San Jose, Calif. - Apple last week put its best face on in hopes of keeping its third-party developer community motivated to develop for the Macintosh.
At the 1992 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference here, Apple CEO John Sculley told an estimated 3,000 developers that the Mac offers them significant business opportunities and that Apple will "stay on the offensive in the year ahead."
He backed up his statements by citing Software Publishers Association statistics on the growth of Mac software sales in 1991 and the success of PowerBooks and Quadras, as well as new technologies such as QuickDraw GX, WorldScript and AppleScript.
While developers at the conference didn't offer a standing ovation for the message, they noted that it was more bottom- line oriented than in years past.
"Apple is less condescending at this year's conference. It seems like they're serious about being our business partner," said Marylne Delbourg-Delphis, president of ACIUS Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. "We're getting much less religion and much more substance about how we can benefit by developing for the Mac."
The technical content of the presentations also drew acclaim. "I'm impressed with the breadth of Apple's vision and the depth of their architecture," said Larry Zulch, president of Dantz Development Corp. of Berkeley, Calif.
Not all developers were happy with Apple's new system- software directions. Some capabilities to be built into the OS might supersede functions of third-party applications.
"There's a higher level of professionalism from Apple, and the company is in a very strong position," said Reese Jones, CEO of Farallon Computing of Emeryville, Calif. "However, Mac development has become a more perilous area [for third parties]. Apple seems to be getting into competing with its developers again."
For some attendees, seeing whiz-bang technology demonstrations without being supplied with the code needed to support the new technologies brought back unpleasant memories of the 1989 conference, where Apple showed many System 7 technologies that didn't make it out the door until 1991. Some of the technologies shown then, such as the line- layout manager and new print architecture, were promised anew at this year's conference.
Apple revealed more of its cross-platform strategy at the conference. "We think the Macintosh is a technology leader, but great technology can be orphaned on Macs," said Mike Holm, Apple product-line manager for cross-platform technologies. Apple will selectively port system software, release cross- platform tools and design software with portability in mind, he said.
Developers welcomed Apple's new open-to-the-world attitude. "You no longer get punished for doing Windows development," said Tom Rielly, director of strategic relations at SuperMac Technology of Sunnyvale, Calif.
Sculley also promised that developer and customer investments in Mac applications will carry over to the PowerPC, the RISC-based platform Apple and IBM Corp. are developing jointly. He said the PowerPC is ahead of schedule and the first models will be available in late 1993.
Declaring that the Mac has a "great, great future ahead of it," Sculley said Apple will begin an expanded advertising campaign next month.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
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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New laptops, CD-ROM Macs highlight fall rollout plans
By Andrew Gore
San Jose, Calif. - Apple CEO John Sculley last week told developers to look forward to a steady stream of improved Mac models over the coming year.
Although Sculley wasn't specific about the new CPUs in his keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference here, he said the company would add new models and capabilities to its successful PowerBook line and new midrange Macs with a built-in CD-ROM drive in some configurations. The first color Classic also could ship by year- end, sources said.
Apple's plan, Sculley said, is to continue aggressively upgrading performance while decreasing pricing on all Macintoshes. This will allow the company to extend its market share while keeping business for Mac developers brisk through the coming year, he said.
> Power video.
Sculley said that Apple will "stay out front with PowerBooks," making evolutionary changes to the line. A color version could join the lineup next year, and developers can expect to see more-robust communications built into future units, he said.
Three new PowerBooks are slated to ship this fall, sources said. Two will be upgrades to the existing PowerBook 140 and 170. The new models will include backlit screens that can display 16 shades of gray, plus video-out ports for external monitors. The video-out option reportedly will support eight- bit color on 12- or 13-inch screens.
Both gray-scale and video-out capabilities are in great demand from Apple's customers. Many corporate users have cited the lack of video-out capability as one of the chief limitations of the PowerBooks (see MacWEEK, May 4).
The third PowerBook expected this fall is a 4.25-pound unit that will "dock" to peripheral bars, providing video-out, NuBus slots and other options. The new lightweight model also will include a gray-scale screen.
> CD-ROM revolution.
"The timing is right to go on the CD-ROM offensive," Sculley said, renewing his pitch for the optical- storage technology. Sculley admitted that only 4.5 percent of Macs and only 2.5 percent of Intel machines have CD-ROMs attached. But he said that that will change later this year when Apple ships its first CD-ROM-equipped Mac.
The first such models, sources said, will be a family of 68030-based machines. They will come with three NuBus slots, a processor direct slot and built-in video capable of displaying up to 16-bit color on a 13-inch screen.
The base model will have a 16-MHz '030 with no math coprocessor, but will be Apple's first machine with a CPU upgrade slot. An add-in board for the slot will boost the machine's clock rate to 32 MHz and add a math chip and cache memory.
