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- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00001)
-
- NEW MACINTOSH SE DUE IN JANUARY
- SAN FRANCISCO, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Apple Computer will unveil a powerful
- new Macintosh SE which will rival the power of its current Macintosh
- IIX, according to the San Francisco Examiner. The report says
- the SE will use Motorola's 68030 microprocessor, will support between
- four and eight megabytes of random access memory, and will have
- an optional 40 or 80 megabyte hard disk drive. The machine will have
- two expansion slots and a built-in black and white screen, as well.
- The news hit some industry observers by surprise since it appears to
- target a new SE at the same market segment targeted for the II and IIX.
- Even reporter Paul Frieberger noted that his same sources report
- product plans have been changed repeatedly due to internal squabbling
- at Apple. "There are constant discussions about what's going to
- happen next," his source reports.
-
- Apple officials would not comment on the story.
-
- Sources also told the paper that Apple will introduce a portable, 12-pound
- Macintosh, a lower-priced Macintosh II system, and a high-end
- Macintosh II in 1989.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00002)
-
- SCULLEY SELLS A THIRD OF HIS STOCK
- SAN FRANCISCO, 1988 NOV 15 (NB) -- Apple Computer Chairman John Sculley
- has sold 50,000 shares of his Apple stock at about $43.00 per share,
- according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale would
- have grossed $2,150,000 for the Apple chief, who still holds 109,357
- shares. Apple will not comment on the stock sale, saying it's the
- business of individual executives. The sale took place on August 8 and
- amounted to almost a third of Sculley's total stock holdings in Apple.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00003)
-
- APPLE BRINGS RESELLERS INTO THE FOLD
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 16 (NB) -- Apple Computer has signed some
- strategic business agreements with resellers who will market its
- equipment to important vertical markets. The contract with New
- England Digital Corporation allows the White River Junction, Vermont-
- based company to package Macs into its systems for professional
- musicians. Quorem Systems will incorporate Macintoshes into its
- automated information systems for attorneys. Other resellers
- include Physio Control of Redmond, Washington and Scitex America of
- Bedford, Massachusetts.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00014)
-
- TINY PRINTER FOR THE MAC
- WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- GCC Technologies is
- shipping the $699 WriteMove, a 192 character per second portable
- inkjet printer. It is aimed at writers and others who need
- printed output while traveling. The software included with the
- printer features six Bitstream typefaces: Times, Helvetica,
- Symbol, Courier, Swiss Narrow and Zapf Calligraphic. The printer
- can run on five NiCad rechargable batteries. A case is available
- for $30. The printer weighs three pounds and can be packed in a
- briefcase of carried with the Macintosh.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118/Contact: GCC Technologies, 617-890-0880)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00015)
-
- READY,SET,GO UPGRADE READY
- PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Letraset USA is offering
- an upgrade of its Ready,Set,Go desktop publishing program for the
- Macintosh. Letraset hopes the product, at $495, will win an edge
- against the higher-priced Aldus PageMaker and Quark XPress.
- Version 4.5 of Ready,Set,Go include gray scale editing, ability
- to rotate images horizontally and vertically, fractional kerning,
- and a thumbnail quick document review. Purchasers of Ready,Set,Go
- version 4 who bought the software after June 1 will get free
- upgrades. For other 4.0 users, the upgrade is $49.95. Earlier
- versions can upgrade for $85.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118/Contact: Letraset USA, 201-845-6100)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00016)
-
- PC EXPO TO HAVE MAC TRACK
- NEW YORK, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Recognizing the inroads Apple is
- making into corporate markets, the PC Expo in New York next June
- 20-22 will include a series of seminar topics addressed to the
- Macintosh. Included among them will be "Installing, Training and
- Support for the Mac," and "Making Mac Connections: Integration
- into the Corporate Environment." The heretofore completely PC
- show will be at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00009)
-
- MACINTOSH USER LISTS ONLINE
- APTOS, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Need a mailing list of Macintosh
- users and want it in electronic format? Semaphore Corporation has
- the first online database devoted strictly to Macintosh users in
- the United States. Over 200,000 users can be retrieved by name,
- company, school, or zip code. The database is called Find-A-User
- and costs four cents per retrieved record. Mike Gabrielson,
- a member of the technical support staff, told Newsbytes the
- database has been available since August. He says Newsbytes
- readers can log on for free and check out the system by dialing
- via computer 408-662-2717 and when prompted for I.D. type DEMO.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Semaphore, office, 408-688-9200)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00016)
-
- ABATON SHIPS INTEGRATED FAX/DATA MODEM
- FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 9 (NB) -- Abaton is shipping the
- InterFax 12/48, a fax/modem for the Macintosh II, SE, Plus and 512KE.
- The InterFax combines fax sending and receiving capabilities with a
- modem and costs $495. When operating as a fax modem, the InterFax
- adheres to CCITT Group 3 standards. Faxes can be sent at 4800
- bits per second. The modem is Hayes-compatible at 1200 baud.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Dealer Information, 800-444-5321 or
- outside U.S. 415-683-2226)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) BUSINESS REPORT
- Week of November 22, 1988/#283
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00006)
-
- HITACHI TO BUY OUT NATIONAL SEMI'S COMPUTER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK?
- SAN FRANCISCO, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- National Semiconductor
- is said to be discussing the sale of its computer distribution
- division with Hitachi. According to several publications including
- Reuter's news service, any deal resulting from the talks could be
- worth as much as $400 million. Neither National Semiconductor
- nor Hitachi have commented on the rumours. If true, and if Hitachi
- were successful, it could sell its own computers in the U.S. under
- its own name.
-
- (Steve Gold & Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00013)
-
- HEWLETT PACKARD HITS $10 BILLION IN ORDERS
- PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Hewlett Packard says it
- had a 22 percent increase in net revenue and a 27 percent increase
- in net earnings for its 1988 fiscal year ending October 31. Net
- earnings per share rose 34 percent, and orders exceeded $10 billion
- for the first time in company history.
-
- "Reaching $10 billion in orders is a major milestone for our
- company and a momentous achievement for our people," bragged
- John Young, HP president and chief executive.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00002)
-
- PRIME IN TAKEOVER BATTLE
- BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Prime Computer Inc.,
- having barely begun to digest Computervision, is now facing a
- hostile takeover offer from New York investor Bennett LeBow and
- his California firm, MAI Basic Four Inc. LeBow has offered Prime
- $970 million for the company, or $20 per share. Prime took over
- Computervision last February for $435 million to become the
- second leading CAD-CAM firm behind IBM. Prime also adopted a
- "poison pill" defense against hostile takeovers. When he launched
- his bid for Prime, LeBow also sued in federal court to overturn a
- Massachusetts anti-takeover law.
-
- Prime has asked its stockholders to wait two week before deciding
- whether to tender their shares to MAI Basic. MAI Basic, about
- one-quarter the size of Prime, makes business computers and
- information processing systems.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00003)
-
- PERKIN-ELMER LANDS IBM CONTRACT
- NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Perkin-Elmer Corp. has
- received an order from International Business Machines Corp. for
- advanced step-and-scan lithography equipment. Perkin-Elmer said
- the initial portion of the contract is worth $20 million.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00004)
-
- UNISYS TO RAISE PRICES
- BLUE BELL, PENNSYLVANIA, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Unisys Corp. will
- hike prices on selected hardware, software, and support in
- January. Prices for high-end hardware products will increase from
- five to eight percent. Prices for software and services will go
- up from five to 10 percent.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00018)
-
- RETAIL MERGER MANIA IN WASHINGTON
- WASHINGTON, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Entre Computer of McLean, Va.,
- will be acquired by Intelligent Electronics Inc., of Exton, Pa.,
- in a $61 million deal that will create one of the largest
- networks of computer franchise operations in the U.S., with about
- $1 billion in annual sales. Entre has 184 stores in the U.S. and
- Canada, while IEI has 193 Today's Computer Business Center
- stores. And Clinton Computer, a six-store Washington area chain,
- has announced that its stores will become franchise outlets of
- Computerland Corp. The Entre and Clinton moves come on the heels
- of the sale of Frederick Computer Products of Frederick, Md.,
- with a Pennsylvania firm. According to Clinton co-owner Chuck
- Perilli, independent retailers can no long compete with the major
- chains.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00012)
-
- PLANER-STRUCTURED FOUR MEGABIT DRAM TO BE PRODUCED
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- According to industrial sources, NMB
- Semiconductor, Chiba Prefecture, has signed an agreement with Lamtron,
- a semiconductor business venture in the U.S. to jointly develop
- planer structure four megabit dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
- chips. The semiconductors will utilize the ferroelectric materials
- Lamtron has developed. NMB plans to manufacture and sell the
- four megabit DRAMs. The evaluation samples are slated for shipment
- in the middle of next year.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: NMB Semiconductor, 0470-23-3121)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00014)
-
- FUJITSU EXPORTS ITS SUPERCOMPUTER TO AUSTRALIA
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Fujitsu Ltd. has exported a
- supercomputer under the Fujitsu brand name to Australia National
- University (ANU). The supercomputer, dubbed FACOM VP-100, has
- the largest supercomputer data processing speed at 285 mega floating point
- operations per second. Fujitsu is further to export its
- supercomputers to other South Pacific areas.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Fujitsu Ltd., 03-216-3211)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00017)
-
- YOKOGAWA PURCHASES CHIP MAKER
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Yokogawa Electoric Corp. has obtained
- the management of International Micro Technology Corp.,
- a semiconductor maker and subsidiary of electronics trading company
- Kanto Denshi Corp. The management right will be taken over to
- Yokogawa IMT, a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric and
- it will produce semiconductors for the parent company.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00018)
-
- SEIKO-EPSON LAUNCHES VOLUME PRODUCTION OF MAGNETIC-OPTICAL DISK DRIVES
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Seiko-Epson will start volume
- production of rewritable magnetic-optical disk drive units.
