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/v197

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[***][3/24/87][***]
MOVE OVER 80386, HELLO 29000
SUNNYVALE, Ca. (NB) -- Advanced Micro Devices has a chip
on its shoulder that promises to be three to five times more
powerful than any current microprocessor.  The AMD 29000,
a 32-bit RISC-like microprocessor, was introduced at
a San Francisco news conference.  "We're prepared to stake
our reputation on this product," exclaimed AMD President
Tony Holbrook.  At top speed, the 29000 is expected to
execute 25 million instructions per second, which will
"leap over the current generation," Holbrook added.  That
translates to five times the speed of the 80386 and the
Motorola 68020 which is in the new Macintosh II. Initial
supplies are due in late summer with full production slated
for early 1988.

While initial demand for the 29000 is expected to be slow,
AMD is banking on its installation in future micros but isn't
saying who's interested.

[***][3/24/87][***]
MICROSOFT HITS TAIWAN IMPORTERS
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- The Taiwanese makers of
Falcon MS-DOS are under court order to stop selling their
operating system in the U.S.  Microsoft won a preliminary
injunction against the firms VCCP and Evergood Computer
International, as well as Wetex International Corporation,
the importer of the software.  Some 50,000 copies of
Falcon MS-DOS were grabbed from Bay Area warehouses
last week.  Microsoft says it was watching Falcon MS-DOS
for years, that it has been a "serious problem" in the Far
East, but only recently was there evidence that the program
was being imported in the U.S.   In their defense, the
charged companies claimed they bought rights to Microsoft's
operating system through a third party, but the judge
didn't buy that argument.

[***][3/24/87][***]
COMPUTERLAND SALE IMMINENT?
HAYWARD, Ca. (NB) -- COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS reports that
negotiations to buy privately-owned ComputerLand Corporation
are "definitely heating up."  The trade weekly quotes unnamed
sources as saying a group of franchisees are making a bid for
American's largest retail computer chain.  William Millard,
ComputerLand majority owner, is reportedly faced with the
choice of making a sale or going public with his company later
this year, in accordance with a court order last year.  Sources
tell the weekly that Millard would rather sell than make a public
disclosure of his finances, something that would be required
if ComputerLand were to make a public offering.  The sale
is reportedly imminent and could come within the next several
weeks.

[***][3/24/87][***]
CONROY-LAPOINT GOES BANKRUPT
TIGARD, Oregon (NB) -- Conroy-LaPointe Computer Store, the
personal computer discount retail chain, as decided to liquidate
its assets.  The decision comes nine months after the firm
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, and signals
the near-end to a long fight to stay solvent.  Philip O'Donnell,
the firm's president, says he's looking for a buyer for the
Conroy-LaPointe operation, but while he waits, his firm will
offer an 8% discount on all products in order to expedite
liquidation.  Support for its own brand-name products may be
handled by a third party support company.

CONTACT:  CONROY LAPOINT, 503/620-4990

[***][3/24/87][***]
FRONT PAGE MAKER GOES BANKRUPT  *EXCLUSIVE*
IRVINE, Ca. (NB) -- Studio Software, maker of The Front Page
desktop publishing software, has decided to go out of business.
Officials at the five year old company, whose Front Page was
recently reviewed in PC MAGAZINE, could not be reached for
comment at deadline, but a dealer alerted NEWSBYTES to the
demise of the firm, which was confirmed by an employee at
the company's number.  The Front Page was recently renamed;
previously the PC software, which sells for $695 and has
typesetting capabilities, was called Do It.

CONTACT:  STUDIO SOFTWARE, 714/474-0132

[***][3/24/87][***]
BROWN BAG SOFTWARE GOES "ALL SHAREWARE"
CAMPBELL, Ca. (NB) -- The maker of PC MAGAZINE'S Product of the
Year award (for HomeBase) has decided to make all its products
available for shareware distribution via clubs and bulletin board
systems.  Says Chairman Sandy Schupper, "Shareware distribution
is the best of all worlds or both the software publisher and the
consumer.  We intend to pursue this channel vigorously and to
educate the consumer on what shareware is all about."  You'll
be able to obtain HomeBase (a desktop organizer ala Borland's
Sidekick), GoalSeeker, PowerMenu, PC-Outline, and Brown Bag
Utilities on major commercial services such as The Source, or
by calling Brown Bag's own BBS at 408/371-7654.

If the user feels the software is worth keeping, they should
contact Brown Bag to register their program--registration
costs between $30 and $130, depending on the software.
Registration brings the latest version, printed documentation,
and free technical support.

