News: Multiformat CD player first piece of Apple PIE
PowerCD sets table for mastering unit
By Matthew Rothenberg and Neil McManus
Hanover, Germany - Apple's PIE division bore its first fruit last week when the company unveiled PowerCD, a portable device that plays CD-ROM, Photo CD and audio compact discs.
To complement the new device, Apple reportedly is working on a desktop CD authoring system that will let users create their own discs containing multimedia business presentations.
> PowerCD. Apple debuted PowerCD, due this summer, at CeBIT '93 here. The 3.1-pound device, which can run off AC power or four C batteries, will cost less than $500, sources said.
"With PowerCD, Apple is making a bridge between the business market and the home market," said Denise Caruso, editor of San Francisco-based Digital Media: A Seybold Report. "Business users can take it along as a presentation player box, and home users can use it to play Photo CDs and music CDs."
PowerCD will come with a SCSI interface and cable to connect to the Mac and an audio/video cable to connect to television sets.
It features an average data-access time of 550 milliseconds and a SCSI transfer rate of 2.1 Mbytes per second. It reads discs in ISO/High Sierra and CD Digital Audio formats.
PowerCD can play single- or multisession Photo CDs on a Mac or television. Its push-button controls work with both Photo CDs and audio discs. A battery-powered remote control will let users control other Photo CD and audio CD functions. For instance, users will be able to pan, zoom and rotate Photo CD images, as well as cycle through images. Audio CD users will likewise be able to play tracks in a preselected order.
PowerCD will be the first product from Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics division, which is reportedly developing a variety of CD-ROM multimedia players that will display text, graphics and QuickTime movies on the Mac or a TV monitor.
> Apple CD-ROM mastering. Apple's Mass Storage Devices group is working on a CD-ROM mastering system that the company hopes to ship by early next year for about $4,000, according to sources.
Apple reportedly is considering licensing hardware and software components from several third parties, including NEC Corp. of Tokyo and Gutenberg Systems of Andover, Mass.
Users of Apple's system will be able to create CD-ROMs by dragging files to a blank master disc mounted on the desktop.
The device will create discs in a variety of formats. According to sources, Apple is licensing software from Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., that will allow the mastering system to create multisession Photo CDs. Users reportedly will be able to bring CD masters to photo shops for duplication by Kodak.
Kodak this week will introduce similar software that works with the $5,995 Kodak PCD Writer 200 disc-mastering device. Photo CD Portfolio software will let users create Photo CD presentations complete with images, sounds and text.
According to sources, Apple will promote the ISO 9660 CD-ROM standard as a medium for storing document-image archives accessible by clients on mixed networks.
Apple's system will join a growing number of lower-cost CD-ROM mastering devices. Pinnacle Micro in January introduced a system priced at less than $4,000, and Philips Consumer Electronics Co. and JVC Information Products Co. both offer desktop recording systems for less than $10,000 each.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: ESD, PIE on global stage with CeBIT rollouts
By Andrew Gore
Hanover, Germany - Just weeks after staging its first worldwide product launch on foreign soil, Apple last week went to the opposite side of the planet for another international introduction.
While last month's Tokyo rollout featured mainstream Macs and printers, Apple's announcements here at CeBIT '93, the world's largest computer trade show, put the company's new Enterprise Systems and Personal Interactive Electronics divisions in the spotlight.
At the top of Apple's agenda was the formal debut of ESD's Apple Workgroup Servers and AppleSearch text-retrieval software (see MacWEEK, March 22) and PIE's portable CD player.
But a flurry of Newton-related disclosures, focusing on Apple's efforts to convince other developers to adopt its personal digital assistant (PDA) technology, all but upstaged the product introductions.
The company announced that it has licensed the Newton operating system to Motorola Inc., Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co. Ltd. and Siemens Private Communications Systems Group. According to Gaston Bastiaens, general manager of PIE, the agreements are intended to keep PDAs out of the mire of incompatible standards that have held multimedia back.
"Since the creation of PDAs a year ago, we've seen a rush to the market," Bastiaens said. "I'm convinced that the market is waiting for a standard. Apple is working to make Newton that standard."
Siemens and Apple demonstrated a Newton that docked to a prototype Siemens NotePhone in two stages: first through a side-mount modem as large as the Newton itself and then into a desktop phone station (see MacWEEK, March 22).
Although neither Motorola nor KME took the stage, Motorola said in a written statement that it plans to use the Newton operating system in a handheld device offering two-way wireless communications. KME did not comment on its plans, but some sources said the company may build a VCR that users will be able to program with a Newton-like controller.
Apple also announced that Cirrus Logic Inc. plans to build a Newton-
compatible chip set for use by Apple and its Newton licensees; that LSI Logic Corp. is building an application-specific integrated circuit that will provide the interface between the Newton's processor, memory and user interface; and that Sharp Corp. will join VLSI Technology Inc. and GEC-Plessy Semiconductors as manufacturers of the Newton's ARM610 RISC processor.
Bastiaens said these deals were only the first of many and even hinted that Toshiba Corp. will sign up in the next few months.