- The company is currently building a manufacturing line in its
- Takagi factory in Nagano Prefecture. The new line will start
- development of prototype units within this year and will go into
- full swing early next year.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881115/Contact: Seiko-Epson, 0266-52-3131)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00019)
-
- SIA SETS UP ITS JAPAN OFFICE
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- The Semiconductor Industry
- Association (SIA) of the U.S. has established a Japaneese branch
- office in Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo. The former manager of Motorola's
- central laboratory, Dr. E. David Metz, has assumed the post of
- representative and office manager. The SIA Japan Bureau is set up
- to promote U.S. access to the Japanese market.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881115/Contact: SIA Japan Bureau, 03-237-7683)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00020)
-
- SAM SUNG TO PRODUCE 4M DRAM
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Sam Sung, the largest electronics
- machinery producer in Korea, has revealed plans to begin
- production of next-generation very large scale integrated (VLSI)
- circuits and four-megabit dynamic random access memories (DRAM)
- chips by the end of 1989 with mass production scheduled for the
- spring of 1990.
-
- The company already produces five million units of 256 kilobit DRAMs
- and 1.5 million units of one megabit DRAMs each month. The company
- will invest 300 to 400 billion Won or $480 to $640 million in a new
- facility for four megabit DRAM production.
-
- Further, Sam Sung is aiming to produce its own silicon wafers; the
- firm currently imports them from overseas.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(0001)
-
- LASER FRIENDLY IN 'SUSPENDED ANIMATION'
- TORONTO, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Laser Friendly Inc., maker of The
- Office Publisher desktop publishing software, has laid off all
- its employees and closed its offices. The company's present state
- could be described as suspended animation, according to Lynn
- Barrett, vice-president of communications for Print Three Inc.,
- which owns Laser Friendly.
-
- Barrett said sales of The Office Publisher have not met
- expectations and Laser Friendly "just couldn't afford to continue
- at that rate . . . so they've cut their overhead." ComputerLand,
- Print Three and Olivetti continue distributing The Office
- Publisher in Canada, she said. Laser Friendly's former U.S.
- subsidiary in Redwood, Calif., now an independent company named
- The Office Publisher Inc., also sells the software. When
- existing inventories of the software are exhausted, "then Laser
- Friendly will probably hire some people and make some more."
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Lynn Barrett, Print Three Inc.,
- 416-292-5851)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(0005)
-
- GRID SYSTEMS EXPANDS IN MONTREAL
- MONTREAL, 1988 NOV 14 (NB) -- Grid Systems Canada Inc. has added
- sales and support staff in its Montreal office "to meet the
- growing demand for field automation in a variety of business
- sectors," the company said. Grid Canada has its headquarters in
- Toronto.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Les Parsneau, Grid Systems
- Canada Inc., 416-446-1555)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(0006)
-
- ANOTHER CANADIAN TERMINAL MAKER HAS MONEY TROUBLES
- MONTREAL, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Comterm Inc. will offer its
- creditors a proposal for restructuring its debt. The Montreal
- company is the second Canadian terminal manufacturer to take
- extraordinary action as a result of financial trouble within a
- month. On October 31, Lanpar Technologies Inc. of Markham,
- Ontario, asked to have trading in its shares halted on the
- Toronto Stock Exchange while the company negotiated with an
- unnamed third party. Lanpar is believed to be discussing a
- possible takeover. Comterm also is holding discussions with a
- corporate suitor, said Ragoi Mikhail of Richter & Associates, a
- Montreal firm that its acting for Comterm.
-
- Comterm will file a proposal to its creditors under the Federal
- Company Creditors Arrangements Act, a little-known insolvency law
- under which the company's options remain open if creditors reject
- its proposal. The proposal is expected to be worked out by
- December 19, Mikhail said, and a creditors' meeting has been
- scheduled tentatively for January 31.
-
- Though Comterm has been a terminal manufacturer for most of its
- history, some in the personal computer world may remember its
- brief foray into PCs. Under the name Bytec Comterm in the early
- 1980s, the company briefly marketed the Hyperion, an early IBM-
- compatible luggable computer that got considerable attention at
- first but foundered due to imperfect compatibility and other
- misfortunes.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Ragoi Mikhail, Richter &
- Associates, 514-934-3400)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00009)
-
- CRAY SAYS HE HAS NO CHIP PROBLEMS, WILL MAKE 1989 DELIVERIES
- ORLANDO, FLORIDA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Seymour Cray, father of American
- supercomputing, told an IEEE-sponsored conference on
- supercomputing that his Cray-3 project is only six months behind
- schedule, blaming Cray Research's move from Minneapolis, Minn. to
- Colorado Springs, Colo., and claimed talk that the new machine's
- gallium arsenide chips are trouble-plagued is bunk. Cray spoke
- just a month after Cray Research's stock price plunged following
- a bad quarterly report and a story in "The Wall Street Journal"
- claiming the company was having big trouble making the gallium
- arsenide chips needed to give the three extra speed work right.
-
- "We think we're at the beginning of something with this
- technology. We think we have a long way to go, but we're going to
- go as fast as we can," Cray told a news conference. Reports of
- chip problems are "off the wall," he added. "There are no
- problems." He added, "We've been very aggressive on the Cray-3
- program, taking high risks," and this sometimes requires having
- "a lot of dollars written off" on some phase of development work.
-
- Besides worrying about Japanese competition and his own
- development work, Cray, industry observers believe, also must be
- concerned with new developments in parallel-processing. Both computers
- and individual chips have recently been tested in new hypercube
- arrangements which, scientists say, could eventually bring Cray-
- type power down to the desktop.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00018)
-
- EEC EXAMINES GEC/SIEMENS BUY-OUT OF PLESSEY
- BRUSSELS, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- The European Economic Community
- (EEC) headquarters has announce it is to examine the joint
- GEC/Siemens buy-out of the UK's Plessey group. GEC/Siemens
- announced a $3,100 million dollar bid for the Plessey
- telecommunications group earlier this month. The inquiry into the
- takeover could take several months, an EEC spokesman said last
- week.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00007)
-
- LOWER PRICES, LOWER EMPLOYMENT AT DEST
- MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Troubled DEST Corporation,
- maker of desktop publishing equipment, scanners, and software,
- has given walking papers to 70 employees, and has reduced prices
- on some of its products. DEST has been talking with creditors
- and lenders about ways to boost the company's financial health.
- DEST lost $944,000 on sales of $9.7 million during its most
- recent quarter.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) GENERAL NEWS
- Week of November 22, 1988/#283
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00012)
-
- HONEYWELL BULL ROLLS OUT MAINFRAME
- BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Honeywell Bull Inc.
- has unveiled a new, general-purpose mainframe computer that the
- company claims is the most powerful general-purpose machine in
- the world. The new system, the DPS 9000, ranges in price from
- nearly $6 million to $23 million. The basic hardware was
- developed by NEC, the Japanese computer company that is one of
- the three shareholders in Honeywell Bull. The others are Groupe
- Bull of France and Honeywell Inc. of Minneapolis.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00016)
-
- NEC TO MARKET U.S.-MADE COMPUTERS
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- NEC Computer Systems has announced
- plans to import the DPS 9000 series, a very large-sized general-
- purpose computer, from Honeywell Bull and will ship them to the Japanese
- market in May, 1989.
