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/1992/nb921208

Text File | 1992-12-08 | 65.4 KB | 1,473 lines

(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00001)

MacTV Schedule 12/08/92
MARLOW, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- MacTV, the
daily one-hour satellite computer product news program broadcast
every day on Galaxy 6, Channel 22 starting at 8 a.m. Eastern
time, has supplied the following schedule for first part of
December.

Some shows are also broadcast on the Mind Extension
University cable channel. The company is also shipping videos of the
broadcast programs for $9.95 each plus $3.00 shipping.

MacTV Schedule December 7-11, 1992

Monday, December 7: Claris Resolve 1.1 - Views the program's
capabilities; System 7 - Lets the viewer decide if this upgrade
is needed; Inline Sync - Useful for synchronizing/updating
files between Macs; LetraStudio 2.0 - Allows manipulation of
layouts/typefaces; Voice Impact/Impact Pro - Gives your
Macintosh sound

Tuesday, December 8: Customizing Your Mac - Allows font menu
customization; Color-It! - A basic program for image editing and
painting; Image Assistant - Lets you customize, improve, and
retouch images; Photoshop 2.01 - Describes how to use Alpha
channels; Glossary: Clipboard - All about the Clipboard;
QuickImage 24 - Captures high-quality color images

Wednesday, December 9: MacProject Pro 1.0 - A project management
program; FlowChart Express - How to describe processes and
procedures; LaserWriter HG - A look at an Apple high-performance
printer; Fonts - How to put definition and style into your
documents; TrueType Fonts - Information about installation and
use of font; Premiere 2.0 - Tells how to build/manipulate movies
in QuickTime

Thursday, December 10: PathFinder - A simple AppleTalk router;
Timbuktu 5.0 - Remote control of Macs and PCs; Kid Desk - How to
keep the children happy and away from your work; Miracle Piano -
Easy-to-learn, innovative piano lessons; S.C.OUT 1.0 - Action
software loaded with graphics and sound; FreeHand 3.1: Tips -
Things you never dreamed of

Friday, December 11: Word Processors - What to look for when
deciding which you need; WriteNow 3.0 - A very fast and easy
writing program for the Mac; Nisus - Another loaded word processor;
Word 5.1 - Learn about this popular word processor; Webster's
Dictionary - The ninth version, on CD-ROM

MacTV Schedule December 14-18, 1992

Monday, December 14: Publish-It Easy! 3.0 - All about this desktop
publisher; FileMaker Pro 2.0 - The update and its changes;
Illustrator 3.2 and PhotoShop 2.01 - Ways to create quality graphics;
FolderBolt/NightWatch II - Macintosh security programs

Tuesday, December 15: Hard Drives - Back-up! The whys and ways;
Redux 1.63 - Another simple back-up program; Removable Media -
One of the best storage programs; Hard Drives - More well-liked
systems; myDiskLabeler III - Allows customized labels for any need

Wednesday, December 16: System 7.0.1P - Makes Macintosh use easier;
LetterWorks Products - Provides pre-written letters; FileMaker
Pro 2.0 - Information on the new ScriptMaker; World Atlas -
The atlas, plus global data and world almanac; Nolo's Living
Trust - Do it yourself legal materials

Thursday, December 17: MagicScroll - Efficient and easy
teleprompting program; Desktop Dialer - Use any application to
dial your phone; Legal LetterWorks - Use the Macintosh to fill
out 165 legal forms; WealthBuilder 2.0 - How to build your
personal fortune; System 7.0.1P - How to put more applications
in the Launcher; TopDown 3.5 - An application for charts and
diagrams; NetScope System - How to manage network traffic

Friday, December 18: Computers & Learning - Learn how computers
change how we learn; Millie's Math House - Children's educational
math-based programs; Swamp Gas: Europe - An alien's view of
European geography; Grolier's Encyclopedia - Banish your book
bondage with this CD; Berlitz: Think & Talk - Teaching language
the Berlitz way; Dvorak on Typing - The talking tutor that teaches
typing; PageMaker 4.2 - Teach-yourself tutorial software

(John McCormick/19921208/Press Contact: Wayne Mohr, Executive
Producer PCTV and MacTV, 603-863-9322)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00002)

New For PC: DCA Upgrades Products 12/08/92
ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Digital
Communications Associates (DCA) has announced upgrades to two of
its products: IRMA Workstation for DOS (IWD) and IRMA Workstation for
Windows (IWW). Both upgrades share some functionality as well as
upgraded features.

Both products now support more connectivity options. Specifically,
IWW and IWD will now support Netware for SAA. They will also support
3270 communications from an IBM mainframe across a TCP/IP-based
internet. IWW and IWD continue to support the CUT (Control Unit
Terminal), DFT (Distributed Function Terminal), SDLC (Synchronous Data
Link Control), and 802.2 Token Ring.

In addition, IWW sports a new "QuickBar," a feature that
DCA has been adding to all of its products lately. Using the
Quickbar, users can access any of the more common functions with one
click of the mouse. DCA suggests that the most common use of
Quickbars would be with session activations and deactivations,
sending and receiving files, and opening or saving session profiles.
Another specific IWW upgrade is its ability to act as a
client to the IRMALAN/EP gateway in Novell IPX/SPX environments.

IWD users have received a graphical keyboard editor that allows them
to modify and arrange the default keyboard layouts to anything that
they may like better. IWD users have also received a remote
diagnostic support capability which allows DCA technicians to call
in and diagnose problems remotely at the customer's invitation.

IWW has been upgraded to v2.1. Its retail price is $495 and it is
available now. IWD has received an upgrade to version 2.0. It will
retail for $425 and will be available in January 1993. Previous
users of both products can receive a free upgrade to the new version
until February 28, 1993.

To receive the upgrade, users must return an upgrade card that
was in the original package. If that card has been lost, customers
should contact DCA to find out what other proof of purchase may
be acceptable. Anyone else may upgrade to these versions for $95.

(Naor Wallach/19921208/Press Contact: Kerry Stanfield, DCA, 404-
442-4519/Public Contact: DCA, 800-348-3221, 404-442-4364)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00003)

New For Networks: Retix Shipping RouterXchange 7000 12/08/92
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Retix has
started shipping its latest multiprotocol router -- the
RouterXchange 7000 (RX7000). This 12-port high performance
multiprotocol router was announced a few months ago and,
according to Retix, has generated excitement and interest in
the market-place.

One of the new features of this router is its Parallel Routing
Architecture which, Retix claims, allows it to achieve "wire speeds."
This translates into a figure of 14,880 packets per second under
Ethernet. The way that these numbers are achieved is if 4 RISC
processors (known as routing modules) are solely responsible for the
routing functions.

A fifth, additional RISC processor is responsible for all of the
housekeeping and maintenance functions within the router. So, the
management module maintains the routing tables and updates the
appropriate routing modules on an as-needed and timely basis.

