San Francisco - Motorola Corp. last week demonstrated what might be the platform for the futuristic wireless networking that Apple envisions for the PowerBook and its consumer products.
Motorola Wireless Enterprise Systems Group, based in Schaumburg, Ill., showed prototypes of a packet-radio modem and communications software. Due next fall, the technology will allow PowerBook users to send files or electronic mail between most cities in the United States through IBM Corp. and Motorola's ARDIS wireless network. Users will be charged about 10 cents for 30 words of text.
Mail and other applications will be able to hook into radio capabilities through WaveGuide, a software toolbox that will be distributed to Mac developers in coming months, Motorola officials said.
Packet radio can be routed like the network traffic that normally travels over wires, allowing single messages to be addressed to multiple users. With cellular telephone technology it would be necessary to send the message individually to each recipient, according to Motorola.
Motorola plans to ship a 3-watt external packet-radio modem for the PowerBook in the fall, and the company is negotiating with Apple to include an internal radio device in the PowerBook.
Motorola also said its radio technology could be used in the consumer products planned by Apple (see MacWEEK, Jan. 13) and those being developed at Mountain View, Calif.-based General Magic Inc.
At the demonstration, which was presented off the show floor at Macworld Expo, Motorola showed a rudimentary radio modem wrapped in electrician's tape and stuffed into the battery slot on a PowerBook. This left the computer to run on only half a battery. But Motorola said the final version of the technology will be smaller and should use battery power sparingly.
The modem will provide a socket for a Data Encryption Standard (DES) or RSA Data Security Inc. encryption chip, which can scramble message contents, according to Motorola.
Motorola's Wireless Enterprise Systems Group is at 1201 E. Wiley Road, Suite 103, Schaumburg, Ill. 60173. Phone (708) 576-0645; fax (708) 576-0710.
(MacWEEK Gateways, January 20, 1992, page 18) (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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Big expo crowds defy recession
By MacWEEK staff
San Francisco - Developers have packed up their booths, but the afterglow remains for users who say last week's Macworld Expo offered the most exciting new products and technology in years.
Despite the worst slump in 30 years among consumer retailers, attendees could be seen carrying away boxes of items bought on the show floor, from mouse pads and fonts to scanners and printers.
Apple CEO John Sculley used his keynote to reprise his announcement of the Apple consumer products expected for Christmas (see MacWEEK, Jan. 13). He also did his best to prime the market for forthcoming consumer and multimedia Macintoshes by highlighting entertainment and education products.
New technologies, however, held center stage. During his speech, Sculley demonstrated Northern Telecom Inc.'s upcoming video conferencing system (see MacWEEK, Jan. 13), transmitting photos across the continent to Time magazine in New York.
Apple packed a special room with products supporting QuickTime, its multimedia system extension, and the products pulled in crowds of curious onlookers, who left impressed.
Jon Arnold, a marketing consultant in Clayton, Calif., said he attended the expo to window shop for Macintosh software because he was about to buy his first personal computer. "I can't believe what I'm seeing," he said as his eyes darted around the QuickTime room. "Watching video on a computer screen is a whole new world for me."
Besides the new stuff, the show saw some solid upgrades and a mass of System 7-savvy mainstream applications, including Microsoft Word 5.0 and Lotus 1-2-3 for the Mac.
In other System 7 news, Apple released a new draft of the Apple events registry, with new database and telephony suites. Apple events also got a boost from the shipment of Frontier, a user scripting environment that can send arbitrary events to other applications.
Off the show floor, developers heard news regarding Apple's Open Collaboration Environment (OCE) that, depending on their business, may spell boom or bust in the next few years.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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Apple, Mac developers come together over OCE
By Mitch Ratcliffe
San Francisco - Apple sent a message at Macworld Expo: Get ready to share work as you've never been able to before.
Developers and a few corporate users got their first look at applications compatible with the Open Collaboration Environment (OCE) during closed-door briefings held here last week.
OCE, which consists of extensions, toolboxes and application programming interfaces (APIs), will integrate electronic mail, directory and security services, and interprogram messaging into System 7 (see MacWEEK, Oct. 22, 1991).