-
- The computer was developed based on NEC's ACOS 2000. Hardware of
- the computer, including the central processing unit, was developed by
- NEC; other functions, such as operating systems, networking
- software, and peripherals, were developed by Honeywell Bull and Bull
- of France.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(0002)
-
- SHOW ATTENDANCE DOWN SLIGHTLY, BUT BOOKINGS FOR NEXT YEAR BOOMING
- TORONTO, 1988 NOV 17 (NB) -- Organizers of the Canadian Computer
- Show say that although attendance at this year's show was off
- slightly from last year, bookings for next year are going faster
- than ever before. Industrial Trade and Consumer Shows had not
- yet released final attendance figures when Newsbytes went to
- press, but the company said that as of November 16, 68 per cent
- of the show's exhibit space for 1989 was already booked. ITCS
- attributed the heavy bookings to an increase in the sales
- generated at the show.
-
- The organizers also announced that next year's show will be held
- nearly a month earlier, from October 23 to October 26. "This
- change in date will undoubtedly benefit exhibitors, attendees and
- the media by eliminating conflicts with other trade shows,"
- Industrial Trade and Consumer Shows said in a prepared statement.
- This year's show coincided with Comdex in Las Vegas. Next year's
- Comdex is scheduled for November 13-17.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Wendy Burgess, Access
- Advertising, 416-968-2285)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(0003)
-
- BEDFORD OFFERS 30 DAY FREE TECHNICAL SUPPORT
- BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA 1988 NOV 14 (NB) -- Beginning December
- 1, Bedford Software Inc. will offer 30 days free technical
- support to buyers of its accounting software packages. The free
- telephone support will start when a new customer mails in the
- "Comfort Card" registration included in each package.
-
- Bedford also announced an expansion of its long-term support
- package. For an $89 annual fee, customers will receive a new
- disk whenever their accounting software is updated. Bedford
- publishes Integrated Accounting for IBM and compatible PCs, and
- Simply Accounting for the Macintosh.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Kristin Keyes, Bedford Software,
- 604-294-2394)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAS)(00003)
-
- SHARP ILLUSTRATES THE BREADTH OF CURRENT JAPANESE OFFERINGS
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Sharp's 6,000 square
- foot Comdex booth featured new laptop computers with black-on-white,
- VGA-compatible displays. Their JX-300 flat-bed color scanner
- was joined by the JX-100 hand-held color scanner. (It's a four-
- pound flat-bed scanner for images up to four inches by six
- inches.) Sharp announced a dozen new American software
- products now support those color scanners. Sharp also
- introduced the JX-730, a plain-paper, wide-carriage color ink-jet
- printer priced at $2,195 retail. All this in addition a a
- complete line of desktop computers, fax machines, point-of-sale
- computers, overhead projectors, and a nifty pocket organizer
- called the "Wizard," featured in Traveling Software's new
- catalog.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAS)(00004)
-
- COMMODORE MAKES MOVES TOWARD MS-DOS, UNIX MARKETS
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- While most attention at the
- Commodore booth was focused on new applications for its Amiga color
- computer, including desktop video applications, the company also made
- some moves to get back into the DOS-Unix mainstream. For those who
- require MS-DOS the company has brought back to America a full
- line of PC-compatibles. For those who love Unix, Commodore offered
- a version of Unix System V called Amix running on the Amiga 2500
- UX, a workstation based on the Amiga 2000. The 2500, which is
- based on the Motorola 68020 chip, also runs AmigaDOS.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAS)(00005)
-
- "HOME OFFICE COMPUTING" REPLACES "FAMILY COMPUTING"
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Scholastic Inc., best known as
- a publisher of children's magazines, has abandoned the family market
- with a complete re-do of the magazine it once called "Family Computing."
- The new entry, "Home Office Computing," is a cross between
- "Venture," "Savvy," and "PC Magazine," with a small section on
- games software to prevent old advertisers from pulling out too
- soon. A lot of money has been thrown at the new book, with a
- clean new layout, a new list of editors, and freelancers drawn
- mostly from the business press rather than the computer press.
-
- The November issue features an article on getting a loan, a guide
- to fax machines. a story about online universities, and a short
- piece on game software -- give entertainment editor Jim Phelan a
- game hint he can use and you can win something free.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAS)(00006)
-
- TWO BOOKS STEAL THE SHOW
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Comdex isn't a book show, but
- computer book publishers use it to ply their wares, and this year two
- books deserve special mention. First, "The Book of Fax" by Daniel
- Fishman and Elliott King, published by Ventana Press of Chapel
- Hill, NC, is the first fair attempt to explain one of the major
- new trends in computing. Not only does it have buyers' guides on
- machines and boards, but advice on managing fax operations and
- the legal questions concerning fax transmissions.
-
- Paul Mace, author of "The Mace Utilities," has distilled his
- knowledge of hard disks into "The Paul Mace Guide to Data
- Recovery," published by Simon & Schuster. Mace was a writer
- before he became a programmer, and it shows here. There are
- excellent, clear-English explanations of hard disk terms and
- disasters. The glossary and index are complete and clear -- Mace
- knows this book will be used mainly "in extremis." Not only does
- Mace tell you what to do in virtually any emergency, but he
- explains why. The layout features a liberal use of white space
- and big, bold headlines which make using it a breeze.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00003)
-
- ARNOR RELEASES PROTEXT ON THE AMIGA
- PETERBOROUGH, ENGLAND, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Arnor Software has released
- its Protext word processor on the Commodore Amiga. Amiga Protext
- will retail for #99-95 and joins versions available for the
- Amstrad CPC and PCW series, Atari ST and IBM PC and compatible
- ranges.
-
- The Amiga version of Protext is #20 more than the ST version,
- although the package does include a larger (70K) spelling checker and
- a Ram disk option as standard features. Arnor expects to announce
- Release 4.0 of its ST Protext in January, 1989, at #99-95, to
- bring the ST word processor up to the same specifications as the
- Amiga version.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Arnor: (UK) 0733-62255)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00004)
-
- ADDER TECHNOLOGY UNVEILS PERIPHERAL MANAGER
- CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Adder technology has unveiled
- a computer-independent switching system for connecting up to 16
- peripherals. The PM8 Peripheral Manager connects up to 8
- peripherals and can be cross-linked in a dual configuration.
-
- Data speeds of up to 19,200 bits per second (bps) are supported,
- with a data buffer of up to 4 megabytes (Mb) to allow high-speed
- data dumping to slow peripherals such as daisy-wheel printers.
-
- The PM8 system is available with serial and parallel ports, with
- data converted to or from each format as required. Pricing on the
- system starts at #376-75.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Adder Technology: (UK) 0223-861912)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00005)
-
- METACOMCO RELEASES PASCAL V2.0 ON AMIGA
- BRISTOL, ENGLAND, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Metacomco has released version
- 2.0 of its Pascal Compiler for the Amiga. The #89-95 package
- allows separate program modules to be compiled, as well as
- increasing the number of characters in a dynamic string to 32K.
- An upgrade is available to existing users for #38-50. The package
- is fully compatible with all versions of AmigaDos.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Metacomco: (UK) 0272-428781)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00007)
-
- EINSTEIN WAS WRONG SAYS UK ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- The December issue of Electronics and
- Wireless World carries a contentious article on measuring the
- speed of light. The article, penned by Professor P T Pappas and
- Alexis Obolensky of New York, postulates that objects can travel
- faster than light. This is in direct conflict with Einstein's
- Theory of Relativity.
-
- The two academic authors have designed and built an electronic
- circuit which measures the speed of light to great accuracy using
- a highly-sensitive oscilloscope. The results of their tests have
- concluded that the speed of light varies with the direction, time
- of day and polarity of current uses. The experiments also showed
- that many pulses travel at two or more times the speed of light
- through the circuit. Most astonishingly of all, certain pulses
- travel virtually instantaneously through the circuit.
