Cupertino, Calif. - After months of polling key users and developers, Apple has crystallized its plans for the mid-March introduction of PowerPC-based Macs. The company will reportedly introduce three models, including a low-end "everything you need" bundle and a high-performance workhorse.
Sources said Apple is on track for the introduction in the second half of March. It reportedly has mandated that more than 125,000 units be available for purchase in the first three months of sale, with most available on the first day.
To calm users' concerns about the transition to a new processor, sources said, Apple has decided to base the new Macs as much as possible on the existing Quadra architecture and stamp them with the Quadra name. The company will emphasize the high degree of compatibility offered by the PowerPC Mac's 68040 emulator.
All models will come Ethernet- and GeoPort-equipped and will have a CD-ROM drive as an option.
Apple is still considering a variety of names for the new Macs, sources said. The code names of the models and what they include are:
> PDM. Based on a PowerPC running at 60 MHz, this introductory model will sell for just less than $2,000 for an 8/160 configuration. The price includes a keyboard and color monitor, a bundle not available with other PowerPC models.
PDM clearly shows its Quadra 610 heritage, with an identical enclosure and one inline processor direct slot. A handful of configurations will be offered, including an 8/230/CD.
> Carl Sagan. Encased in a Quadra 650 box, this Mac will have a CPU speed of 66 MHz and a price of roughly $3,000 for an 8/230 configuration. Like the Quadra 650, it has one inline PDS and two NuBus slots.
> Cold Fusion. The high end of the first round of PowerPC-based Macs, Cold Fusion bumps the processor speed to 80 MHz and adds a 256-Kbyte Level 2 cache. The cache, sources said, does more to accelerate this model than the increase in CPU speed does. The entry-level, 8/500 configuration of this Mac will cost just less than $4,000; sources said hard disk options as large as 1 Gbyte will be offered.
Developers who are testing 50- and 60-MHz beta models of the new Macs said that current 680x0 software runs acceptably fast under the PowerPC's 68040 emulator. They report performance on these low-end test units similar to a 25-MHz 68030 LC III or a 25-MHz 68040 Quadra 610, depending on the type of application.
Apple reportedly has told developers that native PowerPC applications should provide two to four times the performance on a PowerPC machine than native 680x0 code on a 33-MHz 68040 Quadra 950 - even without the developer taking advantage of the processor's strengths, such as floating-point processing.
The Carl Sagan and Cold Fusion models will have built-in video supported by a new high-performance video subsystem, as well as more video RAM than their 680x0 siblings. Once loaded to their VRAM capacity, Carl Sagan will support 16-bit color on monitors as large as 14 inches and eight-bit color on larger monitors, and Cold Fusion will support 24-bit color on monitors as large as 16 inches and 16-bit color on 21-inch monitors.
The two higher-end models will have an "AV option" - a PDS card that offers accelerated graphics - and video-in and -out support for NTSC, PAL (European) and SECAM (French) standards. With the optional card, both Macs will support a broader range of video bit depths. For example, Carl Sagan will support 24-bit color on a 12-inch monitor, and Cold Fusion will support simultaneous eight-bit video and graphics on a 21-inch monitor.
Apple declined to comment.
March PPC lineup
PDM, from $2,000
> 60-MHz PowerPC 601
> Quadra 610 enclosure
> '040-style PDS*
> 8/160 to 8/230/CD option
Carl Sagan, from $3,000
> 66-MHz PowerPC 601
> Quadra 650 enclosure
> '040-style PDS, 3 NuBus slots
> 8/230 to 8/500/CD and AV options
Cold Fusion, from $4,000
> 80-MHz PowerPC 601
> Quadra 800 enclosure
> '040-style PDS, 3 NuBus slots
> 256-Kbyte Level 2 cache
> 8/230 to 8/1,000/CD and AV options
Ethernet built into all models.
* One NuBus with PDS adapter.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: New PDAs to fill Newton slate for 1994
By Matthew Rothenberg
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple is reportedly polishing up a new crop of Newtons - without the help of Sharp Corp.
Sources said the 1994 models will include a smaller, lower-cost version of the MessagePad; a cellular phone with a Newton interface; and a clipboard-size model aimed at corporate users.
Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, which manufactures Apple's MessagePad and sells its own version under the name Expert Pad, is reportedly unhappy with its personal digital assistant (PDA) sales and will not build the new models. Instead, the devices will be manufactured by Inventec Corp. of Taipei, Taiwan. Sharp will continue to supply screens for the new models, however.
Apple's three-piece PDA lineup comprises:
> A less expensive MessagePad. The first new model is expected in March for about $600. It reportedly will have more RAM; a slightly smaller, monochrome, passive-matrix LCD screen; and an updated version of the Newton ROM. Sources said the new firmware will include an improved handwriting recognition algorithm.
> A cellular-phone Newton. Apple reportedly is working with Motorola Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill., to manufacture a cellular voice phone with a built-in screen and Newton interface for delivery in August. Motorola licensed Newton technology from Apple last March.
Apple has also licensed the Newton operating system and chip sets to several major telecommunications companies, including Ameritech Corp., BellSouth Corp., Siemens AG and US West Inc. These companies announced in June that they were investigating the integration of Newtons and telephones. Apple has also reportedly reached agreements with Alcatel N.V., British Telecom International Inc. and Deutsche Bundespost Telekom.
> A clipboard model. Sources said the larger PDA - with a landscape-oriented, 640-by-480-pixel, monochrome, passive-matrix LCD screen - will be aimed at in-office use. Tentatively named the SlateStation, the 3-pound device reportedly will include two PCMCIA Type II slots and improved battery technology. It is expected to ship by October.
Unlike the current MessagePad and the forthcoming model, which use 9,600-bps directed infrared signaling for point-to-point beaming, the SlateStation will reportedly be equipped with a built-in diffuse-infrared transceiver developed by Photonics Corp. of San Jose, Calif.
Sources said the enhanced infrared capabilities will enable the devices to connect into AppleTalk networks equipped with wired infrared transceivers. For networking purposes, diffuse infrared is relatively slow, transmitting data at LocalTalk speeds, but it can bounce signals off walls and ceilings to maintain connections within an office. Both the infrared capability and the larger screen will drain significant power from the PDA's batteries.
Sources said Apple, which currently bundles all MessagePads with a 2,400-bps external fax modem, will switch to a 9,600-bps PCMCIA modem card with the SlateStation. The forthcoming card is reportedly similar to the 2,400-bps Newton Fax Modem Card manufactured for Apple by Megahertz Corp. of Salt Lake City (see MacWEEK, Nov. 15, Page 14).
Sharp was unavailable for comment; Apple declined to comment.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Apple goes soft on Bedrock
By Raines Cohen
Cupertino, Calif. - Bedrock, Apple and Symantec Corp.'s cross-platform application-development framework, may no longer be central to Apple's developer tools plans. Apple this week said it is reconsidering its involvement in the project, which the company previously touted as the next-generation programming environment for 680x0 and PowerPC Macs.
Bedrock was first announced in June 1992, for delivery in the first half of 1993. The new system was supposed to allow a programmer to write a single version of an application and then compile it for Macintosh or Windows without recoding. In May, Apple and Symantec announced a revised delivery schedule with an early developer release expected in the fourth quarter. In between the announcements, Apple told users of its MacApp that Bedrock was the successor to MacApp for PowerPC development. Now it appears that may no longer be the case.
"A year to a year and a half ago, Apple put a stake in the ground and said that Bedrock was the way to go, and it stopped development on MacApp," said Eric Berdahl, president of the Software Frameworks Association (formerly the MacApp Developers Association) of Cupertino, Calif. "Now what we see is Bedrock is coming in a little bit later, and it is questionable what Apple's commitment is to Bedrock. We see that MacApp work is once again beginning to come out. There are alphas and betas of MacApp 3.1 floating around, containing technology that developers have been begging at least two years for."
Version 3.1 reportedly features new platform-independent application programming interfaces and an architecture revised to work on the PowerPC.
Likewise, APDA has begun selling early versions of Apple's PowerPC compilers for its flagship environment, Macintosh Programmer's Workshop (see MacWEEK, Nov. 1, Page 3).