CONTACT:  Sandy Schupper, 408/559-4606

[***][3/24/87][***]
THANKS A YACHT - GENIE AND THE MACWEEK SET SAIL
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- Yacht owners will clean up during
the West Coast Computer Faire, which two firms have chosen
for gala product announcements.  PCW Communications has
rented the Commodore Hornblower yacht for a two-hour sunset
cruise around the bay to announce its new weekly for
Macintosh news.  On board will be Apple President John
Sculley and of course, PCW's Chairman David Bunnell.  We were
all wondering when the new  Mac weekly would surface.  We
didn't know it was already afloat!

And General Electric's GEnie information service has rented the
M/V City of San Francisco to carry reporters and invited guests
the following day with another cruise around the bay.  Anyone
who gets seasick is not urged to attend.

[***][3/24/87][***]
PRODUCT NEWS --

BARRY AND ASSOCIATES (Mountain View, Ca.) have announced
a new page description language, based on PostScript from Adobe.
NewScript stores fonts as mathematical formulae instead of
bit maps. The firm seeks licensing agreements. 415/965-2700.

HEWLETT PACKARD (Palo Alto) is offering a complete set of
Lotus-compatible peripheral software drivers for $25/disk.
The drivers enable all versions of Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony
to output to HP's printers and plotters.

ALDUS CORPORATION (Seattle, Wa.) reports version 2.0 of Page-
maker for the Mac is on schedule for an expected March 31 ship date.
The new version provides full compatibility with files for Pagemaker
for the PC.  The new Pagemaker 2.0 also accepts files from
Adobe Illustrator.

SYMANTEC CORPORATION (Cupertino, Ca.) says the new version
of Q+A database software is designed specifically for 80386-
based machines.  It runs 20 to 40% faster than the
previous version and it supports the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft
expanded memory specification.

[***][3/24/87][***]
FINANCIAL NOTES --

TANDEM COMPUTERS INC. (CUPERTINO, Ca.) has filed for
a public offering of its securities on the New York Stock
Exchange and expects to offer its first shares by mid-April.
The company wants to move its common stock from the
NASDAQ national market to the New York boards because of
the "higher profile" of the Big Apple's offerings.

SUPERMAC TECHNOLOGY of Mountain View and SCIENTIFIC
MICRO SYSTEMS has agreed to merge.  Scientific Micro
develops data controllers for the XT/AT market while
SuperMac specializes in hard disk drives.  It's a marraige
made in disk drive heaven.  SuperMac now becomes a
division of the $100 million publicly traded Scientific
Micro.

Computer Memories of Chatsworth, Ca. has merged with
moviemaker Hemdale Film Corporation, whose recent hit
was "Platoon."  The former disk drive maker's Senior
VP puts it this way, "This is not the first time a company
has changed directions."  But it may be the most radical.

3COM CORPORATION of Santa Clara reports a record quarter
with third quarter net income of $3.2 million on sales of
$30.4 million.  Sales are up 81 percent over a year earlier,
due to strong sales of the company's networking systems.

MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL, San Rafael, Ca., says second
quarter earnings have dropped to $548,000 compared to
$863,000 a year earlier.  According to a company spokesman,
the drop is due to initial revenues from WordStar Professional
Release 4.0, which is just now getting wide distribution.

[***][3/24/87][***]
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

JEFF RASKIN, the leader of the Macintosh development team
in 1979, has been awarded the one millionth Macintosh off
the assembly line.  The award was made in the pizza parlor
in Monte Vista, Ca. which was the "think tank" for the
team.  Apple says $1.3 billion in Macintoshes have been sold
at the retail level.


[***][3/24/87][***]
IBM "WRANGLER" HEADS FOR FIRST ROUND-UP
Wrangler is the code-name for IBM's 80386 machine with
its proprietary (but backward-compatible) operating
system, according to NEWSBYTES sources. It will be joined
by an Intel 80286-based "Range Rider," a similar (less-powerful)
machine called the "Trail Boss," and two 8086-based
machines, the "Palace" and "Flashlight" -- the latter would
go for $1,500 retail. The sources added that new ProPrinters
will also be announced, that the Wrangler will run at 16
Mhz, with a 1.4 Megabyte floppy drive and 40 Megabyte
hard disk, that all the floppy drives will be 3 1/2 inch, and
that the new CP/DOS 1.0 will be distributed with many disk
formats in the same box, like the PC/DOS 3.20 boxes.

[***][3/24/87][***]
TANDY SAYS "WHAT, ME WORRY?"
FT. WORTH, TX (NB) -- Our Tandy director of market
planning Ed Juge wrote to say that IBM's new products will "have
minimal impact on Tandy" based on a March 12 report of "The Wall
Street Journal" about the new machines. "In fact, we may
benefit," he adds. The "Flashlight" seems to be priced too high
to challenge the Tandy 1000 series, he claims, and "we're
generally regarded as the lowest cost U.S. manufacturer (SCI
Systems of Huntsville may disagree). "It appears IBM's
emphasis will be in high end products, where they may make
additions to the standard. The additions, as described to us,
will be of primary interest to only the largest corporate buyers,
which is our smallest market segment," Ed concludes.

