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/1990/nb901004

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(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

SEMATECH GETS XEROX VP FOR CHIEF
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- William Spencer, a group
vice president of Xerox Corporation, has been selected to succeed
the late Robert Noyce as president and chief executive officer of
Sematech, the industry/government consortium designing advanced
semiconductors and related manufacturing processes, based in Austin,
Texas.

The 60 year-old Spencer, manager of research at Xerox in Stamford,
Connecticut, also worked for Bell Laboratories and the Sandia
National Laboratories. "With his experience in key research
positions at Bell Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories and
Xerox Corp., Dr. Spencer has the technical expertise to implement
programs which will enable this country to remain globally
competitive," proclaimed Charles Sporck, Sematech chairman.

Some 14 U.S. companies belong to Sematech, including Advanced
Micro Devices, AT&T, DEC, Harris Corporation, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Intel, LSI Logic, Micron Technology, Motorola, NCR,
National Semiconductor Corp.; Rockwell International, and Texas
Instruments.

(Wendy Woods/19901004)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00002)

COMMODORE AUSTRALIA CLAIMS RECORD PC SALE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- China has purchased
ten thousand commodore C64 computers from Commodore Australia
in a $20M deal. Managing Director Paul Byrne told Newsbytes that
until he was told otherwise, he was claiming this as the largest
single purchase of PCs, by volume.

He said that the company was preparing for future orders and was
investigating the possibility of preparing customized software for
the mainland China market.

(Paul Zucker/19901004)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00003)

AUSTRALIA: TROUBLED IMAGINEERING CHANGES NAME TO TECH PACIFIC
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Much-troubled Australian
PC distributor Imagineering has announced the latest move to regain
profitability. It has merged with its subsidiary company Tech Pacific,
taking the latter company's name.

Tech Pacific was originally viewed by observers as Imagineering's
way of handling product clashes -- conflicting lines were passed to
Tech Pacific, appeasing the aggrieved manufacturers. While
Imagineering became top-heavy and lost vast amounts of money,
Tech Pacific has performed well and consistently recorded profits,
albeit small.

One move necessitated by the amalgamation is the appointment
of a new, second distributor for Lotus -- believed to be
Merisel-MicroAustralia.

The move will see around 30 percent of the 200 staff retrenched
in Australia, and an almost 50 percent reduction in New Zealand.

(Paul Zucker/19901004)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00004)

AUSTRALIA: EDI TO LINK PUBLISHING/ADVERTISING
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Australian newspaper
groups Fairfax and News Limited are to form an EDI (electronic
data interchange) network in conjunction with a leading advertising
agency. The pilot project may lead to a unified, national electronic
media booking service.

Test traffic is due to commence within two months, and the
experiment will then be judged over a 12-month period. The
similar EDI network for TV networks may be combined with
the print media network following the trial periods.

(Paul Zucker/19901004)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00005)

AUSTRALIA: MURDOCH EXPERIMENTS WITH NEWSPAPER PRODUCTION
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Ex-Australian
Newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch is to try an experiment with
four of his Australian papers that has never fully
succeeded before. He has combined a morning and evening
newspaper in both Melbourne and Sydney, producing two, 24-
hour-a-day papers, a feat made possible by the implementation of
new computer technology.

Using new computer typesetting and printing set-up systems,
the papers will be produced as four separate editions, from
early morning until evening. The Melbourne Sun (morning)
and Herald (afternoon), will become the Herald-Sun on
Monday. The Sydney Telegraph (morning) and Mirror
(afternoon) will become the Telegraph-Mirror.

(Paul Zucker/19901004)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00006)

ALDUS INTROS PERSUASION 2.0 FOR WINDOWS
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Aldus Corporation
has rolled out a version of Persuasion 2.0, its desktop presentations
program, for Windows.

The program can make overhead, 35mm slide, and on-screen presentations.
It includes tools for outlining, word-processing, drawing, charting,
and formatting, and can produce black-and-white or color presentations,
as well as speaker notes and audience handouts. Presenters
choose a design -- either one of the predesigned slide or overhead
templates that come with the product, or one of their own creation --
type their ideas into the outliner, and Persuasion automatically
formats the entire presentation.

