Napa, Calif. - The Mac operating system may have been overshadowed in recent months by speculation about the Taligent alternative, but the current OS still has a long and bright future ahead of it, Apple officials insisted last week.
A new industrial-strength foundation will boost the system's performance and reliability, while an array of extensions will add user scripting and new graphics, communications, and input and output capabilities, according to company representatives.
The new foundation will take the form of a "microkernel" - described by one company official as "a very small OS within an OS" - that will be retrofitted to System 7.
Apple's top executives and engineers previewed many of the upcoming enhancements before nearly 100 journalists and analysts gathered here for an unusual company-sponsored briefing called the Macintosh System Software Forum. Highlights included demonstrations of AppleScript, speech recognition and pen-gesture editing in an off-the-shelf version of Claris Corp.'s MacWrite II.
Officials also disclosed details about the company's new imaging model and planned enhancements to QuickTime.
>Microkernel.
The new kernel will add such Unix-grade OS capabilities as multithreading, memory protection, pre- emptive scheduling and demand-paged virtual memory. It will also support a new high-performance I/O subsystem offering such capabilities as direct memory access and asynchronous SCSI, features required to keep up with the data demands of faster processors.
Other features of the microkernel include message-based intertask communications, support for dynamic link libraries and an objectlike component architecture, according to Phil Koch, technical lead for Apple's RISC Technology Development Group.
The kernel will run on 680x0-based Macs as well as future models incorporating the PowerPC RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processor; the company hopes to release it for both Mac platforms more or less simultaneously.
Koch declined to set a date, but indicated that the first RISC Macs won't ship until late 1993 at the earliest.
>RISC prototype.
To support his contention that Apple will deliver "absolute portability of software, peripherals and user experience" when it moves to RISC, Koch brought along a prototype Mac powered by a Motorola 88000. He ran out-of- the-box versions of System 7 and several popular third-party products, including Adobe Photoshop, WriteNow and the flying- toasters module from Berkeley Systems Inc.'s After Dark.
"We can even run Microsoft applications," Koch said before launching Excel.
>Taligent controversy.
The forum was intended to clarify Apple's OS plans, but at the conclusion of the two-day session many attendees said they still were confused about the company's strategic direction. Apple representatives had to deflect a barrage of pointed questions about the relationship between the beefed-up Mac OS and the object-based system being developed by Taligent Inc., the Apple-IBM Corp. joint venture.
Last October, when the partnership with IBM was formally announced, Apple representatives seemed to be positioning the Taligent system, along with PowerPC, as the keys to a "technological renaissance" that would revive the personal computer industry; at the same time they predicted that PowerOpen, the Unix environment the two companies also are developing, would carry the Mac into enterprise computing.
Last week Apple speakers scarcely mentioned either PowerOpen or Taligent.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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Friendlier cc:Mail will deliver formatted messages fast
By Nathalie Welch
Mountain View, Calif. - cc:Mail Inc. is preparing for a new round in the Macintosh electronic-mail ring with an upgrade to its Mac client designed to deliver a knockout punch to the competition.
The cc:Mail Macintosh Platform Pack 2.0, slated to ship by May, will apparently be the first mail interface to support QuickTime and formattable text in messages. The company said the update provides major interface and performance improvements over the previous version, which some users criticized as too DOS-like.
The updated mail package will also lay a foundation for Lotus Notes for Macintosh, which is due from cc:Mail's parent company, Lotus Development Corp., late this year.
The mail update promises advances on several fronts:
>Interface.
A Status window will let users track messages in their in-boxes and a systemwide bulletin board. Users may select from various features by clicking icons in the Status window.
The upgrade will support double-clickable sound and QuickTime files within a new compound message architecture that also can include text, graphics, fax and binary files. Users with sound-input hardware can record and attach sound files to cc:Mail messages, which can be played by any cc:Mail Mac client.
The message interface provides format capabilities normally associated with word processing programs, including support for different font sizes, TrueType, color text and justification. Users also will be able to annotate messages with comments distinguished by color text, and then return them to the sender.
>File viewers.
Users can open or print enclosures created by any application that supports Claris Corp.'s XTND file translation filters, even if the application is not present. A file-extension mapping capability will allow Mac users who receive DOS data files to open them in a corresponding Mac application by double-clicking.
>Find utility.
Users will be able to perform full-text or field- specific searches for messages in their in-box, folders, archives or the system bulletin board. Searches of directories and lists by address also will be supported.
>Servers.
For the first time, cc:Mail servers, which are called post offices, can reside on Macs, as well as on DOS, OS/2 or Windows machines. The company plans to introduce a Unix post office by the fall.
>Remote.
Rising to the telecommunications challenge presented by the PowerBooks, cc:Mail plans to release cc:Mail Remote for Macintosh this summer, enabling users to dial into cc:Mail. Pricing has not been set.
Remote Mac users will be able to exchange text, files, graphics and faxes with LAN-based cc:Mail users, whether they are running under Mac, DOS, Windows or OS/2. File transfers with users on other platforms are accomplished through cc:Mail gateways.