Rumors that Apple is pulling out have circulated almost since the announcement of the Bedrock partnership. In the past, Apple and Symantec had firm denials; now, according to an Apple spokesman, "Apple is re-evaluating Bedrock." Both companies said concern over support for the OpenDoc compound-document architecture is one of the causes of the re-examination. Sources said that Symantec prefers to support Microsoft Corp.'s OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) 2.0 in the cross-platform framework, while Apple is insisting on OpenDoc, which it developed.
"Given the strong move within Apple to object-oriented frameworks and its commitment to OpenDoc, we want to make sure that Bedrock meets developer needs. Bedrock has no installed base, so we want to make sure we're doing it right," the Apple spokesman said.
Eugene Wang, Symantec executive vice president for applications and developer tools, said, "Symantec and Apple are now investigating future directions for Bedrock, particularly with an eye toward the compound-document architectures of the future."
Wang said that while Bedrock was once at the center of Symantec's development efforts, it is now just part of "Symantec's multiple class library strategy." He said that the company's C++ compiler for PowerPC is more significant for developers.
Apple also may be considering bailing out of Bedrock for financial reasons. Sources said that developer tools were not expected to make money for Apple back when Bedrock was first conceived, but the company's new financial model requires that tools be profitable.
Stephen Howard contributed to this report.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Spindler charts company course
With the resignation of Chairman John Sculley in September, President and CEO Michael H. Spindler became the undisputed leader of Apple. In his first interview since this historic transition, Spindler makes it clear that, unlike his predecessor, his administration will be characterized by a no-nonsense approach to business.
He is open to any strategy that will benefit Apple's customers and shareholders, including the once-forbidden licensing of the Macintosh operating system. The interview was held at Comdex/Fall '93 in Las Vegas with MacWEEK Senior Editor Andrew Gore.
Q: It's been several months now since you took over full responsibility for Apple. What changes have you made to strategy?
A: Apple's road map addresses four areas. One is desktop publishing and professional publishing. It has been key to our success and will be in the future, because we know that industry well.
The second area is education, including K-12, higher ed and business learning. Apple's market share [in higher education is] about 30 percent, [and our] share [in K-12] is about 50 percent. These are two key franchises that we can't lose.
The next is business. What we are trying to figure out here is how to go beyond spreadsheets and word processors. Is that work-flow [automation]? We're looking at moving from personal productivity all the way to a more integrated solution for business markets.
The fourth area is communications. This could be videoconferencing or anything that has to do with the visual markets, including video delivery.
Q: What's with Apple's enterprise strategy?
A: I was just at the MacIS (Managing Apple Computers in Information Systems) conference and discussed our plans.
There's no more Mac-only; it's all mixed environments. Large corporations are asking, "How do we develop tools for getting the stuff that we have in the databases down to the front end?" Is this work flow or [extended] communications? They want to have a strategy, and we have one: It's mapping desktop services back into the depositories that they have. We have to help them do this by getting Mac OS-based services into Unix. And the beauty of what we do for them is integration. We will never ship a product that isn't installable in 15 minutes. Flip it on and no systems administrator. That's what Apple is best at.
Q: How you will manage a successful transition to PowerPC?
A: What we've tried to do is modernize the Mac and use the PowerPC transition as an opportunity to rearchitect services and APIs (application programming interfaces).
The future war with Microsoft will be fought in the way you directly manipulate information. We want to use OpenDoc to build [an information infrastructure] across the industry. Microsoft's opinion is "it's OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) and everybody better obey." That's why Novell and IBM and a few others are saying, "Let's work together."
The technology transition must happen in a couple steps to really rearchitect everything in the Macintosh. The PowerPC does a great deal of it, but it's just a glimpse of the rearchitecting of the Mac in terms of performance.
Q: Will you license the Mac OS for PPC?
A: It's a debate right now. It's not whether, it's how. Many PC companies are running around doing the same thing. So the license model can't be the Intel-Microsoft model because people are dying on that model. There's two winners, period. For the [PC] clone maker, life is relatively miserable.
So we're not going to just flat-out open license everything.
Q: What's the profile of the PowerPC licensee you're looking for?
A: What we like to do is read them the final platform [specification], software and hardware. So we start with our reference [design], with the OS, the extensions, the ROM and say it could be like this.
Second-tier clone makers want to change the economics of the business, desperately. So if we have something going on in hardware that we can design systems that are cheaper because PowerPC is cheaper than Pentium, and everything else costs the same, let's talk about software. Is the Mac OS technology on PowerPC an economic and marketing proposition suited for these guys? We've found the answer is a positive "yes."
Q: Could you license 680x0 Macs to get into overseas markets, particularly the Pacific Rim?
A: Yes. But again this is all the stuff we are going through now. The one thing we can't risk is bringing Apple to its knees by open licensing the OS and trying to turn to a software-only business.
Q: So, you could become the R&D center for the computer industry?
A: That was suggested. Why don't you give up the low end and stay in the high end? There are all kinds of things we really have to think out because if we do it, there's no going back. So it is very important we don't kill our present business. Because if the first players, these licensees, go right back and hammer us, we've blown the marketplace.
We want to grow units with Mac and PowerPC geographically and by vertical-market [licenses]. You can't put an $8 billion-plus business at risk just for the glory of opening your platform.
Q: On the other hand, you have to give your OEMs a reason to do business with you.
A: Yes, absolutely.
Q: Licensing to just a few selective vertical markets could be a winning situation.
A: We could have OEMs who want to do point-of-sale stuff, for example. Their run rates are around 500,000 a year or so. Or the high-end publishing people could also take the Mac.
Q: Do you see that as a growing business?
A: Yeah. But it's not $8 billion.
Q: The licensing model for Newton is different. You are opening it to all comers. Why?
A: Because the business has a very different margin; we don't have to sell devices [to make money]. In the Newton architecture, we create the framework, and we are in control of the total thing plus software. Then we diffuse this architecture into licensees, clone companies. And there are plenty of them: Siemens, Motorola, the RBOCs (regional Bell operating companies). Panasonic is working on a bunch of designs right now. So when they come out next year, you harvest licensing, you harvest titles that you publish and your licensing services. Every time next year a device is sold in the United States using a pager, we'll get a virtual nickel from it.
Q: The reason you license Newton is because other companies can build cheaper Newtons faster. Wouldn't that also be true of the Mac?
A: Let me just kill that myth. Nobody can produce a Mac cheaper than we do. They take [lower] margins on it if they wish to do so. But it's not about production.
Q: But there are some companies that would be willing to take that smaller margin.
A: Again, if all that happens is you have all these people going right back into your key markets, you don't do yourself a favor. You have to figure out who you want to work with and get more collaboration without everybody killing each other. This is an industry that has not grown up on collaboration. We have to be very careful.
We must have arrangements where we look eye to eye and say, "What market do you want to deliver? Can we both live with this?" As I said, we haven't concluded all this work, but it's one of the most important projects we are doing in the company right now. It's part of the PowerPC transition: First we take care of the installed base, move beyond and acquire new customers with this Windows Inside thing. Then we say who we are licensing and how. This comes after, because we have to make the first step first.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: KPT 2.0 - More flash to Photoshop
By Ben Long
Kai's Power Tools 2.0 from HSC Software is the kind of upgrade we like to see. It takes what seemed to be a complete and full-featured product and adds new capabilities, stretches existing functions and turns the upgrade into a dramatic improvement over the original.
Technically, KPT 2 is a set of 33 Adobe Photoshop-compatible plug-in filters designed by Photoshop guru Kai Krause. Because of the way some of the filters are implemented, however, these plug-ins begin to feel as if they were a stand-alone image-processing application.
KPT is compatible with any application that supports Photoshop plug-ins, including Fractal Design Corp.'s Painter, Deneba Software's Canvas, Pixel Resource Inc.'s Pixel Paint Professional, Adobe Premiere, VideoFusion Inc.'s Video Fusion and Equilibrium Inc.'s DeBabelizer. KPT replaces the Version 1.0 filters and is installed by simply decompressing the self-extracting archive into your application's Plug-Ins folder. The filters come bundled with a free copy of MicroFrontier Inc.'s ColorIt!, a simple, 32-bit paint program that supports the Photoshop plug-in architecture.
One step beyond
As with the first version, Kai's 33 Power Tools are spread by category among the different Photoshop filter submenus. Filters that defy category, such as Texture Explorer and Gradients on a Path, are placed in a KPT submenu.
