Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac 1993 September/September 93.iso/Community/Media/US Magazine Index/MacWEEK 1992/MacWEEK 10⁄12⁄92

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MacWEEK 10/12/92
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 News: New PowerBooks encroach on desktop Macs

 By Andrew Gore

Cupertino, Calif. - When Apple introduces four new PowerBook models next week,
it will start a process that could ultimately shift a large part of its business
from stationary to mobile Macs.

The retail pricing and features of the Mac line as of Oct. 19 are likely to
convince many buyers to purchase a PowerBook instead of a desktop Mac.

Apple reportedly sold about 420,000 PowerBooks in their first year on the
market, and the company is projecting almost double that volume - a total of
750,000 PowerBook 145, 160, 180, Duo 210, Duo 230 and future models - in the
coming year, sources said.

Based upon the pricing of the latest laptops, Apple may have good reason for
such a rosy outlook.

Apple's top-of-the-line PowerBook 180, for example, will retail for $4,229,
including a 33-MHz 68030 and math coprocessor, 4 Mbytes of RAM, a 120-Mbyte hard
drive, built-in microphone and speaker and eight-bit color video support for a
16-inch monitor.

A desktop Mac of similar performance still will sell for less, but the margin is
smaller than ever before. The new IIvx, equipped with a 32-MHz '030 and 68882,
32 Kbytes of CPU cache, three NuBus slots and eight-bit color video-out for up
to 16-inch displays, will retail for $3,319 in a 4/230 configuration, sources
said.

For users reluctant to give up slots and pay an extra $900 for mobility, the
Duos may present an even more attractive portable alternative.

The Duo 230, for example, will retail for $2,609 in a 4/80 configuration. The
machine comes with a 33-MHz '030, built-in microphone and speaker, a serial
port, a port for connecting an optional internal modem to a phone line, and a
152-pin 32-bit bus for connecting to docks. Combined with the $1,079 Duo Dock,
which supplies a full complement of ports, a floppy drive, two NuBus slots and
eight-bit color support for up to 16-inch displays, the total retail price of
the Duo system is an attractive $3,688.

The Dock also provides space for an extra, internal hard drive, a floating-point
unit and an extra 512 Kbytes of video RAM, which will boost the system's display
capabilities to 16-bit color on 16-inch screens.

"In a situation where mobility is a consideration, which it is for a number of
people at Hughes, the Duo system is an attractive alternative to a desktop Mac,"
said Barry Eisenberg, computer specialist at Hughes Aircraft Co. in Fullerton,
Calif. "Ethernet is a key consideration for a computer used as a desktop
system," Eisenberg said. "And it sounds like the Duo Dock's NuBus slots will
handle that."

The new pricing structure appears designed to induce users to invest in CD-ROM.
The price differential between a IIvx without one of Apple's new dual-speed
CD-ROM drives and one with the drive is $270, sources said. For the extra
investment, users also will get an extra megabyte of RAM and an extra 512 Kbytes
of VRAM, enough to generate more than 32,000 colors.

"It's obvious that Apple wants to push CD technology," said Charles Wolf, vice
president of equity research at First Boston Corp. in New York. "It's almost a
no-brainer to go with a IIvx with CD-ROM."

Apple's new 14-inch Macintosh Color Display will list for $589.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

News Page 1

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may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 Apple holding line pending FCC nod

 By Henry Norr

Cupertino, Calif. - Docking stations and external battery rechargers for the
PowerBook Duos apparently will not be available when Apple rolls out the new
notebook line next week.

Sources said the company will not be able to ship either of the two docks it has
developed for the modular laptops - the Duo Dock and the Duo MiniDock - or the
recharger because none of the devices has yet received approval from the Federal
Communications Commission.

No personal computing device can be sold to the general public or advertised as
being for sale without Class B certification from the agency. Apple reportedly
delayed applying for certification of the docks after they failed the company's
own compliance tests.

Apple declined to comment.

The Duo Dock is an enclosure that turns a Duo 210 or 230 into a full- fledged
desktop system; the Duo MiniDock is a 1.25-pound portable unit that provides
video-out and a standard array of Mac ports.

Company officials anticipate receiving certification for the three devices in
November, but they added that there is no way to predict with precision how long
the approval process might take.

The Duos themselves and an adapter that will let users attach an external floppy
drive also failed Apple's initial testing, sources said, and some sources
outside the company said they had received information that the whole line would
be delayed. But those problems reportedly were resolved in time for Apple to get
the required approval from the FCC.

Without the docks, however, users will have only limited expansion options. The
4.25-pound Duo base units have a single serial port, which can be used for
AppleTalk, and a second opening for connecting an internal modem to a phone
line, but no SCSI or other ports. Besides a floppy disk connection, the floppy
adapter offers only a single Apple Desktop Bus port.

The FCC regulates computer equipment to ensure that radio-frequency emissions do
not interfere with radio and television reception and emergency communications
systems. Any personal computing devices marketed to the general public must meet
the Class B standard, for which the manufacturer must sub-mit extensive test
data. Apple maintains its own laboratory to do compliance testing.

"A delay could stop dead the PowerBooks' momentum of the last year, and Apple
could effectively miss a key technology for its hottest product during its most
important retail season," said John Rossi, who follows Apple for Robertson,
Stephens & Co. in San Francisco. But Nicholas Baran, co-editor of the Pen-Based
Computing newsletter in Sandpoint, Idaho, said he thinks a delay "probably won't
hurt Apple's sales substantially" as long as it doesn't last a few months.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

News Page 1

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may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 News: Mac forges links at NetWorld 92

 By April Streeter

Dallas - Mac administrators attending this week's NetWorld 92 here may see signs
of progress on the long road to interoperable systems, as well as enhanced
enterprisewide connectivity products.

