Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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[***][10/20/87][***] GM TO BE BIGGEST MACINTOSH BUYER CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Apple Computer has reportedly sold 10,000 Macintoshes to General Motors' Electronic Data Systems division. The deal makes gives GM the largest installation of Macintoshes in the world; the car maker has an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Mac already. However, Apple refuses to divulge its own details of the sale. "We do have a contract with EDS but as with any business relationship, any details regarding the relationship are confidential," Carleen LeVasseur, Apple spokeswoman, told NEWSBYTES. Sources say the initial contract is worth $25 million and involves a great number of Macintosh IIs. Sources tell NEWSBYTES that the machines are destined for the "front offices" and not the manufacturing or servicing lines. H O T T I P -- Alan Boyd, president of Owl International, which makes a PC product similar to Apple's HyperCard called Guide, promises to unveil the name of a "major car company" that shunned Apple, in favor of 20,000+ IBMs in order to run Guide, next week. You'll read it here first. [***][10/20/87][***] "AMD KILLER" CHIP DEVELOPED BY INTEL SAYS REPORT SANTA CLARA, Ca. (NB) -- Intel has developed a microprocessor that will allow 80286-based computers to emulate the 80386 but will also be able to run the next operating system after OS/2, according to THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER's John Markoff. The "AMD Killer," a name due to its potential to wipe out the market for Advanced Micro Devices' current fast version of the 80286 chip, under license from Intel, is said to be under wraps for now, but the chip -- P9 -- has the potential of offering software developers an option beyond writing software for OS/2. The OS/2 operating system, under development at Microsoft, is designed to make 80286 machines perform multitasking. However, if software developers have the choice of writing for an even more advanced operating system that fully utilizes the power of the 80386, which the P9 reportedly would facilitate, they would save time and money. Intel is said to be holding back release of P9 due to current litigation with Advanced Micro over licensing rights to the 80386 line of microprocessors. So the P9 is expected to remain in Intel's research labs and probably won't see the light of day, or clear up software developers' confusion, for some time. [***][10/20/87][***] NEWEST WORDSTAR UNVEILED SAN RAFAEL, Ca. (NB) -- MicroPro International has taken the wraps off its latest edition of the ageless WordStar word processing program -- WordStar 2000 Plus Release 3. The new program, available in Personal (for the general office, with preprinted forms and an on-board idea processor) and Legal editions (also includes forms, a document comparison feature, and a legal dictionary), has 400 feature enhancements, significant speed and performance increases, and a new service and support program, according to MicroPro. The program is said to be 3 to 10 times faster when running on a PC╩AT or compatible with at least 640k of RAM and a hard disk. The suggested retail price for the Personal edition is $500 and the Legal edition is $600. The software ships within the next 30 days. Registered WordStar Plus can obtain the updates at a discount at the following number CONTACT: MICROPRO, 800/227-5609 [***][10/20/87][***] SUN LANDS $5 MILLION OEM CONTRACT WITH GTX, OFFERS NEW TOOLS FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ca. (NB) -- Sun Microsystems and GTX Corporation, maker of CAD systems, have signed a deal worth $5 million in which Sun will supply GTX with Sun-3 workstations for use with GTX 5000 hardware and software, configured as turnkey systems. This is just the latest of the whopper deals Sun has inked with various OEMs. Meanwhile, Sun also announced its Network Software Environment, software which enables a network of programmers to work together on a Unix project and provides them with tools to facilitate the creation of source code, design documents and drawings, test data and drivers, schedules, budgets and staffing plans. Perhaps its biggest selling point is NSE's ability to create solutions to programming problems that occur when too many programmers make their own modifications to certain parts of a software project. The software is to be available in the first quarter of 1988 at a price of $2,500. H O T T I P .....Sun will be in the news next week; the firm will announce that AT&T has formally adopted its RISC architecture. [***][10/20/87][***] DIGITAL UNVEILS THREE NEW GEMS MONTEREY, Ca. (NB) -- Digital Research has unveiled GEM 1st Word Plus, GEM/3 (new system software), Concurrent DOS 386, version 2.0, and Concurrent DOS XM, release 6.0. The GEM 1st Word Plus word processor can incorporate text and graphics, has an online spelling checker and dictionary, mail merge, and several other features, and offers WYSIWYG output from screen to printer. The new system software works "4 times faster" than its predecessor and includes increased font and graphics support. Both packages will be shipped in December at a bundled price of $295. [***][10/20/87][***] 80386 BOARDS GALORE FOR 80286ers SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- Dyna Computer Incorporated has the cheap upgrade answer for those who own 8086 or 8088-based machines, but lust after a shiny, fast, new 80386 model. The SX386 motherboard, which replaced the current motherboard in IBM XTs (or compatibles that are comparably sized), turns the old klunker into a 16MHz, 2 megabyte (expandable to 8 megabytes) powerhouse. The board costs a fraction of a new 80386 -- $1,650 -- and can be installed in 30 minutes, according to Dyna's Guy Duff, director of marketing. He also reports the board has four 16-bit and four 8-bit slots. Additional megabytes of RAM are offered at $270/megabyte. Just in case you lust after even more power, wait for Dyna's next product -- a 20MHz replacement for your 8086 or 8088 motherboard. It comes with a massive 48 megabyte RAM memory, two 32-bit and five 16-bit slots. This baby gets its preview at Comdex/Fall next month. Suggested retail prices may hover over the $3,000 mark. CONTACT: DYNA COMPUTER, 408/943-0100 [***][10/20/87][***] APPLE A NEARLY $3 BILLION COMPANY CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Apple Computer reports fourth quarter profits more than doubled to $71.7 million compared to a year ago. Earnings were up 118% and sales were up 54%. For the year, Apple's revenues amounted to $2.7 billion dollars, up from $1.9 billion in fiscal '86. Oh, the good times. And in response to the news, Apple CEO John Sculley proclaimed, "Our products are shipping in record numbers." His prepared statement also reports Apple increased its U.S. sales staff by 25% during the last three months to facilitate the increased demand for Apple products. The best seller is, of course, the Macintosh, but Sculley was quick to give the IIGS credit too. "The Apple IIGS is selling well to schools." Analysts call the financial picture remarkable. "These are blowout numbers," says David Readerman, an analyst for Smith Barney, Harris, Upham & Co. in New York. Comments William Easterbrook of Kidder, Peabody & Company in San Francisco, "There's no doubt about it. They are the second personal computer standard." [***][10/20/87][***] AST RESEARCH SHIPS MS-DOS COPROCESSOR CARDS FOR MAC SEs AND IIs IRVINE, Ca. (NB) -- Macintosh IIs will now be able to run MS-DOS programs and Macintosh SEs will soon follow, thanks to AST Research, which is now shipping its first Mac286 coprocessor boards which were announced in March. The 286 sells for $1499; the Mac86 ($599) for the Macintosh SE will ship by the end of the year or the beginning of January, an AST Research spokeswoman told NEWSBYTES. AST says the coprocessor cards enable the Macintoshes to run virtually all MS-DOS software with the aid of an IBM-compatible 5 1/2" disk drive. The cards have been in use at corporate beta test sites for months where they're reportedly getting rave reviews. Says one consultant for Hughes Aircraft in Long Beach, Paul Lucero, "We are running a compiled