Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac 1993 September/September 93.iso/Community/Media/US Magazine Index/MacWEEK 1992/MacWEEK 8⁄10⁄92

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MacWEEK 8/10/92
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 Few expo breakthroughs, but buyers find thriving market

 QuickTime, laptops dominate Boston show

By MacWEEK staff

Boston - Crowds thronging to last week's eighth annual Boston Macworld
Expo shopped for bargains, previewed emerging technologies, and
evaluated a thousand and one new products and upgrades.

Most attendees, however, said they found few breakthroughs. "By and
large I didn't see the real splashy new things I've come to expect,"
said William Cook, technical adviser at Pitney Bowes Inc. in Shelton,
Conn. "I was looking for companies such as UserLand (Software Inc.) and
Dayna (Communications Inc.), but they weren't here."

For corporate customers willing to brave the crowds, it was a chance to
check out vendors and their offerings.

Some vendors said the expo crowd tended toward end users. "Overall,
there is a growing schism between the people we sell to and expo
attendees," said Ted Stabler, president of Cayman Systems Inc. of
Cambridge, Mass.


PowerBooks.

Utilities and hardware tailored to Apple's mobile Macs were everywhere
on the show floor. Newer Technology drew crowds to see its upcoming
replacement color PowerBook screen, while other show goers shopped for
here-and-now video adapters from Computer Care Inc., Envisio Inc. and
Mirror Technologies Inc.

"The [color] displays would be nice if they were half the [$5,000]
price," Cook said. "I'm hoping they'll be down there by the end of
1993."

Multimedia.

Providers of video and audio software, hardware, and services,
particularly QuickTime-based tools and titles, blanketed the Bayside
Exposition Center.

Apple, meanwhile, demonstrated  bigger and better movies based on
SuperMac Technology's Compact Video compressor- decompressor routines,
which will be built into the next version of QuickTime.

System 7.

Power users hungry for more than balloon help and TrueType looked for
utilities to enhance the new OS, as well as RAM and accelerators that
bring performance up to snuff. A number of companies showed System
7-dependent applications and utilities, and a smattering of programs
that take real advantage of features such as Apple events.


Apple claimed last week that more than 4 million users - about half of
the installed base - have adopted System 7 over the past 16 months.
(This includes many whose Macs require the new OS.) The company said
4,000 applications are now compatible with the OS, but by Apple's own
count only 360 take advantage of specific System 7 capabilities.

Besides QuickTime, Apple showcased At Ease, its new interface for
novices and children. The company kept forthcoming system enhancements,
including OCE (Open Collaboration Environment), QuickDraw GX and
AppleScript, off the main floor, but previewed them in developer
seminars and a System Software Revolution Showcase at the nearby
Computer Museum.

"The people who say there's nothing exciting going on at the show
haven't seen this room," said Chris Ogden, president of Synapps, a
Chapel Hill, N.C., consulting company. "Over here, it's sizzling."

MacWEEK 08.10.92

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(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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 Developers heed Apple's OCE call, give users a peek

By Henry Norr and Mitch Ratcliffe

Boston - What OCE might mean for Mac users became a little clearer and
more concrete last week, as several vendors demonstrated applications
based on Apple's upcoming messaging technology.

OCE (Open Collaboration Environment), a System 7 add-on once slated for
release this fall but now reportedly delayed until next year, wasn't at
Apple's Macworld Expo booth. But the company did show it off, along with
other upcoming technologies, at a system-software sideshow held at the
nearby Computer Museum. A number of third-party developers were on hand
to demo their OCE works in progress.

OCE and the new Finder that will come with it will put a host of
communications and information-management capabilities on the Mac
desktop, including messaging services available to any application; a
mailbox and directories that offer users a consistent, integrated view
of diverse network user names and addresses and gateways to other
messaging systems; a tagging system for categorizing messages; and a
sophisticated digital- signature scheme for document authentication.


Third-party demos included:

Beyond Butler.

Beyond Inc., which last week shipped a Windows complement to its
groundbreak-ing DOS mail- handling software, showed an OCE-based
counterpart for the Mac. Code-named Beyond Butler, the software will let
users, managers or consultants set up systems that automatically process
and respond to incoming messages and files, according to the Cambridge,
Mass.-based company.

The system, operating in the background, filters items arriving in OCE's
Compound Mailbox from any source on the basis of tags; strings within
message text; or header fields such as file type, sender, date and
priority. It then processes the files on the basis of custom rules
written with a point-and-click editor in a language that is a dialect of
AppleScript.

Butler can be controlled via AppleScript, and its own scripts,
conversely, can trigger AppleScript sequences that launch and direct
other scriptable applications.

The technology will, according to the company, let administrators and
consultants set up systems that automatically perform routine functions
such as consolidating Microsoft Excel spreadsheets mailed by branch
offices or responding to employee inquiries about unused vacation time
after querying an ACIUS 4th Dimension database.

