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Simtel MSDOS 1992 September
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ventura
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SEYBOLD1.TXT
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1988-10-17
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@CENTER UNDER = OVERVIEW
@ARTICLE NO-IN = nce again it's time to report on the most prestigious
trade show in the desktop publishing world, the annual Seybold show. Last
year's show featured new products that proved to be either hot (desktop
presentations and color graphics on the Mac) or not so hot (low end
desktop publishing packages and PostScript clones).
@ARTICLE TEXT = This year's show really showed how much the market
has matured. Packages like Pagemaker and Ventura Publisher continue
to dominate the desktop publishing marketplace. As a result, most
vendors are focusing on products related to desktop publishing such
as graphics and drawing software, fonts, clip art, full screen monitors
and more powerful optical scanning capabilities.
@ARTICLE TEXT = Also of note this year was the number of vendors who
were demonstrating and/or discussing Macintosh software programs that
will soon be available on the PC under Microsoft Windows. I was interested
to see that most vendors are moving forward with plans to market Windows
products now rather than wait for the graphic version of the upcoming
OS/2 operating system for the PC.
@ARTICLE TEXT = As with last year's report, I'll only hit the show
highlights. The show has grown so fast that the conference sessions
sold out well in advance and the Seybold folks have had to move it
to a bigger site (the 1989 edition will be held in San Francisco's
spacious Moscone Center.) And now, onto the show....
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@CENTER UNDER = DESKTOP DRAWING, GRAPHICS & PUBLISHING SOFTWARE<N>
@ARTICLE TEXT = <BI>
@COMPANIES = <BI>ADOBE SYSTEMS: <D><N>
@ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe continues to expand its reach beyond licensing
Postscript printers and fonts this year with two new products: ADOBE
ILLUSTRATOR FOR WINDOWS and DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT.
@ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe Illustrator on the Mac was a real trail blazing
product during the past year. It provided powerful drawing capabilities
coupled with the Postscript language at an affordable $695 price. As
a result, the program has experienced heavy usage throughout the desktop
publishing world.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR FOR WINDOWS<D> is a PC version
of the powerful Illustrator program. It requires an 80286 or 80386
based PC compatible with 1 Mb (minimum) to 2 - 3 Mb (recommended)
of memory and a monitor capable of Hercules, EGA or VGA graphics.
@ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe provided a convincing demonstration of the product
that showed the power of Illustrator for Windows with features such
as sketching, tracing to ``clean up'' scanned images, shape tools,
pen tools, scaling and rotation, reflection effects and color support. The
program will output to any printer that has a Windows driver and will
come with a videotape tutorial, runtime copy of Windows and CAD conversion
utility. Current plans call for the product to ship in January.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT<D> is the video equivalent of
the Postscript printer language. It has gained fame as the graphical
interface system for the upcoming NeXt work-station designed by Steve
Jobs. Prototype versions of Display Postscript were shown at the
show running on a Mac II with a SuperMac 19" color monitor and an
IBM PS/2 Model 80 with a 8513 monitor. In both cases, Display Postscript
produced very crisp and clear images of graphics and fonts.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>ALDUS: <D><N>
@ARTICLE TEXT = Once again Aldus was one of the key vendors at the
show. <B>PAGEMAKER 3.0<D> for the Mac and PC was released earlier
this year and has solidified Aldus' position as the top selling desktop
publishing program in the Apple world and the number 2 program in
the PC world. (New features in 3.0 include autoflow, text wrap, spot
color, style sheets and Bitstream outline fonts for Laser Jet printer
users).
@ARTICLE TEXT = The two highlights at the Aldus booth were the unveiling
of Free Hand 2.0 and Aldus Persuasion.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>FREE HAND 2.0<D> is a powerful drawing program
that will go head to head with Adobe Illustrator. In addition to
tracing, drawing and sketching tools it also supports Pantone colors
and layered design. Like the Mac version of Adobe Illustrator, Free
Hand 2.0 requires output to a Postscript device and is priced at $695. The
program ships later this year for the Mac and a PC version is under
development.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B> ALDUS PERSUASION<D> is a new desktop presentation
program that promises to give programs like Cricket Presents a run
for the money. Persuasion has many features including an outline
view to organize slides, templates for quick slide production, integral
spell check and text editing, drawing tools, slide show option and
output to printers and film recorders.