As in previous years, mainframe connectivity products will comprise the bread
and butter of NetWorld's Mac-related announcements.

> Avatar Corp. of Hopkinton, Mass., will announce two new products. MacMainFrame
for NetWare SAA lets Macs on an AppleTalk network access host sessions via
Novell Inc.'s SAA (Systems Application Architecture) server, while another
version lets Macs be clients to mainframe hosts via Apple's SNA*ps Gateway.

The Wollongong Group Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., and Simware Inc. of Ottawa also
will show the latest improvements to their mainframe- connectivity products.

Several other Mac products will make their debuts at the show.

> Novell of Provo, Utah, will show but not announce NetWare 4.0, and show
NetWare SFT III, server software that eventually will be ported to the Mac. SFT
III mirrors a server's contents to a second server for protection in the event
that the first server crashes.

> WordPerfect Corp. of Orem, Utah, will introduce an upgrade to its Office
electronic-mail and scheduling program (see story, Page 1). Version 4.0, to be
released simultaneously for DOS, Windows and the Mac early next year, will offer
greater consistency and ease of use across the three platforms, the company
said.

> Shiva Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., also will take advantage of the show to
leapfrog competitor Cayman Systems Inc. in the companies' ongoing battle for
remote access server superiority. Shiva will unveil the LanRover/E, which will
allow four or eight remote users to dial into Ethernet networks using standard
telephone lines and AppleTalk Remote Access.

In this time of constrained budgets, some exhibitors have chosen to forgo the
trade show. Apple, for instance, will announce upgrades to its SNA*ps Gateway
and SNA*ps emulation software for the AS/400 in alliance partner IBM Corp.'s
booth, rather than invest in its own.

Similarly, AppleTalk kingpin Farallon Computing Inc. of Emeryville, Calif.,
chose to drop out of NetWorld in favor of showing up later this month at the
Interop 92 conference in San Francisco.

Nonetheless, the Mac does seem to be holding its own in vendors' product plans,
according to industry observers.

"[At NetWorld] the spotlight doesn't directly fall on the Mac," said Stan
Schatt, an analyst at InfoCorp of Santa Clara, Calif. "But there are enough
AppleTalk networks out there for vendors to keep planning Mac versions of the
enterprise-type tools we'll see," Schatt said.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

News Page 1

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may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 News: Apple lines up laptop modems

 Express Modems offer high speed, low price

 By Nathalie Welch

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple next week will take a second swing at the PowerBook
modem market with a pair of low-priced, high-speed internal modem devices for
the newest notebook Macs.

The PowerBook Express Modem will provide a base data transfer rate of 14.4 Kbps
and 9,600-bps send-and-receive fax capabilities. At $319, it will list for
almost $300 less than its closest current competitor.

Apple reportedly will offer two versions of the device, one as an option for the
PowerBook 160 and 180, the other as an option for the PowerBook Duo 210 and 230.
The new PowerBooks are slated to debut Oct. 19.

Apple's aggressive pricing may drive down third-party modem prices. "We
definitely will have our response planned for Oct. 19 when we unveil our new
pricing scheme," said Rick Miley, vice president of marketing at Global Village
Communication Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.

The new modem will not work in the PowerBook 140, 145 or 170, sources said.
Apple's original PowerBook, which offered only a 2,400-bps data transfer rate
and 9,600-bps send-fax capability, currently sells for $249.

The new PowerBook 160 and 180 modem is a fully implemented digital signal
processor (DSP)-based modem.

The Duo version reportedly will have a Rockwell International Corp. data pump
with a proprietary DSP. It relies on software running on the host CPU to perform
some functions, such as error correction and compression.

"Apple has opted to use data-pump chip technology to gain a tremendous cost
advantage," said Steve Cherry, vice president of sales and marketing for PSI
Integration Inc. in San Jose, Calif., which makes PowerBook modems. "But [since
the modem relies] on the CPU to get the job done, as you perform background
communications functions, you will have serious performance degradation of
foreground operations."

The fax modems support V.42 and MNP levels 2 through 4 error control and V.42bis
and MNP Level 5 data compression. They reportedly will be fully compatible with
the Extended Hayes AT-command set; the previous model used an alternative to the
Hayes escape sequence.

The new modems use Apple's Express Fax software, which includes support for
telephone credit card dialing, quick sends and scheduled transmissions. A
smoothing feature makes received faxes easier to read, and a Fax Viewer
application lets users view, copy, print and save faxes as PICT files.

Users said the new modems' performance will influence their buying plans more
than low prices. "Our brand loyalty to Apple is really only in CPUs," said
Forrest Jerome, director of Colgate Palmolive Co.'s technology division in
Piscataway, N.J. "We throw a lot of other gear around the Mac based on what gets
the job done best. Speed and reliability is far more important than brand name
or pricing."

The third-party internal PowerBook modem that comes closest to the Express
Modem's price is TwinCom USA's 14.4 PowerTwin, a 14.4-Kbps fax- data modem
priced at $599. Other internal devices include models from Apex Data Inc.
(14.4-Kbps data with 9,600-bps fax for $789), PSI (14.4- Kbps fax and data for
$799), and Global Village (14.4-Kbps data and 9,600-bps fax for $795). Applied
Engineering's DataLink PB offers 14.4- Kbps data, fax and voice for $619 with an
optional cellular link for $299.

