Cupertino, Calif. - Now that System 7.1 is in the channels, Apple is preparing a barrage of new Mac system enhancements for 1993.
According to Charles Oppenheimer, director of Macintosh system software marketing, the company plans to deliver a variety of new products using different distribution strategies for different kinds of software.
Utilities that enhance the system to meet the needs of particular users, such as Macintosh PC Exchange, will continue as retail products. Software that adds broader functionality, such as QuickTime, will debut first as an extension bundled with third-party products that take advantage of the new functions; later such extensions will be rolled into the next "reference release," or major update, of the operating system.
The next such release is scheduled for sometime between January and March of 1994, Oppenheimer said. It will incorporate QuickDraw GX, ColorSync and Easy Open, Apple's new name for the format-translation software previously known as the Translation Manager. In addition, that release will include a new version of the Finder designed for use with the OCE (Open Collaboration Environment).
Apple's biggest fear, according to Oppenheimer, is that the plethora of new software options may confuse buyers who are already wrestling with the first Mac OS release that is not available for the asking.
"We certainly recognize people's concern with System 7.1 not being available through user groups or on-line," Oppenheimer said. "But if people want us to continue to develop innovative technologies, more of our efforts have to be self-funding."
Apple is still working out a System 7.1 site-license plan that should ease installation and reduce the cost of upgrading, he said. In addition, the company will make available multiple-user 7.0-to-7.1 update kits to go with the more expensive upgrade kits already available for sites that don't own System 7.0 or 7.0.1.
> Toolboxes. Products that Apple designates as toolboxes will be delivered first to developers for bundling, then incorporated in a reference release. "We want to get innovative software developed quickly," Oppenheimer said, "and the best way to do that is with small teams that put new software out when it's done, instead of waiting." Easy Open, for example, will ship in the next few months to developers, who will be authorized to bundle it with their products.
The only exception to this rule will be software that is dependent on specific hardware. For example, Casper, Apple's voice-recognition software, and the Pen handwriting recognition extension Apple has demonstrated will come with Macintoshes and peripherals especially designed to exploit those toolboxes' capabilities.
> System and network enhancers. Software not required by all users, such as the OCE server, will be sold retail. This way, Oppenheimer said, users can vote with their dollars on the value of add-on software, rather than having each system enhancement forced on them in a reference release.
> Catalysts. With toolboxes that require extensive user input before they can be fully exploited, such as AppleScript, Apple plans to offer kits that include useful examples of how the technology can be exploited. The QuickTime Starter Kit is another example of a toolbox catalyst.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: MacWrite Pro due - someday
Long wait for update may end in March
By Carolyn Said
Mountain View, Calif. - MacWrite Pro, which Claris Corp. had intended to be one of the first System 7-savvy applications, is finally nearing a release date.
MacWEEK examined a prerelease copy and found that the word processor, a total rewrite of Claris' MacWrite II (last updated in January 1989), maintains that application's look and feel while packing in dozens of new features and interface improvements.
Announced at Apple's System 7.0 rollout in May 1991 and originally expected to ship that fall, MacWrite Pro should ship by March 1993, sources said. Pricing is not yet set but should be $250 or less.
Enhancements include:
> Desktop publishing features. Users can create and adjust multiple columns from the ruler bar or from a menu selection. Columns can vary from section to section and can wrap around graphics.
Users can insert, move and resize text and graphics frames anywhere on a page. Users also can add borders, patterns and color fills to text and graphics boxes, selecting from palettes of 81 colors and 64 patterns.
Text now can flow around objects, including irregularly shaped ones; objects also can be anchored to text.
> System 7. MacWrite Pro can publish and subscribe automatically or on request, and it offers balloon help. Although the program originally was intended to be an exemplary System 7 application, it will not support more than the required Apple events or AppleScript or other scripting applications.
> Interface. A new floating palette contains tools for inserting text and graphics boxes, tables, text and sound notes, as well as bor-ders and color fills. A text palette lets users change font, size, color and style.