dBASE╩program with a lot of screen activity and the screen is just as fast as any PC clone I've ever seen." H O T T I P... AST Research will unveil a '386-based micro on Monday, October 19. We'll be telling you about it. [***][10/20/87][***] MICROSOFT GETS INTO THE E-MAIL BUSINESS REDMOND, Wa. (NB) -- Microsoft has purchased InterMail, an electronic mail program for the Macintosh that communicates across an AppleTalk network, and has taken its author, Nick Holt, on as a consultant. The program will be sold through Interactive Network Technologies of Waban, Massachusetts, from which it was purchased for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft says the product is the first from its Integrated Office Systems Group, which is designing tools to integrate the Mac with the MS-DOS world. John Shirley, Microsoft's president, calls InterMail, "The finest electronic mail program for the Macintosh," and says the program varies in price from $299 to $999 depending on how many nodes it has to serve. By December, the product will be retitled Microsoft Mail and sport a Microsoft label. [***][10/20/87][***] ASHTON-TATE'S ESBER CHALLENGES SOFTWARE INDUSTRY, "MAKE MY DAY." CAMBRIDGE, Ma. (NB) -- Ashton-Tate's Chairman Ed Esber lost his usual cool before attendees of the Software Publisher's Association conference recently, challenging them to "Make my day." He used the phrase made popular by Clint Eastwood to taunt would-be rip-off artists of Ashton- Tate's dBase line of database products. Esber, the speaker at the group's luncheon address, took the podium to bellow warnings such as, "The dBase standard belongs to Ashton-Tate! We will defend its technology," and, "The Lotus suit clarifies the law. Our position is made stronger." And to top it off, he said, "The dBase language is proprietary. It is not in the public domain!" Some called him paranoid, others just testy, but all were further dismayed when he boycotted a later meeting designed to discuss after-market products for dBase. [***][10/20/87][***] DESKTOP-VIDEO-PUBLISHING WITH FRAME GRABBER SUNNYVALE, Ca. (NB) -- While Comdex will host a head-spinning array of new products, one of particular interest will probably be the Frame Grabber from Advanced Transducer Devices. It's a hardware/ software combination for $595 that enables any video frame to be displayed on screen, edited, manipulated, and titled, and it plugs into an IBM PS/2 or compatible. The components consist of a video camera, cable, card, and software. Matt Zuckerman, the firm's president, claims, "This will put video graphics in the hands of the masses for the first time." Certainly the price makes the unit attractive. CONTACT: ADVANCED TRANSDUCER DEVICES, 408/720-1938 [***][10/20/87][***] HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN (FINANCIAL BRIEFS) -- COMPUTERLAND, Oakland, says its retail sales for the year ending September 30 totalled $1.7 billion, a 22 percent hike over the figure last year. The credit goes to IBM, Apple, Compaq, stable distribution channels, and product innovation. SOFTWARE PUBLISHING CORPORATION reports an income three times higher than this time last year -- from $500,000 to $1.5 million. Total income amounted to $38.6 million, up 63 percent from a year ago. SUN MICROSYSTEMS, Mountain View, Ca., also reports record revenues. Earnings are up a staggering 93 percent to $12.9 million; revenues were $191.7 million, up 109 percent from 1986. [***][10/20/87][***] IN BRIEF -- APPLE COMPUTER, Cupertino, will not release its desktop scanner until after the new year, sources tell NEWSBYTES. Also don't hold your breath for a color Macintosh SE, which will also stay in hiding until '88. HEWLETT PACKARD is transferring its Vectra portable computer manufacturing line from Corvallis, Oregon to Roseville, California, near Sacramento. HP says the move is designed to consolidate workers. Corvallis will remain the site for design and marketing of the Vectra line. BILL LANDRETH, author of "Out of the Inner Circle," fugitive arrested for violating parole granted after conviction on hacking charges, has been given 90 days in jail and three more years probation. The jail is actually said to be a private home, the San Diego judge also ordered Landreth to return to college to finish his education. LETRASET, Paramus, New Jersey, wants to correct an error that was in the NEWSBYTES PC Expo Special Report in September. The report claimed that registered users of Ready-Set-Go could receive ImageStudio, which extensively manipulates gray-level information of images generated by high resolution scanners, for $75. "Not true!" says a spokesman for Letraset. Registered 1-2-3 owners have to pay the same price as everyone else -- $495. MACWORLD EXPO/SAN FRANCISCO has been scheduled for January 15-17 at the Moscone Center. But it's too late to sign up if you want to exhibit -- space is said to be sold, according to the World Expo Group. [***][10/20/87][***] CRAY POWER FOR UNDER $1 MILLION FROM ETA SYSTEMS ST. PAUL, MN (NB) -- ETA Systems, a subsidiary of Control Data, showed off two new supercomputers on October 15 it says will revolutionize the business. The ETA10 Model P will sell for $995,000, including software, and the faster (375 million instructions per second) ETA10 Model Q will go for $1.2 million. Both machines are available immediately and ETA claims they beat the performance of Crays at $5-20 million each. Even better, the new machines are air-cooled -- you can use them in an office without a raised floor. (For the press conference in New York ETA pushed one of the machines through a 30 inch-wide door and had it up and running in 2 hours.) They're 30 inches wide, 5 feet high, and 7 feet long (a bit larger than a refrigerator.) ETA President Lloyd Thorndyke said, "True supercomputer power is within the reach of the mass market that exists within the scientific and engineering community around the world." WHAT HAPPENS NEXT -- The supercomputer race becomes super-hot, and America has a chance to win. Besides Cray and ETA, we have SuperComputer Systems of Eau Claire, WI, Steve Chen's new company, which is working on a parallel-processor design. (Chen is a former top designer at Cray.) On the other side of the pond are NEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu, all making computers which run at more than 20 million instructions per second (the currently- defined low-end of the supercomputer definition). Can ETA make it in the Japanese market? All we know is that the Tokyo Institute of Technology has just purchased one for use in structural analysis, graphics and statistical applications. CONTACT: Steve Epping, ETA SYSTEMS, (612)642-3400 [***][10/20/87][***] QUADRAM PREPARES TO TAKE ON DCA WITH NEW CHIP SET NORCROSS, GA (NB) -- Quadram and Chips & Technologies, Milpitas, CA, have scheduled a joint teleconference for October 19 to discuss a new chip set and Quadram's plans for Fall Comdex in Las Vegas. Quadram president Bob Brown wasn't talking for the record, but reportedly the new chip set will lay claim to emulating the functions of Digital Communications Associates' (DCA) IRMA board connecting IBM PCs and mainframes. Reportedly Quadram will receive 2 months' exclusive marketing rights to the chip set. Possible result -- IRMA functions for less. DCA and Quadram, part of Intelligent Systems MLP, are located just a few miles apart in the Atlanta suburbs, so the coming market clash is being watched closely here. For now, DCA President James Ottinger said he's not concerned about the new chip set, and told NEWSBYTES it doesn't even meet IRMA standards in areas like file transfers. (We'll see.) CONTACT: Jane Bator, QUADRAM (404)925-7643 [***][10/20/87][***] DCA, BULL SIGN DEAL TO MAKE FOX' 10-NET A EUROPEAN STANDARD DAYTON, OH (NB) -- NEWSBYTES interviewed DCA president Jim Ottinger in Atlanta, where Fox Research, a DCA subsidiary, and Groupe Bull of France signed an OEM deal for Fox's 10-Net Local Area Network (LAN) software. At the same time, Bull announced the French PTT will use 10-Net for LANs in France's 17,000 post offices. Bull officials think they could end up selling 5,000 units of 10-Net to the PTT alone, and Fox' press release estimated the immediate value of Bull's decision at $1.6 million. Bull officials lifting