Apple reportedly hopes to release OCE at the Worldwide Developers Conference in May. Developers have already received beta versions of the APIs required for adding collaborative features to programs.
Those who saw the OCE demonstrations said it will radically alter the way projects are managed on networked Macs.
"Apple got up and said it had spent millions of dollars and had a team of 50 engineers put in millions of man-hours on the project. We just rolled our eyes," said one developer.
"When Apple started showing [AppleMail and OCE], we were all floored."
"It was a mind-boggling demonstration of new capabilities," another developer said of AppleMail, a mail client application presented as an example of an application using OCE's system-level messaging. "Users will be able to handle all kinds of messages - from within applications or the Finder - without paying any attention to the transport mechanism."
But the OCE feature set may not bode well for software developers who now provide mail front ends. Contrary to previous indications, Apple is now developing its own OCE example applications that could compete with third-party software. The company is expected to ship these applications with the OCE extensions to generate user interest.
"I think Apple has been keeping this as low key as possible because it is going to crush some smaller third parties," said a source who attended the OCE briefing. "That's just the way the market works."
OCE reportedly includes:
>Collaboration package.
A set of APIs that developers can use to add a mail front end to any application. Mail will be available in the Finder and OCE-compatible applications under the File menu.
Any kind of file can be mailed through the OCE Mailer. The toolbox simply appends a mail header to the file that provides addressing information to the operating system. Additionally, OCE will support file attachments and multiple addresses.
>Directory Finder extension.
A new Finder capability was required to handle OCE's ability to send all files in the form of a message.
Users will see all files they have received, including mail messages and voice mail, text and graphics files, or any other documents in a single window. Users also will be able to select view preferences that display attributes such as arrival time, sender and size of each file.
>Digital Signature Toolbox.
Apple will provide encryption tools developed by Redwood City, Calif.-based RSA Data Security Inc. (see MacWEEK, October 29, 1991). Besides digital signature capabilities, RSA will provide data encryption through a separate algorithm.
>Directory services.
A central directory of users and groups will save users from building a separate address book for each application they use. Instead, they will be able to create new groups by choosing from the OCE user list.
"[OCE] is going to solve a lot of the administrative problems with running several collaborative applications," a developer told MacWEEK. He said directory services in OCE will allow groupware administrators to establish multiple messaging paths by grouping users in a single address book.
>Interprogram Message Manager.
Applications will be able to send messages to one another, even to those on a Mac that is turned off. In this way, co-workers can collaborate, even when they live in different time zones. Programs will have the ability to address multiple applications, display messages to the user and allow management of the message queue.
No decision has been made on whether Apple will sell the technology or give it away, developers said. Most hoped that Apple will ship OCE as an extension to System 7 and later fold it into a version of the Mac operating system.
Margie Wylie, Andrew Gore and Dartanyan L. Brown contributed to this report.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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Quorum brings Mac apps to Unix world
By Andrew Gore
San Francisco - A small start-up company will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Sun Microsystems Inc., Silicon Graphics Inc. and IBM Corp. this week as it introduces technology that will let out-of-the-box Mac programs run on those companies' Unix workstations.
Quorum Software Systems Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., will announce two products at this week's UniForum show here, sources said. Called Quorum Latitude and Quorum Equal, the software can adapt any System 7-ready, 32-bit-clean Mac program to work on a Unix workstation and take on a Unix graphical user interface.
The system reportedly works with IBM RS/6000 workstations running AIX and Motif; Sun SPARCstations and SPARC-based clones running Solaris 1.0 (SUN OS 4.1.1) and Open Look; and Silicon Graphics workstations, such as the new Indigo model, running IRIX 4.0 and Motif.
The technology has so impressed Unix systems manufacturers and software developers that Aldus Corp.; Adobe Systems Inc.; Quark Inc.; Silicon Graphics; and SunSoft, Sun's software subsidiary, are expected to announce their support. Some SPARC clone manufacturers are even negotiating to bundle Quorum software, according to sources.
At the heart of the technology is the Quorum Compatibility Engine, a portable software implementation of the Mac Toolbox. The engine will be incorporated into two products:
>Latitude.