Apple reportedly plans to offer 80-, 230- and 400-Mbyte configurations, as well as special versions for consumer channels. Pricing is expected to start at less than $2,000.
Sources said Apple also is considering moving the introduction date of its first compact color machine, a Classic II with a built-in color monitor, to this fall (see MacWEEK, April 6). The unit reportedly will have a 16-MHz '030, a PDS slot and a price as low as $1,500.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
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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Quorum lawsuit challenges Apple
Pre-emptive strike aimed at patents
By Jon Swartz
San Francisco - The developer of an innovative Mac-to-Unix porting technology last week took pre-emptive legal action against Apple - and in the process challenged the validity of several key Apple patents.
Faced with the threat of an Apple lawsuit, Quorum Software Systems Inc. asked the U.S. District Court here for a declaratory judgment that Quorum's software does not infringe Apple's copyrights or patents, as Apple officials reportedly claimed in recent letters to Quorum.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based developer, which shipped its Quorum Latitude porting kit this month, also asked the court to throw out three Apple patents, including those involving QuickDraw and pull-down menus. Quorum reportedly will argue that Apple failed to cite prior art from Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in California.
Apple has until late May to respond to the complaint and is expected to countersue, according to legal sources. Apple declined to comment.
Quorum Latitude, the software at the core of the dispute, enables developers to modify their Mac applications to run on Unix workstations (see MacWEEK, Jan. 20). Ported programs retain their capabilities, but the Mac user interface is replaced by Motif, Open Look or other Unix interface formats.
Quorum contends that Latitude was developed without the use of any proprietary Apple technology. "We believe [our] technology is innovative and legally sound," said Jay Friedland, Quorum vice president of marketing and sales.
But Roger Heinen, Apple vice president and general manager of Macintosh software architecture, wrote in a March 17 letter to Quorum attorneys that Latitude violates Apple patents on pull-down menus and color QuickDraw. Heinen also declared that the program "incorporates copyrighted material of Apple" and was developed by "inducing others to violate a number of licensing and confidentiality agreements" with Apple.
"I am very concerned that Apple may be trying to assert some ownership over our code by making such an allegation," said Tim Gill, chairman and senior vice president of R&D at Quark Inc., the Denver-based developer of publishing software, in a letter to Quorum.
Quorum appeared to have a groundswell of support among developers at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., last week. One prominent developer said he "applauded" Quorum's decision to stand up to Apple, while an audience of developers literally broke into applause when a question challenged Apple's attitude toward Quorum.
Heinen said Apple is reviewing Quorum Equal, a forthcoming retail product that would make it possible to boot an unconverted shrink-wrapped Mac application under Unix. "It is our present conclusion that Equal will not be Macintosh- compatible unless Quorum engages in substantial further development and infringement of Apple's intellectual property," the letter said.
On May 1, Apple revoked Quorum's status as an Apple developer.
Nina Lytton, editor of the Open Systems Advisor newsletter in Boston, said: "This could have a chilling effect on the software industry. If Apple wins, the legal rights to software could be up in the air."
MacWEEK 05/18/92
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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QuickDraw GX will add portability to documents
By Carolyn Said
San Jose, Calif. - Assuring developers that "Macintosh is and will continue to be the core of everything we do," Apple CEO John Sculley last week outlined five foundation technologies that he said will increase third parties' "chances to make a lot of money."
At the 1992 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference here, Sculley and other speakers revealed new details and uses for previously discussed technologies.
> QuickDraw GX.
Apple's enhanced imaging model, now bearing the GX label, consists of a graphics foundation with PostScript-like capabilities; an open print architecture; and typographic functions (see MacWEEK, March 9).
Sculley said QuickDraw GX will enable paperless publishing: Users will be able to save documents in an intermediate file format; other QuickDraw GX users can then view and print documents without having the original application or fonts.
QuickDraw GX also will incorporate a comprehensive color- management system (see MacWEEK, Feb. 24). The revamped printer architecture will simplify development of print drivers and allow for drag-and-drop printing (see MacWEEK, Feb. 10).
QuickDraw GX also will allow for more-sophisticated typography. A new Line Layout Manager will build support for such features as tracking and kerning into the operating system and make it possible to handle multiple script systems in the same line.
TrueType GX fonts will be "smarter" and can easily be transformed into variable styles.
Apple said QuickDraw GX will go into beta testing late this year and will reach users early next year. The new imaging architecture will run alongside existing QuickDraw.
> WorldScript.
Apple said System 7.1, due this fall, will be its first "world-ready" system-software release. The WorldScript technology supports 2-byte character sets for languages such as Japanese and Chinese, as well as 1-byte right-to-left languages such as Hebrew and Arabic. The technology will allow Apple and third-party developers to quickly localize their software for any language, Apple said.
WorldScript will be transparent to users after they install resources and fonts for each language they want to use, Sculley said. A single Macintosh will be able to run programs in multiple languages.