The program's word processor allows users to specify type, color,
automatic text wraps, and line and paragraph spacing. They can also
search and replace words and phrases, check their spelling, and mix type
styles, faces, colors, and sizes within a text block. Persuasion for Windows
also includes automatic kerning, and, at the user's discretion, can
automatically number slides and speaker notes, and include time, date, and
filename stamps.

To create a chart in Persuasion, users simply type their figures directly
into its data sheet or import them from spreadsheet programs such as
Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel, then choose a chart format.

(Wendy Woods/19901004/Press Contact: Jane Dauber, 206/628-6674)


(NEWS)(IBM)(NYC)(00007)

NEW FOR IBM: DisplayWrite 5 Composer For Page Layout
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- IBM has
unveiled DisplayWrite 5 Composer, a page layout program designed
to complement DisplayWrite 5, IBM's word processing program for
the MS-DOS environment.

DisplayWrite 5 Composer will be included with DisplayWrite and the
combined product will have a suggested retail price of $595. Present users
of DisplayWrite 5 can upgrade to the combined product for a cost of $125.

In addition to allowing the user to incorporate text, fonts and graphics, the
program also includes 50 predefined style sheets for creating newsletters,
reports and proposals.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901003/Press Contact:
Steven Malkiewicz of IBM, 914-642-5449)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00008)

TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS GETS TWO GOVT SECURITY CONTRACTS
CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Technical
Communications says it's got two contracts from the armed forces --
one with the Air Force and one with the Coast Guard, totaling $2.9
million. The deals call for Technical to supply Cipher X5000 X.25/DDN
end-to-end data encryption devices.

The contracts call for the shipment of $1.1 million worth of
equipment in calendar 1990 and the remainder over the next three years.

Arnold M. McCalmont, chairman and chief executive officer said
Technical Communications first displayed this product in April, at a
government-sponsored demonstration, where it was recommended for use
for encryption of sensitive but unclassified information to be transmitted
on the U.S. Government's new FTS 2000 Communications Network. The
firm stated in a prepared release that, while the new contracts are not
related to FTS 2000 Communications Network, the company expects this
network to be a significant area of opportunity along with individual
orders directly from various agencies.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901001/Press Contact: Peter
L. Kenney, Technical Communications Corp. 617-862-6035)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00009)

NEW PC: A 286 For The Tiniest Budget From The UK
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Walters, the microcomputing
division of Willaire Electronics, has launched the G2, a 12MHz
286-based PC with 1MB of RAM at a budget price tag of UKP530 for
the single floppy version and UKP805 for the 40MB hard disk
edition -- prices some 42 percent cheaper than Walters' previous
286 offerings.

The reason for the price cuts, according to Ron Brand, chief
executive of Willaire, is integrated component design.

"Widespread tightening of IT budgets, particularly by the larger
corporations, has meant that market demand for 286-based systems is
still very strong. Walters is therefore introducing the G2
system, a high quality 286 product, which is being marketed with
a pricing policy unrivalled by our closest competitors," he said.

Internally, the G2 has a smaller, half-size main board; a reduced
chip count of three components as support chips; and a single
main peripheral I/O card controlling the parallel, serial and
mouse interfaces, as well as both the floppy and hard disk
interfaces. Additional features include expandable on-board RAM
and 20 or 40MB hard disks.

(Steve Gold/19901002/Press Contact: Tim Keen, Willaire
Electronics - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00010)

UK: SCOTTISH HYPERCARD USERS' GROUP FORMED
STRATCHCLYDE, SCOTLAND, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- The Scottish
Hypercard Users' Group (SHUG) has relaunched itself and will hold
its inaugural meeting at Stratchclyde University on October
8. SHUG was originally started back in 1988 and membership now
spans a wide range of Hypercard practitioners.

The primary aim of SHUG is to provide Hypercard users with
advice, support and - via its library - stacks and stack-building
gadgets. Eight main meetings are held a year, providing speakers,
seminars and workshops on a variety of subjects.

As part of the relaunch, SHUG will publish a newsletter called
Stacks. Initially, the newsletter will be published twice a year,
giving information on group events, news from members in the
field and Hypercard developments generally.

Membership in SHUG costs UKP10 annually.