Available by March, Quorum Latitude is a developer kit that promises programmers an easy way to turn Mac applications into native Unix programs. When an application optimized with Latitude and linked to the compatibility engine makes a Mac Toolbox call, the engine converts the call to the equivalent Unix command.
When re-engineered with Latitude, a program such as MacWrite would retain its capabilities, key sequences and menus, but would appear with a Motif, Open Look or other Unix interfaces.
The benefit, sources said, is combining the appeal of Mac software with workstation performance and the flexibility of the Unix OS. I/O could be up to 10 times faster than a Mac Quadra, and computations could be performed three or four times faster.
The compatibility engine will convert raster fonts to an equivalent Unix font and supports Sound Manager calls and up to 24-bit color. It will not, however, support Mac system extensions, Fkeys, Apple events or any software that is hardware-dependent, such as frame-grabbers.
>Equal.
A retail product expected this summer for less than $1,000, Quorum Equal will make it possible to boot an unconverted, off-the-shelf Mac application under Unix. The program, a 68000 runtime interpreter that uses the same compatibility engine as Latitude, probably will ship with its own Mac disk mounter.
In exchange for convenience, users will have to settle for performance about a third of that of programs converted with Latitude. In all other respects, Mac programs running under Equal will look and behave exactly as they would if converted with Latitude, sources said.
Previous approaches that promised a way to run Mac software on other platforms have died young, largely because of fear of legal reprisals from Apple. But sources said Quorum may be safe from charges of violating Apple's interface copyrights because its software gives Mac programs the look and feel of the native Unix GUI, rather than a standard Mac interface.
Quorum also circumvents QuickDraw's patented techniques for managing screen regions. When a Mac program running under Quorum software makes a QuickDraw call, the compatibility engine intercepts it and instantly converts the call to the equivalent in Display PostScript.
Apple officials who have seen Quorum's technology were impressed, sources said. Apple reportedly is considering either licensing the technology or perhaps buying the company, according to sources.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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LC to turn '030: End of the road for '020 line?
By Andrew Gore
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple may bid a fond farewell to the '020s this spring when it upgrades the Macintosh LC to Motorola Inc.'s 68030 microprocessor.
The company is considering phasing out the current 68020-based Mac LC when it introduces the faster 16-MHz 68030 version in April, sources said.
The upgraded model removes some barriers that prevented customers from selecting Apple's lowest-cost color offering. According to several dealers, most customers looking for an entry-level color Macintosh who opted not to purchase the LC did so because its 68020 processor can't fully support System 7 features, primarily virtual memory.
In addition, the LC's lack of a floating-point coprocessor slot deterred buyers who didn't want to give up the option of adding a coprocessor just to save money.
The '030 upgrade addresses that concern. Sources said it will sport an FPU (floating-point unit) slot in addition to an '030 processor direct slot, allowing it to use PDS cards currently available for the Mac IIsi.
While buyers may feel better about an '030-equipped LC, those looking for a major speed boost will be disappointed, sources said. The 16-MHz '030 in the new LC is expected to boost performance only about 10 percent over the current model.
The new LC will reportedly retail for $2,499 with 2 Mbytes of RAM and a 40-Mbyte hard drive, the same price as the current LC. Apple will either discontinue the '020 LC immediately after the '030 unit's introduction or lower the price of the older model, sources said.
"Like most companies these days, we're trying to contain costs," said Tim Yancy, Mac product manager for Southern California Edison in Rosemead, Calif.
"But we can't even consider an LC because most of our application development assumes an '030 minimum. With an '030, the LC would be much more viable for us," Yancy said.
>33-MHz Quadra.
With the '030 LC, Apple appears to be delivering on CEO John Sculley's promise to update the product line more frequently. Another such update is planned for the Quadra 900, which sources said will get a 33-MHz 68040 to replace its current 25-MHz processor.
The bump up in clock speed was originally planned for the same time as the '030 LC debut, but a shortage of the faster 68040 chips should delay the Quadra upgrade until summer, at which point the processor speed might be higher, sources said.
>LaserWriter NTR.
But while buyers may have to hold out a while longer for a faster Quadra, the wait for a speedier Personal LaserWriter will be up in April.
