Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/pc/text/mac_text/1987/nb870825.219

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[***][8/25/87][***]
MICROSOFT JOINS ALTOS FOR NEW UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM
REDMOND, Wa. (NB) -- In its bid to be the king of all the
world's operating systems, Microsoft has teamed up with Altos
Computer Systems of San Jose, Ca. to produce future versions
of the Unix operating system.  Both companies have been racing
to issue Unix operating systems of their own; Altos has
reportedly been winning and has the groundwork laid for a
version of Unix that runs on 80386-based systems.  The agreement,
calls for an exchange of source code, and joint research and
development.  The goal, according to Altos' spokesman
Mike Sanchez, will be to come up with a Unix operating system
for a wide variety of machines that use both Intel and Motorola
microprocessors.    Altos' participation in this alliance assures
its product of some real staying power, what with the assets of
Microsoft behind it.

This is Microsoft's second o/s alliance in as many months.  It
just signed an agreement with 3Com to jointly develop a version
of the coming OS/2 operating system which will perform in
a network situation.   Is Microsoft spreading itself too thinly,
therefore looking for outside help on its many projects?  That
seems to be the case.

[***][8/25/87][***]
MICROSOFT CRACKS DOWN ON COUNTERFEIT RING
EL CERRITO, Ca. (NB) -- Armed with search warrants, U.S. Marshals
swooped down on an operation which was allegedly making
and selling counterfeit Microsoft's MS-DOS 3.2.  Officers nabbed
several thousand copies of the bootlegged operating system,
printing plates, and other incriminating evidence from KK
Graphics Printing and its proprietor K. H. Lin.  Then they swept
into the operation where the software was allegedly being
sold, Beltron Berkeley, to haul out more copies, plus related
documentation and packaging. Microsoft had obtained a federal
court  order in its copyright infringement action against the
two firms, saying they were responsible for selling large
quantities of counterfeit software to major distributors
in Southern California.   Also named in the complaint are
Kathy Liu and Julius Lui of Beltron Berkeley.  Microsoft expects
to snare more people in this case.

[***][8/25/87][***]
HYPERCARD FOR THE PC ALREADY?
BELLEVUE, Wa. (NB) -- Don't turn green with envy over Apple's
breakthrough HyperCard software yet, PC owners.  It appears
that Owl International is preparing to release a PC version of
HyperCard, based on its current Guide, a text retrieval program.
The program will have  "button" features similar to HyperCard,
and will, like HyperCard, enable text, graphics and sound to be
incorporated into a single "card;" of course, the PC version
will also involve the use of a mouse.  Alan Boyd, president of
Owl International, promises to release the software this fall.
No price has been announced.  And a second version which runs
on the OS/2 computers, and will be able to exchange files with
HyperCard on the Macintosh, is also planned.

What does Apple think of this?  Owl's announcement, two days
after HyperCard's introduction, reportedly took Apple execs
by complete surprise.  But Apple's Executive Vice President Jean
Louis Gassee quickly looked to the bright side, "It's a good
indication of the interest in our product.  We'd love to see it
on the PC."

[***][8/25/87][***]
SIDEKICK PLUS GETS PREVIEW
SCOTTS VALLEY, Ca. (NB) -- Due out for sale by the end of the year,
beta versions of Borland International's Sidekick Plus is finally
landing in the hands of select reviewers.  The program is different
from the original with new installation options, extended search
and file options, nine separate text editors, nine text outliners,
an expanded dialer, phone book, and telecommunication function,
and more.  Advance word is that the program will also be higher
in price than the original -  between $100 and $200 compared to
SideKick's $85.  A second OS/2 version is expected to follow
SideKick Plus' introduction.

[***][8/25/87][***]
HEWLETT PACKARD AND SONY TO DEVELOP DAT FOR COMPUTERS
PALO ALTO, Ca. (NB) -- In what is probably the first venture by
a computer company into the emerging DAT or digital audio field,
Hewlett Packard and Sony have formed an alliance to develop
digital archival storage systems for computers.  DAT has up
until now, only been mentioned in connection with the recording
industry, which fears DAT technology's high quality recording
capability will severely hurt compact disk, tape, and record sales.
Hewlett Packard and Sony plan DAT storage tapes for computers
that will be capable of holding 1.2 gigabytes of data, including
graphics.

[***][8/25/87][***]
HP SALES REACH NEW RECORD
PALO ALTO, Ca. (NB) -- $2.1 billion in Hewlett Packard products were
sold worldwide last year, up 14% over figures for this time last year.
John Young, HP president, says the figures indicate a steady computer
industry recovery and pickup in capital-equipment spending by its
customers.   Sales of analytical, medical, peripherals, and engineering-
workstation products were particularly good, he says.  Meanwhile
the third in a series of six RISC-based workstations is due to go
out the door by the end of August -- the HP 9000 Model 8255, an
entry-level minicomputer.  Three more are due out by the end of the
year.  The 9000 series is especially important for Hewlett Packard;
years of research and development went into their production in a
"make or break" gamble for the company.

[***][8/25/87][***]
BIGGEST R&D SPENDING: IBM SPENDS THE MOST
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- IBM spent an estimated $3.9 billion
dollars on research and development last year, earning it a place
as the top spender in ELECTRONIC BUSINESS magazine's annual
survey of R & D spending in the computer industry.  While IBM
spent the most, the share that went for research and development
was only 7.8%.  The firm spending the highest percentage of its income
on its scientists was Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, which
puts nearly 32 cents of every dollar it makes into research.  Placing
second and third, respectively, were  Intel and GenRad.  Among the
recognizable names in the computer industry, Hewlett Packard
ranked 17th, Lotus got the 19th position, and Tandem Computers
placed 24th among the 100 firms spending the most on research.

[***][8/25/87][***]
DISK DRIVE WOES: PRIAM AND XEBEC
SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- Priam Corporation has officially announced that
143 workers have been given their walking shoes, and blames the
layoffs on a fiercely competitive disk drive industry.  Priam, maker
of high-capacity, high-performance Winchester disk drives, expects
more layoffs unless the balance sheets start looking better.  Priam
lost $2.9 million during the last quarter despite an increase
in sales. Last year, the company lost $4.5 million.

And Carson City, Nevada-based Xebec Corporation reports a $33.9
million loss in the last quarter, and a 66% drop in sales.  The
disastrous report comes in the wake of a major loss of a contract
with IBM, for whom Xebec had been supplying hard disk drive
controllers for the IBM PC/XT.  The XT line has been discontinued.
Xebec is taking emergency measures to restructure, and to sell
plants in Gardnerville, Nevada and High Valley, Pennsylvania.
[***][8/25/87][***]
AXLON DUMPS TV-CONTROLLED TOYS
SUNNYVALE, Ca. (NB) -- Bailing out from a $1.4 million loss in the
last quarter and facing default on a major loan, Nolan Bushnell's
Axlon, a high-tech toy company, is abandoning its "Techforce"
TV show project.  Axlon, in conjunction with DIC Enterprises of
Encino, had been producing a children's television show, which had
the controversial goal of sending radio signals to Axlon's
TechForce toys in children's homes, animating them during the
on-screen adventure.  The controversy had some children's
television advocates claiming that the TV-signals-to-toys
scheme was far too commercial an enterprise for young children.
Consequently, Axlon had almost no television stations lined up
to take it.  Axlon has written off a $325,000 expenditure
for development of the Techforce TV show but says it still plans
to ship the toys, $250 robots, which will be controlled by a keyboard.

