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/nb880614.260

Text File | 1991-08-18 | 73.4 KB | 1,537 lines

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PAPERBACK SOFTWARE OUSTS THREE TOP EXECS *EXCLUSIVE*
BERKELEY, Ca. (NB) -- Three top executives of Paperback Software have
been forced to resign from the company in the latest result of a massive
reorganization.  Effective immediately, Ronald Ogg, executive vice
president, Marilyn Johnson, vice president of finance, and Vice President
of Operations Jameson Green, are out the door.  New President and
Chief Operating Officer Steve Cook told NEWSBYTES the executive
bloodbath comes as Paperback attempts to "improve the company's
operating efficiency and provide flexibility for repositioning its
products to better address their markets."  Robert Neumann, a newcomer
to the software firm, has been named new vice president of finance.

As reported in last week's NEWSBYTES-WEST, Adam Osborne's Paperback
Software has instituted a reorganization which has left Steve Cook to
pursue his own master plan for revitalizing the company.  Attempts
to reach Adam Osborne, who is the firm's chief executive officer,
were unsuccessful at deadline.  Cook tells NEWSBYTES that all the
changes at Paperback Software have the founder's full endorsement.

Paperback Software, which is being sued by Lotus in a "look
and feel" dispute over the similarity between Lotus 1-2-3
and Paperback's competing VP-Planner, is not in a serious financial
crunch, according to Cook.  The lawsuit, which is estimated to
be costing tens of thousands of dollars a month, is being
financed by Paperback Software's two insurance companies,
not by Paperback itself.

Paperback has sold "well over 100,000 " copies of VP-Planner ($99)
and VP-Planner Plus ($180) since the product's introduction.  A new
version has just been released, VP Planner Plus version 2.
[***][6/14/88][***]
BROWN BAG LINE SUES SYMANTEC OVER GRANDVIEW *EXCLUSIVE*
CAMPBELL, Ca. (NB) -- Telemarketing Resources, dba Brown Bag Software,
has filed suit against Symantec for its Living Videotext division's
Grandview program, claiming it infringes on trademarks and copyrights
owned by Telemarketing Resources for the program PC Outline.
Also named as a defendent in the suit is John Friend, the programmer
who wrote PC Outline AND Grandview.

"We're concerned because we think there are substantial similarities
and more between the two programs, and we have substantial contract
claims," Telemarketing's Sandy Schupper told NEWSBYTES.  He adds,
"This is not simply a look and feel case."

Symantec released Grandview, a so-called "personal information manager"
for the IBM PC on April 22.  Schupper says  for 2 months he tried to
discuss his dispute with officers at Symantec, but his attempts to
reconcile the matter out of court were ignored.  All rights
to the program PC Outline and its future editions were purchased
by Telemarketing Resources when Friend sold it to the firm, he says.

Symantec's attorney Jackie Daunt told NEWSBYTES she has not received
notice of any legal action but was familiar with Schupper's claims
that Grandview is derivative.  She says, "Whatever he has filed, the
suit is without merit."

The lawsuit, filed in San Jose District Court, seeks to enjoin and
restrain shipments of the $295 Grandview program and also seeks
unspecified monetary damages.
[***][6/14/88][***]
APPLE RELEASES NEW MAC SYSTEM SOFTWARE
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Yet another update of the Macintosh operating
system has been released -- version 6.0.  The newest version,
available free with all new Macintosh computers, is priced at $49
when sold separately.  It has a bundle of new features which include
enhanced system and MultiFinder capabilities.  Among the most
remarkable addition is a MacroMaker program  which is used to
assign and reassign keyboard commands, automate opening and
closing of folders, launch applications, open files, or record
lengthy amounts of text.  It employs an interface resembling a
tape recorder with familiar commands such as record, play,
store, load and erase.  Once installed, the program appears on the
menu bar  of every application.

CloseView is a screen utility which allows the screen display to
be magnified from 2 to 16 times its normal size.
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BORLAND RELEASES SPRINT WORD PROCESSOR
SCOTTS VALLEY, Ca. (NB) -- Borland's Sprint:╩The Professional Word
Processor has finally hit the market.  The unique PC program, equipped
with a "soft" user interface that can be programmed to act like
several popular and competing word processing programs, has
successfully been test-marketed in France before its U.S.
introduction -- successful to the tune of commanding 30% of the
market after just eight months after its French release.

Priced at a reasonable $200, Sprint features customizable function
keys and menus, and comes with templates which give the
program the "feel" if not the look of WordPerfect, WordStar,
Microsoft Word, MultiMate, SideKick, FinalWord II or EMACS.
The product's two other claims to fame are its ability to work
with some 350 printers, and has an integrated spelling checker
and 220,000-word thesaurus.

Another unique feature of the program is its data protection
capability.  In the event of an accidental exit of files, an
unplanned exit of the program or a power failure, the AutoSave
function automatically saves the work as it is typed.  In a
graphic illustration of this function, Borland's CEO Philippe Kahn
said, "At one user's group demo I typed in 32,000 lines and
pulled the plug on the machine.  It rebuilds everything to the
last character you typed. They stood up and applauded."

Kahn says an OS/2 version of Sprint will be available later this
year.
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APPLE NETWORKS WITH NOVELL, BUYS ORION NETWORK SYSTEMS
BERKELEY, Ca. (NB) -- Apple Computer has purchased tiny
Orion Network Systems in an attempt to gain immediate access
to the technology that links software on IBM's Systems Network
Architecture.   Orion has been working since 1982 on connections
between disparate systems and IBM's SNA, and Apple's purchase
of the company is sure to result in a Macintosh to IBM
connection, as well.  No fee was disclosed for the purchase.

Meanwhile, Novell, the acknowledged leader in IBM PC networks,
has announced a Macintosh version of its NetWare software.
Version 2.15 of NetWare, which supports the Appletalk File
Protocol, will allow Macintoshes to communicate with
a network of MS-DOS and token-ring PCs.  It will be available this
fall for $200.

Taken together, the two announcements are yet another feather
in Apple's cap as it attempts to build bridges into big business
where networking is essential.
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SCULLEY TAKES A BREAK FROM RESPONSIBILITY
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Apple Computer has announced that its
hard-working chief executive officer will take nine weeks
off this summer, returning to his desk September 2.  John Sculley
is expected to hang his hat at his Woodside home and at a summer
home in Maine and will take time to "think and reflect" according
to his chief spokeswoman, Jane Anderson.

The only official business Sculley is expected to conduct during
the vacation will be in Boston where he is scheduled to deliver
the keynote address at the MacWorld Expo and address analysts.

The vacation, his longest to date, marks his fifth year of service
at Apple Computer.  During his absence, Del Yocam, Apple's chief
operating officer, will fill his shoes.
[***][6/14/88][***]
EGGHEAD GOES PUBLIC
BOTHELL, Washington (NB) -- The phenomenally successful retail chain
Egghead Software, has gone public, selling off 3.6 million shares, or
about 23% of the company, at $17 per share.  Underwritten by
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and the First Boston Corporation
in New York, the public offering was expected to generate $50
million, which Egghead plans to use for  working capital and
capital expenditures to support its planned expansion.

Egghead Software is the nation's largest retail software chain
with 115 stores, a doubling in size since 1987.  Its prospectus
lists sales for the current fiscal year, which started in April,
at $420 million.

Meanwhile, the company is no fool when it comes to seeking out
even more revenue.  The firm took its portable store, carrying
$1 million worth of products, to its first 1988 Eggzibition
at the Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital.
We're told there were 88 software manufacturers represented.
[***][6/14/88][***]
IBM TEAMS WITH MICROSOFT TO BUNDLE WORKS WITH MODEL 25s
REDMOND, Wa. (NB) -- In a move to make a purchase of an IBM PS/2
Model 25 a better deal, IBM is bundling a copy of Microsoft Works
free with every machine sold.  The lowest-priced PS/2 machine is being
showcased running Works at "IBM Mall Fairs" across the country
where hands-on demonstrations are available to mom, dad, and the kids,
and at IBM authorized dealer locations.  The mall fairs run through
the end of 1988.