Like Microsoft Word 5's new Preferences dialog box, MacWrite Pro's Preferences resembles the System 6 Control Panel. A new Section menu command, similar to that in Word, offers control of columns and page numbering.
Zoom-in and -out buttons let users view documents at 50 percent and 200 percent sizes.
> Productivity. A new tool can create tables, although the total number of cells cannot exceed 100. Users now can annotate documents with text and sound notes.
An automatic backup feature lets users specify intervals at which to automatically save.
> ADDit modules. MacWrite Pro will accommodate software add-ons and will ship with ADDits for Tables and Notes.
> Document info. A new menu selection counts characters, words, lines and paragraphs in a document or a selection; and offers information on author, revision number and size.
MacWrite Pro reportedly will share several underlying technologies with other Claris products. For example, it uses the same dictionary as other standard Claris applications; the programs also have similar Preferences dialogs.
MacWrite Pro still lacks such power features as customizable command keys, index and table-of-contents generation, and outlining.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: Some graphic artists follow apps to Windows
By Neil McManus
San Francisco - A designer opens a 24-bit-color scanned image in Adobe Photoshop and overlays a logo created in Aldus FreeHand. Then she opens QuarkXPress and adds the image to a full-color brochure.
This scenario is old hat for many Mac users, who consider their machines the only viable platform for graphics work, but now it's taking place on IBM PCs and compatibles under Microsoft Windows.
Traditional Macintosh graphics and publishing programs piling onto the Windows platform include QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Fractal Design Inc.'s Painter and Deneba Software's Canvas. They join such cross-platform staples as Aldus PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator and FreeHand.
"The differences between the Mac and PC are starting to melt away for graphics users," said Ray Leach, president of Publishing Solutions Inc., a systems integrator in Akron, Ohio. "The most exciting change is Quark and Photoshop coming to Windows. These are legitimate tools for production."
According to Joan-Carol Brigham, director of graphics research at International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., Windows has surpassed the Mac in new shipments of illustration programs. IDC estimates there are 1.4 million illustration programs installed on Macs and 1.6 million installed on Windows machines. By 1996, IDC predicts, these numbers will shift to 4.5 million on Macs and 7.9 million on Windows.
"For a long time, artists and publishers wouldn't even consider the PC as an alternative, but now the pieces are starting to appear," Brigham said.
A big advantage of Windows as an alternative graphics platform to the Mac is the relatively low cost of PC hardware, observers said.
John Smallwood-Garcia, senior graphics designer at EQE International, an engineering consulting firm in San Francisco, said his company standardized on PCs because Macs were too expensive. "We decided that we could get a lot faster machines for a lot less money with PC clones. For us it was the cheapest way to get into desktop publishing."
Another advantage is that many corporate MIS departments dream of standardizing on one platform. "MIS departments would love to ram PCs down artists' throats," Leach said.
But even though Windows is winning over some users, the PC is still too technically byzantine to usurp the Mac as the desktop platform of choice for graphics users, observers said.
"Graphics users aren't techies, they don't want to interact with DOS," said Susan Spencer, product marketing manager of Adobe Illustrator for Windows. "It's not as easy to configure a PC system as it is a Mac. To install a video card on a PC means making sure everything is compatible, and the number of possible configurations are almost infinite."
Leach added that the Macintosh is a much more mature graphics platform than Windows. "When users see 16-bit color on a PC, they jump for joy; their level of expectations is a lot lower," he said. "Windows now has Quark, but it doesn't have the hundreds of XTensions that the Mac has. You don't have color-calibration like [Electronics for Imaging Inc.'s] EFIcolor on the PC. Windows now has digital video, but where's Adobe Premiere? Where's [SuperMac Technology's] DigitalFilm?"
The Macintosh also has the advantage of being entrenched in graphics service bureaus. "When a PC user goes to a service bureau, he realizes he's living in a Mac world," said Smallwood-Garcia. "When I bring an IBM PageMaker file in [to a service bureau] for lino output, I have to open it on a Mac and make sure the lines didn't wrap differently and that the kerning is the same. It's kind of like I'm doing my work twice."