-
- The experiment reports are bound to create quite a controversy in
- the academic world. If correct, however, then the implications
- for computers are tremendous. Given the right conditions,
- computer calculations could be speeded up, far beyond current
- processing speeds.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Electronics & Wireless World: (UK) 01-661-8638
- Alexis Obolensky, Bromion Inc, NY: (US) 914-753-2761)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00014)
-
- UK COMPUTER SECURITY CONFERENCE SCHEDULED
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- PLF Communications has announced a
- computer and telecommunications conference for February, 1989. The
- Corporate Computer Security Conference '89 will be held in London
- on 14/16 February. Conference fees range from #240 to #575.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881118/PLF Communications - (UK) 0733-60535)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00015)
-
- WEST GERMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM DETAILS
- BRAUNSCHWEIG, WEST GERMANY, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- The International
- Symposium on Information Technology Standardisation (INSITS) will
- be held in Braunschweig, West Germany, on 4/7 July, 1989. The
- organizer, Dr Harald Schummy, has called for papers by 25 March,
- 1989. Topics for discussion include standards, politics,
- economics and quality assurance techniques in Information
- Technology (IT). Speakers will be invited from around the world.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/INITIS - (FDR) 0531-592-7410)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00016)
-
- PTT ISDN IN EUROPE CONFERENCE DATES
- THE HAGUE, NEDERLANDS, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- PTT Netherlands has
- organized ISDN In Europe, a conference to discuss Integrated
- Services Digital Networks. The European conference will be held
- in The Hague on 25/27 April, 1989. Conference fees start at
- NLG800.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Nederlands Congresgebouw: (NDR) 020-752-120)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00017)
-
- EUROPEAN COMPUTER TRADE SHOW CONFIRMED
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Database Exhibitions has now
- confirmed the European Computer Trade Show will be held at the
- Business Design Centre in London, on 16/18 April, 1989. The show
- will bring together key computer industry manufacturers,
- distributors, suppliers and software houses from across Europe.
- Admission is by invitation only.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Database Exhibitions - (UK) 0625-878888)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) GOVERNMENT AND THE COURTS REPORT
- Week of November 22, 1988
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00004)
-
- ASHTON-TATE SUES FOXBASE MAKER
- TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Ashton-Tate has sued the
- maker of the FoxBASE+ database product, claiming it copies the
- look and feel of four versions of dBASE, its own database software.
- Fox Software and Santa Cruz Operation Inc., another seller of a
- modified FoxBASE product, were both slapped with the suit in
- U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Ashton-Tate says the program
- steals not only the look and feel but the underlying concept,
- programming language, and user interface of its own highly-successful
- database program. The suit seeks unspecified damages and an
- injunction against further sales of FoxBASE.
-
- Fox and SCO could not be reached for comment by Newsbytes' deadline.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00009)
-
- HONEYWELL PROTESTS AIR FORCE CONTRACT WITH AT&T
- WASHINGTON, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Honeywell Inc. has filed a protest
- with the General Services Administration's board of contract
- appeals over the Air Force's choice of American Telephone &
- Telegraph for a $929 million workstation contract. Honeywell says
- the Air Force "failed to evaluate fully and fairly" the competing
- companies. Honeywell says its offer was more than $100 million
- under the AT&T bid, and that it wasn't fully informed of all the
- standards the government was using.
-
- The contract bidding was very competitive, with IBM, Planning
- Research Corp., Lockheed, and Zenith also making bids. Air Force
- officials say the bidding was so hot that prices were pushed down
- by 70 percent during the process.
-
- Honeywell asked the GSA board for a hearing on its complaint, and
- asked for the contract to be cancelled. An AT&T spokesman said
- the award is "good for the government and good for the
- taxpayers."
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00010)
-
- VIRUS GRAND JURY IS SITTING
- SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- A federal grand jury is
- meeting to consider charges that a Cornell University graduate
- student created a computer virus that disrupted computer systems
- nationwide. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Baxter refused to tell
- the Associated Press when the panel began hearing evidence or
- whether witnesses have been subpoened to testify. Cornell student
- Robert Morris is suspected of sending the virus through a
- government computer network, disrupting operations at 6,000
- university and military computers.
-
- In the meantime, the director of the Computer Virus Industry
- Association in Santa Clara, Calif., estimates that the virus did
- at least $97 million in damage. John McAfee says the virus caused
- more than a million hours of unnecessary work. "We had the
- equivalent of an enormous manufacturing plant standing idle
- incurring all its overheads and wage costs, but unable to produce
- anything because it had to be evacuated as a result of a bomb
- threat," says McAfee.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00011)
-
- COMPUTER UNMASKS DRUG RUNNER
- WASHINGTON, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Using a sophisticated computer
- matching system, deputy U.S. marshals have discovered that Paul
- Matthews, a prosperous and civic-minded South Florida
- businessman, is Nicholas Hunter-Reay, an alleged drug dealer.
- Hunter-Reay dropped out of sight after a federal indictment tied
- him to Colombia's Medllin cocaine cartel. Hunter-Reay was among
- 218 drug fugitives picked up in a 10-week computerized manhunt.
- According to Stanley Morris, director of the U.S. Marshals
- Service, the computerized search also resulted in seizure of more
- than $1.26 million in criminally-obtained assets, including cash
- and real estate.
-
- The key to the computerized manhunt was a program called
- "Scorecard," written by Ron Wuthrich, who works in the Marshals
- Service enforcement division. "Everyone leaves a paper or number
- trail someplace," Howard Safir of the Marshals Service told
- United Press International. "What the Scorecard computer does is
- track those things."
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00006)
-
- U.S. DISAPPROVES TRON AS EDUCATION COMPUTER
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- The U.S. Commerce Department
- has expressed a complaint against the Japanese-proposed TRON
- architecture, which is being adopted as the educational computer
- operating system (OS) here in Japan, reported Denpa newspaper. The
- representative of the U.S. government said in his letter
- to the Ministry of International Trade and Industries that Japan's
- decision to adopt Matsushita Electric Industrial as the main
- supplier of the education computer OS unduly oppresses American
- firms' access to the Japanese education computer market, and also
- infringes on international rules. The U.S. is deeply concerned that
- the endorsement of the TRON architecture will challenge its own
- standards, namely MS-DOS, Unix, the Macintosh OS and OS/2.
-
- Meanwhile, American computer manufacturing firms are split on this
- issue. IBM and other hardware makers have no complaints; however,
- software makers, including Microsoft, reluctantly maintain Japan's
- computer projects must be its own, without consideration for overseas
- companies.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881115)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(ATL)(00008)
-
- SEMATECH OPENS WITH CHIP PIONEER BOB NOYCE IN CHARGE
- AUSTIN, TEXAS, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- The silicon chip has two fathers,
- who came up with similar ideas at about the same time. Jack Kirby of
- Texas Instruments was put into the Dallas Infomart Hall of Fame early
- this year for his achievement. And, in a mile irony, Bob Noyce,
- who made his discoveries at Fairchild in California, is now
- posted in Austin, Texas as head of the Sematech project.
-
- Sematech, a joint government-industry consortium with a $250
- million a year budget, was created to conduct advanced computer
- chip research and development and pass the results on to its
- member companies. About $100 million of its annual budget will be
- provided by the Department of Defense. The building was dedicated
- on November 15 by Noyce and others. It features a $75 million
- clean room in which up to 3,200 people will seek to learn how close-
- together they really can pack circuits.
-
- In his dedication speech, Noyce acknowledged that the U.S. is
- losing ground to foreign competitors. "While our science remains
- the envy of the world, our economic strength is lessening as
- other nations have developed policies that utilize science and
- technology more effectively," he said. "We have seen our ability
- to compete in world markets decline as other nations have
- in manufacturing those products." Whether Noyce can recreate an
- American lead in a business it invented, of course, remains to be
- seen.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) IBM WORLD REPORT
- Week of November 22, 1988
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00013)
-
- TANDY PCS RESOLD UNDER PANASONIC NAME IN U.S.
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- When you see a Panasonic IBM clone in your
- local retail shop, don't think it's made in Japan. It will be a U.S.-made
- machine from Tandy Corporation of Texas.
-
- Matsushita Electric Industrial, the company making Panasonic products,
- will receive three series and eight models of personal
- computers on an original equipment manufacturing basis from
- Tandy Corp. and will consequently resell them as IBM-compatibles in
- the U.S. market.
-
- Matsushita has stopped exporting its PCs to the U.S. because of the 100%
- tariff imposed on 16-bit machines in April of last year.
-
- The company has been marketing printers and floppy disk drives in the
- U.S. market. With this agreement, it will be able to sell
- complete sets of systems, including PCs, under the Panasonic brand name.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117/Contact: Matsushita, 06-908-1121)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00011)
-
- BORLAND IS IBM'S SIDEKICK
- SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 16 (NB) -- IBM has tied up with
- Borland International to bundle the Scotts Valley company's SideKick
- for Presentation Manager with its OS/2 Standard Edition and
- Extended Edition with Presentation Manager. The bundling deal is
- effective through February 15. Borland's SideKick for Presentation
- Manager is the first available application for the new IBM
- environment. It utilizes OS/2's multitasking operating system
- allowing users to work with multiple applications simultaneously.
