Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!shelby!agate!twinkies.berkeley.edu!hjstein
From: hjstein@twinkies.berkeley.edu (Harvey J. Stein)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell
Subject: A Menu for Novell Networks (was Re: GO.BAT and RESTART.BAT)
Summary: I wrote one and it's for sale.
Keywords: menu, novell, small bucks
Message-ID: <1991Feb9.100800.26888@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 91 10:08:00 GMT
References: <91038.13515134HLEFG@CMUVM.BITNET> <1991Feb8.005302.24572@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Sender: Harvey J. Stein (hjstein@math.berkeley.edu)
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
Lines: 69

In article <1991Feb8.005302.24572@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> dab6@po.CWRU.Edu 
(Douglas A. Bell) writes:
> ...
>This all is leading up to a question on my part.  Does anyone know
>of an attractive looking menu system for a novell network that
>
>   1)  Doesn't fill the drive with random little batch files,
>   2)  Doesn't waste 14k of memory like novell does, or 31k like saber,
>   3)  Is easy to operate & maintain
>   4)  And of course, inexpensive.

I don't ordinarily send out product announcements over the network,
but since this is the second time I've seen an inquiry about menu
systems, I figured that it at least isn't unsolicited.

I've written a menu system under the guise of Natural Intelligence Co.
It's been available for a couple of months now, and is running on a
handful of networks in sizes from single user to 16 user (you can see
that marketing isn't my strong point).  Versions are available in
powers of 2 users up to 256.

Point three above shouldn't be a problem, since it was developed under
the supervision of someone who does many network installations, and
thus ease of installation and maintenance were given high priority.
In fact, I spent much more time on the menu editor than on the program
which actually runs the menus.

Although it does make batch files to run things, I wouldn't say that
it fills the disk with batch files, because it keeps *all* batch files
in one directory, and it cleans up after itself.  That is, even if the
user turns off his workstation, the batch files that were in use will
be removed when *any* user reenters the menu program.  So, I would say
that point one above has been addressed.

As for point two above, the program mostly removes itself from memory
before executing menu choices.  It only leaves about 200 bytes around.
Thus, memory usage shouldn't be a problem.

Alot of emphasis was also given to security.  Menu choices can be
given (multiple) passwords, menu files are encrypted, and users and/or
groups can be included or excluded from menu items.  In the latter
case, the items won't even appear on the menu.  Also, the menus and
the temporary batch files are kept in different directories, so that
users need only be granted read access to the menu files.

Additional features include the use of function keys and online help
for menu editing, a built in screen saver, up to 19 items per menu,
and menu nesting to a depth of 10.  Colors can be set globally or by
workstation number.  One powerful feature that was included was
prompting fields for user data.

As for item four above, the current pricing scheme is about twice that
of the cottage menu system.  I don't know if you'll consider that
inexpensive, but when you divide by the hardware costs of a network,
you will get a good approximation of zero.  Furthermore, we will
discount for volume purchases, and if you have a good reason why we're
charging too much, we'll lower the price (since this is just a
preliminary pricing scheme anyway).

I won't quote price here, so as to take at least a small step away
from product announcements, so for a price list, or just more
information, please contact me.

Harvey J. Stein
Natural Intelligence Co.
1327 Santa Fe Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
(415) 528-8433
hjstein@math.berkeley.edu