Each of the routing modules can accommodate up to three different
interfaces. These interfaces are what give the router the overall
multiprotocol capabilities. The interfaces are for the different
Ethernet wiring standards, Token Ring, and WAN links. Retix is
planning to add support for FDDI and other networking standards
in the future.

The RX7000 is available now. Prices start at $9200 and depend on
configuration. Ethernet, Token Ring, and WAN interfaces
are available today and FDDI interfaces are slated for introduction
in the first quarter of 1993.

(Naor Wallach/19921208/Press Contact: Lori Hultin, Retix, 310-828-
3400/Public Contact: Retix, 310-828-3400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00004)

New For Networks: TokenVision, EtherVision Upgrade 12/08/92
EDEN PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Triticom is
shipping upgrades to its LAN monitoring packages EtherVision
and TokenVision. Both version are being called v2.20
and they share a number of improvements.

The shared new functions include an automatic report generation
facility, display of communicating stations, and broadcast storm
detection. The automatic report generation feature allows the network
administrator to select which pieces of information are to be tracked
and reported, for how long, and at what time intervals. Once
this set-up has been completed, the program will generate the
requested reports continually.

A new choice in this feature is the administrator's ability to
choose the method of data storage. In this way, the administrator
can tailor the output to his or her system. Primarily this would
be used to ensure that the data is presented in a way that is
readily accessible to other programs.

The products can now also display which nodes on the network are
communicating with which other nodes. This allows the network
administrator to determine who is talking to whom, how much data is
being passed back and forth, and what error rates are being
experienced by the communicators.

Finally, an additional alarm has been instituted that will be
triggered when network traffic exceeds selected thresholds and
will tell the network administrator to the fact that a network
broadcast "storm" may be in progress.

Triticom has also made EtherVision compatible with the new
3Com Etherlink III series and the Intel EtherExpress network
interface cards.

EtherVision 2.20 sells for $395. TokenVision 2.20 for $495. To upgrade
to either from an existing, earlier, version will cost $50.

(Naor Wallach/19921208/Press Contact: Jodie Boseck, Triticom, 612-
937-0772/Public Contact: Triticom, 612-937-0772)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00005)

UK: BT Discount Calling Rates Successful 12/08/92
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- According to British Telecom, its
"Sunday Special" discount calling plan has been an enormous success,
with the number of calls made during the Sunday discount period more
than doubling and call durations going through the roof.

The scheme, which runs from 1 November through to the end of the
December, allows all trunk (long distance) calls to be charged at
local rates between 3pm and midnight on Sundays. The reductions only
apply to standard calls, not those to premium rate services, or mobile
and credit card calls.

According to BT spokeswoman Debbie Kane, the south coast of England
has been the most successful area of the UK in terms of numbers of
calls. Kane ventured that the success in the area was probably due to
the larger than normal retired population in the region.

As reported previously by Newsbytes, the Sunday Special scheme was
introduced to make use of what BT called its spare network capacity.
Many in the telecom industry have applauded BT's offer. Sources
suggest that the scheme may well be extended beyond the December 31,
although one unofficial BT source has told Newsbytes that the service
is likely to have a small quarterly charge added, making it optional
for subscribers.

(Steve Gold/19921208)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00006)

Spain: "Red Hot" Phones Lines Axed 12/08/92
MADRID, SPAIN, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Telefonica, the Spanish state
telecom company, has announced it is suspending its premium rate sex
lines immediately. The lines have generated a lot of revenue
for the PTT, but have also caused trouble.

As in the US, Spanish premium rate phone lines tend to attract
recordings of a sexually explicit nature and, more recently, live "one
to one" call services. The problem with these services is that, unless
they are continuously monitored, they rapidly turn into a "no holds
barred" type of service, frequently becoming little more than an
advertisement for prostitutes and similar sexual services.

Not surprisingly, this has offended the moral majority in Spain, a
country not noted for its liberal attitudes. Telefonica has had to
suspend its services for fear of an outcry about the phone lines,
which some children have been calling, leaving their parents to pick
up the tab.

The official line from Telefonica is predictable: "The decision is a
result of the company's desire to serve the public, which overrides
any economic consideration," said a prepared statement.

From previous experience in Spain, Newsbytes notes that most premium
rate services tend to start with a 903 area code prefix. Calls to this
code attract fees of around $35 an hour -- way above normal telephone
tariffs.

Telefonica will lose a lot of call revenue. Media estimates suggest
that the telecoms company generates around $5 million a month from its
903 area code services.

Newsbytes notes, however, that Telefonica may have simply swept the
problem of sex line services under the carpet. Adverts on Spanish
satellite TV exhort callers to call Swedish and other European numbers
and quote their credit cards. They are then called back over the
standard phone network at rates of around $2 a minute to discuss
topics of their choice.

There are even adverts on the Scandinavian satellite TV channels which
give out New York sex line services to call. Again, since this uses
the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to route the calls (in
both directions), there is little than any telecom authority can do to
stop the problem.

It does, of course, make it more difficult for kids to call the sex
lines. However, since banks in Europe are now issuing Visa and
Mastercard debit cards to children as young as 12 years of age, this
"protection" is now very weak.

(Steve Gold/19921208)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00007)

Germany: DBT Cuts Mobile Phone Charges 12/08/92
BONN, WEST GERMANY, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Deutsche Bundespost Telekom
(DBT) and Mannesmann Mobilfunk have announced plans to offer reduced
rate mobile phones to Germans.

The slightly bad news is that the reduced rate phones will only be
available to business users in the former East German area of the
country. According to DBT, businesses in some parts of the old Eastern
Germany have waited for six months or more for a phone line to be
installed -- network capacity will not be available for them until the
summer. So DBT is offering affected customers a low-cost mobile phone.

DBT says that it has around 10,000 mobile phones earmarked for the
former East German businesses. The deal is something of a two-edged
sword, however, as calling mobile phones can work out to be more
expensive than calling a standard phone line.

(Steve Gold/19921208)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00008)

UK: New Phone Codes In 1995 12/08/92
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- BT has announced plans for an
extensive advertising and media awareness campaign to prepare the
British phone-using population for a change in the national numbering
scheme from the 16th of April, 1995.

On that date, an additional one (1) is inserted between the leading
zero of most standard phone numbers and the rest of the national number.
The number 071-246-8000, for example, would become 01-71-246-8000.
International calls will continue to drop the leading zero as at
present.

In parallel with the numbering change, five cities -- Bristol, Leeds,
Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield -- will switch from six to seven-
digit numbering to cope with what BT calls an unprecedented demand for
phone lines in these areas. The seven-digit numbering scheme, using a
3 + 4 system, is becoming popular with the world's telecom
companies.

The national numbering changes will only affect standard phone lines
and not those without a geographical boundary, such as Linkline 0345
and Freecall 0800 numbers, as well as premium rate and mobile phone
numbers.