Butler, due when OCE is released, will ship with a set of MailMinders,
or focused, easy-to-use mini-editors for defining rules for common
situations. Among them, the company said, will be Letter Clerk, which
automatically tags and sorts incoming traffic; While I'm Out, which
monitors and replies to, files or forwards messages when the user is
unavailable; and AutoForward, a "distribution agent" that can forward
specified kinds of messages to appropriate users, addresses, or fax or
pager destinations.

Administrators will be able to lock and export custom corporate rule
sets and share rules developed for BeyondMail on DOS and Windows.

Snow Report Writer.

Snow Software, a subsidiary of Clearwater, Fla.-based Snow International
Corp., showed an OCE-enabled Mac version of a report generator already
available on DOS, Windows, Unix and VMS. The software will let users
write scripts that periodically search databases, spreadsheets and other
files on multiple platforms; incorporate the results into custom
layouts; and route the report via OCE to particular users or locations
depending on scripted criteria.

The program can search some 50 formats, including 4D, Excel and Claris
Corp.'s FileMaker Pro on the Mac; Oracle, Paradox, SQL Server, Sybase
and xBASE on other platforms; and fixed ASCII and tab-delimited files
from any source.

Pricing will start at $495 for a single-user package without SQL
support.


Informed and Accountant, Inc.

Shana Corp. of Edmonton, Alberta, showed versions of its Informed forms
packages incorporating OCE's messaging and authentication features.
Users will be able to "sign" a document with a digital signature,
creating a sort of checksum that can be used to identify an altered or
forged document, by clicking a radio button when saving or sending the
file.

In last week's demo Shana representatives used OCE to transmit a form to
an unattended Macintosh running Softsync Inc.'s Accountant, Inc., which
verified the document's authenticity before posting the data to the
accounting system.

QuickMail.

CE Software Inc. demonstrated its OCE-compatible mail interface, which
adds the familiar QuickMail forms and forms editor to OCE mailers. The
West Des Moines, Iowa, company reportedly will scrap its server
technology for OCE- only environments, while continuing to offer it for
non-OCE networks.

StarNine gateways.

StarNine Technologies Inc. of Berkeley, Calif., demonstrated
OCE-to-QuickMail and OCE-to-Microsoft Mail gateways, which will let OCE
users exchange mail with the other systems. The company also plans to
offer OCE Service Access Modules that will provide gateways to mail
systems based on X.400, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), Message
Handling Service, Vines Mail and Unix to Unix Copy Program.


MacWEEK 08.10.92

News Page 1

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

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 Performa, IIvx, IIvi to redefine Mac line

 Consumer Macs set for Sept. 14 launch

 By Andrew Gore

Cupertino, Calif. - Forget everything you think you know about how Apple
sells Macs.

When the company introduces the Mac Performa 600, Mac IIvx and IIvi this
fall, it will break with a lot of traditions, including its
long-standing practice of using one name per design. All three of the
new systems are based on the same architecture, featuring a 68030
processor, three NuBus slots and a processor direct slot. The Performa
600 and its CD-ROM- equipped sibling, the Performa 600 CD, will be
distributed through mass-market outlets, while the IIvx and IIvi will be
sold through traditional dealer channels and superstores.

The new series also will bring a new approach to product introductions.
Contrary to previous reports (see MacWEEK, Aug. 3), Apple will introduce
the Performa 600 on Sept. 14, while holding off the IIvx and IIvi until
Oct. 19.

Alongside the new Performa 600 and Performa 600 CD, the company will
roll out two low-priced consumer models, the Performa 200 and Performa
400, next month. The two are rechristened versions of the Mac Classic II
and LC II, respectively.

The Performa 600 and 600 CD will run at 32 MHz but will have no math
coprocessor or built-in cache. The Mac IIvx will run at the same clock
speed but will include a 68882 math chip and 32 Kbytes of cache RAM,
while the IIvi will run at 16 MHz and lack a math chip or cache.

The primary reason for breaking up the debut, sources said, is to get
the consumer Macs into stores by the pre-Christmas buying season.

Pricing on the Performa line will range from about $1,000 to more than
$3,000. All models will include at least 4 Mbytes of RAM; an 80-Mbyte
hard drive; Apple's new At Ease interface extension; and application
software, such as ClarisWorks.

The Performa 600 CD and CD-ROM-ready versions of the IIvx and IIvi will
include a collection of CDs, sources said. The internal CD-ROM drive,
called the AppleCD 300i, is based on a Sony dual-speed mechanism, which
offers twice the data transfer rate of Apple's current CD-ROM drives.

Features common to the 600, IIvx and IIvi include on-board video and 512
Kbytes of video RAM, enabling the machines to display 16-bit color on
12-inch monitors or eight-bit color on 13-inch displays. With an
additional 512 Kbytes of VRAM, the systems can display 16-bit color on
13-inch monitors. The systems can be expanded to up to 68 Mbytes of RAM.

In another marketing change, Apple may not offer all of the new models
in all geographical regions, letting marketing staff in each region
determine what models to sell.