Many of the filters are still dialogless; the manual calls them One Step Filters. These single-step functions include filters for creating ray-traced 3-D spheres and powerful image-processing filters that automatically do what would normally take hours to do. Many other KPT filters are simply beefed-up Photoshop filters or new versions with a few annoying results corrected. KPT's protected noise filters, for example, function similar to Photoshop's noise filters but don't change the color of the affected area.
Unlike other filter collections, KPT includes tools that can function as everyday workhorse items, as well as tools that can produce the occasional special effect. The Sharpen Intensity filter, for example, can punch up the color and saturation of an image, making it ideal for quickly color correcting scanned photos.
Though lacking a dialog or other form of interface, you can modify many of these One-Step Filters by holding down particular keys when selecting the filter from its menu. For example, you can add varying levels of haze to the KPT Grime Layer filter by holding down a number between 0 and 9 while selecting the filter.
Several new filters have been added to the collection, including Page Turn, which creates the effect of a rolled-up page corner; Scatter Horizontal, which scatters pixels along the horizontal axis; and Seamless Welder, which can take any square selection and turn it into a seamless texture suitable for tiling.
On top of everything else, all filters now work in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) mode and most offer whopping speed increases over the previous version.
Back to the drawing board
The KPT Texture Explorer, Fractal Explorer, Gradient Designer and Gradients on a Path filters have all been greatly improved from the first version. These filters provide even the most inexperienced user with a powerful set of algorithmic painting and editing tools.
As with Version 1, KPT 2 implements these filters with an unusual interface. At first, it looks like nothing more than a cool, custom dialog box, but the Krause-designed interface is much more. It is well-designed and well-executed and contains much that should be imitated in other programs.
As the manual's introduction states, the notion of the interface is for it to "fade into the background." Krause is smart enough to realize that users of his tools will use them often. Consequently, it takes a little bit of time to learn the interface: For instance, not all elements on the interface are labeled, and some buttons have semi-faded type. But, in the long run, you don't need every option listed and every control labeled. This is a simple concept, but one that makes the program much more enjoyable and, ultimately, easier to use.
The four algorithmic painting filters are designed to work together to achieve their effects. For example, you can build gradients in the Gradient Designer that can then be placed on a path in the Gradients on a Path filter.
Making the gradient
The Gradient Designer lets you create complex custom gradients, each containing up to 500 colors. The gradient editor has been substantially improved and now offers the capability to edit gradients more intuitively.
With the current gradient displayed in a horizontal bar, you simply use KPT's excellent color picker (the best you'll find in any piece of Mac software) to choose a color for a particular part of the gradient. The rest of the gradient is immediately interpolated to smoothly blend that color into the other parts of the gradient. (In Version 1, you had to move a selection bracket to different areas of the gradient and define each subpart separately). In a similar fashion, transparency can be changed along any part of the gradient with a simple mouse drag. Gradients can now be "looped" up to 10 times and include a new shape - burst gradient.
The Texture Explorer continues to use its Gene metaphor but is enhanced by major speed improvements and the capability to color a texture with a gradient.
The Fractal Designer now includes, among other enhancements, an intuitive, real-time map of the Mandelbrot set. By dragging a selection circle around the map, you can quickly navigate "fractal space."
The two biggest improvements to these filters work together to provide an incredible amount of image-processing power. The first is the real-time preview now provided through a small window in the middle of each dialog. As changes are made to a gradient, texture or fractal, the effects can be immediately seen.
This feature is made more powerful through the new Apply modes provided for each of the Explorers. Once a texture, fractal or gradient is created, it can be applied to an image using one of several logical operations, much like the channel operations in Photoshop. Add, Subtract, Multiply, Screen and Difference are now added to the Normal, Procedural Blend, Lighten and Darken apply modes from Version 1. With the new real-time preview, these powerful but difficult-to-predict blending operations are now easy to use for those of us who aren't Kai Krause.
Documentation and support
Much improved over the previous version, KPT's documentation gives comprehensive explanations of all the filters, including tips on specific uses within Photoshop and Painter.
The examples that are included will point both beginning and intermediate users in the right direction. However, given Krause's history of writing excellent Photoshop tips (most of which are available from popular on-line services), it's a little disappointing that there isn't more power-user information in the manual.
Conclusions
If you use graphics on the Macintosh, you need this package. At $199, it's a steal for anyone who regularly uses a plug-in-compatible painting or image-editing program. Multimedia authors who need a new background and 3-D users who need to create textures for rendering will find the program's Texture Explorer invaluable.
This upgrade is so thoughtfully designed and well-crafted, you can't help but wonder what the next version will be like. Fortunately, playing with KPT 2 should make the time pass quickly.
HSC Software is at 1661 Lincoln Blvd., Suite 101, Santa Monica, Calif. 90404. Phone (310) 392-8441; fax (310) 392-6015.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
Reviews Page 1
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: New Quadra to run Windows, Mac apps
Wins Byte's award for the best system
By Robert Hess
Las Vegas - Apple demonstrated its Quadra 610 DOS Compatible configuration at this month's Comdex/Fall '93 here, winning raves from the crowd and a Best System award from Byte magazine.
The new system will combine a 25-MHz Intel 486SX with a 25-MHz Motorola 68LC040 to let users simultaneously run Windows/DOS and Mac software, switching between the two environments and sharing data and files via the clipboard or disk (see MacWEEK, Nov. 8, Page 87; and June 28, Page 1).
The coprocessor board containing the Intel chip is installed into the Quadra's processor direct slot. Because the card contains ports for external monitor and joystick, and because the PDS is in different locations in different Quadra models, the card is only for the Quadra 610. While it will be physically possible to install the card in the PDS of other Quadra machines, Apple will not recommend doing so.
By itself, the card will sell for less than $500; included in a Quadra 610, it will add about that amount to the machine's cost. Apple did not announce availability.
"We're very excited about the prospects of this machine," said Rob Mullins, vice president of technical services of The Byte Shop Microage in Greensboro, N.C. "I think it will have more of an effect with retail than corporate business. Corporations generally make up their mind whether to be Mac or PC, but individuals and small businesses, I think, will want to run both."
Sources said Apple will gauge public reaction to the product and release additional models if warranted. A version is reportedly already planned for the PowerPC Mac.
As it was demonstrated at Comdex, the board does not offer networking support in addition to that available to the Mac. Any volume, networked or local, mounted on the desktop can be made available to Windows/DOS. This includes Windows CD-ROMs, since Apple has licensed the necessary drivers from Microsoft Corp. Apple said it is talking to third parties about providing additional networking support but has no definite plans at this time.
Deborah Cole contributed to this report.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Plug-in speeds Photoshop for AVs
By Matthew Rothenberg
Mountain View, Calif. - A new software plug-in from Adobe Systems Inc. is bringing Photoshop up to higher speeds for owners of AV Macs.
The plug-in, developed by Spectral Innovations Inc. of San Jose, Calif., is available free on several on-line services and for $10 shipping and handling from Adobe. It will ship with all copies of Photoshop, Adobe's image-editing application, by the beginning of next year.
The software accelerates Photoshop to up to two times the original speed for operations such as Resize, Rotate, Skew and Perspective, as well as mode changes from RGB (red, green, blue) to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black).
It also comes with a variety of filters that tap the AT&T DSP3210 digital signal processor (DSP) included in the AV Macintoshes, as well as Apple Real-Time Architecture-compatible DSP add-in boards from third parties such as RasterOps Corp., Radius Inc. and Spectral.
DSP filters, which improve performance by as much as three times, include Blur, Despeckle, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, Find Edges, Fragment and Emboss.
According to John Ritter, an artist based in San Francisco who beta tested the software on his Quadra 840AV, the plug-in module "speeds everything up incredibly.
"I work on 40- to 50-Mbyte files," Ritter said, "and the difference in rotating, resizing and filters I use all the time probably saves me 30 minutes to an hour a day."
Moreover, Ritter said, "Everything works exactly the same; I get identical results to what I would have working the other way. It lets me be a lot more creative and experimental in my work.
Adobe Systems Inc. is at 1585 Charleston Road, P.O. Box 7900, Mountain View, Calif. 94039-7900. Phone (415) 961-4400 or (800) 447-3577; fax (415) 961-3769.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Main Event to ship AppleScript editor
By Raines Cohen
Washington - An AppleScript script editor due early next year will let users interactively build statements and debug scripts without having to memorize AppleScript and application-specific vocabularies.