(Steve Gold/19921208)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00009)

Australian Company Beats Nintendo In Court Case Over Chip 12/08/92
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- A small Melbourne company
has won a court case brought against it by Nintendo and its local
distributor, Mattel. The case related to a chip contained in a game
console distributed in Australia by Melbourne company Centronics,
which Nintendo claimed infringed its copyright under the 1989
Circuit Layouts Act.

After three years, the Full Federal Court in Australia has found
in favor of Centronics' appeal against an earlier decision, saying
the console (and hence the "offending" chip) was imported before the
Act was enacted. However, the decision has come too late for
Centronics, which has gone out of business due to the high legal costs
of the case, estimated at around AUS$1M, and the inability to sell
the Taiwanese-manufactured Spica Entertainment System.

Nintendo claimed the system contained a chip designed by Nintendo and
used in its own entertainment system, while Centronics claimed the
chip was independently designed and manufactured by the United
Manufacturing Company of Taiwan.

Maurice Latin, one of four Centronics directors to sell their
houses to pay for the legal costs, said he was "greatly relieved"
at the decision.

"It has been a tedious, highly technical battle and one which has
produced unexpected results," he said. "It has been a great relief to
know that ultimately we couldn't be pushed around by a corporate
giant. We were portrayed as a little company exploiting Nintendo and
its brand name," Latin went on to say.

Despite concerns that the case's duration has made marketing the
system non-viable, Latin plans to sell the units he imported
three years ago through his new company, Mecatronics.

(Sean McNamara/199211208/Press & public contact: Maurice Latin,
phone in Australia: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00010)

Australia: Intel, Melbourne Univ In Partnership 12/08/92
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1992 DEC 08 (NB) -- A strategic partnership
between Melbourne University and Intel will see two powerful Intel
massively parallel processing systems installed at the university by
early next year.

The decision to enter into the partnership with the university came
after Intel investigated various universities' strengths and
weaknesses against the goals of Intel's R&D (research and development)
program.

The first system, an Intel iPSC/860 system, has already been
installed, and the second, an Intel Paragon, is due to be installed
early next year. These parallel processing systems join the
university's impressive line up of high-end computing equipment,
including a Control Data 990 and several Cray machines. Parallel
processing is where multiple processors perform operations
simultaneously, thereby increasing the overall power of the system.

Melbourne University's registrar of Information Technology, Ian
Morrison, sees the new machines as an important stage in the
university's development as a high-performance computing center.

"The exploration and exploitation of parallel computer architecture
is now a must for us, given the demands of scientific computing," he
said.

The systems will be used in such diverse research areas as global
weather and climate variations, oceanography, drug design, processing
of medical images to aid diagnosis, ultrasonic imaging for non-
destructive testing of structures, as well as in collaborative efforts
with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the Australian
Computing and Communications Institute and the CSIRO (Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization).

(Sean McNamara/199211208/Press & Public Contact: Intel Australia,
phone in Australia [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)

UK: Vodapage Intros Personalized Answering Service 12/08/92
NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Vodapage, the
radiopaging division of the Vodafone Group, has announced it is
offering a personalized answering service for subscribers to its
paging bureau service.

The system works with the operator answering the call with something
along the lines of: "Good morning, Newsbytes' paging service, may I
take your message," rather than the name of an anonymous paging
bureau.

This facility could prove useful for users of BT's Network Services,
where calls can be diverted from a home or office number
automatically, since the caller will be expecting to contact a person
rather than reel off a paging number.

Announcing the new service, which costs just a pound extra a month,
Julian Horn-Smith, Vodapage's managing director, said that the company
is committed to the development and enhancement of paging services.

"Personalized answering adds a new dimension to the bureau operation
and should be very popular with our customers. The personalized
answering service can provide a cost-effective alternative to
employing a receptionist to take calls or is the ideal solution to
providing a 24-hour call-out service for customers," he said.

According to Horn-Smith, three greeting can be changed according to
individual circumstances. "This is useful if the pager user is away on
business or holiday," he said.

(Steve Gold/19921208/Press & Public Contact: Vodafone - Tel: 0635-
521800; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LON)(00012)

New For Unix: Auditor Plus Port To Alpha 12/08/92
CHEADLE HULME, CHESHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Braintree, the
security and systems management software specialist, has announced it
has ported its Auditor Plus software to DEC's Alpha AXP RISC (reduced
instruction set computer) platform.

Auditor Plus claims to be a comprehensive security management system
for VAX/VMS and Unix platforms. The package has been chosen as a
standard by some of the major companies in the world, including
British Aerospace, Glaxo, and Unilever.

Announcing the code port, Rennie Bowe, head of Braintree's development
operations, said that the Alpha AXP is the direction in which many in
the industry have been looking and the architecture is extremely
impressive.

"It will, however, be increasingly important that high quality system
management tools are available to maximize Alpha AXP's potential
performance," he said.

Bowe admitted that, initially, he was worried about porting the
program code to the 64-bit environment of the DEC Alpha series. "The
initial concerns about the complexity of the porting process proved to
be unfounded and the few difficulties encountered were speedily
resolved by Digital's Alpha support desk," he said.

Site licensing for the DEC Alpha version of Braintree varies depending
on the number of users, processors and other features. The Alpha AXP
architecture supports multiple operating systems -- including Open
VMS, DEC OSF/1 and Windows New Technology.

(Steve Gold/19921208/Press & Public Contact: Braintree - Tel: 061-486-
1406)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00013)

UK: Wordperfect Launches Wordperfect Magazine 12/08/92
ADDLESTONE, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Wordperfect has
announced that Wordperfect magazine is now available in the UK,
complete with local printing and advertisements. The bi-monthly
magazine aims to make word processing easier for users with
step-by-step articles that teach more efficient and innovative
ways to use Wordperfect software, according to the company.

Initially, the magazine is being sent out to subscribers, but plans
call for the publication to be sold on news stands. Subscriptions cost
UKP 12 a year (for six issues). In addition to the magazine,
subscribers are being offered a "disk of the month" at UKP 4-95 which
contains utilities for users of Wordperfect.

Initially, the magazine is being made up of an amalgam of US features
which are adapted to the British market. Under the guidance
of Craig Woolley, publisher of the magazine, plans call for the UK
edition to include a number of UK-specific features and news items.
Advertisements in the publication are local to the UK.

"This is the first time that UK users of Wordperfect have been offered
a publication of such scope and size. There has been a great deal of
interest in the magazine, so much so that we have already attracted a
large number of subscribers," he explained.

David Godwin, general manager for sales and marketing at Wordperfect
UK, said that the company is always looking to improve contact with
the thousands of Wordperfect users around the UK. "Wordperfect
magazine is one of the most effective ways of reaching them," he said.