Remote capabilities also include the ability for a server to wake up a remote machine.
>Notes.
Lotus plans to integrate cc:Mail into Lotus Notes, its LAN group communications product.
Notes 3.0 will let users select cc:Mail as an alternative to Notes' own built-in mail system.
Notes and cc:Mail will share a common directory, administrative tools, transport and message storage, the company said.
Lotus Notes currently runs only on IBM PCs and compatibles, but a Mac version is planned for year-end release, sources said.
The cc:Mail post office (server) is $495. Mac client licenses are $195 for eight users or $595 for 25 users. Upgrades from the previous client versions are free.
cc:Mail Inc., a division of Lotus Development Corp., is at 2141 Landings Drive, Mountain View, Calif. 94043. Phone (415) 961-8800; fax (415) 961-8400.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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Zeppo to make 3-D marks
By Andrew Gore
San Francisco - Despite being named after the least-talented Marx Brother, Zeppo, a new 3-D modeler and rendering program from MacroMind-Paracomp Inc. promises to be a 3-D star.
The program can render models at "near real-time" speeds, can build 3-D models from any 2-D shape, and offers easy and powerful 3-D object editing, according to the company.
Zeppo (the product's code name) is expected to ship this summer and will be followed six months later by its Windows brother, code-named Harpo.
>3-D objects. Zeppo can build 3-D objects from any 2-D object, including splines and Bezier curves. In the past, Mac 3-D programs could model only objects based on polygons. Sketch!, which shipped last week from Alias Research Inc., also can model objects from splines. Once an object is rendered, Zeppo can display the original spline points and allow users to add additional points. Users can alter a 3-D object simply by grabbing and moving a spline point; Zeppo automatically re- renders the object.
Users also can "reach inside" an object and extrude part of an internal surface.
>Views and surfaces.
Zeppo lets users move 2-D and 3-D objects in 3-D space. It also can change the user's point of view and can zoom in and out on objects.
Zeppo can define a 2-D "working plane" to give users a visual reference point.
With a light-source palette, users can move multiple lights around objects, and can set light intensity, granularity, specularity (shininess) and softness.
The first release of Zeppo won't be able to do special surface maps, such as textures, like Pixar's MacRenderMan. However, objects can be rendered in 24-bit color and exported as RIB (RenderMan Interface Bytestream) files to other programs for more sophisticated rendering.
>Tools.
The program features only four rendering tools. The Lathe tool allows users to revolve a 2-D object onto a user- defined curve. The Extrude tool pulls a 2-D object straight out. The Skin tool renders a surface over the top of multiple curves. The Sweep tool works like the Extrude tool, except users can draw a curve to determine how an object is extruded as opposed to using a straight line.
Other tools include the Cut tool, used to segment and join objects; Line, Oval, Rectangle, Polygon and Arc drawing tools; a Paint Can; and a text tool. Any outline font can be used to create 2-D objects, which Zeppo can render normally.
Zeppo also features an intelligent assistant that displays instructions for using tools in a help bar.
Zeppo can import Swivel 3D, AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange File), MacDraw, Claris CAD and PICT files. It can export in the same formats, as well as RIB.
Pricing has not been set.
Version 1.2 of MacroMind-Paracomp's Three-D animation and rendering package will depend on Zeppo for modeling; the company will offer a bundle of the two programs.
In other news, MacroMind-Paracomp plans to merge with Authorware Inc..
MacroMind-Paracomp Inc. is at 600 Townsend St., Suite 310W, San Francisco, Calif. 94103. Phone (415) 442-0200; fax (415) 442-0190.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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Apple widens software channels
System extensions to take retail route
By Andrew Gore
Napa, Calif. - Apple may soon rank with companies like The Sharper Image as a vendor of nifty technology through catalogs, direct mail and specialty boutiques.
At the Macintosh System Software Forum here last week, Apple outlined plans to get its software to users in entirely new ways. The company also said it will help Macintosh developers sell their products by becoming a distributor of third-party software.
>Operating system updates.
Apple further defined its plans for Reference updates - major upgrades to the operating system that roll in some previously released OS extensions (see MacWEEK, Feb. 17). Reference updates would come about every 12 to 18 months, the company said.
The first Reference update, slated for second-quarter delivery, will build a foundation for future extensions.
"We're putting the Reference architecture together in this release," said Charles Oppenheimer, Apple director of Macintosh system software marketing.
"It will give us the ability to update CPU and language support by extensions, and both of these are critical for us to be able to roll in extensions as part of Reference releases in the future," Oppenheimer said.
In addition to supporting CPU drop-ins, the as-yet-unnumbered System 7 update will be Apple's first "world ready" version of the OS. It will feature full support for one- and two-byte character sets, simplifying the localization process and allowing users to switch input languages from a pull-down menu.
"Reference releases are about being consistent," Oppenheimer said. "Consistency means being the same worldwide at the same time."
The first Reference release will not include any existing extensions to the system, Oppenheimer said. However, QuickTime may be added to the System 7 Personal and Group Upgrade kits when those products get updated.
>Switching channels.