Main Event said it will demonstrate Scripter at Macworld Expo in San Francisco in January. The program, expected to sell for less than $250, will be the first in a series of scripting tools from the company.
Scripter lets users build scripts by selecting applications to control. It shows the commands and objects the application supports and pastes items the user selects into the current script.
The program includes tools to help users debug scripts by tracing program flow and evaluating expressions and variables while scripts run. Users can also modify variables and interactively compile and execute AppleScript statements. Variable values and commonly used code fragments can be saved to disk.
The editor, like other AppleScript editors, automatically formats code when it is compiled. But it can also comment out sections of code, insert the path to a file when a user selects it, search for and replace text, and jump directly to marked places in the text.
Included tools help users build AppleScript list and record structures.
"The great thing about Scripter is that it will provide novice and intermediate users a means to build and debug scripts and navigate application dictionaries," said Fred Terry, senior technical writer at Cadence Design Systems Inc. of Lawrence, Kan., and author of a forthcoming book about AppleScript. "Apple's script editor offers hardly any more features than TeachText, while Scripter's script builder lets you look at the commands and build scripts."
The company has yet to ship Rosanne, the set of scriptable file processors it announced last spring (see MacWEEK, April 26, Page 6).
Main Event is at 1814 Belmont Road N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. Phone (202) 298-9595.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: UserLand to open a new Frontier
Version 3.0 supports AppleScript, others
By Raines Cohen
Redwood City, Calif. - UserLand Software Inc. is scheduled to announce this week that it will expand its Frontier scripting system with a host of new features, including support for AppleScript and other script languages.
UserLand Frontier 3.0, due next month, lets users write scripts in not just the built-in UserTalk language but in other Open Scripting Architecture-compliant languages such as AppleScript and CE Software Inc.'s QuicKeysScript, part of QuicKeys 3.0. When Frontier or Frontier Runtime 2.1 is running, the scripts can incorporate Frontier's verbs and objects. UserLand's debugging features are not available for languages other than UserTalk, however.
The UserTalk language is now accessible from any open script editor or environment such as Apple's script editor and HyperCard 2.2, due early next year.
The new version supports script recording, which automatically writes scripts as users perform actions in recordable applications, such as Aladdin Systems Inc.'s SITcomm and Apple's PhotoFlash.
Frontier 3.0 also incorporates a scheduler that can run scripts at regular user-defined intervals.
The UserTalk language has been enhanced to include lists and record data types, optional parameters for scripts, and the ability to export compiled scripts without source code. More than 70 new sample scripts are included.
The environment now includes uBASE, a scriptable, "faceless" flat-file database. While it does not have any user interface, scripts and other applications can use it to store, organize and look up data.
The menu-sharing protocol that lets scripts add commands to applications has been extended and generalized in Version 3.0.
The program will remain priced at $249. Users of the current version can upgrade for $39, or free if they purchased Frontier after Aug. 1; runtime site licenses are available.
Frontier 3.0 is compatible with Frontier 2.0 scripts and database files, but once they are opened in 3.0 they are not backward-compatible.
UserLand Software Inc. is at 400 Seaport Court, Redwood City, Calif. 94063. Phone (415) 369-6600; fax (415) 369-6618.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Elegant util gives Newton flexibility
By Andrew Gore
New York - Users looking to add a little elegance to the MessagePad's interface will soon get some help from Tanis Development.
The company last week announced Elegance 1.0, a 35-Kbyte utility that displays a floating tool bar on the MessagePad's screen. The bar includes tools for controlling font styles and sleep time; it also gives direct access to many of Newton's less accessible functions.
Elegance is scheduled to ship on floppy disk in January for about $50.
> Fonts. The tool bar has three menus for controlling the look of text. Users can change selected text to Simple (similar to Geneva); Fancy (similar to New York); and Espy, a font embedded in Newton's ROM.
Tanis said it plans to release additional font modules.
Elegance's Font Size menu can set the size of selected text to 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 36 or 48 points; the MessagePad can normally set text only to 9, 10, 12 or 18 points.
The Styles menu allows users to apply attributes such as bold, italic, underline, superscript, subscript, outline, shadow, condensed and extended, as well as combine those styles. The MessagePad has only plain, bold and underline attributes, and only one can be used at a time.
> Ink thickness. With Elegance, the four ink thicknesses, or line sizes, can be accessed through a single icon on the tool bar.
> Sleep. The Sleep Time menu lets users set idle time before a Newton shuts down. Newtons can be set to sleep after 30 seconds; or one, five, 10, 30 or 60 minutes of idle time. There are also settings that prevent sleep or put a Newton to sleep immediately. Users can reset their Newtons from this menu as well.
> Tools. The Tools menu is a user-configurable set of shortcuts. It comes with direct access to the four software keyboards, capitalization, preferences, calculator, In Box and Out Box. Elegance can also call the garbage collection routine, which clears out digital debris in system memory, which can reduce the accuracy of handwriting recognition.
Tanis Development is at 458 Greenwich St., Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10013. Phone (212) 343-1411; fax (212) 343-1511.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
News Page 16
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Aging Macs - Keep, upgrade or replace?
As new Macs appear and prices drop, managers of older Macs need to determine the most cost-effective route to getting the job done.
By Charles Rubin
The march of technology can be cruel. In the past year, Apple has introduced or upgraded nearly a dozen Macintoshes and PowerBooks, turning last year's performance heartthrobs into this year's has-beens. With PowerPC Macintoshes and 68040-based PowerBooks looming on the horizon, today's love affairs with Quadra 950s and PowerBook 180s have already begun to fade. Nevertheless, older Macintoshes form a large part of the installed base at many companies, and Mac managers are finding new ways to preserve the value of older machines.
According to Jahan Salehi, president of Maya/Solute, a Macintosh dealer, remarketer and consulting company in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., aging Macs leave their corporate owners with three choices. "You can move technology downward in the company, you can upgrade existing machines to improve their performance, or you can buy newer machines and replace the older ones."
Heed your needs
The key is to evaluate computing tasks and computing performance rather than lust after every new set of initials on a Mac case. "We advise clients to look at the task being addressed and apply the appropriate technology," Salehi said. "You want to use what fits and not what somebody tells you that you must buy. We've saved our clients fortunes by telling them not to dispose of older computers in favor of newer computers if the older computers are addressing their needs."
But knowing what fits isn't always easy. No company wants to junk a 3-year-old Mac, but if there's no lower-level task for the Mac to perform and the lower processing speed is wasting expensive employee time, replacing or upgrading the Mac may be far cheaper than keeping it.
Trickle-down technology
For simple tasks such as word processing, even the oldest Macs can do the job. Some sites with large bases of Mac Plus or SE machines either find no reason to replace them or move older Macs into easier jobs when their original users need more power. At SeaFirst National Bank in Seattle, Bob Bowman, computer support manager, said that many of the bank's 4,300 Macs are older SE, Plus and 512K models, but the bank has found no reason to unload them.
"Mostly, we use a trickle-down scenario," Bowman said. Typically, older Macs end up in the bank's branches. "The primary role in branches is terminal emulation with relatively elementary word processing and spreadsheet requirements," he said. "And since we don't really have to upgrade software in those locations, we've been able to continue to use them."
Rosemead, Calif.-based Southern California Edison Co.'s personal computer support group has encouraged lighter-duty uses for older Macs as well. "As we've been buying systems over the years, the SEs and Mac Pluses have been relegated to very light-duty file servers in groups where there's not a big demand for files," said Dick Marko, Macintosh products manager at Edison.
On the other hand, some departments just keep old Macs around as spares. "We've also got a lot of Pluses sitting around in storage right now," Marko said. The surplus machines have already been depreciated, so there's no cost to keep old Macs in storage. When a newer model is sent out for repairs, an older one can replace it temporarily.
Heat 'em up or move 'em out
Not every organization has lower-level jobs just waiting for a hand-me-down Mac, however. In organizations that have static work forces or are downsizing, older Macs must be traded or beefed up.
Upgrading an existing Macintosh can be less disruptive. A simple CPU upgrade won't involve transferring files from one hard disk to another, and it may not even require any retraining. Most importantly, it can deliver the required performance for less than the cost of a new system.