MacWEEK 08.10.92

News Page 1

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

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 Dockable Duo ready to join notebook cast

 By Andrew Gore

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple is finalizing plans for the Oct. 19 delivery
of four additions to its hot-selling PowerBook line.

The company reportedly has settled on the name PowerBook Duo for a new
4-pound, dockable notebook design, and on PowerBook 160 and 180 for
successors to the 140 and 170.


PowerBook Duo.

The dockable design will include a backlit supertwist display measuring
about 9 inches diagonally, offering a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels
and delivering 16 shades of grey. The company reportedly will offer both
a 33- MHz version, to be called the Duo 230, and a 25-MHz version,
called the 210. The Duo will support up to 24 Mbytes of RAM.

A Duo with 4 Mbytes of RAM and an 80-Mbyte hard disk is expected to cost
less than $3,000. A 120-Mbyte configuration also will be available.

Apple will offer two docking mechanisms for the Duo, called the Duo Dock
and Duo MiniDock, which will be available separately.

The Duo Dock, which is intended for use on the desktop, includes two
NuBus slots, an additional hard drive, a floppy drive, on-board video
that can display eight-bit color on a 16-inch display, and the standard
array of ports.

The MiniDock, designed primarily to provide the standard Mac ports for
on-the-road Duos, supports eight-bit video on a 16-inch display. The
MiniDock reportedly does not include a hard drive or floppy but will
have ports for external storage devices.

Users will dock the Duos as if they are inserting a giant floppy disk -
a mechanism draws the PowerBook into the dock and locks it down.


PowerBook 160 and 180.

The PowerBook 160 is expected to include a backlit supertwist LCD screen
that supports 16 levels of gray, a 25-MHz 68030 without a math
coprocessor and a video-out port that can display eight-bit color on a
13-inch monitor.

The 180, according to sources, will have a 33-MHz '030 with a math
coprocessor and will support eight-bit color on a 16-inch display. Like
the PowerBook 100, which Apple this month took off its retail-channel
price list, the 160 and 180 can act as an external SCSI drive when
cabled to another Mac.

Both the 160 and the 180 will come in a number of configurations,
starting at a minimum of 4 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 14 Mbytes, and
an 80-Mbyte or 120-Mbyte hard disk. Prices for the models have not been
set, but they are expected to range from about $2,600 to $3,500.

The recently introduced PowerBook 145 will continue to hold up the low
end of the product line. The 170 is expected to be discontinued when the
180 ships.

Apple declined to comment.

MacWEEK 08.10.92

News Page 1

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

-----------------------
 Dockable Duo ready to join notebook cast

 By Andrew Gore

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple is finalizing plans for the Oct. 19 delivery
of four additions to its hot-selling PowerBook line.

The company reportedly has settled on the name PowerBook Duo for a new
4-pound, dockable notebook design, and on PowerBook 160 and 180 for
successors to the 140 and 170.


PowerBook Duo.

The dockable design will include a backlit supertwist display measuring
about 9 inches diagonally, offering a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels
and delivering 16 shades of grey. The company reportedly will offer both
a 33- MHz version, to be called the Duo 230, and a 25-MHz version,
called the 210. The Duo will support up to 24 Mbytes of RAM.

A Duo with 4 Mbytes of RAM and an 80-Mbyte hard disk is expected to cost
less than $3,000. A 120-Mbyte configuration also will be available.

Apple will offer two docking mechanisms for the Duo, called the Duo Dock
and Duo MiniDock, which will be available separately.

The Duo Dock, which is intended for use on the desktop, includes two
NuBus slots, an additional hard drive, a floppy drive, on-board video
that can display eight-bit color on a 16-inch display, and the standard
array of ports.

The MiniDock, designed primarily to provide the standard Mac ports for
on-the-road Duos, supports eight-bit video on a 16-inch display. The
MiniDock reportedly does not include a hard drive or floppy but will
have ports for external storage devices.

Users will dock the Duos as if they are inserting a giant floppy disk -
a mechanism draws the PowerBook into the dock and locks it down.


PowerBook 160 and 180.

The PowerBook 160 is expected to include a backlit supertwist LCD screen
that supports 16 levels of gray, a 25-MHz 68030 without a math
coprocessor and a video-out port that can display eight-bit color on a
13-inch monitor.

The 180, according to sources, will have a 33-MHz '030 with a math
coprocessor and will support eight-bit color on a 16-inch display. Like
the PowerBook 100, which Apple this month took off its retail-channel
price list, the 160 and 180 can act as an external SCSI drive when
cabled to another Mac.

Both the 160 and the 180 will come in a number of configurations,
starting at a minimum of 4 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 14 Mbytes, and
an 80-Mbyte or 120-Mbyte hard disk. Prices for the models have not been
set, but they are expected to range from about $2,600 to $3,500.

The recently introduced PowerBook 145 will continue to hold up the low
end of the product line. The 170 is expected to be discontinued when the
180 ships.

Apple declined to comment.

MacWEEK 08.10.92

News Page 1

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

-----------------------
 How corporations make type-buying decisions

 In-house corporate designers must make decisions based on good taste -
and the bottom line.