The Apple PIE executive told one skeptical attendee that he'd bet his wine cellar that the first Newton will ship this summer. He said it will run for days on a single charge and store the equivalent of a filled reporter's notebook without additional RAM.
A tiny fax modem, bundled content and an interface to Apple Online Services will ship with the initial Newton, according to Bastiaens. A "mirror" application, code-named Docker, will emulate Newton's built-in applications on Macs, Windows and DOS machines and allow users to load and unload data from their PDA.
Bastiaens said that by May Apple will ship an object-oriented, easy-to-
use development environment called NewtonScript to content developers. He also said that Newton beta ROMs were going to production last week.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: HP, Apple ready color inkjets
New DeskJet offers PostScript Level 2
By Matthew Rothenberg
Cupertino, Calif. - New output devices from Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple will raise the tone of color inkjet printing for Mac users, according to sources.
> HP in May will unveil and ship the DeskJet 1200C/PS, a $2,399 RISC-
based inkjet printer that features Adobe PostScript Level 2 and a maximum resolution of 600 by 300 dpi.
The device reportedly uses new higher-quality inks and print cartridges to print black text or 24-bit-color graphics to letter-, legal- and A4-
size plain or coated paper as well as transparencies. It offers three print modes; output speeds range from 4 pages per minute to 7 ppm for text and from 1 to 2 minutes per page for color images.
The DeskJet 1200C/PS will come with 35 Type 1 and 10 TrueType fonts as well as Adobe Type Manager, sources said. It switches automatically among Level 2, color PCL 5 and HP-GL/2 and includes a font-card slot. The printer will ship standard with LocalTalk and Centronics parallel interfaces as well as an MIO slot for HP's new JetDirect interface cards.
Sources said the DeskJet 1200C/PS runs on an Intel i80960SA RISC chip. It will ship with 4 Mbytes of RAM, which can be expanded to 20 Mbytes. The printer includes a 180-sheet input tray, a manual feeder for labels and envelopes, and a 100-sheet output tray.
The new model will also be available as the DeskJet 1200C, a $1,699 PCL 5-only configuration that includes 2 Mbytes of RAM. DeskJet 1200C users will be able to upgrade to Level 2 for $729, sources said.
HP also reportedly will cut the prices of its monochrome DeskWriter inkjet by $80, to $399, and color DeskWriter C by $60, to $559. The company will offer new drivers that provide the DeskWriter C with support for Apple's ColorSync software and add seven new Type 1 fonts to both DeskWriter models.
In addition, sources said, HP in May will introduce the DesignJet 650C, a CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inkjet plotter that will be available in 36- and 24-inch-wide configurations for $8,995 and $7,495, respectively. The device prints in color at 300 dpi and monochrome at 600 dpi. It includes an 80960CA RISC chip and 4 Mbytes of RAM and can plot a color image in 18 minutes at highest quality. It will ship standard with Centronics parallel and RS-232C serial ports and will support JetDirect cards. It switches automatically among HP-GL, HP-GL/2 and HP RTL; an Adobe PostScript Level 2 upgrade kit that includes scaling for large-format output and 39 Type 1 fonts is slated for August, according to sources.
> Apple reportedly is working on a letter-size 24-bit-color inkjet printer, code-named Fantasia and slated to ship late this year. According to sources, the new printer will cost less than $700 and is intended as competition for HP's $879 DeskWriter 550C. Like the HP model, the Apple printer uses CMYK inks, allowing it to print both black text and color graphics without swapping cartridges.
Fantasia reportedly will be based on a new Canon engine. Sources said the new device offers better color output to plain or coated paper than Apple's current CMYK inkjet, the $2,349 tabloid-size Apple Color Printer, which also uses Canon hardware. Like the Apple Color Printer, the new model will connect to the Mac via a serial interface, and it will lack a processor.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: FileWave agents cross Atlantic
By Andrew Gore
Antwerp, Belgium - Wave Research Ltd., a start-up company partially funded by Apple, this week is expected to ship FileWave, a set of Finder-integrated software agents that transparently manage files on both desktop and mobile Macs.
The product, which works with both System 6 and 7 clients, is designed to automate software distribution, version synchronization and usage monitoring networkwide.
FileWave's Administrator Agent lets system managers create user groups and assign them sets of applications and data files by clicking and dragging objects in Finder windows, as in System 7's Users & Groups control panel.
The files, which are stored in a back-end database, are then copied in the background to each user's local hard disk, although they appear on the user desktop as part of a separate, password-protected virtual volume.
When the administrator changes a file set - updating a report or adding a new application, for example - the system transparently makes the corresponding changes on the designated users' desktops.
> Groups and sets. The system is intended to make it easy for administrators to deliver the right software to all users, based on their responsibilities and place in corporate structure. For example, Microsoft Word, Aldus Persuasion, AppleTalk Remote Access and a company's sales information database might form a file set for outside sales representatives.
Users can be placed in multiple groups, and each group can subscribe to multiple file sets. A vice president of marketing, for example, could be assigned to both marketing and executive groups and thus get all the file sets linked to each of those groups.