Wordperfect magazine will not be new to US readers of Newsbytes. In
the US, the magazine claims to be one of the top 15 computer
publications with a subscription list in excess of 200,000. In 1991,
the company started publishing a sister magazine, Wordperfect for
Windows magazine.

(Steve Gold/19921208/Press & Public Contact: Wordperfect UK - Tel:
0932-850500)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00014)

New For Macintosh: Symantec Powerbook Utilities 12/08/92
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Symantec has
introduced a bundle of the acclaimed Norton utility products
for Apple Computer's Powerbook.

The Norton Essentials product version 1.0 is geared toward the
estimated 1 million Powerbook users expected in 1993. Originally
developed by Guy Kawasaki of After Hours Software, the technology
was purchased by Symantec, which then changed it, and is
distributing it as the Norton Essentials. Some beta copies of the
product were released under the name Guy's Utilities for the Macintosh
-- Powerbook Edition (GUM-P) but Symantec representatives claim that
After Hours Software never shipped the product.

Utilities in the product include a Battery Saver which Symantec
says is the only utility to manage power usage based on disk
and memory characteristics of the application a user is
running. Customizable power settings allow users to extend
Powerbook battery life by 2 to 4 hours.

A Backlight Dimmer utility allows users to specify the amount
of time before the utility automatically dims the Powerbook's
backlighting. A Battery Gauge utility displays battery status
in a variety of ways, including a detailed reading of remaining
battery time.

Instant Access for the Appletalk network disables Appletalk
automatically when users disconnect from a network, and
restarts it automatically upon re-connection. Network volumes
are also remounted without restarting.

Also for users sharing files, especially those on a network,
Synchit! offers Powerbook user the ability to be sure they
have the latest version of shared files, or the ability to
synchronize files between the Powerbook and a desktop
Macintosh.

For getting through airport security, an instant on-off
function included in the Norton Essentials, boots the Powerbook
in a fraction of normal boot time with a single keystroke.

While some Macintosh users are leaving their Powerbooks in
sleep mode in order to get something on the screen fast for
airport security checkpoints, Apple doesn't recommend the
practice, according to Symantec representatives.

A utility to change the look of the cursor and display it
larger, Power Cursor, is also included, and a Caps Lock Control
utility prevents users from accidentally typing in all caps by
allowing customizable caps lock keys. Quick Notes is an
electronic note pad utility for quick access to often used
information and Power Guard is a optional security code utility
to prevent access to confidential information.

The product is $129 after December 31, and $99 until then.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921208/Press Contact: Jackie Brinker,
Symantec, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact
800-441-7234)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00015)

New For PC: OS/2 Norton Commander 12/08/92
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Symantec has
introduced a series of the acclaimed Norton utility products
for IBM's graphical operating system OS/2 2.0 for personal
computers. The retail price is $149.

Symantec claims that The Norton Commander for OS/2 is the first third-
party file management software for the IBM operating system.
Representatives of Symantec said The Norton Commander product for
OS/2 is much like the Norton Desktop for Windows in offering file
management capability, file finding capability, and network menuing
support.

The product also offers management of the high performance file
system (HPFS) and the DOS-based file allocation table (FAT) in
a graphical tree format for viewing the contents of folders and
drives.

A global file find utility is for searching drives for files by
name or extension, via DOS wildcards, across a hard disk drive.
Files meeting the search criteria are displayed in a scrollable
list and can be launched or viewed.

The product is designed so users can view, edit, copy, rename,
move, and delete files or groups of files using a few
keystrokes or mouse clicks with a few keystrokes. Comparing
folders and moving files between folders can also be
accomplished. Read-only menus for corporate-wide use can be created
with the product and administered by any OS/2 compatible network as
well.

Menus can be nested within menus to organize information.
Applications, including DOS and Windows applications running
under OS/2, can also be pre-configuration to start up minimized,
maximized, or normal window size using The Norton Commander.

Symantec also develops application and utility software for DOS
and Windows. The company is headquartered in Cupertino,
California.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921208/Press Contact: Jackie Brinker,
Symantec, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact
800-441-7234)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

TV Answer Adjusts Strategy 12/08/92
RESTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- TV Answer is
changing its technology strategy so it can build some of its
proposed interactive television network with its own funds.

Spokesman Paul Strubile told Newsbytes that, instead of building
networks of large cells to serve major markets, it will build
simpler networks of cells and mini-cells, which will cost less.

The net effect is it considerably reduces the cost of the
distribution of cells in any given service area," he said. "It
means we'll be able to build out the service areas for 25 top
markets ourselves. Licensees who were considering signing
contracts with us no longer need be concerned with a major
capital investment. We would retain ownership of the cell sites,
of the technology. Previously, we were planning to either sell or
lease those sites."

Right now, the FCC is in the process of handing out, by lottery,
local licenses in 734 service areas for what it calls
Interactive Video and Data Services frequencies. A firm called
Interactive Networks is competing with TV Answer for control of
the licenses, with plans to build a game system. There will be
two licenses in each market, as with cellular telephony.

"They've accepted applications on nine top markets, and they're in the
process of evaluating and preparing for the lottery," said Strubile.
"Once they've determined the information is correct on the initial
application, they'll put them into the lottery, and select two winners,
which then have to go through the secondary process" of proving their
ability to build-out systems.

One more advantage of the new technology, according to TV Answer,
is it will no longer be restricted to TVs. Its satellites will
now be able to serve products like the AT&T Personal Communicator
or Apple Newton. Hewlett-Packard, which already has agreed to
provide set-top converters for the TV Answer service, is also
looking at adopting the technology for its HP 95LX palmtops. "We
expect the initial licenses to be awarded early next year,"
concluded Strubile.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921208/Press Contact: Paul Strubile, TV
Answer, 703-715-8853)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)

 ****FCC Chairman Resigning 12/08/92
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- FCC Chairman Alfred
Sikes has announced he'll leave office with George Bush, giving
President-elect Clinton the chance to immediately grab hold of US
telecommunications policy.

The term of Commissioner Sherrie Marshall has also expired,
meaning the President-elect must make two appointments, including
at least one Republican, upon taking office. By law the
commission must have at least two members of the "out" party.

Sikes' term was marked by historic action in telecommunications,
and defined by a "competition" model he defined which critics
called a short-term protection of monopolies in local telephone
service and cable television. Sikes' model called for competition
among cable, telephony, and wireless technologies to eliminate
the need for rate regulation in all those industries.

Vice President-elect Al Gore was considered a Sikes critic, at least
in cable, where he pushed hard for a cable reregulation bill which
passed over a Bush veto this year.

Sikes leaves with a full plate of decisions before the
commission. Rules must be defined for licensing microwave-based
telephone networks, called PCNs. The commission must codify the
cable re-regulation bill, and begin enforcement of it at a time
when cable operators are signalling their intentions with double-
digit rate increases in many areas.