As for DIC Enterprises, a spokesman says there's a dispute going
on over money and contracts, which may not be settled soon.

Compounding Axlon's woes was the resignation of its president
in July, Austin Marshall, who decided to pursue "personal interests."

[***][8/25/87][***]
BRIEFS --

ADOBE SYSTEMS, Mountain View, Ca., has just dropped copy protection
on all its PostScript fonts and has introduced six new typeface
sets to its repertoire.

APPLE COMPUTER, Cupertino, Ca., has told BUSINESS WEEK that
in many ways its dream has come true, the dream of Macintoshes
getting a foothold in American business.  Apple says nearly 70% of
the Macintoshes it ships go to businesses (that translates to
70,000 a month).  And of those, nearly a third are purchased by
Fortune 1000 companies.

ASHTON-TATE, Culver City, Ca., reports a gigantic jump in second
quarter earnings -- up 55.4% over a year earlier.  A-T attributes the
$10.1 million income to brisk sales of dBase III Plus, Master
Graphics, and MultiMate Advantage II.

JAN LEWIS' "COMPUTER INSIDER" newsletter has just gone online
on GEnie and is available at no extra charge.  Each issue of the
newsletter contains interviews with top industry executives and
has an always punchy commentary by Jan herself.

SYBEX INC., Alameda, Ca., has just published the Sybex Computer
Blue Book, which has pricing information on more than 8,000
hardware and software items, including used equipment and
software prices.  Sybex plans to publish the Blue Book twice a year.
$12.95

[***][8/25/87][***]
NOVELL TO HAVE MAC NETWARE BY EARLY 1988       *EXCLUSIVE*
PROVO, UT (NB) -- NEWSBYTES has learned that Novell will hold a
press conference at next month's PC Expo to announce a version of
NetWare for the Macintosh. The new Local Area Network (LAN)
software would be released early in 1988, and compete with 3Com's
3+ for the Macintosh, released a few weeks ago. Novell's pitch
until then will be that it offers connections to more minis and
mainframes than 3Com, that Mac connectivity will be here Real
Soon Now, that it has a broader product line of servers,
communications boards and software, and that its stuff just works
better.

Novell also has begun rolling out Version 2.1 of its flagship
NetWare product. SFT NetWare 2.1 can handle up to 100 users with
an 80386-based PC dedicated as a server. The software will cost
$4,695, and it can handle up to 250 users when Novell's own 68B
server is used. It features better security, new facilities to
account for folks' use of the network, and new hooks for putting
application programs onto the network server. It's part of an
effort to consolidate 6 versions of NetWare into 3 by next year.
(Limited NetWare, for 286-based servers, and Advanced NetWare,
for multiple servers, will, like the Mac product, be out Real Soon
Now.) Reporters saw the new software demonstrated at Westboro,
MA. Deliveries are rumored to be delayed 8 weeks.

CONTACT: Cheryl Snap, NOVELL, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
TOSHIBA FALL-OUT: ZENITH WINS $100 MILLION DOD LAPTOP ORDER
GLENVIEW, IL (NB) -- Zenith has won a Department of Defense
contract to supply up to 90,000 PC-compatible laptops, with a
winning bid of $104.5 million. Toshiba had been the favorite to
win the contract because its T-1100 machine is lighter, but
apparently the scandal over a Toshiba subsidiary's sale of
submarine technology to the Soviet Union helped tip the scales,
as did the huge U.S.-Japan trade deficit. (A bill banning all
Toshiba imports is still making its way through Congress. The
resignation of Toshiba's chairman and president, a modern-day
equivalent of hara-kiri, over the subsidiary's sins didn't seem
to impress, either.) The new contract continues a long Zenith
winning streak in selling to the government; the company won a
$27 million laptop order from the Internal Revenue Service last
year.

WHY AM I LAUGHING? Zenith spokesman Glen Nelson admits the Z-180
is Made in Japan. They're looking at producing the product in the
U.S., however.

CONTACT: Glen Nelson, ZENITH, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
LEXIS, WESTLAW IN COURT OVER RIGHTS TO FEDERAL COURT DECISIONS
DAYTON, OH (NB) -- Mead Data Central, Dayton, OH, publishers of
the LEXIS database, filed suit against West Publishing Co. St.
Paul, MN, , publishers of the WESTLAW database, on August 18,
claiming federal and state courts have conspired with West to
make it the exclusive publisher of their complete decisions. Mead
is seeking treble damages under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act,
claiming that West used profits from its paper publishing to
support its online system, that it forced lawyers who wanted
Westlaw to get rid of their Mead terminals, and that Westlaw uses
Mead trade secrets in its formatting. Earlier, West sued Mead to
prevent it from using West page numbering in Lexis.  The
temporary restraining order on that is still in effect.

Mead spokesman Dudley Kircher told NEWSBYTES, "They refused to
deal with competitors in providing access to the opinions and
statutes of the courts. They entered into exclusive contracts
with the courts and other government agencies for publication of
opinions and statutes. They acquired competitors. They improperly
made copyright claims on material in the public domain, and they
engaged in predatory practices such as welling belong cost,
subsidizing that activity with their monopolistic practices in
the publishing business. We doubt that a private corporation has
the right to limit access to the laws by which the people are
governed. This goes beyond violating anti-trust law. It's
contrary to our system of government." Mead's outside counsel is
the firm of Smith & Schnacke, Dayton OH.

THE ISSUES -- Can a private company tie up exclusive rights to
re-print public data? Who owns court decisions. Can a
private company copyright them? Important information ownership
issues will be decided by this case. It bears watching.

CONTACT: Dudley Kircher, MEAD, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
NEW PC-MOS SUPPORTS 8088 AND 80286 MACHINES WITH ADD-IN CARD
ALPHARETTA, GA (NB) -- The Software Link began shipping Version
1.02 of its PC-MOS/386 DOS-compatible multitasking operating
system August 24. The new version supports old PCs based on the
Intel 8088 and 80286 chips when they have memory management
through an add-in board like the AT Gizmo, which also comes from
TSL. (And if anyone found bugs in Version 1.0, TSL has stomped
them suckers flat in the new version.) TSL promises that your new
DOS applications will run fine on its new operating system or
they'll be very unhappy, moving heaven and Earth to make things
better.

CONTACT: Gary Robertson, THE SOFTWARE LINK, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
PECAN CHIPS --

AT&T announced it's building a 57-story tower in Midtown Atlanta
which will dwarf IBM's recently-completed 50-story building on
the same block.

A.S. GIBSON & SONS, Bountiful, UT, has released a new version of
its Compustock stock analysis program. It comes with a monthly
database.

GULFSTREAM MICRO SYSTEMS, Boca Rotan, FL, announced its directors
have approved a final merger agreement with DEST Systems,
Milpitas, CA. Gulfstream makes the EZ-Fax PC facsimile board.
DEST makes image scanners.

HAYES, Norcross, announced an upgrade for its Smartcom II
software on the Apple Macintosh, to let it coexist with other
Multifinder-compatible applications. The new version costs $149;
upgrades are priced based on how old your copy is.

SOFTKLONE, Tallahassee, FL, announced a $20 upgrade program for
Crosstalk XVI users who switch to its Mirror II.