At Ernst & Young in Cleveland, Don Pocek, desktop publishing supervisor, has his group using Macintosh IIcx and IIx machines to prepare pamphlets, brochures, books and newsletters for internal use at Ernst & Young offices nationwide. When the group's employees began griping about sluggish screen performance with Aldus PageMaker or QuarkXPress layouts, Pocek considered moving up to Mac Quadras but then decided otherwise.
He said: "We tried some DayStar Digital PowerCache accelerators last November, and I was very happy with the performance. Considering what we were using them for, there was really no need to replace the machine - it just needed a CPU upgrade."
Pocek said the 50-MHz 68030-based accelerator boards with math coprocessors cost far less than what he would have spent to buy Mac Quadra systems, even when he added an extra 4 Mbytes of RAM to each machine and upgraded them all to System 7.1. "The machines are probably 300 percent faster in screen updating than before," he said.
Speed fix
Upgrading the CPU has led to a thirst for speed in other places, however. Pocek said: "Since we put these boards in, we've found we really need to replace the hard drives because the CPU is always waiting for the hard drive to catch up." The Macs have factory-installed 80-Mbyte hard disks, and Pocek said he plans to install 120-Mbyte drives with faster access times in all his machines. "We've already done it with one machine," he said, "and we're getting about a 200 percent speed increase in hard drive access times."
With some RAM, an accelerator board and a faster hard disk, Pocek said, his Macintosh IIcx machines will perform almost as well as the Quadra 700s he was considering.
Down and out
When machines have been so heavily used that they can't perform even limited functions or when there's no room to store outmoded machines as backups, the only remaining option is to get new ones. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Director of Residential Student Computing Donna Price has been trading in old Macs for about three years now.
Price directs computing facilities for 9,000 resident students at 11 campus computer centers. The labs are open 24 hours a day, and Macs often run day and night for years. "We have SEs now that are 7 years old and have been in use so much the screens are burned in," she said. In addition, many of the SEs don't have hard disk drives and have 2.5 or fewer megabytes of RAM.
For the past three years, Price has rounded up some of her obsolete Macs and IBM PCs and compatibles and traded them in. Every summer, Apple and Sun Remarketing of Smithfield, Utah, sponsor a trade-up event at the campus. Sun looks over the old equipment, quotes a value for it and issues a voucher in that amount. Then Price uses the voucher toward the purchase of new Macs.
"The beauty is that you can trade for cash value," Price said. "IBM had a program, too, but it was unit for unit, so if you got $300 for your old machine and a new machine was $2,000, you were out that much money per machine. With the Apple program, I traded straight across for the new machines and I didn't have to put out any money." This summer, Price traded 80 Mac SEs and about 20 old PCs straight across for 13 new Mac LC IIIs.
Compared with other corporate capital expenditures, such as furniture or even electronic calculators, desktop computers bloom and fade like house plants. But with the right redistribution and upgrade strategies, a Mac can perform productively for seven years or more. And in computing terms, that's practically forever.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
News Page 18
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Gateways: CompuServe, MCI to connect E-mail sites
By Nathalie Welch
San Francisco - Sites using two popular electronic-mail systems soon will have access to almost-global messaging because of recent agreements between LAN mail vendors and on-line services.
CompuServe Inc. this month announced that its CompuServe Mail Hub will store and forward messages directly from Lotus Development Corp.'s cc:Mail.
And last month, MCI Communications Corp. revealed plans to link WordPerfect Office 4.0 to its MCI Global Messaging Service; in June, MCI announced that it would support cc:Mail in the future.
Both systems pick up messages from local E-mail servers and deliver them to similar servers at other sites, even at other companies. Neither CompuServe nor MCI maintains a central directory of the local E-mail accounts to which it is connected, so users and administrators must know the addresses of recipients. Previously, the systems accepted mail only in X.400 or Message Handling Service formats.
> CompuServe. To drop off or pick up E-mail via the CompuServe Mail Hub, the cc:Mail administrator configures cc:Mail Router to dial the Hub at scheduled intervals. Hub and Router then exchange messages to and from all users in one session.
More than 3,500 electronic-mail sites are registered for access via the Hub, CompuServe said. A site needs only one CompuServe account, but individuals with cc:Mail Remote can register their own accounts on the Hub.
cc:Mail access to the CompuServe Mail Hub is due next month. Pricing will be based on CompuServe's normal access charge, which is $8.95 per month plus a $5-an-hour access charge.
> MCI. WordPerfect Office 4.0 access to MCI Mail is expected to become available during the second quarter of next year. cc:Mail users will be able to take advantage of the service by the end of this year, according to Lotus.
Users of either E-mail package will be able to exchange messages with other like clients, in addition to MCI users and the more than 50 E-mail services interconnected to MCI Global Messaging Service via X.400.
Remote clients will also be able to access MCI. WordPerfect, which has no remote Mac client, said that a remote version will be available by the time the MCI service becomes operational.
Each WordPerfect Office 4.0 or cc:Mail client will need an MCI account. Pricing has not been set.
CompuServe Inc. is at 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., P.O. Box 20212, Columbus, Ohio 43220. Phone (614) 457-8600; fax (614) 457-0348.
MCI Communications Corp. is at 1133 19th St. N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036. Phone (202) 872-1600; fax (202) 887-2443.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Gateways: Security systems lock onto ARA 2
By April Streeter
Las Vegas - Apple Remote Access 2.0 finally gives developers the keys they need to tighten security for Mac-based remote access.
Four security developers followed Apple's lead at Comdex/Fall '93 here and announced products that exploit the new security application programming interface in Version 2.0 of Apple Remote Access (ARA). Many other vendors clarified delivery schedules for their ARA 2.0-compliant products.
> Digital Pathways Inc. said it intends to ship SecureNet Key, a $50 Mac-based software security product, in the first quarter of 1994. SecureNet works with the company's $4,000 Defender 5000 hardware controller and ARA 2.0 servers.
The Defender sits between a modem and dial-in server, intercepting incoming calls. After users authenticate themselves using their PINs (personal identification numbers), SecureNet Key on the client side negotiates with the Defender, which generates a session-encrypting password for each user.
> MicroFrame Inc. will also deliver an ARA 2.0-based encryption client in the first quarter of 1994. SofKeyPlus, available for $500 for a 100-user license, works with the company's $2,495 IPC Secure Sentinel hardware controller.
Once a user has entered a correct account ID and activated SofKeyPlus with a specific PIN, the IPC Secure Sentinel generates a single-use Data Encryption Standard password that's used to scramble the session.
> Open Computing Security Group will add Unix-based Kerberos security to Macintoshes using ARA 2.0. Kerberos for Mac, expected in March, will consist of $95 client software and $3,000 server software.
The server runs on dedicated Unix boxes, including Solaris or SunOS systems from Sun Microsystems Inc., and RS/6000 and HP/9000 computers from IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., respectively. The Kerberos-ARA client requires MacTCP.
After the dial-in client authenticates itself to the Kerberos server, the server generates an encryption key that can be used for an administrator-controlled time period.
> Security Dynamics Inc. next month will ship a new version of its ACE/Server product to support ARA 2.0. ACE/Server costs $1,045 for 100 users and runs on a variety of Unix systems, including those from Sun, IBM and HP. It requires that each user have a $62 SecurID card.
Instead of receiving encrypted passwords from the server, users with ARA 2.0 and MacTCP enter their PINs and, after authorization, enter additional session codes, which are randomly generated by the credit-card-size SecurID devices.
Digital Pathways Inc. is at 201 Ravendale Drive, Mountain View, Calif. 94043. Phone (415) 964-0707; fax (415) 961-7487.
MicroFrame Inc. is at 21 Meridian Road, Edison, N.J. 08220. Phone (908) 494-4440; fax (908) 494-4570.
Open Computing Security Group is at 2451 152nd Ave. N.E., Redmond, Wash. 98052. Phone (206) 883-8721; fax (206) 882-3489.
Security Dynamics Inc. is at 1 Alewife Center, Cambridge, Mass. 02140. Phone (617) 547-7820; fax (617) 354-8836.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: Specular Collage sets objects afloat
Users manipulate images via proxies
By Neil McManus
Amherst, Mass. - Specular International Ltd. this week will release Collage, a new program that lets artists quickly composite and manipulate bit-mapped images.