- SideKick for Presentation Manager applications include a
- time planner, phone book, calculator, and notepad, and is similar
- to previous versions except that it has a graphic interface.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Mimi Paulsen, Borland, 408-438-8400)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00015)
-
- PC-WRITE 3.0 SHIPS
- SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Quicksoft is shipping the
- latest update of PC-Write 3.0 and claims it has over 500 new
- features. The popular shareware program breaks the former 60 kilobyte
- file limit. Users can now create files as large as the DOS memory of
- their computer. There are new formatting and printing capabilities
- including a facet which allows users to format text in multiple
- columns, edited on screen, and stored as columns in the file.
- There are 219 new printer drivers, bringing the total of supported
- printers to 607.
-
- PC-Write and Friends is the name of a new catalog of 32 other shareware
- titles from Quicksoft. It is available by calling the company.
-
- The success of PC-Write, since its introduction in 1983, has
- propelled Quicksoft from a $17,000 a year company to one now making
- over $2,000,000 annually in sales. The product is distributed
- as shareware; users can copy it and share it, and they can register
- for $89 and receive current software, a printed manual, telephone
- support, and a newsletter. To encourage copying, users get a
- $25 commission each time someone registers from one of their copies.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Bob Wallace, Quicksoft, 206-282-0452)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00008)
-
- COMPUTER ASSOCIATES, IBM JOIN MARKETING PACT
- GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, 1988 NOV 2 (NB) -- Computer Associates
- International Inc. and IBM have signed an agreement which makes
- Computer Associates an authorized application specialist and
- business partner of IBM. Both companies will work on promoting
- Computer Associates Masterpiece Financial Software series for
- IBM's new AS-400 minicomputers.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00017)
-
- WORKERS CHALLENGE IBM SOUTH AFRICA POLICY
- MANASSAS, VIRGINIA, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- In an unusual move, 61
- International Business Machines employees have signed a request
- for IBM shareholders to vote next April to stop all business with
- South Africa. About half the employees who signed the petition
- work in the Washington D.C. area, IBM physicist James Leas told
- the Washington Post. "I feel that selling computers to almost
- exclusively white customers in South Africa gives support to the
- apartheid system and makes IBM complicit with apartheid," Leas
- said. IBM workers are known for their company loyalty and seldom
- criticize the company in public. IBM management has made a
- commitment to take no action against the employees.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00002)
-
- HITACHI TO EXPORT LAPTOP PCs WITH COLOR LCD
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Hitachi has revealed plans to
- export its 16-bit laptop computer, the HL400 Model 021C, which has
- a color liquid crystal display, to Europe and Australia in the second
- quarter of 1989.
-
- The laptop PCs use the Intel 80286 and are compatible with the IBM PC/AT.
- The unique part of the machine is its color LCD. It employs
- thin-film transistor (TFT) technology which realizes screen
- resolution of 640 by 200 pixels and is able to show eight colors
- on a 6.3-inch display. Mass storage consists of one 1.44-megabyte
- or 720 kilobyte 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and one 20-megabyte
- hard disk drive.
-
- The company is planning to manufacture and market some of the
- machines in the U.S. under the Hitachi brand name.
-
- The price in Europe and Australia has not been released yet,
- but it will be fixed around 700,000 yen or U.S. $5,600.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117/Contact: Hitachi, 03-258-1111)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00009)
-
- CANON TO ENTER OVERSEAS MARKET
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Canon plans to attack the U.S. and European
- markets with its PC/AT-compatible machines which are equipped with
- Intel's 80386 or 80386SX microprocessors. Canon will supply
- the compatible machines to European markets starting next summer.
- The company expects some difficulty in export of the the machines
- directly from Japan to the U.S., given recent U.S. retaliation over
- the "chip dumping" scandal. Therefore, the firm is considering a
- plan to produce them directly in the U.S.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Canon Inc., 03-348-2121)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00010)
-
- MCA AND CD-ROM TO BE CONNECTED
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. will
- roll out interface boards which connect IBM's Microchannel
- Architecture (MCA) personal computers with compact disc read-only-
- memory (CD-ROM). To start, Sanyo will release a 98,000 yen ($800)
- interface board for IBM Japan's machines, including 5550-T,
- 5550-S, 5570-T, and 5570-S.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.,
- 06-991-1181)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(0009)
-
- SYNEX ANNOUNCES LINK FROM ACCPAC TO 1-2-3
- VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1988 NOV 16 (NB) -- Synex Systems
- Corp. has unveiled software that will allow Lotus Development
- Corp.'s 1-2-3 spreadsheet to produce financial reports from
- accounting system data. AccLink will bring data from Computer
- Associates Inc.'s Accpac Plus and EasyBusiness accounting systems
- into 1-2-3. There the data can be made into assorted reports,
- including graphics. David Richards, AccLink product manager,
- said the software will be available in February at a price
- comparable to that of a single AccPac module. He added that the
- company plans to produce versions that work with other accounting
- packages.
-
- Synex has developed an assortment of personal computer software,
- most of which is marketed by other companies. Its best known
- creations are SQZ! Plus and The Cambridge Spreadsheet Analyst,
- both sold by Symantec Corp.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: David Richards, Synex Systems
- Corp., 604-688-8271)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAS)(0011)
-
- REPLACEMENT MOTHERBOARD TURNS OLD COMPAQ INTO A 386
- LAS VEGAS, 1988 NOV 15 (NB) -- Seattle Telecom & Data, Inc., of
- Redmond, Wash., announced a replacement motherboard at
- Comdex/Fall that turns 8086-based Compaq Deskpro computers into
- 386 machines. The 80386 motherboard, available in 16- and 20-
- megahertz versions, slides into any early Compaq Deskpro,
- replacing the original motherboard. The 16-megahertz version
- with one megabyte of memory sells for $1,750, while the 20-
- megahertz version costs $2,250. Both are available immediately.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Joseph DeCaro, Seattle Telecom &
- Data Inc., 206-883-8440)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAS)(00001)
-
- SYZYGY -- PROMISING GROUPWARE APPLICATION
- LAS VEGAS NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- If it delivers on its promises, a
- product called Syzygy could be among the most important, if least
- pronounceable, products to come out of the 1988 Fall Comdex show.
- The word refers to the alignment of sun, moon, and the Earth. The
- product, which requires 512K of memory on an IBM PC, and should
- be used on a NetBios-compatible network, is designed to automate
- the most tedious aspects of project management. You input data on
- management objectives, project due dates and milestones,
- resources, budgets, and personnel responsibilities. The result is
- a work base which can be turned into Gantt charts, calendars,
- project and task lists, and to-do lists. Task templates are
- included for typical projects, like launching new products.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAS)(OOOO2)
-
- LAPTOPS AND THE SUCCESS OF TRAVELING SOFTWARE
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- President Mark Eppley of
- Traveling Software, Bothell, Wash., was one relaxed, happy camper
- at the Fall Comdex show. While everyone was remarking on the
- wide breadth of laptop computer offerings -- Epson, Toshiba,
- Zenith, Compaq, NEC, Sanyo and Sharp were just a few of the firms
- rolling out new lap models -- few noticed how Eppley's LapLink
- file transfer program had become a de-facto standard in this
- market. LapLink is a relatively simple utility for moving files
- over serial cables with RS-232 connectors between laptop and
- desktop PCs. But if your company has both kinds of computers,
- LapLink or something like it becomes a necessity.
-
- This adds to the significance of two deals Eppley announced.
- First, Toshiba agreed to offer a private-label version of LapLink
- for its laptops. Second, NEC agreed to bundle LapLink, in ROM, or read
- only memory, with its four-pound UltraLite laptop. Those deals made
- it easy for Eppley's folks to update LapLink Mac, which is a
- version for the Macintosh, as well as DeskLink, a version of the
- program which creates a de-facto network for small offices.
-
- Traveling Software also released a new version of its Battery
- Watch utility, which replaces the "idiot light" on most laptops
- with a pop-up gauge showing how much power your batteries have,
- and offered a new version of its catalog, which features both its
- own products and those of other firms. All of which means Eppley can
- make money both coming and going from the laptop revolution.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00001)
-
- TANDY ANNOUNCES FIRST UK TV CAMPAIGN
- BLOXWICH, ENGLAND 1988 NOV 1988 (NB) -- Tandy UK is to start its
- first-ever UK television campaign to market its new PC range,
- which includes the Microchannel Architecture PC-5000 announced
- last week. The ad campaign starts on 21 November, and runs
- until Christmas. The cost of the campaign have not been
- revealed by Tandy UK.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Tandy UK: (UK) 0922-710000)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00002)
-
- APRICOT UNVEILS ITS 386SX TRUMP CARD
- BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Apricot Computers has announced
- a change of strategy on its PC-AT 80286-based product line. The
- company is now fitting the new Intel 80386SX microprocessor to
- its entry-level Xen-S PCs. The Xen-S PCs now replace the earlier
- Xen-i range of 80286-based PCs.