STOCKHOLDER SYSTEMS, Atlanta, announced Workflow, a software
product for IBM mainframes which automates documentation and
provides flow-charts and cross-references for work in progress.

TANDY, Ft. Worth, announced a profit of $44.4 million for the
quarter ended June 30, up from $26.8 million a year ago.
Revenues were up 7%, to $736.7 million.

TARGET SOFTWARE, Miami, finally began shipping its "Scoop"
desktop publishing program last week, following the MacWorld show
in Boston.

TELEX, Minneapolis, MN, announced MagnaByte 5220-I, an LCD
palette that fits on any overhead projector and lets you display
anything from a computer screen, even in color, onto a wall.

THE NETWORK CONNECTION, Alpharetta, GA, announced the Triumph
386, a network server with up to 266 Megabytes of capacity and
access times of under 1 millisecond. It comes bundled with Novell
NetWare. The price of that quarter-gigabyte unit: $22,000.


[***][8/25/87][***]
EDITORIAL
TANDY: THE "RODNEY DANGERFIELD" OF THE PC WORLD
FORT WORTH, TX (NB) -- Maybe the image of Rodney Dangerfield,
pulling nervously at his tie (required for all Tandy reps),
complaining he gets no respect, fits the folks at Fort Tandy. A
Dallas analyst used it in discussing the company with "Infoworld"
last week.  With its August 3 announcements, the company now has a
full line of PC-compatibles, ranging from a $600 machine with the
8088 chip and DOS built-in, to a $2,600 machine based on the 80386
chip, along with laser printers. Chairman John Roach expects a
real war with the IBM PS/25 for the education market: Tandy won a
battle on that front in Florida a few weeks ago. The Software
Publishers Association has reported that games software sales
rose 57% in the first half of 1987, thanks to cheap PC clones.
The new Tandy and IBM Model 25 should stir new software
development under MS-DOS.

WHAT'S STILL WRONG: The 4000 has cheap, slow slots. The whole
line suffers from IBM's own software problems, especially in
areas like desktop publishing. Tandy still hasn't figured out
what to do about OS/2 or the new Micro Channel Architecture
slots. And Tandy customers I know in Atlanta say the gap between
the promises of its commercials and the service of Radio Shack
Computer Centers is still wide. Replacing cheap Asian clones
which upset people with cheap American clones which upset people
is not progress.

***
END OF EDITORIAL!
***
[***][8/25/87][***]
AND FINALLY...A PROGRAM TO HELP YOU WIN AT MONOPOLY
AP reports on the introduction of "Winning Monopoly", a program
by Kaz Darzinskis of Downers Grove, IL. It includes an analysis
of 187,000 games, along with a printed guide to improve your odds
of beating the wife and kids in this 66-year old board game from
Parker Brothers. The findings fill a 266-page book published by
Harper & Row last June. Among Darzinskis' findings: buying
everything you land on will make you broke, Boardwalk and Park
Place aren't a great monopoly, and the best places to build
hotels are the orange squares -- St. James Pl., Tennessee Ave.
and New York Ave. (Reds like Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois
Avenues, and Greens like Pacific, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
Avenues, are the next best-things.)

(Of course, I knew about the oranges when I was 14, through
trial-and-error. I always beat my 6-year old brother with them.
Then he beat me with the board.)

[***][8/25/87][***]
COMPUTER INNOVATIONS REVENUES DOUBLE
BRAMPTON, Ont. (NB) -- Computer Innovations Distribution Inc.,
which operates all the ComputerLand franchises in Canada, has
reported revenues of C$255.6 million for fiscal 1987, ended March
28.  That's slightly more than double the company's revenues in
fiscal 1986 -- C$126.1 million.  It was just at the beginning of
fiscal 1987 that the Canadian company, which previously operated
computer stores under the Computer Innovations name, took over
the Canadian operations of ComputerLand.

In its annual report, Computer Innovations noted that it
installed its 100,000th microcomputer in November.  It also
reported that in the past year the company has reduced from 102
to 79 the number of stores it operates.  The closures, Computer
Innovations said, were because of "redundant facilities" -- in
other words, former ComputerLand and Computer Innovations outlets
too close to each other.  By the end of this year the company
expects to close four more outlets and hold steady at 75.

This year, Computer Innovations is launching a quarterly
publication devoted to desktop publishing.  The first issue
should appear shortly; NEWSBYTES CANADA has learned that
publication has already been delayed slightly.  The whole thing
is, naturally, produced using desktop publishing systems. So,
incidentally, was the annual report.

Computer Innovations had net income of C$8.1 million in fiscal
1987, up from C$5.0 million the year before. In addition to its
ComputerLand stores, the company has a Lottery Systems Division
that makes terminals used for selling lottery tickets in corner
stores.

CONTACT: COMPUTER INNOVATIONS DISTRIBUTION INC., 2000 Clark Blvd.
         Brampton, Ont. L6T 4M7, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE FOR MAC, ATARI
TORONTO (NB) -- CourseMaker International Inc. has two new
educational programs for the Macintosh and Atari ST computers.
One, Learning Spoken English, uses synthesized speech to teach
English sounds and a vocabulary of 500 words.  The words are also
covered in a dictionary that helps the user learn their meanings
and how they are used.  The use of speech synthesis for this
purpose is interesting, although one wonders if those who depend
too heavily on it may wind up talking a bit like robots from old
science fiction movies -- neither the Mac nor the ST produces
totally natural-sounding speech.

The other program is designed to teach people about AIDS. It uses
a cartoon-character narrator with the cutesy name Dr. B. Careful
to present information about AIDS, its transmission, prevention
and treatment.  There are also questions, exercises and games
built in.  Those who, like your correspondent, are tired of
people who would rather have an AIDS epidemic than widespread use
of birth control, will be pleased to hear that condoms are
mentioned as a means of preventing the disease.

Both packages are available today for the Mac and ST.  Versions
are due out shortly for the Apple IIGS and the Commodore Amiga.

CONTACT: COURSEMAKER INTERNATIONAL INC., 2150 Steeles Ave. W.
         Suite 11-12, Concord, Ont. L4K 2Y7 [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
COGNOS EYES PERSONAL COMPUTER MARKET
OTTAWA (NB) -- Cognos Inc., which has made its fortune selling
software for minicomputers from Hewlett-Packard, Digital
Equipment and Data General, will head into the personal computer
field next.  The company says it will introduce a version of
PowerHouse, its fourth-generation development software, for the
IBM PC AT and compatibles before the end of this fiscal year,
which closes next Feb. 28.  And company spokesman Pierre Viau
said that when Microsoft's Operating System/2 becomes available,
"essentially our strategy is to be there as well."

CONTACT: COGNOS INC., 3755 Riverside Dr., Ottawa, Ont.
         [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
MIDI SOFTWARE FOR THE ATARI ST
EDMONTON (NB) -- Legend Software Systems, a startup software
developer here, has developed a 16-track polyphonic MIDI (Musical
Instrument Digital Interface) sequencer for the Atari ST series
of computers.  The Final Cut 1.0 is usable by both novices and
professionals, according to the company, and will retail for
C$175.  Currently being beta-tested, the software is expected to
be generally available in late September.  Legend is offering
demo versions to dealers for C$9.95.