champagne glasses with Ottinger in Atlanta said they were attracted to the Fox software for these features: it's Netbios compatible, it's easy to install, it's easy to use, and it's server-independent. "We weren't interested in selling 3- Com servers," sniffed one Bull software artist. AND TO COMPLETE THE CIRCLE. While in Atlanta the Bull officials went to Quadram in Norcross to shake hands and do some business. Bull is working with Quadram to import the Japan-made Datavue Snap portable as the Bull L'Attache portable PC. CONTACT: Sally Smith, FOX RESEARCH, (513)433-2238 [***][10/20/87][***] LIVE FROM REMOTE: NEW HORIZONS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS CLEVERNESS REMOTE, Oregon (NB) -- That's the dateline DCA and Hayes have picked for a pair of product announcements October 19. All spokesmen will say is it's in data communications, but DCA's Crosstalk subsidiary does have an old product called Remote which, if it delivered all it first promised when introduced a few years ago, would allow remote operation of PCs easy and (almost) cheap. The press will hit the plane in San Francisco or San Jose at 8 AM, fly north an hour, hit the tarmac at 9, arrive in Remote at 10, and listen to speeches until 11:30. About Remote -- it's a general store and post office run by Maud Masters, who's also postmaster. And she's got a sister named Irma 9 miles away. (They've got to be out by 11:30 because that's when the mail arrives and Maud will need the room to sort it.) Whose clever idea is this? NEWSBYTES has learned credit has been passed down to the bottom of the DCA corporate ladder. If it works, Hayes' Dennis Hayes and DCA's Bert Nordin will think they thought of it themselves. CONTACT: Jolie Newman, DCA, (404)442-4522 [***][10/20/87][***] COMDEX PREVIEW FOR SOUTHERN FIRMS ATLANTA (NB) -- It sure looks as if this year's Comdex/Fall in Las Vegas, November 1-5, will be the mightiest such show ever. The Interface Group has tied up every hotel in town (maybe even the RV parking at Circus Circus) and all attendees must play Interface Chairman Sheldon Adelson's Lottery for rooms. Interface Group press releases come out every day about records on new foreign exhibitors, or conferences, or attendance estimates up to the 100,000 mark. And exhibitors by the score are already sending out invitations to the hostility suites, food frenzies, free shows and sneak-previews which make this Walk-a-Thon what it is. Then there are the press releases... - WHITE CRANE SYSTEMS, Norcross, GA, announced it will show a universal cable with 9 and 25-pin cables at each end for its Brooklyn Bridge file transfer utility. The Bridge connects laptops, desktops, and peripherals for $130 each. "The universal cable means not having to second-guess the brand of laptop and PC most used by our customers" their Gary Gordon said. (Yes, I still have my Tandy Model 100 and floppy-based IBM PC.) - SUN RIVER, Jackson, MS, will showcase its Cygna 386 fiber-optic workstations and multiuser bit-mapped graphics at, among others, the Compaq, Phoneix Technologies, Mitsubishi, Digital Research, and SCI booths. (What, not their own?) - AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTER INC., Pryor, OK, will show 7 new symbol libraries and 500 additional symbols added to the graphics library of its DesignCAD Ver. 3.0 computer-aided engineering (CAE) package, at no extra cost. - QUADRAM, Norcross, GA, will introduce a new VGA graphics board, a communications card for the PS/2, and new QuadLaser printers. PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYSTEMS will show new black-on-white monitors for desktop publishing at 300 dpi, and its other PS/2 and Macintosh monitors. (ISC, a master limited partnership, owns both companies.) [***][10/20/87][***] PECAN GOLDEN CHIPS NCR, Dayton, OH, announced its third quarter net income was $97.8 million, up 33%, on revenues of $1.34 billion. The falling dollar and lower costs were both credited for the gains. HONEYWELL, Minneapolis, MN, said it earned $69.6 million in the third quarter, up from $30.2 million a year ago, on sales of $1.627 billion. The company, controlled by Groupe Bull of France, credited aerospace and defense orders. UNISYS, Detroit, said it won a Defense Department contract worth up to $196 for super analog microcomputers with software. The machines will be delivered over 5 years. [***][10/20/87][***] PECAN CHIPS NORTHERN TELECOM, Nashville, announced the LANstar Appletalk network, the LANstar AppleTalk bridge and NetAccess software to link Apple networks through Northern Telecom Meridien systems. LANstar AppleTalk, at $5,400, provides 40 megabits per second of shared band width. COMPAQ, Houston, announced creation of its 7th wholly-owned European subsidiary, CCS Deskpro Computer AB of Stockholm, which will market the full line of Compaq computers in Sweden. MICRONYX, Richardson, TX, said its Triad Plus security system, which combines hardware and software, has been approved by the Department of Defense National Computer Security Center in Fort, Worth, TX. DP-TEK, Wichita, KS, said its Publisher's ImageMaker will put halftones in Ventura Publisher files. Sales manager Jerry Spain claimed an Intel 80386-based machine will be able to capture a small photo, flow it up to full-page size, and start printing it in 45 seconds. The price -- $3,495. INFORMATION STORAGE INC., Colorado Springs, CO, claims its WORM drives have 61% of the nascent WORM drive market, citing a study from International Data Corp., Framingham, MA. GEORGIA TECH and EMORY Universities, Atlanta, are buying Pixar computers and a 3-D geometric database editor called MAX to display complex data for use in diagnosing heart problems. One result could be an online, 3-D model of your heart. SALES TECHNOLOGIES, Atlanta, signed a marketing agreement with Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), Maynard, MA, for its portable PC- based selling systems. The PCs will now pass files with DEC's All-In-One system. QMS, Mobile, will have its G650 color PostScript printer using a Mitsubishi engine ready by next year. The printer will handle the 35 standard fonts found on the Apple LaserWriter at 300 dots per inch. Estimated price -- $20-25,000. SPEED>S CORP., Minneapolis, said its Speed>Filing service will give you refunds in only 18 days, based on 1986 results. The firm claimed the IRS sees a 3% error rate in electronic returns, 20% on old-fashioned paper. TANDY, Ft. Worth, signed a distribution agreement with Ingram Software for Varsity Scripsit, its first package to be sold outside Tandy channels, and announced opposition to an attempt by George Mann and Unicorp Canada Corp. to take control of InterTAN Inc., the international arm it spun off last year. === [***][10/20/87][***] RELIABLE DATA TRANSMISSION TOO MUCH TO ASK, BELL TELLS BBS TORONTO (NB) -- People who expect reliable data transmission from the Canadian telephone system -- widely touted by this country's telephone companies as one of the best in the world -- have unreasonable expectations. So a Bell Canada spokesperson told COMPUTING CANADA, an industry newspaper which also operates its own electronic bulletin board system. After complaints from users of its popular BBS about poor connections when calling from outside Toronto, COMPUTING CANADA contacted Canada's largest telephone company. The newspaper was told -- as it reported in a recent issue -- that it's unreasonable to expect to use the public telephone network for transmitting data. Bell spokesperson Linda Leonard was quoted as saying that the BBS should be connected to Datapac, the packet- switching network offered by the Canadian telephone companies. A comment: NEWSBYTES CANADA connects to The Source via Datapac. On the day this report was filed, it took three tries to get a working connection. Then again, there was no dial tone on the telephone for at least half an hour on Wednesday -- at least the third time that's happened in the past year. Apparently Bell will get Canadian telephone users to lower their expectations one way or another. [***][10/20/87][***] INTERTAN DENIED INJUNCTION BARRIE, Ont. (NB) -- InterTan Canada Inc., which operates Radio Shack stores in Canada, has been denied an injunction that would have prevented three former employees from