Apple declined to comment.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

News Page 1

(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 News: WordPerfect Office refurbished

 By Neil McManus

Orem, Utah - While Apple and Microsoft Corp. battle over whose system software
will have the best workgroup features, WordPerfect Corp. is quietly beefing up
its cross-platform scheduling and electronic-mail package.

WordPerfect Office 4.0, due in the first quarter of 1993, will sell in a
Multiplatform Pack for $695. The pack will contain software for one server and
five clients in the user's choice of Mac, DOS or Windows. OS/2, Unix and VAX/VMS
versions will follow. Pricing for additional clients will range from $60 to $80.

Initially, the server will run only on DOS systems, but a Mac server is due in
the second quarter. Any server will support all the client platforms.

"Office 4.0 is one of the most integrated set of workgroup technologies to
date," said Marion Hansen, staff engineer for MIS at NASA Ames Research Center
in Moffett Field, Calif. "It's designed so that whatever you have to do at that
moment, you just do it."

Enhancements in Version 4.0 will include:

> Integration. The upgrade will integrate E-mail, calendar and scheduling
functions more smoothly. Users will be able to move from one task to the next
without switching to a different application; in the previous version, the
modules were independent desk accessories. Users will be able to launch other
applications from within Office and set up views, custom sets of Office windows
the program automatically will open together.

"Now [the modules] look like separate features within the same application,"
Hansen said. "Secretaries might use Office as their working desktop all day
long."

> Administration. The program will permit both decentralized and centralized
administration. Users and administrators can control access to all types of
items. Administrators will be able to configure the system remotely.

> Work flow and forms. Users can set up ordered routing for messages, so they
will be transmitted to co-workers in a preset sequence, similar to intraoffice
routing slips for magazines. Forms will support electronic signatures for
authentication. The forms-creation program, WordPerfect InForms, will ship
immediately for Windows, with a Mac version hot on its heels, the company said.

"When you have electronic signatures with forms and rules-based routing, you can
create a form for a piece of work to be done by a group," Hansen said. "You can
have a group actually work together on a project without seeing each other. They
can be spread out all over the country."

> Rules and filters. Users can set up the program to filter messages using
keywords and react according to user-defined rules. For example, Office could be
configured to detect any message containing the word "NetWorld," automatically
file the message, forward it to a colleague and insert an item into a to-do
list.

> Group calendaring and scheduling. Users can retrieve and view several
colleagues' calendars on the same screen and let co-workers view and modify
their appointments.

Additional client packages sell for $80 each, $375 for five-packs, $1,395 for
20-packs, $3,250 for 50-packs and $5,995 for 100-packs. Office 3.0 users can
upgrade to the 4.0 Multiplatform Pack for $145.

WordPerfect Corp. is at 1555 N. Technology Way, Orem, Utah 84057. Phone (801)
225-5000; fax [phone].

MacWEEK 10.12.92

News Page 1

(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 Gateways: MicroPhone II turns Pro, Personal

 Software Ventures recasts popular line

 By Nathalie Welch

Berkeley, Calif. - Software Ventures Corp. is repositioning MicroPhone, its
popular Mac telecommunications package, with TCP/IP and fax support highlighted
at the top of its new three-product line.

"Internet is an exploding market," said Software Ventures President David
Hindawi, "and we want to be the main player on the Mac side with TCP/IP access."

> MicroPhone Pro for the Macintosh, available now for $295, will include MP
Telnet Tool, which lets users access TCP/IP network resources. The company first
shipped the tool this summer and will send a copy free to all owners. The
company also plans to add support for FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Serial
Line Internet Protocol via add-ons.

"After adding the basic transfer technologies, we will offer applications, such
as mail and news, to run on top of the transport layer," possibly by the end of
the year, Hindawi said.

The Pro package also will include FAXstf send-and-receive fax software from STF
Technologies Inc. "We are also planning to fully integrate the fax technology
into the program," Hindawi said, adding that the integrated version should be
available in early 1993.

> MicroPhone II got a price cut from $295 to $195 with Version 4.0.2, which
shipped this month. MicroPhone II is identical to MicroPhone Pro except for the
Telnet tool and the fax software bundle. Users of MicroPhone II 4.0 or later can
purchase FAXstf for $49.49.

> Personal MicroPhone lets users script connections but does not offer the
multiservice front end, Loran. The new low-end version costs $49.49 and is
available now. Buyers can upgrade to MicroPhone II for $99 or MicroPhone Pro for
$149.

In a recent study of worldwide asynchronous Mac communications software
conducted by International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., Software Ventures
secured a 21 percent share of the Mac telecommunications market in 1991.

"We are seeing a huge growth in the asynchronous market in general, due to the
proliferation of laptops," said Cindy Santisario, a research analyst at IDC.
Worldwide shipments for all platforms are expected to reach $4.3 million in
1996, with Macs accounting for 10 percent of that market, according to IDC.

Software Ventures Corp. is at 2907 Claremont Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94705. Phone
[phone]; fax [phone].

MacWEEK 10.12.92

Gateways Page 18

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may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 GA: Timeworks apps make color click

 Color It! upgrade targets Photoshop

 By Carolyn Said

Northbrook, Ill. - Timeworks Inc. is now shipping a pair of 32-bit-color
applications that offer high-end features for low-end price tags.

> Color It! 2.0, an upgrade to the image-editing and color painting program,
features a redesigned tool palette, new support for pressure- sensitive tablets
and 40 new image-processing filters. It also adds tools for colorizing
gray-scale images as well as brightness controls for specific sections of an
image. The program works with plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and Aldus Corp.'s
Digital Darkroom.

Along with Caere Corp.'s $495 Image Assistant, the $299.95 Color It! 2.0 joins a
new generation of lower-cost challengers to Adobe Systems Inc.'s $895 Photoshop,
which holds sway among color image-editing programs.