CONTACT: Ed Juge, TANDY, [phone]

[***][3/24/87][***]
DATASOUTH HAS "PLUG AND PLAY" LED PRINTER FOR IBM MINI OWNERS
CHARLOTTE, NC (NB) -- It's not as easy as you think. IBM System
3X minicomputers use all sorts of proprietary protocols the real
world of DOS (and its peripherals) never heard of. DataSouth
announced its 300 dpi PageWriter 8 Model 5080 LED printer  last
November. (An LED printer has fewer moving parts than a laser, but
other differences are transparent to users.) A new upgrade adds a
plug, and protocol conversion boards inside the printer, so you
can just attach it to your IBM System 3X mini and run with it.
Uses the same protocols as that IBM 5219 daisywheel you're now
using. The same printer can be attached to a PC at the same time,
and it's compatible with the Diablo 630.

CONTACT: Marilyn Gates, DATASOUTH, [phone]

[***][3/24/87][***]
MEA CULPA AGAIN... (DCA amends)
A February 10 story in NEWSBYTES South incorrectly reported that
DCA had to drop the FastLink modem (also sold as the Telebit
Trailblazer) from its product line. DCA corporate direct
customers, apparently, will still get it. However, the two
companies have decided to end their joint-marketing agreement.

[***][3/24/87][***]
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF...THEY LEFT THE BELLS ALONE? *EXCLUSIVE*
ATLANTA, GA (NB) -- The Bells would spend millions more on
research and development, to the the benefit of us all. That's the
guess of Sidney Boren who should know.  As the top planner for
BellSouth, the biggest of the Baby Bells, . Boren has some
insight into the question. "If you can conceive what can happen
when you turn 7 companies like ours loose to spend research
dollars knowing they can then put what they get on the market,
then you'll see something happen," he said in an interview last
week.

BellSouth alone did $11.44 billion in business last year, but
it's barred from making its own products (including information
services) by the consent decree which created it on January 1,
1984. Why trust even a Baby Bell? Because European and Japanese
phone companies are not under such restraints and BellSouth will
have to buy from there to second-source all this stuff otherwise.
"In the French experience there are now about 1,350 databases
online with Minitels in every home -- the phone company's
electronic yellow pages is just one of those databases." .
Boren dismisses problems of a company which controls the
information pipeline creating the data which flows through it.
Then again, he adds, so do the Europeans and Japanese.

CONTACT: Tom Crawford, BELLSOUTH [phone]

[***][3/24/87][***]
HAYES TRIES TO ADD STEAK AT SIZZLING ISDN TRIAL IN PHOENIX
PHOENIX, AZ (NB) -- Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc., Norcross,
demonstrated an ISDN PC Card at the International Switching
Symposium (ISS '87) in Phoenix, AZ last week, which featured
access lines to Mountain Bell's ISDN switch trials.  ISDN gives
users two 64 Kilobaud channels at once for voice or data, plus a
16 Kilobaud channel for diagnostics, or whatever, on the same
twisted-pair phone line you have right now. Hayes' demonstration
included a 9,600 X.25 connection to a mini-computer, plus two PCs
exchanging data at 64 kilobaud each, plus an available voice
channel, all going at once. (Not bad for a "mere" PC modem-
maker.) Founder-chairman-boss Dennis Hayes said the company is
also providing equipment for Illinois Bell's ISDN trials at
McDonald's headquarters near Chicago.

CONTACT: Jane Dryden [phone]

[***][3/24/87][***]
SOFTWARE MART SHOWS SOME OF WHAT A CD-ROM CAN DO
AUSTIN, TX (NB) -- How about a foreign language dictionary
on a CD ROM which includes text, graphics *and* digitized,
recorded speech? This Austin-based company demonstrated the
prototype for just such a system recently. The Visual Dictionary
CD ROM prototype contains 117 illustrations, with 1,660 terms in
French and English, a total of 3,000 line drawings. The product
won't ship until next year, however, but the production run will
have 1,000 terms with illustrations in Spanish, French and
English. They're taking orders for the prototype at $60 each.

CONTACT: Carolyn Kuhn, SOFTWARE MART, [phone]

[***][3/24/87][***]
PECAN CHIPS

MIX SOFTWARE, Dallas, announced it will have its PrevieWare
edition (a crippled program you can try free) on The Source this
week.  (Check IBMSIG for details.)