Groups and sets can be temporary and task-specific: That vice president might also belong to the "move to new offices" task force. When the project is complete, the IS manager simply deletes the group; FileWave will then automatically remove unneeded files from the user's disk, leaving in place those that have been created or modified by the user.
File sets consist of pointers to files stored in the FileWave database, so multiple sets can contain the same files without wasting space on storage of multiple copies. Likewise, when a user's file sets overlap - when several contain Microsoft Excel, for example - the FileWave Repository Agent, which monitors the server database, automatically ensures that the file is copied only once.
> Trickle-down updates. Once the file-management model is complete, all it takes to update users is to drop a new version of a file into the Repository Agent. Files are transferred bit by bit whenever a network connection is available and the user's Mac has been idle for a user-
defined interval. If the transfer is interrupted for any reason, FileWave simply picks up where it left off at the next opportunity.
> User Agent. The FileWave User Agent stores files on the FileWave volume as they are received, making them visible only when the transfer is complete or at a later date predetermined by the administrator.
The User Agent can also place files in users' System folders and subfolders. In addition, it can be set to deliver detailed reports on the usage of specified files back to the administrator for use in planning software acquisition and implementing concurrent-use licenses. If the manager chooses, selected files in the FileWave volume can be copy-protected, preventing users from making unauthorized copies.
The User Agent can also send back user comments and error messages it encounters to the Repository Agent, which can relay those messages via Microsoft Mail to the system manager.
Wave Research is offering two versions of FileWave. FileWave Pro uses any Oracle Version 6.x database, including Oracle for Macintosh 2.0, to store files. A later version will link multiple servers to support larger networks.
FileWave Lite uses an integrated database but is limited to 50 users. It can't link multiple servers.
FileWave Pro retails for $1,495 for a 50-user license. Additional user packs are $69 or less per user. FileWave Lite retails for $795.
Although Wave Research currently has no U.S.-based distribution, the company said it will sell FileWave directly to U.S. customers. FileWave will have a formal U.S. channel in the near future, according to Wave.
A demo version, fully functional but limited to five users, will be available free, according to the company.
Wave Research N.V. is at Koninklijkelaan 32, B-2600 Antwerp, Belgium. Phone (32) 3-230-41-11; fax (32) 3-230-29-56.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: SkyLab liftoff now slated for June
By Lisa Picarille
San Jose, Calif. - Radius Inc. is counting down for the June launch of SkyLab, a "media server" for pre-press and multimedia users.
Set to be unveiled at Digital World in June and to ship by the end of the summer, SkyLab is a Radius-designed box that incorporates Mac ROM code licensed from Apple and Radius' 68040 Rocket accelerators.
Radius and Apple officials met two weeks ago to discuss the possibility of Apple selling SkyLab, according to sources.
The server, which has a 68030 processor on the motherboard, has two bays with six slots each. The 12 NuBus 90 slots can support a variety of cards, including Rockets, networking and video boards.
A fully loaded SkyLab can deliver up to 300 mips of processing power and support up to 20 Gbytes of storage, sources said. A base configuration that contains two Rockets would sell for about $20,000 to $25,000, sources said.
Radius declined to comment.
Radius' RocketShare system software supports multitasking, allowing each Rocket to act as an independent CPU. SkyLab reportedly also enables multiprocessing but only for applications that are designed to support parallel processing. Radius will provide developers with a parallel-
processing application programming interface.
SkyLab will incorporate new hardware and software networking technology that reportedly provides throughput of about 128 Mbits per second, 12 times faster than Ethernet. Called UltraNet, the network scheme was developed by Ultra Network Technologies Inc., a start-up based here. Users can also add cards for Ethernet and Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
The server features mirrored backup, which is considered essential for mission-critical applications and is conspicuously absent from Apple's recently announced servers.
SkyLab has been under development for more than two years and has consumed a hefty portion of Radius' resources, sources said.
Some observers said that it will be crucial for SkyLab to ship by fall to beat the PowerPCs due out next year. However, sources said, SkyLab's flexible nature will let it accommodate PowerPC. "You'll just be able to drop in a PowerPC card and go," said one source.
David Jacobs, president of Jacobs Multimedia Consulting in San Francisco, said, "PowerPC is eventually going to happen and it will be wonderful, but the Mac applications base is strong now and people don't want to wait."
Publishing experts agreed that SkyLab could fill a void in the market. "This is the type of product the industry has definitely been looking for," said David Cole, publisher of the Cole Paper, a San Francisco newsletter about electronic publishing. "Speed is not something Apple has been too horribly concerned with. But in order [for SkyLab] to be a success there will have to be more parallel-processing applications."
Craig Cline, associate editor at Seybold Publications in Malibu, Calif., said: "Professional publishers and multimedia users have to deal with a hell of a lot of data [in] a video clip or image. [SkyLab] should help solve that by offering high-performance video and image processing on a Mac-type platform."