Microsoft Works is an integrated package including spreadsheet,
word processor, communications, and database.
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AST RESEARCH LANDS COMPUTERLAND AS DISTRIBUTOR
SANTA CLARA, Ca. (NB) -- AST Research's complete line of computers
will now be sold in the 800 ComputerLand stores worldwide, a big
boost for the Irvine, Ca.-based firm.  ComputerLand already sells
AST's peripheral boards, but will now help AST's credibility in
the micro world.  AST is most famous for its Premium/286 AT-compatible.
The announcement, at a Santa Clara news conference, prompted
Safi Qureshey, cofounder and president of AST to say, "We aren't
just signing an agreement to sell products...we're forming a strategic
partnership."  In that partnership, AST has agreed to "actively
promote" its products in conjunction with the giant retail chain.
[***][6/14/88][***]
QUME BLOODBATH AS FOUNDER TAKES CHARGE
MILPITAS, Ca. (NB) -- Within a day of buying back his old company Qume
from the French Alcatel N.V., David Lee has given walking papers to
more than half of Qume's 200 workers and fired "a significant number" of
top managers at his current firm, Data Technology of Santa Clara.
The two firms will merge under Lee's master plan, probably assuming
the name Qume.  The combined workforce is expected to total
about 800 people.

Lee sold Qume, a respected printer maker, to ITT in 1978; it was sold
by ITT to Alcatel last year.  Alcatel reportedly sold it back to Lee
for a fraction of what was paid for it basically because Qume
was not a money maker and long-distance management became too much
of a chore.  Beams Lee to have  his baby back, "It feels great to get
a second chance at something."
[***][6/14/88][***]
US/JAPAN TELEVISION WARS: NO SHOTS FIRED YET
SANTA CLARA, Ca. (NB) -- Determined to take the technological lead back
from the Japanese, American electronics manufacturers have announced a
plan to play a major role in the emerging field of high definition
television.  The American Electronics Association sponsored a
recent pow-wow in which more than 50 computer, chip, and telecommunications
industry executives met with government leaders and academic
researchers to map out plans for the assault.

"Non-participation in this market by the U.S. electronics industry
will mean loss of our leading edge research and, in turn, our
ability to compete in the emerging global marketplace," proclaimed
Pat Hill Hubbard, AEA vice president.  So the AEA has created the
ATV Task Force (ATV stands for Advanced Television) made up of such
strange bedfellows as IBM, Apple, Intel, Hewlett Packard, and AT&T,
among others.  The task force will explore what's being called a
"last window of opportunity" to take the lead over Japan in the consumer
electronics market.

High definition television is not only a hardware problem.  The
technology will spawn new broadcast standards and advanced
semiconductors, among other products, and is expected to be available
in the 1990s.
[***][6/14/88][***]
IN BRIEF --

HEWLETT PACKARD, Palo Alto, is buying 35% of the Italian Network
Control Systems SpA, a subsidiary of STET.

HYPEREXPO AND STACKMART, held June 11-12 in San Francisco, drew
a small crowd and a small number of exhibitors with most HyperCard
developers preferring to take a "wait and see" attitude before
participating in this first year event.  The event was SO small that
it didn't even have a press room nor a speaker's lounge.

MAC TO THE FUTURE is the title of a show coming up at the Hyatt
Regency in San Francisco June 21st.

MICROSOFT, Redmond, Wa., will hold a programming contest to benefit
a local children's hospital at the upcoming PC Expo show in New
York.  Contestants will be given a Quick C program that doesn't
run and will be asked to debug it using Quick C's integral debugger.
The winner gets a large bug -- specifically a Volkswagen Beetle.

MIDI EXPO WEST is on the calendar for September 10-11 at the
Anaheim Marriott Convention Center in Anaheim, Ca.  The event drew
an audience of 3500 last year.  The details can be had by calling
Tony Scalisi at Expocon in Connecticut, 203/259-5734.

SUN MICROSYSTEMS, Mountain View, Ca., says the chip shortage will cost
the firm $100 million in sales for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Still, Sun expects to claim yearly revenues of more than $1 billion for
first time when quarterly figures are released shortly.

T/MAKER, Mountain View, Ca., promises to ship an upgrade to WriteNow
next month.  The new version will offer mail merge and a spelling
checker.



[***][6/14/88][***]
THE WORLD'S BEST INVESTMENT ADVISOR IS AVAILABLE ONLY ONLINE
FT. COLLINS, CO (NB) -- The "Hulbert Financial Digest" a
newsletter about investment newsletters, says Michael Gianturco
(pronounced john-turk-o) has the best 5-year record in the
industry with his Princeton Portfolios service. That means if you
followed Gianturco's investment advice, which covers small high-
tech issues exclusively, you'd have done better than if you'd
followed any of the hundreds of other newsletter publishers
Hulbert covers. Gianturco told NEWSBYTES he offers his advice
only online, through Investor Resources Inc. of Ft. Collins,
Colorado. And Gary Aili, a former stockbroker who runs IRI, told
NEWSBYTES his service is really just a Telemail box maintained by
GTE's Telenet service.

Gianturco uploads a text file to IRI's Telemail box each Saturday
at 12 Noon Eastern Time. The file contains his stock picks and
results of company visits. IRI's 1,000 subscribers can then call
Telenet and use a special Telemail ID which zips them right into
Gianturco's or 11 other newsletters -- there are no menus.

Aili says most investment advisors offer their services
through paper newsletters or phone recordings. Gianturco is the
first success not to use phones or paper. "We simply take the
place of the telephone company," Aili says of Investors
Resource. "Most advisors offer bulletins only over the phone,"
which can result in busy signals for subscribers.

Gianturco, author of "The Stock Market Investors' Computer
Guide," a book about computer choices for investors, says timing
is very important when recommending the purchase of small
companies' stock. As a print letter, he says, it would take a
week to get a recommendation to subscribers. In that week, prices
could change dramatically on high-tech stocks which don't have
hundreds of millions of shares outstanding. Online, he can make a
recommendation at 11 AM Saturday and subscribers can download it
by 1 PM Saturday, in plenty of time to act on it. "For what we
do, it's the only way to go," he said about online publication.

The Princeton Portolio service costs $225 per year, but through
IRI you can get one copy of any of 12 investment letters for $3.
Aili calls this his "news stand" service.

CONTACT: Michael Gianturco, PRINCETON PORTFOLIOS [phone];
         Gary Aili, INVESTORS RESOURCE [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
TANDY AGREES TO SELL COMPUTERS THROUGH WAL-MART
FORT WORTH, TX (NB) -- Tandy has agreed to sell a version of its
1000-SX computers, which are IBM PC compatible, through Wal-Mart
Stores, Bentonville, AR. The move holds out the promise of a
possible low-end computer price war, despite the continuing DRAM
memory chip shortage. Wal-Mart will decide on pricing, and could
put the machines on sale if it so chooses.

Tandy Chairman John Roach told "The Wall Street Journal" Tandy's
aim is to increase its market share, and added he will also sell
Tandy computers through Tandy's own McDuff and Video Concepts
chains. Mark Yamagata, Tandy Electronics marketing director,
added that the company decided Wal-Mart would not lower sales at
away Tandy's own Radio Shack Computer Centers, and the company
may add cellular phones and Desk-Mate software to its Wal-Mart
offerings.
[***][6/14/88][***]
CRAY WINS MOST PROFITABLE FROM MAGAZINE
MINNEAPOLIS (NB) -- "Electronic Business" magazine's annual list of the
most profitable high-tech companies shows this year only two of the
top ten are from Silicon Valley -- Seagate and Intel.  The
winner, with a profit margin of 21.4%, was for the second year in
a row Cray Research of Minneapolis. Microsoft (of Redmond,
WA) finished second, Lotus (of Cambridge, MA) third, and Ashton-
Tate (of Los Angeles) fourth. Others on the list were Cincinnati
Milicron of Cincinnati, DCA of Atlanta, Medtronic of Minneapolis
and Sensormatic of Deerfield Beach, FL.
[***][6/14/88][***]
SOFTWARE BUG GETS THE BLAME FOR LOST AIR CONTROL DATA
DALLAS (NB) -- "The Dallas Morning News" reports that critical
information on flights have been leaving radar screens for up to
20 seconds at a time at air traffic control screens in Dallas,
Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta, due to a software bug. FAA
officials said they know when it's about to go down, and sound an
alarm giving controllers 5 seconds to memorize it all before it
disappears. Each controller must handle up to 10 aircraft in the
air at once. The planes and their IDs remain on the screen, but
lost are variables like altitude, airspeed, aircraft type, call
sign and destination. Officials claim the bug is not yet a danger
to air safety.
[***][6/14/88][***]
ZENITH MAKING A MULTI-PROCESSOR COMPUTER FOR THE MILITARY?
GLENVIEW, Il (NB) -- Zenith is reportedly developing a multi-
processor computer for the Air Force, according to GOVERNMENT
COMPUTER NEWS. A spokesman reportedly admitted the
company is bidding on the Air Force Request for Proposals
concerning multiprocessing computers. The contract could be
worth $2-4 billion. The Air Force is requiring that the winning
bidder give it a computer running AT&T's Unix System V, with the
machine processing 3 million instructions per second at a price
lower than that for a RISC-based system. (Note -- the contract
already has a history, long before it's bid. Some computer
companies were upset over the AT&T Unix requirement.)
[***][6/14/88][***]
PECAN CHIPS --

AMERITECH, Chicago, won the Illinois state telephone contract
with its partner, US Sprint of Kansas City, MO. The $108 million
win over AT&T, plus MCI's winning of a Merrill Lynch phone
contract, put more pressure on regulators to let AT&T offer big
customers special breaks on rates without going through
regulatory red tape.