QUADRAM, Norcross, GA, announced the opening of a local bulletin
board devoted to its QuadLaser printer. QuadLaser users can get
new drivers, utilities, and emulators direct off the BBS. 8 bits,
no parity, 1 stop bit, X-modem, and 1200 baud are recommended.
Here's the number: [phone].

ELECTRONIC FORM SYSTEMS, Carrollton, TX, demonstrated a full-page
display for forms creation at a Washington, DC trade show. The
company's E-Form program lets you type in data just as you would
on a pre-printed form. (If a pre-printed form did calculations.)
The product is due to ship in the third quarter.

TARGET SOFTWARE, Miami, began shipping Memorandum, an
electronic version of 3M Post It@ Notes for the Apple .
The notes can pop up in spreadsheet cells, database fields or on
a word processing document. It's compatible with the Mac 512K,
Mac Plus, Mac SE and Mac II. Cost: $99.95.

TANDY, Ft. Worth, began shipping OS-9 Level Two, a new operating
system for its Color Computer 3. It features a windowing and
graphics kernel system for multitasking, along with file and
record locking. Cost: $79.95.


[***][3/24/87][***]
POLITICAL WORRIES KILLED FUJITSU-FAIRCHILD DEAL
TOKYO (NB) -- A Fujitsu spokesman said (3/16) Fujitsu and
Fairchild's parent company Schlumberger have agreed to cancel
their accord to merge their subsidiaries due to growing
political concerns in the U.S.  He refused to specify what these
political concerns were, but apparently referred to recent
statements by Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldridge and other U.S.
high officials opposing the merger.  Fairchild's president Donald
Brooks said in his statement to his employees, "A business with
Fujitsu has become impossible due to the political pressure from
Washington."

However, Japanese industry people are not at all surprised at
this cancellation, since this is not the first time that the U.S.
government opposed the Japanese takeover of the U.S. firms on
national defense grounds.  Kyocera experienced it with Dexel in
February 1983, and Shin-Nittetsu experienced it with Special-
Metals in June 1983.

It seems the problem this time is that the U.S. opposition was
not just on the  military grounds.  The SIA's (the U.S.
Semiconductor Industry Association) Vice President Warren Davis
mentioned in a telephone interview with the JIJI press (Tokyo)
that the merger cancellation resulted not only from the
defense problems, but also from the U.S. criticism over the Japan-
U.S. semiconductor pact.  He said American chip manufacturers
were complaining that their Japanese counterparts had not
been abiding by last year's semiconductor pact. (See related
article on this.)  From his remarks, it seems the main U.S. opposition
was due to an interest in retaliating against Japanese industry.
Also, Fairchild President Donald Brooks met the press in New York
(3/18) and said, "A major obstacle for our merger was our rival
U.S. firms.  Those firms have agitated to create the atmosphere
that Fujitsu's takeover is detrimental to the national security."
Surprisingly, he has actually pointed out Intel as one of such
firms, says a report.

There's another reason that many Japanese think it was a
retaliation rather than the defense problem.  Back in 1978, the
U.S. Pentagon did not oppose the French firm's (Schlumberger)
takeover of Fairchild.  Many Japanese are wondering why French
firms are acceptable, while the Japanese are not.  No clear
explanation has been made on this point from the U.S. Pentagon.

From these points of view, almost no consideration was made to
save deficit-ridden Fairchild by the U.S. government, but just to
prevent Japanese takeover of this firm, says the NIKKEI DAILY.
With this cancellation, one major "American" firm has lost the
chance to recover.  Shutting out foreign manufacturers (or just
the Japanese manufacturers) may cause a dangerous effect for
American industries -- weak competition in the international
market.  On the whole, the Fujitsu-Fairchild issue has given us the
impression that Japan-U.S. high-tech competition is reaching
a critical stage.

[***][3/24/87][***]
FAIRCHILD STILL WOOS FUJITSU
TOKYO (NB) -- Meanwhile, Fairchild announced that company managers
are thinking of purchasing their own company stocks, based on
their new plan to get technical business assistance from
Fujitsu.  A Fairchild spokesman says the new plan is designed
to revive the company economy, making various business
agreements to set up cooperative ties with this Japanese firm.  In this
way, Fairchild will hopefully be able to circumvent the political
pressure from the U.S. government.  But why does Fairchild persist in
efforts to get help from Fujitsu?  And there's another
why -- why isn't the U.S. government or  U.S. industry coming to
the aid of this "poor child?"

Meanwhile, industry sources say the parent firm of Fairchild,
Schlumberger, has been getting new merger proposals from other
manufacturers.  Thomson CSF in France is one of such
manufacturers, says a report.  We'll see if the U.S. government
gives any pressure to this French firm this time.