(Steve Gold/1990102/Press & Public Contact: Erica McAteer,
secretary, SHUG, PO Box 178, Glasgow G1 1RH. Tel: [phone]
extension 2825)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00011)

NEW FOR IBM: Reverse Engineering Software From Index
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- With its new
Excelerator for Design Recovery (XL/Recover), Index Technology is
trying to extend its success in computer-aided software
engineering (CASE) tools to maintenance and replacement of
existing programs.

Available now, XL/Recover is designed to analyze, document, and
revise existing COBOL applications. It grew out of Index's
Excelerator, a popular systems analysis and design tool for
creating new applications.

According to Index Technology, maintenance of old software
typically consumes more than 80 percent of software development
budgets.

XL/Recover scans COBOL programs, recovers data and design
information. It stores this data in the Excelerator repository.
Analysts can then use Excelerator to manipulate the information
and generate specifications, such as diagrams, screen layouts,
and analysis reports. XL/Recover reads COBOL, IMS/MFS, CICS/BMS
and IMS database definitions.

XL/Recover runs on 286-, 386-, and 486-based PCs. Single copies
cost US$9,800, with quantity discounts for purchases of two or
more copies. The initial release of XL/Recover runs on the MS-DOS
operating system. An OS/2 version is planned for next year, Index
Technologies said.

(Grant Buckler/19901001/Press Contact: Victoria Bundonis, Index
Technology, 617-494-8200)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00012)

NEW FOR IBM: Keep Track Of Clients With French Version Of Maximizer
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Richmond
Software has announced that Version 2.0 of its contact management
software Maximizer is now available in French.

Janette Peters, a spokeswoman for Richmond, said the program code
is actually bilingual and can be switched between French and
English at will. The difference between the versions is the
language of the documentation, she said. Because of the extra
cost of adding French capability for a smaller market, she added,
the French version costs C$395 for the single-user version and
C$895 for the network version, versus C$295 and C$695 for the
English-language version.

Richmond has offered French editions of previous versions of
Maximizer. French-language support usually lags about six months
behind new releases in English, she said.

The company also offers Dutch and German versions of Maximizer in
Europe, Peters said. Asked about another kind of translation, she
said their are no immediate plans for a version of the software
to run on the Apple Macintosh.

Richmond has also begun offering training for Maximizer users.
The company held its first courses in Vancouver and Toronto, and
plans to expand to all major North American cities.

(Grant Buckler/19901001/Press Contact: Janette Peters, Richmond
Software, 604-299-2121)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00013)

NEW PRODUCT: Racal Interlan's Integrated LAN System
BOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Racal
Interlan has introduced an extensible LAN communications system
that integrates 10BaseT concentrators, asynchronous terminal
servers and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) in the same
chassis.

The company said the new Internext 5000 Communications System
(INX5000) will let users manage a mix of PC and terminal
connections at the facility, closet, and workgroup level. The
company's director of marketing for system products, Charles
Dillon, told Newsbytes its ability to handle a mixture of
terminals and personal computer connections makes it ideal for
organizations in transition to using PCs as intelligent
terminals.

Racal Interlan said the INX5000 is designed for structured wiring
system. It supports Ethernet running on coax, twisted-pair, and
fiber optic cabling and is compatible with all popular building
wiring schemes. Support for the Fiber Optic Inter-Repeater Link
(FOIRL) standard allows optical fiber backbones between multiple
INX5000 systems. The company said this allows longer distances
between units and provides for a future move to the Fiber
Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) standard.

The INX5000 of a midplane architecture instead of a backplane.
Dillon explained that this modular approach, popular in wide-area
network hardware but less so in local-area technology, separates
connectivity options from logic modules. This lets customers
piece together what they need without paying for what they don't
need, he said.

(Grant Buckler/19901001/Press Contact: Charles Dillon, Racal
InterLan, 508-263-9929)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00014)

KOREAN FIRM SIGNS TO MAKE CELLULAR PHONES
PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Otron of
Korea moved to enter the approaching market for next-generation
cellular, or personal communications network equipment by
signing a joint venture agreement with Drivefone. Drivefone is
seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for
experimental licenses to test transmission techniques of Personal
Communications Networks in the 900 megahertz frequency band in
New York, Philadelphia and Boston. The aim of the tests is to
develop PCN systems and products.

Otron is a 30-year-old manufacturer of telecommunications
equipment and computer peripherals with revenues in excess of
$100 million annually. The joint venture company intends to
develop equipment to be marketed on a worldwide basis. Other
projects initially planned include development of digital/analog
cellular phones.