GEOVISION, Norcross, released a Georgia CD-ROM for IBM machines
running Microsoft Windows with all the data needed to create
realistic maps. A U.S. disk was issued previously in its "Windows
on the World" series.

GEORGIA POWER, Atlanta, is seeking to make those who sell to it
send the bills electronically. If successful, it would become the
first major company to convert all billing to Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI) methods under a standard called X.12, according
to "Network World" magazine.

INTELOGIC TRACE, San Antonio, TX, bought SOUTHWEST COMPUTER
SALES, an IBM mini-computer lessor, which will be run out of
Intelogic's TexCom subsidiary.

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS INC., Jacksonville, FL, an industrial
computing consultant to NASA, Exxon, and other outfits, was
bought by BECHTEL, San Francisco.

UNISYS, Detroit, agreed to re-sell SQL databases under Unix from
INFORMIX SOFTWARE, Lenaxa, KS, on its U 5000 and U 7000 machines
under the Unisys name.

WESTERN UNION charged in a lawsuit that one of its former
executives, John Lanzelloti, used the company's Latin American
operations as a front for an outfit called Intelco International,
which has operations in Panama and Venezuela. (Possible bribery
attempts and Israeli connections are also cited in the legal
papers.) Western Union narrowly averted a bankruptcy filing last
year.


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SHL SYSTEMHOUSE LAUNCHES BID FOR COMPUTER INNOVATIONS
OTTAWA (NB) -- The continuing story of Computer Innovations
Distribution Inc., BCE Inc. and Rod Bryden has taken another
twist.  Bryden's personal holding company, Kinburn Corp. of
Ottawa, has waived its option to buy the 47 per cent of Computer
Innovations now held by BCE Inc. of Montreal.  Instead, BCE will
sell its shares to another of Bryden's companies, SHL Systemhouse
Inc., also of Ottawa.  And Systemhouse is launching an offer for
the rest of the shares in Computer Innovations, a Mississauga,
Ont., computer retailer and systems integrator that uses the
ComputerLand name in Canada.

SHL Systemhouse is offering C$3.25 a share for Computer
Innovations on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges.  The
offer is to close in early July, according to Kinburn spokesman
John Owens.

Systemhouse is a systems integration company.  Owens said there
is a good fit between Systemhouse and Computer Innovations, one
which might not be obvious to American readers who think of
ComputerLand as a storefront operation.  Computer Innovations
focuses much more on systems integration and large corporate
customers, Owens said, and in recent months Systemhouse and CI
have frequently been going after the same business.

The acquisition bid has been launched with the full support of
BCE, which recently named Bryden chairman of Computer Innovations
and itself holds an option to buy 49 per cent of Kinburn.
[***][6/14/88][***]
BCE NUMBER ONE IN REPORT ON BUSINESS REVENUE RANKING
TORONTO (NB) -- THE GLOBE AND MAIL REPORT ON BUSINESS has ranked
BCE Inc. of Montreal number one by revenues in its REPORT ON
BUSINESS 1000.  BCE, the parent of Northern Telecom Ltd., Bell
Canada and assorted other companies, has been number one in the
profit ranking before, as it is this year, but now has edged out
Ford Canada to take top spot in revenues as well, with just over
C$15 billion.

In the CANADIAN BUSINESS 500, published less than a month ago,
BCE was number two.  The difference is that while CANADIAN
BUSINESS magazine considers any company based in Canada for its
top 500 listing, REPORT ON BUSINESS only lists companies traded
on a Canadian stock exchange -- which General Motors of Canada,
number one in CB's listing, isn't.

REPORT ON BUSINESS also ranked the high-technology industry over-
all as the worst-performing Canadian business sector of 1987,
with average return on capital plunging to minus 4.8 per cent
from a positive 8.6 per cent in 1986.  "Watch for takeovers as
the shake-up continues," REPORT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE commented.
[***][6/14/88][***]
UNIVERSITY NAMES SUN AS PREFERRED WORKSTATION VENDOR
KINGSTON, Ont. (NB) -- Queen's University here has named Sun
Microsystems of Canada Inc. its workstation vendor of choice.  As
part of the deal, Queen's will install Sun workstations in its
demonstration facility.  Sun expects the deal to be worth
millions of dollars over the long term, and the company says it
and Queen's University are jointly pursuing a technology
development relationship, the terms of which will be announced
later.

CONTACT: SUN MICROSYSTEMS OF CANADA INC., 200 Cochrane Dr.,
         Markham, Ont. L3R 8E7, [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
GANDALF GETS LONDON LISTING, MARKET BEEFS UP CASE OFFER
NEPEAN, Ont. (NB) -- Gandalf Technologies Inc. will be listed on
the London stock exchange effective June 13, according to company
spokeswoman Janet Drummond.  Meanwhile, the communications
equipment maker has formally posted its bid to take over Case
Group PLC of the United Kingdom.  Drummond said the value of the
offer has increased from 84 pence per share when it was first
made to 91 pence a share on June 8, thanks to a rise in the price
of Gandalf's own stock.  Gandalf is offering #3.20 and one
Gandalf share for every eight shares in Case.

Case, meanwhile, is still resisting the offer, claiming it
undervalues Case and urging shareholders not to sell to Gandalf.
The offer closes June 28.

CONTACT: GANDALF TECHNOLOGIES INC., 1100 Collonnade Rd. N.,.
         Nepean, Ont. K2E 7M4, [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES, IBM CANADA RELEASE SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING
VANCOUVER (NB) -- Computer Associates Canada Ltd., based here,
and IBM Canada Ltd. of Markham, Ont., have announced IBM Small
Business Pac Accounting, a hardware and software bundle of
Computer Associates' Accpac Easy accounting software on IBM PS/2
personal computers.  The package will be sold exclusively through
IBM authorized dealers across Canada, and includes a PS/2 Model
25 with 640K of RAM, a 20-megabyte hard disk, a monochrome
monitor and DOS 3.3, an IBM Proprinter XL, and Accpac Easy
installed on the hard disk.

CONTACT: COMPUTER ASSOCIATES CANADA LTD., 1770 Burrard St.,
         3rd Floor, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 3G7, [phone],
         Fax: [phone]

         IBM CANADA LTD., 3500 Steeles Ave. E., Markham, Ont.
         L3R 2Z1, [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
MONTREAL VIDEOTEX LAUNCH SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER
MONTREAL (NB) -- Bell Canada will launch its videotex service,
Alex, here in December.  Named for Alexander Graham Bell, the
service will provide access to services such as home banking,
home shopping, messaging, restaurant and entertainment listings,
news and financial information, through personal computers and
dedicated videotex terminals.

About 20,000 households will have access to Alex in its initial
phase, according to Bell.  The service is to expand to Toronto in
1990.

Most services on Alex will be provided by independent service
providers.  Bell will operate the service, rent terminals, sell
software to let personal computers connect to it, provide an
index of services and handle billing for information providers if
they wish.  The service will also include an electronic telephone
directory and yellow pages for the Montreal area. The terminals
will rent for C$7.95 a month, said company spokeswoman Marianne
Van Oosten, with the first three months free.  The cost of
connecting to Alex will vary depending on the service being used,
with some services free and the rest costing from 12 to 45 cents
per minute.

Personal computer users will be able to get emulation software
from Bell for a nominal charge or possibly even free so that they
can connect to Alex using their PCs.

CONTACT: BELL CANADA, 1050 Beaver Hall Hill, Montreal, Que.
         H2Z 1S4, [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
DEVELCON ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS, RESTRUCTURING
SASKATOON (NB) -- Develcon Electronics Ltd. is laying off 32
permanent staff in Canada and the U.S., as well as reducing
expenditures.  In a prepared statement, Develcon chief executive
Richard G. MacPherson said the moves were necessary to bring the
communications equipment manufacturer's cost structure in line.
Responsibility for Canadian and U.S. sales will be consolidated,
and cuts made in manufacturing, marketing, corporate
communications and research and development.