MacWEEK 12.14.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: Digital Ocean lets PBs ride wireless currents
By April Streeter
Overland Park, Kan. - A start-up Mac developer next month plans to debut a wireless connection device that will let PowerBook users create ad hoc AppleTalk networks or simply connect to network services without wires.
Digital Ocean plans a March shipment for the Grouper, a wedge-shaped radio transceiver that emulates a LocalTalk network connection. To be priced at about $450, the Grouper will ship with a special serial port connector that allows it to be affixed to the bottom of a PowerBook; it also can connect to stand-alone Macs or networked devices, including LaserWriters and modems.
"Being able to jump on and off the network is a lot neater than having wires everywhere," said Jerald Smith, who saw a demo of the product last month. Smith is production manager at Media International Corp. of Kansas City, Kan; the media production company's 27 PowerBooks serve as workstations for users developing video storyboards.
"My organization is small, but we want the freedom to roam," Smith said. "With all the on-location work we do, there's no way now to network, other than lugging along a bunch of cables."
Groupers run on batteries or an AC power supply and use spread-spectrum radio technology to communicate with up to 14 other wireless nodes. File and print services can be tapped via a single Grouper connected to a wired AppleTalk network.
Digital Ocean calls ad hoc wireless networks "schools." Groupers, whether joining a hasty airport assemblage of PowerBooks or a wireless extension to a permanent AppleTalk network, designate a single Grouper as hub. A hub grouper controls transmitter timing and packet-passing for the rest of the school. If one of the Groupers is running on AC power, it automatically will be designated the hub by other nodes.
Digital Ocean's spread-spectrum radio technology reduces interference and boosts the device's ability to communicate through walls and floors in an office building. The company claimed that Groupers can communicate reliably within a 250-foot radius, even through steel and reinforced concrete, which can stymie some radio technologies.
The devices use four separate channels within the designated spread- spectrum frequency band so separate schools can function in close proximity, the company said.
Digital Ocean also said a Grouper's maximum power level of 10 milliwatts is well below the Federal Communications Commission's recommended guideline of 600 milliwatts, which should minimize concerns regarding the effect of low-level radio waves on humans.
Groupers employ a proprietary algorithm to turn themselves off when the connected device is not accessing the network, which reduces interference and conserves battery power, according to Digital Ocean.
The company estimated that a NiCad battery will give a Grouper three hours of continuous transmission time. A PowerBook battery recharger can be used to recharge Grouper batteries.
To guard against radio-based network eavesdropping, the Grouper will have three levels of security. For example, a school originator, the first Grouper present on the network, designates a workgroup name that functions as a password for subsequent members. A second level of secu- rity provides a password-protected school roster that network administrators can employ to track individual Groupers' identification numbers and admit only authorized devices.
Groupers include a PCMCIA slot, and the company said it will offer a 10BASE T Ethernet card and a card that uses the Digital Encryption Standard to prevent unauthorized monitoring of network traffic.
The company also is planning 1993 releases of a PCMCIA-card version of the wireless device, which could slide into a future PowerBook's PCMCIA slot.
Digital Ocean is at 35 Corporate Woods, 9101 W. 110th St., Overland Park, Kan. 66210. Phone (913) 338-1596, Ext. 537; fax (913) 338-1089.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: PDS card will turn Quadra into speedy server
By MacWEEK staff
San Francisco - New details are emerging about Apple's plans to enter the server-hardware market.
The company's first server, slated to ship in May, will consist of a Quadra 950 with ample memory and storage and a card crammed with performance-enhancing circuitry in its processor direct slot, sources said.
Prices for the product are expected to range upward from $10,000, depending on configuration.
The system, which is being developed by Apple's Enterprise Systems Division, reportedly will run Apple's Unix operating system, A/UX, as its native OS. It is designed either to function as an AppleShare file server or to host a relational database, according to sources.
Apple reportedly will offer at least two software bundles with the system, one containing a new A/UX-based version of AppleShare, the other with Oracle 7, the upcoming database package from Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif.