For now, the joint venture will operate from Drivefone's
corporate offices in Paramus. The joint venture will utilize the
resources of the two partners, as well as an outside consulting
staff.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901002/Press Contact: James E. Farrell, for
Drivefone, 305-473-9770)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)

CISCO TO BUY IBM TECHNOLOGY FOR ROUTER/BRIDGES
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Cisco
Systems announced an agreement with IBM under which Big Blue will
provide its switchable 4 and 16 million bits/second Token Ring
technology for use in Cisco's line of internetworking
router/bridges. Cisco plans to develop a Token Ring interface
card for its line of router/bridges. The new interface will be
able to be installed in customers' existing systems.

The proposed interface card will be able to be "mixed and
matched" with Ethernet, fiber, and wide-area networks, including
T1 lines running at 1.544 million bits/second. The interface will
be available in the second quarter of 1991.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901002/Press Contact: Cisco Systems, Jeff
Paine, 415/326-1941)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00016)

SIMULA INVENTOR, KRISTEN NYGAARD, HONORED
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) has announced
that its 1990 Nobert Weiner Award for Professional and
Social Responsibility has been awarded to Professor
Kristen Nygaard of the University of Oslo in Norway.

Kristen Nygaard has long been active in the development of computer
languages and, in 1962, developed a language, Simula, which is
considered a forerunner of object-oriented programming. Simula
evolved into Simula 67 which contributed to the further
development of languages such as SmallTalk. Since 1976,
Nygaard has been engaged in the development and
subsequent implementation of a new general object-oriented
programming language known as BETA.

Nygaard was the first chairman of the Environment Protection
Committee of the Norwegian Association for the Protection of
Nature. Since 1988, he has chaired the Information Committee
on Norway and the EEC, an organization critical of efforts to
join Norway with the European Common Market. Prior to that,
in 1987, he was a visiting professor at Stanford
University.

The award is named after the late MIT mathematician and
cyberneticist who is revered by CPSR as a "passionate champion of
social responsibility in science and technology."

Previous winners of the award have included Professor David
Parnas of Queen's University in Canada, Professor Joseph
Weizenbaum of MIT and Professor Daniel McCracken of the City
University of New York.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901001/Press Contact: Gary
Chapman, CPSR.,415-322-3778)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00017)

COMPUTER SCIENCES GETS $15.3 MILLION ARMY DESIGN CONTRACT
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Computer
Sciences Corp. (CSC) has been awarded a $15.3 million contract
to develop and demonstrate its version of a reserve component
automation system (RCAS). The award is the first phase of a
three-phase competitive run-off for a contract with a
potential value of $1 billion.

RCAS is a system intended to enable the rapid mobilization of the Army
National Guard and Army Reserve in response to national emergencies and
to also serve the peacetime functions of these organizations. The
project has been referred to by government sources as being of
high importance as the Army adjusts its active manpower downward
to fit lower budgets.

CSC heads one of two teams competing for the contract. Team members
are American Management Systems Inc. and Systems Research and
Applications Corp., both of Arlington, VA., and Data General Corp. of
Westboro, MA. The total program calls for developing the system
design and necessary custom software, furnishing the commercial
hardware and software required, and deploying the complete
information system to some 5,000 sites.

In the first phase, lasting approximately a year, the teams will
develop and demonstrate their system designs. In phase two, the
Army expects to select one prime contractor to develop and field
the critical mobilization and logistics elements of RCAS to all the
sites over a three-year period. In the last phase, spanning eight years,
that contractor will expand RCAS with a number of additional
administrative functions. CSC estimates the value of the program
at about $1 billion over the 12-year period.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901001/Press Contact: Jim
Furlong, Computer Sciences, 213-615-0311)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00018)

NEW PRODUCT: New Drive Plugs Into Computer's Parallel Port
FAREHAM, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Timatic Systems has
unveiled Backpack, a plug in and go disk drive that is compatible
with most PCs. The reason for its universal applications is
simple - it plugs into the computer's parallel port.

The drive has a parallel port to allow printers or other Backpack
drives to be connected "daisy chain" style. The drive, the company
claims, avoids the need to buy interface cards or take up extra
slots on a PC.

