wishes
to use Fontographer or another tool to improve its appearance. We ask that anyone who
achieves better results than we did, to please give us a copy so that we can make it
available to all NPL developers. In the meantime, we are still searching for a better already-developed, fixed-pitch
TrueType font, and would welcome hearing from anyone who knows of one.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No.8 Community News & Information October 21, 1997 *DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS On Sunday October 26th, Day Light Savings Time will end. (It brings a tear to our
eyes.) However, it also brings to mind a situation that occurred last year about this time
with earlier Release IV versions of NPL, specifically 4.20 and 4.21. This problem only affects customers who are using Windows NT installed on a NTFS
partition. Under these circumstances, NPL may experience security related difficulties due
to the time change. This is a known problem with 4.21 and earlier revisions, but has been
completely corrected in Revision 4.22. If you should encounter a problem, the solution is
simple. - logon to the NT Server as 'Administrator'
- open the 'Control Panel'
- click on the 'Date/Time' icon
- change the date back a week or more prior to the time change
- recall the NPL security to the Gold Key
- go back into the 'Date/Time' icon to reset the date back to the correct settings
- re-install the NPL security back on the NT Server These simple steps are documented in Tech Note #88 which can be found in the Technical
Support section of our Web Site, http://www.niakwa.com. The NPL RunTime version 4.22
corrects this security problem. Of course, the best solution is to upgrade your customers to NPL 4.22 now to avoid any
possible problems.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 Special Edition Community News & Information October 15, 1997 *HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY NPL! A moment of NPL history.... On October 10th, 1984, we held our first customer seminar, at the Wang Office in
Rolling Meadows IL, to unveil the miracle of our new conversion product which converted
Wang 2200 mini-computer code to run on a Wang PC, and 10 times faster! (Wow!)
This first NPL product, originally named Basic-2C, was seen by about 50 attendees.
Most of them are still our customers today. Basic-2C/NPL changed the future direction of hundreds of small to mid-sized software
development companies by allowing them to start selling and enhancing their software on
the latest and greatest technologies, thus preserving years of time invested in writing
and developing strong business applications. Our dual missions were Portability and
Compatibility - we accomplished both. This change paved the road for Niakwa to become a Language company serving hundreds of
successful resellers, many of whom have also become close friends. We would like to thank you, our partners, for a wonderful 13 years, and here's to our
mutual continued success!
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 7 Community News & Information October 6 , 1997 In This Issue: * IF YOU'RE NOT ON THE NPL LIST, YOU'RE MISSING OUT!
* INSTANT VINNY IF YOU'RE NOT ON THE NPL LIST, YOU'RE MISSING OUT! - by Alan Green The NPL List, an online "list server" that broadcasts messages to the NPL
community, is a roaring success. It not only fulfilled the original goal of continuing the
dialogues started at our Strategic Workshop in June, but also sparked new threads of
discussion. Which brings me to my point: If you develop applications in NPL, and you're not a
subscriber to the NPL List, you should be. Why? Here's just one example: a current thread
is debating whether to keep printed NPL documentation for developers or replace it with
online Windows Help/HTML documentation. So far, a couple of dozen respondents have replied
in favor of the online version, and no one has spoken out against it. We at Niakwa think
it's a good idea too... But we sure would like to know what you think. We as a community are discussing, debating and DECIDING issues of mutual importance on
the NPL List. The "time-to-decision" on some of these issues has been reduced
from years to days, because we're able to quickly assemble a quorum on the List and
"vote" on a topic. We need you there too. Here's how it works. The NPL List is a many-to-many "push" communication
channel conducted via e-mail. Subscribers to the list receive a copy of every message sent
to the list (including ones that they originate themselves). A "Subscriber"
means "member" (there's no fee to participate in the list.) To subscribe, just send a message to LIST-MAN@niakwa.com saying that you'd like to
subscribe to the NPL List, and we'll plug you into the list the same day. The List Manager
will send you a packet of messages, including instructions on how to participate, plus
recent postings on various threads. Don't be left out!
INSTANT VINNY FIRST there was "VISUAL NPL (Vinny)" - the GUI tool that links Microsoft's
Visual Basic (VB) input forms (screens) to existing NPL applications to give them that
state-of-the-art look that's necessary to compete in today's marketplace. THEN there was "VINNY 2", the "new and improved" Visual NPL with
updated documentation and examples, available since April 1997. NOW there is "INSTANT VISUAL NPL (Instant Vinny)." What makes Vinny instant?