The Personal LaserWriter NTR reportedly will come equipped with an Advanced Micro Devices 29005 RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processor, providing three to five times faster processing than the Personal LaserWriter NT (see MacWEEK, Nov. 19, 1991).
In addition to supporting PostScript Level 2, the NTR is expected to be Apple's first printer with a Centronics parallel interface, useful for connecting IBM PC and compatibles to the printer. The NTR's parallel, AppleTalk and serial ports will all be active simultaneously, sources said.
The new printer should retail for under $2,500, $100 less than the NT's current price. NT or Personal LaserWriter SC owners should be able to upgrade to the NTR for about $1,000.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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Apple mounter will let users ride DOS disks
By Henry Norr
Cupertino, Calif. - After years of watching Apple ads and demos showing DOS disks mounted on the Mac desktop, users will soon be able to turn to the company for the software that makes the trick possible. But they'll still have to pay for the privilege, according to sources.
DOS Exchange, an Apple system extension that will allow the Finder to recognize floppies formatted on IBM PCs and compatibles, is slated for release in April. Under current plans, it will be distributed as a retail product priced at $99 and will not be built into the operating system or bundled with any Mac models.
Apple introduced its DOS-compatible SuperDrive in September 1988, and at that time said future system software would show DOS disks, directories and files on the desktop (see MacWEEK, Sept. 27, 1988). Until now, however, the company has not delivered on that promise: Users importing DOS files have had to go through the cumbersome Apple File Exchange utility, or else purchase a third-party mounting extension.
Dayna Communications Inc.'s DOS Mounter was the first such product on the market, but Apple is reportedly using code acquired from a later competitor, Insignia Solutions Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., as the foundation of DOS Exchange. Although Apple engineers are making internal modifications to the software, the new extension's features will resemble those of Insignia's AccessPC 1.2, sources said.
In addition to mounting DOS disks, AccessPC lets users map extensions on DOS file names to Mac applications, so the files can be launched by double-clicking their icons. It also allows formatting of DOS floppies from the desktop.
Apple's version of the product, however, is likely to require System 7, according to sources; AccessPC, DOS Mounter and MountPC, another utility bundled with several Mac-PC connectivity products from Argosy Software Inc. of New York. All work with System 6 as well as the new Mac OS.
Another feature of the third-party programs that Apple is expected to omit is support for non-floppy removable media such as DOS-format SyQuest and magneto-optical cartridges.
Apple and Insignia officials declined to comment.
The decision to charge users for DOS Exchange, sources said, reflects Apple's new marketing and distribution strategy for system software. The company reportedly hopes to generate additional revenues by marketing many of the planned enhancements for System 7 as retail products.
Separately, Dayna last week released DOS Mounter 3.0, a new version that adds support for Apple's Drive 5.25 and a new control panel on-off switch. Upgrades to the $89.95 utility are $24.95 but free to customers who bought Version 2.x after Dec. 1, 1991.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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4D Server to add new dimensions
By Andrew Gore and Margie Wylie
San Francisco - ACIUS Inc. hopes to soon be serving DOS and Windows computers along with Macintoshes.
At the company's fifth annual 4D Developers Conference, held here earlier this month, company President Marylene Delbourg-Delphis announced that ACIUS' long-awaited 4D Server will ship this summer with a surprise: support for DOS and Windows 3.0-based clients.
The upcoming server also will for the first time allow Mac developers to write 4D applications in many languages other than the 4D fourth-generation programming environment.
At the heart of both capabilities will be the 4D API, an application programming interface (API) that developers can call from DOS, Windows and Mac applications.
The API requires ADSP (AppleTalk Data Stream Protocol), a portion of the AppleTalk protocol stack that Farallon Computing Inc.'s AppleTalk client does not yet support. Farallon offers the only method for running AppleTalk on Intel computers. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company has said it will offer ADSP in a future release of PhoneNET Talk, but has not committed to a ship date.
The API will offer developers complete control over the 4D Server, including server administration functions, such as creating users or modifying their rights.
It will work with fourth-generation development systems, such as Borland International Inc.'s ObjectVision, Microsoft Corp.'s Visual Basic or Asymetrix ToolBook, as well as third-generation languages such as Pascal and C.
