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/1988/nb880105.237

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[***][1/5/88][***]
MORE COMING AT MACWORLD EXPO
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- The MacWorld Expo, scheduled for January
15-17 at the San Francisco Moscone Center, is promising to feature
a lion's share of new product announcements.  Here's more we've
heard through the grapevine.

  *Claris, Apple's software subsidiary, expected to fly on its own
as of January 11, will introduce a number of new products
including a forms generating program which can draw data from
various popular databases.  It's called Quickforms.  Also we'll see
upgrades to MacWrite, MacProject, MacPaint, and MacDraw, some of which
will utilize the color of the Macintosh II.

   *SoftView, Inc., gets into the promising market of forms generating
software too with a new product it plans to preview at the show.
SoftView is best known for its MacInTax and TaxView Planner software,
as well as the notorious fight its president had with Claris over the
forms generating program.

   *Next, Inc., Steve Jobs' new firm, is expected to unveil a new version
of WriteNow, the second most popular word processor for the Macintosh.
Actually, T/Maker, the firm which wrote the original product and sold
it to NeXT, will release and market the new version.

    *SuperMac╩Technology is slated to unveil some new video products
for the Macintosh line...

    *Apple Computer, itself, will unveil that much-talked-about laser
printer which uses the Quickdraw routine, rather than PostScript, to
print out documents.  It will be positioned as as an entry level
offering, and PC WEEK reports the laser printer is called the
SC.  It will be among several laser printers introduced, all of which
will be upgradeable through a simple exchange of motherboards, right
up to the high-end LaserWriter NTX, said to run at 16 megahertz on a
Motorola 68020 and come with a basic 2 megabytes of memory.

    *Activision will introduce two more hyperware products and
a site licensing program for its HyperCard applications.  Activision
has previously announced Focal Point and Business Class stackware.

    * Adobe Systems is also scheduled to make a new product announcement.

[***][1/5/88][***]
IBM TOP ADVERTISER IN '87
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- IBM spent a whopping $467 million to advertise
its products in 1987, according to industry tracker Communications
Trends.  A far second in line was Digital Equipment with $95 million
but the distinction of having the biggest increase in ad spending was
Wang, whose ad budget jumped 16% to $29 million.  All in all,
expenditures for ads jumped 6% for the computer industry as a whole
to total a staggering $2 billion in 1987.

In fourth quarter advertising in magazines,  AST Research topped
the charts with an estimated $1.6 million spent on 164 ad pages in
14 magazines.  Second was Borland with $1.4 million.  And which
magazine was the recipient of much of this money?  MACWORLD topped the
ratings with 407 ad pages during the fourth quarter of 1987.

Apple Computer may not have placed big in dollars, but it may have the
lead in big splashes in 1988.  Apple spent an estimated $4 million
in one day -- January 1 --  to run its 22 spots during the Fiesta,
Orange, and Rose Bowl games.  Says an Apple representative, "Apple
always looks for dramatic ways to heighten awareness."  The
ads reached an estimated 57 million viewers.

[***][1/5/88][***]
APPLE HYPERCARDS ITS ANNUAL REPORT
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Showing faith in its new software product, Apple
has issued its annual report on HyperCard as well as the printed page.
The jaunty tour of Apple's finances, strategies, and products includes
graphics of the entire Macintosh product line and a time line showing
major Apple events since 1976.  "The information age is upon us,"
declares Delbert Yocam, Apple's chief operating officer.  He adds,
"We are excited to be able to use HyperCard technology to showcase
Apple's history."

Staffers say the biggest challenge to putting the annual report on
a disk was not the HyperCard programming but the time spent
gathering the hundreds of statistics, photographs, and details needed
to portray Apple's history.  To receive a copy, call 800-538-9696,
extension 950.

[***][1/5/88][***]
ASTRONAUT SALLY RIDE TO JOIN APPLE'S BOARD
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- In a departure from the usual stuffed shirts
that sit on corporate boards of directors, Apple Computer has tapped
Shuttle astronaut Sally Ride to occupy a vacant seat left by
Teledyne Chairman Henry Singleton on its six member board.
Shareholders are expected to overwhelmingly approve her nomination
at their meeting January 27 at Cupertino's Flint Center.  Why would
a seat on Apple Computer's board interest the first woman in space?
Ride reportedly uses a Macintosh in her research at Stanford's
Center for International Security and Arms Control.  She'll be
elbow to elbow with some heavy hitters, if elected. Other members
of the board include CEO╩John Sculley, VP Albert Eisenstat,
former CEO╩Mike Markkula, and venture capitalists Peter Crisp
and Arthur Rock.

[***][1/5/88][***]
APPLE TO OPEN CONSUMER HOTLINE FOR UNIX, OPEN APPLELINK TO PUBLIC
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- One of the biggest criticisms leveled against
Apple has been the problem of support.  In order to get support on an
Apple product, a user has to ask the dealer, who may or may not be
able to answer the question.  Responding to these complaints, Apple
plans to hook up a direct telephone support hot line for the first time
in its history, according to a published report.  But don't expect the
customer support people to answer all questions immediately.  The
hot line will reportedly be reserved, at least initially, to buyers of
Apple's UNIX-based operating system for the Macintosh II, slated to
be introduced soon.

And owners of the new operating system will need all the help they
can get.  Word is it comes on an unprecedented number of diskettes.
Not 7, not 17, but  -- 70 -- floppy disks!  No word on the price of
this monster.