Color It! 2.0 "has a simpler interface than Photoshop, so it's easier to get
things done," said beta-tester Corey Oordt, a free-lance graphic designer who
runs the computer graphic design program at Drake University in Des Moines,
Iowa. "It's easier to change brush items because you have pop-ups in a palette.

"The customized brushes and customized palettes are a lot easier" than
Photoshop's approach, Oordt said. "I also like the removable color palette and
the ability to have multiple color and pattern palettes."

Version 2.0 is available for the same price on a CD-ROM that also contains more
than 400 full-color TIFF images from PhotoDisc Inc. of Seattle and a modified
version of PhotoDisc's LightBox image-retrieval software.

Upgrades are $49.95.

> Paint It!, A new $59.95 program shares many of the painting features of Color
It! 2.0 but uses a simpler interface and lacks image-editing features. The tool
palette does not use pop-ups, and dialog boxes and menus are simplified.
Features include anti-aliasing, gradient blends, polygon selection tools and a
screen layout that maximizes the work area on small monitors.

Both programs were developed by MicroFrontier Inc. of Des Moines, which
previously marketed Color It!.

Timeworks Inc. is at 625 Academy Drive, Northbrook, Ill. 60062. Phone (708)
559-1300 or [phone]; fax [phone].

MacWEEK 10.12.92

GA Page 28

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may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 ProductWatch: Diet plan for PowerBook word processing

 Software trimmed for System 7 use

 By Mitzi Waltz

Although you can run a full-featured word processing program on a 4- Mbyte
PowerBook, the result may be turning it into one sleek, expensive note pad.
Today's feature-rich and memory-hungry word processors leave little room for
running other programs when System 7 has taken its share. To make way for the
other software you need on the road, something's got to give.

Luckily, some vendors have risen to the challenge. Three programs are available
that have been specially configured to run easily on PowerBooks and low-end
Macs: WriteNow 3.0 from T/Maker Co., Nisus Compact from Nisus Software Inc. and
LetterPerfect 2.1 for Macintosh from WordPerfect Corp.

Other memory-conserving options include using a truncated version of Microsoft
Word 5.1 and relying on the less-full-featured capabilities of integrated
software packages or desk accessory word processors.

WriteNow rides again. The latest version of WriteNow has been rewritten to pare
coding down to the bare essentials. "It's now one lean, mean writing machine,"
said Len Suckle, manager of world marketing office automation at Motorola Inc.'s
Semiconductor Product Sector in Phoenix.

"We use it on all our machines," Suckle said. "We still have some Pluses hidden
away, on up to any [Mac] model you can think of."

It's especially appropriate for PowerBook users like himself, he added. "If
you've got System 7 installed, there's not much room for anything else if you
have a 4-Mbyte machine," he said. "WriteNow doesn't use much memory, and that's
one of the reasons we like it."

Another WriteNow benefit is its ease of use, Suckle said. "The program doesn't
really require much documentation or training. I'm just starting to apply style
sheets, for example. As I begin setting up different styles in my defaults, it's
very easy."

Although it's been optimized, WriteNow still supports color text and graphics
and comes with the largest dictionary/thesaurus combination available with any
word processor. It does have a few features that are nonstandard, such as its
dictionary interface, but with a little time most users will get used to them
quickly.

Nisus goes Compact. Nisus Compact has a few features that show up only on the
PowerBook, making it the most narrowly targeted of the bunch. These extras
include a Sleep command within the program, a clock, a battery-conservation
feature, and a preference item that lets users choose thicker cursors and
insertion points.

Unfortunately, it's also missing a few essential features, according to many
users. Among those features are graphics creation tools, the Unix- style grep
search and replace, and macros. Some also have complained that Nisus Compact's
documentation is confusing and that the program uses more RAM when operating
than one might expect.

However, Tuckerman Moss, an Orinda, Calif., optical physicist and technical
editor of the Photonics Spectra trade journal, said he uses Nisus Compact on his
4-Mbyte PowerBook to create memos on the road and occasionally for technical
writing or tabular documents.

"I'm predisposed toward Nisus Compact because I've used Nisus for so long," Moss
said. "I am slightly disappointed that the macros have been taken out. On my
home machine with the full-size Nisus, I use a lot of macros."

On the positive side, he added, Nisus Compact will bring over graphics created
with the full version even though it has no drawing tools itself. "If I really
need to make graphics on the road I'll go into [Claris Corp.'s] MacDraw and then
bring them in," he said.

Like WriteNow, Nisus Compact has incorporated Apple's XTND technology to let
users read and write files in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word.
The translation process is "fairly automatic," Moss said.

LetterPerfect text. To create LetterPerfect, WordPerfect stripped its flagship
word processor down to basics. It peeled away drawing tools, macros,
user-defined styles, QuickTime support and more, leaving a core feature set that
includes text processing, mail merge, a dictionary and a thesaurus. Also
included is a stationery mode that lets users save templates for letterheads,
memos and other frequently created documents.

 Its files are interchangeable with WordPerfect files, except that if you bring
over a document created in the larger program you won't be able to see items
that LetterPerfect doesn't support, such as boxes and borders.

"I use LetterPerfect most often for letters, strangely enough," said Michael
Erb, a self-employed mobile disc jockey in Ithaca, N.Y. "If I have something
that requires a lot of formatting or tables, I'll use [Microsoft] Word instead.

"It does have some very powerful features," Erb said. "I particularly like the
fact that you can make multiple columns right from the ruler. It's easy to
insert, move and resize graphics, and it imports quite a few formats easily."