-
- Pricing on the Xen-S now starts at #1,199 for an 80386SX-based
- Xen-S with 1 megabyte (Mb) of random access memory (RAM) and a
- 30Mb hard disk. Flagship of the range is the Xen-S 240X at
- #2,799, which comes with a Tandon Add-pac-style 44Mb removable
- hard disk system. The hard disk cartridges are amazingly cheap at
- #99 each.
-
- Apricot has said that, although it is not fitting the old Intel
- 80286 microprocessor to its Xen-S series, it will supply a 80286
- chip on special request. The Xen-S's motherboard has sockets for
- both the 80286 and 80386SX microprocessors.
-
- All machines in the Apricot Xen series, excluding the basic
- Xen-S, now support the Ethernet networking standard, thanks to
- the inclusion of an Ethernet-compatible chip set on the PC's
- motherboard.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Apricot Computers: (UK) 021-456-1234)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORT
- Week of November 22, 1988
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(00001)
-
- FCC ADOPTS DATA STANDARD
- WASHINGTON, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- The Federal Communications
- Commission has adopted technical telecommunications standards
- aimed at boosting voice mail and online database services. The
- seven regional Bell operating companies and AT&T have been
- working on the standards, known as Open Network Architecture, for
- 18 months. Still unknown is how Federal Judge Harold Greene will
- react to the standards. Greene, appointed by the courts to
- oversee the breakup of AT&T, has been in continual conflict with
- the FCC over what role AT&T and the Baby Bells can have in
- offering computer services. The Bells hope the new open standards
- will help change Greene's mind on the subject of what they can
- offer. Greene has consistently said that the Bells should be
- allowed to operate only as a channel for other people's data, not
- create their own data, such as online telephone directories.
-
- The FCC asked the companies to return on May 19 with some
- modifications of the ONA standards, while accepting most of them
- in advance. "The basic structure is 90 percent set," said an FCC
- spokeswoman. "What we're talking about now is filling in the
- details at the regional Bell companies."
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118/Contact: Arleen Spivack, FCC, 202-632-5050)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00012)
-
- BORLAND, INTEL, TYMNET GO ONLINE TOGETHER
- SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 17 (NB) -- Borland International,
- Intel Corporation and Tymnet have teamed up to establish a
- nationally-accessed bulletin board system for the Association of
- PC User Groups. The bulletin board will link all 77 member user groups
- representing 100,000 end-users. The board will use Intel modems
- and communication coprocessor boards and computers and software
- donated by Borland. Physically, the board will be located at
- Borland's offices in Scotts Valley, California.
-
- The board will provide APCUG members with the ability to exchange
- newsletters, hold conferences, request speakers from Borland and
- Intel, access press announcements, and obtain demo disks. Borland
- says it has pledged $100,000 to support and equip the bulletin
- board and will assign a dedicated contact person to run it.
-
- Intel says its hardware donation is worth $50,000.
-
- APCUG is an international, non-profit organization formed by the
- user groups to foster an exchange of information.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Suzanne Seigneur, Intel, 408-629-7369,
- Don Parkman, TYMNET, 408-922-7583, Tami Casey, Borland, 408-438-8400)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(00005)
-
- APOLLO TO LINK TO IBM THROUGH TOKEN-RING
- CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Apollo Computer has
- unveiled a series of products allowing Apollo workstations to
- link to networks of computers made by other companies. One
- product will allow Apollo workstation to work with IBM's token-
- ring network. The token-ring product will be standard on Apollo
- systems, beginning in December. Another product, which will cost
- $1,995, allows Apollo workstations to plug into Digital Equipment
- Corp. networks.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(00006)
-
- IBM INTRODUCES HIGH-SPEED LAN PRODUCTS
- RYE BROOK, NEW YORK, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- International Business
- Machines Corp. has unveiled products that enable the token-ring
- network to send and receive data at 16 million bits per second,
- four times the current rate of four million bits per second. IBM
- rolled out the new token-ring network at Comdex. Among the
- products from IBM are an optical fiber converter, a token-ring
- bridge program, and an enhanced version of token-ring network PC
- Adapter II.
-
- The adapter cards feature the first analog/digital chip built
- with IBM's advanced one-micron complementary metal oxide
- semiconductor technology. The cards are now small enough to fit
- in a half-size slot, and provide 64 kilobytes of random access
- memory. Previously, token-ring adapters used eight or 16 K of
- RAM. According to IBM, the new adapters will increase the number
- of workstations that can share server resources, even running at
- four million bits per second.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118/Contact: Kenneth Rowe, IBM, 914-934-4886)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(00013)
-
- NEW HOTEL RESERVATION SYSTEM DEBUTS
- NEW YORK, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Murdoch Electronic Publishing Inc.
- and The Hotel Industry Switch Co. (Thisco) have announced
- technology that will give travel agents the same kind of
- information about hotels that they now get about airplanes.
- Called UltraSwitch, the system will link hotel-chain reservation
- systems with the airline reservation systems used by the nation's
- 35,000 travel agents. UltraSwitch should be operating by the end
- of 1989. It is jointly owned by Murdoch and Thisco, a new
- corporation formed by nine hotel chains that will use the
- software. Thisco shareholders are Days Inn Corp., Best Western
- International, Hyatt Corp., La Qunita Motor Inns Inc., Marriott
- Corp., Quality Inns Inc., Ramada Inc., The Sheraton Corp., and
- Trusthouse Forte Hotels.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(00020)
-
- TWO-COLOR FAX FROM BROTHER
- PISCATAWAY, NEW JERSEY, 1988 NOV 2 (NB) -- Brother International
- Corp. has a device that just's the trick for editors: a two-color
- facsimile machine. The machine and send and receive documents in
- both read and black, and comes with a password feature to prevent
- junk fax mail. Both sender and receiver must have the Brother
- machine, the FAX-195R, for the red to appear on a transmitted
- document. Otherwise, it will show up as a gray undistinguishable
- from the rest of the document. The machine is $1,995.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118/Contact: Brother International Corp., 8
- Corporate Place, Piscataway NJ 08855-0159
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00001)
-
- ISDN ADAPTER INTRODUCED FROM NEC
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Nippon Electric Corp. has
- released the world's first special adapter which ensures direct
- connection of all the company's computers to an Integrated Services
- Digital Network (ISDN). Also, the adapter is bundled with
- standard features of Open Systems' Interconnection (OSI) which
- realize a free exchange of information via different types of
- computers.
-
- NEC's adapter does not require a conventional modem, therefore
- it performs lightening-fast data exchange at a staggering 64,000
- bits per second (bps), which is six times faster than a modem's highest
- speed limit of 9600bps.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881115/Contact: Nippon Electric Corp., 03-451-2974)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00003)
-
- MOMENTUM FOR OSI
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- The Ministry of Posts and
- Telecommunications (MPT) and the European Community (EC) have signed
- an agreement in Tokyo for the cooperative standardization of the Open
- Systems Interconnection (OSI) in the field of communication
- processing.
-
- Meanwhile, the MITI-affiliated Interoperability Technology Association
- for Information Processing has successfully performed the
- world's first open test of an OSI standard in Tokyo, in which
- sixteen companies, both national and international, participated.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881117)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00015)
-
- KDD RECORDS ITS HIGHEST PROFIT
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co.,
- (KDD) has announced its mid-term financial statements in 1988.
- KDD has recorded a 14.9 percent increase in revenues to $1,105.6
- million compared with the same term in the last year. Also, the
- company recorded a net profit of $238.4 million which is the
- highest on record in its history and exceeds the 60.7 percent
- profit recorded in the first half of the year.