Meanwhile,  Apple is expected to open its AppleLink network
to Apple product buyers.  Until now, the network has been open
only to Apple dealers, staff,  and developers.  The target date for
release of the retail software which will allow the public to access
AppleLink is late 1988.

[***][1/5/88][***]
APPLE CLEARED OF WRONGDOING IN SHAREHOLDER SUIT
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- All charges in a  class action suit brought
against Apple Computer for allegedly inflating stock prices with
claims of a bright future for the Lisa computer have been dismissed.
Federal judge Robert Aguilar, who previously dismissed 15 charges,
has thrown out the remaining three, leaving Apple's name cleared
of wrongdoing in what turned out to be the Lisa fiasco.  Shareholders
filed suit in 1984, saying Apple executives had made some 18
statements which were false and misleading.  The Lisa never took
off despite the hyperbole and shareholders felt cheated.  However
the judge has taken the view that technology is risky and grandiose
statements about a particular machine's future are a part of
doing business.  "Apple was wrestling with innovative technology
and was hopeful at all times that it would succeed in marketing
a successful product," explains Apple defense attorney Laurence
Popofsky.

One other similar suit against Apple is pending in Santa Clara County
Superior Court.

[***][1/5/88][***]
HAND-HELD 4-LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR
REDMOND, Wa. (NB) -- Here's an interesting new gadget.  Advanced
Products and Technologies is putting the finishing touches on a hand-held
translation devices capable of translating up to 2,000 words and
phrases in French, German, Italian, or English.  The voice activated
computer uses some artificial intelligence routines to "learn" the
user's voice in an hour-long conversation.  It's called The Voice and
unfortunately, it doesn't come cheaply.  The expected retail price
will run about $1,500, far more than a Berlitz tourist guide.

[***][1/5/88][***]
MACH II SHIPMENT DELAY
REDMOND, Wa. (NB) -- Microsoft says release of its Mach 20 accelerator
board has been delayed until at least late January.  The Mach 20, which
is based on an 80286 microprocessor and is said to speed up an 8088-
based PC to that of an 8 megahertz 80286-based machine, was due out
in the fourth quarter of '87 but has been held up by the FCC.  Microsoft
says approval is imminent and that the boards, which also run Microsoft's
OS/2, utilize the LIM 4.0 memory expansion protocol, and have options
for two sizes of disk drives and expanded memory, will be available soon.

[***][1/5/88][***]
RING OUT THE OLD: TWO SOFTWARE EXECS RESIGN
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ca. (NB) -- Software Publishing Corporation has seen
the departure of its president, Janelle Bedke, who says she's leaving
the software company for personal reasons but plans to remain on the
firm's board of directors.  Bedke is a veteran of the software industry,
having been co-founder of Software Publishing Corporation with Fred
Gibbons in 1979.  Gibbons will take her place as president
and chief executive officer; venture capitalist Jack Melchor will
take over as chairman.  The firm denies there was any problem between
Bedke and other members of the board and says her resignation was
"of her own volition."

And Borland International of Scotts Valley lost Ron Posner, the former
president of Ansa Software, with which Borland merged in the summer
of '87.  Posner says he's stepping down as a Borland executive vice
president and leaving the board of directors to pursue "business
interest."  Borland issued a statement quoting its president Philippe
Kahn as saying "Mr. Posner was instrumental in the smooth integration
of Borland and Ansa during the past four months....he has a
commendable track record in the industry."

[***][1/5/88][***]
IN BRIEF --

AEGIS DEVELOPMENT, Santa Monica, Ca., has extended HyperCard to run 256
color, full screen animation on a standard one megabyte Macintosh II.
The new technology is to be a part of Animation Workshop, a series of
3D animation tools and programs for the Macintosh II scheduled for
release throughout this year.

THE ELECTRONIC PRIVACY ACT, voted down last session in the
California legislature, gets resurrected again this month in the
Assembly Elections Committee.  ACA 36 is the subject of a public
hearing January 20.  Also, the Utilities and Commerce Committee
will hold a hearing February 1st entitled, "Information Age for
Everyone?"  Such heavyweights as representatives of Trintex
Prodigy, U.S. Videotel, Pacific Bell, GTEL, and others are expected
to testify.  Contact Bob Jacobson for details:  916-445-4246.

MICROPRO, San Rafael, Ca., had a disturbing first fiscal 1988 quarter,
reporting a measly $9,000 earnings on revenue of $10.278 million.
MicroPro says the problem lies with its delay in getting WordStar 2000
Plus Release 3 out the door due to delays in documentation and
printed material.

MICROSOFT, Redmond, Wa., reports an impressive line-up for its Third
International Conference on CD-ROM, slated for March 1-3 in Seattle.
John Sculley of Apple, Jim Manzi of Lotus, and Joe Dionne of McGraw-
Hill are featured speakers.

PAPERBACK SOFTWARE, Berkeley, Ca., says it has signed a worldwide
site licensing agreement with Eastman Kodak for its VP-Expert software.
VP-Expert, introduced one year ago, is said by Paperback Software to
be the sales leader among expert system development tools.



[***][1/5/88][***]
AP TAKES STATE WIRES OFFLINE
ATLANTA (NB) -- The Associated Press, as of December 31, has taken
its state wires offline from CompuServe, which was the only online
source of the feature. The news came to us from another
local reporter, who's done quite well using state wire stories in
magazine queries. His job gets tougher now because newspapers use
the state wires selectively, all over their papers. The AP
decision means its state wires are no longer searchable by
computer.