With its new system-software strategy in place, Apple also will implement some radical new methods for getting retail extensions and upgrades to its customers.
In the next few weeks, Apple will sign a deal with either Ingram Micro Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif.; Merisel Inc. of El Segundo, Calif.; or Tech Data Corp. of Clearwater, Fla., to distribute its system software, sources said. The three distributors were recently authorized to sell Apple's full product line to value-added resellers (see MacWEEK, Feb. 24).
The distributor would be allowed to sell System 7 upgrade kits, AppleTalk Remote Access, the upcoming Mac-PC Exchange and the QuickTime Starter Kit to any of its resellers. This would include software boutiques, such as Egghead Discount Software, and mail-order companies, such as MacConnection, which are not currently authorized to sell other Apple products.
Apple also plans to do direct-mail marketing for some or all of its software products, according to Rick Spitz, senior director for Macintosh system software.
"Especially for extensions that retail under $50, direct mail is the only reasonable way to sell," Oppenheimer said. Most extensions will sell for less than $100, he added.
Starter kits - retail packages that introduce novice users to extensions - will be priced at less than $200. "We'll be doing starter kits for OCE (Open Collaboration Environment), AppleScript and the new imaging architecture," Oppenheimer said.
Apple also is considering letting third parties sell Apple system extensions that their software requires, Oppenheimer said.
>Software samplers.
Apple announced its Software Access Initiative, which will "break the mold of the way people become aware of Mac products," said Kirk Loevner, senior director of Apple's Developer Group.
In the first phase of the four-stage plan, Apple will start publishing a sampler of third-party software on CD-ROM. Discs will offer application demos and information on how to buy products.
The samplers also may include full versions of software that users could copy with a password they "purchase" by phone.
"A CD-ROM could put 10 times the number of applications in front of users than they could see in a typical computer store," Loevner said.
Apple will start publishing the samplers around the time it starts shipping its first CD-ROM-equipped Macintoshes at the end of the year.
The second phase will be to install electronic kiosks in computer and personal electron-ics stores. Customers will be able to tour a wide selection of Macintosh software, enter their credit card information and walk away with a copy of the product, Loevner said. Buyers also would be able to purchase product upgrades.
"This reseller kiosk technology will provide virtual shelf space that goes significantly beyond what a dealer could normally stock on physical shelves," Loevner said.
Apple also plans to publish a catalog of third-party software and mail it to registered Mac owners. The catalog would be a slickly produced glossy magazine and would include information about software products and a phone number for ordering.
Apple wants eventually to take its Software Initiative to on-line services. Again, buyers could get "hands-on" time with a product, then download it or have it delivered to their house overnight complete with documentation.
"Software is data; it's bits and bytes," Loevner said. "It's archaic to think you have to have a store to sell software.
"The current distribution channel just can't deliver a large number of titles to a large audience," he said. "It's a funnel that's choking developers, and we're committed to solving that problem."
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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MIDI, video to join QuickTime cast
By Neil McManus
Napa, Calif. - Interactive movies. MIDI soundtracks. Editing live video direct from VCRs. These are some of the coming attractions for QuickTime.
Apple offered a sneak peek of enhancements to its multimedia extension at the Macintosh System Software Forum here last week.
Although the company declined to give a release date, sources said the first sequel to QuickTime will come to users' screens this summer. While analog video and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) support are expected in that release, other enhancements may come later.
New features include:
>Analog video support.
QuickTime-compatible applications will be able to carry live analog video in a window from external NTSC (National Television System Committee) devices such as VCRs and videodisc players. Users will need video input boards such as Truevision Inc.'s NuVista+ or RasterOps Corp.'s 24STV to convert the NTSC signal to RGB (red, green, blue).
This will let Mac users play long video segments from videotape without consuming hard disk space. Users could overlay Mac graphics and synchronize sound with the video through QuickTime.
Analog video support will prove especially useful when combined with device-control languages such as Sony Corp.'s platform-independent VISCA (Video System Control Architecture) protocol, which lets Mac users control up to seven video devices simultaneously.
>MIDI support.
MIDI will be a track type in QuickTime, allowing users to compose and edit music and play it on an external MIDI device such as a synthesizer. In addition, Apple said it is working on improvements to the Mac's Sound Manager that will let it emulate a MIDI synthesizer in software.
"The difference between MIDI and digitized sound is like the difference between PostScript and bit-mapped graphics," said Christine Perey, publisher of The QuickTime Forum, a newsletter based in Placerville, Calif.
Unlike sampled audio, which is storage-intensive, MIDI efficiently holds only the instructions of a performance - like a conductor's score - not the actual audio.
>Interactivity.
QuickTime users will be able to make scriptable movies that can branch off to other movies or applications through Apple's upcoming AppleScript.
Hans Peter Brondmo, co-founder and director of engineering at DiVA Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., said this feature will open a host of creative possibilities.
"With interactive movies, you could have Ted Koppel talking about Saudi Arabia and have a little icon of a veiled woman pop up behind him. When you click on that icon, you'd branch off into a movie about the women's movement, then you'd branch back to Ted's report," Brondmo said.