Timatic is supplying Backpack in three versions: 3.5-inch dual
standard (720K/1.44MB), 3.5-inch tri-standard (720K/1.44/2.8MB)
and 5.25-inch dual standard (360/1.2MB). Pricing starts at
UKP299.

(Steve Gold/19901001/Press & Public Contact: Nick Young, Timatic
Systems - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00019)

NEW FOR IBM: Card Speeds Up Sluggish 4.77MHz PCs
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Nanosecond Technology has
released the GTX card, a UKP 39-95 unit that acts as a drop-in
replacement for the 4.77MHz 8088 chip, speeding the PC-XT's
performance up towards that of an 80286-based system.

Although the card has been designed for use with a true IBM PC-XT,
a clone adapter kit is available for UKP 6-00 that the
company claims, allows non-IBM 4.77MHz PCs to be upgraded using
the card's NEC V20 microprocessor.

The GTX card improves the PC's performance in several ways,
the company claims. The NEC V20 microprocessor boosts system
performance by between 10 and 15 percent in its own right, while
the board increases the PC's speed to between 6.144 and 8MHz. A
switch for moving back to 4.77MHz operation is available.

A utility disk supplied with the card includes two speed-up
programs - Speedup and Setdma - that "tweak" system performance
still further.

(Steve Gold/19901001/Press & Public Contact: Martin George,
Nanosecond Technology - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00020)

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA WELCOMING DATA CENTER MIGRATIONS FROM HONG KONG
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- The Hong Kong-based
airline, Cathay Pacific, is the latest business from the
colony to move data processing and development centers to
Australia. The 1997 takeover of Hong Kong by China is
causing a steady out-flow of skilled personnel, including
DP staff.

Other organizations to make the move include the Hong Kong
Bank and the HK Jockey Club. "Labor is tight in Hong Kong
and many companies are moving offshore just to keep their
staff. For others it's too late and they have to go offshore to
regain staff," said Jenny Chiam, labor broker.

(Paul Zucker/19901001)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00021)

MACINTOSH NUDIST HELPS ACADEMICS WITH PAPERWORK OVERLOAD
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Entering the
"software with a catchy name" stakes, comes Nudist, the
package designed to help owners of large amounts of textual
data. Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching
and Theorizing (NUDIST) is an Australian-written Lisp
package for mainframes and Macintosh.

Creator Dr. Tom Richards told Newsbytes that Nudist is
designed for people with large amounts of textual information
(letters, surveys, inquiries, records). It organizes the sub-division,
indexing and cross-referencing as necessary to use or analyze
the information.

"We use Nudist because it doesn't require any segmentation,
data-structure design or report forms. It allows us to
construct and manipulate concepts and to compute the
references to the text that corresponds to each point of
the procedure," said a Nudist user.

(Paul Zucker/19901001/Contact: Tom Richards, Replee, phone
[phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00022)

DEC MAKES SEYBOLD SPLASH WITH NEW SOFTWARE, ALLIANCES
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
has unveiled new publishing software, as well as alliances with Adobe
Systems, Odesta, and Verity at the Seybold Computer Publishing Expo in
San Jose, CA.

DEC has introduced DECpresent, a presentation graphics program for
Digital workstations and DECwrite, OS/2-based word processing.
Both products are due to be available this quarter and cost $860 and $995,
respectively.

Adobe and DEC announced they will work together to develop a unified
approach to editable document interchange based on Digital's NAS
Compound Document Architecture (CDA) and PostScript language
technology. CDA is the revisable document interchange component
of Network Application Support (NAS), Digital's software for
application integration in a distributed, multivendor environment.

The PostScript language has increasingly been utilized by PC and Macintosh
based applications as an interchange format for documents containing
both text and graphics.

The companies stated that it is their goal to remain compatible with
applications that have already been developed to take advantage of
the existing CDA formats or Adobe PostScript language. This includes
application products from both companies such as Adobe Illustrator and
Digital's DECwrite compound document editor.

"This agreement is an important step toward providing a unified method
that will enable users to share editable information across a wide
range of applications and platforms in a networked environment,"
said Dr. Charles Geschke, president of Adobe Systems.