This comes on the heels of Dun & Bradstreet's cutting access to
its files by organizations such as unions and the IRS (see Editorial)
while businesses which give D&B its numbers vow non-cooperation
in offering their figures online to anyone. It comes as we await
(probably in the spring) confirmation of a $4-5 per hour access
charge, payable to your local phone company, on all long distance
data calls (whether through your own packet switch or Telenet).

CONTACT: Larry McDermott, AP, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
THE CHEN-IBM CONNECTION
EAU CLAIRE, WI (NB) -- News that IBM has invested in Cray-
break-away Steve Chen's SuperComputer Systems has sent hopes and
storm flags up throughout computing. Cray and Chen broke up
when Chen's ideas on radical new architecture got too costly.
As a result Chen spent much of this year raising money instead of
expanding the design envelope. The IBM financial (under-$100
million) commitment at least gives Chen breathing space to try
increasing throughput 100 times or more through technology such as
optics and lasers to send signals within the machine. Any computer
using Chen's techniques is at least 4 years away -- he's promised
to use nothing developed at Cray. Chen, a 43-year old Taiwan
native, was chief designer for the Cray X-MP. NEWSBYTES called
Chen's company December 30. A security guard picked up the phone
and said everyone's off until January 3.

CONTACT: Supercomputer Systems [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
MORE FEARLESS FORECASTS FOR 1988
If you bed down tonight and wake up in 1989, you'll miss the
following:

*One of software's Big Three (maybe Ashton Tate) will
stumble a la Micropro, to be replaced at the top by Borland.

*A Presidential candidate (Robertson, probably) will use
computer networks to pull a big surprise in the primaries.

*Trintex' "Prodigy" system will come out and immediately
be labeled a failure. But many of its techniques, and some of its
Information Providers, will hang on and advance the online
industry.

*The Recession of 1988 will send many minnows, and at least one
big LAN Shark, into the clutches of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

*IBM will push OS/2 out the door, and Apple will sue for
copyright infringement. Then Compaq will push a PS/2 clone out
the door and IBM will sue for copyright infringement. (Lawyers
will be the only overworked Americans in 1988.)

*Someone from Someplace You Never Heard Of will come out
with Something we can't live without.

*Japan will discover its own Generation Gap, and 60s Retro will
get real big there. Dire warnings of lost competitiveness, less
speed-eating and more pot-smoking. Maybe some neat video game will
come out of it.

*Unisys will buy a real PC maker. (Commodore, I'll bet.)

*The Democrats will nominate Paul Simon and Bob Graham.
The Republicans will nominate George Bush and Libby Dole. And the
new President will be....

[***][1/5/88][***]
PECAN CHIPS

COMPAQ, Houston, is having some trouble meeting demand for
its Portable 386/based PC, with chip shortages getting some of
the blame. Compaq will double its Houston production capacity in
1988.

INFORUM, the Atlanta high-tech mart which won't be open until
late in 1989, claimed in a press release it will employ 750 and
pump $160 million into the Atlanta economy once it opens. This is
based on an economic model developed by Georgia Tech professor
William Schaffer.

MEAD IMAGING, Dayton, OH, said its Cycolor color printing
technology produces photographic quality at a cost competitive
with current color printers. The technology was developed with
Japanese printer makers and Grayhawek Systems Inc., Milpitas, CA,
who will use it in new products. Two additional co-developers
want to remain secret until they announce products.

MITEK, Carrollton, TX, said its SNA Network Server is now
available. It lets IBM System 36 computers access Ethernet hosts
and provides for two-way file transfers under TCP/IP.

RIGHTSOFT, Sarasota, FL, said its new Version 2.1A is now
shipping on both 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch disks. RightWriter is an
electronic proofreader that works with MultMate Advantage II,
Lotus Manuscript, and other word processors.

SHAMAN EXCHANGE, Lakewood, CO, an online communications service
for Macintosh users, is adding computer conferencing to a system
which costs $50 for a Mac-like terminal program, plus $12.50 per
month. The system already has an online shopping service for
videotapes and compact disks, mail, bulletin boards, file
transfers, and support for Dynamac users.

TANDY, Fort Worth, TX, said a 286 accelerator card is now
available for its 1000 SX and Tandy 1000 PCs. Suggested list from
the catalog is $400.

TARGET SOFTWARE, Miami, said it's testing its "Scoop" desktop
publisher with Compugraphcis CG 400-PS printer. The upgrade is
due in January. The CG 400's big advantage is speed -- 18-20
pages per minute. The 400 dpi resolution (most laser printers run
at 300 dpi) appears to be an interesting development, too.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, Dallas, said Uniplex II Plus, an office
automation package under Unix and Xenix, is now available on its
System 1000 systems.

[***][1/5/88][***]
PECAN GOLDEN CHIPS

CRAY RESEARCH, Minneapolis, MN, sold Michelin a Cray X-MP/14 se
supercomputer, to be installed in France. The Cray X-MP was
designed by a team led by Steve Chen. (See above.)

HARRIS CORP., Melbourne, said it has a $3.6 million contract to
control the subway system Los Angeles is building. The 21 mile
link between downtown LA and downtown Long Beach will open in
1990.

TANDY, Ft. Worth, increased its quarterly dividend 20%, to 15
cents per share. Those who own stock on January 1 get their
dividends January 22.

VODAVI TECHNOLOGY, Scottsdale, AZ, bought Contel's Executone unit
and merged it with system maker ISOETEC Communications of
Darien, CT. Vodavi's sells telecommunications equipment made in
South Korea.