> QuickTime.
Apple's multimedia software extension has been adopted in more than 200 applications, Sculley said.
As expected (see MacWEEK, April 27), Silicon Graphics Inc., the leading graphics workstation company, will license QuickTime from Apple, the companies announced. SGI, based in Mountain View, Calif., said its Iris workstations will be able to create, edit and play QuickTime movies by late this year. The machines will ship with the QuickTime capabilities, but users will have to pay SGI a one-time licensing fee to enable them.
The QuickTime Windows player will ship by the end of this year. The software will allow Windows users to play QuickTime movies and to copy frames from them; they will not be able to edit or create movies, however.
> AppleScript.
Apple's user-scripting software will go into beta testing this fall and will ship to users by early next year, enabling them to automate and customize applications, the company said. Microsoft Corp. announced that Excel 4.0 will support the Apple-events object model, allowing users to control objects from scripts.
> OCE.
Apple's OCE (Open Collaboration Environment) will make messaging as easy as dragging and dropping to a mailbox on the Macintosh, Sculley said. In combination with AppleScript, it will facilitate intelligent agents and unattended and work- flow computing.
In other news, Apple said that Bento, a cross-platform standard for documents containing multiple data types will be released simultaneously on the Mac and Windows; reference code on how to read Bento documents will be free to users. Eventually, the standard will be released to an independent industry alliance, Apple said.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
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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PhonePro controls phones with scripts
By Nathalie Welch
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Cypress Research Corp. last week shipped PhonePro, a $950 hardware/software system that lets users design and run custom telephony applications.
PhonePro's programming language uses 42 icons to represent actions such as answering the phone, recording a message, playing a sound or storing information in a database. Users select and link icons to create scripts for customized applications such as automated call processing, voice mail or automated telemarketing. Applications can be converted into menu-based front ends, with icons hidden and scripts password-protected.
The software also includes tools for sending incoming voice- mail messages over a LAN directly to users' desktops or via CE Software Inc.'s QuickMail 2.5 or Microsoft Mail 3.0. A database is built in, allowing users to create records of incoming calls, for example. Text and sounds can be sent via Apple events to other applications.
"The software allows extremely elaborate setups that are the equivalent of hundreds of hours of high-level programming in Pascal or C," said Scott Morison, senior technician for research and development at Eljay Manufacturing, a Eugene, Ore.-based division of Raytheon Co.
Morison used PhonePro to create and run an automated technical-support phone system. Customers call in and press numbers on their phone in response to recorded questions from the system. The system selects appropriate technical tips from its database and faxes them to the caller's QuickMail fax address.
PhonePro's hardware is a single-line external serial device that functions as the interface between the Mac and the telephone. The software also can be used with Apple's NuBus ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) card.
PhonePro requires System 7. It uses Apple's Telephone Manager, snd sound format and MACE (Macintosh Audio Compression Expansion) routines. It will work, according to Cypress, with the upcoming AppleScript and OCE (Open Collaboration Environment) extensions.
The company said it plans to release less-expensive runtime versions of PhonePro this summer.
Cypress Research Corp. is at 240 E. Caribbean Drive, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089. Phone (408) 752-2700; fax (408) 752-2735.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
News Page 4
(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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Tech Analysis: Telephony waits for major players
By John Battelle
In sunny San Jose, Calif., at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, hope springs eternal for new technologies, even those backed by the phone companies. So last week, Apple once again was talking about Mac-based telephony and ISDN.
Each May, Apple and some forward-looking developers make quite a bit of noise over Mac telephony - the control and enhancement of telephone services with computer applications. While such a convergence of business tools makes sense, so far consumers have answered these exhortations with a hearty ho-hum.
Last year Apple introduced its ISDN NB card, which connects a Mac to a phone line running Integrated Services Digital Network's Basic Rate. The company also introduced the concept of the Macintosh Telephony Architecture, based on an addition to the Macintosh Communications Toolbox called the Telephone Manager.
At this year's developer get-together, Apple showcased new telephonic applications, including personal voice-mail and caller ID-aware contact managers, as well as travel reservation services and videoconferencing. By demonstrating some real-world third-party applications, Apple hoped to convince developers that Mac telephony is a market worth pursuing.
>Anyone home?
Apple's telephony plans depend on two standards. The first is ISDN, an evolving digital telephone service that provides greater bandwidth than is currently available on normal analog lines. The second is the Telephone Manager, a system-level application programming interface that provides "telephone-aware" programs with a standard means of connecting to telephone hardware. Device drivers used by the manager will support several types of phone switches that control ISDN as well as regular phone lines. Included with the Telephone Manager developer package is a suite of telephone Apple events, which, if supported, would let applications talk to each other to share phone-related information.