-
- The company, however, cut 20 percent off its international
- telephone charges on September 15, therefore, net profit through
- the fiscal year will stay around $302.4 million.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(0004)
-
- ISDN TRIAL TO ENTER SECOND PHASE
- OTTAWA, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Bell Canada's trial of Integrated
- Services Digital Network (ISDN) technology in three Canadian
- government departments will continue into next year. Luc
- Fournier, project manager for the ISDN trial at the Department of
- Communications' Government Telecommunications Agency, said a
- second phase of the year-old trial has been approved in
- principle. Terms and the duration of the trial haven't been
- decided, he said. Along with the Government Telecommunications
- Agency and the Department of Communications, the Department of
- National Defence and the Department of Industry, Science and
- Technology are participating.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Luc Fournier, Government
- Telecommunications Agency, 613-990-1910)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(0008)
-
- ISDN SEMINAR SCHEDULED FOR EARLY DECEMBER
- TORONTO, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Bell Canada of Montreal and Angus
- TeleManagement Group Inc. of Pickering, Ontario, will present a
- three-day seminar on the Integrated Services Digital Network here
- December 7 to 9. Entitled Preparing for ISDN, the seminar will
- include a presentation by Dr. Theodore Irmer, director of the
- International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
- (CCITT), who is known as the father of ISDN. Twenty-nine other
- speakers from vendors, early ISDN users, telephone companies and
- consulting firms will also speak to the conference.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Lynda Leonard, Bell Canada, 613-
- 567-3770)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(0010)
-
- MORE OVERSEAS DIRECT DIALLING FOR CANADIANS
- MONTREAL, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- There's good news for Canadian PC
- enthusiasts who want to check out the bulletin board systems in
- Rangoon. Or pass on some shareware to a friend in Nouakchott.
- Teleglobe Canada, the company responsible for overseas telephone
- links from Canada, has announced that direct dialling is
- available to 11 more countries starting today. They are Burma
- and Mauritania (whose capitals are Rangoon and Nouakchott
- respectively), Congo, Djibouti, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia,
- Nauru, Romania, Sierra Leone and the People's Democratic Republic
- of Yemen.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Robert Frank, Teleglobe Canada,
- 514-289-7490)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00008)
-
- COMPUTER/COMMUNICATIONS LAW NEWSLETTER DEBUTS
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Legal Studies and Services Ltd., has
- launched Applied Computer and Communications Law (ACCL), a ten
- issues a year newsletter aimed at reporting and explaining the
- law relating to computer communications. Annual subscriptions
- cost #90, with the first three issues available on a no-risk
- refund basis.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Monitor Press - (UK) 01-437-4343)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00009)
-
- MERCURY FIRST LONDON TO TOKYO FIBRE OPTIC LINK
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Mercury Communications has announced
- the first order for an end-to-end optical fibre link between
- London and Tokyo. The order, placed by NKK Securities of Japan,
- represents a major step forward in international data
- communications. The fibre optic link will be split into three
- sections: UK-US via PTAT-1; New Jersey-Seattle via Cable &
- Wireless North America's US national service; and US-Japan via
- the North Pacific Cable (NPC).
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00010)
-
- ARIANE-4 SCHEDULED FOR 9 DECEMBER LIFT-OFF
- PARIS, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Ariane, the French satellite
- consortium, has announced that Ariane-4 will launch a UK
- military telecommunications satellite (Skynet 4B) and a Luxembourg TV
- satellite (Astra 1A) next month. The satellite will take off from
- French Guyana in the early hours of 9 December, 1988. The launch
- will be the first commercial flight to be run by the Ariane
- consortium.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)
-
- MERCURY EXPANDS PACKET DATA NETWORK
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Mercury Communications has announced
- a major expansion of its Packet Data Network System (PDNS).
- Subscribers to its packet-switching network can now place
- outgoing calls to: Belgium, Bermuda, Denmark, Finland, GDR,
- Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal,
- Singapore, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland.
-
- The international destinations join the existing countries -
- Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Qatar and the US -
- which have been available for some time.
-
- Rates of the new services have been filed with the UK's Office of
- Telecommunications (Oftel) and are between 10 and 35 per cent
- cheaper than those charged by British Telecom.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/Mercury - (UK) 01-528-2337)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00012)
-
- IRS DIALTECH NEW TARIFFS; ACCESS NUMBERS
- ESRIN, ITALY, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- IRS Dialtech, the Italian
- bibliographic and full-text retrieval service, has announced
- changes in the way in which its rates are charged. In addition,
- key access codes for use on packet-switching networks will change
- from 19 December, 1988 onwards.
-
- The new contact numbers are:
-
- London (voice help desk): (UK) 01-215-6582
- Italy (voice help desk): (ITAL) 039-0694-1801
-
- ITAPAC ADDRESS (PDN): (A9) 222-265-0143
- PSS ADDRESS (UK - PSS): A219201156
-
- The new charging system for IRS Dialtech is based on European
- Accounting Units (EAU), a unit of currency that remains fixed
- for each calendar year. The 1989 EAU is equivalent to 66.498
- pence. The IRS service will be billed in EAU's from 1 January,
- 1989 onwards.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00013)
-
- X400 ELECTRONIC MESSAGING PUBLICATION LAUNCHED
- LONDON, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- IBC has released a major
- publication entitled X400 & OSI - Electronic Messaging into the
- 1990's. The #98 book is written by Carl Law, the renowned
- communications journalist.
-
- (Steve Gold/19881119/IBC - (UK) 09323-55244)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00009)
-
- MACINTOSH USER LISTS ONLINE
- APTOS, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Need a mailing list of Macintosh
- users and want it in electronic format? Semaphore Corporation has
- the first online database devoted strictly to Macintosh users in
- the United States. Over 200,000 users can be retrieved by name,
- company, school, or zip code. The database is called Find-A-User
- and costs four cents per retrieved record. Mike Gabrielson,
- a member of the technical support staff, told Newsbytes the
- database has been available since August. He says Newsbytes
- readers can log on for free and check out the system by dialing
- via computer 408-662-2717 and when prompted for I.D. type DEMO.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Semaphore, office, 408-688-9200)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00010)
-
- FIRST SALES OF ISDN TECHNOLOGY IN CALIFORNIA
- FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- Pacific Bell has announced
- a $2.9 million agreement with the City of Fresno for an
- ISDN (integrated services digital network) system, the first
- commercial sale of the new technology in California. The ISDN
- system will work with a Centrex telephone system to serve
- city government with both voice and data exchange, eventually
- incorporating electronic mail, automated energy management, and
- video teleconferencing.
-
- Dan Shupp, Pacific Bell area vice president said in a prepared
- statement, "Because ISDN can handle data as well as voice over
- existing telephone lines, it eliminates the cost of separate
- coaxial cables to handle data. From their desktop, ISDN users
- can access both voice and data networks through their modular
- phone jacks."
-
- The new system will allow the city to, for example, immediately
- start or stop phone service for an exhibitor at the municipal convention
- center and provide a bill. Using traditional technology, this
- operation would require at least a day for the phone company to
- perform the work.
-
- ISDN is a new technology that divides a standard two-wire telephone
- line into three digital channels capable of simultaneous
- transmission of voice, data, and video. ISDN is based upon
- standards for the telecommunications network of the future that
- will eventually be used worldwide.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119/Contact: Scott Smith, Pacific Bell, 415-542-0597)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGY
- Week of November 22, 1988
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00005)
-
- PROTOTYPE 4 KILOBIT JOSEPHSON MEMORY DEVELOPED BY FUJITSU
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Fujitsu Ltd. has won the
- distinction of developing a prototype four kilobit memory using
- a Josephson junction device, known as a super-fast complementary
- metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The Josephson
- memory runs far faster than other high-speed four-kilobit memory
- chips, according to the company. Fujitsu boasts that the basic
- technology of a Josephson computer has been established.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Fujitsu Ltd., 03-216-3211)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00007)
-
- CASIO TO LAUNCH ADPS BUSINESS
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Casio Computer Co., Ltd. will
- establish an information equipment business office in Akihabara,
- the famous shopping district for electronics goods in Tokyo.
- The new branch will mainly promote sales of Casio's Automatic Data
- Processing System (ADPS) machines, and is expected to announce
- new products in Tokyo next January. Casio has already trained
- thirteen ADPS instructors and has manufactured 20 units of the
- new ADPS system for evaluation.
-
- ADPS is a revolutionary new kind of computer that does not
- require an operating system nor application software. Data,
- alone, is all that is required to operate it.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Casio Computer Co., 03-347-4811)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00011)
-
- SONY AND PHILIPS PROPOSE NEW CD-ROM FORMAT
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Sony Corporation and Holland-based
- major electronics firm N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken have
- cooperatively offered a summary specification on 8 centimeter
- compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM) cartridges for the computer
- industry. The new CD-ROM has a memory capacity of 200 megabytes
- and the drive unit has roughly the same size as the conventional
- 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. The CD-ROM cartridge measures 90mm x
- 94mm x 6mm.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881117/Contact: Sony Corp., 03-448-2111)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAS)(00007)
-
- A REVIEW OF COMDEX TRENDS
- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- While major American vendors
- argued about standards (OSF vs. AT&T, MCA vs. EISA) there were some
- noticeable technology trends to be seen at this year's Fall Comdex.