By Mitzi Waltz

It's never been easy for designers in corporate settings to choose type.
Not only do they have to please their own design sensibilities, they've
got to keep the bean counters happy and make sure the choices won't
cause compatibility problems. And as if mediating the PostScript Type 1
vs. TrueType issue wasn't enough, new font technologies such as Adobe
Systems Inc.'s multiple master keep changing the terrain.


Money matters.

In the current economic climate, cost comes before most other concerns.
Richard Davies, a graphic designer at Oklahoma City-based Brent Gooden &
Co. Inc., who creates presentations, news releases and brochures on his
Mac IIci, uses both TrueType and Type 1 fonts - and high costs are
cramping his style, he said.

"I think fonts are extremely expensive," Davies said. "I don't have
many, so I've been trying to find ways to gain fonts without having to
spend $300 or $400 for just a few." He's checking into mail-order font
packages and looking enviously at the prices for collections on CD-ROM.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a player yet," Davies said.

CD-ROM-based compendiums of fonts provide the widest selection for the
lowest prices. Many come with extra fonts under a software lock that can
be opened with reasonably priced "keys," giving an inexpensive way to
get headline or text fonts quickly and easily.

For example, the AgfaType collection on CD-ROM, available in PostScript
or TrueType format, offers 20 unlocked faces plus a Pi and Symbols font
for $99. The same 20 faces would cost $740 if purchased separately.
Agfa, a division of Miles Inc., charges $50 per face to unlock fonts,
with a two-face minimum.

Dan Rioux, research analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. of Boston
has a simpler approach to keeping font costs down, although it limits
his publication-design options. "We don't pay money for fonts," he said.
"Most of our people can't tell the difference between Times and
Palatino, so we tell them to stick with the basic 35 fonts in the Apple
LaserWriter font family. That makes life easier."


Design decisions.

"From a design perspective, it's hard to keep track" of the hundreds of
hot new typefaces, said George Pierson, design director in the creative
services department of Home Box Office Inc. in New York. "Everyone has
preferences, but you have to be careful - some are kind of trendy. You
buy them for one job and then never use them again."

He said he expects to see more custom design or alteration of type in
the future. "We already make a lot of modifications with Adobe
Illustrator," he said, adding that Adobe's multiple- master fonts will
offer useful new tools for creating font variations. "We saw a demo of
it, and it looks great," he said. "It'll help designers maintain a sense
of integrity in typography that's sometimes missing now."

Cutting-edge typography isn't always the best goal, he cautioned.
"Someone told me once, 'good typography is when you don't notice the
type, you just read the message,' " Pierson said. "With all the
thousands of [fonts] that we have at our disposal, we keep going back to
the tried-and-true classics for simple readability."


Seeing double.

Making sure the same fonts are available on both Macs and IBM PCs and
compatibles is important to training consultant Brien Muller, whose B.
Muller Training Company is based in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Muller uses Aldus
PageMaker 4.0 on both platforms to create course materials for his
computer classes as well as marketing materials. "I tend to use the
standard 35 fonts for the LaserWriter IINT" as well as for NEC Corp.'s
PostScript-equipped SilentWriter for the PC, Muller said, echoing a
familiar refrain.

When converting PC documents created with TrueType fonts into PostScript
for printing, Muller said, characters sometimes end up with different
widths and spacing, leading to formatting problems. Muller added that
he's interested in moving to a purely TrueType environment on both
sides. "Speed has been my main interest in TrueType on the PC side," he
said. "Also, TrueType is built into Windows, whereas Adobe Type 1
requires an add-on program (Adobe Type Manager)."

Although Microsoft Corp. and Apple herald TrueType as the solution for
cross-platform shops (see story, Page 34), in- house designers are not
universally thrilled. Transferring documents between PCs and Macs still
requires character conversion, regardless of whether TrueType or
PostScript fonts are used because the two platforms use different
character-encoding schemes.


Trouble with TrueType.

Several users, including Liberty Mutual's Rioux, said that in an
environment with PostScript printers, TrueType is more trouble than it's
worth. "Clients call up and tell me their printers are suddenly running
incredibly slow or hanging, and every time it's a TrueType font," Rioux
said. "The extent that we're using TrueType is the extent that we have
to, now that it's a part of System 7." But buying PostScript fonts for
every new user and removing all TrueType fonts would be prohibitively
expensive, he added. Brent Gooden's Davies said he transfers only ASCII
text across platforms, even when both parties are using TrueType.


Conservative choices.

Brand-name loyalty still plays a part in corporate type decisions. At
RCA Records Corp. in New York, for example, "we just stick with Adobe,"
computer-graphics specialist Amy Ortenburg said. "We don't want to
hassle around, we just need fonts - so we get the whole Adobe Type
Library."