INSTANT VINNY consists of a selection of VB form "templates" which can be used
to quickly add a Windows frame and buttons to your character based NPL applications. It's
not necessarily a replacement for VINNY 2, but rather provides a headstart for quickly
achieving a Windows style look on all your screens, while you work to achieve the full
Windows effect using VINNY 2 for your most actively used screens. Both INSTANT VINNY and VINNY 2 development products work together in perfect harmony to
give a character based NPL application the same modern style "look and feel" of
a Windows based program. Best of all, they work with your existing NPL programs. INSTANT VINNY is EASY, it's FAST, it's EFFECTIVE. And it's FREE to all VINNY 2
licensees. INSTANT VINNY will be available later this month in an NPL Maintenance Release
which will be packed with lots of other goodies. Watch your email for more news next week.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 6 Community News & Information August 20, 1997 In This Issue: * NO UPS - NO PROBLEM!
* XENIX/UNIX REVISION 4.22 NOW SHIPPING
* NPL REVISION 4.22 FOR AIX NOW IN BETA TEST NO UPS - NO PROBLEM! Rumor has it that the UPS Strike has about come to an end. Although the national strike
may be over, we still anticipate a delay in the service due to a backlog of deliveries.
We've also heard reports that the UPS Chicago Union has not yet signed. This strike has
caused shipping problems for companies coast to coast. We might have been one of them,
EXCEPT... Our Super Shippers are making every effort and doing whatever it takes to see
that packages are shipped on a timely basis, thus maintaining our outstanding level of
service. We will continue to ship UPS Red(Overnight) and Blue(Two Day) as well as Federal
Express. Because both carriers have limited our quantities we are shipping on a first
come, first served basis. When placing an order, please keep in mind that although
customers are receiving their packages, they may be a day or two later than usual. If you
plan ahead and order in advance you'll have no problem! (This does not affect any of our
International Shipments which are sent by TNT Skypak.) We appreciate your continued patience and understanding during this situation. Let's
hope the end is near!
XENIX/UNIX RELEASE 4.22 NOW SHIPPING Niakwa is pleased to announce Revision 4.22 for Intel Based UNIX/SCO Xenix operating
environments has been shipping since late July. This release of Revision 4.22 presents
many new and exciting features! Field Level Resets are now available for the first time on
UNIX platforms for RunTimes which have lost security, potentially eliminating the need for
most replacements. In addition, the new Universal Upgrade is now available for UNIX
platforms, allowing you to upgrade customers without the need to return the old RunTime. Features of all New & Upgrade Versions of Revision 4.22: NEW! CUT, COPY, PASTE, & UNDO editor enhancements
NEW! Field Level Reset Capability
NEW! Universal Upgrades
NEW! User Level Upgrades in the field (LIMITS program)
NEW! Mouse support via SCO's "usemouse" keys
NEW! Improved /EXIT and /MAIN procedures
NEW! Improved remote terminal performance
NEW! SHOWNPL program for UNIX/Xenix For more information refer to Marketing Bulletin No. 81, "NPL REVISION 4.22 FOR
INTEL UNIX/SCO XENIX."
NPL REVISION 4.22 FOR AIX NOW IN BETA TEST Niakwa is pleased to announce the current Beta test availability of NPL Release IV for
AIX based operating systems running on an IBM RS/6000. This long anticipated release
incorporates all popular Release IV structured programming features such as: * Modular Development
* New Function/Procedure Interface
* Long Variable Name
* New Structured Constructs
* Support of variables 64K In addition to these standard Release IV features, the following new features recently
introduced in the INTEL UNIX/SCO Xenix Release are also available in this AIX Release: * "No-Return Upgrades"
* Improved security
* CUT, COPY, PASTE & UNDO editor enhancements
* Field Level Reset Capability
* Universal Upgrades
* User Level Upgrades in the field (LIMITS program)
* SHOWNPL program If you are interested in taking part in the Beta Test please respond to Kurt Skaronea,
kas@niakwa.com.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 5 Community News & Information July 3, 1997 In This Issue: * NPL E-MAIL LIST UP AND RUNNING!