The server's PDS card will add several workstation-grade capabilities previous Macs have lacked, including support for SCSI-2, direct memory access and high-speed RAIDs (redundant arrays of inexpensive disks). It also will provide a secondary cache, consisting of 512 Kbytes of static RAM, to complement the caches on-board the Quadra's 68040 processor.
The card also may be available separately for users who already own a Quadra 950.
When running the new version of AppleShare, the server will provide networked clients with about twice the performance of a standard Quadra 950 running AppleShare 3.0.1, sources said.
The server will take advantage of Unix's multithreaded, multitasking capabilities to support multiple, simultaneous network connections. Network connections will be available through the Quadra's built-in Ethernet port and interface cards installed in its NuBus slots.
The server bundles will be available through value-added resellers and Apple's direct sales force.
The system, to be released this spring, will be the first in a family of server products, sources said. ESD plans to follow the 68040-based shervers with even faster systems based on the PowerPC RISC processor when Macs using those chips ship in 1994.
Apple CEO John Sculley has spoken in public of plans for an "image server" or "media server." That product, which is not expected to ship until sometime in 1994, will feature a special databaselike file system and software agents that can search inside files to locate text and graphics that match users' search criteria.
This intelligence reportedly will let corporate users search many different data types on an image server using contextual or descriptive queries.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Gateways: New Apple net installer helps clear up confusion
AppleTalk Version 58 advised for all Macs
By Robert Hess
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple last week cleared up some of the confusion surrounding AppleTalk versions with the release of a new Network Software Installer.
Version 1.3 of the Installer, a bundle of network-related drivers and extensions, updates many pieces of the network software puzzle:
> AppleTalk was updated to Version 58.0, which the company now recommends for all Macintosh models. Previously, multiple versions of the AppleTalk driver were used by various Apple and third-party software. Using third-party application installers on different Macs could result in multiple versions of AppleTalk on the same network, causing confusion for network administrators who prefer to maintain parity throughout their networks.
> A new Network control panel, Version 3.0, contains a number of interface improvements. New labels indicate the version numbers of installed network drivers, and a pop-up menu provides easier selection of zones on AppleTalk Phase 2 networks.
> EtherTalk and TokenTalk and their respective drivers have been updated to Version 2.5. Both now offer support for SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and increased support for Apple's AppleTalk Internet Router 2.0.
> A/ROSE (Apple Real-time Operating System Executive), the extension that controls communication with Apple's intelligent NuBus cards, climbed to Version 1.1.9. Apple claimed the update minimizes performance degradation on 68030-based Macs, a source of user complaints for many months. Support for the Mac IIvi, IIvx and Performa 600 was added.
Improved driver-selection behavior will benefit users frequently on the road. For example, PowerBook users who connect to their networks via SCSI Ethernet adapters no longer are forced to switch between LocalTalk and EtherTalk drivers manually when moving between office and home. While users still are notified when Ethernet connections cannot be found, the alert is less obtrusive and, when the previous Ethernet connection becomes available, the EtherTalk driver is used automatically.
The Network Software Installer is available on AppleLink.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
Gateways Page 24
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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GA: Painter 2.0 extends tool palette
Fractal update adds effects and previews
By Kirsten L. Parkinson
Aptos, Calif. - Fractal Design Corp. next month will unveil an upgrade to Painter that adds a Magic Wand tool, tear-off palettes and a preview mode.
Painter 2.0 is due to ship at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Like its predecessor, the upgrade offers a wide range of tools that imitate paper textures and traditional art media, such as charcoal, chalk, crayons, watercolors and felt-tip pens.
New features will include:
> Tear-off palettes. Users will be able to create a tear-off floating palette of a single medium, look or paper texture that will remain open even if the original palette containing that feature is closed.
> Magic Wand. By dragging the Magic Wand tool over part of an image, users will be able to create a mask of a variable color area. Users can then fine-tune the color range with controls in the Magic Wand window.
> Color sets. Users will be able to select a color independent of brush feature and save it within a separate color set.