CONTACT: DEVELCON ELECTRONICS LTD., 856 51st St. E.,
         Saskatoon, Sask. S7K 5C7, [phone]
[***][6/14/88][***]
FINANCIAL BITS
-- BCE INC., Montreal, has acquired another 951,300 shares of
Memotec Data Inc. since early February.  BCE currently owns 31.3
per cent of Memotec.

-- COMTERM INC., Montreal-based computer terminal and office
automation vendor, made a C$332,000 profit in the three months
ended April 30, an improvement over its C$1.047-million loss in
the same period last year.  Revenues were C$11.2 million, up from
C$10 million.

-- LANPAR TECHNOLOGIES INC., Markham, Ont., lost C$797,000 in the
three months ended April 29, worse than a C$600,000 loss in the
same period last year.  Revenues were C$10.6 million, down from
C$10.7 million.  Lanpar makes PCs, computer terminals and
components.
[***][6/14/88][***]
BITS, EH?
-- MACINTOSH COMPUTERS LTD., Montreal, has been granted leave to
appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada an earlier Federal Court of
Appeal ruling that it had violated Apple Computer Inc. copyrights
on software in read-only memory.  Apple had sought injunctions
forbidding MacIntosh from reproducing and selling chips that
copied the Apple II Autostart ROM and Applesoft programs.

-- SIR-TECH SOFTWARE, INC., Ottawa, has announced the fourth
scenario in its Wizardry series, The Return of Werdna, for IBM
and Tandy computers.

-- AICORP of Waltham, Mass., has opened its first Canadian
office, located in Toronto.  AICorp sells KBMS, an expert system
tool for IBM mainframes.



[***][6/14/88][***]
PERSONAL NEUROCOMPUTER DUE FROM NEC IN DECEMBER
TOKYO (NB) -- NEC claims to have developed a "personal neurocomputer" with
a neural network for practical use and will release it this
December.  NEC claims this new computer will help in the development
of character recognition systems, learning-oriented expert systems,
sound recognition systems, and robot control systems, and can
develop these projects in one tenth of the time it takes on
other personal computers.  The machine is said to be able to contain
up to 82,000 "neurons," and is capable of parallel processing as
many as 216,000 links per every second.

NEC says the personal neurocomputer has roughly the same processing
ability as a superminicomputer, with its neuroboard and package
software attached to an NEC PC9800.  The neural network software,
which controls all the processing, can be programmed to meet the
needs of various projects.  For instance, NEC is currently developing
an alphabet and numeral typed characters recognition system, which
can recognize about 60 typed characters per second at the accurate
recognition rate of 99.95 percent.   NEC says this system will be
released next April.  The price has not been announced.

The basic price for the personal neurocomputer, including the
board and software, is 680,000 yen or $5,500.

CONTACT: NEC, 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
[***][6/14/88][***]
FUZZY COMPUTER TO BE DEVELOPED
TOKYO (NB) -- Research on and development of a so-called "fuzzy"
computer is underway.  The fuzzy computer theoretically will
understand ambiguous data, such as human experiences, which other
kinds of machines cannot process. To start, the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry (MITI) will establish an International Fuzzy
Engineering Laboratory next March, with joint investment by roughly
30 companies in several fields, including Hitachi, Toyota, Yamaichi,
and Tokyo Denryoku.

The laboratory will do basic and applied research on the fuzzy
theory, and will design and develop control technology.  The goal
is to create a fuzzy machine within six or eight years.
U.S. Space Shuttle maker Rockwell International and West Germany's
Siemens are also expressing interest in the fuzzy computer
and they are likely to join the project.  MITI is planning
to lure U.S. and Chinese companies into the research as well.

CONTACT: Ministry of International Trade and Industry,
         1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
[***][6/14/88][***]
NEW IBM PS/2s FINALLY HIT JAPAN
TOKYO (NB) -- A week after a US debut of the same machines,
IBM Japan has announced five new desktop models of its
Personal System/2. They include three versions of Model 70,
and two upgraded versions of Model 50.  IBM has also announced its
IBM Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) PS/2 Operating System
(OS) with related software.

The three Model 70-386s have a 32-bit 80386 microprocessing unit
(MPU). Model 70-386-A21 is especially attractive with a fast
25 megahertz MPU and 64-kilobyte cash memory.

AIX PS/2 OS is an extended version of UNIX, and it runs on PS/2
Model 70 and 80.  AIX has a multitasking and multiuser feature;
16 users can access a machine at the same time.

The basic price of Model 50-Z will be 686,400 yen or $5,491 and for
Model 70-386, 1,006,400 yen or $8,051.

CONTACT: IBM Japan, 3-2-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, 106
[***][6/14/88][***]
NEC TO MAKE PUBLIC ITS TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATIONAL PCs
TOKYO (NB) -- NEC has announced that it will make public its
Multi Operating System (OS) to other companies.   Multi OS
is an operating system which NEC has developed for education-
oriented personal computers.  The new OS includes 2 kinds of
operating systems.

The Ministry of Education (ME) and Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI) are planning to introduce personal computers in
junior high schools starting 1993.  Eleven computer makers,
including Matsushita, Hitachi, and Fujitsu, have been developing a
new operating system for education-oriented personal computers.
The companies are planning to adopt the TRON architecture, which Ken
Sakamura, professor of Tokyo University, has been advocating.  On
the other hand, NEC has been developing a personal computer which
runs both MS-DOS and TRON.   The opening of NEC's Multi-OS
might trigger the other 11 companies to change their exclusively
TRON architecture to Multi-OS.

The Computer Education Development Center, the extra-departmental
organization of ME and MITI, is struggling to decide on a standard operating
system for personal computers in education.

CONTACT: NEC, 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
[***][6/14/88][***]
JAPANESE VERSION OF UNIX-DOS BRIDGE
TOKYO (NB) -- Softbank Research Institute, the Tokyo-based sales agent
of Interactive Systems of U.S., has developed a Japanese version of
the VP/ix Environment program.  VP/ix enables MS-DOS programs to run
with UNIX commands, and vice versa.  For example, the Japanese word
processing software Ichitaro can be run on UNIX.  The multitasking
feature of UNIX can be used with MS-DOS commands.  VP/ix can be
used on workstations and personal computers equipped with an Intel 80386.
To start, Softbank is aiming to make VP/ix run on the IBM PC/AT-
compatible machines, AX personal computers, and the Toshiba J3100.
Softbank will release VP/ix on an OEM basis for personal computer
makers this July.

The original VP/ix was jointly developed by Interactive Systems
and Phoenix Technologies and it was released in January.  This
English version VP/ix is available from AT&T of U.S.

CONTACT: Softbank Research Institute, Wako-Bldg. 6F,
         2-31-25 yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113
[***][6/14/88][***]
AI LANGUAGE FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS
TOKYO (NB) -- CSK Research Institute, Tokyo, has released
artificial intelligence (AI) language software for personal
computers.  The release of this software comes as there is increasing
demand for AI software that runs on increasingly powerful personal
computers.

To start, CSK will release MS-DOS 3.1 version of CRI-PROLOG.  It
can possess 240 kilobyte programming space without Chinese kanji
characters when the software is used in a machine with at least 640
kilobyte main memory.  The program can be used on an IBM PC, PS/2,
PS/55, Fujitsu FMR series, and NEC PC9800.  CRI-PROLOG is priced
at 68,000 yen or $550.

Also, CSK will release more AI programs, such as Tiny PROLOG for
education, and high-speed Amorphous PROLOG for 80386.  Moreover,
CSK will supply AI programming language LISP, which is equal to
PROLOG.

CONTACT: CSK Research Institute, CSK Computer Bldg. 4F, 3-22-17
         Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170
[***][6/14/88][***]
MITSUBISHI TO RELEASE LOW-PRICE WORKSTATION
TOKYO (NB) -- In order to challenge Sony's popular workstation, the
NEWS, Mitsubishi will release a low-priced, general-purpose
workstation for a wide range of users within this year.  Mitsubishi
has been receiving an OEM supply of UNIX workstations from Apollo
Computer of the U.S., but Mitsubishi claims to have developed its
newest machine without Apollo's help, and in fact, with the cooperation
of Japanese telecommunications giant NTT.

Mitsubishi says the price will be low because features such as
a modem, fax, and image processor, will be optional.  This will
not be a RISC-based workstation.

The operating system of the workstation is OS/60 UMX, which is
integrated with UNIX System V and OS/60, capable of high-speed
processing.  And its central processing unit (CPU) is a 32-bit
68020 from Motorola, U.S.  Furthermore, Mitsubishi says it is planning to
develop a workstation with 32-bit 68030 microprocessing unit (MPU).