One of Apple's scenarios for a Telephone Manager-aware application is called collaborative visual computing. A designer in Chicago, for example, makes an ISDN phone call to an editor in San Francisco. His address database dials the number for him, and once the connection is made an Apple event launches some screen-sharing software. Using one channel of ISDN for voice and the other for data, the two users work on revisions to a document.
>Call waiting.
While the first shoe has dropped - in the form of the Telephone Manager specification - the lack of a compatible, national ISDN network means each phone-switch maker requires its own driver. And the Macintosh telephony industry-to-be is waiting for major players, such as AT&T Co. and Northern Telecom Inc., to finalize their Telephone Manager drivers. Sources estimate that those drivers will be ready sometime this fall.
"I'm just waiting for things to settle," said Todd Carper, a telephony consultant who has written external code for ACIUS Inc.'s 4th Dimension that connects the relational database to phone networks but does not support the Telephone Manager. "The [switch manufacturers] need to get their drivers out. Without them it's not worth doing anything [with the Telephone Manager]."
>Dialing for dollars.
Apple is trying to convince third parties that there is a market for telephone-aware applications even though the communications infrastructure isn't in place. "ISDN's biggest challenge is that it is exclusive, that it requires 'ISDN applications,' " said Michael Bayer, Apple personal communications evangelist.
Bayer admits that there is skepticism as to whether ISDN will become available widely. "Looking at a business model," he said, "it is hard to say 'I am going to build ISDN applications,' but it's much more viable to say 'I am building Telephone Manager applications.' "
But even developers who are in the telephony business have not rushed to embrace Apple's technology. "It has not been critical to our business," said Scott McTyre, vice president of development at Chatsworth, Calif.-based Magnum Software Corp., maker of TFLX, a Mac-based voice-mail and telephone- automation product.
"Apple has made it a standard and, yes, we plan to support it, but I am not gaining any great abilities by using it," McTyre said. He said that his company, by necessity, has already built the functionality of the Telephone Manager into its products. "Where I will gain is using the Apple events," McTyre said, but added that it will be years before most mainstream programs support them.
"We are taking a good look at which telephone platforms to build for," said Mike Spieser, senior project manager for PhonePro, a phone-automation system from Cypress Research Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. "We want to know exactly where our customer base is." Cypress plans to introduce a version of PhonePro that supports ISDN in the "very near future," he said.
One reason for the holding pattern has been the conflicting natures of the computer and telephone industries. While the computer industry is accustomed to moving at the speed of individual innovation, the telephone industry works at the glacial rates of public regulation and nationwide standards. For instance, the phone network just completed the conversion to touch-tone, a process that took almost 20 years.
"The telephone industry moves very slowly," said Reese Jones, chairman of Farallon Computing Inc., a Mac networking and would-be telephony developer in Emeryville, Calif. "There is an inevitable conversion from POTS (plain old telephone service) to ISDN, but it will occur over the next 20 years."
Others are not so certain that ISDN is a sure bet. "I hear 'rah, rah, rah' from Apple, but no one knows if ISDN will be used in 10 years," said Magnum's McTyre.
>Good connection.
Regardless of the slowly developing market, some companies, such as Cypress Research, Farallon, Shiva Corp. and Northern Telecom, have introduced or announced products that support the Telephone Manager. They have been encouraged by a growing market for POTS-based applications, including standard terminal-emulation and front-end tools, as well as the introduction of new switch-based services.
As might be expected, the best market for new applications is large corporations that have internal switches. Sites such as The Coca-Cola Co. and Harvard University have already installed ISDN-compatible switches campuswide. For telephony developers, sites such as these with a proliferation of computers and an investment in company-owned phone services may prove to be the fertile ground that is missing in the country at large.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
Gateways Page 14
(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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Commentary: Stereotype belies Japanese distribution
By Jean-Louis Gassee
Among other malfeasances, we often accuse the Japanese of dumping product within U.S. borders. In fact, Japanese companies often are caught selling the same product for much less in the United States than in their own country.
But the very real price disparity is not a weapon of global economic warfare. Instead, the gap is the result of old cultural differences and points to advantages in our way of conducting business.
>A cautionary tale.
As an example, three years ago a Japanese acquaintance asked an associate of mine to purchase a Nikon camera for him in Palo Alto, Calif., and bring it back to Tokyo. He would save a few hundred dollars in the transaction.
The same scenario would hold true today. Most desirable products still are more expensive in Japan. You won't find bargains shopping for wares in Akihabara, and you risk paying dearly for the privilege of buying the latest video camera or portable CD player, complete with Japanese-language user instructions, a few months before it becomes available in the United States.
So, the real bargains are in the United States now. Are they the result of price manipulation?
Shifting perspectives. Instead of accusing the Japanese of dumping their wares in our market, why not ask why they post higher prices in Japan? Because they have no choice in the matter. In general, doing business in Japan costs much more.
The fabled Japanese efficiency does exist, but like any other cultural stereotype, such as French modesty or Puritan business ethics, it can be abused and lead to facile but ill- founded rhetoric.