In-house designers are, by and large, not a trendy bunch. The corporate
communications they design need to reflect well on their companies and,
most important, be ready on schedule. Meeting these goals drives them to
choose typefaces carefully, adhere closely to classic type-design
principles and avoid complex font-conversion schemes when working on
more than one platform. It also makes them look warily at new
technologies that may cost time and money without providing benefits.

MacWEEK 08.10.92

GA Extra Page 30

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

-----------------------
 Navigational utilities:Finding your way through info maze

 Fast, effective way to handle data

By Mitzi Waltz

Where's that water-quality report from February? And where's the chart
that goes with it, or for that matter, the application that it was
created in? If this frantic inner conversation sounds a little too
familiar, help is available in the form of navigational software.

These dedicated utilities enable users to sort through and organize the
maze of data on your Mac's hard disk, floppy or removable storage
systems by quickly locating files and applications, accessing buried
data, and cataloging files.


Where did I put it?

Finding the right file or application quickly can be problematic,
especially if folders are buried within folders. While System 6's Find
File desk accessory can be used for simple searches, and System 7's Find
command for more complex searches, other utilities have emerged to offer
users even more enhanced retrieval functions.

One of the earliest of these programs was CE Software Inc.'s DiskTop.
One of DiskTop's capabilities is to locate files on any mounted volume,
searching on several criteria including file name, type, creator, dates
and size. Found files, even from several volumes, can be globally
copied, moved or deleted.

Several other search utilities also are available, including No Hands
Software's Magnet (see MacWEEK, July 27) and Symantec Corp.'s Fast Find,
which is a part of Norton Utilities for Macintosh 2.0.


What did I put in it?

Locating a file by name is one thing, but often a file name says nothing
about the file's contents. There are several programs available that
allow you to look at every instance of a particular word or phrase in
text files spread throughout different volumes.

With FetchIt, an inexpensive extension from CRA Z Software, you can
enter a text string and receive a list of files in which the string
appears. FetchIt brings up the found text in context in an Alarm
Clock-like window. If more than one instance is found, users can pull up
each one with a stroke of the Command key.

Howard Berman, product-marketing manager at Billerica, Mass.-based
Custom Applications, said it's especially useful for those who don't
keep everything in perfect order. "I have lots of files - a particular
word could be in any one of these," he said. "With FetchIt, I can either
find it or quickly narrow the search down."

Abbott System Inc.'s CanOpener, better known as a program for opening
files when the originating application is not present, also includes
file- and text-search features.

Other alternative solutions include Microlytics Inc.'s GOfer and a new
product from MVP Software, Retrieve It!. Both can handle complex Boolean
text searches as well as simple file-finding missions.

Nisus, a word processor from Nisus Software Inc., also has the ability
to perform complex searches on the contents of text files.


What was I just doing?

Several programs, such as On Cue from ICOM Simulations Inc.; Super
Boomerang, included in the Now Utilities from Now Software Inc.;
Microseeds Publishing Inc.'s HAM; Olduvai Corp.'s Master Finder; and
Kiwi Software Inc.'s Kiwi Power Menus, give you the ability to access
frequently used items quickly.

These programs present users with a map of the files, folders and
applications they use most or have been working on in a pull-down menu
recently that can be accessed from any application.

In addition to remembering up to 30 of the most recently used files and
folders, Super Boomerang allows you to add files and folders
permanently, assign keyboard shortcuts to access files and folders, and
perform simple file searches from the Open and Save dialog boxes.

Similar to Super Boomerang, HAM will keep a list of recently used files,
applications and servers and make them accessible through the Apple
menu. HAM also can remember which applications and files you were
working on when you restarted or shut down and launch those applications
at start-up.


What's in that pile of disks?

Programs that catalog files on multiple volumes and quickly direct you
to their correct locations are an important step in organizing your Mac
filing system.

These include products such as DiskFinder from Williams & Macias Inc.,
On Location from ON Technology Inc., Findswell from Working Software
Inc. and Disk Ranger 4.7 from Graham Software Co.

With Disk Ranger, for example, users can call up a master catalog of
hard drive, floppy and removable files, and search the catalog using the
Ranger Reader desk accessory.

Ed Glassgow, owner of Scott Cox & Associates, an engineering company in
Boulder, Colo., relies on Disk Ranger to catalog his own files as well
as server volumes. "I have all my working files arranged on about 120
disks," he said. "If I need to know something about a particular
subject, I can search through my catalog with Ranger Reader to find
anything that relates."

On Location lets users create an index for any volume as it's mounted.
According to users, it is also known as one of the fastest file- and
text-search programs, but it does not support Boolean searches.


Graphics grab bag.

Graphics files are a particular problem for many users. They're too big
to be stored on your hard drive for long, and too precious to throw
away. The result tends to be boxes of miscellaneous floppies or stacks
of SyQuests.

Among the graphics-oriented cataloging packages are Multi-Ad Services
Inc.'s recently updated Multi-Ad Search, and LightBox, an upcoming
product from PhotoDisc Inc. According to the company, LightBox, due for
release this quarter, will keep track of graphics, sounds and QuickTime
movies on mounted or unmounted volumes.