- Here's our Newsbytes assessment.
-
- Fax is being rapidly integrated into the computing environment.
- Not only were there many fax machines on display, but many
- sported RS-232 ports, and many American computer companies, most
- notably Wang Labs, made a point of integrating fax images into
- their systems.
-
- Color has finally arrived. Partly that's because operating
- systems have been upgraded to handle the demands of color. Apple
- has abandoned black-and-white to concentrate on the Mac II. IBM's
- VGA standard can handle real color photographs. Atari and
- Commodore continue as factors because developers have many color
- applications on the ST and Amiga machines. There were color
- scanners and color printers of all types on display. And prices
- will be coming down.
-
- The "Four Tigers" -- Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea --
- have raised the stakes in worldwide computing by offering
- innovation as well as low prices. The GUIS fax-answering machine
- was the surprise of the show, and if the machine's Taiwanese
- maker can deliver on its promises, a $1,200 machine which
- separates fax and voice calls by next spring, the Japanese will
- have plenty to worry about.
-
- The "memory shortage" will soon turn into a memory glut, but it's
- becoming clear how businesses will use that extra memory. Rather
- than passing more messages between computers, we'll see more
- complex messages, color pictures, stereo sound, and fax.
-
- Finally, Comdex itself. Despite growing complaints that it's too
- big and lacks focus, increasing numbers of people keep coming.
- Final attendance was estimated at 110,000 (this in a city where
- there are only 60,000 hotel rooms). Corporate buyers and
- MIS directors now dominate convention sessions. And it's clear
- The Interface Group is hearing the complaints, with plans to move
- Macintosh developers into a separate MacDex. No one can "see it
- all" (Interface's phrase) anymore, and few try. Every attendee we
- talked to had a short, specific list of booths and topics laid
- out. And if Comdex does reflect the state of the industry, its
- boom just keeps on booming.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00008)
-
- INTEL CREATES 80386 CHIP GLUT
- SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- The industry is awash
- in 80386 chips, 2.4 million of them to be exact, and orders are
- slowing down. This comes from Intel itself, maker of the 80386 microprocessor,
- which admits that it made too much of a good thing and will suffer
- as a result. Intel says this quarter's revenues, due out in December,
- will fall about 10 percent from figures reported in its third quarter
- of $785 million.
-
- Intel denies a report that some customers are returning the 80386
- chips, but admits some customers are going through an "inventory
- correction." Intel Chief Executive Andy Grove said in a prepared
- statement that he expects the slowdown will end by the second
- quarter of 1989.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
- NEWSBYTES (Tm) UNIX REPORT
- Week of November 22, 1988/#283
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00005)
-
- HEWLETT PACKARD, MICROSOFT LAUNCH UNIX INTERFACE
- PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 17 (NB) -- Hewlett Packard and
- Microsoft have announced a new, graphics-based Unix user interface
- that makes a program running in Unix look like it's an MS-DOS
- machine running Windows and OS/2. Called Common X, the software
- consists of specifications for developers. A Microsoft spokesman,
- at the product introduction in Las Vegas, said users of current
- Microsoft and IBM products will need only "minimal training"
- to use Unix software written with Common X.
-
- Observers suggest this new product, however, will only add to the
- current confusion over a standard Unix operating system. Sun
- Microsystems already has a graphic interface for Unix machines
- which are running the AT&T-created Unix. And a new version of Unix
- is being designed by a consortium called the Open Systems
- Foundation, and consisting of Digital Equipment, IBM, and
- Hewlett Packard, among others.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00006)
-
- LOW-END SUN WORKSTATIONS IN EARLY '89
- MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 19 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems,
- in hiatus from a burst of new product introductions earlier this
- year, will pick up the ball again in early '89 by introducing
- a line of low-end Unix workstations, so says MacWeek magazine.
- The weekly publication quotes industry sources as saying Sun will
- introduce several low-end Unix/DOS workstations to compete with
- those from Apple and NeXT, Inc. "A general purpose 68030-
- based workstation should emerge in the first quarter, followed by
- additions to Sun's 386i line of UNIX/DOS computers," says
- author Will McClatchy. The report suggests that Sun is seeking
- distribution channels pioneered by Apple for its coming products
- and quotes a Sun executive, Barry Folsom, as saying his firm
- is probably talking with ComputerLand and BusinessLand as
- retail outlets.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00007)
-
- APOLLO LANDS UNIVERSITY CONTRACT
- CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 NOV 22 (NB) -- Apollo Computer has
- won a contract to sell more than 100 workstations to the
- University of Montreal. No terms disclosed. Apollo says the
- workstations will be used in a network for computer science
- instruction.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881118)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00019)
-
- SCO XENIX UPGRADE FROM UNISYS
- BLUE BELL, PENNSYLVANIA, 1988 NOV 2 (NB) -- Unisys Corp. is
- offering Santa Cruz Operation Inc.'s SCO Xenix System V/Release
- 2.3 for its 80386-based Personal Workstation2 line of personal
- computers. Unisys has sold more than 20,000 copies of SCO Xenix,
- a PC version of Unix that allows users to run DOS programs under
- Unix, since 1984. "The SCO Xenix 386 operating system Release 2.3
- provides full binary compatibility with Unix System V/386 Release
- 3.1 and beyond," said Doug Michels, SCO vice president and
- founder. The new SCO Xenix offers mouse support, VGA graphics,
- new communication support, and improved coprocessor performance,
- Unisys said. Unisys wants $695 for the operating system.
-
- (Ken Maize/19881119)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00004)
-
- NEC SIDES WITH AT&T
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Japan's computer giant NEC has finally
- expressed its position on the standardization of the Unix operating
- system -- and is going with AT&T.
-
- According to our sources, NEC received a presentation from
- one of the members of AT&T's alliance, and the company will be
- registered as a member of Unix International, the AT&T fold which
- will be established within a month in Tokyo.
-
- Major Japanese companies, such as Fujitsu, Toshiba, and Oki, have
- already sided with AT&T, but only Hitachi has taken a side with the
- rival Open Software Foundation.
-
- (Naoyuki Yazawa/19881117/Contact: NEC03-454-1111)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00008)
-
- SONY TO SET UP WORKSTATION FACTORY
- TOKYO, 1988 22 NOV (NB) -- Sony Corp. will construct a new
- assembly line for its best-selling engineering workstation (EWS) the NEWS.
- Sony will double production by next February at the conventional
- lines of its audio equipment manufacturing subcontract company
- Nagano Toyo Tsuushin. Afterwards, Sony will build a special
- factory near the company. Sony promises to raise its NEWS production
- to 5,000 units per month by next October, an amount ten times larger
- than at present.
-
- (Ken Takahashi/19881116/Contact: Sony Corp., 03-448-2111)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(0007)
-
- UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL TO BUY APOLLO WORKSTATIONS
- MONTREAL, 1988 NOV 18 (NB) -- The University of Montreal will buy
- more than 100 workstations from Apollo Computer Inc. of
- Chelmsford, Mass. The purchase is one of the largest workstation
- sales in Canadian history. More than 1,000 students will use the
- Apollo Series 3000, Series 3500 and Series 4000 workstations for
- computer science instruction, according to the company.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19881118/Contact: Lynn Bellevance, Apollo Computer
- Inc., 508-256-6600)
-
-
- (NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00014)
-
- NEXT TO REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA
- REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 NOV 17 (NB) -- NeXT Incorporated
- will move its headquarters to Redwood City from its current
- facilities in Palo Alto by May, 1989. The new headquarters, eight
- times as big as the old one, is a mile east of Highway 101 on
- Seaport Boulevard, 25 miles south of San Franciso. NeXT, which
- recently introduced a new academic workstation and has been the
- talk of the computer industry, has signed a five year lease on the site.
- NeXT Chairman Steve Jobs, who has been looking for some time for
- a new headquarters location, was reportedly sold on the "water
- orientation" of the site, which borders the San Francisco Bay.
- "We have a great view overlooking the Redwood City Marina, and we are
- taking advantage of it," said Randall Fosnick, a NeXT attorney.
- Jobs is now reportedly considering building an open-air
- amphitheater and a piazza-style cafe on a portion of a parking lot.
-
- (Wendy Woods/19881119)
-
-
-