<T>Just as 1988 was the year of PostScript, look for 1989 to be the year of color printing. In the works is a non-PostScript 300dpi color inkjet printer, from a major manufacturer, that will have a street price of $2000! Expect to see a 400dpi color injet printer from yet another major manufacturer, and expect it to sell for around $4000. Couple the 300dpi color printer with the color edition of Freedom of Press (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) and you will have a color PostScript printer for less than $2500. Expect these printers to be announced in the first half of 1989, and expect it to have profound effects.

<T>RIPS, a company in Boulder, Colorado, has what has got to be the HOTTEST PostScript board for the HP LaserJet II. This screamer blasts out pages from 10 to 30 (or more !) times faster than anything else on the market! Look for an enhancement module from them that will allow currently available 400dpi laser printers to print at even higher resolutions, bettering the Varityper 600 in speed, cost and resolution. With a RIPS board, the HP LaserJet II becomes THE PostScript printer of choice for less (including both the RIPS board and the HP LaserJet II) than the cost of a basic Apple LaserWriter II NTX printer. Keep an eye on this innovative company, they have lots of interesting things in the works.

<T>Expect to see LOTS of intriguing drawing and illustration programs this year, many of which will make extensive use of the capabilities of PostScript. The one most awaited, Adobe Illustrator for the PC, is a real DOG in the beta version. It won't support anything but a PostScript printer at 300dpi; Everything else, including all Windows supported printers, will only print at 75dpi. A prime example of how NOT to do it. Let's hope the final release version offers substantial improvement over the beta version. Ditto for CorelDRAW!

<T>Speaking of graphics programs, how about including simple fitting text to a curve on a few of them? I can't believe such a much wanted yet simple feature is either not available or so awkwardly implemented that it might as well not be available at all. There will be lots of programs this year that provide automatic tracing of scanned images or drawings, but personally I would find fitting text to a curve at least as useful. Anyone out there listening?

<T>My crystal ball tells me to expect to see a continued lack of enthusiasm for both OS/2 and the IBM PS/2's, with more and more people investigating alternatives such as DesqView, Windows 386 and (gulp!) Unix. Other than a few of the "true blue" fortune 500 companies, few people are likely to be interested in spending large amounts of money on both equipment and software that don't provide any clear advantage over present DOS-based applications, or any other applications that we are likely to see for some time to come. What I hear most of all is that people would like to be able to run multiple DOS applications, something that is currently possible with products such as DesqView. Complain about it though you and I may, DOS is likely to be the operating system of choice for some time to come.

<T>Few seem to have noticed that GEM Artline does some very interesting things with font outlines. When installing fonts for Artline, it is recommended that the option for PostScript font outlines be used. Artline then uses these PostScript outlines and an intermediate font information file for both the screen display AND for any of the supported (PostScript or non-PostScript) output. Very innovative and, I expect, something that will appear in more and more programs. Perhaps we won't have to wait for Steve Job's NeXT computer to get display PostScript after all.

<T>Worth investigating are the hard disk controllers produced by Perstor in Scottsdale, Arizona. Using their ARLL technology, they are able to squeeze out an extra 90-100% on a wide variety of hard disks, for a cost of around $250.00, a bargain. These controllers have proven themselves on many of the massive BBS's around the country, and are now available. I've been using one for a few months, and it has performed very well, giving me an extra 95% capacity on my existing hard disks. With many new applications (particularly those involving Desktop Publishing or Graphics), program sizes can easily start at one megabyte and climb rapidly from there, devouring disk space at an alarming rate.

<T>More later...