* YEAR 2000 CERTIFICATION
* NIAKWA OFFICES CLOSED ON 4TH OF JULY NPL E-MAIL LIST UP AND RUNNING! If you attended our recent NPL Strategic Workshop, you're well aware of the fast-paced
agenda. Even so, we all felt we had more to say on most topics than time would allow. That's why the most popular decision made by participants during the conference was for
Niakwa to immediately establish an e-mail "ListServ" list, so the animated
conversations could continue. We are pleased to announce the new NPL List is up and running! Here's how it works. The NPL List is a many-to-many "push" communication
channel conducted via e-mail. Subscribers to the list receive a copy of every message sent
to the list (including ones that they themselves originate). "Subscriber" by the
way means "member" (there's no fee to participate in the list.) Of course, "many-to-many" could be a formula for chaos. Indeed, many lists
become chaotic. Here are two forces which will keep things from degenerating: First, Niakwa's role. The NPL List is a democracy. Any member may respond to any
message at any time. Niakwa's role is to host the list, which means that we will actively
participate in discussions on list topics and will be alert to "unseemly" list
behavior (asking offenders to take their discussions off-line.) Second,Organization. In general, conversations will become self-organizing as
"threads" on given topics develop. Usually discussions on items of interest wax
and wane until the subjects have been exhausted. Because the NPL List is dedicated to the
general area of NPL, threads will quickly emerge along fairly predictable technical lines. So who's listening when you post a message to the NPL List? Between 30 and 40
individuals have subscribed during the ramp-up phase as we've established and tested the
list. With this announcement, we expect the subscriber list to quickly jump into the
hundreds. This means that your ideas, and your responses to the ideas of others, will
rapidly be heard by a vast audience of your peers. We've always been aware of how rich our
community is in candlepower and experience. With this new way of cross-communicating with
each other, inevitably our language will be the beneficiary of all of that wisdom and
ability. To subscribe, just send a message to LIST-MAN@niakwa.com saying that you'd like to
subscribe to the NPL List, and we'll plug you into the list the same day. The List Manager
will send you a packet of messages, including instructions on how to participate, plus
recent postings on various threads.
YEAR 2000 CERTIFICATION The Niakwa Programming Language (NPL) will not encounter problems related to the
impending millennium change. However, applications developed using NPL will need to be
adjusted accordingly to assure proper millennium compliance (if this has not been already
done.) In September of 1993 Niakwa introduced Release IV of the Niakwa Programming Language.
Among the many new features in this release was the inclusion of a system library that
allowed programmers to assure that the century portion of a date rolls over to 20, based
upon an era cutoff value (i.e.; if era is < 30 then century = 20). This solution is a
simple tool for developers to implement into new or existing routines, and is written
completely in NPL. Although no extensions to the compiler have been made with regard to
special century handling, a long date statement will be implemented in the future that
will report both the era and century portions of the year. In addition, developers should also be aware of potential problems related to older
hardware which may have BIOS problems with the new millennium. For more information
regarding the numerous issues surrounding the millennium problem, developers should visit
the Year 2000 website on the world wide web at http//:www.year2000.com.
NIAKWA OFFICES CLOSED ON THE 4TH OF JULY In honor of Independence Day, Niakwa's offices will be closed on Friday, July 4th. The
last day for shipping orders this week is Thursday, July 3rd. The standard shipping
schedule will resume on Monday, July 7th. We would like to wish you a happy and safe 4th of July Holiday Weekend!
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 4 Community News & Information June 23, 1997 In This Issue: * INTEL BASED UNIX PLATFORMS MOVING TO 1.44MB MEDIA
* NIAKWA MAPS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AT NPL STRATEGIC WORKSHOP INTEL BASED UNIX PLATFORMS MOVING TO 1.44MB MEDIA We are fast approaching the final release of NPL Revision 4.22 for Intel Unix based and
SCO-Xenix platforms. In the past all products for these platforms have been distributed on
low density 720K media. Due to industry trends, we intend to switch our production to high
density 1.44MB media, which will be consistent with all Revision 4.22 platform media. If
you foresee any problems that might result with your installed base, please respond to
Kurt Skaronea at kas@niakwa.com no later than Wednesday, June 25th. We will be sending our
final production "masters" off for duplication on that date.