The commission must set standards for high definition TV. And the
commission must revisit the financial syndication rules governing
relationships between broadcasters and producers of TV programs. Among
the President-elect's best friends are Harry and Linda Thomason, who
produce TV programs "Designing Women" and "Evening Shade." They
will be impacted heavily by those "fin-syn" rules.

Observers call Antoinette D. Cook, staff counsel of the Senate
communications subcommittee, an early favorite for the Sikes job.
But she may be hurt by charges of nepotism -- she is the
stepdaughter of Clinton transition adviser Vernon Jordan.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921208/Press Contact: FCC Press, 202-632-
5050)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)

AT&T To Recycle Bills, Moves NYC Offices 12/08/92
BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- AT&T, among
other developments, reports it will begin printing bills for its
business services, including outgoing fixed-rate Pro Wats lines
and CustomNet services, on recycled paper. AT&T issues more than
12 million bills annually on these services. The conversion will
be completed by February.

AT&T said it will close its InfoQuest exhibit in New York City and
is moving its offices to 32 Avenue of the Americas. The InfoQuest
exhibit will become part of AT&T's exhibits program, which includes
permanent displays at Walt Disney World EPCOT Center and Universal
Studios theme parks in Florida and Hollywood, as well as exhibitions
that tour the world.

On the product front, AT&T announced a new version of its Audix
voice messaging software which adds security and ease-of-use
features. Release 1 Version 7 is designed to prevent toll fraud,
in which computer criminals tap into PBXs and other systems to
make outgoing long distance calls on the victims' tab.

A new, standard security feature called Enhanced Call Transfer will
make sure calls are transferred only to extensions that have been
verified with the PBX's database. This prevents criminals from moving
calls into vacant extensions, then calling out from those extensions.

A warning will also be added to the system's terminal display alerting
to possible security breaches, and a log will be made on when that
Enhanced Call Transfer feature is turned off or on. An undelete
feature on erased voice mail has also been added, as well as quicker
reviews of messages, and faster response for those callers who want to
talk to a real person instead of a voice mailbox.

Also on the product front, the NCR computer unit introduced a new
automated teller which people can use more easily from their
cards. In the past, such units were modified versions of walk-up
units. NCR says the new product was designed from the ground-up
for use by drivers, and also includes alerts warning of cash or
paper charges, automatic dispensing of envelopes, and the ability
to print complete customer statements.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921208/Press Contact: AT&T, Marilyn
Dunsworth, 908-658-2089; NCR, Jim Mazzola, 513/445-6148)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019)

MFS Buys Boston Rival 12/08/92
OAKBROOK TERRACE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Metropolitan
Fiber, the largest of the so-called "by-pass" companies offering an
alternative to local wired phone services for large companies, has
bought a rival system in Boston.

The company's Metropolitan Fiber Systems/McCourt unit bought the
Boston Fiber Optic Company fiber optic system and related assets from
New England Digital Distribution. The BFOC network, along with an
existing expansion program, more than quadruples the size of
MFS/McCourt's Boston-area network.

The network is a 10-mile cable from downtown Boston through
Cambridge, to the Back Bay and Beacon Hill areas, with 20
buildings on or near the backbone. MFS/McCourt will extend this
to the Route 128 high-tech corridor.

MFS head Royce Holland said that the importance of the deal is the
immediate access to the Cambridge market. Service on the expansion
route is planned to start during the first quarter of 1993, adding 72
route miles to the network, bringing the total mileage to 90 with 350
buildings along the route. Including the expansion MFS will have a
network of over 51,800 miles of fiber cable in 14 major markets.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921208/Press Contact: Steve Ingish, MFS
Communications, 708-218-7316)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

Telecom Firm LCI Wins Fifth Third Bank Deal 12/08/92
DUBLIN, OHIO, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- LCI International,
which has been turned around by former MCI executive Brian
Thompson, has won an important endorsement from a major customer
in a five-year, $7.2 million contract with Fifth Third Bank, one
of the largest bank holding companies in that state.

In addition to regular long distance service, Fifth Third Bank
will be using in-bound and out-bound WATS lines, 1.544 million
bit/second trunk lines, and individual data circuits from LSI.
Fifth Third Bank will also roll its toll-free 800 traffic to LCI
when the Federal Communications Commission institutes 800
portability, due May 1, 1993 at the latest.

Thompson has recreated the company by leasing capacity in an
overbuilt market, and replacing salaried salespeople with agents
working on commission. The company is currently privately held, with
majority shareholders who include two large venture capital firms, E.M.
Warburg, Pincus & Co., of New York, and Primus Venture Partners of
Cleveland.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921208/Press Contact: Chris Gaffney, LCI,
513-745-0550)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00021)

Microsoft, Bankers Set Windows Banking Standards 12/08/92
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Members of the
newly created Banking Systems Vendor Council (BSVC), along with
Microsoft, have established a WOSA extension for financial services.
WOSA is Microsoft's Windows Open Services Architecture, an initiative
to broaden Windows support for corporate computing environments.

The specification was announced at the Bank Administration
Institute's Retail Delivery Systems conference meeting in San
Antonio this week. The specification is designed to make it easier
for software developers to build mission-critical banking
applications using standard programming interfaces in the Windows
operating system.

BSVC said that the standard reflects the council's commitment to pen
client-server architectures for financial enterprise computing. Using
this architecture, financial institutions can implement customized
Windows-based retail banking applications that will interoperate with
existing off the shelf PC software and banking-specific hardware.

WOSA extensions for financial services provides application
programming interfaces (APIs) that address the areas of common
access to banking peripherals such as passbook, validation printers,
magnetic stripe readers and pin pads; communications and financial
transaction messaging; and financial enterprise network management.

Network management, according to the council, includes security,
error logging, alarm generation, software distribution, and
configuration management. WOSA will be implemented by the
participating vendors within their respective banking software
applications and planned to be deployed on the complete family
of Windows operating systems, including Windows 3.1, Windows for
Workgroups, and Windows NT, as well as future generations of
Windows.

The first version includes APIs for communicating to a host-based
system through IBM's Standard Network Architecture protocol, while
later versions will support communications with mainframes.

"The WOSA Extensions for Financial Services specification marks the
next logical step in client-server architectures for financial
enterprise computing," said Jeff Raikes, a senior VP at Microsoft. At
present there are few distributed systems in place in banks.

(Jim Mallory/19921208/Press contact: Erin Holland, Waggener Edstrom
for Microsoft, 503-245-0905; Reader contact: Microsoft,
800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00022)

 ****Microsoft Ships 1st SQL Server For Windows Beta 12/08/92
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Microsoft Corporation
says it is now shipping the first beta release of SQL Server for the
Windows NT operating system. The company said that the beta release
has been shipped to hundreds of corporate users and independent
software vendors (ISVs) for evaluation.