MacWEEK 03.29.93
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Gateways: Novell plans native NetWare access
Tools will support Macs without NLM
By April Streeter
Salt Lake City - A Macintosh system extension under development at Novell Inc. will give Macs native access to NetWare servers, the company revealed last week at the BrainShare '93 conference here.
The Provo, Utah-based networking giant will roll out a suite of software modules called NetWare Systems Services for Macintosh (NSSM) within 12 months. NSSM will not require that users have the NetWare for Macintosh NLM (NetWare Loadable Module) installed on a Novell server. Rather, it will provide support for Novell's NetWare Core Protocols, and directory and user services in Mac system software.
The first piece of the system, MacIPX, will deliver native IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) support for the Mac. Due next month, MacIPX will be offered to users under a site license, and developers will be able to bundle the stack with applications.
While the forthcoming MacIPX does not provide file and print services, developers can use it to write the applications that will run on Macs and other clients in IPX networks.
"Right now, we want to get MacIPX on as many Macs as possible," said Steven Ethier, principal engineer of the MacIPX stack for Novell. "It's going to be a big win for cross-platform solutions."
While Novell assured Mac network managers at BrainShare '93 that the NetWare for Macintosh NLM is "not going away any time soon," the company said NSSM and native IPX support for the Mac can benefit network managers trying to contain the proliferation of protocols on the network.
"AppleTalk is a real thorn in our side," said Richard Hornbaker, a network engineer who preferred that his company name be withheld. "If we can get rid of AppleTalk and do it cleanly with IPX, we will," he said.
In addition to allowing Mac applications to make calls to NetWare 4.0's file and print services, NSSM will support directory services and user log-on security. A network browser, which Novell will call NetWare Chooser, will supersede the Mac's own Chooser to let users view and access services on NetWare 4.0 networks.
Novell is developing drop-in modules that will add support for AOCE (Apple Open Collaboration Environment) directory, messaging and security services. A responder module that will give Mac, Windows, OS/2 and Unix clients in IPX networks peer-to-peer file sharing is also planned.
Also within the next year, Novell said it will port pieces of the NSSM architecture to the NetWare for Macintosh NLM to give AppleTalk networks access to 4.0's directory and messaging services.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
Gateways Page 16
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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BusinessWatch: Two big sites stop Mac purchases
Westinghouse, Boeing switch to IBM clones
By Jon Swartz
San Francisco - Two of the nation's largest Mac installations have decided to stop buying Macs.
Officials at Westinghouse Savannah River Co. and Boeing Co. have issued internal company memos that call for the discontinuation and - in some cases - the elimination of Macs. In all, some 30,000 Macs could be affected by the decisions.
> Westinghouse Savannah River officials last week confirmed the Department of Energy contractor will "immediately suspend any acquisition or procurement" of Macs.
An Energy Department spokesman who works at the site said about 7,200 Macs, or about half the computers, at the North Augusta, S.C., site will eventually be replaced by IBM PCs and compatibles. "We want a single platform at the site to simplify service and support issues," he said. "IBM is that solution."
Westinghouse officials have scheduled a meeting this week to further coordinate their Mac plans, according to an internal memo.
The Savannah River site, which develops materials for nuclear weapons as well as waste management and environmental restoration technology, ranked sixth on the MacWEEK 200 list of largest commercial and government sites last year (see MacWEEK, May 25, 1992).
> Boeing sources said the Seattle-based company last year quietly started a five-year plan to replace as many as 20,000 installed Macs with X Window and Unix machines by 1997.
Considered one of the most visible Apple customers in the world, Boeing made its decision to erase Macs because they represent a "proprietary interface technology," according to an internal memo written several months ago.
The company, which ranked fifth on last year's MacWEEK 200, is reportedly considering Hewlett-Packard workstations, sources said.
Walter Braithewaite, Boeing vice president of information technology, did not return phone calls.
For Apple, which has had to increasingly contend with other computer makers for shrinking defense contracts, the loss of any government-
related deal - particularly two of its largest - is a serious blow, according to industry observers.
Half of the 10 biggest MacWEEK 200 sites and more than one-third of all the sites on last year's MacWEEK 200 list are in the aerospace and defense industries, including research labs, private industry and government agencies. Besides Macs, these companies have huge investments in supercomputing technology, high-speed networks and telecommunications.
"There has to be something about the Mac that does not meet the five-
year computer plans of some of these companies," said Pieter Hartsook, editor of The Hartsook Letter in Alameda, Calif. "It may be the lack of full support for the OSF's (Open Software Foundation's) Distributed Computing Environment. But I wonder if that's a wise decision with PowerPC, PowerOpen and VITAL available in 1994."
An Apple spokeswoman downplayed the Westinghouse and Boeing decisions, adding that neither company had a product contract with Apple.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
BusinessWatch Page 34
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Special Report: Going by the AppleScript
Apple's upcoming scripting system fuses HyperCard ease with high-level power and flexibility.
By Derrick Schneider
AppleScript, Apple's soon-to-ship Macintosh scripting environment, is a programming system that acts as an intermediary for controlling other applications through System 7's Apple events. It performs two basic functions: automating repetitive work and facilitating the exchange of data and instructions between applications.