operating their own computer distributorship. Tom Soper, formerly director of Tandy Business Products, left in the spring to become president of Personal Technologies Inc., a Barrie-based start-up. In June he hired away Ian Thurston and James Tocher, both of whom had worked for him at Tandy, also located in Barrie. InterTan Canada claims the three used for personal gain confidential, proprietary information that they obtained while working at Tandy, and hired away other Tandy employees. InterTan wants C$1 million in damages and the return of books, records, photocopies and information stored on computer disks that it contends the three men took from Tandy when they left. Although the injunction has been denied, the $1-million damage suit stands. In denying the applications for an injunction, an Ontario Supreme Court judge said that whatever the merits of InterTan's complaint, he could not see that the company would be caused "irreparable damage" as a result of Personal Technologies carrying on business. [***][10/20/87][***] WINNIPEG RETAILER RAIDED, SOFTWARE SEIZED WINNIPEG (NB) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized about 700 disks alleged to contain pirated software in a recent raid on Bisco Micro Computer International here. The software, including copies of Autodesk Inc.'s AutoCAD computer-aided design software, was alleged to have been offered for rental at $5 a disk. Such offers, which also exist in other Canadian cities, are advertised as being intended to let customers evaluate software before they buy, with the intent that if they decide to continue using the software they will buy it. Opponents, including software developers, say customers in fact keep the programs for permanent use and the practice constitutes software piracy. [***][10/20/87][***] NEW ETA SUPER: FIRST TWO GO TO CANADA, U.S. GETS NEWS FIRST MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (NB) -- The first two ETA10-P supercomputers will be installed in Canada, but the day after the New York announcement Control Data Canada Ltd. wouldn't even say what the new machine was called. The company scheduled a press conference for Monday, Oct. 19 to announce the names of the two buyers, one in Ontario and one in Quebec, that will get the new low-end supercomputers, priced just under C$1 million. The actual product announcement took place in New York Oct. 15. On Oct. 16, Control Data Canada spokesman Al Murray told NEWSBYTES CANADA he could not give any information on the machine until a media package being prepared for the Monday press conference received approval. Asked for the name of the product, he referred us to a full-page advertisement in THE GLOBE AND MAIL. "The names are there in the ad," Murray said. The machines are built by ETA Systems, a Control Data subsidiary. CONTACT: CONTROL DATA CANADA LTD., 1855 Minnesota Court, Mississauga, ON L5N 1K7, (416) 826-8640 [***][10/20/87][***] TORONTO FIRM INCREASES INTERTAN STAKE TORONTO (NB) -- Unicorp Canada Corp. has increased its ownership of InterTan Inc. stock from 8.95 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Toronto-based Unicorp owns operations in the real estate, energy and gas utility industries and has expressed interest in taking over InterTan, the international marketing arm of Tandy Corp. InterTan and Tandy, however, are opposed to the move. As reported earlier in NEWSBYTES CANADA, InterTan directors recently approved changes to the company's shareholder rules that would make it more difficult to take the company over. [***][10/20/87][***] TELEBYTE OFFERS TORONTO DIRECT LINE NEPEAN, Ont. (NB) -- TeleByte Communications Corp., an electronic bulletin board system based here (and a distributor of NEWSBYTES) has extended its operations by offering Toronto PC users access to the system without dialing long distance. TeleByte now has a 300-baud data line in Toronto at (416) 867-9411. It's not entirely a free lunch, though; calling from Toronto costs C$1.20 an hour over and above the normal hourly rates of C$1.50 to C$3.00 per hour for using TeleByte. Unlike many BBSs, TeleByte has no annual or monthly fees, only connect-time charges. It provides electronic mail, online conferencing, interactive multi-player games and other communications services, and has been in business for more than three years. CONTACT: Brian Baskerville, TELEBYTE COMMUNICATIONS CORP., P.O. Box 11295, Station H, Nepean, ON K2H 7T9, (613) 723-4357 [***][10/20/87][***] BITS, EH? -- AUDIO VIDEO SPECIALISTS INC. of Montreal has been named the Canadian distributor for Amstrad International. The Montreal company is experienced in consumer electronics but has never sold computers before. It has hired a dozen people and set up a separate division to handle Amstrad's marketing in Canada. -- LSI LOGIC CORP. OF CANADA INC., Calgary, has reported a profit of C$3.2 million for the nine months ended Sept. 27, up from C$1.4 million in the same period last year. Revenues were C$15.2 million, up from C$11 million. Recently, LSI acquired Best Systems Corp. of Canada Inc., a Toronto-based manufacturer of IBM-compatible PCs. -- LGS DATA PROCESSING CONSULTANTS INC. of Montreal has reached an agreement to acquire QRD Systems Consultants Ltd. and merge it into LGS, one of the largest computer consulting firms in Canada. The purchase price has not been disclosed. [***][10/20/87][***] COMDEX PREVIEW TOKYO (NB) -- Many Japanese companies are going to show their products at Comdex in Las Vegas in early November. The exhibitors and their expected products are as follows: Toshiba will show its latest 32-bit laptop computer the T5100, as well as the T3100, T3200, and T1000. Epson's exhibit list includes the Equity II+ and a laptop computer the LT with an 8086-compatible NEC V30 CPU. Mitsubishi will exhibit an IBM PC/AT-compatible desktop computer the mp-286, and a 32-bit workstation, the mp-386. NEC will also show off its 32-bit PC the Powermate 386, and a V30-based laptop computer, the Multispeed. Another laptop computer will be shown by Sanyo, which is expected to exhibit an IBM-compatible laptop computer, the MBC-16LT. Sony will show its popular 32-bit workstation the NEWS. Canon's and Ricoh's major products will be laser printers. Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Sharp are also expected to participate in the show. [***][10/20/87][***] NEC TO SUPPLY PC TO HONEYWELL-BULL TOKYO (NB) -- An industry source says NEC will start supplying its IBM-compatible personal computers to Honeywell-Bull in the U.S. To start, NEC will provide 5,000 to 6,000 systems per month. This will replace the PCs, which are currently supplied by NCR on an OEM basis. Honeywell-Bull was established in March of this year. The company shares are owned for 42.5 percent by Honeywell (USA) and Bull (France) respectively, and NEC has a 15 percent share. Honeywell-Bull has mainly been marketing super- computers and large-scale general purpose computers, including NEC's ACOS1000 in the North American market. [***][10/20/87][***] AX STANDARD ARCHITECTURE PC FROM SHARP OSAKA (NB) -- Sharp will release a 16-bit personal computer based on the AX standard as early as the first quarter of 1988. The AX architecture is compatible with the IBM PC/AT and it supports a Japanese language feature. It is widely known as a post MSX standard. Prior to Sharp, Sanyo announced the first AX-standard PC in September. Meanwhile, the Tokyo-based software house Intercom has started to rewrite its popular telecom programs for the AX. This could be quite easy for Intercom, which has previously developed telecom programs for the IBM PC/AT. All it has to do is to just add a Japanese language feature to the programs. NOTE: The AX computers are not compatible with IBM Japan's Japanese PC, the PS/55. CONTACT: Sharp, Hachiman-cho 8, Ichigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162 Intercom, 2-9 Surugadai, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101 [***][10/20/87][***] SONY TO START 1M SRAM PRODUCTION TOKYO (NB) -- Sony has decided to produce a 1M static RAM at Fairchild Japan's IC plant, which will soon be granted to Sony from Schlumberger. Sony plans to manufacture the sample chip around the fall of 1988. The company intends to increase the total amount of semiconductors shipments by 