Microsoft-Intuit Merger runs into Legal Blockade
 On April 27, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit 
challenging the $2 billion U.S. Microsoft deal to buy Intuit, 
Inc. The Justice Department alleges that the merger would 
allow Bill Gates’ company to illegally control the personal 
finance software market in violation of American antitrust 
laws. The department has also charged that this is the first move by Microsoft into the home banking market. Intuit’s program, Quicken, is the number one financial package for the PC enjoying about 70% of the market. Microsoft’s own entry, Microsoft Money, is second with about 22% of the same market. Microsoft’s stock fell immediately after the announcement. At press time, the charges were being appealed.

Adobe Prepress Roundup 

Adobe SuperATM 3.8 Ships

Adobe has announced a new version of its font substitution program, 
SuperATM. Version 3.8 ships with version 3.8.2 of Adobe Type Manager 
and a font database. It runs native on Power Macintoshes and includes 
substitution fonts in the QuickDraw GX format. Also included are the 30 typefaces that come with the retail ATM (plus an additional five bonus typefaces), the Type On Call 4.0 CD, Adobe Font Downloader 5.0.5 and Type Reunion 1.2. Suggested Retail is $99.00 U.S. Those who purchased SuperATM after Feb 1/95 get the update for free. Owners of SuperATM who purchased before Feb 1 can upgrade for $39 (800) 83-FONTS.

Adobe PrePrint Pro 1.0 Ships

Adobe’s PrePrint Pro 1.0 for the Macintosh and Power Macintosh is an integrated PostScript language pre-flight and prepress production tool. Users can preview a file’s font and ink specifications so that inks can be converted and font conflicts can be resolved before the job goes into production. Any imported PostScript file can be checked for errors. A digital densitometer then shows the component inks, ink densities, and ink coverages, allowing users to determine whether their imagesetters and presses are properly configured for the job. PrePrint Pro 1.0 is available immediately in North America for a suggested retail price of $1,495 U.S. European versions will be available in the future.

Adobe Print Central 4.0 Ships

Adobe is now shipping the new Power Macintosh native Print Central version 4.0. The new Power Macintosh native print management software eliminates the bottlenecks that large graphics create. It can manage up to 32 queues on 12 printers. The new software costs $795 U.S. Upgrades from any previous version of Print Central software can be obtained for $195 U.S.  

Adobe Color Central 2.5 Announced

Adobe also introduced Color Central version 2.5 which will improve prepress productivity with improved font management and enhanced AppleScript support. Users will be able to customize Color Central and simplify server administration with the new features.  Color Central 2.5 software is expected in the second quarter of 1995 at a cost of $3,995 U.S. Upgrades from version 2.2 will be free. 

For more info about PrePrint Pro ColorCentral or PrintCentral, contact the Adobe Prepress Group at (800) 685-OPEN.

Adobe Teams with Agfa to Offer Workflow Solution

Adobe and AGFA have announced that they will combine to unite the Adobe OPEN system with Agfa's Mainstream system to automate production workflow environments. The resulting specification is expected to be available in the second quarter. At this time, Adobe and Agfa are the only companies offering solutions for the desktop market.

Adobe Acrobat Roundup 

Netscape to incorporate Acrobat Technologies

Adobe systems and Netscape Communications Crop. have announced 
joint plans to make the Acrobat .PDF format as important to the 
Internet as HTML language. The companies disclosed a four step 
roadmap to accomplish this goal: 1) Netscape Navigator 1.1 will 
support the Acrobat Weblink plug-in to allow Acrobat PDF documents to link to other documents on the Web; 2) A future version of Netscape Navigator will seamlessly view .PDF documents; 3) Netscape Server software will provide faster access to PDF documents on the Internet by downloading 1 page at a time; and, 4) A future version of Adobe PageMaker will provide full HTML capabilities. With the exception of PageMaker, the new technologies are expected sometime this year.

IBM Allies with Adobe on Acrobat

Adobe has teamed with IBM to develop printing and publishing systems based on IBM’s Advanced Function Presentation architecture and the Adobe PostScript and Acrobat technologies. Furthermore, Adobe will make Acrobat available for the OS/2 Warp platform and IBM will pre load Acrobat Reader onto all IBM desktop PC’s this fall. The joint work will integrate PostScript and PDF formats with IBM’s emerging Print-On-Demand technologies.

FrameMaker 5 Advanced Support for Acrobat

Frame Technology’s FrameMaker 5 offers advanced support for Acrobat version 2.0 capabilities. The new FrameMaker will automatically convert formatted documents into Acrobat PDF files complete with navigational elements. The navigational elements will be retained when the FrameMaker documents are regenerated and revised.

Macromedia Graphic Design Studio 
Macromedia is now offering Graphic Design Studio, a complete suite of 
graphic design products available for $995 U.S. Included are Macromedia's 
award-winning FreeHand, MacroModel, Fontographer, PIXAR's RenderMan and 
Fractal Design's Painter. The Graphic Design Studio is currently available on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms in North America and selected international markets for a suggested retail price of $995 U.S.  The Macintosh version includes Macromedia's FreeHand 5.0, MacroModel 1.5, Fontographer 4.1, PIXAR RenderMan 1.3.2 and Fractal Painter 3.0.  For more information on Macromedia products, please call 800-288 4797, 415-252-2000, or fax 415-626-0554. 