> Previews. Users will be able to edit and preview an effect within a movable dialog window before applying it to an image. Users can pan the image within the preview window.
> Record and playback. Painter 2.0 will let users record a series of brush strokes and actions, then play them back at a larger size to create a bigger version of the image.
> New effects. Version 2.0 will add a number of new effects, including image sharpening and softening, motion blur, glass distortion, dodge and burn tools, and varying light sources.
"The record and playback feature is very useful," said Bill Niffenegger, a graphic artist for Chicago-based Niffenegger Studios. "If I were working on a suite of three portraits, I could get a much more unified look without taking extensive notes as I go. I don't have to set the program up again."
Painter 2.0 will list for $399, a $50 increase from Version 1.2. Upgrades will be $79; users who purchased Painter 1.2 after Nov. 1 will be able to upgrade free.
Fractal Design Corp. is at 335 Spreckels Drive, Suite F, Aptos, Calif. 95003. Phone (408) 688-4210; fax (408) 688-8836.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
GA Page 38
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Review: Revamped 4D stays at the top of its field
ACI US' upgrade, now based on a client-server architecture, improves multi-user usage, gives developers new options and adds multitasking capabilities.
By Mel Male
Laurent Ribardire's 4th Dimension is one of the most successful relational database development applications available for the Macintosh. Nearly coincident with the recent release of 4D 3.0, ACI US Inc. also has introduced 4D Server and a new approach for multi-user use.
Beginning with Version 3.0, the 4th Dimension development application and 4D Runtime provide only single-user capability. The multi-user environment, long considered to be 4D's Achilles' heel, now will be implemented exclusively by a separate application, 4D Server.
This review focuses on the functional changes introduced in 4D 3.0. Since the database design and management capabilities of the 4D Server and Client system are nearly identical to those of 4D 3.0, most of it applies to these applications as well. Performance improvements resulting from ACI's new client-server architecture will be the subject of a future review.
Requirements. 4D 3.0 requires a Macintosh with a minimum of 1.5 Mbytes of available RAM, a hard disk and System 6.0.3 or later. Compatibility of data-bases created with previous versions of 4D is dependent on a number of factors.
4D 3.0 lists for $895. Upgrades from Version 2.0 are available for $195 until Jan. 31, after which they will cost $295. The related 4D Runtime 3.0 lists at $195; upgrades from Version 2.0 are $25. Registered developers are offered discounts.
Graphically oriented design environment. At first glance 4D 3.0's Design environment appears little changed from that of previous versions. ACI has done an excellent job of integrating new features while retaining an interface familiar to many users. New users will find it easy to get started - dialog boxes speed you through the process of defining the structure of files and fields; you define relations between files by clicking and dragging, and you prepare layouts with the graphically oriented Layout Editor. Applications created in 4D can be equipped with sophisticated user interfaces - customized menus and windows, layouts with buttons, pop-up menus, animation, sound, and QuickTime movies. The new version lets you create customized balloon help for both fields and active objects (such as buttons and pop-up menus), multiple windows (with close boxes if you wish), and floating palettes.
User-environment options. As in previous versions, two user environments are available for the applications you create - User and Runtime. Both have multi-user capability with 4D Server but are restricted to single- user use in 4D 3.0. In the User environment you use the automatic List of Files window to select the file you wish to work with, along with the input and output layouts to use for displaying data.
A set of standard menus provides basic commands for database use. In this environment you can create records, enter data, search, sort, import, export and print reports without programming. This is often all that will be needed for relatively simple applications.
As your needs grow, you may find it necessary to perform an operation, such as linking strings of data or performing calculations, that cannot be accomplished with the User environment's out-of-the-box capabilities. This is where 4D 3.0's powerful scripting and procedure writing capability comes to the rescue. Once written, your procedures are listed in the User environment's Procedures menu, which you can use to execute them.
An advanced alternative is the Runtime environment. When you elect to enter the Runtime environment, you are handed the wheel, and 4D 3.0 no longer does all of the driving for you. The friendly User environment menus that provide built-in access to convenient commands and functions are unavailable. Unless you want to switch back to the User environment, you must design your own menus and write procedures defining the routines they will execute (they may be as short as a single word).