20 percent in fiscal 1988 using this new plant. Thus, total sales are expected to become $690 million. Sony reached a fundamental agreement with Schlumberger, the parent company of Fairchild, concerning the purchase of the Nagasaki IC plant in mid-September. CONTACT: Sony, 4-10-18 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108 [***][10/20/87][***] SHIFTING FDD PRODUCTION TOKYO (NB) -- Sony and Fujitsu have signed a business agreement with Korea's Hyundai Electronics concerning a 3.5-inch FDD. With this agreement, Sony provides its disk drive license to Hyundai. Meanwhile, Fujitsu will supply its production technology to this Korean company. It is said Hyundai will supply the disk drives to both Sony and Fujitsu on an OEM basis in the near future. In this way, both companies can get low-priced and high quality products to be more competitive in the international market. CONTACT: Fujitsu, 1-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100 [***][10/20/87][***] TOSHIBA LINKS WITH KOREAN FIRM FOR VCR PRODUCTION TOKYO (NB) -- Toshiba will sign an OEM production agreement with Samsung Electronics in Korea for VCRs. With this agreement, Toshiba provides Samsung with the production technology for its VCR. In return, Samsung manufacturers the VCRs and supply them to Toshiba. Currently, Korean makers have an over 10 percent share of the world VCR market. According to a published report, the figure was almost doubled over the last couple of years. CONTACT: Toshiba, 1-1-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105 [***][10/20/87][***] JAPAN URGES GATT TO DISCUSS CHIP ISSUE TOKYO (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said it has told the U.S. government that Japan will propose talks on the U.S.-imposed retaliatory tax issue at the coming Paris meeting for the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. MITI says it is very concerned about the unlifted retaliatory taxes. Japanese industry people are extremely unhappy about current situation - they say they're strictly abiding by the chip agreement, but the U.S. seems to be reluctant to remove the "thorn in the flesh." MITI's investiga- tion also backs them up, stating the chips are not being dumped anymore. For instance, the price of a 256K DRAM went up from 280 yen ($1.97) to 340 yen ($2.39). Moreover, U.S. chip makers' accessibility ratio to the Japanese market has improved from 10 percent to 12.5 percent, reports MITI. [***][10/20/87][***] <<< SUSHI BYTES >>> NEC'S NEW PC-8801 FAMILY -- NEC has released two new models of its 8-bit personal computers. The PC-8801 MA and the FA have a sound LSI, which performs digital sampling of sounds. They have also a powerful Japanese word processing feature. The prices are between $1,183 and $1,394. TOSHIBA'S 1M VSRAM -- Toshiba says it will produce its 1M virtual static RAM (VSRAM) at 5,000 sets per month, starting in December. Toshiba is the first company to start volume production of the chips. NEC PRODUCES 1M DRAM IN U.K. -- NEC Semiconductors U.K., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Tokyo-based electronics giant, has begun to produce samples of a 1M dynamic RAM in its newly-built IC plant in Scotland. The company plans to start volume production early next year. The chips will be exported to Europe and the United States. JAPANESE LINEAR MOTOR CAR IN LAS VEGAS -- The State of Nevada has invited Japan Air Lines to build a ground facility for a linear motor car or a magnetically levitated train in Las Vegas. The linear motor car, the HSST, runs at 230 kilometers per hour. It will connect approximately 7 kilometers between the downtown and the Strip area. The service is expected to start in July 1989. JAPANESE OFFICE COMPUTER -- KYODO news reports the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is planning to start a project to develop an easy-to-use office computer system. MITI expects to spend approximately $72.5 million over the next six years for the project. The system will actually be developed by a new organization, which includes major Japanese computer makers. [***][10/20/87][***] MAD ENTERS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FIELD MUNICH, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- MAD ( not to be confused with the crazy magazine of same name) is entering the artificial intelligence business. A few years after the company learned a very expensive lesson in marketing when it introduced great looking systems, which no one wanted, the company is entering the AI business. Combining a 80386 together with the performance of a 82786 graphics chip, MAD is delivering the RD2S 3000 Reasoning Delivery Workstation. The system runs under UNIX V, release 3.0 and offers Common Lisp, Relational Lisp, a database integrator and X- windows (the user friendly interface to be standardised under UNIX) which allow the user to develop and deliver expert systems capable of reasoning about data queried from large scale databases. The system is furnished with either 4, 8 or 16MB of RAM and 72 or 144MB of hard disk storage. [***][10/20/87][***] COMMODORE 386 TO APPEAR IN SYSTEMS 87 FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Commodore finally broke its silence and announced the PC-80 model which will use the 386 chip. As NEWSBYTES readers are aware already (the 386 system was announced here three weeks ago) the price is indeed low and will cost about DM 10000, half the price of IBM's model PS/2-80. [***][10/20/87][***] OSBORNE ENTERS 386 ARENA MUNICH, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Osborne finally entered the 386 arena with the announcement of a 386 based PC, the O6T-386H, which is offered with 2.6MB of RAM, a floppy drive, a 40MB hard disk and a parallel and serial port. The unit runs MS-DOS3.2 and GWBASIC and will also run OS/3 when it becomes available. Currently in Europe, there are about 45 different 386-based systems. One wonders what would happen if the manufacturing facility Intel uses to make the 386 chip burns down? Remember, there is no second source for the 386 currently. Intel and Advanced Micro devices are still battling it out in court for the second sourcing agreement. [***][10/20/87][***] XTRAs FOR US MARINES BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- Alcatel (previously known as ITT before its recent merger ) has announced that XTRA Business Systems, its wholly owned subsidiary based in Arizona, has won a contract with the US marines to supply microsystems worth a whopping 40 million US dollars. The systems included in the contract are similar to the XTRA/286 TX, IBM AT-compatible systems that use the 286 chip running at 8 MHZ with no wait state, which means that it is faster than the IBM equivalent. The contract will be filled in stages within the next nine years. [***][10/20/87][***] OLIVETTI TO OFFER THREE OPERATING SYSTEMS FOR ITS NEW PCS IVREA, ITALY (NB) -- Olivetti, the biggest European PC manufacturer, has announced three operating systems for its new PCs. DOS with Windows/386, Olivetti/SCO-Xenix and 386-TopJob all are intended to be sold with their latest products. Windows/386 is the same product sold by Microsoft and offered by Compaq with its 386 series. SCO-XENIX 386 is the same operating system sold by SCO and is fully compatible with UNIX V sources (except the object format). This system is designed for multiuser applications and will support up to sixteen users concurrently. TopJob, a special product to be offered only for the M380 (the top of the range system using the 386 chip), uses the MS-DOS file system but offers multitasking capabilities. The program uses the virtual 8086 mode of the chip, which allows the user to run various MS-DOS program, each one running in its own 8086 environment. TopJob is designed to have a character interface and thus it can be made available before OS/2 becomes available. Although a company spokesman said that "all of these three products are important for Olivetti's success in the future, TopJob, being an internal development, will get most of the momentum." [***][10/20/87][***] APPLE LOWERS PRICES MUNICH, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Apple has lowered prices for its range of hardware products by between 10 and 20 percent. The new price list includes the Macinstosh