[***][1/5/88][***]
BEDFORD UNVEILS SIMPLY ACCOUNTING FOR MACINTOSH
BURNABY, B.C. (NB) -- Bedford Software Ltd. has unveiled its
entry-level accounting software for the Apple Macintosh.  Simply
Accounting is now available from dealers across Canada for C$449.
Kristin Keyes, marketing coordinator, said Bedford will show a
U.S. version at MacWorld in San Francisco Jan. 14-17.

Simply Accounting includes general ledger, payables, receivables,
payroll, inventory and job costing modules on one disk.  It runs
on a one megabyte Mac, can work with a hard disk, and is not copy-
protected.

Keyes said the U.S. version shown at MacWorld will be a pre-
release version.  The finished software should be available in
February, she said.  Suggested retail price in the U.S. will be
$349.  The Canadian software, which handles Canadian payroll
deductions such as Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Pension Plan and
Unemployment Insurance, shipped to dealers Dec. 24.

Bedford Integrated Accounting for MS-DOS machines has been on the
market for three years.  PC Magazine named it an Editor's Choice
last fall, and InfoWorld gave it a favorable review earlier in
1987.  Sales of the DOS package are about evenly split between
Canada and the U.S., Keyes said.

CONTACT: BEDFORD SOFTWARE LTD., Suite 201, 4180 Lougheed Highway,
         Burnaby, B.C. V5C 6A7, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
BMB BUYS BACK SHARES, PRESIDENT ANTICIPATES FREER HAND
MILTON, Ont. (NB) -- Bill MacLean is looking forward to being "a
little less conservative" now that he has majority control of his
company, BMB Compuscience Inc.  BMB bought back and cancelled the
shares held by two major shareholders late last month,
effectively raising the stake held by MacLean and his wife
Barbara MacLean form about 26 per cent to just over 50 per cent.
MacLean, president of BMB, said his former partners, Frank
Baillie and Marcel Brunschwiler, sold because they wanted cash.
But the move means BMB will no longer be "run by a committee,"
MacLean said.

MacLean controlled BMB Compuscience until 1983, when it and four
other companies amalgamated under the BMB name and went public.
The company now sells a fourth-generation development language
and networking software for personal computers, with only about
10 per cent of its sales outside Canada.  MacLean noted that BMB
is an "R&D shop" plowing about 40 per cent of its revenues back
into research and development.  He's looking forward to good
times in the next couple of years.  "I've always believed," he
said, "that the real market growth would be in the very late
1980s and early 1990s."

CONTACT: BMB COMPUSCIENCE, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
NEW VERSIONS OF THREE VERTICAL PACKAGES FROM SOFTKEY
TORONTO (NB) -- SoftKey Software Products Inc. has souped up its
Key AutoService, KeyRetailer and KeyWholesaler packages in
response to user comments, releasing a higher-priced Version 3.0
of each package.

The retail and wholesale packages get the ability to handle
longer part numbers and descriptions, inventory and tracking
functions and other new features.  SoftKey has given Key
AutoService the ability to handle up to 12 cost/revenue centers,
and supplements to work orders.

SoftKey raised prices of single-user versions from $1,995 to
$2,295 on KeyRetailer and Key AutoService, and from $1,995 to
$2,695 on KeyWholesaler.  Multi-user versions are $2,995, $2,695
and $3,195 respectively.  All prices are in U.S. dollars.

All three packages require an 80286 or 80386 processor and a hard
disk.

CONTACT: SOFTKEY SOFTWARE PRODUCTS INC., 260 Richmond St. W.,
         Suite 300, Toronto, Ont. M5V 1W5, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
COGNOS REPORTS QUARTERLY LOSS
OTTAWA (NB) -- Software developer Cognos Inc. reported a loss of
C$1.8 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30.  Revenues were C$18
million.  Chairman Michael Potter blamed the loss on a slowdown
in the Hewlett-Packard market, one of three in which the company
is active.  He expects the next quarter to be better, partly due
to introduction of versions of Powerhouse, Cognos' fourth-
generation language, for the IBM PC AT and Hewlett-Packard's HP
900 computers.

Cognos also said it will buy back up to 400,000 of its own
shares. The company says its stock is underpriced.

The third-quarter loss contrasts with net income of C$1.2 million
on revenues of C$16.6 million in the same period in 1986.

CONTACT: COGNOS INC., P.O. Box 9707, 3755 Riverside Dr.,
         Ottawa, Ont. K1G 3Z4, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
KTS SYSTEMS GROUP WINS DEALER AWARD
TORONTO (NB) -- The KTS Systems Group has won the Applied Digital
Data Systems Inc. dealer of the year award for the Eastern North
America Region.  The region includes all of Canada and the
Eastern U.S., and KTS beat more than 30 U.S. dealers for the
honor.  ADDS, a division of NCR Corp., gives the award annually
based on dollar volume and total sales.  KTS won the award in
1985 and was a runner-up in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986.  KTS sells
a variety of computer systems and software.

CONTACT: KTS SYSTEMS GROUP, 124 Merton St., 3rd Floor,
         Toronto, Ont. M4S 2Z2, [phone]

[***][1/5/88][***]
BITS, EH?
-- DEVELCON ELECTRONICS LTD., of Saskatoon, lost C$7.78 million
on revenues of C$17.23 million in the year ended August 31, 1987.
That compares with a loss of C$7.32 million on C$16.89 million in
revenues in the previous fiscal year.  Develcon said significant
staff cuts announced in July began having an effect on its cost
of operations in the first quarter of fiscal 1988.  Develcon
makes communications hardware.