Using 4D API, programmers also will be able to connect 4D Server directly to SQL databases on other platforms, according to ACIUS. The API must, however, reside on a Mac with a TCP/IP or DECnet connection to the SQL server.
Announced at last year's developers conference and originally expected to ship last month (see MacWEEK, Jan. 8, 1991), the 4D Server is the first client-server implementation of ACIUS' Mac database. The company claims the new software will boost 4D's performance 20 to 100 fold.
Server pricing hasn't been set, but licensing will be based on users active on the network. 4D API will be available to 4D developers for a minimal documentation fee.
Delbourg-Delphis, a vocal critic of companies that halt Mac development in favor of the lucrative Windows market, also said her company has begun converting its entire 4th Dimension relational database product line to run under Windows NT and a future, 32-bit version of MS-DOS.
"We didn't want to compromise our standards just to work on DOS," said Delbourg-Delphis. "With Windows NT and the next DOS, Microsoft's operating system technology has finally risen to a level where it can do 4D justice."
The Windows versions, which will take at least two years to develop, has not bitten into ACIUS' Mac development, she said.
ACIUS Inc. is at 10351 Bubb Road, Cupertino, Calif. 95014. Phone (408) 252-4444; fax (408) 252-0831.
(MacWEEK News, January 20, 1992, 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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TechWorks 'packages' net update tool
By Jonathan A. Oski
Update-riddled Mac managers may find welcome assistance from a growing arsenal of administration tools aimed at automating the distribution of software on the network. TechWorks Inc. recently began shipping GraceLAN Update Manager, another product in its family of GraceLAN network-administration tools. Update Manager is designed to distribute packages and perform other miscellaneous actions on any node on the network.
>Is there a manager in the house?
Although Update Manager can be used as a stand-alone product, we found it to be most effective when with network-administration software.
Any of the popular products, such as Pharos Technologies Inc.'s STATUS Mac, MacVONK*USA's netOctopus, CSG Technologies Inc.'s Network Supervisor or TechWorks' own GraceLAN, are examples. These tools allow you to study your network and its assets before you distribute new software.
If you already have GraceLAN installed, adding Update Manager is a breeze. Either GraceLAN or Update Manager can be used to distribute an updated GraceLAN Responder (Version 2.0U) to each of the nodes on your network. Otherwise, installation requires you to install a responder control panel onto each Mac on your network. The responder is not serialized, so it can be copied freely from a shared file volume, but you may want to ensure that installation is performed properly to avoid subsequent confusion or omissions.
>Packages.
Like Trik Inc.'s NetDistributor (see MacWEEK, Dec. 3, 1991), Update Manager uses "packages" in its distribution process. A package can consist of any files, applications, extensions or data that you want to send to users on your network. Packages also can contain Action Items that can be used to either delete or move items on any mounted volume at any node on your network. These can be useful in removing obsolete files from your network or in preserving older versions of files when new ones are being distributed.
One of the strengths of Update Manager is its flexibility in creating packages. The administrator can specify a variety of locations for files conveyed to the user workstation. You also can specify that the workstation be restarted following distribution to ensure that new extensions are loaded. Update Manager compresses packages to shorten transmission times.
>Distribution criteria.
Packages prepared with Update Manager can be given very specific installation instructions. For each item in the package, you can indicate where to look for the item you will be updating and the disposition of the file being updated. Further, you can set requirements for the package based on 21 different parameters. For example, you may be distributing a file that requires another application be present to function. Your minimum requirements for the package could stipulate that it be distributed only to those nodes that have this application present.
This pseudo-scripting capability allows you to perform some very complex updates based on a series of single or grouped Boolean arguments. During our tests, Update Manager's examination of nodes to determine if the distribution criteria was met was not noticeable. This is an important characteristic for administration utilities, since their use should not adversely affect performance on your network.
>User lists.
Packages are distributed based on user lists. Update Manager allows you to create and store various user lists or create ad hoc lists of individuals who will receive a package. User lists can be created based on selection criteria similar to those used in setting the minimum requirements for a package. This feature is helpful in narrowing the focus of a package distribution and allows you the flexibility of determining the audience for distribution either prior to or during the transmission of the package.