"Interactive movies will approach virtual reality without the goggles or helmets," Perey said. "You could develop a video game where a dog will be able to sense when a cat is on the screen, and he'll start growling and chase after it."
>Timecode.
QuickTime will be able to carry SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) timecode, letting users assemble edit-decision lists (EDLs) while they edit QuickTime movies in programs such as Adobe Premiere or DiVA's VideoShop. These EDLs can then be used to assemble finished videos through high-end external video-editing systems.
>Compression.
Apple reportedly is working on improved software compression that will let QuickTime movies play back at twice the current frame rates and four times the current window size.
>Closed caption support.
>Kodak PhotoCD support.
QuickTime-savvy applications will be able to display PhotoCD images.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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MicroPhone II 4.0 release causes user confusion
Company admits miscommunication
By Nathalie Welch
Berkeley, Calif. - Some Mac telecommunications users who had eagerly awaited Software Ventures Corp.'s MicroPhone II 4.0 upgrade have been less than pleased when they surveyed the contents of the box.
The users' ire may be a case of great expectations or misunderstanding, depending upon whose point of view one hears.
>Telnet tool.
Users thought a Telnet tool would be included in MicroPhone II 4.0.
"We might have been guilty of some miscommunication," said David Hindawi, president of Software Ventures. "We planned to ship the tool with the applications, but it just was not ready. We will ship it free to all 4.0 users."
But some users said they had not expected the Telnet tool.
"What I got from the product literature is that one would be available, not necessarily included," said beta-tester Douglas K. Eldred, a programming consultant at Control Data Corp. of Minneapolis.
>MPDialogerPro.
An interface design tool that was said to be part of the package, MPDialogerPro may appear as a separate program, which Hindawi said will be free to users.
"We found that almost 99 percent of MicroPhone owners never even knew [MPDialoger] was there," Hindawi said, adding that Dialoger external commands (XCMDs) were folded into the MP Toolbox in MicroPhone. ResEdit is needed when customizing dialog boxes in 4.0's on-line scripts.
>HyperCard. The perceived absence of support for HyperCard XCMDs and external functions (XFCNs) angered some users. The MicroPhone HyperCard utilities guide was condensed into the other two program manuals, which led some users to believe HyperCard support had been pulled out of MicroPhone, the company said.
The program now supports HyperCard 2.0 XCMDs and XFCNs. Version 3.0 did not support HyperCard 2.0 callbacks.
>TCP/IP connectivity pack.
The connectivity tools expected in MicroPhone II 4.0 will be available free to users by fall, Hindawi said.
Software Ventures Corp. is at 2907 Claremont Ave., Suite 220, Berkeley, Calif. 94705. Phone (510) 644-3232; fax (510) 848-0885.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Fax publishing: Instant delivery, but pitfalls abound
By Mitzi Waltz
Stamford, Conn. - It seems it would be hard to lose with a publishing venture in which subscribers paid for all printing expenses on top of the cover price. At Facsimile Marketing Inc., they're banking on it.
FMI, based here, is a broadcast fax service bureau that sends out more than 20 publications via fax. From the Official Airline Guides Inc.'s Travel Management Daily to small financial newsletters, all its publications have benefited from an expanding market for instant information, according to FMI President Jeremy Grayzel.
"The primary thing is speed," Grayzel said. "For any information that's time-sensitive, fax is absolutely the best way. It's also interactive; we have a couple of publications where we send out summary information, and you can call a number and get the full details."
FMI uses a mixed network that includes IBM PCs and Sun workstations, but it relies most heavily on the Mac for formatting and page layout. Most documents are saved as PostScript print files then translated into standard-mode transmission format with GammaPage, an MS-DOS application that works with PC-only fax modems from GammaLink of Sunnyvale, Calif. Receiving the publication from its creator, converting it and sending it to subscribers can be totally automated, Grayzel said. No PostScript fax conversion products are yet available for the Mac.
Jack Powers is editor of The Electronic Pages, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based newsletter on "the future of print in the information age" that is published via fax. Powers said he considers the fax as the back end of a digital printing system. "The best step is to convert your file to PostScript," he said. "Halftoned photos [will] look unbelievably good. If you digitally create the fax through a PostScript-to-fax converter, you bump up the quality."
>PostScript fax.
Adobe Systems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., however, is preparing PostScript fax technology that should be available in printers this summer. New interpreter firmware in the printer will rasterize a file, then determine whether the receiving printer also is equipped for PostScript fax. If so, the printer will send the file in PostScript format; otherwise it sends it as standard fax file.
The first generation of PostScript fax printers will not be able to pass PostScript fax files to a PC, said Charles LeCompte, editor and publisher of The Hard Copy Observer, based in Newton Highlands, Mass.
"The simplest way to imagine [PostScript fax] is plugging a phone line into your LaserWriter," said Adobe Product Marketing Manager Derek Blazensky. The first printer slated for PostScript fax capability is NEC Technologies Inc.'s new SilentWriter Model 95, which will include the technology as a $599 option (see MacWEEK, Jan. 13). Although Adobe officials declined to comment on which other companies will offer PostScript fax, sources predicted Canon USA Inc. will adopt the technology. Apple uses Canon engines for its LaserWriter series of printers.