Even when automating tasks, AppleScript works via Apple events, which are messages sent between programs, allowing one application to share data with or control another. For example, you could write a script that would take information in your database, chart it in a spreadsheet and then put the resulting graph into a page-layout program.
Some existing applications take direct advantage of Apple events, without needing AppleScript. Aladdin Systems Inc.'s StuffIt Deluxe can use Apple events to activate various virus-scanning programs to check files that StuffIt is compressing. But AppleScript can act as traffic cop and translator to link together applications that might not be set up to communicate on their own.
The HyperTalk connection. AppleScript provides the capability to act as a macro utility, simply repeating any actions that you want, and the capability to add far more complexity through its programming language.
Users familiar with Apple's HyperCard will find many similarities with AppleScript's native language. Like HyperCard's scripting language, HyperTalk, the syntax of AppleScript programming resembles that of English sentences. Users should be able to use AppleScript without a lot of training or expertise. In addition, just as HyperCard was intended to be a computing environment by itself, AppleScript is intended to be a central tool for controlling other tools.
Despite similarities with HyperTalk, AppleScript is a far more flexible and powerful language. AppleScript contains all the basic elements of a modern programming language - repeat loops, conditionals, subroutines and handlers - and includes additional features to make these elements more useful. Like a high-level programming language, such as C, AppleScript can use arrays in variables, which allow scriptors to group related data under common headings and perform large operations quickly.
Invisible strings. Whereas HyperCard includes the user interface in which HyperTalk works, AppleScript is just a scripting system with very little interface control. It can display simple dialogs, but the end users of a script will have few ways of interacting with it.
This limitation poses some special design problems for scriptors because they can't rely on detailed feedback from users. More often, a script acts like a macro, performing its tasks without input. The most script writers can do is ask users questions, display push buttons or allow users to fill in a field, and notify them of events about to happen.
AppleScript is supposed to get its interface from other applications. For instance, a script could manipulate data entered in a database front end and place the results into a word processor or spreadsheet. The script wouldn't need an interface separate from the programs in this case.
Just as external commands (XCMDs) add to HyperTalk, aete resources extend the reach of AppleScript. When AppleScript controls an application, it uses commands that the application defines through its aete resource; the resource acts as a map between AppleScript commands and the Apple events and data objects that the program understands.
Consequently, AppleScript is not limited to working with specific, predefined events or pieces of data. No matter how unusual the data structures of some applications - whether tables, sound or even the RGB (red, green, blue) values of a pixel - a scriptor can access them provided there is an aete resource in the application.
For example, AppleScript doesn't have the capability to understand the contents of a StuffIt compressed archive by itself. But because of the aete resource in StuffIt Deluxe, AppleScript can manipulate and extract archived information freely.
AppleScript's not Unix. AppleScript's ability to move data between applications is akin to the use of shell scripts on Unix machines. Just as information is piped from one program to another in Unix, AppleScript can pass data back and forth between Macintosh applications.
Unlike Unix, however, the AppleScript scriptor must specify exactly what the application should do with the data. Even a simple task such as charting some numbers may involve a fair amount of handholding. For example, a script might need to instruct the application to put data into cells, make a chart with all the data, adjust some of the chart parameters, then copy that graph as a PICT file and send it back to the script so it can be placed into another application.
In Unix, filters can pump data from a file or keyboard or the output of another filter into a file, the screen or another filter. The process is blind and the recipient of the input doesn't have to be told what to do with the data. An AppleScript script, on the other hand, must specify that the data move from one specific application to another.
For example, to perform a mail merge between a database and a word processor, the AppleScript user must have the script obtain the data from the database and then place it into the word processing document. Trivial as this sounds, it actually requires a long script to successfully control every interaction between the two programs. While not as powerful as Unix shell scripts and filters, AppleScript is far easier for end users to understand. Even though scripts can run in the background, however, the Macintosh's lack of Unix-like multitasking can slow performance during script execution.
Other limitations. AppleScript has one important shortfall: Only applications that support AppleScript technology can make use of its scripts. For an AppleScript script to control or communicate with an application, the application must support Apple events and provide an aete resource so that AppleScript has access to its commands and data objects.
Although it isn't absolutely required, commercial developers are encouraged to implement Apple's Object Model to support Apple events and AppleScript fully. The Object Model provides a way to pinpoint data based on its relationships to other data. Since many such relationships are common to groups of applications - cells in spreadsheets, paragraphs in word processors, the selection in just about anything - working with data is easier for the scriptor.
Is it attachable? Beyond making an application scriptable, developers can opt to make their software recordable or attachable. Recordable means a user can generate an AppleScript script based on actions performed inside the application, similar in intent to the way Apple's old MacroMaker or CE Software Inc.'s QuicKeys works. Attachable means AppleScript scripts can be associated with on-screen interface elements. For instance, custom scripts can be attached to a program's buttons or menu commands.
To provide these types of functionality, however, developers must rewrite their applications completely. To be recordable, the application must be able to send Apple events, such as "move window" and "delete selection," to itself. It's these internal Apple events that get recorded.