SQL Server for Windows NT is an essential member of the 32-bit
Microsoft Windows NT networking family, and as such leverages the
features of Windows NT for advanced client-server applications.
Windows NT was originally scheduled to ship by the end of 1992, but
a Microsoft spokesperson told Newsbytes recently that the product
would ship by mid-1993. Officially, Windows NT is still scheduled to
ship in the first quarter.

Microsoft says that SQL Server for Windows NT is designed for large
scale, mission-critical database applications and utilizes many of the
features and services of Windows NT, including pre-emptive
multitasking, high performance multithreading, symmetric
multiprocessing, high level security, and integrated administration.
It has already been demonstrated running on multiprocessor systems
from NCR and Sequent Corporation with up to 16 processors.

"The SQL Server for Windows NT beta release allows large accounts to
begin prototyping powerful client-server enterprise computing
applications today on Windows NT platforms," said systems VP, Paul
Maritz.

Microsoft is demonstrating the beta release in conjunction with its
Access relational database management system for Windows as a front
end on a workstation running Windows for Workgroups. The demo is being
held at the Database World Trade Show at McCormick Place East
in Chicago this week. Microsoft reportedly has a backlog of
100,000 orders for Access and has already shipped 50,000 copies.
The company expects to have the backlog resolved by Christmas.
Access is being sold for $99 through the end of January.

(Jim Mallory/19921208/Press contact: Collins Hemingway, Microsoft,
206-882-8080; Reader contact: 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00023)

Can You Really Write A Novel Without A PC? 12/08/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Fountain pen maker
Montblanc is trying to prove that you can write the great American
novel without using a computer.

The pen company is in Houston this week as part of a traveling
promotional event in which the company will visit at least 14 US
cities before submitting the novel to the Guinness Book of World
Records as the work of fiction with the most contributing authors.

In each city the tour visits, each "wannabe" author gets an
opportunity to write one line of the love story. If you write your
contribution with a Montblanc pen, there's no charge. Houston is the
12th stop on the tour, with each city writing one chapter of the
book.

Writers are supposed to read the preceding sentence, then write
their sentence to continue the narrative. Organizers say they hope
the collective sentences will reveal the character of the city
that wrote that particular chapter.

Montblanc says the tour will end in Washington, DC in 1993, where
the company hopes then-President Bill Clinton will write the final
sentence. When the black leather-bound book with the gilded pages
and gold engravings arrived in Houston, it already had entries by
over 8,000 writers.

(Jim Mallory/19921208)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00024)

 ****Compaq To Sell By Mail Order 12/08/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Confirming industry
rumors of several months, Compaq Computer has announced that it will
sell its Prolinea, Contura and LTE Lite/25C personal computers
through five mail order companies. The firm will also be able to take
orders for some of Compaq's older models, such as the Deskpro 386N,
Deskpro 386s/20 and LTE 386s/20.

The company said that the move is in line with its stated goal to
dramatically increase market share via broadened distribution
channels.

The five direct response, or mail order, companies are Granite
Computer Products, Insight Distribution Network, PC Connection, PCs
Compleat, and USA/Flex. All five will take orders for the Compaq
systems on their toll-free numbers seven days a week.

Compaq Senior VP Ross Cooley said the direct response companies
provide an advantage over other single-product competitors, offering a
wide range of brand name PCs. "We continue to make it easier for
increasing numbers of customers to purchase our products," he said.

Cooley added that Compaq is now catching up with demand, a reference
to the company's problems obtaining parts and components for the past
several months.

The products sold by mail will be backed by Compaq's free lifetime
technical telephone support around the clock and the recently
announced free three-year warranty. The first year of warranty
service is provided onsite. Discontinued products come with a
one-year on-site warranty.

Speaking at the PC Outlook Conference in San Francisco,
Compaq President Eckhard Pfeiffer said that US companies continue
to lead the PC industry worldwide despite an increasingly competitive
marketplace and growing pressure from foreign manufacturers.
Pfeiffer said he sees significant growth opportunities for the PC
marketplace and pointed to what he called "the dramatic turnaround"
of Compaq during the last 12 months as a blueprint for success.

Late last year Compaq ousted co-founder and president Ron Canion and
embarked on a campaign to cut costs, lower product prices, and
improve customer service while maintaining product quality. Compaq
said it has nearly doubled its US market share since January,
now claiming 23 percent of the US market.

(Jim Mallory/19921208/Press contact: Mike Berman, Compaq Computer,
713-374-0484)


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

 ****Apple's Sculley Predicts 15-20% 1993 Growth 12/08/92
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Apple
Computer will increase its worldwide unit shipments by 15-20
percent in 1993, chairman and chief executive officer John Sculley
said at Technologic Partners' The Personal Computer Outlook
conference.

Sculley said that he expects a tremendous amount of unit growth for
all personal computers in 1993 based on two factors: new price points
will bring new customers to the market, and IBM-compatible PCs will be
a replacement market due to Windows. He expects Apple's biggest growth
to come from booming demand in South America and Southeast Asia.

Japan's unit growth will lag behind the worldwide average because
of its slow economy, and Europe will be slower still, Sculley said.
He added that Apple will attract new customers rather than grow
from replacement purchases.

A market consolidation shake-out of smaller suppliers will contribute
to the end of the PC price wars, Sculley claimed. Still, users are
now getting more for their money in bundled applications and hardware.

Although he predicted that Apple would "absolutely" increase its
market share, Sculley brushed aside questions about whether the
company would be the largest PC supplier. "I'm interested in
'Are we building a sustainable business?'," he said.

Sculley maintained that the availability of high-end products
such as the Quadra workstations and the popular Powerbook laptops
will allow Apple to maintain relatively high margins. Although
gross margins are down, the gains in unit volume from a mass
computer market have made personal computers profitable. Citing
the reduced gross margins environment, Sculley said that Apple
will continue to charge for system software upgrades and not
return to its former free upgrade policy.

Pressed on Apple's relatively low stock valuation by conference
host Richard Shaffer, Sculley claimed that Apple is trying to
build a new type of systems company that includes hardware and
software. Apple is at the end of the third year of its five-year
plan to transform itself, Sculley said. By 1994, the company
will be a three-pronged organization focused on the
"client-client-server" market. Personal digital assistants, such
as the Newton mobile communications device, will add the third
element to the traditional desktop-sever computing model.

A strong supporter of President-elect Bill Clinton in the recent
presidential election, Sculley said he talked with Clinton, Vice
President-elect Albert Gore, and transition team leader Warren
Christopher last week. However, he has "no interest in going
into the Administration."

(Chris Sandlund/19921208)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00026)

 ****Bill Gates Wants Windows, Not Unix On Workstations 12/08/92
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Microsoft
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Gates claims that
Windows NT will take over the high-end computing environment
now dominated by Unix workstations.

Speaking at the Personal Computer Outlook conference in San Francisco,
he said that 150 Microsoft employees are working to "evangelize"
Windows NT to Unix applications vendors to encourage them to port Unix
applications to the forthcoming operating system.