Multitasking functionality. A major new capability, time-sliced multitasking, enables 4D 3.0 to run multiple database processes concurrently. With the current Macs' single central processor chip, more than one process executing at precisely the same moment is a physical impossibility. As an alternative, 4D 3.0 slices the total processing time to divide execution among all open processes. Execution alternates between processes so rapidly that the processes appear to be executing simultaneously.
4D 3.0 automatically creates and manages six processes: User/Runtime, Design, Cache Manager, Indexing Process, On Serial Port Manager and On Event Manager. Users can initiate additional processes either procedurally, with the Menu editor, or with the Execute Procedure dialog box. Regardless of which of 4D 3.0's environments you are in, you have the capability to trigger new processes.
Each process operates as a separate 4D 3.0 environment, maintaining its own current selection and current record for each file in the database. In addition, you can assign to a process a menu bar, one or more windows, current input and output layouts for each file, and a designated default file. Launching multiple processes provides an effective means of handling time-consuming activities such as importing, printing or indexing data. You can use independent processes to import a large file or to print a lengthy report containing graphics while you continue entering data.
Improved windows. 4D previously had an annoying, non-Mac-like "one- active-window-at-a-time" limitation. Thanks to multitasking, 4D 3.0 supports use of multiple windows - each window is independently managed and controlled by a separate process. By using interprocess communication, actions in one window can automatically update data in another.
Floating windows, also new, remain in front of other windows and greatly expand options for user interface design, such as use of control palettes. Close boxes now can be included on windows.
Rich language. One of 4D 3.0's most valuable assets is its rich and versatile programming language and the tools provided to facilitate procedure preparation and debugging. A full bag of program flow-control tools - case statements, if-then-else, for, while and repeat - are supported. Serial-port control and the capability to create and operate on arrays and sets of records are among its powerful assets.
Of vital importance to developers is 4D's support of extensions and Apple events and the availability of a large number of third-party and public-domain products. The 4D Extension Kit, a separate ACI product, contains complete information on writing extensions, including examples. ACI's implementation of extensions allows you to make calls directly to the internal workings of the database engine from within external code.
Exploiting 4D 3.0's new features requires the use of new commands and, most likely, a greater number of lines of instructions in procedures. Language changes include the commands and functions necessary to initiate and control processes, provisions for defining floating windows and close boxes, naming selections of records, changes to search commands, and changes affecting the multi-user environment. Other changes include three additions to the layout execution cycle to implement process communication and the concept of local, process and interprocess variables and arrays, as well as process and interprocess sets.
4D 3.0's Procedure editor's balloon help provides convenient syntax information and a reference to the language manual for each of the built-in commands and functions. Debugger improvements include the capability to debug processes and the convenience of entering the debugger from a menu in the Design environment.
Development timesavers. The Design and User/Runtime environments now run as separate processes in separate windows. Because they can be open simultaneously, you can instantly check the results of design work. Switching between environments is easy: Just click on the window of the environment you want to switch to or, if you prefer, use either the command keys or the menus provided.
A technique now available for speeding development of large database programs is to have several developers work on the same database structure simultaneously using 4D Server's multitasking capability.
Developers with global intentions can expedite localizing, the task of language conversion, by using 4D 3.0's new capability to access string resources. Menus and menu items, button text and static text on layouts all recognize a resource ID and string number in lieu of conventional text. After creating the necessary string resources with a resource editor such as ResEdit, changing languages is simply a matter of editing resource strings.
Connected menus, introduced in this upgrade, use the object-oriented programming concept of instances to produce a copy of a menu in additional menu bars. Changes to a menu need only be made in one of its instances, wherever it occurs, to invoke it at all the different locations it is used in.
You now can define files and fields as invisible in the User or Runtime environments to prevent their being displayed or used in editors or dialog boxes. This gives the developer an easy means to limit the operations that a user can perform.