Adobe will release a DECwindows/Motif version of Illustrator 3.0
for Digital workstations. This technology was demonstrated in
the Digital booth at the Seybold Computer Publishing Expo. Adobe has also
stated its intention to make its Type 1 font library available to Digital
customers beginning in early 1991.

Adobe's Display PostScript software currently ships with Digital's
DECwindows software for ULTRIX workstations, and will be available
for VMS workstations later this month.

Meanwhile, Verity, Mountain View, CA, has signed with DEC to allow
the firm to distribute its Topic Document Retrieval System, with support
for Network Application Support (NAS). Topic is based on what Verity
calls concept retrieval technology -- a method that leverages a
knowledge-base of topics or retrieval objects, providing users a
higher level of retrieval accuracy and performance.

And Odesta Corporation, Northbrook, IL, says DEC will sell and support
a future version of the Odesta Document Management Systems software.

(Wendy Woods/19900104/Press Contact: Bob Williams, Verity,
415/960-7630; Kenneth McDonnell, DEC, 603/884-3765)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00023)

NEW FOR IBM: Japanese Library Manager
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- BIKAN JALM version
2.0, a Japanese library manager, is a word processing and publishing
tool that runs on PCs and compatibles, and has been unveiled at the
Seybold Computer Publishing Expo. The program, Windows 3.0
compatible, allows users to create and access Japanese characters,
including Kanji, Katakana, or Hiragana for the design of brochures,
publications or any presentation media.

Slated to ship November 1, BIKAN JALM, $695 from Knox Computer
Systems of San Diego, California, is said to be the only product of
its kind of the industry standard IBM platform. It can export Japanese
characters to TIFF, EPS and Windows Metafile formats and has
the ability to import and export characters in the shift-JIS format
(the Japanese equivalent of ASCII). User documentation is available
in both English and Japanese.

"We feel that the additional functionality provided by JALM
version 2.0 opens up the product for virtually any graphics or
desktop publishing user," says John Riley, company vice president.
"JALM has always provided superior functionality for the Arts and
Letters user, but now with the version 2.0 announcement users of
Corel Draw, Micrografx Designer, Aldus Pagemaker, Word Perfect,
and other packages can take advantage of JALM's high quality
Japanese fonts."

For more information on the product, or the locations of dealers
throughout the U.S., Canada, and Japan, call the company at
619-535-0771 or fax to 619-535-0773.

(Wendy Woods/19901004/Press Contact: John Riley)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00024)

VIDEO DESIGNED TO PREVENT COMPUTER-RELATED INJURIES
CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Advantage
Media is selling a 15-minute video and booklet called "Avoiding
Computer Strains and Pains," designed to help corporations set up
ergonomically correct workstations, including keyboard placement,
screen positioning, and seating adjustments. The video preview
version is $30, the rental is $100 and the purchase price is $325.

The company says the video features VDT use consultant Dr. Mark
Sanders, professor of human factors at California State University.

For more information contact the company at toll-free 800-545-0166
or 818-700-0504. Fax to 818-700-0612.

(Wendy Woods/19901004)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00025)

ALDUS BUNDLES THREE GRAPHICS PROGRAMS
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- At the Seybold
Expo in San Jose, Aldus has announced it will bundle three graphic
arts programs for the Macintosh: FreeHand 2.02, a drawing program
for high-quality design and illustration; PageMaker 4.0, a writing,
design and production tool for desktop publishing; and PrePrint 1.0,
a desktop production tool for enhancing images and producing
four-color separations.

Deirdre Devlin, Aldus graphic-arts marketing manager, explains that
the bundle meets growing customer needs. "Aldus Design Team offers our
customers a wide range of features -- from design to layout to
production -- which until now have not been available as one package.''
In addition, Devlin said, customers receive the benefits of dealing with a
single vendor, with the same service and support for all three products.

Aldus Design Team, $1,295, represents a savings of up to $490 when
compared with purchasing the products individually, according to
Aldus.

(Wendy Woods/19901004/Press Contact: Jane Dauber, Aldus,
206/628-6674)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00026)

TRADE GROUPS UNITE TO URGE SOFTENING OF US/JAPAN TRADE BARRIERS
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- In an unprecedented
alliance, the makers of computers and the makers of the components
used to create them have urged U.S. President Bush to lift certain
restrictions on chip trade with Japan, but have asked that the
watchdog provisions of the current agreement remain in effect.

The Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) and the Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) responded to the need for a new agreement
to replace the U.S.-Japan Semiconductor Trade Arrangement, which
is set to expire next year.

The groups urge the US to pursue Japan in the matter of open markets,
and specifically to enforce Japan's prior commitment to a 20 percent
foreign market share for semiconductors in 1992. The groups also
say that in light of the success of the previous arrangement in
stopping dumping of semiconductors, the antidumping measures
embodied in the current agreement should be revised in favor of
mechanisms that lessen the degree of governmental involvement.
Under the current EPROM and DRAM cases, the U.S. Department of
Commerce should no longer collect cost or price data for
DRAMs or EPROMs.

The groups urge the government to drop the DRAM dumping investigation
but should have a mechanism in place to respond quickly should dumping
charges return.

"The SIA-CSPP position is based on the premise that open markets and
the availability of semiconductors at reasonable prices will promote
the health of the entire U.S. electronics industry, foster better
relations between the U.S. and Japan, and allow market forces to
function freely," said Wilfred Corrigan, chief executive officer of LSI
Logic Corporation and chairman of SIA.

"We in the computer systems industry believe that American high
technology industries must work together to be effective in today's
competitive world and that each technology industry has a vested
interest in the health and well-being of the others," said Rod Canion,
chief executive officer of Compaq Computer Corporation and vice chair
of CSPP.

"We hope that by speaking with a united voice, we have given the U.S.
government a solid base to consider and negotiate policy measures which
should be implemented upon the expiration of the Semiconductor Trade
Arrangement," said Canion.

(Wendy Woods/19901004/Press Contact: Tom Beermann, SIA,
408/ 246-2711)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00027)

INTEL CLAIMS AMD TO UNFAIRLY USE '386 TRADEMARK
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- Intel Corporation
says it has filed a trademark infringement suit against Advanced
Micro Devices to stop what it says is the company's plan to use the
numbers 386 on a forthcoming chip.

Intel Vice President and General Counsel F. Thomas Dunlap claims that
AMD's plans were disclosed by mistake when AMD product announcement
documents were accidentally delivered to an Intel employee at a hotel.
"On those documents, AMD designated their imitation 386 as an
'AM386' and claimed that designation as an AMD trademark. This is
clearly an infringement of Intel's trademark for its 386 microprocessor,"
he says.

Intel seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary
injunction to prevent the use of Intel's 386 numeric designation in an
AMD product but says it doesn't want to prevent AMD from either
announcing its microprocessor or from shipping the product.

An AMD spokesman, John Greenagel,  while saying he cannot comment
on whether such a product currently exists, says, "AMD has made
it clear for a long time that we have the legal right to be in the 386
business. When our legal rights rae confirmed we expect to use
the number system that defines what the product is." He says that
it is AMD's position that the number 386 has passed into public
domain and "for Intel to suddenly suggest they own the number is
ridiculous."

Greenagle says Intel tried but failed to win a court order on a
similar matter a month and a half ago. At that time, Intel asked
the US District Court in San Jose to place an injunction on AMD's
AMD80C287 microprocessor, saying the number 287 was its
trademark. The court turned them down, saying they had not
provided the burden of truth required to enforce such a trademark
claim, according to Greenagle.

(Wendy Woods/19901004/Press Contact: Pam Pollace,
Intel, 408/765-1435; Greenagle, AMD, 408-732-2400)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(EWR)(00028)

SYQUEST, MICROTECH SUE EACH OTHER OVER DRIVE MECHANISMS
EAST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- A major hard drive
manufacturer and one of its prime vendors are suing each other -- the
manufacturer claiming non-payment and the vendor alleging
non-performance.

Syquest Technology, Fremont, Calif., has ceased shipment of its
removable cartridge drive mechanisms to Microtech International, of
East Haven, Conn., and is suing the vendor for $851,000 it says is
owed it. Microtech has responded with a $1 million lawsuit of its
own, claiming that Syquest failed to meet quality targets.

Delona Lang, Microtech's marketing communications manager, told
Newsbytes that Syquest had promised earlier this year that 5 percent
or fewer of its drive devices would fail, with that level dropping
over time. Lang said that a in a letter dated September 6, Syquest
President Syed Iftikar "admitted that he failed to live up to his
assurances."