CONTACT: Mitsubishi, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100
[***][6/14/88][***]
JAPAN DATA GENERAL SENDS ITS ENGINEERS TO U.S.
TOKYO (NB) --Japan Data General, Tokyo, has despatched several of its
top engineers to the U.S. in order to participate in the development
of a new RISC-based 32-bit microprocessing unit.

The development team will specifically develop what's called an emitter
connection logic (ECL) version of an MPU, which is capable of high-
speed processing.  The team is aiming to develop a MPU which can
process 100 M.I.P.S. and hopes to complete it in 1991.

CONTACT: Japan Data General, 4-3-13 Torano-mon, Minato-ku, Tokyo
         105
[***][6/14/88][***]
<< SUSHI BYTES >>

CANON TO RELEASE D.T.P. SYSTEM IN CHINA -- Canon plans to
release desktop publishing systems in China.  The company
has established Pecan Information Technology in Peking, in connection
with Tokyo-based software venture Rozel and Peking University's
Like New Technology. This is the first joint venture in desktop
publishing by a Japanese company.  To start, the company will have
25 employees, and also will develop and sell software to Japan.

APOLLO'S AX PERSONAL COMPUTER FEATURE ON WORKSTATIONS -- Apollo
Computer Japan has announced it will add an AX personal computer
feature on its workstations, systems 4000 and 3000.  The AX
personal computer is IBM PC/AT compatible machine with Japanese
language features.  To start, the company will ship a function
board to operate software for AX machines within this year.
The price has not been announced yet.

CONVERTING FORTRAN INTO C -- Tokyo based software venture Lifeboat
has begun marketing the MS-DOS version of software C-77, which
automatically rewrites a program written in FORTRAN to C language.
The software C-77 will operate on an NEC PC-9800, Fujitsu FMR, IBM
PS/55 and Toshiba J3000. The price of the software is 300,000 yen
or $2,400.

[***][6/14/88][***]
You Read It Here First

by W. A. Yacco, IP2005, Special to NEWSBYTES (Tm)
Copyright 1988

In this week's issue:
 ......BORLAND PROJECT HINTED AT CAL TECH TALK

   ...SECRET SETTLEMENT FIXES BUGGY SUIT? ...Ashton-Tate vs. Emerald Bay

    ....IBM PLANS TO SCORE BIG AT PC EXPO...new PS/2 software

 .....NOLO BREAKS FROM MOLD...first non-legal software offering coming

------------------------------------

BORLAND PROJECT HINTED AT CAL TECH TALK
Pasadena, CA (NB) --Philippe Kahn faced a large group at Cal
Tech's Beckman Auditorium as he paced off toward "Future Trends in
Micro-Computing."  Based upon many Kahn references to database
software and some obscure references to research software for work
groups, I suspect that Borland is clandestinely working on a
program-development database.  The application would incorporate one
or more of the following features:

     . coordination of large design and/or programming efforts
       among several programmers,

     . maintenance of current copies of each module with an audit
       trail for all changes and,

     . automatic provision of control parameters which
       incorporate the latest modules into compilations.

When asked about the possibility that this is a current project, the
crafty Kahn responded, "It's not unreasonable . . ."  I would expect
the forgoing to be a likely scenario as it follows naturally from
the development environment which is already part of current Borland
language products.


SECRET SETTLEMENT FIXES BUGGY SUIT?
La Crescenta, CA--Does anyone remember Ashton-Tate's suit against
dBASE founder Wayne Ratliff?  The A-T originally accused Ratliff of
using some knowledge acquired from his former employer to develop
his new database engine, Emerald Bay.  It's been settled by secret
agreement.  What I love about secrets is that they leave us free to
speculate, however we will, about reality.  My guess is that the
secret is that the suit turned into a little embarrassment for A-T.

Microwags have suggested that A-T was just bullying Ratliff to keep
the Bay from flooding Torrance.  But, the abundance of healthy dBASE
competitors, including direct imiTaters, leads me to suspect a
simpler solution to the mystery.  Maybe Esber, et. al., jumped to a
hasty conclusion based on the apparently unreasonable alacrity with
which Ratliff harvested his Emeralds from the Bay.  The real story
behind Emerald Bay's rapid development is a near year's jump start
gained from a clever C database library called C-Index.  Whoops.


IBM PLANS TO SCORE BIG AT PC EXPO
New York--PC Expo will surprise many this month (21 - 23) as IBM
starts to bowl over some of its OS/2 critics.  Big Blue is expected
to roll out around 50 vendors that have real OS/2 applications
running in the protected mode.  Some of the industry's most
prominent vendors are expected at the special OS/2 booth at Javits.
Wizards of OS include Aldus, Ashton-Tate, Borland, Computer
Associates, Informix, MDBS, Micrografx, MicroPro, Microrim,
Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Software Publishing, Symantec Living
Videotext, 3Com, and ZSoft.

IBM's gotten some bad flack at shows like the recent Spring COMDEX
for fielding a booth running largely in the compatibility box.  PC
Expo will present the purely protected: multitasking, multithreads
and semaphores will be served.  At least two applications solve the
system's tricky telecommunications requirements for multitasking
with background data transfers.  If the booth does nothing else, I
hope that it at least stifles all of the pundits who don't know the
first thing about OS/2 from uttering their universal catch phrase
about the lack of applications making OS/2 a pointless upgrade for
users.  Real answers just aren't that simple.

Starved for name drops?  Other scheduled vendors include Advanced
Business Microsystems, Advanced Graphics Applications, Inc.,
Cawthorn Scientific, Digital Communications, Enyart Development
Corporation, Gupta Tech, Inset Systems, Open Systems, PC Systems, PC
Quote, Programmed Intelligence Corp., Scott Computing, SPSS, Tasco,
The Software Group, TPS Systems, Timberline and Waterworks Software.


NOLO BREAKS FROM MOLD
Berkeley, CA--Nolo Press will soon contendere the competition with
its first non-law product.  Hot on the vapor trail of their latest
release, the California Incorporator, Nolo is coming out with
Personal Record Keeper.  This product is a specialized database for
keeping inventory and location information of personal property.

Of course, there is a tie-in.  This is a great complement to law
products, many of which are concerned with personal property.  A
peek at a prepress version of PRK's documentation discloses
predefined categories for Emergency Information, Available Money (as
opposed to unavailable money, one would suppose), Sources of Income,
Retirement & Death Benefits, Securities, Real Estate, Business
Interest, Intellectual Property,Vehicles, Boats, Planes, and, just
in case they missed something, or maybe to give you a place for that
unavailable money, Objects of Value.  In addition, there are
seventeen other classes and each has a long list of items which
falls into it.  The idea is to avoid omission of the family jewels--
make that heirlooms.

CHIP MAKES MOST WANTED LIST
The Source--Speaking of clones, is it just a rumor or is there any
truth to the story that a very well-known three-letter name in
motherboards is facing severe financial pressures?  It shouldn't
surprise anyone if our Uncle Sam's foreign chip policies are
beginning to have some effect further down the supply pipe.  If
you've picked up some of the relevant bits, drop us a line via the
source: CPA229 or IP2005.  +++

--------------------------------------------------------------

Wayne Yacco is an editor, columnist and writer specializing in business
applications and microcomputers.  He was the founding editor of The Inputer and currently publishes the Computer PR Advisor, an advisory on
communications with the computer press.




[***][6/14/88][***]
NEW INTEL 80386SX CHIP EXPECTED TO KILL THE 286 ** EXCLUSIVE **
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (NB) -- Intel is set to announce the 80386SX
chip, the reduced instruction 386 chip expected to be used in the upcoming
Compaq micro to be released Thursday, June 16th 1988. The
80386SX (previously called the P9) has a 24 bit address bus
which supports up to 16MB of RAM and all the software features of
the 386 chip. In addition, the 386SX has a completely different
pin-out to that of the 286 chip which means that it is not just
"plug and play."

According to an Intel spokesman, "It is very difficult to use the
386SX in today's AT designs" meaning that new systems will have to
be designed to use this chip.

The 80386SX, which will be accompanied by the 80387SX numeric
processor, points to a new direction  by Intel. Since the 386 and
the 386SX use 32 bit buses, segments are a thing of the past. This
clears the way for critics of the Intel line who have always
favored straight address space architecture.

The 386SX is set to cost a third of the price of the 386 thereby
putting it within the price range of the 286. Speculation has it
this could lead to the demise of the 286 chip, despite its
prevalence in such systems as the AT, PS-2/50 and 60, and
numerous clones worldwide.  However, the war is not over
yet. Dell has released the model 220 which sports a Harris 20MHz
286 chip, and AMD is set to release a 24MHz version. Since most
people do not care whether a chip has segments or not and most
software is written to be compatible with the 8086/88 processor,
there may still be plenty of life in the 286!