In most instances we used the Quick List feature to distribute packages on our network. On larger networks, however, stored lists could limit the scope of updates and actions to prespecified zones or groups of licensees.
>Scheduling and audit trails.
Once created, packages can be distributed immediately or scheduled to be sent out at a later time. This is helpful when you do not want distribution to occur during normal work hours, when it might interfere with daily network activity. Update Manager maintains a distribution queue that tracks the status of all pending and incomplete distributions. From the distribution queue, you can cancel or reschedule pending or partially completed updates. One annoyance with this feature was that updates listed as "partial," based on some nodes not meeting the minimum requirements, were retried each time Update Manager was launched.
Auditing is an important step in the distribution process. It is necessary to determine whether updates have been received and installed correctly. Update Manager stores a record of the activity at each workstation; this can be queried to determine the status of all package distribution actions.
>Security.
Security is crucial to any package that can update and delete files on users' disks. Update Manager provides two levels of security - enough to comfort most users and network managers. Two different responders are provided - like the GraceLAN Network Manager. One allows the users to control the types of actions that can be taken by the network administrator. Users can prevent any changes from being made to their workstations, although this defeats the use of a product such as Update Manager.
Alternatively, the administrator can prevent unauthorized access to nodes by setting a password for each of the responders on the network. If you are also using the Network Manager, the same administrator passwords apply to Update Manager. The supervisor-level access provided in Network Manager is not applicable to Update Manager.
>A few annoyances.
Overall, we found Update Manager's performance robust. We did, however, find that Update Manager was unable to distribute updates to remote locations via Apple's AppleTalk Remote Access. Although Update Manager allows you to tweak a variety of network parameters, nothing seemed to correct this problem. We also experienced some instances where Update Manager would crash a workstation when attempting to distribute an update, but no package corruption resulted from these situations.
You must remember to delete partially completed distributions from the queue to prevent Update Manager from retrying each time the application is started.
>Apple Installer problems.
Update Manager reduces the frustration involved with maintaining version consistency on a network. Currently, however, Update Manager cannot interpret the actions of Apple's Installer application. TechWorks has indicated that in a future version it hopes to provide the capability to compare before and after images of a disk so that the administrator can prepare complete distribution packages that would mimic the actions performed by any custom installer application. As more applications are storing various bits and pieces throughout your disks, this feature would make the product considerably stronger.
Update Manager's documentation is well-written and provides a number of examples of how to use the product effectively. Overall, the package is a very good value. Although use of a network-administration tool, such as GraceLAN Network Manager, is not required, we recommend that one be used with this product.
SCORE CARD
Overall value Very good
Performance Very good
Features Good
Ease of use Good
Documentation/support Very good
List price $495
ON BALANCE
GraceLAN Update Manager provides flexible distribution of software updates across a network. Update Manager does not support serialized applications or those requiring a custom installer. But otherwise, it performed robustly during our tests and offered users the capability to accept or defer the receipt of any update package. Update Manager's ability to perform scripts, as well as distribute files, is a strong plus.
TechWorks Inc. is at 4030 Braker Lane W., Suite 350, Austin, Texas 78759. Phone (512) 794-8533; fax (512) 794-8520.
(MacWEEK Reviews, January 20, 1992, page 40) (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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Macs get Mainstream Newscast
By Nathalie Welch
San Francisco - Your Mac can grab information out of thin air with Mainstream Data Inc.'s Newscast, a broadcast-service software and hardware package introduced here at Macworld Expo last week.
Newscast turns a Mac into a receiver for capturing news and information from well-known electronic information services that Mainstream broadcasts via satellite or FM radio. Knight-Ridder, The Associated Press and Reuters are among the many services that will be available through the feed, which lets users bypass logging into each service and paying connect time.
Mainstream Data's Intelligent Data Receiver (IDR), a briefcase-size receiver that comes with an FM antenna for $495 and a 0.75-meter satellite dish for $990, plugs into the Mac's serial port.
Electronic Newspaper, software that ships with the IDR, allows a user to search for and download stories and other information by keyword. Stories fitting search criteria are saved into specified folders on the user's hard disk automatically in the background.
Monthly subscriptions to the Mainstream broadcast varies according to what information services the user chooses to receive. Prices for news delivery start at about $50 per month.