-- CANTEL INC., the national cellular telephone operator based in
Toronto, might be taken public in 1988, THE FINANCIAL POST
reports.  According to financial weekly, Cantel's parent company,
Rogers Communications Inc. of Toronto, is interested in selling
shares in the company.  Cantel filed a "shelf prospectus," giving
information about the company but no specific plans for a public
offering, with the Ontario Securities Commission in November.

-- NATIONAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS INC., a Mississauga, Ont., maker of
point-of-sale hardware, made C$13.7 million on revenues of
C$189.6 million in the year ended Sept. 30, up form C$6.5 million
on C$109.2 million in revenues the year before.

-- MUX LAB INC., a Montreal maker of communications hardware,
lost C$197,000 in the three months ended Oct. 31 on revenues of
C$2.2 million.  There are no year-earlier figures as the company
has been public for less than a year.

-- DATA GENERAL (CANADA) INC., Mississauga, Ont., has opened its
16th branch office, located in Victoria, B.C.

[***][1/5/88][***]
RUMOURS ABOUND ABOUT ATARI LAPTOP......
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- Have you heard about the Atari
laptop? Chances are (if you are in Europe) you have.
The system is said to be exactly like a standard ST, except that
it will have a flat screen with 640x200 resolution and run 6
hours on batteries. Offered with the same facilities as the
normal ST, it will also include a modem for communications
purposes.

Is it fact or fiction? Will it come out at Hanover Fair or
not? You just have to wait till March and then we
will find out.

[***][1/5/88][***]
 ....AND ABOUT PS/2-40, IBM'S LAPTOP
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (NB) -- You may have noticed that the
PS/2, model 40 does not exist, yet. However, there are rumours
in the market that the PS/2 model 40 is IBM's new laptop with
a 286 chip and a back-lit LCD screen. Rumour also has it that
IBM will introduce this model in the first six months of the
year and hopes to regain some of the customers it lost
previously due to poor sales of its portable and the
Convertible systems.

[***][1/5/88][***]
ATARI KEEPS MOMENTUM UP WITH NEW PRODUCTS
RAUNHEIM, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Atari is releasing products on
an almost daily basis. First, the firm won a contract to
supply computers to the University of Stuttgart.  Up to 500
computers are to be used for the study of computer science. Some
of the STs are also to be connected to the computer system
network linked to IBM mainframes and will be used as terminals.
This is the first time an Atari ST computer has been selected
for universities in Europe.

ATARI has also released COMPUTER COLLEGE, an interactive
learning package for the ST, which teaches about computer
hardware and software.

BECKERPAGE, a desktop publishing program created by Data
Becker, a Dusseldorf-based software company is set to hit the
German desktop publishing market. The package includes
an ST computer with 2 megabytes of RAM and a laser printer and
will cost only DM 6000 (about $3000), which certainly makes it
the most inexpensive DTP system on the market.

[***][1/5/88][***]
FIRST EUROPEAN 68030 BOARD ZOOMS AWAY!!
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Force Computers, one of the
leaders in the single card processor field, introduced a 68030
board that offers 30MHz operation with zero wait state
(it certainly makes your AT seem snail-like by comparison).

The board, called SYS68K/CPU-32, also includes 1 Mbyte of
static RAM, a 68882 floating point processor, and serial
channels. In addition, an EPROM area, VME bus support, and
real-time clock, are included in this dense board.

When asked about the system's capabilities, a company
spokesman told NEWSBYTES, "this board increases the performance of
single board computers by a factor of four. Now, that is if you
want, you can run a software emulator of MS-DOS and see it
fly!"

[***][1/5/88][***]
VIRUS IS NOT AMIGA BASED; NOW ON IBM PCs AS WELL
BRAUSCHWEIG, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- A virus has entered the IBM
world which says nothing more than "Merry Christmas." The
joke, or the amazing software program, has been able to
transfer itself across various IBM systems. The program, which
is only 100 lines long, has crossed frontiers and now can be
found in most university networks around the world that use
IBM PCs.

The program has entered many educational institutions
around the world and in doing so has shown the ease with which
all computer networks can be infiltrated.

[***][1/5/88][***]
COMPUTER BRIEFS...

France has signed NOKIA for its second radio-telephone
carrier. It is hoped that the new carrier will offer
radio-telephone services to about 39000 people....

 ....MATRA announced a parallel architecture based on VME-bus
computers. The system, which can connect up to 144 processors,
is expected to attain 500 MIPS!.....

 ....According to inside sources, some of the 1 million PS/2s IBM
is supposed to have shipped are still on  dealers' shelves.
IBM, however, has said that less that 25% are gathering dust.
Whatever the case, users are waiting to see what OS/2 will
bring them before buying PS/2s.

 ....HEWLETT PACKARD has launched  a modem developed
wholly in France. The modem offers V21, V22 and V23 modes
and is designed for IBM-bus PCs.....

 ....PARIBAS, a big French bank, has bought 10% of Softmart, a
software distribution center in France. This is the first time
Paribas has bought part of a company in the computer sector...

 ....and finally, 35 million French francs was the sum of the
total market for software and services for 1986 in France.


.                                         *
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E D I T O R I A L .... December 22, 1987 -January 2, 1988

COMPUTERS ON TV:  WHY IT DOESN'T WORK

  by Dana Blankenhorn

        Despite the fact TV screens are their most prominent
features, computers just don't work on TV. No knock on the
producers and writers and talent of TV computer shows. But face
it; they're not doing "Cheers." Or even "Everything's Relative."