Specular's program creates screen-resolution proxy files of high-resolution PICT, TIFF and Adobe Photoshop 2.5 images. Users can position, rotate, skew, size and manipulate the 72-dpi proxies, then automatically render a high-resolution file using the original images.
Collage carries a $349 price tag, but Specular is offering it for $249 until Feb. 28, 1994. The program's features include:
> Live masks. Collage uses the alpha channel to treat each image as a separate object that can be moved and re-edited at any time. It supports Type 1 and TrueType fonts.
> Layout tools. Elements are arranged in frames, in a manner similar to QuarkXPress. Collage provides rulers, guides and measurement boxes.
> Special effects. Users can control the transparency of an element and manipulate it with third-party Photoshop filters. The program offers Transfer Method controls, similar to Photoshop's Calculation commands, and can automatically feather and create a drop shadow for any element.
Joseph Kelter, principal of Bad Cat Design in Philadelphia, said he was impressed by the speed of the beta version of Collage. "It's nice to be able to interactively design without having to wait four or five minutes to scale a high-res object," he said.
Specular International Ltd. is at 479 West St., Amherst, Mass. 01002. Phone (413) 253-3100; fax (413) 253-0540.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: New active-matrix LCD panels
By James Staten
San Francisco - Several companies are shipping new color projection panels that use active-matrix LCD technology for crisper display of multimedia presentations.
The new panels come with cables for connection to a Macintosh or IBM PC or compatible, power supplies, and remote controls for display adjustments.
> InFocus Systems Inc. The PanelBook 525, priced at $5,499, can project more than 1.4 million colors. It supports Mac, VGA and Super VGA sources and can display digital video at up to 30 frames per second. An optional $695 adapter adds support for NTSC, PAL (European) and S-video sources.
> nView Corp. Priced at $4,995, the Spectra C Model SC21 is an active-matrix LCD panel capable of displaying up to 1.4 million colors. It handles Mac and VGA video sources; a $895 upgrade adds NTSC, PAL and S-video support.
> CTX International Inc. Available for $6,495, the LPP-5000 is a thin-film transistor LCD panel that can display more than 16 million colors. It supports Mac, VGA, Super VGA, NTSC, PAL and S-video sources and provides on-screen controls for frequency, phase, color and source. These settings can be saved to memory for future use.
> Mutoh America Inc. The VP-100, VP-200 and VP-300, priced at $5,595, $8,995 and $13,495, respectively, are the first projection systems from this plotter manufacturer.
The VP-100 is an active-matrix LCD panel capable of displaying 185,000 colors. It handles Mac and VGA video sources; an $895 adapter adds support for NTSC.
The VP-200 is an active-matrix display that can accept four image sources simultaneously. It supports Mac, VGA, NTSC, PAL and S-video sources and has automatic gain control for constant brightness. It is capable of displaying more than 250,000 colors.
The VP-300 is a color LCD projector with a built-in 3,400-lumin light source. It is capable of displaying more than 16.7 million colors from four image sources. Source support includes VGA, Mac, NTSC, PAL and S-video. The VP-300 also has a 4-inch, 7-watt speaker for sound output. Display settings can be saved to memory.
InFocus Systems Inc. is at 7770 S.W. Mohawk St., Tualatin, Ore. 97062. Phone (503) 692-4968 or (800) 327-7231; fax (503) 692-4476.
nView Corp. is at 860 Omni Blvd., Newport News, Va. 23606. Phone (804) 873-1354 or (800) 736-8439; fax (804) 873-2153.
CTX International Inc. is at 20530 Earlgate St., Walnut, Calif. 91789. Phone (909) 595-6146; fax (909) 595-6293.
Mutoh America Inc. (a division of Mutoh Industries Ltd. of Tokyo) is at 500 W. Algonquin Road, Mt. Prospect, Ill. 60056. Phone (708) 952-8880; fax (708) 952-8808.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: CD-ROM to let users shop from home
By Jon Swartz
Cupertino, Calif. - An interactive pilot program from Apple, Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Redgate Communications Corp. that debuts next week promises to let CD-ROM users shop from their homes.
Called En Passant, a term commonly used in chess that means "in passing," the CD-ROM contains 21 catalogs from 18 companies, including Apple; Tiffany & Co. of New York; The Nature Company of Berkeley, Calif.; Williams-Sonoma Inc. of San Francisco; and L.L. Bean Inc. of Freeport, Maine.
The disc will be mailed to about 30,000 CD-ROM users in the United States, and the test program runs through Jan. 31, 1994, according to Apple.
With the disc, users can electronically browse through more than 3,000 products; mix and match the color schemes of clothes; view QuickTime movie clips from management, health and fashion experts; peruse articles from The Wall Street Journal; and order any product from a toll-free telephone number. EDS. of Dallas is handling all catalog orders.
"The whole metaphor for home shopping has changed," said Steve Franzese, director of business development for Apple's New Media Division. "People want control of what they want and when they want to buy it."
Ted Leonsis, president of Vero Beach, Fla.-based Redgate, called the program the "largest and most developed" test of its kind. "We will soon know more about how consumers interact with digital content than all of the interactive TV shopping trials combined," he said.
Franzese said it was "conceivable" the catalog will come bundled with future Macs equipped with CD-ROM drives.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
BusinessWatch Page 38
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Smoke clears after Compton's bomb
Developers downplay effect of broad patent
By Deborah Cole
Carlsbad, Calif. - Two weeks after Compton's New Media sent shock waves throughout the multimedia industry by announcing a sweeping patent on CD-ROM technology, most industry observers are now downplaying the patent's scope.
Claiming ownership of the primary search-and-retrieval engine used for multimedia discs and interactive television of the near future, Compton's, based here, received national press coverage for its claim and initiated a round of saber rattling as competitors and their lawyers plotted offensive and defensive strategies.
Robert Sabath, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based patent attorney, said he anticipated minor wars in the industry, with companies attempting to win counterpatents and forming consortiums to locate prior art to invalidate the patent.
But once third-party developers had a chance to comb through the legal underbrush of the document, most said they were relieved to discover that the patent's 41 claims and subclaims are narrower than they originally thought.
"The patent has got a fair amount of detail," said Robert Barr, a patent attorney with the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison. "It requires a menu of certain ways to start the search - some with text, some graphic. And you must be able to switch back and forth between interrelated text and graphics. If you don't have that, you don't infringe."
Barr said he thinks the patent is limited to reference encyclopedias on CD-ROM that use technology found in the successful Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
Most industry observers, however, criticized Compton's handling of its patent claim as incendiary and misleading.
"Their marketing efforts did a disservice to this community," said Larry Miller, vice president of marketing at Macromedia Inc. of San Francisco. "We have a growing market, and we don't need people to be concerned about its future. The actual claims within the patent that was awarded are nowhere near what the publicity claimed."
Compton's, however, sticks by its description of the patent granted Aug. 31. The patent claims ownership of the basic method of search and retrieval of text, photography, animation, audio and video content - covering virtually everything on CD-ROM.
"It's important to have some historical perspective. This patent was applied for in 1989 and it was granted four years later. The multimedia industry has grown phenomenally in that time," a Compton's spokeswoman said. "An industry doesn't grow by itself. It grows by people putting their necks out. People like Compton's."
The company has outlined a strategy for using the patent to create profitable relationships with developers. An amnesty period runs through June 30, 1994, after which Compton's suggests four options for developers: forming a strategic partnership with the company, creating affiliated labels, licensing Compton's search-and-retrieval engine, or paying the company its standard licensing fee.
"We are not a hammer coming down on people; we don't want to be perceived as such," the Compton's spokeswoman said. "We're looking for low-cost, friendly agreements."
But legal experts contend the patent is only as strong as the cooperation it receives from developers or the aggressiveness of the company that pursues it. "The value of the patent is increased by willingness to enter the courtroom," Sabbath said. "[Compton's] must be willing to realize the full strength of the patent."
Microsoft Corp. declined to comment on the patent other than to indicate its lawyers are examining the text of the patent and that they had not been contacted by Compton's.
According to Gary Schultz, principal analyst at Multimedia Research Group of Sunnyvale, Calif., the effect of Compton's days in the limelight are unclear.