If you look at the way products are distributed and supported in Japan, you would come to appreciate the efficacy of the U.S. channels and understand the cultural legacy that underlies Japan's more expensive way of doing business.
A friend of mine has several Macintoshes in Tokyo. System 7 triggers the purchase of RAM upgrades from the nearest Canon/Apple dealer. Something goes wrong with one of the Macs. One phone call brings in a technician with two toolboxes, sweating and panting as he ran all the way. A small but representative example of the attitude and level of resources deployed in the channel. Selling and supporting products involves more people and more-expensive facilities than in the United States.
The ways of doing business in Japan are no more the result of a rational, syllogistic process than anywhere else, the United States included. Cultural values precede rationalization and dictate priorities. In Japan, the bias is toward social cohesion, order and relationships. From a Western perspective, there are too many people for the job and too many layers of intermediaries. And counter to the U.S. scene, competition is too limited. The system is feudal and takes too much out of the customer's pocket to feed all these people.
>Cultivating rice plots.
While the arithmetic might be valid, the value judgments miss the mark. In the first place, like in any other system, there is no easy way to isolate the worker from the customer. They take turns being hosts and parasites.
Secondly, while this type of engine exhibits more friction losses, it does employ a lot of people. This is similar to the cultivation of rice plots that are ridiculously small by our standards. The practice is maintained via domestic rice prices up to five times higher than overseas. We criticize it, but the local culture is prepared to force consumers to feed the farmers.
By contrast, our distribution system is, in general, the most streamlined in the world, and competition is at its freest.
As a result, by whatever unit of measurement - tonnage, units or plain dollars - our system takes the lowest toll on the consumer.
Ironically, it would seem we are blaming the Japanese for results of our most-effective distribution system. Perhaps, we should take some solace in Japanese financial scandals: We might be more alike than we thought.
In the meantime, criticizing a system that is so much a result of centuries of trading tradition isn't going to open doors any more than their insensitive stereotyping of our country endears them to us.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
Opinion Page 33
(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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ProductWatch: To-do list software keep you on time
Software to-do lists and outliners help turn a jumble of ideas and concepts into organized projects.
By Mitzi Waltz
Why spend as much as $260 for Mac software that makes and manages to-do lists when half that amount would buy a nice leather-bound organizer or a lifetime supply of cheap note pads? For many of us, the answer is crumpled up in a pants pocket or "somewhere" in that briefcase. Software can put plans, appointments and phone-call lists literally at your fingertips.
>Multiple choices.
Each of the new to-do list products adds a variety of features that can fit the most specific job. Users can print lists that fit various organizer formats with DayMaker from Pastel Development Corp., set their Macs to alarm them audibly when it's time for that important meeting with CE Software Inc.'s Alarming Events or Jam Software Inc.'s Smart Alarms and Appointment Diary, or track contacts with First Things First from Visionary Software Inc. And with In Control from Attain Corp., projects can be planned out over a span of time in outline form to generate lists "tagged" with custom labels.
>Interface important.
"For me, the interface is its strong point," said Ken Tell, a corporate account executive with Iowa Computer Solutions of Marion, Iowa. Tell uses DayMaker, which mimics organizers such as the Filofax. "It has a number of different views - day, week, month - and [our salespeople can] put a copy of their DayMaker file on the server."
Tell said $99 is a cheap price for keeping months' worth of "to do's" in order on his PowerBook as he makes sales calls.
Even the least expensive list makers, such as the $70 First Things First, are hardly electronic memo pads. Users access First Things First from a clock in the menu bar and can sort entries into as many as 96 custom categories.
In May, the product will be bundled with a special version of DynoPage from Cupertino, Calif.-based Portfolio Systems Inc., which will let users print pages for their organizers.
"It has an unobtrusive interface with an immediate presence," said John Holland, owner of MacPeople, a Berkeley, Calif., temporary agency. "I use it to keep in contact with people on a recurring basis and to remind me of things to be done; it helps me keep my promises," he said. Holland said he especially liked being able to quickly add an item, such as the need to call a client, and have the program remind him on schedule.
>Alarming options.
Gentle or ear-splitting reminders are the forte of to-do lists created with Alarming Events. "Say you're attached to your computer, as usual, and you want to make sure you don't blow a meeting," said user Nick DeMartino, director of the American Film Institute/Apple Computer Center for Film and Videomakers in Los Angeles. "It tells you to get your act together."
Smart Alarms and Appointment Diary is the granddaddy of "loud" to-do list programs. It lets users set up lists within time slots, bringing items forward via cutting and pasting.
Smart Schedules, also from Jam Software, was released in January. It offers more-sophisticated options, including radio- button sorting and automatic updating. It includes multiperson scheduling capabilities, alarms and quick note taking.