CONTACT: Bruce Johnson, LEGEND SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, 3508-34A Ave.,
         Edmonton, Alta. T6L 5E8, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
AND ANOTHER ONE FOR THE ST
OSHAWA, Ont. (NB) -- Northern Design Systems has announced
MI:CADDS, a three-dimensional computer-aided design and drafting
package for Atari's 1040ST and Mega ST personal computers.
Northern says the software works with Hewlett-Packard 7470/7475
or compatible plotters, or with Epson FX-80 and compatible dot-
matrix printers.  It will cost $199 U.S., and is scheduled to be
available October 15.  An add-on Advanced Drafting Package will
be available Dec. 1 for $99 U.S., the company says.

CONTACT: David Fletcher, NORTHERN DESIGN SYSTEMS, 649 Down Cres.
         Oshawa, Ont. L1H 7X9, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
PACKAGE PREVIEWS LASER OUTPUT
VANCOUVER (NB) -- Theta Systems Corp. has announced the release
of softJET, a high-speed screen preview program for the HP
LaserJet+ and compatible laser printers.  Theta says that users
of applications such as WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Multimate,
PC-Write, and Lotus 1-2-3 can use softJET to see how their work
will look on paper before hitting the print key. It's priced at
C$150, $120 U.S. Shipments start September 1.

CONTACT: Debbie Nelson, THETA SYSTEMS CORP., 307-2150 West
         Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K 4L9, [phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
FINANCIAL BITS
-- SYDNEY DEVELOPMENT CORP., the Vancouver-based software
developer, lost C$14 million in the year ended March 31, compared
with a loss of C$4.3 million a year earlier.  That was despite an
increase in revenue, from C$13.3 million to C$14.6 million.

-- COLUMBIA COMPUTING SERVICES LTD., Vancouver, reported profit
of C$98,000 for the three months ended June 30, on revenues of
C$1.8 million.  That's down from a C$122,000 profit on C$1.5
million in revenues in the same period last year.

[***][8/25/87][***]
BITS, EH?
-- CONTROL DATA CANADA's Computing Devices division is building a
new office building at its headquarters in Nepean, Ont., to house
staff who will be moved back from remote facilities and to
provide for future needs.  The project is to cost about C$10
million.

-- IT'S YOUR BUSINESS, a new Toronto "advertorial" (advertising
tarted up to look like editorial content) publication launched
last month, is being published with Publishing Partner software,
from Soft Logic Corp. of St. Louis, Mo., on an Atari ST computer.


NEWSBYTES Canadian bureau chief is Grant Buckler, Source ID
IP2008, voice [phone], or 859 Kennedy Rd., #203,
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada M1K 2E3.


[***][8/25/87][***]
100% TARIFF ON CPU BOARDS MAY HALT IBM PS/2 PRODUCTION
TOKYO (NB) -- The U.S. Customs office recently announced that it
will impose 100% import tariffs on Matsushita's central
processing unit (CPU) boards, which has been supplied to IBM U.S.A.
The CPU board is being made for the IBM Personal System/2 series.
Apparently, IBM will get into trouble if the tax is imposed.  And
so will many other American computer makers, which have been getting
supplies of similar CPU boards from Japan.  Reportedly, the U.S.
Computer Business Equipment Manufacturer Association will appeal
the U.S. Customs decision and request the tariff be withdrawn.

[***][8/25/87][***]
IBM JAPAN FINALLY STOPS PRODUCTION OF THE JX COMPUTER
TOKYO (NB) -- IBM Japan will soon stop selling the JX
computer, which is the Japanese counterpart of the PCjr.  The JX
was initially released by IBM Japan three years ago, and has been
produced by Matsushita Electronics in Japan.  The JX has slightly
more powerful features, compared with the PCjr.  So, IBM Japan has
been pitching the JX to the business market after failing in the
hobbyist market.  However, since the JX never made it in either
market, IBM Japan will give up on the machine, according to a
published report. IBM Japan has decided to focus sales on its
latest model the PS/55 series, the Japanese version of the PS/2.

CONTACT: IBM Japan, 3-2-12 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106

[***][8/25/87][***]
TI SHIFTS CHIP PRODUCTION TO KOREA
TOKYO (NB) -- Texas Instruments (U.S.A.) has recently decided to
tie up with Korea's Hyundai concerning memory ICs.  With this
agreement, Hyundai will produce TI's 256K dynamic RAM on an
OEM basis.  Currently, TI has been producing 256K DRAM at its
Minura plant, Ibaragi prefecture, Japan.  Reportedly, demand for
the chip is high, but the company cannot meet the demand
due to an export restriction order imposed by the Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry.  So, TI has decided to link
with Hyundai to produce more chips in Korea.  If that's the
mentality of most of the American firms, the U.S. trade imbalance
may die hard.  "Unless the U.S. makers change their industry
structure to produce a fundamental solution, the country might create
serious trade problems with another country, following Japan,"
worries an analyst.

[***][8/25/87][***]
PC-9801 COMPATIBLE LAPTOP COMPUTER DUE THIS FALL
TOKYO (NB) -- The NIKKEI SANGYO Daily says there will be a
flood of laptop computers in the Japanese market this fall.
Among others, IBM Japan is expected to release a Japanese version
of its latest laptop PC.  Fujitsu will release a laptop computer
compatible with the company's 16-bit business computer the FM-R
series.  Hitachi's laptop will be compatible with the B16 series.
Meanwhile, avant-garde company Seiko-Epson, which has released a
first NEC-compatible desktop computer, will release an NEC-
compatible laptop computer.  "That's the *ultimate* laptop
computer, which many NEC PC-9801 users have been waiting for,"
says a hobbyist.  NEC disappointed a lot of users at the
announcement of the PC98LT, a laptop computer with
limited compatibility with the PC-9801, about a year ago.

[***][8/25/87][***]
OKI ENTERS MINICOMPUTER BUSINESS
TOKYO (NB) -- Oki Electronics will release a superminicomputer
around the end of the year.  The product OKITAC8300 is expected
to be as powerful as DEC's VAX8600 series, says a report.  And
within two years, Oki is planning to release an extremely powerful
superminicomputer code-named RX2.  The RX2 will have a
processing speed of 100 million instructions per second.  The
computer will be able to connect 12 processors as its terminal.

CONTACT: Oki Electronics, 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105

[***][8/25/87][***]
80386 OPERATING SYSTEM FROM INTEL
TOKYO (NB) -- Intel Japan started shipping its new version of an
operating system for its 32-bit microprocessing unit 80386 on
August 20.  The new version, iRMX286 release 2, has improved
local area network features, powerful editing features, and many
extended user facilities.

CONTACT: Intel Japan, 5-6 Tokodai, Toyosato-cho, Tsukuba-gun,
         Ibaragi-ken 300-26



[***][8/25/87][***]
ZENITH IS SELECTED BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
KARLSRUHE, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Zenith Data Systems,
has been selected by the Department of Defense to supply up
to 90,000 laptop computers. The contract, which is worth
about $250 million U.S., was won against stiff competition
from Toshiba, the Japanese manufacturer. In fact, Toshiba did not
have a chance after the company was found responsible for selling
secret submarine propeller milling machines to the Soviet Union
and subsequently banned from federal orders.

The computer chosen is the Z-184, a laptop system that is lighter
than the Z-183. The system costs $1499 for the 20MB hard disk
version and $949 for the floppy version.

Deputy Assistant Air Force Secretary Andrew Bilinski, made the
announcement here in front of a large crowd at the MicroEurope 87
exhibition. Toshiba's Atsutoshi Nishida, vice president of PCs
in Europe, was quoted to be "saddened" by the decision. He
still feels that Toshiba PCs and especially the T-1000 model
and the T-1100 PLUS system offer a better value.