Disinfectant 3.6 Released

John Norstad has released version 3.6 of the free anti-virus utility Disinfectant. The new version combats a new clone of the nVirB virus. (Existing versions of SAM, Virex, Rival, and Virus Detective already deal with this clone). The new Disinfectant also allows the adjustment of its memory partition in the Finder and the attachment of custom Finder icons (under System 7). The new utility is available at the usual on-line sites including: ftp://ftp.acns.nmu.edu/pub/disinfectant/disninfectant36.sea.hqx

Claris FileMaker Pro Server 2.1 and Emailer 1.0 

Claris has announced it is shipping FileMaker Pro Server 2.1 for Macintosh 
and Power Macintosh. The new server provides faster database access for 
all Macs and adds Novel IPX support for mixed Macintosh/Windows environments. 
The Server version offers 100% performance improvements over the non-Server version of FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro Server 2.1 is available for a S.G.R. of $1,499 U.S. FileMaker Pro Server 2.0 owners can upgrade for $99 U.S. by calling (800) 54-8554.

Claris also announced that it has acquired the exclusive rights to eMailer, an electronic mail manager that can send and receive mail on the Internet as well as on-line services like CompuServe, AOL, eWorld and RadioMail. Emailer for Macintosh and Power Macintosh is due this summer.

Conflict Catcher 3.0

Cassady & Greene have released version 3.0 of their award winning Conflict Catcher utility. Conflict Catcher is a Startup Manager which can resolve extension conflicts. The new version is Power Macintosh native and System 7.5 savvy. It offers over 30 new features. (The old version, Conflict Catcher II, will still be sold to support System 6 users). Conflict Catcher 3.0 has a suggested retail price of $99.95 U.S. and a demo version good for 30 days is available on many on-line services.

Canada's First All Newton Store Opens in Toronto 

The Newton Store, a retailer focusing solely on Apple’s Newton tech-
nology, has opened in Toronto, Canada. The store, the third of its kind 
in the world, will offer Apple’s Newton MessagePad as well as other 
Newton Operating System notepad computers from such companies as 
Motorola. The Newton Store can be reached at (800) 558-5768, (416) 361-0446, and Internet: newtonstore@eworld.com.

Kodak Roundup

 Kodak and Adobe

Kodak and Adobe will be teaming up expand the use of digital images in the 
Photo CD format: Adobe announced that future versions of PageMaker will 
more fully support the Photo CD format. (The next release of PageMaker will 
also include a full implementation of Kodak Precision Color Management System.) A future version of Photoshop will be able to export Image Pac formatted images (the current version can import them) Additionally, Adobe will include the Kodak YCC TIFF export module in upcoming releases of Photoshop to allow users to write to Photo CD Portfolio II disks using Kodak Build-It Photo CD Portfolio disk production software.

Kodak and IBM

Kodak and IBM announced a wide ranging series of agreements on new imaging solutions: a broad-based alliance to commercialize the distribution and sale of pictures and compound documents over the Internet and the IBM Global Network; a new “hypercompression” technology called Kodak Image Verification System to be used with IBM point of sale system (the system allows a person’s likeness to stored in a 400-bit data packet small enough to fit on a credit card’s magnetic stripe); Kodak will develop advanced phase-change media for future write-once optical drives based on a joint Kodak/IBM standard (the new technology will enable production of a 14 inch optical disk capable of storing 100 GB of data or more); IBM will market the Kodak PCD Writer 225 and 600 and other Kodak optical disk products to expand on their existing licensing of scanner products; and the companies intend to cooperate on radiology image management solutions.

Kodak and Hewlett Packard

Kodak and Hewlett Packard have announced an alliance to jointly develop and market products for emerging digital imaging markets. Kodak will incorporate HP color inkjet small and large format printers as part of complete imaging solutions and HP will work with Kodak on a variety of color inkjet printing initiatives.

Kodak and Microsoft

Microsoft and Kodak have announced they will work together on walk-up imaging kiosks that produce photographs and Photo CD disks. 

Kodak Build-It Photo CD Portfolio Software

Kodak’s Photo CD disk production software already available for 68040 Macs and SUN stations will, in May, become available for Power Macintosh and Windows NT platforms. Suggested list price will be $995 U.S. Those who purchased the 68040 version can upgrade to Power Macintosh versions for free.

Kodak DC 40 Camera

Kodak will offer a new full-featured digital camera priced at under $1000 U.S., called the Digital Camera (DC) 40. The camera will offer a higher resolution sensor than competitive devices (756x504 pixels). As many as 48 images can be taken before downloading to a host computer. Interchangeable lenses are available. The new device should support up to 800 exposures from a single set of lithium batteries. The camera is compatible with Mac and Windows computers.

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