Versatility with passwords. 4D's preferences settings include a new option for showing or concealing a list of user names in the Enter Password dialog box. When the hide option is used, users must enter both their user name and password to gain access.
All objects created during database design are automatically assigned an owner. With Version 3.0, the default group that owns objects created by individual users now can be specified with the Edit User password dialog. Another new feature is that you can grant users and groups access to portions of the database design and to external packages. This could be used to give groups access to a layout's design, for instance, so they can update signature block captions on forms when organizational changes take place.
Documentation and support. ACI's support system is top-notch. Its technical support is very responsive, and other services include in- depth training, seminars and workshops. ACI has two excellent programs for developers: The ACI Corporate Support Program focuses on the needs of internal, in-house and corporate developers; the ACI Professional Developer Program addresses the needs of professional consultants and writers of vertical-market applications. Monthly mailings and tech notes also are available.
Purchasers of the Version 3.0 upgrade will receive the complete, entirely new 4D 3.0 package, which includes software and nine excellent manuals. 4D veterans should start with the Upgrade manual - it contains enough information to get them under way. Developers will appreciate ACI's decision to provide the Language Reference Manual in a loose-leaf binder for easier maintenance.
Conclusions. 4D 3.0 is a superb environment for database development. It empowers you with the ability to produce efficient, truly elegant Mac applications. A rich and powerful scripting and procedural language supplements its easy-to-use graphically oriented design tools. The time- sliced multitasking capability added in Version 3.0 greatly enhances the designer's options and speeds development time. ACI's decision to restrict multi-user capability to 4D Server has disappointed a number of its previous users because of the significantly higher cost to implement 4D Server. However, the performance now available is certainly far superior to that previously provided by 4th Dimension.
ACI US Inc. is at 10351 Bubb Road, Cupertino, Calif. 95014. Phone (408) 252-4444; fax (408) 252-0831.
Score Card
4th Dimension
ACI US Inc.
Version tested: 3.0
List price: $895*
Overall value *****
ACI has transformed one of 4th Dimension's previous weaknesses, multi- user performance, into one of its strongest features. To reap this benefit, however, you must now purchase 4D Server, which might be an expensive solution for many smaller groups. 4D 3.0's graphically oriented Design environment simplifies what is inherently a very complex process - relational database development - and provides all the tools needed to produce sophisticated applications. A rich and powerful scripting and procedure language gives the developer complete control over all processes. Its Procedure editor and interactive debugger are first-class. Novices may find that 4D 3.0's advanced features require more time to master than they are willing to invest, but for the developer-craftsperson, it is an outstanding choice.
Performance *****
Features *****
Ease of use ****
Documentation/support *****
*Upgrades from Version 2.0, $195 until Jan. 31, $295 thereafter. 4D Runtime
five clients); $11,495 (50 clients); $15,000 (unlimited client capability).
System 7 Compatibility
4th Dimension 3.0
Balloon help Yes
TrueType Yes
Publish and subscribe Yes
Apple events Yes
32-bit addressing* Yes
*According to vendor.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
Reviews Page 77
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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BusinessWatch: Apple, AOL ink licensing agreement
Deal covers AOL interface, software
By Nathalie Welch
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple, in a bid to secure a bigger slice of the growing on-line information pie, this month inked a technology-licensing agreement giving it access to America Online Inc.'s communications software.
The deal covers both AOL's client-user interface and its mainframe-host software. Apple will incorporate the technologies into future versions of AppleLink and other on-line services that Apple will manage and market in the future, according to Peter Friedman, director of Apple On- line Services, a business unit of the company's Personal Interactive Electronics division.
In exchange, Apple will pay usage-based royalties to the Vienna, Va.- based on-line services company, according to AOL President Stephen M. Case, and Apple has guaranteed his company a minimum of $15 million in royalties over five years. In addition, Apple will finance America Online's efforts to modify its technology to suit Apple's needs. Apple also will acquire warrants to buy 500,000 shares in America Online at $25 each.