Because full support of AppleScript requires so much effort, commercial applications that can record user actions or attach scripts aren't available yet.
Access privileges. In addition to its strength as a programming language, AppleScript includes several other capabilities, such as the ability to communicate with programs on remote machines, that potential scriptors should find attractive.
For example, data obtained from a database in one department can be combined with information from a database in another department for use in a letter or report. Such a capability requires that a network's various machines have program-linking privileges turned on in System 7's file-sharing mechanism.
While users will be constrained by the same privileges and accounts they have for file-sharing access, the security aspects of peer-to-peer program linking could still prove a headache for network managers.
Since AppleScript is a system-level scripting language and component used by QuickTime's Component Manager, accessing AppleScript from within a program, from a developer's standpoint, is as easy as accessing the capabilities of QuickTime. For end users, AppleScript can be accessed via Apple's minimalist script editor or, if the support is there, by running it from within an application.
AppleScript also allows users to create stand-alone applications, even implementing drag-and-drop capability. These so-called applets and droplets allow users to execute scripts by double-clicking or dragging files onto them. The only requirement is that AppleScript be installed on the machine. Applets are particularly useful for consultants or network managers who want to leave self-contained scripts on a client's or employee's machine. The user treats them as normal applications without ever having to see the scripting environment.
Memory requirements. The AppleScript extension requires only 30 Kbytes of RAM, but the memory requirements of commercial and in-house applications certainly will increase as they are rewritten to support AppleScript. Since Apple events can be sent only to open applications, running a complex script creates a RAM-hungry environment.
You can avoid hitting your memory ceiling by reading data into variables and launching and quitting applications as the script executes. In such a scenario, AppleScript acts as an intermediary, opening and closing applications and storing information as needed so that it can transfer data to the next program in the script. Since such a procedure can eat up a lot of clock cycles, scriptors should be advised to take advantage of applications running on other machines on the network. Thus, rather than quitting and launching applications on one machine, a scriptor could make use of programs running on other machines on the LAN.
Foreign languages. AppleScript can translate its scripts into other languages because it stores the code in a generalized internal format. Thus, a scriptor writing in Japanese could give the script to someone in the United States, who could then run the script on a Macintosh with no Japanese-language extensions. Should the U.S. scriptor look at the code, it would appear in English.
The aete resource, however, must be translated so the script reads normally for users on non-American systems, and this customization may slow development for vendors who are localizing their software.
Variety of uses. AppleScript's ability to link applications and send Apple events over networks, along with its robust native scripting language, make it ideal for coordinating large projects, such as using the information in a database and spreadsheet to update an accounting package and mailing-label utility.
By running AppleScript over a network, managers can coordinate routine tasks, such as installing new software. At the same time, AppleScript can be used to accomplish small tasks, such as automating the creation of aliases, organizing files into certain folders and retrieving information regardless of the application. Consultants can give clients self-contained scripts to take care of various chores.
When more programs support Apple events, the aete resource and AppleScript, users will be able to manage a wider variety of projects. For instance, a multimedia package that supports AppleScript could be used to automate some aspects of production, even manipulating video and sound. A page-layout program could be linked with a database through AppleScript to update and publish catalogs.
As long as your favorite application tells AppleScript how to work with its data, AppleScript will be able to simplify any repetitive tasks that you want. And the ability to create stand-alone applications will help scriptors to distribute their work widely.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
Special Report Page 40
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Review: Now Up-to-Date 2.0 enhances feature set
With added options and stronger network support, Now's application remains a solid choice for calendar management.
By Dale Coleman
Version 2.0 of Now Software Inc.'s Now Up-to-Date includes a number of important new features and enhancements to existing features that strengthen the product's position as one of the best appointment calendar and reminder programs for the Mac.
The networking functionality of the $99 product has been improved as well, making it an attractive choice in multi-user environments.
Make my metaphor. Now Up-to-Date uses the metaphor of a printed calendar or date book to represent your information in different formats. These formats, or views, include Month, Week, Year and Multi-Day displays, as well as a List view for displaying to-do items.
You can easily switch between different views at any time and create style sheets that improve the readability or print quality of your calendar.
Events are Now Up-to-Date's basic schedule item. Version 1.0 had only a single event type and the capability to add Post-it-style notes and floating banners, which could function as pseudo-events. Now Up-to-Date 2.0 has been beefed up in this respect.
There are now five distinct event types - Appointment, Special, Holiday, To-Do and Unscheduled To-Do. Appointments are tied to a specific day and time, while the Special, Holiday and To-Do events are associated only with a day. All events can be repeated, and you can easily move events from one day to another by dragging them around.
Each event can be fine-tuned with its Event Info window, which is a floating palette. The Event Info window lets you modify an event's characteristics, including its title, type, duration, category, priority, repeat status and reminder information. This window also includes a description field and last-modified information. Pop-up menus for many characteristics make the Event Info window very easy to use. Our only complaint is that, like all floating windows, the Event Info window hangs around in the foreground when you click on the main window.