[***][3/24/87][***]
U.S. BUYERS SUFFER FROM SEMICONDUCTOR PACT BACKLASH
TOKYO (NB) -- According to the ASAHI Daily (3/17), IBM Japan's
semiconductor buyer has stormed into MITI (Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry) to ask the Japanese government to
lift the current semiconductor export restriction. Reportedly,
he has explained to the MITI official that IBM will have to stop
its overseas computer production lines if the current semicon-
ductor shortage persists.  Such complaints have recently been
increasing.  The report says MITI has heard a daily average of
20 such complaints from overseas buyers.  Those overseas computer
makers want Japanese chips in order to produce competitive
computers.  This shortage is apparently the result of MITI's
strict semiconductor-production curbs and the export
restriction orders, which were given to the Japanese manufac-
turers in accordance with the Japan-U.S. semiconductor pact last
summer.  Analysts criticize that the U.S. Senate Committee has
been urging the Reagan Administration to take punitive action
against Japan, ignoring this situation.

Meanwhile, the Japanese semiconductor shares in Southeast
Asian countries have been decreasing.  Instead, Texas
Instruments and Samsung (Korea) have been moving to
increase their sales into that market, says MITI's investigation team.
Guess where Texas Instruments makes the chips. They do it in
their Japanese subsidiary's factory, and the company has been given
immunity to MITI's restriction orders.  Is this fair?  Humm...

[***][3/24/87][***]
BUYING MORE AMERICAN CHIPS
TOKYO (NB) -- Despite the effort of Japanese manufacturers and
the government to decrease semiconductor trade friction, anti-
Japanese sentiment seems to be increasing in the U.S.  In order to
cool off these tensions in the U.S., Japanese Prime Minister
Nakasone has directed MITI minister Tamura to order Japanese
computer makers to buy more chips from U.S. manufacturers.
According to industry sources, Japanese computer makers have so
far been reluctant to buy American chips due to their
inferior quality and volatile shipment schedule.  Humm...  All
in all, MITI's Tamura will urge approximately 10 Japanese
makers, including NEC, Hitachi, and Sony, to purchase chips from
U.S. makers.

[***][3/24/87][***]
80386 UPGRADE BOARD FROM COMPUTERLAND
TOKYO (NB) -- ComputerLand (U.S.A.) will start selling a new
add-on board, which has an 80386 microprocessing unit, in
Japan and the U.S. this April.  According to ComputerLand Japan's
spokesman, the product is available for the IBM PC/AT and
compatible computers.  And later, this computer franchise giant
is planning to release this product for other 16-bit
personal computers which have the pertinent expansion slots.
The price of this add-on board is still unknown, but is expected
to  be a third or half of the average retail price of 32-bit
computers in the current market.

CONTACT: ComputerLand Japan, 3F Nissei-Takanawadai Bldg., 3-5-23
         Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108

[***][3/24/87][***]
IBM AND NTT INTERCONNECT THEIR NETWORKS
TOKYO (NB) -- Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT) and IBM
(U.S.) have jointly developed conversion software STEP-1 for
linking information networks of both companies.  With this soft-
ware, NTT's DCNA (Data Communication Network Architecture) and
IBM's SNA (System Network Architecture) and BSC (Binary Data
Synchronous Communication) can be all interconnected with each
other for data transfer.  STEP-1 is expected to be used for
various media such as value added networks (VAN) of both firms
in the near future.

CONTACT: NTT, 1-1-6 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100

[***][3/24/87][***]
<<< SUSHI BYTES >>>

TANDY TO SELL J3100 -- Tandy Japan has begun to market Toshiba's
best-selling laptop computer J3100.  The company will push its
sales as a part of its desktop publishing system.

SAMSUNG AND NCR -- Korean semiconductor manufacturer SamSung
has signed an OEM agreement with NCR in the U.S.  With this
agreement, SamSung supplies NCR with its semiconductor products
of approximately US$12 million in five years, says a report.

[***][3/24/87][***]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (IN PAIR)

  "If they (Japanese) don't see the warning shots across the bow,
   they may have to live with more draconian measures."
   -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige (TIME, Mar.16,'87)


  "With no good news in sight for the U.S. trade deficit, such
   threats sound more believable ALL THE TIME."
   -- A TIME correspondent   (TIME, March 16, 1987)


[***][3/24/87][***]
TRADE WARS AND FALLOUT FROM THE FUJITSU-FAIRCHILD FLOP
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Senate, by a 93-0 vote, last week passed a
resolution calling on President Reagan to hammer Japan for
violating last July's anti-chip dumping accord. The resolution
came during a week which saw Fujitsu Ltd. drop its attempt to buy
Fairchild Semiconductor Corp., citing political opposition in
Washington. The non-binding Senate resolution called on the
president to penalize Japan and to take actions "to increase,
rather than restrict, international semiconductor trade." The
Cabinet-level Economic Policy Council meets this week to decide
on action against Japan. Fanning the flames of protectionism is a
Commerce Department review, distributed secretly to high U.S.
officials late last week in advance of the Cabinet council
meeting which concludes that Japan has violated the July chip pact.
According to one source who has seen the Commerce review, "It
verifies everything the domestic manufacturers have been saying."