Erb said his pet peeves with LetterPerfect are its thesaurus and dictionary.
"The thesaurus in particular is not as powerful as some of the third-party
add-ons."

Making a behemoth behave. Those who rely on Microsoft Word 5.0 soon won't have
to ditch their favorite program to use a PowerBook. They'll be able to use a
special PowerBook option in the Word Installer to install a version that takes
up a little more than 2 Mbytes on disk. The PowerBook version will incorporate
"swap-tuning," an operation method that minimizes drive-access time, and leave
out options such as automatic repagination for the same effect. It also will
include a battery-power indicator.

Currently, Word 5.0 fans can use the Installer to trim functionality down to the
bone, leaving out features they don't need on their PowerBooks to save disk
space. Some might even think about using an older version of Word: Until Version
5.0, users could tell the program to load both application and file memory into
RAM, which reduces disk- access time.

Other full-size word processors, such as Claris' MacWrite II, WordPerfect and
Nisus, also can be PowerBook-friendly - as long as you don't mind quitting
before using another application or running it with minimum memory, and as long
as you have adequate RAM and hard drive space.

Integrated options. Some PowerBook users are turning to integrated programs,
such as Microsoft Works, ClarisWorks, Symantec Corp.'s GreatWorks,
MacVONK*Canada's Handiworks or Beagle Bros. Inc.'s BeagleWorks. These programs
offer users a way to get basic functionality while saving space but have a
tendency to run sluggishly on the PowerBook.

As of yet, no integrated-software manufacturers have implemented or announced
PowerBook-specific features. In fact, all of these programs are relatively
RAM-hungry, so PowerBook users may want to turn off extensions to free up as
much memory as possible.

Buyers who choose the integrated route should be sure that their choice can save
text in formats compatible with full-featured word processing software and that
it has the basic capabilities they need. In general, however, the word
processing components of integrated packages have even fewer features than
compact word processors.

For occasional writers. There are some PowerBook users who could almost eschew a
word processor altogether. If your daily writing chores are an occasional memo
or simple letter, you might consider using a desk accessory word processor, such
as Baseline Publishing Inc.'s Vantage, Working Software Inc.'s QuickLetter, or
its twin, Softsync Inc.'s ExpertWriter.

QuickLetter and ExpertWriter are 220-Kbyte programs that use only 180 Kbytes of
RAM. Although they offer few formatting options, they can create documents up to
16 pages long, and they include a built-in address book and envelope-printing
utility. Vantage has a 20-Kbyte baseload memory requirement, no document-length
limit, a full macro language and external commands (XCMDs).

Customizing your choice. The beauty of scaled-down word processors is that they
don't give you a bunch of features you'll never use. Their ugly side is that
they may not provide a feature or two that you really want - but then again,
neither do some of their full-featured siblings. To fill the gap, several
third-party vendors offer add-ons for word processing programs, from specialized
dictionaries to grammar checkers.

Among the add-on options: Microlytics Inc.'s Word Finder Plus, Deneba Software's
Spelling Coach Professional and Big Thesaurus, and Baseline Publishing Inc.'s
Thunder 7 II.

The downside of using add-ons is that their capabilities are not integrated into
the word processing program itself.

Also, buyers should check memory requirements to make sure these programs can
run in addition to their word processors without slowing operations down to a
crawl.

Stick with what you know. Users agree that the best choice for PowerBooks is
something as close as possible to what the rest of your office uses. File
translation, even with XTND, takes time and doesn't always work perfectly.

As PowerBooks proliferate, it's likely that more vendors will follow the lead of
Microsoft and Nisus, adding features such as battery conservation to meet user
demand. PowerBook word processor buyers should shop with this, as well as
essential features, speed and price, in mind.


 Product Info

 Baseline Publishing Inc.
 Vantage 1.5.1: $99.95;
 Thunder 7 II: $99.95
 1770 Moriah Woods Blvd., Suite 14, Memphis, Tenn. 38117
 Phone [phone] or [phone];
 fax [phone]

 Beagle Bros. Inc.
 BeagleWorks 1.01: $299.95
 6215 Ferris Square, Suite 100, San Diego, Calif. 92121
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 Claris Corp.
 ClarisWorks: $299; MacWrite II: $129
 5201 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, Calif. 95052-8168
 Phone [phone]

 Deneba Software
 Big Thesaurus: $99; Spelling Coach Professional 3.2: $199
 7400 S.W. 87th Ave., Miami, Fla. 33173
 Phone [phone]; fax [phone]

 MacVONK*Canada
 HandiWorks 1.0: $175
 940 Sixth Ave. S.W., Suite 1100, Calgary, Alberta T2P 3T1, Canada
 Phone [phone]; fax [phone]

 Microlytics Inc. (subsidiary of SelecTronics Inc.)
 Spell Finder 1.0: $24.95, $12.50 per additional language; Word Finder Plus 4.0:
$70
 2 Tobey Village Office Park, Pittsford, N.Y. 14534
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 Microsoft Corp.
 Microsoft Word 5.0: $495 (5.1 price unannounced); Microsoft Works 3.1: $249
 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 Nisus Software Inc.
 Nisus Compact: $150; Nisus 3.06: $395, English plus a second language: $495;
additional language: $45(price varies per language)
 107 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach, Calif, 92075
 Phone [phone]; fax [phone]

 SoftSync Inc.
 ExpertWriter: $49.95
 800 Douglas Entrance, North Tower, Coral Gables, Fla. 33134
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 Symantec Corp.
 GreatWorks: $299
 10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, Calif. 95014-2132
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 T/Maker Co.
 WriteNow 3.0: $249; upgrade from older versions: $49.95; competitive sidegrade:
$69.95
 1390 Villa St., Mountain View, Calif. 94041
 Phone [phone]; fax [phone]

 WordPerfect Corp.
 LetterPerfect 2.1 for Macintosh: $149
 1555 N. Technology Way, Orem, Utah 84057
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

 Working Software Inc.
 QuickLetter 2.0: $49.95
 P.O. Box 1844, Santa Cruz, Calif. 95061
 Phone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]

MacWEEK 10.12.92

ProductWatch Page 59

(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 Review: Distributed rendering quick but not easy

 New products give users several ways to speed rendering, including network
distribution.