@ARTICLE TEXT = One feature that may separate this product from the
others is the ability to bring up elements of a slide one at a time. With
this option, the presenter doesn't have to cover up parts of an overhead
while speaking! The program will sell for $495 and will be available
in the fourth quarter for the Mac. As with Free Hand, a PC version
is under development.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>CRICKET SOFTWARE:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = Last year Cricket used the Seybold show to unveil
its desktop presentation program called Cricket Presents. <B>CRICKET
PRESENTS 2.0<D> adds key features such as a spell checker and thesaurus,
auto kerning, import option for Excel SYLK files, outlining and color
blending. Auto kerning allows letters to be kerned with a single
menu pick. Color blending lets you ``mix'' your own colors and also
provides full control over the degree and location of textured color
backgrounds. The outline feature both orders slides and creates bulleted
text charts. The program sells for $495 and can run on a Mac Plus
or Mac SE but a Mac II is required to see color output on-screen. A
Windows version for PC users to be marketed by Xerox will be announced
shortly with a ship date sometime late this year or in the first quarter
of 1989.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>DIGITAL RESEARCH:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>GEM ARTLINE<D> is a new graphics drawing program
from Digital Research. Running under the GEM graphic interface, the
program is billed as an easy to use yet powerful drawing tool for
users of Ventura Publisher and other PC based desktop publishing programs. Features
include drawing tools, clip art images, tracing for scanned images
and output to a variety of printers.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>MICROGRAFX:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = Micrografx bills its products as ``the cure for Mac
envy''. They are the premiere vendor these days when it comes to
graphics and drawing programs for the Microsoft Windows and PC platform.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>MICROGRAFX DESIGNER 1.3<D> is a $695 program that
is the most powerful drawing program now available for users of the
PC. It offers most of the features of Adobe Illustrator and Aldus
Free Hand (drawing tools, tracing, fills, etc.) and in some areas
even surpasses them (as evidenced in a recent Info World review).
@ARTICLE TEXT = New features in this version include enhanced memory
support which will speed operations involving multitasking and other
Windows operations.
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>GRAPH PLUS<D> is a $495 program that was formerly
known as Windows Graph. The program has been significantly upgraded
from it's original form and now includes a wide variety of features
that allow the user to create, edit and customize graphs. Also of
note is the ability to ``hot link'' graphs to Microsoft Excel, advanced
3D imaging features, a variety of drawing tools, color gradient option
and high quality output from any Windows output device. With these
improvements, Graph Plus is easily one of the top graphics programs
available today.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>NBI:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = NBI has been a manufacturer of dedicated word processing
equipment for some time. Last year they began work on <B>LEGEND<D>,
a $695 Windows based program that includes word processing and desktop
publishing features.
@ARTICLE TEXT = NBI feels that the program offers the best of both
software types and eliminates the need for separate word processing
and desktop publishing programs. Show demonstrations illustrated
key features of the program including the ability to quickly prepare
and customize tables, an auto-redraw feature to resize graphics for
a designated frame, a ``hot link'' to Lotus 1-2-3, ability to color
any or all of a document, some basic line drawing tools and the ability
to do minor outlining and organization charts.
@ARTICLE TEXT = Legend is an interesting program with an unusual combination
of features. Only time will tell if it will be able to find a niche
in the crowded word processing and desktop publishing markets!
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@ARTICLE TEXT = Also present at the show were two Ventura Publisher
newsletters: <B>VENTURA PROFESSIONAL!<D> ($36/year from the Ventura
Publisher Users Group, 7502 Aaron Place, San Jose, CA 95139 408-227-5030)
and <B>VENTURA LETTER<D> ($29/year from Ventura Users of North America,
1 Heath St. West, Suite 3, Toronto, Ontario, M4V 1T2 Canada (416)
482-3710). If you're a heavy Ventura user one or both of these newsletters
will be of interest!
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@CENTER UNDER = OTHER SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>BITSTREAM:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = Bitstream is the maker of the fonts found in the HP
Laser Jet and most of the other popular low-end laser printers as
well as the outline fonts that are sold with top PC programs such
as Pagemaker 3.0 for the PC, Word Perfect 5.0 and Microsoft Word.
@ARTICLE TEXT = This year they introduced <B>MacFONTWARE<D> and <B>BITSTREAM
SOFT FONTS FOR THE MAC<D>. As the names imply, these products provide
screen and outline soft fonts for Mac owners that use LaserWriter
II SC and Image Writer I and II Quick Draw printers. The fonts sell
for $195 each and have the same typefaces and widths found on a LaserWriter
Plus.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>DIGITAL COMPOSITION SYSTEMS: <D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>db PUBLISHER<D> is an interesting product that
is sort of a cross between a report writing program and a desktop
publishing program. Like Byline from Ashton-Tate, this product is
aimed at PC owners who want to convert dBase, Rbase, 1-2-3 and graphic
files into a report of significant length. Typical uses would involve
price lists, financial reports, phone books, product inventory and
bar codes, etc.
@ARTICLE TEXT = As with NBI's Legend, it's an interesting idea but
I'm not sure how much demand there will be for this pro-gram. One
thing though, it prints the sharpest bar codes I've seen from a micro-based
product! The price is $495.
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>EMERALD CITY SOFTWARE:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>LASERTALK<D> is a development tool that gives the
user interactive access to the Postscript language controller of your
Postscript printer! If you use Postscript and need complete control
of your printer, this program could be for you. Available for the
Mac ($249) and the PC under Microsoft Windows ($399).
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@COMPANIES = <BI>INSET SYSTEMS:<D>
@ARTICLE TEXT = <B>HIJAAK 1.1<D> is the latest version of a low cost
($99) graphics utility program for the PC. It performs screen captures
as well as conversions of graphic art files in any of 15 popular formats
including Postscript, HPGL, Lotus PIC, GEM, Paintbrush PCX and Word
Perfect WPG. Version 1.1 includes the ability to get ``typeset quality''
(smoothed) screen captures and the ability to convert HPGL files to
viewable Encapsulated Postscript Files (EPS).
@ARTICLE TEXT =
@ART SB 8 = <P10BI>(This is the end of the software reviews, the hardware
reviews begin on the next page.)<P255D>