        The trouble is, computing is a first-hand experience.
Computing must be done to be understood. TV is a vicarious, or
second-hand, experience. TV is not interactive. If it were it
would be computing.

        I realized this soon after talking to a TV producer,
who was pushing his new computer TV show called "The Computer
Magazine" on cable. I'm promised the show is fast-paced, without
techno-babble, and with sneak previews, reviews, interviews, and
news packed into a fast 30 minutes.

        Well, in keeping with the season, humbug. Random product
demos or reviews are meaningless unless and until you really want
to do what that product does. NEWSBYTES, if read as a TV script,
would take an entire show by itself, even if the quick-talker
from those old Federal Express ads were hired to read it.

        With NEWSBYTES, as with any print medium, you can jump
ahead, slow down, even clip out pieces to save (if you have a
printer). To that extent, it's interactive. A TV show moves at
its pace, showing just what it wants to show you and no more.

        Business in general has the same problem, which is why so
few business shows get a good rating. Who watches the business
cable network, the shut-in executive crowd? And Louis Rukeyser
of "Wall Street Week" isn't business, he's entertainment.
Business and computing need to be lived to be appreciated. Only
by collecting a number of stories, as print does, can we serve
each reader in the few minutes you have available thinking about
what you do. As opposed to, say, doing it.

        So put your feet up in front of the TV and relax. Enjoy
the parades, the football games, the Christmas specials and the
televised New Year's Eve parties. NEWSBYTES, and your computer,
will see you here next year.

             --Dana Blankenhorn

ED:  For those of you who agree with Dana, speak up!  For those of
you who think it's not the subject, but the presentation which makes
a topic interesting, you can side with me.  Your editor, Wendy Woods,
works in computer-oriented TV!  And as far as I'm concerned, a
program about any subject is as good and as interesting as its
producer.

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PRIME TAKES OUT AFTER COMPUTERVISION
NATICK, Mass. (NB) -- A bid to become Number 2 in Computer Aided
Design-Computer Aided Manufacturing, Prime Computer has made a
$390 million hostile takeover bid for Computervision Corp. of
Bedford, Mass. Computervision has been resisting merger talk from
Prime president Joe Henson since 1985 and countered Henson's
offer of $13.50 per share (the company has been trading in the
$9 per share range) for Computervision by filing a suit in
Delaware Chancery Court that attempts to block the takeover.

A combined Prime-Computervision would be second only to
International Business Machines in the hot CAD/CAM market and
would have annual sales of around $1.5 billion. Prime, a high
flyer in minicomputers in the 1970s with a solid technical
reputation, has been looking around for acquisitions for some
time. IBM veteran Henson has been looking for a way to increase
the company's "critical mass" so that it compete with big boys
such as Digital Equipment Corp. and Big Blue. Prime has sold well
to CAD/CAM markets, where Computervision was an early market
leader. Recently, Computervision has faltered and reported a loss
for 1986.

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NEC TO MAKE PRINTERS IN MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON (NB) -- NEC Corp. says the declining dollar will lead it
to start making printers at its peripheral factory in
Massachusetts, now used to make disk drives. Currently, NEC
exports about 300,000 printers a year to the U.S. A company
official said no decisions have been made about which printers
will be made in the U.S.A., but production is expected to begin
in the spring.

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SARNEY VETOES PARTS OF BRAZIL SOFTWARE BILL
WASHINGTON (NB) -- According to State Department officials,
Jose Sarney, president of Brazil, has vetoed parts of a new
software bill in a bid to reduce U.S. trade sanctions against his
country. Sarney killed the portion of the legislation that would
have levied tariffs of up to 200 percent on software imports.
U.S. officials said Sarney's action was unlikely to result in
reduction in punitive U.S. sanctions, brought after Brazil ruled
that Microsoft Corp. could not sell its MS-DOS operating system
in Brazil.

According to the U.S. officials, Sarney let stand portions of the
new software law that prohibit importing programs that are
"functionally equivalent" to domestic software. That's the
provision that trapped MS-DOS, because Brazil argued that a
locally-developed operating system performed the same tasks.
Microsoft and others have charged that large portions of the code
in the Brazilian operating system are direct lifts from MS-DOS.
U.S. officials indicated that the only way Brazil could head off
more than $100 million in punitive tariffs is to let MS-DOS in.

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AEA BACKS BRAZILIAN SANCTIONS
WASHINGTON (NB) -- President Reagan's decision to impose $105
million in punitive sanctions on Brazilian electronics products
has won the backing of the American Electronics Association. R.
Wayne Sayler of Wayne Sayler Associates, testifying for AEA, told
the U.S. Trade Representative that sanctions "should be designed
to fully offset damage caused to U.S. commercial interests by
current Brazilian policies. However, care must be taken that they
not injure U.S. companies that import parts and services from
their Brazilian subsidiaries."

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SHARP ROLLS OUT ELECTRONIC CASH REGISTER
MAHWAH, N.J. (NB) -- Sharp Electronics Corp. has unveiled a new
electronic cash register aimed at the small merchant. A key
feature is that the machine will remember up to a month's
receipts, in case the power fails. The XE-1054 has a pop-up,
nine-digit display that shows price, total, time, and change to
both the customer and the merchant. The $325 machine will
determine sales tax either automatically or manually. Other
features: four department keys, three void functions, automatic
time and date, and 3.5 lines-per-second printing.