"If I want to get the accountant and the vice president for finance together for a meeting, I can send them a meeting schedule plus a to-do list of things to prepare for the meeting," Jam President Alan Bingham said.
In Control takes an unusual approach. It starts with outlining and, unlike other to-do list software, doesn't offer calendar views.
"It's not intuitive, because the concept is new," said Andrew Block, senior data systems specialist at Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., but once you've mastered the outline-to-planner concept, "the interface is really easy to use." Block uses In Control as a "tickler file" for keeping in touch with contacts and tracking beta-test cycles and purchase orders.
"I can set priorities for items and re-sort very quickly," he said. "I can see whether things are active, done, in the mail or in progress."
However, Block said some things are missing. "You can't do discontinuous selections, set page breaks, print a range or add cell borders to highlight items," Block said.
Other software options include Rendezvous 3.5 from PMC Telesystems Inc. and several freeware or shareware programs.
Whichever you choose, most users contacted by MacWEEK offered a warning: Getting organized can be addictive.
Product Info
Attain Corp.
In Control 1.0: $129.95
48 Grove St., Somerville, Mass. 02144
Phone (617) 776-1110; fax (617) 776-1626
CE Software Inc.
Alarming Events 1.0.3: $129.95
1801 Industrial Circle, West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
Phone (515) 224-1995 or (800) 523-7638; fax (515) 224- 4534
Ceres Software Inc.
Inspiration 3.0.1: $295
2920 S.W. Dolph Court, Suite 3, Portland, Ore. 97219
Phone (503) 245-9011 or (800) 366-4565; fax (503) 246- 4292
Jam Software Inc.
Smart Alarms and Appointment Diary 3.1: $90, single user; $170, one to four users; $299, five to eight users; $399, nine to 15 users; $525, 16 to 25 users
Smart Schedules: $260, single user; $375, two users; $675, five users; $1,200, 10 users; $2,875, 25 users
843 W. Main St., Meriden, Conn. 06450
Phone (203) 630-0055; fax (203) 686-1900
Pastel Development Corp.
DayMaker 1.0.1: $99 113 Spring St., Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10012
Phone (212) 941-7500; fax (212) 431-3079
PMC Telesystems Inc.
Rendezvous 3.5: $249
P.O. Box 5127, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 4A9, Canada
Phone (604) 255-9949 or (800) 667-0456; fax (604) 266- 4257
Symantec Corp.
MORE 3.1: $395; GreatWorks 2.0: $299
10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, Calif. 95014
Phone (408) 253-9600 or (800) 441-7234; fax (408) 252- 4694
Symmetry Software Corp.
Acta 7 1.0.3: $149
8603 E. Royal Palm Road, Suite 110, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85258
Phone (602) 998-9106 or (800) 624-2485;fax (602) 991-0572
Visionary Software Inc.
First Things First 2.1: $69.95
P.O. Box 69447, Portland, Ore. 97201
Phone (503) 246-6200 or (800) 877-1832; fax (503) 452- 1198
MacWEEK 05/18/92
Product Watch Page 47
(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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Reviews: Envisio notebook adapter
Display card adds support for color, VGA and black-and-white monitors up to 21 inches.
By Sean Wagstaff
Apple's PowerBook screen is as gloomy and uninspiring on the desktop as the old-fashioned compact Macs, and the PowerBooks offer no provision for connecting to external monitors - crucial to traveling presenters.
Apple has recognized the demand - albeit a little too late - and its next PowerBook (due sometime this fall) is expected to offer a desktop docking station that will drive external monitors.
But owners of current PowerBooks do not need to stay in the dark. A new internal PowerBook display "card" - really a few tiny chips on a flexible wafer - from Envisio Inc. adds eight- bit support for both color and black-and-white monitors up to 21 inches as well as offers optional RAM expansion.
Envisio's adapter competes in many ways with Radius Inc.'s $599 PowerView, an external, SCSI-based video adapter box (see MacWEEK, March 9).
But in many ways, we found Envisio's card to be superior: It adds negligible volume and weight to the Mac, offers more- comprehensive monitor support and is many times faster in screen redraws. The Radius card's redeeming features in comparison are that it can be used interchangeably with many Macs, it supports presentation mode, and it offers a high level of software compatibility.
We tested the Envisio Notebook Display Adapter 030 card with 4 Mbytes of RAM running in a PowerBook 140 (retaining the Apple 2-Mbyte card) for a total of 6 Mbytes.
Multiple configurations of the Envisio card are available, priced according to system RAM installed: No RAM is $795; 2 Mbytes is $1,195 and 4 Mbytes is $1,595. The black-and- white-only version with 2 Mbytes of RAM for the PowerBook 100 is $895. We also used the PowerBook 100 adapter, which was the first to ship for the new Macs, and we found it worked as expected.
>Dealer installation.