"[Apple's] emphasis over the next several years is to integrate information-services technologies into our multiple businesses," Friedman said.
Apple spokesman Christopher Escher said: "In the coming months, we will experience a big expansion in our on-line business operations. We expect it to be a big revenue producer."
According to Friedman, Apple will run future versions of AppleLink and the other planned services on its own host hardware. AppleLink is run on equipment provided by General Electric Information Services Co.
Both Apple officials declined to provide additional details about future Apple on-line products or services, but sources said that the company sees a large market in providing communications services for users of mobile computers, including its upcoming personal digital assistants. Apple reportedly also is exploring the possibility of selling software on-line.
The agreement is nonexclusive, and AOL officials said they hope to establish their technology as a standard by licensing it to other companies in the future.
In 1988 Apple entered into an agreement with AOL (then called Quantum Computer Services Inc.) to develop a consumer-oriented on-line service to be called AppleLink-Personal Edition. Apple, how-ever, backed out of the deal the following year.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
BusinessWatch Page 54
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Mac the Knife: PowerPC to the developers
The public at large was again expressing its righteous anger last week. As usual, the object of its scorn was the press and its wretched excesses. And the Knife, for once, was inclined to agree with the press bashing. Who didn't get seriously annoyed at the spectacle of glaring TV camera lights illuminating events that by all rights should be left untelevised? You can just imagine how Charles and Diana felt knowing that their every royal misstep was being broadcast worldwide.
Apple probably gets a little annoyed having its innermost secrets regularly revealed, too. But somehow it's a lot harder to work up sympathy for a giant, profitable corporate entity that's No. 1 in its field than it is to identify with the marital problems of the overly privileged.
For example, Apple no doubt would prefer that the Knife just sit on his report last week that a few key developers were seeded with the first NuBus boards containing the PowerPC chip. Depending on which unimpeachable source you ask, the company is aiming to have either five or 12 major applications running in native mode at full RISC speed when it ships the first PowerPC-based Macs about a year from now. Watch this space.
Source is a source, of course. No matter how long you're at it, this business of foretelling the future has its risks. Prognosticators have been fooled more than once by the Mac IIzx, a product name that rears its ugly little head from time to time but so far hasn't made it onto the front of any Mac. When it showed up again the other day on a curious document describing one of the new low-cost 68LC040 Macs due out next year, the Knife's first instinct was to toss it. But further examination revealed that the document did contain some curious information, such as the fact that the street price of this new Mac is expected to be less than $1,800. So if you expect to be left tight of pocket at the end of the holiday season, take heart. The projected price is thought to include at least 4 Mbytes of RAM, an 80-Mbyte hard disk, built-in video and a bay suitable for a CD-ROM drive.
Hard copy. Printers have been a huge profit center for Apple for a long time now. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out that the booming PowerBook market represents an excellent opportunity to create yet another revenue flow. As anyone at GCC (the WriteMove II company) will tell you, notebook Mac users often need a notebook printer to go with it. The Knife reports that sometime before summer Apple will introduce a compact, less-than-4-pound serial QuickDraw printer. A slightly heavier (and undoubtedly more expensive) color model will follow later in the year.
Common Knowledge. Not all innovations flow from Apple, IBM or even a combination of the two. The Knife was recently reminded that Common Knowledge, a small company led by a team of veteran developers, is almost ready to give sneak previews of a new Mac software product code- named Tesla. The developers are said to call it an intelligent PIM, but the Knife calls it an electronic legal pad. Users will be able to enter data free-form and not worry about data structure because, like Apple's Newton software, the program is extensible, and it will structure the data for you automatically, putting appointments on your calendar and phone numbers in your Rolodex. Special templates for specific professions are expected to be available when it ships sometime next year. Although you won't find it on the floor at next month's Macworld Expo, the lucky few will get a look-see in one of those ubiquitous private hotel suites.
In some circles the MacWEEK mug is as rare as an 800-Kbyte floppy disk edition of the System 7.1 upgrade kit. A little info goes a long way toward a mug at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 12.14.92
Mac the Knife Page 182
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