NIAKWA MAPS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AT NPL STRATEGIC WORKSHOP Thanks to all who attended our Strategic Workshop and training sessions, especially
those who traveled here from Europe and the Pacific Rim. Organized by language component (logic engine, user interface, data manager and future
of NPL), the conference was a mix of reports by Niakwa on current and future projects
interspersed with presentations by attendees on the common topic "My Vision for
NPL". The My Vision presenters included some of the community's leading lights, and
focused their talks on how they would like to see the future of NPL shaped. Specific product highlights included 32-bit NPL (in alpha testing), Instant Vinny (a
soon-to-be released way to quickly give legacy applications a Windows look and feel),
GenFive (Sam Matzen's object-oriented application generator), and the NPL Workbench (our
new full screen editor, now in pre-alpha testing.) Another conference highlight was the set of round-table discussions, in which all
attendees participated. About a fourth of the conference agenda was given over to these
free-wheeling sessions, in which topics ranged from questions and answers on specific
technical issues to suggestions on how Niakwa should grow NPL in response to a given
market need. The unanimous opinion of attending developers and Niakwa technical staff was that the
conference was a resounding success. In fact one of the recurring themes was the need to
continue the community/Niakwa dialogue after the conference ended, which resulted in
Niakwa's promise to quickly inaugurate a "ListServ" e-mail discussion facility
(watch your e-mail for an announcement soon.) For those who missed this important event, but would like to share in the excitement,
we are preparing a special workshop re-cap package. This package will contain summaries of
the key presentations and topics discussed and will be on its way to you soon. In
addition, we are developing a suite of new marketing materials covering the many new
products discussed at the conference. Finally, we are considering offering a second training session for those people who
missed this one. If you are interested in future Release IV and/or Vinny 2 training, or
other training offerings, please respond to les@niakwa.com.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 3 Community News & Information May 28, 1997 In This Issue: * NPL STRATEGIC WORKSHOP DEADLINE APPROACHING
* VINNY 2 IS NOW SHIPPING NPL STRATEGIC WORKSHOP DEADLINE APPROACHING This is just a quick reminder that the NPL Strategic Workshop is drawing near. Now is
the time to cash in on the 14 day advance purchase for your airline tickets. Although AmeriSuites has released any open rooms to the general public, the special
conference room rate of $84.00 per night is still available. Be sure to mention the Niakwa
Conference when making your reservation. Book as soon as possible to ensure availability. Hope to see you there!
VINNY 2 IS NOW SHIPPING Visual NPL (Vinny) 2.0 delivers the tools needed to give your software an up-to-date
look, competitive to today's standards. With Visual NPL incorporated into your design,
your software will take on an entirely new personality! Without rewriting your core logic,
you will have an application that runs with a Visual Basic "front-end"
seamlessly incorporated into your programs. Vinny's simple, efficient functions let you
"control the controls" with unparalleled ease. Vinny 2.0 continues to significantly expand the mission of our original Vinny: to link
to world-class GUI builder in Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) to world-class applications
written in NPL. For a more detailed look into the new and exciting features of Vinny 2, refer to
Marketing Bulletin No.78, "See Your Software in a Whole New Light!" Niakwa is offering Vinny 2 Training during NPL's Strategic Workshop June 10th-12th.
This is a great opportunity to gain valuable insights into programming in Vinny 2 from the
man who knows it best, Shawn Baker. In addition you will learn the basics of Visual Basic
forms design for creating a true Windows interface to increase the face-value of your
software! Most importantly you will create live Visual NPL examples you can take back to
the development shop with you! We are still taking reservations for the training so call to reserve your spot, today!
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 2 Community News & Information May 22, 1997 In This Issue: * UNIX PLATFORMS UPDATE
* NPL RELEASE III FOR DOS/WINDOWS & INTEL UNIX TO BE DISCONTINUED
* NIAKWA STRATEGIC WORKSHOP AGENDA AND GOALS
* CONFERENCE DEADLINE FOR AMERISUITES ROOM RESERVATIONS UNIX PLATFORMS UPDATE: Intel Unix/ SCO Xenix - Revision 4.22 for the Intel Unix/ Xenix family The beta test period is now concluded and we are in the final stages of testing and
documentation. With this release Field Level Resets and Universal Upgrades become
available for the first time on the Unix platform! Final release is expected in early
summer. More details will follow in a Marketing Bulletin scheduled for mailing near the
end of May. AIX/RS6000 - Revision 4.22 is currently in alpha testing. This will be the first Release IV version for this IBM RS/6000 platform! We are
currently looking for qualified beta testers. If you are interested, please contact either
Cyndee Philyaw or any member of our technical staff.