 By Sean Wagstaff

Three new distributed-rendering packages shipped almost simultaneously this
summer, offering users of 3-D software a chance to speed their rendering tasks
at the risk of placing heavy demands on already overburdened networks.

MacWEEK, in conjunction with Ziff-Davis Labs in Foster City, Calif., evaluated
distributed- rendering software packages to determine which were most efficient
at using the resources available to them. The packages reviewed here include
Specular International's BackBurner, a rendering engine for the company's
Infini-D; Strata Inc.'s RenderPro, for use with StrataVision 3d; and Ray Dream
Inc.'s DreamNet, for Ray Dream Designer. Pixar showed us a beta version of its
own distributed- rendering software, MacRenderMan 1.3, but the package did not
ship in time to be included in this review.

While we did test the raw speed of each system on a variety of network
configurations, a number of differences in the rendering capabilities of the
products prevented a strict apples-to-apples speed comparison.

For Mac modelers looking for a shot at high-end distributed processing, we
looked at Pixar's NetRenderMan (Version 1.1a2), which goes out on the network to
run on powerful Unix machines, such as Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Indigo and
Crimson workstations. We also reviewed YARC Systems Corp.'s NuSprint RISC board,
which greatly accelerates a number of renderers.

What we didn't review. In the past year alone, numerous 3-D modelers and
renderers have come to market. However, we excluded packages that rely on
single-Mac performance alone. Users should note that there are several excellent
3-D products across the spectrum that fall outside the scope of this review. We
concentrated solely on Mac-based rendering that boosts host machine performance
by exploiting network resources.

While most modelers include rendering engines that run on the host Mac, the
distributed-rendering packages we reviewed are all sold separately in multi-user
configurations and are intended as additions to each company's respective
modeler.

Burning down the house. Specular's BackBurner includes a rendering engine that
allows any user to launch a distributed rendering of an Infini-D model, even if
Infini-D is not present.

The application is fairly straightforward to set up: After installing the
control panel and rendering engine on each client machine, a unique serial
number is entered for each client (also referred to as slave). The administrator
must manually set the anticipated memory allocation for each slave prior to
rendering.

As with all of the packages, insufficient memory on the client Macs invariably
leads to buggy behavior on the host. In one example, BackBurner began rendering,
then froze, displaying the misleading message "Speaking to Agent." After 20
minutes, we restarted and allocated 15 Mbytes of RAM to the Quadras and 6 Mbytes
on the IIci machines, which solved the problem. You can do this through the
control panel or the Finder's Get Info window.

Managers should be aware that rendering, even on distributed clients, is a
memory and CPU hog. We would hesitate to recommend it on any Macs slower than a
IIci and with less than 16 Mbytes of RAM.

BackBurner offers a clever option for making a slave available for rendering:
The AutoBurner control panel works as a screen saver (by itself or as a module
for use with Berkeley Systems Inc.'s After Dark or Tom Dowdy's DarkSide freeware
screen saver). When it detects inactivity from the keyboard or mouse, it makes
the machine available as a client. If the mouse is clicked, it aborts rendering
on that slave and returns control of the Mac to its owner.

BackBurner showed the second-greatest increases in relative rendering
performance as the number of client Macs is increased. While it does an
outstanding job of using network resources to its advantage, it starts out as by
far the slowest renderer of the three in this test. With one slave, BackBurner
took almost four hours to complete the test scene, compared with one hour each
for RenderPro and DreamNet. In fairness to Specular on this point, RenderPro's
idea of "shading" was unacceptably poor and DreamNet does only ray tracing.

Conversely, BackBurner's apparently high network efficiency was exaggerated by
the nature of our tests: The slower an application is at rendering, the smaller
the fraction of time it spends on network overhead.

Going pro. StrataVision 3d, like Infini-D and BackBurner, supports high- quality
ray tracing and animation. As mentioned earlier, its shading quality is dismal,
which is in stark contrast to its brilliant and highly configurable ray tracing.
RenderPro carries these qualities through in Strata's version of distributed
rendering.

Installation of RenderPro is markedly more complicated than BackBurner. We
received one disk for each rendering Mac, each with a unique copy of the
software. Software is not installed in the System folder. Instead, the Task
Manager, Render Host, Render Tune-up, Extensions and RenderPro are copied into a
separate folder on the hard drive. Before rendering, the user must launch the
Task Manager application on the rendering Macs. The manual recommends that this
application be stored in the Startup Items folder in the System folder to launch
it automatically at start- up. Once the program is launched, however, the
application is invisible. To run without it, the user has to remove it from the
Startup Items folder, then restart the machine.

The Task Manager relies on Apple events to send and receive messages from the
master Macintosh. All of these packages require System 7.

RenderPro, like BackBurner, includes a calendar with which the client users can
schedule availability of their Macs. The user can set the schedule by week or
month in as little as 15-minute bites.