The 386SX is expected to be available from Intel at 16MHz, although faster
versions will become available in the future. The 386SX will be
made by four Intel plants, thereby ensuring that customers will
always get the parts, even if a factiry burns out. Currently,
there are no second sourcing (a second source produces the same
part under a license in order to have plentyful supply)
agreements.
[***][6/14/88][***]
INTEL PORTS 386 ARCHITECTURE TO CONTROL SYSTEMS
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (NB) -- Intel has announced that its 80960KA and
80960KB chips, containing most of the important 386 features, are
available for manufacturers wishing to incorporate them into new embedded
applications. The 960 offers register caching and its performance
approaches 7 to 10MIPS. In addition, the chip incorporates
Boolean instructions, and self-test and debug capabilities. The 960KB
includes a complete floating point processor which is not found
in the 960KA.

In addition, Intel also announced a 376 microprocessor
designed to be used in embedded applications. Fully 32-
bit path and 24-bit addressing, this chip is similar to the new
386SX CPU. Together with the 370 high integration chip, which
has 22 chips including DMA and interrupt controllers, they
form the basis of a powerful control system. The 376 runs most 386
instructions but does not support virtual 8086 mode and some
other DOS-related features.

The company also introduced a series of Flash memory
ROMS which have the advantage of quick programmability and high
capacity. They are offered in a 256K and 64K factor.
[***][6/14/88][***]
FORGET SILVERLAKE - HERE COMES OLYMPIC  ** EXCLUSIVE **
PARIS, FRANCE (NB) -- NEWSBYTES has learned that IBM has replaced
the code name "Silverlake" for its new mid-range series of
computers with the name "Olympic."  The computers are designed to
replace the 43XX series of IBM mid-range computers. Although
initial reports mention that the bottom model will be equal in
performance to the 9370 top model, other models of the range will
attack the top of the market, approaching the large 3090 series.
The series is set to be released within the next few months.
[***][6/14/88][***]
SCITEX ANNOUNCES MACINSTOSH II PRE-PRESS LAYOUT SYSTEM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- Scitex Europe has announced a new product
called Visionary which is designed to automate the layout
process of a pre-press production operation. Visionary, which runs
on a Macintosh II system, uses a specially-modified version
of the QuarkExpress desktop publishing program called
GatewayXpress for the PC.

The product will be marketed through the Scitex Graphic
Arts Association (another first) and offers 256 color artwork.
Visionary also produces a file which can be read by mainframe
Scitex systems whereupon it can be used to perform the automatic
film generation.

Scitex has been leading the graphics arts industry by providing flatbed
plotters with  2000 dots per inch resolution (compare that with
a laser printer at 300 dpi), desktop scanners,  and "user-
friendly" software. Previous products included 286  and 386-based
pre-press systems and HP mainframe computers, also for the
pre-press industry.
[***][6/14/88][***]
BELGIAN COMPUTER FIRM HOPES TO LAUNCH PRICE WAR
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- In Europe,  PCs are 100% more
expensive than in the U.S., especially in the United Kingdom
where the pound is getting close to the 2 dollar mark. In
Belgium, however, MCS, based in Liege,  is set to start A price
war with a range of systems compatible with the new PS/2 series.
Prices start at $600 for a complete model 30 equivalent.
A model 50 look-alike costs $1100 and a model 80 clone $3800.
These prices are the lowest in Europe at present and may spark
a new price war.
[***][6/14/88][***]
EC SET TO LINK RESEARCH CENTERS VIA DATA COMMUNICATIONS
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM(NB) -- The European Community has issued a
document accompanied by a council decision which provides the funds
needed to establish communication links between research centers
that bypass national networks. The program, called COSINE (Cooperation
for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) is to be funded
with about 5 million ECUs (European Currency Units), about $6 million US,
and calls for feasibility studies for the creation of an infrastructure
of communications within Europe. Although COSINE is only designed
to help research establishments, its results will also be
available to other data communication users.
[***][6/14/88][***]
OSBORNE RETURNS WITH NEW SYSTEMS
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- Osborne (the first portable PC
manufacturer) has launched new systems. They range from the O7-
386/80 which sports a 386 chip and a 80MB hard disk, to the O7-
286/40 and the O7-88/20. The latter uses a 8088 chip running at
10MHz and has a 20MB hard disk installed, while the former uses a
12MHz 286 chip and uses a 40MB hard disk. Prices for these
systems range from DM8500 ($4000) for the 386 system to DM 2400
for the 8088 based system. All systems have VGA support as
standard.
[***][6/14/88][***]
EUROBITS --

     ...The IBM PS/2 model 70 has been released in Belgium, costing
BF320000 (which is $9500) for a 2MB, hard disk system using a
monochrome screen. This is about 40% more expensive than
the US price...

     ...and finally, rumour has it that TOSHIBA will introduce a
new 386SX based laptop system using a new screen technology at
fall Comdex. The system is supposed to use the 386SX chip,
1MB of RAM, and a much-improved LCD screen.



[***][6/14/88][***]
COPYRIGHT OFFICE PROTECTS COMPUTER SCREEN DISPLAYS
WASHINGTON (NB) -- In a ruling that should have wide impact,
possibly including implications for the Apple suit against
Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, the U.S. Copyright Office has
ruled that software copyrights include protection of graphic
screen displays. The ruling, however, does not directly touch the
"look and feel" issue that has been raised in several important
suits. Under the look and feel argument, notes one copyright
expert, Shakespeare, if he were alive, could sue "West Side
Story" for stealing the look and feel of "Romeo and Juliette."

The Copyright Office ruling says that when a software company
registers a program, the copyright automatically extends to the
graphic and text displays created in the program. Software
publishers don't need to register the screens and text
separately. For example, said Copyright Office lawyer Richard
Glasgow, a copyright for Apple's Macintosh software probably
protects the trash-basket symbol. Apple would simply have to
provide "an original drawing" of the trash-basket to win
protection, Glasgow said.
[***][6/14/88][***]
DBASE IV FALLOUT: FOX & GELLER FLOPS, WALLSOFT AGAINST THE WALL
ELWOOD PARK, N.J. (NB) -- Although Ashton-Tate is unable to
deliver dBase IV anytime soon, the mere existence of the product
is causing severe problems for firms that have thrived on add-on
products for dBase III Plus. Fox & Geller Inc., the first, and
one of the largest, of the dBase enhancers, has folded. Wallsoft
Systems, a New York dBase enhancement company, has seen sales
slide by 40 percent and is struggling to keep its head above
water.

Adam Green, a major dBase consultant and trainer, says three or
four dBase developers will be history by the time the leaves turn
colors (and perhaps before the first copies of dBase IV ship).
Although Ashton-Tate announced dBase IV in February, the company
has repeatedly had to pull back on shipping dates. The current
guess from A-T is shipment in September, but industry observers
are skeptical of that date. In the meantime, however, purchasers
of database products are refusing to spend dollars on dBase III-
based products until they have a look at model IV. "The dBase
after-market is dried up," one developer has been reported as
saying.
[***][6/14/88][***]
OFF TO PARIS FOR D.C. DESIGN FIRM
WASHINGTON (NB) -- Richard Steele and Pam Thompson are off to
Paris for a week of vacation, courtesy of Xerox. The two
designers for Design Source Inc., of Washington, are the winners
in the Xerox Ventura Publisher "design for Excellence" contest.
Xerox picked the annual report Design Source did for the
Washington Convention & Visitors Association as the best
publication produced with the Ventura Publisher desktop
publishing software. There were over 1,300 entries. Steele, who
was "computer illiterate" when his company went to Ventura last
fall, says the best way to learn the program is total immersion:
"Get a huge job that has a specific deadline, then get in there
and do it on the computer and learn how to operate the system."
(As someone who learned Ventura exactly the same way, I heartily
second Mr. Steele's advice -- Ed.)
[***][6/14/88][***]
WRITE-TOP RECOGNIZES HANDWRITING
RESTON, Va. (NB) -- Linus Technologies Inc. has developed an MS-
DOS-based handwriting recognition system that allows users to
write on the display screen with an electronic stylus. The
company says the technology will be used for a variety of real-
time data recording and entry tasks, such as: recording bedside
patient information; collecting data from field service
personnel; on-site insurance claims adjusting. According to Ralph
Sklarew, Linus Technologies' chairman and chief scientist, "You
simply write on the display, see electronic ink, and instantly
convert your handwriting."  Write-Top is based on two proprietary
technologies: a transparent digitizer which overlays a flat-panel
display, and a sophisticated symbol recognition algorithm. At
nine-pounds, Write-Top is portable, with 640K of CMOS static RAM.
Price is in the range of $2,795-$3,600, and shipments will begin
once the FCC approves the machines.