A future version of Electronic Newspaper will offer hooks that enable vendors to integrate Mainstream's news feeds into existing electronic-mail packages.
For example, WordPerfect Corp. demonstrated a version of its E-mail package, WordPerfect Office for the Mac, that can search and download Newscast information to individual mailboxes based on different user criteria.
Mainstream said it will integrate Newscast with Microsoft Mail and CE Software Inc.'s QuickMail by the second quarter.
Mainstream Data Inc. is at 420 Chipeta Way, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108. Phone (801) 584-2800; fax (801) 584-2831.
(MacWEEK Gateways, January 20, 1992, page 18) (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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Knife: Apple plans bipolar world
If there's strength in numbers, then in this episode Mac the Knife is off to a strong start. First, he points out that this week the Macintosh turns 8, which is 67 in computer product life-cycle years. Later this winter Apple itself will reach its 15th year, which means that in 1993 it can get its own driver's license if it is so inclined. And our president is 67, which is old enough to campaign in New Hampshire as if his job depended on it.
And speaking of jobs, jobs, jobs, there will probably be at least a couple fewer of them on the Apple roster if the rumors of an impending reorganization turn to fact, as they are expected to do. In this reorg, the marketing trinity of Apple USA, Apple Europe and Apple Pacific will be dissolved in favor of a bipolar arrangement. Apple America will handle the continents of North America and South America, while Apple International will be responsible for sales in the remainder of the world.
This same rumor mill claims that Australian native Ian Diery, currently head of Apple Pacific, will be in charge of the new Apple International, which is slated to be based in London. The timing for this event is uncertain, but sources tell the Knife that Diery has already purchased a house in London.
>Microsoft futures.
The Microsoft software design elves never, never sleep. At least that's the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the reports of goings on up in the soggy Northwest. The Knife's sources who have seen the recently minted betas of Excel 4.0 are already commenting on the new double tool bar. Users relegated to using the compact Mac's 9-inch screen can be expected to hide the tool as soon as possible to ensure that there's a little room left on the screen for data cells and the like.
And before most enthusiastic Word users have had a chance to find the half-hour or so that it takes to install Word 5.0, Microsoft is already working on its successor. The new product, which sources swear isn't going to be called Word 6.0, is code-named Pyramid. It will be rewritten from the ground up and Microsoft's designers reportedly plan to take on the challenging task of combining greater usability with new publishing features. Think of it as sort of a Microsoft Publisher for the Mac.
>The Radius touch.
The Knife was amused to learn that Radius recently came perilously close to entering the color printer market fray but thought better of it at the last minute. The company is moving ahead with its Touchstone video special-effects board. A new version that includes a new serial port is due to be announced soon. This will give Touchstone greater flexibility by allowing it to work with other video hardware. There's also news that the company will be introducing a new continuous tone and spot-color matching system at the February Seybold.
Faith in the Radius Rocket accelerator hasn't been shaken by the recent arrival of the Mac Quadra twins. The Knife reports that plans are afoot to develop expansion boards for the Rocket to perform such tasks as disk mirroring.
>Classic miscalculation.
For reasons that so far have mystified Apple's best marketing minds, sales of the Classic II, introduced just last October, are as flat as the Texas panhandle. Apple is particularly perplexed by this situation because the SE/30 that it replaced has always generated respectable sales numbers. Then again, relatively lackluster performance and the absence of an expansion slot may have something to do with it. Perhaps a color Excel or Resolve graph displayed on one of those crude color PowerBook prototypes that were being shown behind closed doors at the show could shed some light on the subject.
Of course, Apple always has the option of stimulating sales activity by lowering prices, although in the case of the Classic II margins are pretty thin already. Nevertheless, the Knife says that dealers are beginning to be briefed on new pricing to take effect with the release of the Feb. 15 price list.
The MacWEEK mug can't be earned by taking a high-profile trip to Japan, no matter how many automobile company bigwigs you have in your entourage. Only the lucky few with the right insider information can play. The big Knife fun begins at (415) 243-3500, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ ZiffNet/Zmac.
(MacWEEK, Mac the Knife, January 20, 1992, page 106) (c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