>Not for everybody.
Not all fax publishers have remained enthusiastic. The Chicago Tribune was an early experimenter - and also one of the first to quit. "We used the phrase 'suspended publication indefinitely' rather than 'terminated' because we're still fascinated with the technology's potential," said Chuck Delgrande, the paper's director of marketing research. The Tribune's daily one-page business news summary cost subscribers $400 annually. Most were businesses that wanted an afternoon update to the morning paper's business pages. Lack of market demand did it in, not technological glitches, Delgrande said. The Tribune used QuarkXPress page-layout software on a Mac IIci to create the summary quickly. It sent the summary to Sprintfax, a Kansas City, Kan., service bureau, for dissemination.
Denver-based Quark Inc. also has moved away from fax publishing for its monthly Impressions newsletter. "We've gone back to mail because of the quantity involved - it's over 700," said Quark representative Lisa Scott. "It's not cost-effective, even if it's done in the middle of the night. There were also a lot of errors." The company still publishes an occasional tip sheet for QuarkXTensions developers via fax.
>Sending fax publications.
Quark's biggest problem was telephone-based: One subscriber's fax machine left off the hook could make Quark's system dial the same number all night long. Those who let someone else do the faxing said they don't have trouble with such things. AT&T, MCI and Sprint all offer broadcast fax services, although some former users say the phone companies' customer service leaves much to be desired.
A number of specialized companies have formed to meet the demand, including Xpedite Systems Inc. of Eatonton, N.J. Xpedite Marketing Manager Cheryl Runquist offered the following advice: "Look for a company that gives you the option of sending [originals] from either your PC or fax machine. You also want to get a detailed report of your broadcast right after your broadcast, so you'll know who received your document and who didn't - and why not."
The Electronic Pages' Powers said: "The fax is becoming a standard computer peripheral. It's a great way to deliver information; it's print, but it's interactive and updatable." Powers said he thinks fax publishing will continue to grow, generating new interactive services and highly personalized publications.
Matthew Rothenberg contributed to this report.
Choosing type for fax
By Mitzi Waltz
Choosing the best typefaces for a simple business fax can be difficult enough - they're often plagued by blurry, jagged text. When you're faxing a publication, however, there's more than the usual pressure to get good-looking output. Your fax publication will be compared with other newsletters or magazines, not to faxed memos.
Lynne Garell, corporate type marketing manager for Adobe Systems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., recommended using typefaces designed for low-resolution printing devices. "The Lucida family holds up very well," she said. "Another good choice is ITC Stone. The overall design of these faces is big and open." Both feature sturdy serifs and strong hairline strokes.
Medium-weight type in the 12- to 14-point range will look best, she added. "Something that's really heavy will tend to fill in, while with something light you may lose bits," she said. "I wouldn't use anything really delicate, like a Bodoni or an elegant formal script. The letterforms might survive, but their beauty may get lost."
For display type, ITC Stone sans-serif, Tekton and Lithos Bold topped her list. And according to users, Adobe Type Manager is a must if you're using a fax modem to distribute your publication. It will rasterize type on the fly when your fax modem is formatting the publication for transmission. That means 20-point type will be just that, not a bit map derived from an 18-point letterform.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
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Review: File servers face off at the net
By Dan Magorian
Of all the networking software Apple has made available, AppleShare is probably the most successful.
Most sites with more than a few Macs run an AppleShare file and print server, and many sites run dozens. Its strengths have been good performance and great ease of use, although AppleShare 2.0, which was released in 1988, has been showing its age for some time.
Apple recently released AppleShare 3.0 after a long gestation, and we compared it with the previous version, as well as with International Business Software's new DataClub 2.0 servers (see MacWEEK, Jan. 6) and System 7's built-in file sharing.
Many sites running AppleShare 2.0.1 are probably wondering whether to upgrade to 3.0 or convert to an alternate server such as DataClub.
Because AppleShare 3.0 depends on System 7, this involves the controversy over System 7's performance and features. In particular, since every Macintosh running System 7 can now operate as a background file server, many advocates of peer- to-peer strategies feel that the release of AppleShare 3.0 is mainly market positioning to satisfy traditional client-server
Whither peer to peer? When we looked at DataClub 2.0, we found that it has much to offer advocates of peer-to-peer services. Pioneered by Sitka Corp.'s TOPS, peer-to-peer file service makes good use of disk space distributed among multiple Macs across the network, instead of requiring large disks on a central server.
The trade-off for this type of service is reliability: Because Macs do not have protection between processes, if the foreground application crashes, the background file-service clients crash as well. Even without crashing, the foreground application's performance can slow to a crawl with extensive background traffic.
IBS has a solution to this basic trade-off with DataClub Classic 2.0. One of the first commercial implementations of a distributed file system for Macs, it uses space from participating Mac disks to form an integrated "virtual server," which mounts as a single volume on the desktop.