Joel Levine, Syquest's vice president of marketing, noted in an
interview with Newsbytes that his company provides drive mechanisms
to "at least 15 to 20" companies. "Each of them places the mechanism
in their own box and with their own electronics. When you put all
the pieces together, some customers have low return rates, some have
high return rates with the same" mechanism.

Lang said that Syquest would continue shipping drive mechanisms for
repair and replacements, and that Microtech would continue to honor
its warranties. In addition, she said, Microtech would offer to
replace defective Syquest-based drives with either conventional
drives or removable-media drives based on a mechanism built by Ricoh.

(Daniel J. Rosenbaum/19901004)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(EWR)(00029)

SUPERMAC, RADIUS ANNOUNCE GRAPHICS FILE COMPRESSION
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- The two leading
makers of Macintosh monitors have both announced software to compress
video images.

Radius and Supermac Technology introduced software based on the Joint
Photographic Experts Group, or JPEG, compression standard. JPEG
allows compression of video images at a ratio described by Radius of
up to 50 to 1 and by SuperMac of up to 80 to 1. Compression is
desirable because large-screen 24-bit color images can easily take up
several megabytes. A four-by-seven inch 24-bit image digitized at
300 dots per inch will occupy more than 7 megabytes of disk space.

JPEG is an evolving international standard drafted by the CCITT and
ISO.

SuperMac said it will include its SuperSqueeze compression software
with all color cards and disk systems beginning in January 1991. In
addition, purchasers of SuperMac products after October 1 will
receive the product free when it ships. SuperSqueeze will also be
generally available for $49.

Radius also announced JPEG compression software. As yet unnamed, the
software will be available in November for $300.

Both announcements came shortly after C-Cube Microsystems, San Jose,
Calif., announced software which allows developers to incorporate
JPEG compression in their programs. That software, called Image
Compression Interface (ICI) will be available in November for $195,
the company said. ICI has been adopted by Adobe, Quark, Aladdin
Systems, Electronic Arts, Salient, and Autodesk. SuperMac said
SuperSqueeze will use the ICI software.

(Daniel J. Rosenbaum/19901004/Press Contacts: Mauro Bonomi, C-Cube,
408 944 6300; Jennifer Delamare, SuperMac, 408 773 4403; Jeneane
Harter, Radius, 408 434 1010)


(EXCLUSIVE)(APPLE)(EWR)(00030)

HYPERCARD 2.0 MAY SHIP BEFORE APPLE RELEASES IT
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- A Hypercard
developer may beat Apple to the market with Hypercard 2.0.
Howard Metzenberg, lead programmer for Petroglyph, told Newsbytes
that his company would ship its Hypercard 2.0-based product Editorial
Advisor on October 10, whether or not Apple has shipped the new
Hypercard version.

Petroglyph is one of the companies provided with a "golden master" of
Hypercard 2.0, Metzenberg said, adding that the contract allows him
to ship the new version of Hypercard with the application. "We don't
have to wait for Claris," he said.

The version of Hypercard 2.0 he plans to ship "includes all
scripting, more than the run-time version that going to be
distributed" free with all Macintoshes.

The product, Editorial Advisor, is a Hypercard-based editorial style
manual, covering such topics as grammar, punctuation, style and
usage. It will retail for $149.95.

(Daniel J. Rosenbaum/19901004/Press Contact: Howard Metzenberg,
Petroglyph, 415 979 0588)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(EWR)(00031)

GASSEE REPORTEDLY FORMS NEW COMPANY
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. 1990 OCT 4 (NB) -- He's not saying what
it does, and he's not saying when what it makes might ship, but
Jean-Louis Gassee, former president of Apple Products, has reportedly
formed a new company.

Gassee had resigned in February, but stayed on at Apple until the end
of September. His next move had been the subject of widespread
speculation.

It's not clear that the speculation will end any time soon. The San
Francisco Chronicle reported that Gassee's company is called Be Labs
Inc., and is based in San Mateo. Gassee reportedly is being joined
by Steve Sakoman, formerly director of Apple's computer development.

There is no telephone listing in San Mateo for Be Labs.

Gassee would not tell the paper what the company's charter involves
or when it might ship a product. "People who make statements like
that are always embarrassed," he told the paper.

(Daniel J. Rosenbaum/19901004)