Terry Beilhart, assistant director of advertising sales and services for
Reading Eagle/Reading Times Newspapers in Reading, Pa., uses Multi-Ad
Search to catalog and search electronic art from six clip-art services.
While each clip-art collection is precataloged, Beilhart uses Multi-Ad
Search to create a comprehensive catalog and make finding the best art
easier.

However, Beilhart said users need to be specific about what they're
looking for.

"If you plug in 'automotive' you might get 600 pieces of artwork. Still,
it's faster than going through the hard-copy books one at a time,"
Beilhart said.

Provident Software Inc. recently sold its cataloging database code-named
Fetch to Aldus Corp., which is expected to release the product by the
end of the quarter. Fetch is said to be similar to Multi-Ad Search and
also will have multimedia capabilities.

An organized filing system and some of the above utilities can save you
hours of time spent combing through levels of folders for lost files. It
would be great if all the capabilities of these programs were built into
the Mac operating system, and perhaps someday they will be.

For now, however, there are navigation utilities available to match the
needs of almost any user.


MacWEEK 08.10.92

ProductWatch Page 59

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

-----------------------
 Central Point keeps up pace with its MacTools utilities

 MacTools' upgraded core engine, integrated virus protection and backup
utilities should please both old and new users.

By R. Bradley Andrews

Not content to let Symantec Corp. get ahead of it with Norton Utilities
for Macintosh 2.0 (see MacWEEK, June 29), Central Point Software Inc.
has just released Version 2.0 of its popular MacTools utility package.

The $149 package has been rewritten from the ground up, and while the
focus has narrowed a bit, it serves as a solid package for individual
users and network administrators.

The included programs fall into four categories: hard disk backup, data
recovery, disk utilities and virus protection. All are necessary to keep
a system up and running with the minimum risk of data corruption or
loss.


Backing it all up.

CP Backup provides a complete solution for backup needs. It can write to
any Macintosh media, including floppies, hard disks, removable disks and
tape drives. The program now allows the name of the backup file to be
set prior to running. It appends the current date to the end of a user-
supplied name as the default. The backup file can be placed within a
prespecified backup directory on the target disk.

These features are useful when backing up to a high-capacity fixed or
removable disk. Multiple targets also can be selected for the backup -
mostly useful for those who have dual floppy drives. The backup data can
be compressed or stored in Finder- readable format.

Any number of configuration files can be created to hold different
backup settings. Then these files can be chosen from a pop-up menu on
the main screen.

Backups can be scheduled to occur automatically at start-up, shutdown,
or at any fixed daily or weekly time after the machine has been idle for
a certain time period. Of course, using removable media will require
someone to be present to swap the media.


Protecting your data.

CP Mirror is a control panel that augments the backup program by
tracking directory changes and file deletions during normal computer
use. CP Mirror can track an almost unlimited number of deleted files, at
the cost of about 1 Kbyte of disk space for every six files. As long as
the space the file occupied has not been overwritten, any file can be
recovered quickly. This includes completely undoing a disk format in a
matter of seconds.

CP Undelete provides extensive undelete functionality and will work with
CP Mirror data if available. It also can scan the disk for all deleted
files or just those from specific applications. Central Point did forget
to put its own file types on this list, although those and any other
types can be added to the available list.

CP Undelete also can scan a disk for textual information that is not
associated with any file, an option of last resort when all other
methods fail.

CP FileFix works at the file level, repairing bad bundle bits and file
dates, as well as damaged Microsoft Word and Excel files. Information
about any file can be viewed with FileFix, and the file type and creator
information can be changed to any desired value. This can be used to
change the application that will open when a data file is clicked in the
Finder.

We also were able to use FileFix to repair a number of seriously
damaged, previously unopenable Excel and Word files.

CP DiskFix provides much more involved error checking. It will scan the
entire volume and repair a variety of potentially fatal problems.
Information about all repairs can be saved, so repairs can be reversed
at the user's request, which is a feature unique to MacTools.

CP DiskFix also can be scheduled to run automatically in a manner
similar to CP Backup. This feature is nice for those of us who otherwise
would forget to check regularly. Its handy capability to scan several
disks sequentially and repair automatically makes unattended analysis
and repair possible, unlike Norton in which each repair requires
responding to a prompt.

It might require a few passes of the program to repair completely all
things the program can fix, however. We recommend that it be run on a
volume until an entire pass is made with no repairs needed.

The program itself is robust and simple to use. All errors encountered
during testing were repaired automatically after we responded to the
prompt as requested.

A 1.2-Gbyte hard drive in the MacWEEK labs was fixed immediately when CP
DiskFix was run on it. Apple's Disk First Aid refused to do anything,
and Norton Utilities didn't repair the drive completely.

The final disk utility is the CP DiskEdit program. It can look at any
Macintosh-readable portion of a disk or file and show all the
information about the file structure and information. While it can
change almost any of the information it displays, only experienced users
should attempt to modify a disk with it.


Virus protection.