This is far more convenient than searching for space on multiple Macintoshes using System 7's file sharing. Folders on the server volume are location-independent and can be easily moved between physical disks. There is limited fault- tolerance in that files located on participating Macs that crash are simply unavailable until the Mac comes back on-line.
For better performance, IBS offers DataClub Elite, which provides a performance boost to the distributed file system by integrating one or more dedicated servers. While it does not have to be run on a dedicated Mac, it comes with an application, LockScreen, that locks the console to ensure maximum performance.
DataClub implements all the features of AppleShare 2.0.1 and is fully compliant with AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol).
We found DataClub Elite to be significantly faster than AppleShare under a heavy multi-user load. The DataClub Admin application can be run from any Mac instead of just from the console, and it has a similar interface to AppleShare for dealing with users and groups. In addition, DataClub offers load statistics showing disk usage on participating Macs, which is a nice touch.
>AppleShare 3.0.
Since the debut of AppleShare 2.0.1 in 1988, users have been deluging Apple with requests for enhancements. But after innumerable focus- and user-group meetings, AppleShare 3.0 implemented only a disappointingly small set of new features.
Many users wanted a full-featured competitor to Novell Inc.'s NetWare to take advantage of the power of the Quadras, with advanced features such as fault-tolerant disks, automatic reconnection after crashes and disk-space quotas for users. Others were keenly interested in a network start-up feature for Macs, similar to what AppleShare currently provides for Apple IIs, and print-server enhancements, such as multiple printers per queue and page-limit controls. Sadly, AppleShare 3.0 has none of these.
In a limited way, however, the new features in AppleShare 3.0 are useful. Topping the list from Apple's point of view is dependency upon System 7. Since a single-user Finder no longer exists in System 7, this means that AppleShare 3.0 no longer requires a dedicated Mac. This is convenient for administration, although using an important server concurrently as a workstation is not a good idea.
(Users of CE Software Inc.'s QuickMail 2.5 will be disappointed to find that they cannot run their mail server concurrently on an AppleShare 3.0 server.)
This also means that the Server Folder is visible to the administrator user, which greatly simplifies server backup chores.
The AppleShare Admin application still runs only on the console - ensuring a continuing market for Farallon Computing Inc.'s Timbuktu - but the ability to share folders instead of just volumes has been added, along with the ability to send messages to users. Log-on greetings can be created, and one or all users can be disconnected at any time. CD-ROM volumes finally can be changed without having to bring the server down.
Password control has been enhanced with AppleShare 3.0, with the capability to control minimum length of passwords, require their changing at specific intervals and limit log-on retries to deter guessing. Privileges can be inherited from enclosing folders.
The number of concurrent users can be limited to control performance, and the number of in-use copies of programs can be metered for license compliance. The latter was a much- sought administrator request, although it is a long way from the capabilities of Sassafras Software Inc.'s KeyServer. The print server contains no visible enhancements at all, although it is now bundled with the file server.
The benchmarks, please. Because high-speed file service is important at many sites, we ran tests to determine server performance under load. The results were interesting. Many people have complained about the poor performance of System 7, which would lead us to the perception that AppleShare 3.0 seems slower than Version 2.0.1 on comparable hardware. Surprisingly, we found that, overall, they are about the same speed, a tribute to Apple's engineers. DataClub was the speed champ here, however.
System 7's file sharing did surprisingly well. We had expected it to be significantly slower. Instead, it was slightly faster for small numbers of users, although it slowed as the number of users increased.
You might conclude from this that System 7's file sharing is all you need, but Apple has limited the number of users to 10.
System 7's file sharing also does not include the enhancements and controls that AppleShare 3.0 has, but at its core, System 7's file sharing is the same program as AppleShare.
>Conclusions.
DataClub Elite definitely wins on performance, especially when running under System 6.0.7. (It was almost 20 percent faster running under System 6.0.7 than it was under System 7.0.1.) For sites needing to make the most of available distributed disks, IBS' virtual server approach is also a big win.
Performance isn't everything, however. Many users will continue to prefer centralized AppleShare servers for their easier administration, especially with the declining prices of large disks.
While DataClub Elite can be run in this mode, aside from the virtual server, it essentially implements the AppleShare 2.0 feature set. AppleShare 3.0's additional features, although disappointingly fewer than many users wanted, are still quite useful.
We also found administering a distributed file system considerably more hassle than administering a centralized one, a task not made easier by the bare-bones DataClub Admin application.
Beyond implementation details, we also wished DataClub had taken the next step in integrating local and remote storage into a more advanced distributed file system.
For example, Andrew File System from Transarc Corp. of Pittsburgh, turns local Unix disks into cache for the remote file system, erasing the difference between local and remote storage in a unified volume.
Without this technology, we feel that novice users will find the difference between files stored on their local disks directly and through a DataClub server confusing. Since there's no mechanism to control where users store files, some sites may need to use security software to force users to use DataClub exclusively.
Overall, we suspect that many sites will simply upgrade to AppleShare 3.0, possibly along with hardware upgrades that mask the differences from System 7.
Pricing is also an issue: Apple offers deeper discounts and less expensive site licenses on AppleShare to educational and other customers, based on the number of servers per site. But we really wished that Apple had implemented more user- requested advanced features, especially since AppleShare is losing ground to NetWare for that reason.