RenderPro lets you set the proportion of the client Mac's CPU devoted to
background rendering. However, we found that when we set the adjustment slider
to maximum, some of the slaves would not work. Strata confirmed this bug and
recommended we set the sliders just shy of maximum, which fixed the problem.

Renders it useless. A more serious problem that we encountered with RenderPro
was that slaves would appear normally and then disappear from the queue as the
master uploaded models and textures. Since the rendering engine does not
allocate memory dynamically, we had to manually increase the memory setting for
each CPU.

Much more seriously, when a rendering task is completed, the rendering engine on
each slave should quit, freeing up memory for other tasks. However, while the
engine quit as expected, it failed to free up its memory. This means that if the
memory allocation is set to 5 Mbytes, after four rendering jobs, a 20-Mbyte Mac
suddenly will run out of RAM and have to be restarted. Strata confirmed this
bug. Since we completed our testing, Strata has released an upgrade, Version
1.0.1, that fixes some of the bugs. Unfortunately, the memory "leak" is still
unplugged; Strata said it has isolated the bug and is working hard to repair it.

When RenderPro worked as expected, it turned out the best performance of the
three packages. On LocalTalk, it performed modestly with up to four Macs and
better with up to eight. However, it bogged down badly thereafter. In contrast,
it kept right on improving at a near-linear rate on an Ethernet network, posting
a tenfold performance increase for 16 Macs with our model.

Of all three distributed-rendering packages, RenderPro showed the most
potential; unfortunately, the serious bugs lead us to believe it is a product
that shipped before its time.

No dream house. Ray Dream has announced a version of DreamNet that runs on
multiple Rocket 68040 accelerators with upcoming RocketShare software due this
month from Radius Inc. of San Jose, Calif. If it works, a 68040-based Mac should
get almost linear performance gains for every Rocket added, with no network
bottleneck. DreamNet also is being licensed by other software vendors to
incorporate its distributed processing capabilities in other types of software.

Unfortunately, Ray Dream seems to have spent more time on RocketShare
compatibility than on network efficiency. Both the LocalTalk and Ethernet
versions are the least efficient of their class. DreamNet rarely used more than
15 percent of the Ethernet bandwidth available to it. At best, DreamNet on
Ethernet was only as efficient as RenderPro on LocalTalk: You can expect to see
a modest twofold improvement for four slaves and a fourfold improvement for
eight slaves.

We wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a LocalTalk network in any
configuration.

DreamNet installation on the master Mac is simple. An installer copies a system
extension, a control panel and the rendering engine to the hard disk. A separate
disk is provided for slaves. Clicking on the installer copies corresponding
files and prompts for a unique serial number. Ray Dream uses serialization, but
users can call to order more serial numbers by phone, which is a much more
preferable mechanism than Strata's key-disk scheme.

Configuration of the slaves involves a slider for CPU priority and a check box
for memory allocation. The slider bar determines what portion of the CPU is
devoted to rendering while allowing the client to continue working. DreamNet
dynamically allocates RAM as needed for a rendering job. The check box
determines whether a DreamNet slave is allowed to abort a rendering if the owner
opens a foreground application that needs the RAM. We found 8 Mbytes on the IIci
machines barely adequate for rendering the test image, and no other applications
could be running. With a less texture-heavy image or more available RAM,
however, this should not occur. We found this true of the other applications
also. Realistically, you need at least 16 Mbytes of RAM on client Macs to use
any of these packages the way they are intended.

DreamNet divides the rendering into three tasks: It takes all of the objects and
texture maps in the model and compresses them into one file; it sends a copy of
this file to each client machine. It then assigns a different portion of the
image for each machine to render. We think this complex series of tasks is
largely responsible for DreamNet's poor efficiency, particularly on LocalTalk.

While rendering, we encountered a whole series of bugs and performance problems
that could be directly traced to memory starvation on the clients.
Unfortunately, these were not described correctly by error dialogs or the
documentation.

Since DreamNet supports only ray tracing, we had to test it in this
configuration. We believe that only users with Ethernet and up to four client
Macs will want to seriously consider using it.

Network performance. As we increased the number of Macs available for rendering,
BackBurner proved to be the champ of LocalTalk. BackBurner with eight client
Macs performed nearly the same for both Ethernet and LocalTalk. We only wish its
base rendering speed were better.

Over the LocalTalk network, BackBurner and RenderPro both choked on network
overhead when the tally was boosted from eight to 16 clients. We think eight
Macs is the outer limit, at least for bit-map-heavy models such as our
benchmark, which emphasized network overhead. DreamNet, by comparison, pushes
the routing envelope at four clients; at eight, the gain is nil.

Rendering a conclusion. Distributed processing is a potent idea. When
implemented well, it may become a driving technology in the Mac market.
Unfortunately, none of these products completely lives up to its promise.

BackBurner and RenderPro performed most like we expected. BackBurner was the
only distributed rendering product that we consider stable and functional enough
to recommend at this time. Users with up to eight powerful Macs on LocalTalk and
up to 16 on Ethernet may find it worth the investment - if they are using or
considering Infini-D.

We cannot recommend RenderPro until Strata fixes that product's disastrous bugs.
When it does, we think RenderPro will deserve a recommendation similar to the
one we give BackBurner.

DreamNet was all but strangled by the network bottleneck in most cases. With
four or eight Macs on Ethernet, it may be a viable solution, though Ray Dream's
impending RocketShare implementation is bound to be faster, albeit more
expensive.

If 3-D rendering is an immediate priority in your organization and what you're
using isn't fast enough, we recommend you consider some of the other
hardware-assisted solutions discussed in this report.