Another threat to computer data is computer viruses. CP Anti-Virus
provides potent protection against all known viruses. It is installed as
an extension and can be set to check disks and applications
automatically for viruses in several ways.

It continually scans for suspicious activity while on and will prompt
the user if such activity is found. Suspicious activity is defined by
the user and includes the normal virus activities such as modifying code
resources and erasing hard disks. The user is prompted and given the
choice to halt or ignore the threat.

This warning dialog can be set to ignore some repetitive actions, such
as disk erasures. The manual warns against using the learn option much
because disabling the checks could let a real virus slip by.

Virus checking on any Mac volume can be performed at any time through
the CP Anti-Virus program, and this checking also is built into the
functionality of both CP Backup and CP DiskFix. If the correct options
are set, they will do a virus scan as part of their normal operations.

Updated virus information either can be entered manually into the system
or downloaded from Central Point's bulletin board system. Network
administrators will appreciate the feature that enables the network
copies always to check a central location for updates and automatically
copy them over.

While Central Point did drop both its partition utility and the FastCopy
program, the package includes a drive-access indicator utility, CP
DriveLight. It indicates the direction of disk reads and writes and can
be customized to use different icon pairs or to use the keyboard lights
on an extended keyboard. It is possible that FastCopy will return in a
later upgrade.


Intact interface.

The interface has been enhanced completely and sports a pleasing 3-D
look. An icon bar also mimics much of the menu's functionality. A few
items are available only through the menu and not the icon bar, but
since they are the more advanced features, their absence is not a
problem. Both the 3-D view and the icon bar can be turned off if
desired.

The documentation is complete and provides instructions for both
emergency usage and the best use of the program modules during normal
use. Balloon help under System 7 is excellent. Meaningful information is
provided about each option on the screen and its basic effect.

The technical staff also is very helpful in solving special problems.
Although you might not be able to reach them on the first try (they will
call you back if you wait more than five minutes), they know what they
are talking about and can provide any needed assistance.


Head to head.

MacTools includes a number of features that are not found in or are
implemented better than in the Symantec product. These include virus
detection, better file-fixing utilities, scheduled disk scanning,
scheduled backup and a more robust backup program.

Central Point also has a network installation and update feature that
makes it easy for network managers to distribute preconfigured copies of
the program and virus updates to licensed users.

The well-implemented integration of virus checking into all of the
MacTools components - including backup and disk repair - is a welcome
addition.

Symantec includes more programs in Norton Utilities 2.0, including a
floppy disk copier, disk-partitioning software and an encryption utility
not present in MacTools Deluxe. Symantec Anti-Virus for Macintosh (SAM),
a fine virus-detection program, is available, but it is separate from
Norton, which gives Central Point a leg up in the utilities race.

We tested both products extensively with a number of hard drives and
found that they both generally worked as advertised in recovering
damaged drives and deleted files, although MacTools offers more recovery
and protection features.

One drive that Norton Utilities claimed was unfixable was recoverable by
MacTools and vice versa. Recovering files from a damaged drive was about
the same, although we had instances where one program would recover more
files than its competitor.

We also liked the FileFix utility in MacTools, which was powerful and
resurrected a number of files we had given up for dead.


Conclusions.

MacTools 2.0 is more focused on recovery and protection than Norton
Utilities 2.0 and offers more powerful features, including the
capability to undo fixes.

We think the inclusion (and integration) of virus detection in MacTools
also tips the scales in favor of Central Point, although if you have
both SAM and Norton Utilities, you can duplicate some, but not all, of
that functionality.

All the tools needed for effective data management and manipulation are
included in MacTools, and the strength of the code and easy-to-use
interface make it a valuable addition to any Mac.

Upgrades from previous versions are $49, and Central Point offers a $59
competitive "sidegrade" for owners of Norton Utilities.

Central Point Software Inc. is at 15220 N.W. Greenbrier Parkway, Suite
200, Beaverton, Ore. 97006. Phone [phone]; fax [phone].

MacWEEK 08.10.92

Reviews Page 51

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

-----------------------
 Mac companies tighten belts in '90s

 Days of rapid growth are winding down

 By Lisa Picarille and Jon Swartz

San Francisco - While most of the Macintosh community made its annual
summer pilgrimage to Macworld Expo in Boston last week, a swelling
number of employees at Mac companies were given their walking papers.

Despite the respectable sales and profit growth that most companies are
experiencing, cutbacks abound or loom in the near future.

The need to trim costs and run "lean and mean" is indicative of most
companies' inability to sustain the explosive growth of the 1980s,
according to industry observers.

>Symantec Corp. last month was forced to cut its 1,100-person worldwide
work force by 36 people following less-than- stellar quarterly results.
In addition, the Cupertino, Calif., company "released" an unspecified
number of employees based on job performance (see MacWEEK, Aug. 3).

Sources close to the $217 million software company said Symantec reduced
its head count by 10 percent, or 110 employees. Company officials
declined to comment on the number of employees that were let go based on
job reviews. "We have never provided those types of numbers," said
compa- ny spokesman Brian Fawkes.