Because the PowerBooks are squeezed for space and are notoriously sensitive to static, the Envisio card requires dealer installation. The card plugs into the PowerBook's memory connector slot and has a pass-through connector for the existing Apple 2-Mbyte RAM card (third- party RAM cards do not fit in the available space, according to Envisio).
On the outside, one of the hinge caps is replaced with an unobtrusive, Apple-standard DB-15 video connector. Early versions of the Envisio cards used a fragile, non-standard connector that was smaller than a pencil eraser and which created a more delicate connection between monitor and PowerBook. (Envisio has offered to replace these connectors for free.)
Envisio says its adapter does not affect the PowerBook warranty, as long as it is installed by an Apple-certified technician.
Once the card is installed, a software driver is dropped in the Extensions folder, the monitor is plugged in, and the machine is restarted. Holding the Option key while the Mac is starting up opens a panel that lets you choose which type of monitor you're using and set the Auto-Detection option.
If Auto-Detection is turned on, the Envisio card will recognize automatically whether a monitor is connected the next time you start up. If no monitor is sensed, Envisio's software shuts down the card, conserving battery power. (Some monitors supported by the Envisio adapter will not work with the Auto- Detection feature on.)
With a few exceptions, we found the Envisio adapter works well with Apple monitors, as well as about half of the third- party color and black-and-white monitors we plugged in at random. Monitors that use non-Apple-standard feedback require you to turn off Auto-Detection - so you'll need to reconfigure the start-up control panel when you travel. A call to Envisio should determine if your existing monitor is compatible.
Once the monitor is installed and working, the Monitors control panel can be used normally to configure both the internal and external screens.
While the card supports 12- and 13-inch monitors at eight- bit-color depth (256 colors) on larger monitors such as Apple's Macintosh 21" Color Display and third-party 19-inch monitors, the card offers only one-bit black and white. On the Macintosh 16" Color Display and the 15-inch Apple Macintosh Portrait Display, it provides only four bits (16 levels) of color or gray, respectively. The card also supports standard VGA monitors.
>Fast, erratic performance.
The PowerBook's performance seemed to be unaffected while driving a second monitor. Radius' SCSI device, by comparison, is very slow to redraw. With the Envisio, images were as sharp and colors as crisp as when using a standard video board.
There were, however, some problems: The Envisio does not work with System 7's virtual memory or Apple's RAM disk (using either feature prevented us from using the external monitor but did not affect the PowerBook's internal display). Envisio attributed the bugs to the fact that video is extracted from the RAM connector, but the company said it is confident it can fix the problem.
Virtual memory is usually inactive in mobile Macs because it draws too much power by constantly accessing the hard drive. Users who need to give large presentations or run multiple applications with a second monitor, however, could find this bug disabling.
The RAM disk is mostly used on the road - when you're not likely to have a monitor plugged in - so we didn't miss it.
Envisio uses the PowerBook's screen as the start-up monitor by default and treats the external monitor as a standard second display. You can configure the external monitor to be the start-up screen by dragging the menu bar across in the Monitors control panel. If Auto-Detection is turned off, you'll have to reconfigure the card at start-up to regain access to your system.
>Presentations.
The greatest potential beneficiaries of a PowerBook display card are people who need to give presentations - and here Envisio exhibits some erratic performance.
Far more important than the memory bugs, the card currently does not support Apple's Color Picker or allow changes to the Finder palette. After working in Adobe Photoshop, we switched to Aldus Persuasion. The color fidelity in the presentations we ran was terribly wrong, although restarting our PowerBook seemed to alleviate the problem.
For critical presentations, we recommend playing your presentation beforehand to make sure it displays correctly. Envisio said it plans to fix the problem this month.
Presentation mode allows the Mac's internal screen and the external display to carry the same image - so the presenter's screen is the same as what's on the big screen.
Version 1.2.2 of the Envisio software did not support presentation mode. Envisio had promised to deliver an upgrade with this capability by April 15, but as this review went to press, Envisio was hoping to have it working by mid-June.
We hope that Envisio also will offer support for NTSC (National Television System Committee)-based displays to allow the use of video projectors and large-screen televisions, for example.
None of these incompatibilities is documented in the brief manual that comes with the card, but the manual does do an exemplary job of describing installation of a product that you should not install yourself. Those fearless souls who want to wing it should have no problems.
Radius' PowerView, meanwhile, does support presentation mode. Likewise, an internal display adapter announced by Computer Care Inc. to ship this month also is expected to support presentation mode. Computer Care's card, the BookView Imperial, is tentatively priced at $1,189 for a similar configuration. The company has said it will support presentation mode and virtual memory, and provide eight-bit support even for large monitors and NTSC devices, but we cannot compare it with the Envisio card until it ships.
>Conclusions.
While Envisio should be commended for being the first to market with a good internal display solution for the PowerBooks, its haste has resulted in some disappointing details and a nagging flow of revisions to hardware and software.
