From: shss@ix.netcom.com Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:15:30 -0400 (EDT) To All Our GS Customers, We've got good news and we've got bad news. Let's start with the good news. SIS IS SHIPPING!!! For those who don't know about this then please accept this as our official announcement. SIS stands for Spectrum Internet Suite and it is a browser for the IIGS. That is, it is a program that will allow you to navigate and view the pages of the Internet. Two browsers for the PC and Macintosh go by the name Navigator and Internet Explorer. Perhaps you've heard of them or used them before. All you need to run SIS is Spectrum 2.1 and a UNIX shell account or a Genie account! Hardware requirements include: A modem (at least 14.4 is highly recommended) with correctly wired hardware handshaking cable; A Genie account or a dial-up "standard Unix command shell account" from your Internet Service Provider (no files are placed on the shell system you are using, so no filespace is needed); An Apple IIGS running System 6.0.1 with 4Mb of RAM; An accelerator and hard disk are highly recommended. If you don't have a Genie account then you probably can find an ISP (Internet Service Provider), a company that connects their local customers to the Internet. All you need to ask the provider is, "Can I get a Unix prompt?" If you can get a Unix prompt then SIS can work. If you mention the GS and SIS then you'll just cause confusion because the IIGS isn't generally supported this way (just another first from Seven Hills). :) By the way, you DON'T need TCP/IP or anything other than Spectrum 2.1 to run SIS. For more information, if you already have the means to go online with another browser, you can find information at the following address: http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/sis/index.htm If you can't go to our website then email us for more information about SIS. Use our autoresponder by simply putting sisinfo@sevenhills.com as the email address and nothing in the subject or body of your message as they will be ignored with this automated system. By the way, we're offering a special bundle price for those who would like to get both Spectrum 2.1 and SIS. Spectrum is normally $85 and SIS is normally $25, but both are available at a special bundle price of just $95, plus $3.50 shipping and handling in North America (outside North America it's exact shipping costs but at least $3.50 per order). We are pleased to announce that anyone with the capability to get on the Internet can access our new website at www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware (and that capability is available to GS users, now that SIS is here!). We would greatly appreciate it if you would please tell every GS owner you know about our website and how they can get on the Internet with SIS. Please be sure to give everyone the complete address, www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware, or they won't find us. Besides lots of GS software, we have a few Mac products and a bargain-bin closeout of Mac and PC software from other companies. Our site is still in its infancy and will undergo many changes as we can get to them. Your suggestions are welcome and we thank you in advance, for those suggestions, since we don't have the resources to reply to everyone that writes. Please note that our new tech support address is support@sevenhills.com. This is an easy way to remember how to contact us for your technical questions. Use this, from any online service you use, whenever you have a technical question about any of our products. Note that any technical questions sent to another email address of ours, or given to us by phone will just be forwarded to the support@sevenhills.com address and that will delay the answer you get. But, please send ANY other correspondence to one of our other addresses (such as shss@ix.netcom.com). The nettally address is no longer functioning. For those of you who are waiting for the next version of SuperConvert, we would like to say that we *think* we're on our last beta copy and the update to that program will be the next new product we ship. If you don't currently own SuperConvert, but would like to purchase it when it's at version 4.0, then please email us and tell us you'd like to be on our "notify-when-available" list for SuperConvert 4. It's safe to say that it is going to be AT LEAST another couple months before the new version is ready. We must not project a more exact ship date at this time because it would be a huge guess and those types of estimates always fall short (our intentions are always better than our resources). We'll email you an announcement when it's ready to ship. In the meantime, you can look forward to the huge increase in conversion filters that will be in SuperConvert 4 (about 400% more than the current 3.01 version). Now, for the bad news. :( In the last month, we have experienced an unprecedented failure of the hardware and software we use for our ordering system. That system gave us over a decade of good service but it was most frustrating to have both hardware/software fail at the same time. Consequently, we know some names and orders have been lost. We're not sure yet which those are and at this point we can't even enter new orders. So, PLEASE be patient with us while we work to get back on our feet. We believe we will be able to fill all orders that were placed before April 25 or so. Give your order a little while to see if it arrives and then email (preferred) or call us if it hasn't. Send email about this to shss@ix.netcom.com. Also, check your credit card statement to make sure you were not charged twice. In the process of trying to get orders out "by hand" we might have unintentionally made this mistake. We will immediately credit your card upon receipt of a mailed photocopy or fax that indicates you have been overcharged. Please accept our apologies if this has happened. If all of this isn't enough we've also had problems reading, and consequently responding, to email that was sent to our old sevenhills address (shss@nettally.com) as we've worked on converting these accounts to a new Internet mail host. We hope this hasn't caused undue concern or frustration. Please delete this old address from your records. If you haven't already heard, we have reduced prices for our GS software. For more information, if you already have the means to go online with SIS or another browser, you can find information at the following address: http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/sis/index.htm If you can't go to our website then email us for more information about our GS products and new prices. Use our autoresponder by simply putting gsinfo@sevenhills.com as the email address and nothing in the or body of your message because they will be ignored. For those of you who placed an order after approximately April 25 please bear with us. We will get your order to you just as soon as we can. Right now, we can't enter, print, or charge new invoices. If you send us a check or money-order, and don't need a sales receipt, then we can ship products to you. Our contact info is: Seven Hills 1254 Ocala Rd. Tallahassee, FL 32304-1548 Fax: 904-575-2015 General email: shss@ix.netcom.com Technical support email: support@sevenhills.com GS catalog email: address to gsinfo@sevenhills.com (autoresponder; subject & body ignored) SIS information email: address to sisinfo@sevenhills.com (autoresponder; subject & body ignored) Thanks for your continued support and interest in the IIGS! Sincerely, Earl Childers & Dave Hecker