December 11, 2003

REGISTER FOR SPC 2004 BY DECEMBER 31, 2003 AND ENTER THE DRAWING FOR A FREE HANDHELD COMPUTER
Have you registered yet for SPC 2004? If so, you have already been entered into the drawing to win a free pocket PC! We will raffle off one PDA for each SPC location, so make sure to register before December 31. Winners will be announced in the January 6, 2004, Synerg-E-News.

Register today on the SPC 2004 Web site.

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OVER 100 COMPANIES UPGRADE WITH WORKWISE, INC.
Milwaukee, Wis. and Gold River, Calif., Dec. 10, 2003 - Synergy/DE customer WorkWise, Inc., provider of enterprise-wide solutions that enable small and medium sized manufacturers and distributors to maximize profits through improved use of information assets, announced today that over 100 companies have upgraded to the latest release of their Synergy/DE-based TCM™ (Time Critical Manufacturing®) product, version 7.0.1.

To read the entire press release, visit the Synergex Web site.

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SUPPORT TECH TIP: "DELETED RECORD" ERROR ( $ERR_DELREC )

Question:
We recently added the COMPRESS attribute when creating Synergy ISAM files using the ISAMC subroutine. Since then, we have begun to notice a "Deleted record" error (318) in our application when we attempt to reread a record by the RFA. What is causing this?

Answer:
When using RFAs on a compressed file where updates are possible, you should always use the STATIC_RFA option to the ISAMC subroutine as well. If you don't, an update may make the record shift to a new location, which would cause the RFA to point to the former, deleted record. STATIC_RFA will maintain a link to the new location, thus preserving the original RFA.

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PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS…
In observance of the end-of-year holidays, Synergex will be closed starting at noon Pacific Time (PT) on Wednesday, December 24, all day Thursday, December 25, and all day Friday, December 26. Synergex will also be closed the following week starting at noon PT on Wednesday, December 31, all day on Thursday, January 1, and all day Friday, January 2, 2004.

If you anticipate needing our services on the days we are closed, please let us know as soon as possible so we can accommodate you.

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MICROSOFT OFFICE 2003 CERTIFIED WITH SYNERGY/DE 8.1.5
Microsoft released Office 2003 in October with Bill Gates describing it as “a major leap forward for information workers” that offers “innovative new ways to communicate, to find and share
information, and to manage complex projects.” Synergex has certified Microsoft Office 2003 with Synergy/DE xfODBC 8.1.5 and a number of customers have already upgraded to Office 2003.

For more information about Office 2003, see

• Microsoft’s October 21 launch press release
• PC Magazine’s and eWEEK’s Web sites

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PLATFORM NEWS: SYNERGY/DE WILL SUPPORT WINDOWS ON AMD64 NEXT YEAR
Microsoft is currently beta testing native 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows 2003 that support AMD64 technology. Microsoft customers who currently have 32-bit applications will be
able to run them on these 64-bit operating systems. Microsoft expects to release these new systems in the first half of 2004, and Synergex plans to offer Synergy/DE support at the same time. (Note that the Synergy/DE support will enable you to port to and deploy on these new systems. Synergy/DE development will not be supported because certain technologies required by our development tools will not be available on this platform.)

For more information about Microsoft Windows on AMD64, see

• Microsoft’s September press release announcing beta availability
• AMD’s Web page about the AMD64 technology

Also, the AMD64 technology recently won PC Magazine’s 20th annual Awards for Technical Excellence in the components category. For information about this award, see PC Magazine’s
Web site.

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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SYNERGY/DE NOW?
The next time you’re strolling through your local craft store and see life-like flowers and trees, think of Synergy/DE.

Twice a year, Joseph Caldarella, president of Tapscott’s Inc., makes the long voyage from Owensboro, Kentucky, to Hong Kong, where he peruses a number of artificial flower and tree manufacturer warehouses in search of plants to sell wholesale to craft store suppliers back in the United States.

In business for over 50 years, Tapscott’s uses an in-house Synergy/DE-based application on Windows NT to transmit shipping data to UPS and FedEx over the Internet. Each day, the system tracks hundreds of FedEx and UPS shipments that are sent from Owensboro to every state in America, including Alaska, Hawaii, and the self-governing commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Evelyn Johnson, CFO at Tapscott’s exclaims, “Nothing ever goes wrong with our Synergy application—we are thrilled with it!”

Tapscott’s migrated from Dibol to Synergy/DE three and a half years ago. “Our end of month close used to take three days; with Synergy/DE, it now only takes one and a half hours,” states Johnson. Before their migration to Synergy/DE, Tapscott’s used Dibol on an RSTS/E operating system. Their Synergy application uses UI Toolkit and the Windows Print API. It provides users with an intuitive Windows interface and the Windows functionality they require.

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SIGN UP TODAY FOR THESE UPCOMING SYNERGEX EVENTS

• February 26-27, 2004 SPC 2004-- Birmingham, England
  
• March 2-4, 2004 VisualSmart Sponsors DCI Show-- Chicago, Illinois
  
• March 11-12, 2004 SPC 2004-- Cleveland, Ohio
  
• March 15-16, 2004 SPC 2004-- Providence, Rhode Island
  
• March 18-19, 2004 SPC 2004-- New Orleans, Louisiana

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