As proof of the company's success, Gates noted several CAE
(computer-aided engineering) vendors have already ported to Windows.
The increasing power of Intel microprocessors and architectural
innovations such as local bus and multiprocessing have made it
possible to move all applications onto the PC architecture, he
said.

Gates noted that NT versions of Unix applications will come with
significantly lower prices. Unix applications charge a higher
price because they serve a limited market, he said. When
developers have millions of potential customers rather than
the hundreds of thousands currently available in the Unix
workstation market, vendors will cut their prices to gain
market volume.

Stealing a page from Sun Microsystems' prayer book, Gates promoted
the scalability of Windows from a "wallet-sized PC to servers with
hundreds of gigabytes of information." With the recent
introduction of Modular Windows for hand-held devices and the
anticipated introduction of NT, Microsoft now has a development
platform with a common interface and programmatic interface
spanning a large portion of the hardware spectrum. Gates predicted
Windows would become the heir to the IBM 360 and VAX platforms
as the dominant development environment for computers.

With servers acting as mainframes, Gates said, this new environment
will allow execution of code at an appropriate level in the
client-server hierarchy. He expects Microsoft to leave enterprise
system management to companies such as AT&T, Hewlett-Packard,
DEC and Computer Associates who can modify existing ESM packages
to work on top of NT.

(Chris Sandlund/19921208)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00027)

 ****Grove Says Intel To Spend Big On Video 12/08/92
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Andrew Grove,
Intel's president and chief executive officer, has said that increases
of 25 percent in the company's research and development and capital
spending budgets will help advance the microprocessor, video,
software, and compression technologies necessary for the next wave of
computing applications, particularly video computing.

The 1993 R&D budget will increase to $1 billion, while the
$1.5 billion capital spending budget will be the largest in
the world, Grove said at the Personal Computer Outlook conference
in San Francisco.

Demonstrating next-generation capabilities on a PC equipped with
Intel's as-yet unreleased Pentium processor, Grove predicted video
would encourage computer-illiterate or keyboard-phobic users
to use computers. He said that the application would increase
the penetration of computers in the workplace by allowing "e-mail
without writing."

Grove added that, by using recently announced Intel software, users
could run video in Windows on a '386-based PC. Increases in CPU
(central processor) speed will increase the applications' scan rate. A
'386 runs the application in a small window at 15 frames per second, a
'486 on a quarter of the screen at 24 frames per second (fps), and
either a hardware add-in card or the Pentium processor will run it
full screen at a full motion rate of 30 fps.

Vice President-elect Albert Gore's ten-year support of a national
data highway ensures that Washington will be supportive of
increasing the public network bandwidth, Grove said. However,
the Intel executive is skeptical of the Capital's ability to
move quickly. Intel will also support private sector initiatives
to increase bandwidth, including removal of "seams from the network
and using silicon to attack compression."

Grove felt these private activities will be enough to achieve full
motion video over the current public digital network.

(Chris Sandlund/19921208)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00028)

 ****Borland Buys Windows Arago Database From Wordtech 12/08/92
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Wordtech,
which claimed that it may be the last to announced a Windows database
product, but it would be first to deliver, has sold its database
technology in a surprise move to Borland International.

Borland bought dBASE from Ashton-Tate nearly two years ago,
a move which some analysts have said has driven the company into
financial trouble.

Wordtech was boasting it would show off Arago for Windows, the
Windows version of its DOS-based database product, at COMDEX, in
preparation for an anticipated release in March of 1993. The company
said that Arago application developers would be able to work in both
Windows and DOS with a single set of source code, a concept Borland
has said it would introduce with its dBASE for Windows compiler.

However, Wordtech said it would offer the dBASE IV and dBASE
III Plus compatible Arago for Windows at a lower cost than
Borland's Windows product. It also asserted that Arago for Windows
would be a "bridge" for moving existing applications in the two
dBASE languages to Windows without re-writing code.

And now Borland has acquired all rights to Wordtech's Arago
line of database management software, including code for all
existing versions of its dBXL DBMS and Quicksilver compiler, as
well as technology under development, such as multimedia
extensions. Borland said that the Wordtech's development staff will
join Borland's database development team, effective immediately, but
neither company disclosed the terms of the agreement.

Borland representatives told Newsbytes that, though the move in
purchasing Arago may look sudden, Wordtech has been talking about
acquisition since 1984, when it was negotiating with Ashton-Tate.
Company representatives declined to offer any time estimate for when
talks for the current merger started with Wordtech and Borland, but
company officials did say they visited Wordtech's technology
demonstration at COMDEX last month.

Borland is behind schedule in delivering dBASE for Windows,
originally promised last spring, and is already facing heavy
competition in the database for Windows market from Microsoft.

Microsoft has already released Access, and demonstrated Foxpro
for Windows, which is expected to be available in the first
quarter of 1993. Dr. Dave Fulton, former president of Fox
Software now database product manager at Microsoft, showed
benchmark tests comparing Foxpro 2.5 to the latest versions of
dBASE and Paradox. Fulton claimed overall Foxpro is 300 percent
faster than Borland's Paradox and dBASE products.

Borland's purchase of Wordtech's Arago appears to be an
acknowledgement of the Windows as the "great leveler." As the
word processing world has discovered, once a product is in
Windows, the Windows look and feel, including the common user
access interface, begins to erode that product's distinction in
the market-place.

While the move to Borland is a good one for Wordtech, it might
imply Borland is further behind schedule on its Windows
products than anticipated and is "grasping" at technology to
help it get the Windows dBASE product out the door. However,
Borland representative Greg Cornelison told Newsbytes that the company
is not running scared, but is committed to the dBASE product line,
pointing out the Arago product is the most dBASE-compatible third-
party product left.

"Anyone who knows the database market knows Arago had an
extremely small market share. Wordtech was not a threat to us
in the market in any way -- this was simply a technology
purchase," Cornelison said.

Borland has faced some financial setbacks as a result of the
Ashton-Tate merger and the company's stock, which has been
steadily falling, took a sudden dive in October. The sudden
drop was attributed to several industry analysts who suddenly
downgraded the company's rating, and speculation was the
downgrades were a result of attendance at a technology
demonstration in Redmond, Washington given by Microsoft the
week previous.

Borland did report second quarter earnings of $5.4 million in
net income and said it has increased spending 31.5 percent to
$19.6 million research and development spending on a new
generation of products for Microsoft Windows.

Orinda, California-based Wordtech will continue as a company
marketing its other products VP Graphics and Map Plan, Wordtech
officials said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921208/Press Contact: Greg Cornelison,
Borland, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00029)

 ****AMD's 486 Delayed 6 Months; Sunnyvale Plant Expanded 12/08/92
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- Advanced
Micro Devices has announced that it is investing an additional
$160 million in its Submicron Development Center (SDC) in
Sunnyvale, California, in preparation for the expected market
demand for its yet-to-be-released Am486 processor and
its five-volt flash memory products.