The category game. Now Up-to-Date lets you group events by category. There are two types of categories - public and private, and you can create multiple categories within each type. Events in public categories are available to other Now Up-to-Date users on your network; events in private categories are not.
Version 2.0's multiple categories are a vast improvement over Version 1.0's single category. Grouping events into logical categories helps to make calendar management easier, especially when combined with Now Up-
to-Date's sets capability.
The sets feature allows you to fine-tune which events are displayed at any one time, by displaying only categories specific to that set. You can create multiple sets and swap between them by simply choosing the set you want from the Category menu. The first 10 sets you define are also assigned a Command key.
For example, you can have a personal set that contains your social events and a work set that contains business meetings and other work-
related activities.
You could also create a travel set that displays banners with your travel information contained on them.
Once you've learned the related concepts of categories and sets, you'll immediately be able to use Now Up-to-Date effectively and efficiently. The interface is generally that good.
Just do it. The To-Do event types fill the most obvious gap in the previous version's feature set. After all, not all events are holidays or meetings. While Now Up-to-Date's To-Do feature lacks some of the power and features of Attain Corp.'s In Control 2.0, a stand-alone list manager that is the best in its class (see MacWEEK, Feb. 8), we think it meets the requirements of most users. Scheduled To-Do events can be carried forward until you mark them as completed, and they can also be specified as repeating events. Unscheduled To-Dos are not associated with a date and appear only in the List view. This type of event can include such things as goals and tasks that are not time-critical.
Reminders are now handled by a control panel that was previously available as AlarmsClock in Now Software's Now Utilities.
In addition to the standard kinds of reminders that these utilities provide, when you specify a calendar file, Reminder can be used to create and view events without having to load the application itself. The control panel installs a clock on your menu bar; clicking on it displays a list of the current day's events.
Repeating events. Now Up-to-Date 2.0's repeating events capabilities are much more flexible than those of the previous version. It is now easier to create oddball or unique repeating events, but there are still a number of limitations that we would like to see addressed. The name of a repeating event and its description cannot be changed on a date-by-date basis. If you wanted to add a speaker name to the description field of one event, it automatically gets added to all linked events.
Another problem with repeating events occurs if you need to move the starting date of a group and want to have the repeating events realign to the new date. You can go through some gyrations to change the group, but it is generally easiest to delete the old events and create new ones.
On the positive side, when you delete an event in a linked group, Now Up-to-Date gives you the option of deleting all events in that group, only future events or the selected event.
Improved features. The new version includes enhanced data-management features that make maintaining a calendar a smoother task. In addition to the standard import and export of tab-delimited text files, you can now archive all events prior to a specified date. This lets you reduce the size of your calendar, which in turn ensures good performance and enables you to run Now Up-to-Date in a reasonable memory partition. (The suggested 800-Kbyte size is adequate for most users.) Archived events are also saved as a tab-delimited text file, so they can be restored to the calendar as needed.
Now Up-to-Date also supports Sharp Electronics Corp.'s popular Wizard line of pocket electronic personal organizers. You can both import and export events with the Wizard, which is much better than the one-way (export-only) functionality offered in most other Wizard-supported calendar programs.
Printing, which in the previous version required a special module, is integrated into the application in Version 2.0. A wide range of printing formats is supported, from small appointment books to oversize formats suitable for wall mounting.
How good is it? These new features and improved existing features are well-integrated into Now Up-to-Date's intuitive and flexible interface. Now Up-to-Date is still a very good example of the importance of a clean user interface.
This is not to say that Version 2.0 is perfect. From time to time you may find that the implementation of a feature is more conducive to annoyance than productivity. For example, we found event descriptions unnecessarily clumsy to manipulate. They don't expand automatically as you add text, and hiding or displaying descriptions in a view is an all-
or-nothing proposition that requires a trip to the somewhat intimidating Define Formats dialog box.
One thing that Now should look at is the multitude of dialog boxes that adjust preferences and formats. Many times, we had to do a lot of searching of menus and dialog boxes to determine the right place to turn an option on or off. It took a while, for instance, to find the proper place to turn off the display of event descriptions in the Month view.
Most of our complaints are trivial and do not inhibit the overall usability of the product. Now Up-to-Date is so well-designed that we found ourselves asking more of it than we should.
Documentation and support. The 330-page documentation is as good as the software it documents. It is clearly organized and includes an overview, tutorial, command reference and glossary. In addition, the narrative is excellent in describing the various features of Now Up-to-Date. The multi-user package includes a brief but information-rich QuickStart Guide for each user.
Technical support is available during Pacific time business hours via a toll call. The company can also be reached through the major commercial on-line services.
Conclusions. Personal information can be difficult to categorize. For some, a calendar is nearly useless unless it also provides access to name and address information. Pastel Development Corp.'s DayMaker includes a simple address and phone book and automatic dialer.