[***][8/25/87][***]
LASER DIODES USED IN NEW PRINTER
VERRIERES, FRANCE (NB) -- SET, a company based in Verrieres-le-
Buisson, has announced a new printer that is based on laser diode
electrophotography. The printer, called the M3060 model, is
available with various interfaces and 1.5MB of RAM. Although its
resolution, at 240 by 240 pixels per inch, is not as good as
laser printers (which offer 300 by 300 pixels per inch), the
printer is the first in the series. The only other printer that
offers similar printing is Delphax Systems of Toronto,
Canada, which makes a printing engine based on an electrostatic
principle.

CONTACT: SET Electronique SA, Verrieres-le-Buisson Cedex, France,
         Tel:[phone] Tlx: 600206

[***][8/25/87][***]
REAL TIME CONTROLLER USES NEW CHIP SET
MAASEIK, BELGIUM (NB) -- Novix has introduced a peripheral
card for IBM PC based systems, that uses a proprietary processor,
called the NOVIX NC4016. The board, which offers speeds up to
8 MIPS (million instructions per second), offers microcodeless
CPU operation based upon FORTH primitives. The NC4016 runs as
an independent processor and uses the PC for mass storage and
I/O operations. The NC4016 chip was developed internally and is
supplied in an LCC carrier, similar to the 80386 chip. Great stuff!

CONTACT: Novix, Wouterbos 39, 3671 Maaseik, Belgium, Tel:
         011/863385, Tlx: 39857

[***][8/25/87][***]
VICTOR ANNOUNCES NEW PC
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (NB) -- Remember Victor, the company that had
Chuck Peddle in the helm when it introduced a better-than-IBM
system (not very difficult, mind you) and then took a dive?  Well
the company has been slowly recovering and has been selling
various IBM PC-compatible systems in the last few years. Now,
their latest product is the VPC3/286 PC which uses a 286 CPU
running at either 6 or 8 MHz and is supplied with two serial
ports, six expansion slots, floppy and an optional 3.5" hard
disk.

CONTACT: Victor Distribution, PO Box 42054, 12612 Stockholm,
         Sweden, Tel: [phone] Tlx: 17828

[***][8/25/87][***]
WORLD'S SMALLEST PC?
PARIS, FRANCE (NB) -- It may be true that the world's smallest PC-
compatible system is manufactured by a French company  called
SEPSI. The system, which is called the Microflex PC, uses an
80C88 CPU, up to 2MB of CMOS RAM, a 128x128 pixel graphics LCD, a
serial interface and real-time clock. On this hand-held unit you
also have a keyboard (if you can call it that). The system,
which is the size of NEWSWEEK Pocket Diary, also connects to
floppy drives, printers and to a hard disk interface. Anything
smaller that this, needs midget fingers!

CONTACT: SEPSI, 45 Rue Saint Sebastien, 75011 Paris, France
         Tel:[phone]

[***][8/25/87][***]
POSTSCRIPT PRINTER OFFERED
ANTWERP, BELGIUM (NB) -- Agfa, the well known film and
information processing company, has introduced a floor-
standing laser printer that supports the Postscript standard. The
printer, which offers 406 x 406 pixels per inch (as opposed to
300 x 300 pixels for most garden-variety laser printers), prints
at speeds up to 18 pages per minute. Standard with this printer,
are 73 typefaces, and a rated duty cycle of 100,000 pages per
month.

CONTACT: AGFA, Mechelsensteeweg 430, 2520 Edegem/Antwerp, Belgium
         Tel: [phone] Tlx: 72631

[***][8/25/87][***]
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY TO TAKE BELGIUM TO COURT ON MODEM REGULATIONS
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- The EC is to take legal action against the
Kingdom of Belgium over the latter's refusal to liberalize its
telecommunications market. The EC, two years ago, started
discussions with West Germany, Italy and Belgium concerning the
way these countries operate monopolies in the telecommunications
sector.

Some European countries are liberal. Holland (come to think of
it, I do not know anything which is NOT liberal in Holland),for example,
already has a liberal modem market and in fact I could go
across the border (a 30 minute car journey), buy a modem
and connect it here without any problems.

The EC contacted the above-mentioned countries and West
Germany, decided that it was going to look into this
problem and propose standards for these modems which could be
appropriate. These standards would be examined by the EC and if they
were simple enough (meaning easy for foreign vendors to apply),
they would be accepted.

Italy, is still in discussions while Belgium also agreed
to the West German Proposal. However, a few months ago, the
agreement with Belgium fell through, and the EC decided to take
legal action, which is scheduled for some time later this year. An EC
spokesman said he expects the EC to win easily and "no problems
are foreseen. We just do not understand why Belgium is doing
this," the spokesman was quoted saying, considering the fact that
Belgium is normally pro-open market.

Finally, Hayes and the other 1000 modem companies can prepare
themselves for the * OPEN * European market!

[***][8/25/87][***]
COMPUTER BRIEFS --


DIGITAL RESEARCH has announced the availability of FLEXOS, an
operating system that is offered for 386 based machines
and runs MSDOS/PCDOS programs in protected mode. Similar
to the PC-MOS/386, this program also runs on 286 CPUs where it
runs MSDOS and protected mode programs at the same time.

====
[***][8/25/87][***]
INTO LOTUS-LAND WITH LIM EMS 4.0
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Who needs OS/2? With the new versions of
the Lotus, Intel, Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification, LIM
EMS 4.0, 1-2-3 Release 3 users will be able to do everything in
DOS 3.x that will be available in OS/2. That includes mammoth
spreadsheets, enormous RAM disks, gobs of room for memory-
resident programs, and multitasking. Release 3 of 1-2-3 is set
for early next year. "Seven million Lotus users can turn to EMS
4.0 and good old DOS 3 and get all the new features of Lotus
Release 3 running under OS/2," said David Reed of Lotus. Some of
the 4.0 specs that will knock you off your feet: access to 32
megabytes of RAM, compatibility with the AST, Ashton-Tate,
Quadram EEMS, Windows 2. Wow!

[***][8/25/87][***]
CUSTOMS PUTS TARIFFS ON JAPANESE MOTHERBOARDS
WASHINGTON (NB) -- U.S. customs officials have expanded the 100
percent retaliatory tariff on Japanese computer goods to
motherboards. Customs Service, an army of the Treasury
Department, ruled that the motherboards are finished computer
products, not components. The tariffs are part of the action the
U.S. took list April to punish Japan for dumping chips on the
world market, undercutting U.S. chip makers. Customs also plans
to hold up all imports of Japanese motherboards until agents can
figure out just how much tariff to charge.

[***][8/25/87][***]
DELPHI AND ZIFF IN TALKS  *EXCLUSIVE*
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Delphi founder Wes Kussmaul has told
NEWSBYTES that officials from General Videotex and Ziff Davis
Publishing Co. have talked about selling the Delphi information
{_service to Ziff. But Kussmaul said "you shouldn't hold your
breath" about the deal, because it doesn't believe a merger or
sale is likely. "We get a multitude of joint venture proposals,"
Kussmaul said.