In the meantime, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
Industry called in representatives of all the Japanese
semiconductor makers the day after the Senate vote and "urged
them not to sell computer chips overseas at unfairly low prices,"
according to a report from the Associated Press. MITI denied that
Japanese companies are dumping chips, but acknowledged that some
gray market chips are making it onto the market in Southeast
Asia.

In Palo Alto, Fairchild president Donald Brooks said the $200
million Fujitsu deal fell through because of Washington lobbying
by Fairchild's domestic competitors. Brooks bitterly denounced
Robert Noyce of Intel and Wilfred Corrigan of LSI Logic Corp. for
stirring up protectionist impulses on Capitol Hill in order to
short-circuit the deal. "The biggest advocates for this deal not
going through have been my competitors," Brooks told reporters.
"My competitors continually created an air that this had national
defense implications."

[***][3/24/87][***]
VIEWTEXT SAYS THE SOURCE WILL BE SOLD
McLEAN, Va. (NB) -- The Source, rumored to be on the trading
block for months, may be bought by Welsh, Carson, Anderson and
Stowe, a New York venture capital firm, according to VIEWTEXT, an
industry trade letter. No comment from the Virginia information
service or its owner, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
VIEWTEXT quotes Russell Carson of the New York money house that
the parties have reached "a preliminary agreement in principle"
on the sale. Reader's Digest last year hired L.F. Rothschild,
Unterburg and Towbin to advise it on investment and business
strategy, which added credence to rumors that the service was for
sale. The 8-year-old Source is said to be operating profitably,
with some 60,000 subscribers.

In other news from The Source, the company has announced a user
interface program designed to make using the electronic
information service easier and simpler. The product is called
re:Source and sells for $89, which includes a Source membership.
The package is basically a script language that automates
frequent tasks and allows interactions between the user and The
Source to occur offline.

CONTACT: Source Telecomputing Corp., 1616 Anderson Road, McLean
         VA 22101, 703-734-7500.

[***][3/24/87][***]
IBM'S AKERS TOOK '86 PAY CUT
NEW YORK (NB) -- IBM's miserable performance in 1986 resulted in
pay cuts for its top four executives, according to the company's
proxy statement for the 1987 annual meeting. Big Blue last year
reported a 27 percent profit decline. So IBM chairman John Akers
took a 3.2 percent pay cut, while his key lieutenants got
hammered by 9 percent. None, however, are headed for the poor
house. Akers' salary dropped from $737,715 in 1985 to $711,900
last year. Vice Chairman Paul Rizzo saw his pay fall to $652,576
from $721,525. Senior vice president Dean Phypers' pay dropped
9.6 percent to $563,597 while senior VP Spike Beitzel's pay
salary slid 9.3 percent to $551,342. Both Phypers and Beitzel
retired earlier this year.
[***][3/24/87][***]
LOTUS SCALES BACK LOOK-AND-FEEL SUIT
BOSTON -- Lotus Development Corp. has dropped its request for
punitive damages against Paperback Software International,
reports INFOWORLD. In response, Paperback plans to drop its
motion to dismiss the suit filed in federal court in Boston.
Lotus also added Stephenson Software Ltd. of British Columbia, a
Paperback software developer for VP-Planner, as a codefendant in
the suit. Paperback's ebullient president, Adam Osborne,
commented that "our request for dismissal served its purpose; we
got everything we asked for." But Lotus attorney Henry Guttman
retorted that dropping punitive damages was a legal tactic and
not a conciliatory gesture. Lotus alleges that VP-Planner
violates the copyright for 1-2-3.

[***][3/24/87][***]
COMMODORE TO SUPPLY BALLY WITH AMIGA TECHNOLOGY
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (NB) -- Commodore Business Machines will supply
Bally Manufacturing Corp. with Amiga computer graphics
technology, the Pennsylvania computer firm announced last week.
The agreement will lead to the next generation in coin-operated
video games, Commodore said. Under the deal, Commodore will
supply Bally with proprietary Amiga boards and technical
information, while Bally will give Commodore software rights to
game developed for the Amiga hardware. Bally unveiled its first
Amiga-based Game, "Moonquake," last Friday.