CONTACT: Sharp Electronics, Sharp Plaza, Mahwah, N.J. 07430.

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MCI LANDS $300 MILLION CREDIT LINE FROM IBM
WASHINGTON (NB) -- MCI Communications Corp. has won a one-year
extension of a $300 million line of credit from International
Business Machines Corp. The extension relates to a standstill
agreement of 1985, when IBM picked up 16 percent of MCI in
exchange for IBM's Satellite Business Systems. MCI now has until
the end of 1988 to sell IBM as much as $300 million in debentures
or stock. MCI said it sought the extension because of
"significant improvement" in cash flow.

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AI NEWS: GOLD HILL IN AUTOCAD DEAL, PROGRAMS IN MOTION SALES UP
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Gold Hill Computers has worked out a
deal with Autodesk, Inc. of Sausalito, Calif., under which
authorized AutoCAD training centers will offer four day courses
in programming with AutoLISP, a high-level artificial intelligence
language designed to work with AutoCAD. "Using AutoLISP," says
Gold Hill instructor Roy Harkow, "you can write routines to
calculate the center of gravity and other mass properties. You
can create a drawing, save it as part of your library, and never
have to create or dimension it again." The courses will cost $995
for registration before July 1, and $1195 thereafter.

Also on the AI front, Programs In Motion of Wayland, Mass. says
sales of its PC-based products are soaring. The company says
dollar sales and unit volume both doubled during the year.
Programs In Motion and Gold Hill both sell PC-based AI software.

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COMPUTERS WILL BOOM IN '88 -- BUT REPORT WRITTEN BEFORE MARKET CRASH
WASHINGTON (NB) --  Computer manufacturing will see the strongest
growth of any U.S. industry in 1988, according to the Commerce
Department's annual industrial outlook. The department says
computer manufacturing will grow 10 percent during the year,
measured by growth in the value of shipments. The driving force
will be an increase of exports, spurred by the fall in the value
of the dollar, the agency said. "Bilateral trade balances with
most European countries and Japan could be expected to show some
improvement in the future," based on the slide of the dollar,
the report said. The 650-page forecast was written before the
October stock market crash. Deputy Commerce Secretary Clarence
"Bud" Brown said economists would have to make their own
judgments about the crash. "My personal assessment is that in
some industries the decline in the stock markets, and the decline
din the interest rates that followed that and the decline in the
dollar that followed it, will enhance the prospects of the
industry for growth," Brown said.

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CONGRESS CREATES SPECIAL PHONE SQUAD TO MONITOR FTS-2000
WASHINGTON (NB) -- Congress has ordered the General Services
Administration to form a special, interagency task force of
procurement gumshoes to watch out for irregularities in the award
of the multi-billion-dollar federal voice and data system known
as FTS-2000. The instruction comes in the voluminous federal
budget package that Congress passed just before escaping
Washington for the holidays. GSA, both Houses of Congress, and
the Justice Department are currently investigating possible
criminal violations involved in a $55 million contract GSA
awarded last October to upgrade the federal phones while waiting
for FTS-2000. Congressional pressure already persuaded GSA to
split the FTS-2000 award in two, rather than having a winner-
take-all procurement that was the agency's original idea.

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NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION

IMS AMERICA of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., says laser printers are
beginning to rival dot matrix printers in share of sales to
retail stores. Laser toner supplies are outselling all other
printer supplies.

WANG LABORATORIES of Lowell, Mass., has announced the VS 7320,
the most powerful model in the VS computer family. The VS 7320 is
a symmetrical multi-processor with two CPUs based on the Wang VS
7310. The base price is $350,000.

THE AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION is looking for candidates
for "science and tech" fellowships, one in the Commerce
Department's Office of Productivity, Technology and Innovation,
the other at the National Science Foundation's Engineering
Research Center Division. The companies pay salaries and
expenses. Contact Pat Hubbard [phone].

IBM is backing the effort by former Cray supercomputer designer
Steve Chen to develop the world's most powerful computer. The
unusual move by Big Blue positions the company to become a major
player in the supercomputer market, a field where IBM isn't much
of a force today.

SYMBOLICS INC. of Cambridge, Mass., makers of computers used in
artificial intelligence, has fired John Gridley as vice
president for finance, treasurer, and chief financial officer.
The company said the sacking was the result of "differences in
management style." Gridley had been with Symbolics less than a
year. One management problem: shortly after arriving at
Symbolics, Gridley moved the finance shop from Cambridge to
Chatsworth, Calif.

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MICROSOFT TRIAL WORD DEBUTS
Reading, Berkshire (NB) -- Taking a leaf out of Microrim's book,
Microsoft has jumped on the trial pack concept of marketing its
products.

Included with several of the latest monthly computer magazines is
a spoof printed 'Word Processor Evaluation' report by West
Engineering, an imaginary company which needs a word processor
for its PCs.  Hidden away at the back of the report is a tear-out
coupon for a #15-00 evaluation kit containing a fully-working copy
of Microsoft Word 4, a pocket guide, function key templates and other
documentation.  The evaluation copy is restricted only in the size
of files it can edit.  NEWSBYTES UK's sources suggest that the
file size limitation is unlikely to cause any problems for typical
home or small business user of the package.  #15-00 for a copy of
Word 4?  Sounds too good to be true...

CONTACT: MICROSOFT UK - 0734-500741

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APPLE UPGRADES LASERWRITER POSTSCRIPT CODE
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire (NB) -- Apple has incorporated a
major update (revision 47) to its version of Postscript used in
the Laserwriter and Laserwriter Plus series of printers.