CONTACT: Linus Technologies Inc., 1889 Preston White Dr., Reston
         VA 22091, [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE....
NEW YORK (NB) -- According to "InformationWeek" magazine,
computer executives generally have nice things to say about
International Business Machines Corp....or nothing at all. Of
the corporate information officers the magazine surveyed, 93
percent said Big Blue is a positive influence on the marketplace.
None disagreed and seven percent said they are undecided. But of
the 50 execs the magazine asked for views of IBM, 19 refused to
participate, even though they were guaranteed anonymity. Also, 26
percent said IBM exerts unfair influence on competition.

But not everyone is so reticent about throwing brickbats at Big
Blue. Take Steve Gibson, president of Gibson Research and a
regular "InfoWorld" columnist, for example. Railing against IBM's
Micro Channel Architecture (which some folks have taken to
calling "Mostly Conceptual and Arbitrary"), Gibson says: "Let's
show IBM that we don't need it. Let's show IBM that we value the
cost-effective solutions technology inherently creates and that
we're not going to tolerate its FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and
Doubt)-based totalitarianism."
[***][6/14/88][***]
MORE CHIP WARS COMING?
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The war signals are strong in Washington after
talks between U.S. and Japanese semiconductor makers in Tokyo
stalemated over the issue of how to measure foreign access to the
Japanese market. The Semiconductor Industry Association wants to
measure access by market share, but the Japanese counterparts
argue that market share is the result of access and effort, not
the measure of access. Now, sources indicate that U.S. industry
officials are huddled with officials of the Commerce Department,
trying to figure out what to do next. Among the possibilities: an
increase in the punitive tariffs the U.S. currently levies
against Japan. But complicating the issue is the fact that the
Reagan Administration's tenure is rapidly ending and the appetite
for new conflicts on the part of the remaining officials is low.
"We are in a hunkering down mode, waiting for a new
administration," one government official told NEWSBYTES. "We
don't want to get out on a limb and have a new bunch saw it off
on us."
[***][6/14/88][***]
MASSACHUSETTS MAN ARRESTED IN COMPUTER STING
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Police have arrested a Fitchburg, Mass.,
computer dealer for illegally buying $130,000 worth of Digital
Equipment Corp. gear. Policy charged Kenneth Margeson, 51, owner
of KEM Data Systems, with paying $4,000 for two DEC boards worth
$60,000, and $12,000 for six Digital boards valued at $70,000.
According to a spokesman for the district attorney, Margeson had
contacted a Digital employee earlier this year and the employee
in turn let the company and the authorities know what was going
on. "Attempted theft of equipment is another example of the
potentially lucrative demand for stolen computer equipment on the
black market," District Attorney Scott Harshbarger told the
Associated Press. "Society's increasing dependence on computers
makes the spoils of stealing computer equipment very attractive."
[***][6/14/88][***]
VOICE CONTROLLED COMPUTER FOR THE HANDICAPPED
BOSTON (NB) -- Quartet Technology Inc. has unveiled a voice-
activated computer that that can control electrical and
electronic gear inside the house, including answering the phone,
turning lights on and off, and operating the television and
stereo. The device works through house wiring. Called Simplicity,
the device is about the size of a PC box, minus keyboard and
monitor, and retails for $2,490.

CONTACT: Quartet Technology Inc., Boston, [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
COMPUTER MATCHING BILL ADVANCES
WASHINGTON (NB) -- Chances are very good for final passage of a
bill aimed at safeguarding computerized matching of federal
records. The House Government Operations committee has passed at
measure (H.R. 4699) identical to a Senate-passed measure (S.
496), that would protect against cross-matching of records, such
as tax records from the Internal Revenue Service with state
welfare records, in attempts to discover frauds. According to
Rep. Glenn English (D-Okla.), sponsor of the House measure,
computer matches have been used in Massachusetts to cut off
welfare benefits, "without notice or due process." Sen. William
Cohen (R-Me.) is the chief sponsor of the Senate bill. Both bills
require formal agreements between providing and receiving
agencies on how they will protect and verify information. The
bills require independent verification of data produced by a
computer match before action can be taken against an individual.
[***][6/14/88][***]
NEWS NIBBLES --

UNISYS CORP. of Blue Bell, Pa., has signed a joint marketing
agreement with INFORMIX SOFTWARE under which Unisys will market
Informix software for the Unisys U 5000, U 6000, and U 7000
computers.

EASTMAN KODAK CO. of Rochester, N.Y., has introduced the fastest
PostScript printer on the market. The Ektaprint 1392 printer,
Model 24, will retail for $190,000 and be available in the third
quarter.

MATSUSHITA of Secaucus, N.J., has an optical recorder than can
store 2.6 gigabytes on each side of the 12-inch optical disk, and
read at 18 megabits per second.

MAXWELL COMMUNICATIONS of London, England, is buying IBM's
Science Research Associates, the IBM publishing unit, for $150
million. The deal includes SRA's subsidiaries in Australia,
Canada, and Great Britain.

PAR TECHNOLOGY CORP. of New Hartford, Conn., will be making
terminals for IBM, to be marketed under IBM's own name, under an
agreement in principal. Details are still to be worked out.

STRATUS COMPUTER INC. of Marlboro, Mass., has renewed its
contract with IBM which gives IBM the right to sell the Stratus
XA2000 continuous processing systems. The two companies have
worked together on fault-tolerant computer for on-line
transaction processing since 1985.

GENRAD INC. of Concord, Mass., has been honored by the New
England-British Business Association with the first annual award
to New England companies trading with the United Kingdom. GenRad
make automotive diagnostic systems for Jaguar Cars Ltd.'s XJ6
model. The systems are installed in 775 dealer service centers
throughout the world.
[***][6/14/88][***]
NEW GAME LETS YOU AVERT THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN KENNEDY
GREENSBURG, Pa. (NB) -- 1988 will be the 25th anniversary of the
assassination of John F. Kennedy and to coincide with this event,
a small software company, Paragon Software, is releasing a game
based on these events.  Guardians of Infinity: To Save Kennedy,
takes place in 2087 when time travel has been perfected.  The object
of this complex text adventure (with 125 characters) is to go back in
time to save JFK's life and thus change history.  Among the
actual characters in the game are JFK, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lyndon
Johnson, Bobby Kennedy, and of course Lee Harvey Oswald.  While
the game appears to be a well-designed text adventure based on a
historical event, a representative of the company admits that
some may be offended by capitalizing on a still emotional and
controversial event.  The game is scheduled to be released on
August 1 for the IBM-PC and will then be available in Amiga, ST,
and Macintosh formats.
                           --contributed by Saul Feldman
[***][6/14/88][***]
JOKE OF THE MONTH
Did you hear about the Ronald Reagan personal computer? It's got
no colon, no memory, and no return.

 -- Courtesy of Hexagon Review, an annual Washington spoof.


[***][6/14/88][***]
ADOBE LAUNCHES ILLUSTRATOR 88
London, UK (NB) -- Adobe Systems has launched Illustrator 88, a
powerful new graphics software production tool. The revised
package contains all the tools of the original Adobe Illustrator,
and introduces goodies such as colour, a blending (interpolation)
tool, resolution independent pattern fills and masking.

"It's a greatly expanded package," said Jerry Byma, MD of Adobe
Systems Europe. "With this product, there's no need for any other
drawing package. We've provided a complete palette of tools and
features which are easy for everyone to use. A business person
can create attractive graphs or organisational charts in a matter
of minutes. Likewise, a professional illustrator can use the same
tools to create award-winning complex drawings."

* Shipments of Adobe Illustrator 88 begin later this month and
  will be available throughout Europe. The list price of the
  package is #495, with free upgrades available to users of Adobe
  Illustrator who purchased the package after 14 January of this
  year. Adobe Illustrator runs on the Apple Mac Plus, SE and Mac
  II series.

CONTACT: ADOBE SYSTEMS EUROPE B.V., World Trade Centre,
         Strawinskylaan 731, 1077 XX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
         Tel: [phone].

         UK Distribution - Letraset UK - 01-928-7551.
[***][6/14/88][***]
AMSTRAD/CORVUS NETWORKING DEAL: AMSNOS ANNOUNCED
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (NB) -- Amstrad has teamed up with
Corvus Systems UK to offer a three-node networking starter kit
called Amsnos. The #399 package will be sold worldwide (excluding
the US and Canada) from September onwards.

The Amsnos kit consists of a Corvus's Omninet/1 network interface
card and a modified version of PC/NOS, Corvus' proprietary
network operating system. The deal could be worth between $3 and
$4 million for Corvus Systems UK over the coming year, according
to Tony Gibbon, Corvus Systems UK's MD.