Still, except for sites needing maximum performance or distributed disk utilization, we prefer AppleShare's feature set over DataClub's.
Score Card: Macintosh file servers
Categories AppleShare 3.0 DataClub 2.0
Overall value Very good Very good
Performance Very good Good
Features Very good Good
Ease of use Very good Good
Documentation/support Good Good
List price $1,199 $395*
*For three-user Classic; $1,395 for one Elite server.
On Balance: Macintosh file servers
>AppleShare 3.0 offers only modest enhancements over its successful AppleShare 2.0.1 predecessor, chiefly non- dedicated operation under System 7, enhanced CD-ROM support, server messages, user disconnection, enhanced password security and program-use metering. Like Version 2.0.1, it continues the tradition of good performance and great ease of use that will ensure its success at many sites. It does need more robust features, however, to compete effectively with products such as Novell Inc.'s NetWare.
>DataClub Elite 2.0 from International Business Software is the only creditable Mac-based replacement for AppleShare. It reliably integrates distributed disks on participating Macs into a virtual server far more convenient than System 7's file sharing or Sitka Corp.'s TOPS. It also provides superior performance under heavy loads and when run under System 6. However, administering a distributed file system is more of a hassle than administering a centralized one, and it is made more difficult by DataClub Admin's bare-bones features. We also feel that novice users might find DataClub's virtual- server approach confusing.
(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Is software copied illegally at your company?
By Clay Andres
Stealing software is easy. You just copy it. On the other hand, calling the Software Publishers Association anti-piracy hot line is easy, too. Any disgruntled employee or competitor can dial (800) 388-7478, and before you know it, you could be facing legal action, stiff fines and perhaps a prison term.
>Stealing without victims.
You may be thinking, "I didn't steal this software. My colleague was happy to let me copy it." The victim here is not your colleague but the software publisher. Nearly every software package purchased comes with an end- user license that forbids this kind of copying, and it is the abuse of this license that has driven more than 800 publishers to band together in the SPA to protect their rights and royalties.
"Our purpose is not just to recover lost revenues but primarily to educate our end users about what they can and can't do," said Steve Peters, a corporate counsel for Adobe Systems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., one of SPA's members. "Many people call with questions about what's legal. They want to do what's ethically correct."
To help users know what is ethical and what is illegal, the SPA has "an active educational campaign," said Adam Konowe, a public relations specialist with the SPA. The SPA gave more than 100 lectures last year at which it distributed self-audit kits to help users find illegally copied software. It also distributes a free 12-minute videotape titled, "It's Just Not Worth the Risk." "Getting the word out is just as important as going after and catching pirates," Konowe said.
>Who suffers?
While copying software may seem benign enough, it is a serious problem for the industry. The SPA estimates that its members lose more than $2 billion in revenues to piracy annually. Worldwide estimates are more than $10 billion.
Eight SPA members have founded the Business Software Alliance to combat software piracy outside North America. The BSA is not only tracking down corporate pirates but negotiating with countries to recognize international copyrights on software.
"China just agreed to sign the Berne convention," said Laurie Forte, director of public relations at the BSA, referring to one such copyright agreement. "This came about through aggressive lobbying by the software industry and by the U.S. trade association."
Yet even the Berne convention will not guarantee compliance with the software anti-piracy laws. While technically a member of an earlier Berne convention, Thailand has not signed on to the most recent version of the Berne convention, which sets a standard for the protection of copyrighted software. According to Forte, in 1990 software piracy in Thailand cost software distributors and publishers an estimated $50 million in revenues.
>A cautionary tale.
With the worldwide efforts to stop software piracy, it's becoming downright dangerous for MIS managers to ignore the in-house "borrowing" of software. "We've seen instances of corporations beaten up by the SPA, and we've had some of our software pirated," said Ken Wiley, president of Expert Systems Inc., a developer of Mac-based expert systems.
To combat the problem, ESI has developed DiskAuditor, a utility program that searches disk drives and compiles an audit list of all applications, control panels and extensions. You can then identify and erase any unauthorized copies found. It also keeps a file on the machines you audit so that you can come back some months later and ascertain that no illegal software has been added.
To control networkwide piracy, some Mac managers are turning to products such as KeyServer 3.0 from Sassafras Software Inc., which lets users keep copies of applications on their local disks but limits the number that can be used simultaneously.
One company "beaten up" by the software police is Discovery Toys Inc., a toy manufacturer in Martinez, Calif. Discovery Toys knew that it had a software piracy problem but had not yet dealt with it when it was sued by the SPA. "We quickly realized that we and the SPA were on the same side," said Mark Kenney, counsel for Discovery Toys.
Discovery Toys agreed to implement policies aimed at avoiding illegal copying, to remove all unlicensed software from its computers and to audit each machine regularly to ensure that there is no illegal copying in the future. "They have to go through each of their machines and do a thorough audit," Kenney said.
>Worst-case scenario.