"There's a chance that either Compton's will get a lot of free press and free publicity or they will alienate a lot of their close vendors and have to repair a lot of damage as a result of this," Schultz said. "It's not a clear case how Compton's is going to come out of this."
MacWEEK 11.29.93
BusinessWatch Page 38
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: DayMaker integrates contacts, calls
PIM gets organized, faster, easier to use
By Jeffrey Sullivan
With the recent introduction of several new integrated personal organizers, it was inevitable that Pastel Development Corp. would stake out part of this territory with its latest upgrade to DayMaker.
One of the first personal information managers for the Macintosh, DayMaker has undergone significant changes in Version 3.0. In addition to its popular calendar and to-do item management, the $129.95 program - retitled DayMaker Organizer - now integrates contact and telephone call management. A number of new features and interface changes also make it faster and easier to use.
DayMaker Organizer requires a Mac with at least 2 Mbytes of RAM running System 6.0.5 or later. It consumes at least 1 Mbyte of disk space (plus data files) and at least 1 Mbyte of free RAM (1.3 Mbytes is recommended, with more suggested for larger files).
New and improved
Most of the changes to DayMaker Organizer 3 aim to improve its speed and ease of use. DayMaker Organizer has improved performance when saving files, changing views and deleting items.
But Pastel has also given users more control. One of DayMaker Organizer's selling points is the flexibility with which users can customize the sort-ordering and contents of items in the various views. (Views are now sorted automatically whenever a new view is entered.) You can create as many categories (called "tags" in Version 2.0) as you want to classify your items and contacts; categories can be created in hierarchies up to three deep. For example, you may have a category called "Business" and two subcategories of Business called "Sales" and "Service."
Of course, all of this flexibility can be confusing. To get new users up to speed more quickly, DayMaker Organizer files now come with default settings for views, sorts and categories that can be used quite effectively right out of the box.
DayMaker Organizer has an extensible architecture, so new features can be added to the program simply by dropping modules in DayMaker's folder. Possible DayMaker Add-ons could provide expense and mileage tracking, for example.
Version 3 also comes with a sample file with all U.S. holidays through 1997 and a list of more than 100 frequently called companies with toll-free numbers.
Making contacts
The main addition to DayMaker Organizer is the contact item. These new items store the typical contact name, company and address, as well as up to seven phone numbers or electronic-mail addresses. There are also four user-definable fields and a free-form notes field.
Like most other contact managers, DayMaker Organizer has automatic field capitalization for contact item fields. DayMaker Organizer's formatting is smart enough to inhibit automatic capitalization of words such as "of" and "the." (This exclusion list is not configurable, however.)
The field labels for DayMaker Organizer's phone or E-mail addresses are independently selectable: This means that although you are limited to seven fields, you can pick them from a larger list of labels. Two contacts may have different field labels for their number and E-mail address fields.
Linking picks
DayMaker Organizer has one of the easiest means of linking contact and calendar items of any integrated personal organizer. The People Picker is a floating palette that contains a sorted list of all contact items in the current file. Each contact is listed up to three times: by last name, first name and company name. When you begin typing a name, the People Picker scrolls to the first matching contact. You can then drag the contact item onto the calendar or noncalendar item where you wish to link it. Unlike Aldus Corp.'s Datebook/Touchbase Pro, you can link multiple contacts to a single calendar item. This feature is also available in Now Software Inc.'s Now Contact, which MacWEEK will review in an upcoming issue.
Sky's the limit
Although DayMaker Organizer allows unlimited categories on calendar and noncalendar items, you can display only three contact items. (You can actually add more than three in the list view, but the Contact Item window will display only the first three.) Pastel claims that its research indicates 90 percent of all customers use less than three categories on all of their contacts; by the company's reasoning, three is more than enough, especially since categories can be hierarchical.
With the addition of contact items, Pastel saw the need for another new item type: phone call items. In DayMaker Organizer, call items are a specialized form of to-dos. In addition to the normal to-do item fields, call items have fields displaying the topic of the call and the contact you're calling. Call items also include a timer to let you keep track of how long you're on the phone - a useful feature for those who bill their phone time. A button in the Call Items window lets you create a follow-up item - an appointment, to-do or another call item - quickly and easily.
DayMaker Organizer can dial through the Mac's speaker, a modem or Desktop Dialer, which is an Apple Desktop Bus device from Sophisticated Circuits Inc.
Documentation and support
The product's excellent on-line help system now includes a quick-start tutorial that whisks you through the basics of DayMaker Organizer in six easy, single-screen lessons.
DayMaker Organizer's manual, however, continues to be less than perfect. As with previous versions, the manual suffers from a sparse index and occasional errors or omissions. For example, in one section, the Sort menu item is described, but in the wrong menu. And the existence of a separate Sort Contacts menu item is not mentioned, even though the latter must be used to duplicate an example shown in the manual.
We also found it difficult to get through to Pastel on its toll-call technical-support line, and we experienced comparable delays in getting response to tech-support questions aimed at its CompuServe address.
Conclusions
DayMaker Organizer jumps into the new level of competition of contact and phone-call management products, going head to head with comprehensive integrated packages such as Datebook and Touchbase Pro or Now Contact.
Because it's a single application, DayMaker Organizer's integration is exceptionally tight, and it can link items without System 7's interapplication communications, which improves linking speed and allows System 6 users to run the program. DayMaker Organizer remains a feature-packed program with well-thought-out capabilities; the potential for further expansion through DayMaker Add-ons promises to keep it at the top of the heap.
A better manual would help new users to acquire the appropriate mind-set for using DayMaker, which certainly exists and is not entirely self-evident. A longer tutorial, giving more detailed examples of how to get the most from this rich environment, would be a welcome addition.
With a little effort and dedication, users can expect DayMaker Organizer to perform as well as or better than most integrated personal organizers.
Pastel Development Corp. is at 113 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10012. Phone (212) 941-7500 or (800) 249-8316; fax (212) 431-3079.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
Reviews Page 47
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
ProductWatch: The promise of the AVs
The technology is there, but speech-recognition is slow to take off because of limited product offerings.
By April Streeter
The thought of a Mac that listens and responds may make some users think of the sinister talking computer in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." However, features included in both the Quadra 660AV and Quadra 840AV are neither as smart nor as spooky as HAL. Instead, Apple's addition of voice recognition, enhanced speech synthesis and a special hardware chip in the two AV models is an incremental improvement that lets sound play more of a role in the average user's computer experience.
PlainTalk SR (for speech recognition), which ships with AV Macs, consists of AT&T's 3210 digital signal processor (DSP) and the PlainTalk TTS (text-to-speech) engine. PlainTalk's components, which allow you to do something as simple as asking your Mac what time it is and having it respond, are being exploited by a number of developers. Unfortunately, trying to add the same speech features to an older-model Mac is only partially successful.
Ground control to major Mac
PlainTalk SR lets a user talk to an AV Mac without training it and without the need for the continuous pauses between words required by other recognition software.
SR works by digitizing a user's voice in small units called phonemes and comparing them to a dictionary-like list. An Apple event is then launched to execute spoken orders, as long as the commands appear as menu items in AppleScript-aware applications or are part of macros (up to 30) dropped in a special folder. PlainTalk has its own speech editor that allows the creation of these commands.
QuicKeys from West Des Moines, Iowa-based CE Software Inc., which is currently bundled with the AV Macs, will let users voice-activate AppleScript scripts and QuicKeys macros. Voice commands can thus trigger QuicKeys shortcuts.
"QuicKeys' sound capabilities are terrific," said Pace Bonner, a consultant at a large airline based in Fort Worth, Texas. "It lets us do repetitive tasks faster, and anyone halfway competent at scripting can get results."
Bonner added, however, that "because [the AV microphone] is listening all the time, sometimes the computer surprises you by doing some-thing you didn't really command."
Quite a few AV Mac users have complained about PlainTalk's inability to screen out background noise, and third parties have developed headsets that protect the AV Macs' sensitive ears. Jabra Corp.'s $149 Ear Phone, a combination microphone and speaker in an earpiece, is less cumbersome than a complete headset but still keeps background noise out. Jabra bundles the product with hints and tips on using PlainTalk's voice recognition.
Commercial macros
Users who aren't familiar with AppleScript may want to wait for developers to incorporate advanced speech rules into their programs or ship prerecorded sets of macros.