Officials from the New York publishing giant were
in Massachusetts last week to discuss a deal, Kussmaul confirmed.
It is also possible that some other arrangement with Ziff is
possible, Kussmaul said. General Videotex and Ziff have had a
close relationship for some time. Delphi originally ran on
Ziff's host system, Kussmaul said, and "over the years, we kept
up ongoing negotiations on combined data centers." Kussmaul said
Delphi's quarters in Cambridge are not ideal for a data center,
but that Ziff's data center in Burlington, Mass., is first rate.

As for sale or merger with Ziff Davis, "we have these kinds of
talks with various parties regularly," Kussmaul said. "We draw a
lot of attention because we are one of the few profitable
independents in this area. I can't say that the talk today [about
Ziff] is any more real or likely than in the past."

[***][8/25/87][***]
CLONES FORCE PENTAGON TO CAVE IN ON PC EXPORTS
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Pentagon will end its long-held ban on the
export of IBM PCs to the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations.
The Pentagon and the Commerce Department have been sparring over
the issue for years, with the Pentagon insisting that PCs are
militarily useful to the Soviets and should be banned as a
result. But the plethora of clones from Asia, easily available to
the Soviets or anyone else, finally persuaded the military that
insisting on the ban was silly, according to Defense Department
sources. However, 32-bit computers such as Apple's Macintosh
line, and the machines based on the Intel 80386 chips will
continue to be verboten as exports to the Eastern Bloc. Of
course, there will soon be a flood of Asian 80386s, again
undercutting the Pentagon hardliners.

[***][8/25/87][***]
COMMODORE IN THE BLACK, BUT U.S. SALES LAG
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (NB) -- Commodore International Ltd. has
reported profits for the year ended June 30 of $28.6 million,
or 89 cents per share, compared with a $127.9 million loss
($4.08 per share) for fiscal 1986. But the financial turnaround
came despite lower overall sales for the year of $806.7 million,
down from $889.3 million in 1986. Severe cost-cutting and
consolidation fed the Commodore bottom line, but the company
must dramatically beef up its U.S. sales to move ahead, according
to Wall Street analysts. Nearly three-quarters of Commodore's
sales during fiscal 1987 took place outside the U.S. Commodore
faces a very tough task. The model 64 is growing a beard, the PC-
compatible line faces stiff competition from Big Blue and the
other clonesters, and the impressive Amiga has yet to catch on
big.

[***][8/25/87][***]
TRINTEX AND AMERICAN AIRLINES TO TEAM UP
NEW YORK (NB) -- Trintex, the videotex venture of International
Business Machines and Sears Roebuck, will offer customers of its
Prodigy network access to American Airlines EAASY SABRE travel
reservation service. The line will allow Prodigy users to get
flight schedules for more than 650 airlines and book and confirm
reservations directly on 300 of them. The SABRE system has long
been used by travel agents, and is more direct than services such
as the on-line Official Airline Guide. Trintex will test market
Prodigy next year.

[***][8/25/87][***]
DEC COMPLAINT FORCES AIR FORCE BIDDING HALT
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Air Force has stopped the bidding on a
$3.5 billion contract for 20,000 multiuser minicomputer systems
following a complaint by Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard,
Mass. DEC complained to the General Services Administration's
Board of Contract Appeals that the bidding was stacked in favor
of American Telephone & Telegraph. Digital complained that the
bidding documents specified that the operating system for the
computers be AT&T's System V Interface Definition, a Unix
variant. DEC argued that the Air Force should be looking for
function, not for specific software. The Air Force initially
turned DEC down, but agreed to suspend bidding once the company
complained to GSA. A GSA administration law judge will hear
Digital's complaint at a hearing in Washington September 16.

[***][8/25/87][***]
APOLLO GETS $800,000 BOEING CONTRACT, MORE TO COME
CHELMSFORD, Mass. (NB) -- Apollo Computer Inc. has sold 40
Series 3000 engineering workstations to Boeing Computer Services
for use in the NASA space station program, for a total of
$800,000, or about $20,000 apiece. Apollo said it expects to
deliver more than 400 workstations, worth more than $6 million,
under the contract. Apollo is also provide software and support,
including boards so that the workstations can run MS-DOS and
Apollo's Domain environment. "This is a very significant contract
for Apollo, no question about it," said Apollo spokesman Joe
Nahil. NASA plans to use the Apollo Series 3000 Personal
Workstations in a number of departments, including engineering
applications, document management, budget planning, scheduling,
and performance management, Nahil said.

[***][8/25/87][***]
NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION

CONTINENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS of Syracuse, N.Y., has acquired
CMI Holdings Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. The result is the
second largest independent computer leasing firm in the U.S. Last
year, the two firms collectively financed in excess of $1.3
billion in computer and other capital equipment, with combined
revenues for the period of more than $650 million.


BLUE LION SOFTWARE of Belmont, Mass., has developed a program for
the Apple II line that teaches manners and etiquette. RSVP is
$39.95 and runs on IIe, c, and gs machines with 128K of RAM.

ELECTRONIC BUSINESS magazine of Newton, Mass., says Advanced
Micro Devices spent 31.9 percent of total revenues on research
and development in 1986, to lead the list of R&D spenders in its
annual survey. The magazine said IBM ranked 58th, spending 7.8
percent of total revenues on R&D. Nevertheless, IBM's 7.8 percent
works out to $3.9 billion, more than four times what any other
electronics company spent on R&D.

EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER CORP. of Strafford, Pa., reported record
sales and earnings for the year ended June 30. Profits were $3.7
million (79 cents per share) on sales of $38 million, compared to
$2.7 million in profits (60 cents per share) on $27.8 million in
sales in fiscal 1986. The company makes computer-assisted
simulators.

[***][8/25/87][***]
ASK DR. JOHN #7...Copyright 1987

  A biweekly, free help service for NEWSBYTES readers.  Address
   your questions to John Heilborn to IP1039 here on the Source

  In this issue readers ask about....

                    - TICKING MACINTOSH DISK DRIVES
                    - INSTALLING XT HARD DRIVES INTO ATs
                    - MIXING NTSC VIDEO WITH COMPUTER ANIMATION
                    - USING APPLE'S PERSONAL MODEM W/ COMPAQ


DEAR DR. JOHN:

I HAVE A PROBLEM.  MY ONE YEAR OLD GRABBED ONE OF MY MACINTOSH
DISKETTES AND PUT IN HIS MOUTH.  HE MAY HAVE GOTTEN IT WET, I'M NOT
SURE. ANYWAY, ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, I LOADED IT INTO MY MACINTOSH.
ALTHOUGH IT RAN FINE, MY DISK DRIVE STARTED MAKING A KIND OF TICKING
SOUND, A FAST TICKING.  NOW IT TICKS NO MATTER WHAT DISK I LOAD.

THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR A WEEK NOW, AND I'M GETTING WORRIED.  HAVE
I SCREWED UP THE DRIVE?

- W.W.

Dear W.W.:

Although moisture is not the best thing for diskettes or disk drives,
it is unlikely that moisture caused the ticking sound that you
describe.

Take a close look at the diskette that your son was "using."  My
guess is that he bent the metal shutter or deformed the plastic case
slightly.

The inside of a Mac drive (or any 3-1/2 inch drive for that matter)
is tight and does not allow for much misalignment.  When you put the
"used" diskette into your drive, you may have bent one of the
internal guides just enough to make it touch the drive spindle or
some other rotating part inside the disk drive.