[***][3/24/87][***]
XEROX BOWS OUT OF GENERAL COMPUTERS, BETS ON  PUBLISHING
NEW YORK (NB) -- Xerox Corp., never able to make much of a dent
in the microcomputer marketplace despite its technical savvy,
announced last week it has stopped selling general use personal
computers. Instead, Xerox will sell its computers only as part of
desktop publishing systems. The likely result is that Xerox will
ship a lot fewer units under its new strategy, but overall
revenue shouldn't change much, because the publishing systems
have a higher price tag. Xerox will concentrate on its Ventura
software, and on bundling the software with Xerox hardware into
turnkey publishing systems. Xerox has been selling computers made
by Italy's Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., but is looking for a new
supplier because the Olivetti contract expired last year.

[***][3/24/87][***]
POINDEXTER TAKES THE FIFTH ON COMPUTERS
WASHINGTON (NB) -- Former national security adviser John
Poindexter last week invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against
self-incrimination in a congressional hearing on a controversial
White House computer security policy. House Government Operations
Committee chairman Jack Brooks (D-Texas) asked Poindexter four
questions about an October, 1986 memo, titled "National Policy on
Protection of Sensitive, but Unclassified, Information in Federal
Government Telecommunications and Automated Information Systems."

The memo has been cited by the National Security Agency as
authority for clamping down on ordinary use of information
services such as The Source, Legis, and Dialog. Frank Carlucci,
the new national security advisor, told Brooks he is rescinding
Poindexter's 1986 order and is reviewing a 1984 computer security
directive (Directive 145) signed by President Reagan. The
powerful and irascible Brooks is sponsoring a bill to give the
National Bureau of Standards, rather than NSA, the lead in
developing protection for government computer operations and
data bases. The legislation is expected to pass. Poindexter is
getting to be an old hand at taking the Fifth. Earlier, he
refused to testify in Congress about his role in the Iran-contra
scandal.

[***][3/24/87][***]
BIG BOARD TO LOOK AT PROGRAM TRADING
NEW YORK (NB) -- The New York Stock Exchange will review the
long-term effects on the stock market of the computer-driven
trading techniques known as program trading. "It's a complex
subject," said NYSE chairman John J. Phelan Jr., "and we believe
it is important for everyone to have a better understanding of
the long-term implications for financial markets of these growing
trading techniques." Former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach,
formerly IBM counsel, will head the study of such computer-driven
techniques of portfolio hedging and index arbitrage. Look for a
final report before the end of 1987, Phelan said.

[***][3/24/87][***]
NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION
   WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Navy has awarded International Business
Machines Corp. a $120.3 million contract for signal processors
for anti-submarine warfare equipment.

   LOWELL, Mass. (NB) -- Diebold Inc. of Canton, Ohio, has signed
an original equipment manufacturing agreement with Wang
Laboratories. The deal give Wang the right to sell and support
Diebold's line of retail and electronic funds transfer systems
worldwide.

   WASHINGTON (NB) -- NASA has picked Computer Sciences Corp. of
Silver Spring, Md., for negotiations on a contract for
engineering support services at the Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md. The contract is estimated to be worth $310
million.

   BOSTON (NB) -- Massachusetts is overrated as a pro-business
state, says a poll of high tech business executives conducted by
ELECTRONIC BUSINESS magazine. The magazine polled 1,099
executives, who criticized the Bay State for high taxes and
housing costs, and traffic congestion.

=
[***][3/24/87][***]
COMMODORE PC-1 - CBM UK CONFUSION (WEEK 2)
MAIDENHEAD, BERKSHIRE (NB) -- Considerable confusion still reigns as
to whether Commodore UK will launch the PC-1 shown at the CeBit
computer fair in Hanover, West Germany earlier this month.  Last
week's COMPUTER TRADE WEEKLY quotes a spokesman for CBM UK as saying
"It's not a UK product... I know nothing about it."

NEWSBYTES UK readers in North America may notice a similarity
between the PC-1 and the existing PC-10, currently being shipped in
North America at prices as low as $800.  NEWSBYTES UK's inquiries
reveal that the PC-1 is likely to be shipped in Europe in the summer
of this year, but that a US launch is unlikely, due to competitive
pricing in North America.

CONTACT: COMMODORE (UK) LTD, Commodore House, The Switchback,
         Gardener Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 7XA.

[***][3/24/87][***]
LINES OF COMMUNICATION DEBUTS
GUILDFORD, SURREY (NB) -- Last week saw a new magazine flip onto
some 10,000 modem and telephone users doormats in the UK.

'Lines of Communication' is a new monthly controlled circulation
telecommunications magazine produced in close liaison with the TIA
(Telecommunications Industry Association).  According to editor Paul
Liptrot, the magazine will be aimed at corporate communications
dealers and buyers, rather than the domestic end-user, but still
have a glossy magazine feel about it.