Plus with one disk drive set for DM 5415 (about $2900) and the Mac SE set for DM 7960 (about $4200). The SE with one hard disk on top of the floppy costs DM 9747 (about $5200). The IIGs with a black and white screen costs DM 3500 and with color screen DM 4360 (about $1880 and $2340 respectively). [***][10/20/87][***] DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR PC BUS ANTWERP, BELGIUM (NB) -- In what is seen as a first, a Belgian company based in Antwerp (of Diamond Fame) has released a tool which combines a software element together with a hardware board that is used to find faults on the bus of PCs. Crowcard is built on a standard board and contains circuitry for monitoring I-bus activity on a PC. A series of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) on the card correspond to the bus lines monitored, including supply voltage, address and data lines, clock, I/O and memory activity, interrupts, DMA, wait states and parity errors. To test a system, the card is plugged in and the technician uses the supplied software to find various problems, including those that occur intermittently. CONTACT: EVTS Field Service BVBA, Lange Lozanastraat 132, Box 2, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium, Tel: 03/ 216 4671 [***][10/20/87][***] FIRST ETHERNET TRANSCEIVER FOR PS/2 ANNOUNCED TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NB) -- Lannet Data Communications, long a leader in the field in Israel, has announced a multiport transceiver that is designed to work on the new IBM PS/2 systems using the Micro Channel Bus. The LE-8 multiport tranceiver enables up to eight Ethernet V1.0, or IEEE 802.3 compatible devices to be connected to one tranceiver. The system comprises a concentrator with eight individual Ethernet expanders which allow the connecting systems to be up to 250 meters away from the transceiver. The LE-8 can be connected to IBM PS/2 models 50-80 and can be either operated in standalone or network mode. CONTACT: Lannet Data Communications Ltd, 8 Hanechoshet str, Tel Aviv 69710, Israel, Tel : 03/ 498811 Tlx: 371 263 [***][10/20/87][***] TANDEM COMPUTERS ANNOUNCES NEW CONTRACTS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (NB ) -- Tandem Computers, makers of Non-Stop Computer systems (systems that have redundant circuitry so that they work all the time) announced three new contracts to supply computer systems throughout Scandinavia. The Stockholm Stock Exchange, the Sweden Options and Futures Exchange and the Helsinki Stock exchange will all get new Tandem systems. The three new contracts brings the total numbers of Financial Institutions using Tandem computers around the world to 27. [***][10/20/87][***] COMPAQ OPENS NEW SUBSIDIARY STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (NB) -- Compaq announced that it is opening its seventh wholly-owned subsidiary, CCS Deskpro Computer AB of Stockholm. This company will market all the products of Compaq in Sweden. John Ingvarsson, Managing Director said that "With the ability to provide local Compaq support, we plan to expand the distribution of PCs in Sweden." Incidentally, Compaq could not use the name Compaq in Sweden because it is registered by another company. [***][10/20/87][***] TULIP COMPUTERS RELEASES PS/2 COMPATIBLE PC AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (NB) -- Tulip, one of the most successful computer companies in Holland, has announced a new IBM PS/2 compatible system, the PC Compact 2. The system uses the new 3.5 inch floppy format and offers graphics compatible with the VGA modes of the new IBM series, including the new 256 color 320 x 200 pixel mode. Clock frequencies are switchable between 4.77, 7 and 10MHz and the system costs about US$ 1000. [***][10/20/87][***] FOLD-OUT OF THE MONTH? AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (NB) -- Undoubtedly you are all aware of the fold-out of the month in Playboy (you are not, you say? tch...tch). Well, here in Europe, a Dutch computer magazine is starting a new craze by offering fold-outs of CPUs starting with the 386! Yes, they believe that there are people who will actually pin-up this picture in bedrooms, in kitchens, wherever. Now, that is what I call the sexual revolution! ==== [***][10/20/87][***] VERBATIM TO MAKE DISKS FOR SLOBS ROCHESTER, N.Y. (NB) -- First it was the Teflon frying pan. Then it was the Teflon president. Now its the Teflon floppy disk. Eastman Kodak's Verbatim subsidiary has announced a new 5.25-inch floppy that is coated with DuPont's slippery stuff, preventing damage from fingerprints, coffee spills, and the like. To prove the point, a Verbatim official poured gloppy white correction fluid on one of the slippery disks and let it dry. Then he removed the magnetic medium from its case, wiped off the dried gunk and run the disk in his computer. No disk read errors at all. A competitor's non-slippy floppy failed. Verbatim President Richard Bourns says the disks will be priced at $23.80 for a box of 10 disks, about 15 percent higher than the company's plain 5.25-inch disks, which sell for about $20 a box. Look for the DataLifePlus disks on the market in two weeks. [***][10/20/87][***] LOTUS WON'T DO WINDOWS CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Lotus Development Corp. says its not interested in trying to run 1-2-3 under Microsoft's new Windows 386 task management software. The problem is that the spreadsheet will slow down under the Windows scheme, says Marketing Manger Greg Jarboe. Also a factor, Lotus already has a way to take advantage of the new Intel 80386 chip, via the LIM (Lotus-Intel- Microsoft) EMS 4.0. Lotus will, however, offer 1-2-3 running under the PS/3 Presentation Manager. [***][10/20/87][***] BRING ON THE CLONES NEW YORK (NB) -- International Business Machines Corp. could see serious competition for its PS/2 line by next summer, now that Western Digital Corp. has duplicated the Micro Channel architecture of the IBM line. According to an analysis in the WALL STREET JOURNAL, the Western Digital announcement "could represent a blow to IBM because the company has been unable to persuade many customers to switch to the new computers,since many of their enhanced features won't become useful until new software appears next year." If the Western Digital gear works, then clone-makers will be around to reap the rewards when the new operating system and associated software appears. Will IBM fight back? Many industry watchers expect it will, since Big Blue has already been rattling swords about how it will treat those who infringe on its territory. For its part, Western Digital insists it developed its Micro Channel purely on the up-and-up. What's more, says Western, its equipment will work better than IBM and cost considerably less. Western Digital says it uses 10 chips to do the work of 85 in the PS/2 line. [***][10/20/87][***] CHURCH ATTACKS AT&T ON SOUTH AFRICA POLICY WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Episcopal Church says American Telephone & Telegraph is cheating on its pledge to halt sales in South Africa. As a result of a story and pictures in the newsletter AT&T REPORTS showing the AT&T 3B computer being marketed by Olivetti at a Johannesburg trade show, the church says it will seek shareholder action against the telecommunications giant. AT&T in 1986 announced a sweeping plan to end all business dealings in South Africa because of that nation's apartheid racial policies. That policy included a pledge that Olivetti "will not sell AT&T products in South Africa." AT&T owns 22 percent of Olivetti, which builds and markets AT&T-branded computers. "AT&T has a good paper record, but what they're doing is violating their own policy," said Paul Neuhauser, vice chairman of the Episcopal Church's board of social concerns. The church owns 22,000 shares of AT&T stock. AT&T denies the violation and said "we are attempting to determine the source of the computer observed at the trade show in Johannesburg." In other AT&T news, the company has upgraded its computer business in company's hierarchy, naming Vittorio Cassoni as president of a new Data Systems Group. Cassoni came to AT&T from Olivetti. The reorganization is designed to upgrade the AT&T computer marketing and sales staff. [***][10/20/87][***] HAUPPAGE: FROM