Autodesk Inc. of Sausalito, Calif., publisher of AutoCAD, has developed a reputation as one of the fiercest protectors of its licenses. In addition to being a member of the SPA, it has hired an outside law firm to prosecute suspected pirates and has recovered more than $6 million in 3,500 cases.
"The least we'll settle for is that you pay retail price for every copy you've made," said Sandy Bolton, head of Autodesk's anti-piracy group. "We get reports from competitors, consultants and dealers who lose revenue because of illegal copying." But by far, both Bolton and Konowe at the SPA see most reports from disgruntled employees. And as Bolton pointed out, "If you've never had a disgruntled employee, you're lucky." But she might just as well have said that if you've never had illegally copied software in your company you're lucky.
Reading the fine print
By Clay Andres
Knowing which kind of license you have could make a significant difference in the number of copies you need to buy.
When you open a box of software, the thing you are most likely to ignore or throw away is the end-user license. A careful reading will show you that different manufacturers grant different rights under this license.
The most liberal grant what is called a "concurrent license." This allows you to use your software in the office, take it home at night or travel with it on business trips. You can even it put it on a server for network access, as long as that piece of software is running only on a single machine at any given time.
Microsoft Corp. and Claris Corp., as well as most other manufacturers, use this type of license. However, many, including Aldus Corp., have stuck to what is called "exclusive licensing." The software is licensed to a single machine. You may not use it on a colleague's machine, take it home, travel with it or use it over a network.
KeyServer 3.0: $680 for 10 clients; $47 per additional user
Box 150, Hanover, N.H. 03755
Phone and fax (603) 643-3351
Software Publishers Association
SPAudit: Free
1730 M St. N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone (202) 452-1600; fax (202) 223-8756; anti-piracy hot line (800) 388-7478.
(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
Product Watch Page 41
(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Knife: Pump up the PowerBooks
If the Knife were following the travails of those guys who aspire to make George Bush eligible for unemployment compensation benefits rather than following all things Mac, there would be a lot of real estate on this page devoted to Super Tuesday and the meaning of winning by placing second.
As it is, the Knife is happy to reveal details about the supercharged versions of the PowerBook 140 and 170 that Apple is thought to be considering. Sources claim that most of the features are just what users have been clamoring for. This list is expected to include a gray-scale active-matrix display and a video-out port suitable for driving a standard color display. Those who spend a lot of time on the go will benefit from the projected longer battery life and an improved Power Manager. If these options are given the green light, you can expect them to arrive in time for the traditional fall volume- selling furor.
Thoughts of retailing conjure up different images for different people. For some it's the image of a most definitely employed George Bush buying socks in a bid to help those who are not. For others, it's the image of gleaming shelves full of the latest raft of consumer electronics all bearing the Apple logo.
To no one's surprise, Apple has recently selected a Japanese partner to manufacture its first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Contrary to the conventional wisdom, which put the smart money on Sony, the selected company is Sharp Electronics. Sources tell the Knife that Sharp engineers were convinced that the company had squeezed just about as much juice out of the handheld Sharp Wizard as was possible and viewed the Apple PDA manufacturing arrangement as a convenient way out of this little quandary.
Longtime Apple partner Sony, on the other hand, is still milking the Japanese market for its popular Palmtop line of electronic personal organizers. Then there's Minolta, a company whose executives were overheard during the recent Macworld Tokyo bragging that the company had recently struck a deal with Apple.
>Long and productive.
Claris has been quite adamant that it has no plans to kill off HyperCard, speaking forcefully about the many wild and wonderful features of upcoming versions all the way up to 3.0. Of course, everyone knows that Apple's own AppleScript offers the most credible competition. Some even claim that the development of a decent AppleScript front end capable of reading existing stacks would greatly hasten HyperCard's demise. If so, take a good look at HyperCard while you can. The Knife reports that several developers are working on such products.
>Bad pixels, bad.
Judging from the number of incoming messages the Knife has received lately, there's a lot of confusion about Apple's defective-pixel policy for the PowerBook 170. Apple will replace any screen that has any dead pixels, which are black. However, void pixels, which are white, are considered by Apple to be much less offensive. In fact, the company simply refuses to replace screens with five or fewer void pixels. So far, so good.
What many users, and not a few field technicians, don't know is that there is an important exception to this rather rigid policy. Two void pixels within an inch of each other will qualify for a prompt, cheerful replacement.
>A sun-dried brick.
Adobe watchers haven't had much in the way of new products or upgrades to watch lately, but the Knife says this will change later this year when the company announces major upgrades to three products.
Illustrator and Photoshop are perhaps due for upgrades, but some might be surprised to learn that a new version of the recently released Premiere could be announced as early as this summer. Sources tell the Knife that it will sport a host of new features, including significantly enhanced image-editing and manipulation features. It beats running in place.
>Sens.
Kerry and Harkin are both probably thinking they should have spent their free time earning a MacWEEK mug instead of foolishly attempting to compete with the Towering Trio. You, however, can learn from their mistake. If you've got the insider info, the Knife can be reached at (415) 243-3500, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 03/09/92
Mac the Knife Page 98
(MacWEEK, March 9, 1992) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