NEWSBYTES UK got its first issue last week and can report that the
magazine has a good editorial spread including an informed article
about user-installed phone sockets as well as a recent
telecommunications show report.  Also included in the first issue is
a comprehensive market overview of mobile communications, modems,
telex, fax, and satellite communications - a fair selection for a
free magazine.

CONTACT: COURTESY PUBLISHING LTD., 10 Leapdale Road, Guildford,
         Surrey, GU1 4JX.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][3/24/87][***]
AMSTRAD EXPORTS TO BE IMPORTED?
LONDON, UK (NB) -- Word reaches the ears of NEWSBYTES UK that a
number of Amstrad PCW8256 machines, exported last year from the UK
for sale by Sears Roebuck in North America, may be about to be
imported back into the UK by a third party.

Details are sketchy, but industry sources say that the machines,
which currently retail in the UK for 400 pounds ($600) and up, may
be imported back to the UK with a port-price of under 200 pounds
($300).  If these grey market machines do surface in the UK, then
NEWSBYTES UK expects a considerable amount of concern to be
expressed by Amstrad, who thoroughly investigated recent rumours
that their PC1512 IBM compatible range was being bulk-shipped at
bargain prices direct from Taiwan without the Amstrad logo.

[***][3/24/87][***]
CUTTING THE COST OF EMAIL - NEW SYSTEM DEBUTS
CAMBRIDGE, UK (NB) -- A new electronic mail service, aimed initially
at the educational market, will open for business in the UK next
month.

Instead of users initiating a modem call to an electronic mail
system (as is the case with The Source), the Interspan service dials
you up at predetermined times of the day or night, automatically
delivering incoming mail and collecting outgoing messages.  The
system is reported to be capable of supporting both text (seven bit)
and program (eight bit) file transfers with no software problems.

Initial sign-up to Interspan costs 25 pounds ($38), with an ongoing
subscription charges of 50 pounds ($75) a year and electronic mail
charges of between 2 and 3 pence (3.0 to 4.5c) per 1,000 characters
sent.  Interspan say that other services, such as telex and
inter-system email (to the other UK email operators) will be
introduced shortly.

CONTACT: INTERSPAN ELECTRONIC MAIL LTD., 108 Mill Road, Cambridge.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][3/24/87][***]
MICRONET ONLINE SERVICE HIT BY UNION DISPUTE
LONDON, UK (NB) -- Micronet 800, the microcomputing-oriented arm of
Prestel, British Telecom's viewdata service, has been hit by a union
dispute which started last Friday.

The first time subscribers were aware of the dispute, which is
between the East Midlands Allied Press chapel of the NUJ (National
Union of Journalists) and EMAP itself, was when a message was posted
on the normally daily Micronet news area.  This message  advised
subscribers that normal updating of the editorial and news pages may
be subject to disruption owing to the dispute.

Friday saw no news at all posted to the Micronet news pages.
Normally there are four or five news stories posted each day
throughout the year.  NEWSBYTES UK understands from talking with
editor Sid Smith that NUJ members at Micronet are convening
'mandatory meetings' during their normal working hours.  In essence
this means that they are unavailable to work normally.  "It's not a
strike," Smith told NEWSBYTES UK, "it's the next stage down.  We
very much regret that service to Micronet subscribers has been
affected as a result of this dispute."

NEWSBYTES UK notes that daily news updates have resumed this
weekend.  We understand that Monday will see a resumption of a
mandatory union sessions with the result that no news will be posted
during weekdays.

Micronet 800 is a jointly-funded company, 40% owned each by British
Telecom and EMAP, the remaining 20% owned by Bell Canada.

CONTACT: SID SMITH, Editor, Micronet 800, Durrant House,
         8 Herbal Hill, London EC1R.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][3/24/87][***]
LAPTOP SCREEN ROYALTIES DUE?
MALVERN, WORCESTERSHIRE (NB) -- Last week's PC BUSINESS WORLD
carries an interesting story that the UK's Ministry of Defence is
demanding royalties from manufacturers of laptops using the new
'supertwist' technology in their LCD screens.

Writer Natalie Taylor says that the MoD has a patent on the
supertwist technology which was developed at the Royal Signals
Research Establishment in Malvern.  A spokesman for the MoD is
quoted in the paper as saying they wrote to firms last year advising
them "that supertwist is patented and asking them to buy a licence."

"We're now assessing their replies," said the spokesman, adding that
the amount to be paid is undecided and that a running royalty is
expected rather than just a nominal fee.

Hmmm - NEWSBYTES UK was thinking of buying the new NEC Multispeed
laptop, maybe we'd better have a word with the bank manager on
Monday...
=======