 Contributors

Dave Frerichs, Ziff-Davis Labs' network systems integrator, was the project
leader for this report at the labs. Also working on the report were Mike Mathog
and Brian Booher, technical specialists at ZD Labs. Gary Dyer acted as script
consultant.

David Poole, a consultant at Zen Over Zero in New York, served as a consultant
and created our benchmark models.

Sean Wagstaff is MacWEEK's associate editor for reviews.


 Score Card

 Distributed-rendering software

Network distributed rendering emerged in a rush this summer. Although it offers
great promise, none of the systems we reviewed here is cause for excitement.

> BackBurner from Specular International is easy to install and configure, and
it offers adequate owner control of the slaves for blocking out the user at
specified times. It has good fault tolerance and performed well with our
difficult benchmark file, though it started out four times as slow as the other
packages. Insufficient memory on the rendering slaves still leads to occasional
hangs. BackBurner made impressive use of network machines, and we recommend it,
but cautiously.

> DreamNet from Ray Dream Inc. offers simple installation and configuration.
Unfortunately, it uses only 15 percent of the available network bandwidth. We
experienced a variety of bugginess, apparently because of insufficient memory on
the client Macs. Until Ray Dream improves its use of network resources, we
recommend it only for small groups of fast Macs on Ethernet.

> RenderPro from Strata Inc. is very fast, and it makes the best use of client
Macs - until it crashes them. Its installation and configuration are more
complicated than they should be, but disastrous bugs make such issues irrelevant
for now. If these problems are resolved, RenderPro will have a good overall
value.

                         BackBurner   DreamNet   RenderPro
 Overall value           ***          **         *
 Version tested          1.0          1.0.2      1.0
 Price                   $395*        $200**     $295***
 Performance             ***          **         *
 Ease of use             ***          ***        ***
 Features                ****         ***        ***
 Documentation/support   ***          ***        ***

*Single clients, $295; three clients, $695; five clients, $995.

**Single clients, $200; two to four clients, $175 each; five or more, $150 each.

***Single clients, $295; three-pack, $695; 10-pack, $1,495.


 System 7 Compatibility

 Distributed-rendering software   BackBurner   DreamNet   RenderPro
 Balloon help                     No           No         No
 TrueType                         n/a          n/a        n/a
 Publish and subscribe            n/a          n/a        n/a
 Apple events                     Yes          Yes        Yes
 32-bit addressing*               Yes          Yes        Yes

*According to vendor.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

Reviews Page 46

(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


-----------------------
 Mac the Knife: Apple courting channel chaos?

Well, so much for the theory that all good things come in threes. It's that
simple. Meanwhile, it has come to the Knife's attention that not all that
grumbling you hear out there is from the electorate at large. A very special
interest group is making a few noises of its own. While it's not quite to the
and-I'm-not-gonna-take-it-anymore stage, a portion of Apple's dealer channel
apparently is ready to jump back into a confrontation with the company over Mac
distribution.

More precisely, mail-order distribution. Both gray marketers looking to go legit
and a number of ambitious retailers and VARs are rumored to have been excited
initially about the obvious potential of mail order to move additional Macs out
the door. The word they are hearing about Apple's future mail-order plans,
however, is the source of their discontent. While the only CPU in the first
edition of Apple's new catalog is the totally nondiscounted PowerBook 145, many
resellers fear that in the future Apple also will dump soon-to-be-outdated Mac
models through the mail. At least that would be fairer than the Price Club
PowerBook 100 blowout. Some of the Price Club-impaired are still sore about that
one.

But this collective will may have found its way. Sources tell the Knife that
some VARs are prepared to dabble in the dangerous fringe waters of unauthorized
activity by offering Mac mail order to their existing active client base.

A small amount of fear and skepticism on the part of the channel about Apple's
future plans probably is healthy. The company is showing a definite propensity
to expand its market share with aggressive new programs.

The Knife refuses to leave the subject of things Apple without mentioning that
he's discovered recently that AppleLink may be bundled with selective Mac models
by the end of the year. Ostensibly this move is designed to make AppleLink a
support medium, but the imaginative among us can probably think of other uses,
too.

Good connections. You on-the-road-again types who are emotionally and physically
attached to a PowerBook should know that Palomar Software has a superintelligent
spooler utility called On the Road nearly ready for you. It can spool anything,
including faxes, that you're likely to squirt out either serial port, then send
the output to its appropriate location when you're back at the office. It can
even automatically sense what printer you're connected to without Chooser
intervention. It is scheduled to be announced on Oct. 19 and ship in November
for $99.

Three times out. To the category of products that may never see the bright
fluorescent light of a dealer's display, you can safely add Lotus Works for the
Mac. The company that almost gave the Mac community Modern Jazz, an earlier
integrated almost-product, is known to have pulled the plug on its third attempt
to crack the Mac integrated-application market. Additionally, the status of the
Windows version is being described as deep limbo. All in all, Lotus may have
made the best decision. What company would want to go up against the likes of
ClarisWorks and Microsoft Works on the Mac? The Windows version of ClarisWorks,
slated for introduction early next year, no doubt contributed to the Lotus Works
bug out.

Bedrock solid. Symantec has taken its share of hits lately, so it's only fair to
kill a bad rumor. Contrary to what you may be hearing, the company's Bedrock
project is in excellent health. Symantec has been hiring MacApp people from
Apple for all the right reasons. And for its part, Apple has been hiring MacApp
jocks to help create MacApp-to- Bedrock development tools. So chill.

There's no debate. You know something. The Knife has MacWEEK mugs. He's at (415)
243-3544, fax [phone], MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and
CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.

MacWEEK 10.12.92

Mac the Knife Page 122

(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
-----------------------