Newsbytes has also learned that the recent court ruling in favor of
Intel which prevents AMD using Intel microcode in the new AM486, has
put the introduction date of the product back six months.

AMD says the expansion of manufacturing capacity will bring
the total investment in the SDC to more than $460 million.
John Greenagel, spokesman for AMD, told Newsbytes that the
move will add 100 local jobs to the company's workforce.

Asked by Newsbytes why AMD chose to expand the facility
rather than follow the example of many semiconductor
manufacturers and move production offshore, Greenagel
said: "We have a rather aggressive capital expansion program
under way."

"We announced several weeks ago that we are building a $700 million
plant in Austin, Texas, that will employ up to a thousand people. And
late last summer we announced a joint venture with Fujitsu where we
will be building a facility in Japan that will employ roughly 350
people," he said.

Time-to-market of new products is the key. Said Greenagel: "The
(fastest) way of getting some of our new products into production
in an advanced technology facility, is the expansion of this existing
plant."

"We have an immediate need to expand our capacity for manufacturing
the AMD486 microprocessor which will be introduced by June (1993), and
for flash memory products. We really only have one facility that is
capable of implementing the process technologies necessary for these
new products. It is the fastest way to meet market demand," he added.

W.J. Sanders III, AMD chairman and chief executive officer, said:
"Opportunities in the personal computer industry, led by demand
for the forthcoming Am486 microprocessor family and our
unique five-volt flash devices, require that we make immediate
additions to our manufacturing capacity utilizing submicron
semiconductor technology. The Am486 and our five-volt flash
devices require the use of our most technologically advanced
processes."

AMD notes that the SDC, which became operational in 1991, is the
company's primary process technology development facility. The 190,000
square-foot building houses 35,000 square feet of "clean room" space
and currently employs approximately 350 people.

"The addition of more than 100 skilled technicians will enable AMD to
meet a significant portion of the demand for these devices. Even with
this addition, we expect that our ability to meet customer demand for
these products will be limited by our manufacturing capacity in 1993,"
said Sanders.

In response to a question as to how much the recent court
decision in Intel's favor would put back the development of
AMD's own 486 clone, Greenagel told Newsbytes: "(The ruling)
really did not have an effect on the development. It had to do
only with the marketing. It means that we cannot introduce
the Am486 that has the Intel microcode in it. That product was
essentially ready for introduction. What we have is about a
six-month delay, while we complete the work on the version of
the Am486 with the independent microcode. Then we will have
to qualify that product with customers before we can ship it."

Concluded Greenagel, "It amounts to about a six month delay in
the introduction and marketing of the product. The development
has been well under way for some time."

AMD claims that its initial 486 microprocessor devices will be
produced using a 0.7-micron, triple-layer metal technology in
the SDC.

The company says that its flash technology is a 0.8-micron
double-layer metal process. Advanced memory and logic products
with feature sizes one-half (0.5) micron in width (approximately
1/200th of the diameter of a strand of human hair) and smaller
are under development in the SDC.

In the first week on December, Newsbytes reported that the
October jury decision preventing Advanced Micro Devices from
using Intel microcode had been extended.

AMD was hoping that it might gain the legal rights to use the Intel
486 microcode under a 1976 contract with Intel, if the decision had
been in its favor. In the most recent ruling, US District Court Judge
William Ingram extended the October jury decision which prevented
AMD's use of the Intel 80287 microcode for the math coprocessor, a
chip that works in tandem with the 80286 microprocessor chip.

AMD has been aligning with some major players recently to
develop flash memory.

In September Newsbytes reported that AMD signed a joint
venture deal with Du Pont Connector Systems that called for
the manufacturing and marketing of flash memory cards
designed for the mobile systems market.

The agreement, which is provisionally set for two years, with
the possibility of annual renewal, calls for Du Pont Connector
Systems to manufacture, and AMD to sell, flash memory cards
that comply with recently developed international standards.
The cards will incorporate AMD's 12-volt and five-volt-only
flash memory devices. The companies expect that initial products
will be available this fall.

Another September deal, this time between AMD and Fujitsu,
also reported by Newsbytes, called for the joint development,
manufacturing, and sale of semiconductor devices.

The Fujitsu agreement called for the establishment of a joint
venture in Japan and for the companies to co-operate in building
and operating a $700 million wafer fabrication facility to
produce non-volatile memory devices such as EPROMs (erasable
programmable read-only memories) and flash memories. Both
companies said they would co-operate in marketing and sales of
the products on a world-wide basis.

Flash memory is a relatively new type of computer memory
where the information is retained even when the electricity is
turned of. The technology, although currently expensive to
produce, is seen as having great potential, especially for
portable computers.

(Ian Stokell/19921208/Press Contact: John Greenagel,
408-749-3310, Advanced Micro Devices)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00030)

 ****Virtual Reality Pioneering Firm Reorganizes 12/08/92
FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 8 (NB) -- VPL
Research, a firm that pioneered virtual reality technology, has
hit troubled times. The company's founder, Jaron Lanier, has
left the company, and key patent rights have been transferred
to Thomson CSF, a French conglomerate and major investor in
the company.

Jean-Jacques Grimaud has returned to VPL as chief executive. He
reportedly left VPL earlier in the year after disputes with Lanier.
Lanier is reported to be considering starting another company.

Jean-Jacques Grimaud told Newsbytes that VPL's patents were
used to secure loans from Thomson. When VPL failed to repay the
loans, rights to the patents shifted to Thomson.

According to Grimaud, the company is moving to a new location
in Palo Alto. "The move is almost completed," he said. "We'll
be operational starting tomorrow."

Grimaud told Newsbytes that the new three-man board of
directors will consist of himself, Arnold Cornez, and Alan
D'Frenne.

The company laid off its final employees last week after running
out of capital. Concerning re-hiring, Grimaud told Newsbytes
that, "Right now, I am assessing all the corporate records. People
are working here on a voluntary basis. With what was done last
week....we are able to pay all the employees their back-pay and
acruifications."

Some of the patents held by VPL are used extensively in
virtual reality products. VPL sold combinations of goggles
and other products for virtual reality users. One product
covered by the patents included the use of a special glove for
use with virtual reality programs.

Virtual reality gives users the illusion that they are part of
the three-dimensional onscreen action. The technology has
particular appeal in computer games and such applications
as pilot training and architectural design. But hardware
requirements are extensive, and convincing virtual reality
applications currently require a pretty sizeable financial
commitment to equipment.

In answer to a question from Newsbytes as to when the company
will be shipping products again, Grimaud said: "We will be
operational by the end of the week. (But) that does not mean
we will be shipping all products. (We shall also be) assessing
what other commitments we shall be taking."

(Ian Stokell/19921208)