The first connectors for the card were too fragile and clearly not ready for wide acceptance. The current card, while having a more robust connector, still has system-software incompatibilities, limited monitor support and several missing features.
For people looking to dock their PowerBook to an external monitor at the office, the Notebook Display Adapter 030 is a viable solution.
Recommending the adapter to users who need to make presentations on the road is more problematic. Envisio needs to add support for presentation mode and to fix the problems with the color palette for the product to be completely trouble-free on the road.
We expect Envisio will correct most of these deficiencies soon, which should upgrade the card from a good to a very good value.
Score Card: Notebook Display Adapter
Overall value Good
Performance Good
Features Average
Installation/configuration Good
Compatibility Average
Documentation/support Good
List price $1,595
On Balance
The Notebook Display Adapter enables PowerBooks to drive Apple standard and some non-standard external displays. Its screen-redraw speed is very good, but its price is high; it lacks a presentation mode; and it has a number of system incompatibilities, particularly with System 7's virtual memory, RAM Disk and Apple's Color Picker. It supports all Apple-standard monitors, but only the 12- and 13-inch and standard VGA displays can display eight bits of color depth. Overall, the card is a good value, but we recommend evaluating your external video needs before buying.
Envisio Inc. is at 510 First Ave. N., Suite 303, Minneapolis, Minn. 55403. Phone (612) 339-1008; fax (612) 339-1369.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
Reviews Page 37
(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: Sculley vs. Thuot and company
Last week we learned that anyone who is anyone in the Mac developer community does indeed know the way to San Jose. But it surely was hard for the various speakers and hawkers of this or that technology to keep everyone's attention with competition in the heavens from NASA's Pierre Thuot and his several attempts to nab the errant Intelsat 6 satellite. Regardless of the low-tech nature of the maneuver that was ultimately successful, the pull of three men and a 4.5-ton satellite proved very strong.
Nevertheless, Sculley and company bravely put on a live demo of emerging technologies at Monday's keynote address. The bravery stemmed from the assembled cast's willingness to go onstage despite the fact that several of the demos, both real and mocked up, were bombing moments before curtain time.
Whenever two or more Mac developers gather together, the conversation eventually turns to the future, and this conference was no exception. Since Apple has made it fairly clear that the Mac will continue well after Apple's RISC machines have landed, one topic of speculation is how Apple will make Macs using older CISC technology attractive when compared with 100-plus-mips RISC machines.
One strategy is to integrate digital signal processing technology into the Mac. The Knife has learned that Apple plans to include an AT&T-developed DSP chip on the motherboard of future Macs. (While there's no definitive proof at hand, rumor has it that Apple paid AT&T big-time dollars to develop this chip.) The first Mac to incorporate DSP should be available around mid-1993. This also will be the first Mac to include Casper voice-recognition technology.
Two prominent graphics hardware companies, Radius and SuperMac, are known to be pursuing DSP strategies of their own. Radius plans a DSP-equipped daughterboard for the Rocket, while SuperMac is working to provide DSP support for its Thunder board.
>Speaking of Casper.
Apple has been wowing international audiences for some time now with impressive demonstrations of Casper. A little investigation and reflection reveal that Apple's demonstrations might be overstating the case somewhat. Casper seems to be quite adept at controlling the Finder - "Open window" and "Trash file"- but the control of applications will require heavy use of agent technology. That means eligible applications will have to provide broad support for Apple events and AppleScript. In addition, the unique nature of different applications will require that each developer create its own voice interface to some extent. All this means that Casper, while potentially useful, is not quite as magical as the Apple demos would lead you to believe. That probably explains why Apple has been privately downplaying Casper recently.
>Desktop DOS.
Sometimes the things that seem to be the simplest to implement take the longest to arrive. That certainly is the case with Apple's software enabling users to take advantage of their SuperDrives. Users have been waiting for a long time to be able to insert a DOS disk and have the Mac automatically mount it directly to the desktop without adding a third-party product. At long last, however, the Knife is able to report that P.C. Exchange 1.0.1, Apple's system extension that does just that, is ready to go. Unfortunately the new extension will be one of the first tests of Apple's new "make- it-pay" approach to system software. It's expected to retail for less than $100, like its competition.
>Professional Project.
Some are billing the upcoming Claris MacProject Professional as the most extensive update of any Claris product to be introduced this year. A formal announcement is slated for the August Macworld Expo with actual shipment scheduled for the fall, but the Knife has been made privy to some of the more noteworthy features. These include an intelligent project outliner that will draw elements as you type based on a set of assumptions. It also will boast a number of new scheduling and resource-management capabilities, and will, of course, include all the standard support for System 7.
The popularity of the MacWEEK mug is unmatched in the industry, and the Knife is happy to report that anyone with insider info is eligible. And now all transactions are videotaped for your added protection. Zoom in on the Knife at (415) 243-3500, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 05/18/92
Opinion Page 102
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