XT TO 386 FOR $1495 COMMACK, N.Y. (NB) -- Hauppage Computer Works says its new 386 motherboard could turn your XT or PC into a blazing 386 machine. At a price of $1495, that could save a PC user considerable bucks in making the upgrade. The board holds an Intel 80386 processor, a megabyte of RAM, a socket for an 80387, and eight expansion slots. To make the upgrade from an older PC, you may also have to replace the power supply, because the original PC had an anemic 65-watt supply. (For another upgrade choice see NEWSBYTES-WEST -- a 2 megabyte 80386 upgrade from Dyna Computer of San Jose -- Ed.) CONTACT: Hauppauge Computer Works Inc., 358 Veterans Memorial Highway, Commack, NY 11725, 516-360-3827 [***][10/20/87][***] QUICKBASIC 4.0 DEBUTS IN PHILLY PHILADELPHIA (NB) -- Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has unveiled QuickBASIC 4.0 at a PC user group meeting. The product is the latest of the second-generation basics that have been developed recently, including products from Borland and from Basic's original Dartmouth College progenitors. The key to QuickBASIC 4.0 is threaded P-Code, says Microsoft, which gives the product the feel of an interpreter and the speed of a compiler. Microsoft claims compilation speeds of up to 150,000 lines per minute. Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee. $99, and available in a month or so. Upgrades from QuickBASIC 3.0 for about $25. [***][10/20/87][***] TWO DEALS FOR APOLLO CHELMSFORD, Mass. (NB) -- Apollo Computer Inc. has landed a $100 million whopper from Siemens AG, the West Germany computer maker. Apollo will supply workstations for Siemens, which will use them in the computer systems it sells to its customers. Siemens is Apollo largest foreign customer. Back at home, Apollo has reached a $3 million deal with DocuGraphix of Cupertino, Calif., to supply computers for a high-performance document and manuals management system called ADAM. The DocuGraphix product will be aimed at engineers in plants and factories who can use it to prepare assembly instructions and work manuals. The system will sell for $18,900. [***][10/20/87][***] IBM PROFITS GROW, BUT NOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ANALYSTS NEW YORK (NB) -- International Business Machines Corp. says its third-quarter income grew 12 percent over the 1986 third quarter, a turnaround for Big Blue. But the results were less than many analysts, and IBM itself, predicted earlier in the year. Earnings for the quarter totaled $1.21 billion ($2 per share), on total revenue of $12.7 billion. That compares to third-quarter 1986 figures of $1.08 billion in earnings ($1.76 per share) on revenues of $12 billion. "IBM's efforts to become more competitive are taking hold," said IBM Chairman John Akers. But many Wall Street analysts saw the numbers differently. Industry gurus were looking for 25 percent third quarter gains from Big Blue. "IBM is like a battleship ever so slowly turning in the wind," commented Ulric Weil of Gartner Securities. "Much slower than the captain had allowed people to assume early this year." In part, analysts were particularly disturbed because much of the IBM black ink came from sale of its holdings in Intel Corp., and not from sales of mainframe and minicomputers. [***][10/20/87][***] THE HIGH TECH WAGE REPORT NEWTON, Mass. (NB) -- Unisys Corp. Chairman Michael Blumenthal made $2.177 million in 1986, making him the highest paid executive in American electronics, according to ELECTRONIC BUSINESS. Others of interest: Apple Computer's John Sculley, $1.697, No. 4 on the chart, and up 61 percent from 1985; Paul Ely of Convergent Technologies at $1.188 million. Also in the top 10 were Edward Esber of Ashton-Tate, Charles Exley of NCR, John Young of Hewlett-Packard. Lotus Development's Jim Manzi was 19th, with a salary of $794,572. IBM's John Akers was a lowly 24th, with a salary of $711,900. But, after all, man does not live for bread alone. Right, Mr. Akers? [***][10/20/87][***] DIGITAL TAKES TO PUBLIC TELEVISION MAYNARD, Mass. (NB) -- In a development that other marketers will watch closely, Digital Equipment Corp. is returning to television in a precedent-setting and controversial fashion. Digital will spend $20 million over the next three years underwriting and promoting "The Infinite Voyage," a science series produced by WQED, the Pittsburgh public television station. But in a major blurring of the distinction between public and commercial television, the series will air on commercial television in 12 major cities just a few days or weeks after they are premiered on public TV. Digital has eschewed television for the past five years, believing that the airwaves were saturated with computer commercials. The company concentrated instead on print ads and trade shows and exhibitions. But now the company has decided to reach out for more business customers, with the highly-unusual public-private parlay. [***][10/20/87][***] BULLETIN BOARD FOR POLITICAL JUNKIES McLEAN, Va. (NB) -- Two political consultants on the opposite side of the fence, Democrat Roger Craver and Republican Doug Bailey, have created a computer bulletin board and news service catering to the nation's political junkies, including the many reporters who are covering the presidential campaigns. The Presidential Campaign Hotline aims at being an online version of what a group of political junkies would be talking about if they got together for breakfast each day. The payoff for political reporters and campaign staffers is that they get insider information two or so faster than by traditional means. So far, 150 clients, including 65 to 75 from the news media, are shelling out $150 to $350 a month for their morning report. And 1988 hasn't even begun yet. [***][10/20/87][***] NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. of Maynard, Mass., has rung up first quarter profits of $270 million ($2.03 per share) on $2.5 billion in sales. That compares to $183 million in profits ($1.37 per share) on $2 billion in revenues for the first quarter of 1986. XEROX CORP. has formed a voice-systems division in Stamford, Conn., to market voice-related products and integrate them with other Xerox office products. NCR CORP. has recorded profits of $97.8 million ($1.05 per share) on revenue of $1.34 billion for the third quarter. Last year's quarterly figures were $73.4 million in earnings (75 cents per share) on revenues of $1.18 billion. "Of particular significance," said Chairman Charles Exley, "is the near doubling of year-to-date personal computer orders." ALLOY COMPUTER of Framingham, Mass., has reorganized into two units and named Joseph Saliba president and chief operating officer. One Alloy unit will work on network products. The other will concentrate on peripherals. Saliba is a veteran of IBM's personal computer empire. CRAY RESEARCH INC. of St. Paul has won State Department approval for sale of a supercomputer to India. The machine will be used for monsoon forecasting. The Indian government agreed to use the powerful XMP-14, priced at $8.3 million, only for civilian purposes, ending prolonged negotiations over the sale. THINKING MACHINES CORP. of Cambridge, Mass., has sold two 32K parallel processor Connection Machine supercomputers to Dow Jones. Dow Jones will use the machines in its News/Retrieval data base. [***][10/20/87][***] DESKTOP PUBLISHING SHOW REPORT London, UK (NB) -- Last week saw the first Desktop publishing Show held in the UK. Running for three days, the event brought together many of the fledgling industry's hardware and software players in what was billed as the premier desktop publishing (dtp) event. As things have been pretty quiet on the UK computer scene this past week, this issue of NEWSBYTES UK covers the show entirely. Normal NEWSBYTES UK coverage continues next week. AMS - FINESSE ON SHOW Advanced Memory Systems had its flagship dtp product on demonstration at the show. The #99-99 package runs on most PCs and, unlike the competition, can drive a dot-matrix printer - albeit not to the same performance levels as a laser printer. #60 extra gets you a serial port mouse for your PC - again, a lower price than the competition. The mouse isn't essential to the operation of the program, but it helps, just like a laser printer. Still, if