"Amstrad's criteria for selecting a network include product
sophistication, efficiency and reliability, ease of installation
and use, and overall value. Corvus covered all these bases," he
said, noting that Amsnos was unlike most other budget networking
systems in that it was fully upgradeable to a full-blown network
system.

CONTACT: AMSTRAD PLC, Brentwood House, 169 Kings Road,
         Brentwood, Essex, CM14 4EF. Tel: [phone].

         CORVUS SYSTEMS (UK), 7 Fairmile, Henly-on-Thames,
         Oxfordshire RG9 2JR.            Tel: [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
NEED A JOB? CAREERLINE COULD BE THE ANSWER
Bristol, Avon (NB) -- Computer recruitment agencies abound the
world over, but are usually open during office hours. Carter
Robins, an executive employment agency, reckons it's got the
answer in the shape of Careerline, a 24-hour interactive phone
service.

Careerline runs on a value-added telephone service (38p/minute
peak, 25p/minute off-peak) and allows callers to use touch-tone
(multi-frequency) keypads and/or voice commands to select the
vacancies that interest them most. At the end of the selection
procedure, callers are invited to leave their name and address
and Carter Robins will send full details by post.

Sounds a good idea. Careerline is 0898-333060 and is accessible
from abroad with no surcharge, as well as within the UK.

CONTACT: CARTER ROBINS EXECUTIVE SELECTION, Royal Oak House,
         Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4QE.  Tel: [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
DELL JUMPS ON THE LEGAL PS/2 & MCA BANDWAGON
Bracknell, Berkshire (NB) -- Dell Computer Corporation has
announced a major deal with IBM to license the PS/2 and
Microchannel Architecture (MCA) on Dell's new machines.

According to the agreement, Dell will pay IBM undisclosed
royalty fees on sales of certain current and future PC products
that use IBM's patents. This includes all Dell products which are
compatible with IBM's MCA.

So when can we expect to see Dell MCA-compatible machines?

"We'll be announcing two MCA-compatible machines during the
fourth quarter of this year," revealed Andrew Harris, MD of Dell
Computer Corporation UK. "Beyond that, I can't say any more," he
added.

CONTACT: DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION, Cookham Road, Bracknell,
         Berkshire, RG12 1BD.              Tel: [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
IBM: JOHN AKERS STOPS BY IN LONDON
London, UK (NB) -- IBM chairman John Akers was in town last week
to tell the industry that IBM's product line can still be
dramatically improved.

Akers said that, in an attempt to improve IBM's performance,
several thousand employees are to be moved from managerial posts
to the front-line work of developing, making, selling or
servicing computers and related products.

"We're not satisfied with where we are," said Akers, noting that
IBM has done a lot to improve its product and "as weeks go by, we
expect to be making increasing product announcements."

Interestingly, Akers said that Europe was by far and away the
best market for IBM, although it was aware of the PC compatible
markets. Akers noted that IBM will take any necessary action it
deems suitable to seek compensation from IBM-compatible
manufacturers who use copyrighted IBM technology. When asked how
much compensation the company will win, Akers replied that he was
talking in terms of millions of dollars.

CONTACT: IBM UNITED KINGDOM, Baltic House, Kingston Crescent,
         Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU.     Tel: [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
MICROPRO LAUNCHES WORDSTAR MESSENGER
London, UK (NB) -- In one of Micropro's best-kept secrets, the
company last week announced Wordstar Messenger, its new message
handling software.

Wordstar Messenger is a combined word-processor and electronic
mail package. On the word processing front, the package includes
Wordstar 4.0's text editor. On the E-mail front, the package
allows seven and eight-bit data files to be transferred over
seven-bit E-mail networks such as One-to-One and Mercurylink
7500.

Now comes the fancy stuff. As well as allowing the software to
work without any user interaction (i.e. the software can be used
as a front end package), Micropro has delegated the E-mail
administration to Traderights, a Cheltenham-based E-mail
specialist, who will handle the E-mail administration and billing
side of things. This means that users of Wordstar messenger will
receive one bill a month for all their E-mail usage, regardless
of how many systems that they - or rather their software - uses.

As far as the user is concerned, s/he simply buys the #200
package and uses it. All IDs and passwords are built in to the
software and do require any form filling etc.

Wordstar Messenger is a first for Micropro UK in that it's a UK-
specific product. John Speller, Micropro UK's MD told NEWSBYTES
UK that there are no plans to market Messenger in the US,
although the final decision rests with Micropro in the US.

In use, the package is capable of processing 7- and 8-bit files,
as well as telexes, fax items and even a printed letter. The
software is smart enough to indicate to the user how much a given
E-mail item will cost *before* the message etc., is sent.

* OPINION: Wordstar messenger is one of the best products in its
  range that NEWSBYTES UK has seen. It offers an ideal
  opportunity for the E-mail companies to market their
  services to complete novices who will stay that way,
  yet still be able to use E-mail as effectively as the
  experts.

CONTACT: MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL, Chancery House,
         St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1EH.
         Tel: [phone].
[***][6/14/88][***]
MICROSOFT: PRODUCT REVAMPS & NEW BUDGET WORD PROCESSOR
Reading, Berkshire (NB) -- Following the US lead, Microsoft UK
has confirmed that a number of product revamps - Excel 1.5, File
v2.0 and Word 4.0 - are in the pipeline. More immediately
however, the company has also announced the current availability
of Microsoft Write, a budget word processor for the UK and
European market.

Aimed at the writer of lightly formatted documents, MS-Write is
based on MS-Word and includes a similar screen interface. MS-
Write prices in at a very reasonable #125, making it the fastest
and most powerful word processor available within its price
range, according to Fiona Kelly, Macintosh product manager for
Microsoft UK.

"The market for word processors has traditionally been split in
two. Either users have been offered low-end products with limited
life cycles and without a cost-effective upgrade option, or high-
end products such as MS-Word, offering many users greater
complexity and sophistication than they require at present," she
said.

"Microsoft is intent on bringing these two worlds together by
offering an inexpensive general purpose product that can easily
be upgraded to Word, widely regarded as the most advanced word
processor on the Mac," she added.

Microsoft Write bears a strong similarity to Word, and includes a
WYSIWYG display, multiple column support and an 80,000 word spell
checker as standard. An optional upgrade path to MS-Word is
available at #150. The product ships immediately in the UK.

CONTACT: MICROSOFT UK - 0734-391123
[***][6/14/88][***]
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


APPLE COMPUTER UK (0442-60244) will launch a range of desktop
publishing solutions at the ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING SHOW this week
in London. Full details in next week's NEWSBYTES UK.

ASHTON-TATE (0628-33123) has announced plans to open a new
facility in Ireland. The plant will employ up to 50 people and
handle production and packaging of all A-T software products
destined for Europe.

BRITISH TELECOM is to team up with International Telecom Japan
Incorporated with a view to marketing UK/Japan telecoms links.
Both companies already operate in conjunction with each other
with regard to international phone links. The deal will allow
both companies to market telecoms links to third-party customers
in both countries, subject to the Japanese telecoms authority's
approval

HEWLETT-PACKARD (0344-424898) is to take a 35 per cent stake in
Network Control Systems, a subsidiary of the Italian STET group.
The acquisition will allow NCS/STET to develop
telecommunications-oriented products for H-P resale worldwide.

MAGSTORE (0322-339922) has secured the UK distributorship for
California Peripherals Corporation's high performance tape
drives. The deal allows Magstore to sell tape drives which
incorporate Nakamichi's 'floating head' technology.

MICRONET 800, the microcomputing information provider on Prestel,
has opened up its Shades online adventure system to non-Prestel
subscribers. Shades is now available via FUNTEL, the group's
value-added system on 0898-100-890.

The MICROLINK E-mail service (0625-878888) has launched
Mortgagelink, an online mortgage help facility for users
interested in getting the best mortgage deal for themselves. The
system offers what it claims to be a one stop way to shop for
mortgages.

TANDATA (0684-892421) has scored a major deal with Fowlers, the
motorcycle wholesalers. The deal calls for Tandata to supply
retailers with a TD2516 desktop viewdata terminal to call up
Fowlers' online system to check on stock availability, place
orders and even review back- or outstanding orders, all at local
calling rates.

TRICOM COMMUNICATIONS (05827-65171) has launched an MNP (Microcom
Networking Protocol) awareness program. The program is costing
the company #100,000 and involves a major press and publicity
campaign to let everyone know what MNP is. To support the
campaign, Tricom is offering a free explanatory leaflet on what
MNP is to anyone calling the company.