While this can cause the ticking you describe, it will probably not
cause any serious problems unless it impairs diskette rotation
itself.  As long as you aren't having any read or write problems I
would not worry about it.
___________________________________________________________

DEAR DR JOHN:

I HAVE A GOLDEN STAR XT COMPATIBLE WITH 20 MEGABYTE HARD DISK.  I
TRIED TO INSTALL THE HARD DISK IN AN IBM AT AND IT DOES NOT WORK.
CAN YOU GIVE SOME TIPS.

- M.L.

Dear M.L.:

The first problem you will have with the drive is that the XT looks
for its first hard drive at address 0 while the AT looks for its
first hard drive at address 1.  To change the drive to address 1,
move the jumper block on the rear of the drive (or the bottom on some
drives) from position 0 to position 1.

NOTE: In case the jumpers are not numbered on your drive, there are
four positions, 0,1,2 and 3.  If your drive was working on the XT,
the jumper will be in position 0. Just move it over one position.

The second problem you will probably encounter is that many AT disk
controllers will not read/write properly to a drive that was
formatted by an XT.  You may therefore have to reformat the drive
(low level format and high level format).

For information on this process, you will need to refer to the
instructions that came with your AT hard disk controller, since the
process varies somewhat from system to system.
___________________________________________________________

DEAR DR. JOHN:

IS THERE ANY COMPANY THAT MAKES AN NTSC COMPATABLE BOARD FOR VIDEO. I
HAVE TO CREATE SOME BUSINESS GRAPHICS AND ANIMATE THEM.

-- J.F.

Dear J.F.:

The Commodore Amiga will (in combination with its Gen-Lock board)
allow you to produce graphics,  animate it and then mix it with NTSC
video.
___________________________________________________________

DEAR DR. JOHN:

I AM CURRENTLY USING AN APPLE PERSONAL MODEM WITH MY APPLE IIE.  I
ALSO HAVE A COMPAQ PORTABLE WHICH I TAKE ON THE ROAD WITH ME.  I
WOULD LIKE TO TELECOMMUNICATE WITH THE COMPAQ BUT AM NOT SURE IF I
CAN USE THE APPLE MODEM.  IS THE PERSONAL MODEM SIMPLY AN EXTERNAL
HAYES-COMMAND MODEM?  DO I JUST NEED AN APPROPRIATE CABLE AND MS-DOS
TELECOM SOFTWARE?

- F.

Dear F.:

According to Apple, the Apple Personal Modem is a Hayes compatible
modem with an RS 232 interface.  Looking at it, however, I found that
the connector on the back is a round mini-din type connector instead
of the more standard, 25 pin D connector used by more conventional
modems.

If you want to use this modem with your Compaq, you will need to buy
a special cable from Apple to connect it to the RS 232 port on your
Compaq.

You should be aware, however, that since the Hayes modem command set
has become, essentially, the industry standard for intelligent
modems, nearly all modems claim to be Hayes compatible.  In other
words, some modems that call themselves Hayes compatible do contain
most of the Hayes intelligent modem instruction set, while others
contain only a few of the Hayes commands.

Before you spend a lot of money on a cable (and I warn you, Apple
cables are not cheap), I would compare the instruction set of your
modem with the commands that your Compaq's software will be needing.

   --John Heilborn, IP2005

[***][8/25/87][***]
INSIDE SILICON VALLEY
WEEK OF AUGUST 25, 1987
By Denise Caruso


NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN:  Owl International, a software company
in Bellevue, Wash., is said to be making lawsuit noises at Apple,
claiming that HyperCard apes its hypertext product Guide. But if
anyone's got a reason to complain, maybe it should be Paul Heckel,
president of tiny Los Altos-based Quickview Systems and author of
"The Elements of Friendly Software Design."

Heckel, whose book received glowing praise from Apple Fellow Alan
Kay, has been espousing the "card stack" metaphor for four years
via his product for the IBM PC and Atari ST called Zoomracks.
Though Zoomracks is text-oriented rather than graphics-based and
has only simple hypertext capabilities, Heckel is quick to
point out that he was the first to use a card metaphor in a
sophisticated way.

Heckel gave Kay a demo of Zoomracks in spring 1985, and claims
that Kay "really went crazy over it. Heckel says they met while
they were at Xerox PARC. Kay's response, according to Heckel,
was, "'I've got to tell Steve (Jobs) about this!' Of course, it was
just my luck Jobs was booted out of Apple a week later."

Heckel remembers Kay mentioning HyperCard author Bill Atkinson's public
domain "Rolodex" program, the seed from which HyperCard grew, during
their spring 1985 conversation.

As a result, Heckel says that when he first heard about HyperCard, he
had "rather ambivalent" feelings about it. "On one hand, I kind of
wanted to get the recognition first, and Apple has stolen a lot of
our thunder. On the other hand, they've legitimized the product.
I don't know anything like Zoomracks out there except HyperCard."
Heckel says there are other hypertext products, but not based on
the card-and-rack metaphor.

Now Heckel is hoping to catch a ride on the tails of HyperCard's
sure-bet popularity. "HyperCard changes the whole ballgame for
us," he says.

THE SHEEP ARE NERVOUS: The California State Fair, better known
for showcasing the state's hefty agricultural industry than for its
appreciation of high technology, is breaking the mold.  It's
sponsoring a nifty exhibit called "The Past-Present-Future of Personal
Computers," where you'll be able to gaze fondly at most or all of
those nostalgia items you've heard about.

The exhibit was put together with a lot of help from PCC Inc. Jane
Nissen Laidley, executive director of PCC in San Ramon, a non-
profit training group with ancient ties to the PC world, says her
team gathered together everything from an Apple I motherboard hand-
wired by Steve Wozniak to the first issue of Byte Magazine. Also
included, Lee Felsenstein's first issue of the Homebrew newsletter
and an original WordStar 1.0 disk.

On display is the Altair, widely regarded as the first personal
computer, and the IMSAI, arguably the first personal computer
clone (of the Altair). There's also an Alto from Xerox PARC,
the first personal computer to use a mouse, an original set of
VisiCalc disks, the first Hewlett-Packard HP35 hand-held calculator,
which started it all, the first issue of the hacker magazine Dr.
Dobbs Journal, and an Osborne O-1.

The exhibit is part of a larger display called Communications Expo, in
Exhibit Area No. 8 on the Cal State Expo grounds. It opened Friday,
Aug. 21, and will continue until Monday, Sept. 7.

MACWORLD EXPO DEBRIS:  Bill Atkinson was seen walking into the
Addison-Wesley party -- in a hopping Beantown disco -- with a hard
disk under his arm.

Another interesting note:  I heard that some 47,000 shrink-wrapped,
ready-to-roll packages of HyperCard were destroyed just before the
Boston expo because they had a couple "minor bugs" in them and
Atkinson wouldn't let them out the door.

An erotic HyperCard application called SmutStack was selling like
hotcakes for $15 per at the show.  One booth-worker from Microsoft
was so anxious to get his hands on it, he swapped a copy of Word
3.01 -- retail price about $400 -- for the disk.

And Ann Arbor Softworks, who was promising to ship its long-awaited
FullWrite Professional package within three weeks from the show,
was having a hard time keeping its demo floppy copies in the
computer.  "They were losing truckloads of them," said my source.
"It was wild."
 ###
-----------------
[***][8/25/87][***]
ATARI: THE NEXT GENERATION
SLOUGH, Berkshire (NB) -- An article in a recent COMPUTER
GUARDIAN penned by computer journalist Guy Kewney reveals that
Atari is working on the next generation of computers, which will
be based around the Inmos transputer chip.