The revised code enables speed advantages of 25 per cent on font
construction and 40 per cent on bit map processing.  The go-
faster chips will be included on all new shipments of Apple
Laserwriter series available from dealers.

How about an upgrade for existing Laserwriter owners?  The
Laserwriter Plus upgrade kit will set you back a cool #650,
although an option for the Roms on their own is available at
#250.  The pricing almost certainly reflects the licensing fee
that Apple must pay Adobe for the new Postscript.  Such pricing
will also, NEWSBYTES UK predicts, encourage pirated versions of
the chips to flood the market.

CONTACT: APPLE UK - 0442-60244.

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CT2 CORDLESS PHONE STANDARD UNVEILED
London, UK (NB) -- A new cordless phone standard - CT2 - has been
unveiled by a consortium of Ferranti, Libera Developments,
Telephone Rentals and PA Technology.  The new standard calls for
a more powerful signal (300 metres range from base station) and
handset roaming.

The handset roaming facility is perhaps the most exciting.  As
reported previously by NEWSBYTES UK, Libera Developments is to
cooperate with Ferranti in installing hundreds of Phonezone base
stations at key points in the UK (bus and rail stations, airports
etc), enabling users of the lightweight handsets to make outgoing
calls when in range of any public base station.

Whilst CT2 phones are unable to answer calls, the roaming
facility opens up the possibility of mobile communications for
computers.  Since the system uses conventional phone technology
(unlike cellular phones), ordinary modems may be used.  Coupled
with normal BT rates (compared with sky-high rates on the
existing cellular phone network), this could usher in era of
mobile modems.

Ferranti Creditphone, the company installing the Zonephone base
stations in the UK, say that base stations will be available for
use by the public in London this spring, followed by base
stations around the UK later on this year.  At #300 for a handset
plus home base station, NEWSBYTES UK predicts a lot of demand for
this new way of making phone (and modem) calls.

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AMIGA VIRUS SPREADS COMMERCIALLY
London, UK (NB) -- Following on from the spread of an Amiga virus
program which corrupts discs and survives even a warm reset on
the machine, the latest POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY magazine reports
that the program has found its way on to commercial software.

At least three of twenty copies of the Electronic Arts Test Drive
package were found to be infected with the program at GMB
Electronics in London.  A GMB spokesman is quoted as saying the
other 17 copies of the Electronic Arts package had already been
sold.  "People were desperate (for the package)," he said.  "We
told them that the games might have the virus, and we sold the
games only to people familiar to the Amiga who would know what to
do if the virus appeared."

Electronic Arts claims that the virus must have been added to the
Test Drive package at GMB Electronics.  GMB, meanwhile, says that
the software came direct via courier from Electronic Arts. "So
far as we are concerned, they are the genuine thing," a GMB
spokesman said.

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HARD DISC CRASHES & FREE SOFTWARE
Sheffield, UK (NB) -- Mindful of the Amiga virus program (see
above story), NEWSBYTES UK experienced a hard disc crash over the
Christmas period.  On Boxing Day we ran a shareware hard disc
optimizer called SST.  Unfortunately, two memory resident
programs - Borland's Sidekick and a public domain print spooler -
remained in memory whilst SST was running.

The end result was that the FAT (file allocation table) on the
hard disc became corrupted.  All data held on the hard disc was
recovered using a disc recovery program, but the FAT error
necessitated a hard disc reformat.

NEWSBYTES UK still hasn't discovered which package was at fault,
if any, but our experience does prove that, where the hard disc
is concerned, you can't be too careful.  All memory resident
programs can interact with other programs running on a PC, so it
pays to remove them from RAM when running disc utilities such as
a hard disc optimizer.

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+ BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

ACORN COMPUTERS of Cambridge has appointed Harvey Coleman as a
replacement for Brian Long, the company's MD who left suddenly
two months ago.  Coleman comes from parent company Olivetti,
where he was head of marketing strategy.

ATARI 520 ST machines continue to be in short supply, reports
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY.  The paper quotes Atari MD Bob Gleadow
as saying that a shortfall of 15 to 20,000 machines occurred in
the pre-Christmas run-up.  "We're having to fly in the product,
so we can distribute them every three days," said Gleadow.

BRITISH TELECOM is to spend #87 million over the next two years
to give itemized bills for calls costing over 50 pence on its
7,000-plus exchange network.  30,000 subscribers in the London
area will become the first recipients of the new style bills
later this month.

COMMODORE UK has sponsored Olympic Gold medalist TESSA SANDERSON
for #50,000.  In return for the sponsorship, Sanderson will wear
the Commodore logo on all her public appearances, as well as
attend several computer shows with Commodore.

NEXUS, one of ELECTRONIC ARTS' London-based affiliate labels, has
gone into liquidation.  The liquidation comes less than a year
after EA signed Nexus as an affiliate.  A creditors meeting is
scheduled for  January 7th to try to rescue the company.
Industry sources indicate that Nexus' losses may be as high as
#200,000.

The disc drive-equipped SPECTRUM PLUS 3, recently reduced in
price by #50 to #199-99, has been cut to #179-99 by several UK
high street multiples in their post-Christmas sales.  Sources
suggest that this price level will be maintained for some time to
come, despite a retail price of #199-99.

TANDATA has added NCR terminal emulation to its PA multipurpose
communications terminal.  The PA already offers VT100 terminal
emulation as standard, along with IBM, ICL and Uniscope
emulation available as an optional extra.