you want to dabble in desktop publishing without shelling out on a mouse and laser printer - or mortgaging the house for the software - Finesse is the ideal low-cost answer. CONTACT: ADVANCED MEMORY SYSTEMS, 166/170 Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington WA4 6QA. Tel: 0925-413501. [***][10/20/87][***] APPLE - INTERLEAF UK DEBUT Who could forget Apple? Considered by some to be the pioneers of desktop publishing with the Macintosh, the company is forging ahead with Interleaf - a third-party dtp package for the Macintosh II, first seen last month in the US. Also putting in appearance from Apple was Hypercard, the amazing free-form database environment for the Macintosh. NEWSBYTES UK can;t describe Hypercard's capabilities fully, as it's a whole new software concept. Linked in with several dtp applications, Hypercard really jazzes things up. Perhaps surprisingly, Apple didn't unveil anything new at the show and - despite a plethora of third-party products on its stand - failed to create a buzz amongst show-goers. Despite this, the Macintosh is still a lovely machine and easily outclasses the ageing PC. CONTACT: Apple UK, Eastman Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 7HQ. Tel: 0442-60244. [***][10/20/87][***] CANON - EXPRESS DESKTOP PUBLISHER DEBUTS -- Canon's answer to the dtp market was unveiled at the show. Canon Express Desktop Publisher is a fully-integrated in-house system using special software. The #8,950 system consists of a Canon A220EX computer with 40Mb hard disk and colour (EGA) screen. An IX-12 image scanner working to 300 dots per inch (dpi) resolution provides an input system, whilst laser printer output is handled by an LBP-SX printer - also working to 300dpi - which whizzes the pages out at 8 pages per minute (ppm). Interestingly, the LBP-SX laser printer is a stripped-down version of the company's stand-alone printer, driven by a J-Laser card unit plugged inside the PC-compatible A200EX computer. This solution bypasses the need for Postscript emulation, as well as speeding the printing operation up - a typical A4 page of mixed text and graphics can be assembled and printed in under a minute. Subsequent pages can be printed at 8ppm. CONTACT: CANON UK LTD., Canon House, Manor Road, Wallington, Surrey SM6 0AJ. Tel: 01-773-2156. [***][10/20/87][***] COGNITA - NEWSWRITER UPGRADE Cognita's Newswriter was on show to the public last week, with several new features. The #666-66 package runs on a variety of hardware configurations and is claimed to be the UK's leading newsletter publishing software. Both DOS and Xenix versions are allowed, with the Xenix version pitched firmly at the multi-user market. The multi-user site licence costs #1,333-33 - twice the price of the single user version. The latest version of Newswriter features a 50,000 word spellchecker, which includes the interesting option of detecting duplicated words. In addition to several dtp text features, the package also accepts graphics in a variety of PC formats - including Lotus business and other 8-bit file formats. CONTACT: COGNITA SOFTWARE LTD., 42 Ewald Road. London SW6 3ND. Tel: 01-736-3637. [***][10/20/87][***] CRISTIE - PAGEMASTER 1 ANNOUNCED Like several other relatively new computer firms, Cristie Electronics launched its own dtp system at the show. Unlike other systems, Pagemaster 1 comes as 1.3Mb PC Ramcard plus software that can be connected to almost any laser printer. Input to the system is via a 300 dots per inch scanner which pumps data into the PC at high speed. The 1.3Mb Ramcard acts as a buffer to the data, allowing scan and print many times faster than the competition. That, at least, is the theory. Does it work? NEWSBYTES UK notes that page assimilations - and downloads to suitable laser printers - take less than 10 seconds. That's fast. CONTACT: CRISTIE ELECTRONICS LTD., Bonds Mill, Bristol Road, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire GL10 3RF. Tel:045-382-3611 [***][10/20/87][***] JOHN LIBBEY - OCR READER UNVEILED John Who? John Libbey is a specialist company providing computer bureau services to the publishing industry. The company is now branching out into dealer and end-user sales with its Autoread optical character reader (OCR) system designed for high throughput. Pricing in at #6,500, Autoread includes a micro optical scanner and all software, suitable for running on an IBM PC-XT or AT compatible. The company has ambitious plans for both ends of the market. According to managing director John Libbey, there's nothing around at the moment to touch Autoread. "We believe we've overcome the traditional problems of OCRs which are limited by the number of typefaces they can read," he said. Judging from what NEWSBYTES UK saw on the company's stand, the product seems to read anything - maybe even NEWSBYTES UK's handwriting? Nope, nothing is *that* good! CONTACT: JOHN LIBBEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS, 80/84 Broadway, Vauxhall, London SW8 1SF. Tel: 01-582-5266. [***][10/20/87][***] MIRRORSOFT - DTP ON THE ATARI ST -- Not quite the official Atari product, but almost. Mirrorsoft has bundled a Mega ST - complete with 20Mb hard disk, SLM804 laser printer, and Fleet Street Publisher software for #3,300, making it one of the cheapest - if not the cheapest - laser printer dtp packages around. Although Mirrorsoft fight shy of saying whether Atari UK will adopt Fleet Street Publisher as its official dtp product, the outlook looks good for the package. Judging from the response of many dealers and end-users at the show, Mirrorsoft has a sure- fire winner on its hands. (NEWSBYTES UK notes that this is the first time a complete dtp package - based around the ST/SLM804 - has been seen in public.) Technically, FSP provides the full range of dtp effects, including slant, outline, mirror and invert effects on text. Typographical tools include user-definable point sizes and character widths, along with full tracking (the precision control of white space within a line of type) facilities. CONTACT: MIRRORSOFT, Athene House, 66-73 Shoe Lane, London EC4P 4AB. Tel: 01-377-4645. [***][10/20/87][***] RANK XEROX - DTP MARKET SPLIT DUE -- Taking time out to chat with Stuart Edmondson, Office Systems Analyst with Rank Xerox UK, NEWSBYTES UK discovered that the dtp market - in the UK at least - seems to be going the same way as the PC market did a few years back. Quality dtp product - #10/#12,000 plus - complete with training and support, is still being provided by the dtp majors (including Rank Xerox), whilst the budget end of the market - witness the Mirrorsoft/Atari market - is coming up in the fast lane. Is Edmondson worried that a proportion of Xerox's market will be eroded by the budget market? "Not really," he told NEWSBYTES UK. "Price competition is always a winner for some users - in whatever market you're in." "Desktop publishing, however, is a different market from that of ordinary PCs. The users must be trained in how to get the best from their systems. The budget users will need to be trained - and training (on its own) is expensive. Xerox's approach is to sell the user a complete package, not a modular system." Is Edmondson's approach the right way? NEWSBYTES UK notes the Xerox sales pitch lurking in there, but - having seen the complexity of dtp systems at the show - has a sneaky suspicion that the Xerox approach may be the right one... CONTACT: RANK XEROX (UK) LTD., Cooper House, 3 Cooper Street, Manchester M2 2FF. Tel: 061-228-2211. [***][10/20/87][***] DTP SHOW BRIEFS: ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED showed off Illustrator and Type Library at the show. This was the first time that many show- goers had seen the Adobe products. HEWLETT PACKARD demonstrated - somewhat incongruously - its new Vectra series of PCs at the show. Despite their non-dtp relevance, NEWSBYTES UK was able to discover that a PS/2 compatible vectra PC - complete with Microchannel architecture - is coming 'real soon now.' MICROPROSE had Newsroom Pro at the show. Like its stablemates Certificate Maker, Certificate Library, and Clipart Collection, the packages originate from Springboard Software in the US. For budget and specific dtp applications on a variety of machines, the packages seem to offer good value.