Following some legwork on the subject, NEWSBYTES UK has
discovered that the machines - still under development by Atari -
are likely to be dual processor computers (68000 & transputer
chips) running under an as-yet unwritten operating system from
Perihelion Software.

Perihelion is a relatively small operation headed by genius
software writer Dr. Tim King, who is famous for his work on AmigaDOS for
Commodore.  The machine and operating system are pencilled in for
a spring '88 release, at a target price of around the #1,000 mark.
The key question of course, is whether the public really *needs*
this kind of computing power.  The Atari ST and Commodore Amiga
are streaks ahead of the IBM PC, but what sells best?  Right, the
IBM PC (and close compatibles) - technology that's over five
years old.

CONTACT: ATARI UK, Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough,
         Berkshire SL2 5BZ.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/25/87][***]
COMPUTER CRACKERS MAGAZINE DEBUTS
LONDON, UK (NB) -- Computer cracking - or hacking as it's known
in the UK - is getting pretty topical these days.  And, for
better or worse, pretty popular, judging from the number of
clandestine BBSs spring up throughout the UK.  It comes as no
surprise then, that an underground magazine - "Academic Interest" -
described by its publishers as 'a free publication on hacking and
related arts' should turn up in the mail to NEWSBYTES UK and
other communications-oriented- organisations last weekend.

Leafing through the four page newsletter reveals traces of 2100,
the US underground magazine, although the data in the first issue
is pretty innocuous.  Subjects covered include the different
types of 'boxes' used by computer phone phreaks, as well as
generic system passwords for a variety of online computer
systems.  Who writes and produces it?  Nobody knows, as the
author has - perhaps wisely - chosen to remain anonymous.
Distribution is anonymous too, as recipients are asked to photocopy
the paper and pass it along.

The publication of "Academic Interest" in the UK signifies that
computer hacking has - for the worse in NEWSBYTES UK's opinion -
now reached beyond its clandestine origins and is now in the
realm of a minority computer interest.  Perhaps most frightening
of all is the promise at the end of the first issue - 'Next
Issue: Online Credit Systems.'

[***][8/25/87][***]
TELETEXT DATA DECODER DEBUTS
MALVERN, Worcestershire (NB) -- Tandata Cable and Teletext, a
division of Tandata Holdings, has released the UK's first dual
service data broadcast decoder.

Called the 'Tandata Teleport,' the #399 unit takes off-air
teletext data signals, which are broadcast along with
conventional TV signals, and turns them in serial output data
which can be fed into any RS232-coupled device or an RGB colour
monitor.  The Teleport comes in two forms - as a stand-alone unit
for plugging into a PC or similar terminals, or as a PCB-based
board for inclusion in other devices.  It's early days yet for
the fledgling teletext data service, but interest shown to date
indicates that the system could be as popular as teletext already
is in the UK.

* Teletext has been around in the UK for the best part of a
decade now.  Conceived around the same time as viewdata - as
used in BT's Prestel network - teletext is now very popular in
the UK, with almost 8 million households tuning in every day to
the free data broadcasts.  The private teletext data network
available via the UK's two TV companies - The BBC and IBA -
allows firms to piggyback their data onto a TV signal, for
broadcast around the country at very low cost.

CONTACT: TANDATA MARKETING LTD., Albert Road North, Malvern,
         Worcestershire, WR14 2TL.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/25/87][***]
PC EMULATION ON THE ATARI ST
SLOUGH, Berkshire (NB) -- Just when you thought it was safe to
buy a low-cost PC clone as an adjunct to your 68000-based Atari
ST, comes news that Atari are considering bundling PC-Ditto - a
PC emulation package - with all models of the ST in the UK.

As with most PC emulators on non-PC machines, PC-Ditto is a
compromise but - thanks to the 68000 microprocessor's speed - the
resultant PC emulation is reported to be as quick as a standard
4.77 Mhz clone.  The good news is that PC-Ditto will enable you
to use the #299 Atari 520 ST as a PC clone - effectively the
cheapest PC compatible on the market today.  The bad news is
that, because of the RAM gobbled up on the 520 by the emulation
program itself, only 200K of memory is available to run PC
programs in.  On the larger STs, however, the available RAM rises
to just over 700K - just above the 640K limit of a standard PC.

PC-Ditto originates from a Florida-based firm - Avante Garde -
who released the $90 package earlier this year.  According to
Owen Linderholm of PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD magazine, the latest
version of the package performs well and represents good value
for money.  The key question is whether Atari UK will bundle the
package free of charge with the ST.  If they do, then the product
will boost the STs sales in the UK several times over.  What
price a PC clone now?

* NEWSBYTES UK gratefully acknowledges the assistance of PCW
magazine in researching this story.  A full review of PC Ditto
appears in the October 1987 issue of PCW.

CONTACT: ATARI UK, Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough,
         Berkshire SL2 5BZ.
         Tel: [phone].

         PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD, VNU Business Publications,
         32-34 Broadwick Street, London W1A 2HG.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/25/87][***]
MAG'N'DISK FOR THE UK MARKET TOO
HAZEL GROVE, Cheshire (NB) -- Following on from last week's
mention of COMPUTE! mag'n'disk going on retail sale in the US at
$12-95 an issue, (see NEWSBYTES EAST), Database Publications MD
contacted NEWSBYTES UK to report that PC AMSTRAD Magazine - which
also has a free PC disk with every issue - sells in the UK for
just #1-95.

"Even allowing for UK-US airmail prices, PC Amstrad magazine is
still a lot cheaper than Compute! magazine," explained Derek.  "I
feel sure that Newsbyte's US readers will be interested in the
magazine.  An overseas subscription via airmail costs #43 - about
$65 for our US friends."

PC Amstrad is now into its fifth issue and edited by Mike Bibby.
NEWSBYTES can report that the glossy magazine represents good
value and is worth its cost for the disk alone.

CONTACT: DATABASE PUBLICATIONS, Europa House, 68 Chester Road,
         Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 5NY.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/25/87][***]
+ BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

CAMBRIDGE COMPUTING, Cambridge -- Sir Clive Sinclair is back in
the news again.  The genius entrepreneur's Z88 laptop goes on
retail sale from September 1st at #249 plus VAT - that's #50 more
than it cost when Sir Clive announced it at the start of the
year.

ATARI UK, Slough, Berkshire -- Atari has announced the price of
the long awaited SLM804 laser printer - #1,299.  Don't rush out to
order though, as the company say it won't hit the shops for
another month.  Just in time for the PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD show
at London's Olympia exhibition centre - how coincidental!

COMCEN, Swansea, Wales -- Fancy a cheap PC compatible?  Comcen of
Swansea are selling mix'n'match PCs for as little as #250.  How
do they do it?  The machines are really cannibalised PC trade-ins
that the company has received over the past few years.  Still, at
#250 with a six-month guarantee, who's complaining?  Give 'em a
call on 0792-796000.

LONDON, UK -- The latest COMPUTING magazine notes that several
London telephone exchanges overloaded last week when a London
newspaper offered 100 free tickets to see rock star Madonna in
concert.  As Computing succinctly put it: 'The poor old phone
exchange found itself on a barrage of 80,000 calls heavier than a
Led Zeppelin riff!'