Denver-based Quark Inc. has promised to provide basic macros, such as "Rotate 25 degrees," to let users control QuarkXPress with speech commands. The company said the macros would be available on electronic bulletin boards or free on disk in January.
Other mainstream developers, such as Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have demonstrated AppleScript-enabled applications, such as Excel, controlled by voice but haven't determined whether to produce a set of common rules.
Macromedia Inc. of San Francisco said it hopes to add scripts to a future interactive version of Director but has not specified a date for its release.
VideoFusion Inc. of Maumee, Ohio, was one vendor that quickly incorporated speech rules into its QuickFLIX! video-editing software, making a number of commands, such as "play scene three" or "color green to red," accessible by voice. But not all users choose to take advantage of them.
"[Speech recognition] was neat for the first day or two," said QuickFLIX! user Jeff Manas, computer lab coordinator at Berkeley Youth Alternatives in Berkeley, Calif. "But since we didn't upgrade [the AV's RAM], the speech recognizer kept quitting from low memory. Even with virtual memory, it was still a hog."
Take a memo, Mac
Even more advanced than Apple's voice recognition in PlainTalk is Articulate Systems Inc.'s Power-Secretary, a dictation manager that will ship by the first quarter of 1994.
Articulate, developer of the Voice Navigator program, teamed with Dragon Systems Inc. of Newton, Mass., to develop a speech-recognition engine that can "remember" up to 100,000 commonly used words.
PowerSecretary's speech recognition differs from PlainTalk's in that its dictation capabilities are trainable. Instead of learning the sound of individual words, PowerSecretary adapts to a user based on his or her pronunciation of the phonemes in the English language.
The program then adjusts its base phonetic templates based on this information to match the speaker. Thus, if a lawyer uses the system to dictate memos into a word processing template, the program will learn to respond to the lawyer's particular speech habits. Once trained, Articulate said, PowerSecretary will accept up to 45 words per minute.
"A speedy typist probably wouldn't give up typing to use [PowerSecretary]," said AV user and consultant Scott Stewart of Tower Technologies Group of Gainesville, Fla. "But for the executive staff, I think it's got hot potential."
In the first version, PowerSecretary will be speaker-dependent, allowing just one master speaker. It also requires users to insert pauses of about one-fifth of a second between spoken words. But as with Articulate's Voice Navigator, users will be able to control many features of the application through voice commands. PowerSecretary will also let users create macros that will insert blocks of reappearing text, such as addresses or boilerplate text, when trigger words are spoken.
PowerSecretary is the first of a group of Articulate products that will eventually use AOCE (Apple Open Collaboration Environment) and telephony features of PowerTalk to let users control and manipulate voice mail, faxes and electronic mail over telephone lines using voice commands.
Both Apple and Articulate said that doctors and other medical professionals are prime candidates for exploiting the power of voice recognition. Vertical developer HealthCare Communications Inc. has revamped its DentalMac F/X software with PlainTalk voice-recognition support to allow dentists to verbally input notes on a patient's teeth into a template file while the patient is in the dentist chair.
Read not red
The PlainTalk TTS extension included with the AV machines is based on a reincarnated MacInTalk Version 2 Pro, a set of speech-synthesis routines included in older Macs. Developers, notably Articulate with its Voice Navigator, have used MacInTalk to create programs for the disabled.
MacInTalk 2 includes two male and two female voices as well as a new version of TeachText that can read back simple text documents. Most of MacInTalk Version 2 Pro's features are available to Mac developers as MacInTalk 2.
Microsoft said it is planning a plug-in module for Word that will provide functionality similar to the new TeachText. The plug-in, which will be called WordSpeak, will be available on BBSes next month.
Apple said users will eventually employ future versions of PlainTalk for a variety of tasks, such as proofreading and delivering a user's electronic newspaper via voice. In its current incarnation, however, Apple said PlainTalk will probably be most useful to the majority of users in reading shorter documents or for developers in incorporating verbal prompts into their products. Eventually, Apple said, PlainTalk will also be able to recognize and speak languages other than "North American English."
In addition to its better sound quality, Apple said PlainTalk TTS' enhanced speech synthesizer will be better at distinguishing between homographs - those words that may look the same but are uttered differently. Thus "Dr." will be pronounced "doctor" or "drive," according to built-in context rules.
Although vendors of existing products that take advantage of speech synthesis said users are looking forward to improved versions of the older, robotic-sounding voices of MacInTalk, most programs will require an upgrade to work with the new versions of MacInTalk.
Co:Writer, a word prediction program, and Write:OutLoud, a talking word processor, both from Don Johnston Inc., use speech synthesis to read back work to users that have physical or learning disabilities. Don Johnston will upgrade both products next month to use MacInTalk's improved synthesis.
Berkeley Systems Inc.'s outSpoken allows blind and learning-disabled users to make their way around a Mac desktop and applications without viewing the screen. Keyboard commands or mouse clicks control a user's movements, and the Mac's synthesizer verbally guides them.
Peter Korn, project manager of access at Berkeley Systems, said outSpoken 1.7 is integrally tied to the older routines of MacInTalk and won't work with Version 2 Pro until a scheduled upgrade to Version 2 is released sometime in the next year.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
ProductWatch Page 59
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mac the Knife: Life just gets better and better
Somehow it almost seems that Congress knew instinctively that if it let the president down on the big vote, he would be powerless to get the planes carrying passengers again. The important thing is that, in its infinite and prescient wisdom, the legislative body gave the president the boost he needed to coerce a recalcitrant Robert Crandall into arbitration with his unruly flight attendants just in time.
Fortunately for us, Apple has to depend only on its proven cost-reduction strategy to get sales up and keep them there. As evidence, the Knife points to Apple's project to develop a new, low-cost, all-in-one PowerBook. When this new road dog hits the channels next year (about the time when the weather starts getting balmy), it's a safe bet that the buying public will lap it up.
There's nothing particularly spectacular about the specs, which include a 33-MHz 68030 CPU, 4 Mbytes of soldered-on RAM and a good-size hard disk. Even the new supertwist, backlit, gray-scale display is nice but nothing to write home to the folks about, despite the fact that it is supposed to sport 640-by-480-pixel resolution. What separates this one from the rest of the litter is, of course, the price, which sources say is targeted to be near $1,000.
Throw in a good measure of bundled third-party products and you've got a deal that's more compelling than the current PowerBook 145B, which sources have sighted selling at discounters for a mere $999. All of which once again proves the adage that all things come cheaper to Apple customers who can afford to wait.
Alternate channels
As you might expect when Apple holds an auction to put some juice into sales of slow-moving inventory, there's something for everyone, including those who couldn't wait to get on the horn to the Knife to complain. In this case, the gripes ranged from brochures with bad directions to the strongly held suspicion that prices were somehow rigged, perhaps by one or two single-minded attendees who insisted on bidding up the price of several choice items beyond the point of reason. As a result, some may have felt that the good deals were few and far between - unless you consider $2,550 for a Quadra 700 too good to pass up.
And you can bet that local dealers cried a bit over the event, although if they'd been moving this stuff in the first place, no auction would have been required. Here's some news that is sure to bring a tear to the eye of every Apple dealer in the vicinity of Cupertino: Today Apple will open the famed Apple Store to the general public. According to the plans announced internally last week, the entire product line, including CPUs, will be offered at everyday low ApplePrices.
Fancy this
As surely as spring follows winter, the migration to the new PowerPC technology will soon begin for many Mac buyers. Current plans call for the initial boxes to ship with some incremental RISC version of System 7.1 with another version, possibly incorporating the new help system that's got so many Mac IS managers hyped, to follow in as little as 30 days. Apple marketing is determined to make the introduction as transparent as possible, but the Knife has learned that debate is raging within the company over distribution and pricing of the twin RISC and CISC version of the OS. If you buy one, do you automatically get the other? If not, why not? If so, why? How adroitly Apple solves this twister will say volumes about how it will handle the entire transition. Managers with opinions should tell Apple (or at least Don Crabb) how they feel about this now.
Living without your personal MacWEEK mug ain't nuttin nice, but if you've got the currency you can fix that by contacting the Knife at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3650, Internet (mac_the_knife@macweek.ziff.com), AppleLink (MacWEEK) or CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 11.29.93
Mac the Knife Page 110
(c) Copyright 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