NPL RELEASE III FOR DOS/WINDOWS AND INTEL UNIX TO BE DISCONTINUED This is a reminder that effective July 1, 1997, all new sales, upgrades, and
replacements for DOS/Windows and Intel Unix/SCO Xenix platforms will be at the most
current revision of Release IV. Niakwa will no longer provide Release III for DOS/Windows
and Intel Unix platforms. For the past four years, Niakwa has supported two versions on all of these platforms,
which is a considerable amount of time in the software business. Since the majority of NPL
sales are Release IV and have been for some time, it is appropriate to finally discontinue
additional sales of the Release III version. This notification was originally announced
last December in Marketing Bulletin No. 78. We will continue to support Release III on technical support calls for at least two
years from the last date of sale, including providing resets for those RunTimes which have
the capability. However, if replacements of Release III are required for any reason, they
will require an upgrade purchase to Release IV. Note: Release IV is upward compatible with Release III programs, so in the majority of
cases your applications will run without any changes. However, we strongly advise you to
test your software with this version if you have not yet done so. In addition, a 2-day Release IV training course is available in the Chicago area June
9th and 10th to help you become familiar with the significant programming productivity
improvements which Release IV makes possible. Class size is limited, so don't delay in
reserving your seat!
NIAKWA STRATEGIC WORKSHOP AGENDA AND GOALS A detailed listing of our full strategic workshop agenda and goals is now in the mail
to all Resellers. Once you look this over you will see why we have been telling you this
is Niakwa's most important event to date. See how our development path will help you reach
your development and sales objectives. We hope you will find a way to attend and join with us and many Resellers from the US
and worldwide in planning tomorrow's NPL!
MAY 25TH DEADLINE FOR AMERISUITES ROOM RESERVATIONS This is a reminder that the deadline for reserving your room at the Amerisuites for the
Strategic Workshop is Sunday May 25th, which is just around the corner. We have a few
rooms available for the special conference rate of $84.00 per night (single or double
occupancy.) Be sure to mention the Niakwa Conference when making your reservation.
The toll free number is 800-833-1516 or 847-918-1400.
NIAKWA'S ON-LINE NEWS BRIEFVolume 1 No. 1 Community News & Information May 1, 1997 Welcome to the premier issue of Niakwa's On-line News Brief. This service will provide
up-to-date information on a more timely basis. Future issues will contain a variety
of useful information such as sales stories, tech support issues, updates on new products,
current events and much more! Periodically we will gather these articles together in our
published newsletter, "Today's Niakwa News." For additional on-line information,
see Niakwa's Home Page on the World Wide Web: http://www.niakwa.com.
In This Issue: * NIAKWA STRATEGIC WORKSHOP - Registration Has Been Mailed
* NPL REVISION 4.22 NOW SHIPPING NIAKWA STRATEGIC WORKSHOP
Plan Tomorrow's NPL This event will be our most important conference ever! We will discuss issues of
importance to all NPL Developers related to the areas of logic engine, user interface and
data manager. Plan to roll up your sleeves for two days of strategic development planning.
In addition, we are providing two training sessions so you can better familiarize yourself
and your associates with the strength of Release IV coding techniques as well as attend a
hands-on training session to learn how to use the Visual NPL (Vinny) Rel IV GUI. * NPL Release IV Training June 9-10
* Vinny 2 Training June 10-12
* Strategic Workshop June 12-14 Registration packets were mailed the week of April 14th. To register, simply complete
the registration packet and fax back to Niakwa. If you have any questions regarding the Conference, please feel free to contact either
Cyndee or Leona at Niakwa. We hope to see you there!
NPL REVISION 4.22 NOW SHIPPING! Good News! NPL Revision 4.22 is now shipping for MS-DOS, MS-Windows 3.x, Windows 95,
Windows NT, Novell, supported NetBIOS platforms and Phar Lap 386/DOS-Extender versions.
This release replaces all prior versions of Release IV on these platforms. For new RunTimes, we have improved the A:/SETUP procedures as well as added several new
editor functions. For upgrade orders, we are introducing the new Universal Upgrade Package which
eliminates the need to return the old RunTime! We have completely revamped the upgrade
procedure to make it as simple as possible. In most cases the upgrade can be completed
without even opening the RunTime booklet. It can even accommodate media exchanges (upgrade
from 5-1/4" diskettes to 3-1/2 diskettes, as long as both drives are available on the
system being upgraded.) All you need to do is get the SHOWNPL information from your
customer site. For more detailed information on Revision 4.22 and SHOWNPL, see recently
mailed Marketing Bulletin 80-ALL, or Niakwa's home page on the web.(http://www.niakwa.com) We have had positive feedback from developers regarding SHOWNPL. It is very easy to use
and can be downloaded in a matter of minutes. It will save time as well as ensure that
your customer receives the information needed to operate efficiently, so give it a try! | 