>Reference Software Inc., which markets a family of grammar and spelling
checkers for IBM PC and compatibles and the Macintosh, last week laid
off 50 employees, or 40 percent of its 130-person work force, because of
sluggish sales.

The San Francisco-based company announced the cuts only weeks after
hiring several people in anticipation of duplicating last year's 100
percent revenue growth. Reference reported revenues of $13.4 million in
1991 and expected to reach $27 million this year.

And industry analysts expect more companies will lay off workers and
consolidate operations to reduce expenses before the year is over.

>Apple reportedly is considering a number of belt-tightening options,
including layoffs and restructuring, that may occur before the end of
the year, according to sources close to the company.

Industry observers say the prices of PCs have dropped so far - many by
as much as 40 percent in the past month - that Apple has no choice but
to match cuts and, eventually, reduce staff.

"The Mac and PC are becoming more like commodity items. When that
happens, gross margins go down and operating expenses have to be cut,"
said Alan Mosher, an analyst for Market Intelligence Research Corp. of
Mountain View, Calif. "It's bound to happen at Apple."

Indeed, several former Apple employees say it already has. They claim
the company is quietly reducing its manufacturing personnel in Fremont,
Calif., and in Cork, Ireland, and is in the process of reorganizing a
variety of divisions, particularly those involving marketing employees.

"There is a lot of confusion and low morale in Cupertino," said one
former employee, who asked that his name not be used. "Every week
someone is either reassigned or is given no choice but to leave.

"There doesn't seem to be an end in sight. This could stretch into next
year," he said.

Apple declined to comment.

Bruce Lupatkin, an analyst at Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco, said:
"This is not an interim process. There is still more to come. Not only
will there be industry consolidation, but whole companies will disappear
over time."

MacWEEK 08.10.92

BusinessWatch Page 42

(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 hears ringing in its future

While mere mortals like the Knife spent last week in an orgy of new
product samplings and late night revelry, the regulatory wheels of the
federal government were grinding away, oblivious to the excesses of the
Boston crowd.

As proof, the Knife offers the news that the feds have granted Apple and
Bellcore, the Baby Bell research arm, approval to develop a billing
scheme that will enable on-line shopping, electronic software
distribution and, who knows, even digital video rentals over the
telephone.

Apple these days is cozying up to just about every telecommunications
and cable TV company with more than a few miles of cable installed. Only
this January, Sculley was publicly proposing that the phone and cable
companies should work together. The Knife hears that Apple is working on
systems that will act as doors to information malls, all inside your
television, with AT&T putting a nice bow on the package by tying all the
cable companies into a single service.

Now the Knife reports that AT&T this week will license security
technology from RSA Data Security. That's the same security system that
will be on your desktop when you add Apple's Open Collaboration
Environment - and in Newton- not so many moons from now. Sounds like the
Mac and its little pal, Newton, stand a good chance to become the first
storefronts in the electronic shopping malls of Cyberspace.


Old-school distribution.

Until Apple and Bellcore develop their magic, though, we'll have to
depend on more-traditional distribution methods. And if you're a
developer or one of Apple's education customers, be prepared for a
change in the way you deal with Apple. The Knife has learned that Apple
signed a direct fulfillment contract recently with Tech Data, one of the
three new distributors in Apple's VAR program.

Under the plan, Apple will provide developers and educators with a
toll-free phone number for ordering. Said number will be answered by a
prompt and courteous Tech Data employee who will take your order. Then,
other Tech Data employees will ship it. From Apple's perspective, it's a
case of no muss, no fuss. But time will tell how it plays on the
receiving end. Wouldn't it be interesting if this direct fulfillment
scheme were eventually tied in somehow with the Apple-Bellcore project?


The name game.

Kaleida hadn't settled in completely in its new digs in Mountain View,
Calif., before someone, perhaps spooked by the raging Apple Newton
cookies and computers trademark controversy, decided that the company
name itself could use some tweaking. Sources tell the Knife that the
existence of KaleidaGraph, a math package from Synergy Software, may
have had some impact on the decision to change the name to Kaleida Labs
Inc.


Time waits for no one.

Keeping to schedule, particularly in this industry, is not exactly a
science, so it's quite natural that most of the attention is on the
current line of CISC-based Macs even though Apple has clearly pointed to
a RISC-based future with its announced intentions to develop the
PowerPC. The Knife has learned that this giant engineering venture may
be running ahead of schedule. Although Apple says the PowerPCs will
appear in the first half of 1994, some within the company are predicting
that the PowerPCs actually could be available as early as the fall of
1993.

Further, there are allegedly those in Apple who are predicting that
sales of the PowerPC will eclipse those of the traditional Mac within
two years of the PowerPC's introduction.

Some California businesses are using those infamous state IOUs to pay
their state sales tax bill. Now, you can't use a MacWEEK mug to pay a
bill, but if you've got insider information, you owe it to yourself to
get one. For those with the proper currency, the Knife takes orders at
[phone], fax [phone], MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink
(MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.

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