After Hours Software's DateBook provides simple access to the company's TouchBASE contact manager, using the vehicle of interapplication communications. In addition, After Hours is currently beta testing DateBook Pro and TouchBASE Pro, which reportedly feature much tighter integration and expanded feature sets. Now Software is behind in this matter and needs to add support for Apple events for those users who want to exchange schedule data with other applications.
The networking capabilities of Now Up-to-Date 2.0 are much improved over previous versions, and many workgroups will be happy to live within the constraints that the program provides. Resource allocation and true scheduling will need to be present in future versions of Now Up-to-Date, however, for it to grow into large organizations on a wider level.
In general, though, we think Now Up-to-Date 2.0 provides the right suite of features for managing appointments and time-based information. Now Software has done a good job of updating the product to make it easier to use, more accessible and more powerful for both single users and workgroups. This combination of well-conceived features and mostly beautiful interface make Now Up-to-Date 2.0 a very good choice for calendar management.
Now Software Inc. is at 520 S.W. Harrison, Suite 435, Portland, Ore. 97201. Phone (503) 274-2800; fax (503) 274-0670.
Score Card: Now Up-to-Date
Now Software Inc.
Version tested: 2.0
List price: $99*
Overall value 4
Version 2.0 of the Now Up-to-Date calendaring application includes several features that significantly enhance its utility. For the single-
user environment, these include more scheduling options, to-do lists, multiple private categories, improved printing capabilities and additional views. In addition, you can set event reminders, access scheduled events via a control panel device, and import events from as well as export events to Sharp Wizard personal organizers. The networking capabilities in Version 2.0 have been improved as well, offering multiple-server connections and off-line editing of public events. The networking features aren't as comprehensive as we would like, but they should be satisfactory for many small workgroups.
Performance 4
Features 4
Ease of use 4
Documentation/support 4
*Single-user pack; five-user pack, $499; 10-user pack, $799; 50-user pack, $3,799. Single-user upgrade from Version 1.0, $29.
System 7 Compatibility: Now Up-to-Date 2.0
Balloon help Yes
TrueType Yes
Publish and subscribe No
Apple events No
32-bit addressing* Yes
*According to vendor.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
Reviews Page 49
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Mac the Knife: A platform by any other name
At the risk of sounding like a Bud Dry commercial, the Knife points out that some questions might as well be left unasked. Why, for example, did Bill Gates choose March to leak news certain to break the hearts and dash the hopes of millions of single women? Aren't we supposed to wait until April before witnessing the breeding of lilacs out of the dead land, mixed memory and desire, and all that?
And matters of the heart were only the beginning of the questioning. Last week's news that Apple is experimenting with developing a version of the Mac operating system to run on Intel-based platforms may have garnered the Pentium arrival more attention in Mac corners than it would have otherwise.
But will managers and users who have resisted the Mac in hardware form now want to switch to the Mac OS, especially when it means forsaking those spiffy Windows applications they've just shot the annual budget on? At least that's what the Knife wondered when he first started investigating this curious development. As it turns out, there are quite a few folks at Apple who are rightly asking the same questions. No doubt this is a matter that will eventually be settled by committee.
Power PCI. And now there's news of another possible Intel appearance on the Mac scene, this time in the plumbing of the upcoming PowerPC Mac. Intel's PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus standard is, as reported earlier, getting serious consideration from the PowerPC Mac development crowd. Since the PCI bus is backward compatible with the current PC bus standard, a PCI-equipped PowerPC Mac would be compatible, at least physically, with existing PC bus interface cards. Software compatibility, of course, is a horse of a different color. Why ask why, indeed.
Better performance. No one's sure why it's taken so long, but according to the Knife's sources, Apple is set to announce some changes to its consumer-channel Performa line. To the astonishment of almost no one, the LC III will be sold to the masses as the Performa 405. The announcement, scheduled for April 12, may include some other additions to the Performa lineup as well. A consumer version of the Centris 610 is a possibility, but most speculation centers on the Color Classic.
The Classic II dressed in Performa 200 clothing failed to break any sales records, and Apple initially decided against giving the Color Classic the Performa treatment. Now the Knife reports the better-than-
expected Color Classic sales have caused Apple to revisit the issue. On the software side of the equation, look for more creative software bundles for the Performas.
Double trouble. You might think that Duo owners would be the most contented of all Mac users. But such is not the case, despite the fact that they've got some fairly muscular hardware in an undeniably sleek and desirable package. First they endured faulty keyboards, an enabler that only Connectix could fix, a battery life-threatening bug and probably a few other woes.
Now, after suffering through a long painful delay of several months waiting for Apple to deliver its internal Express Modem fax modem, some are discovering that it doesn't work so well even after a hasty software update. In fact, sources are saying that the staff at Apple's famous 800-SOS-APPL line are beginning to raise the subject with their superiors at their regular "emerging issues" meetings. It's really too bad that the anticipated third-party alternative is three to four months away.
If you know what a MacWEEK mug is, you probably already know the acquisition procedure. Offering your insider info is regularly rewarded when you contact the Knife at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), Internet (mac_the_knife@macweek.ziff.com), AppleLink (MacWEEK) or CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 03.29.93
Mac the Knife Page 118
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
